| Sing | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Garth Jennings |
| Written by | Garth Jennings |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Guylo Homsy[1] |
| Edited by | Gregory Perler[2] |
| Music by | Joby Talbot |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 108 minutes[4] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $75 million[5] |
| Box office | $634.3 million[5] |
Sing is a 2016 American computer-animatedjukebox musicalcomedy film[6] written and directed byGarth Jennings, produced byIllumination Entertainment, and distributed byUniversal Pictures. The film stars the voices ofMatthew McConaughey,Reese Witherspoon,Seth MacFarlane,Scarlett Johansson,John C. Reilly,Taron Egerton,Tori Kelly,Jennifer Saunders,Jennifer Hudson,Peter Serafinowicz andNick Kroll. Set in a world inhabited byanthropomorphic animals, the film focuses on a koala named Buster Moon, a struggling theater owner who stages a singing competition in an effort to prevent his theater from entering foreclosure, as well as how the competition interferes with the personal lives of its contestants.
The film features more than 60 songs from famous artists, mostly performeddiegetically. It also has an original song byStevie Wonder andAriana Grande called "Faith", which was nominated for aGolden Globe. Aside from these songs,Joby Talbot (Jennings’ frequent collaborator) composed the film's score.
Sing first screened during theToronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2016, followed by its premiere at theMicrosoft Theater in Los Angeles on December 3. It was then theatrically released in the United States on December 21. It marked the first time Illumination released two films in the same year, following the release ofThe Secret Life of Pets six months earlier. It received mostly positive reviews and grossed $634 million worldwide on a $75 million budget. Asequel,Sing 2, was released on December 22, 2021.
In Calatonia, a city ofanthropomorphic animals, koala Buster Moon owns a struggling theater, and is threatened with foreclosure by bank representative llama Judith. He decides to hold a singing competition with a prize of $1,000, but a typo made by his elderly assistant iguana Miss Crawly adds two extra zeros to the prize money, making it $100,000. The misprinted flyers are blown out of the window by a fan before they can be proofread, and float across the city.
Crowds of animals gather to audition, and Buster selects his contestants. Among them are housewife and mother of 25 piglets Rosita;punk-rock porcupine Ash; teenage gorilla Johnny, son of criminal gang leader Big Daddy; street musician mouse Mike; and an exuberant dancing pig named Gunter. Teenage elephant Meena fails her audition due tostage fright, Ash's self-absorbed boyfriend and co-auditionee Lance is upset to be dismissed from the contest, and Rosita is paired with Gunter for a dance routine. After Buster discovers the flyers advertise a prize of $100,000, he joins his friend sheep Eddie on a visit to Eddie's wealthy grandmother, former theater superstar Nana Noodleman. Nana is reluctant to sponsor the prize money, but agrees to attend a private preview of the show before making a decision.
Pressured by her grandfather, Meena attempts to request a second audition, but settles for being Buster'sstagehand instead. After some acts withdraw from the competition, Meena is offered a spot in the show, but again struggles to overcome her fear. Rosita flounders in her dance routine with Gunter, believing her motherly duties have caused her to lose her passion. Mike, assuming he will win the competition, takes out a massive loan from the bank to buy a flashy car and swindles a group of bears in a card game. Lance cheats on Ash, causing her to break up with him, and later to break down crying during a rehearsal. Johnny, forced by his father to partake in a heist as a getaway driver, sneaks away to the rehearsal. Traffic prevents Johnny from returning to the heist in time, resulting in his father and his gang getting arrested and incarcerated, straining their relationship. After an accident causes stage lights to fall and break, Buster has the stage rebuilt as a tank withluminescent squids as lights.
Desperate, Johnny attempts to steal the prize money for his father's bail, but when he sees a note on Buster's desk praising his talents, Johnny resolves to focus on his musical career instead. Meanwhile, Rosita regains her passion for dancing while grocery shopping, and Ash composes a song that Buster likes. On the day of the preview for Nana, the bears Mike had cheated locate him, and demand their money back. Mike directs them to Buster; the bears break open the prize chest, but it is nowhere near $100,000. Shocked by the lack of money, the rest of the contestants question Buster, and the squid tank shatters under everyone's weight. The flooded theater implodes, and Judith repossesses the lot. A disheartened Buster takes up residence with Eddie and supports himself by washing cars.
Meena goes to the rubble of the theater and sings out loud to music on her headphones, inspiring Buster to stage an outdoor show. Despite attempts from Judith to halt the show, it takes place on the lot of the former theater with Meena's and Rosita's families in attendance. More animals are drawn into the audience when the show is broadcast live on the local news. Rosita's husband Norman is roused by his wife's talent, Big Daddy breaks out of prison and travels to the lot to reconcile with Johnny, Lance is impressed by Ash's original rock song "Set It All Free", the bears find Mike and chase him away, and Meena overcomes her stage fright and gives an enthusiastic performance. The show is a success and impresses Nana, who was in the audience. She purchases the lot, and the theater is rebuilt and reopened.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_(cropped).jpg)
The voices of Rosita and Norman's piglet children were provided by Oscar, Leo, Caspar, and Asa Jennings, the children ofGarth Jennings. Jennings had directorsEdgar Wright (as a goat) andWes Anderson (as Daniel, a giraffe who auditions with the song "Ben") provide "additional voices", continuing a tradition of the three friends appearing in each other's films.[14] An archival recording ofShooby Taylor, who died in 2003, singing "Stout-Hearted Men" was used for the singing voice of a hippopotamus.[15]
In January 2014, it was announced thatGarth Jennings would write and direct an animated comedy film forUniversal Pictures andIllumination Entertainment, about "courage, competition and carrying a tune".[16] It was originally titledLunch,[17] then retitledSing.[8]
On January 14, 2015,Matthew McConaughey was cast in the film's lead voice role.[7]Chris Meledandri andJanet Healy produced the film.[7] On June 17, 2015, it was confirmed that McConaughey's character was named Buster and thatJohn C. Reilly would voice Eddie, a sheep and Buster's best friend.[9] In November 2015, it was announced thatReese Witherspoon,Seth MacFarlane,Scarlett Johansson,Tori Kelly andTaron Egerton joined the cast for the film.[1][2]
According to aHollywood Reporter interview and article, "The film contains 65 non-stop pop songs", the rights to which cost 15% of the film's $75 million budget.[18] The animation was created entirely in France byIllumination Mac Guff.[19]
The nearly complete[20] film was screened as a work in progress beginning September 11, 2016 at theToronto International Film Festival.[21]Universal Studios released the film on December 21, 2016.[22]
Sing was released onDVD,Blu-ray,Blu-ray 3D and4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on March 21, 2017. It includes three short films:Gunter Babysits,Love at First Sight, andEddie's Life Coach.[23] The film made a revenue of $63 million with 3.3 million units sold, making it the seventh best-selling title of 2017.[24]
Sing grossed $270.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $363.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $634.3 million, against a production budget of $75 million.[5]Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $194.2 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs, with box office grosses, and ancillary revenues from home media, placing it seventh on their list of 2016's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".[25]
In North America, the film opened alongsidePassengers andAssassin's Creed, and was expected to gross around $70 million from 4,022 theaters over its first six days of release.[26] The film made $1.7 million during its Tuesday night previews.[27] It went on to gross $35.2 million in its opening weekend (a six-day total of $75.5 million), finishing second at the box office behindRogue One, which was in its second week.[28] It rose 21% in its second weekend to $42.9 million, remaining in second, and grossed $20.8 million in its third week and finishing third.[29]Sing held the record for being the highest-grossing film to never finish first at the North American box office, beatingMy Big Fat Greek Wedding ($241.4 million in 2002),[30][31] until it was surpassed byOppenheimer, another Universal film, in 2023.[32][33]
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 71% based on 187 reviews, and an average rating of 6.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Sing delivers colorfully animated, cheerfully undemanding entertainment with a solid voice cast and a warm-hearted – albeit familiar – storyline that lives up to its title."[34] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[35] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[36]
Brian Truitt ofUSA Today gave the film 3.5 stars (out of 4 stars) and wrote, "In a year full of talking-animal hits,Sing isn't quite as strong a number. It's a tale that might not be particularly thought-provoking but sure is toe-tapping."[37] In her review for theLos Angeles Times, Katie Walsh calledSing, "a cute movie with genuinely funny moments (keep an eye out for the koala car wash), and some great tunes to boot."[38]The Arizona Republic's Bill Goodykoontz was rather mixed about the film in his review and overall said, "Sing is like an album with a good song here and there, but too much filler and not enough hits."[39] Reviewing the version of the film screened at theToronto International Film Festival, Stefan Pape of the British websiteHeyUGuys gave the film a mixed review of 2/5, stating that "Garth Jennings'sSing effectively acknowledges early on that it's following a completely unoriginal formula, and yet carries on regardless."[40] While Peter Debruge ofVariety, who also saw the film during the same festival, did not find the subplots to have any "profound life lessons", he overall praised Jennings' direction, the cast's voice performances and the film's silliness.[41]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AARP Annual Movies for Grownups Awards | February 6, 2017 | Best Movie for Grownups who Refuse to Grow Up | Sing | Nominated | [42] |
| Annie Awards | February 4, 2017 | Outstanding Achievement, Music in an Animated Feature Production | Joby Talbot | [43] | |
| Golden Globe Awards | January 8, 2017 | Best Animated Feature Film | Sing | [44] | |
| Best Original Song | "Faith" –Ryan Tedder,Stevie Wonder andFrancis Farewell Starlite | ||||
| Golden Trailer Awards | June 6, 2017 | Best Music | "Dream On" (Motive Creative) | [45][46] | |
| Hollywood Music in Media Awards | November 17, 2016 | Best Song – Animated Film | "Faith" –Ryan Tedder,Stevie Wonder andFrancis Farewell Starlite | [47][48] | |
| Best Soundtrack Album | Sing: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ||||
| Outstanding Music Supervision – Film | Jojo Villanueva | Won | |||
| Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | March 11, 2017 | Favorite Animated Movie | Sing | Nominated | [49] |
| Favorite Voice From an Animated Movie | Reese Witherspoon | ||||
| Most Wanted Pet | |||||
| Favorite Soundtrack | Sing | ||||
| Saturn Awards | June 28, 2017 | Best Animated Film | [50] |
A month after the film's release, Universal and Illumination announced plans for a sequel with writer/director Jennings, producers Meledandri and Healy, and the original cast returning for it. The film was originally scheduled for release on December 25, 2020, but the date was pushed back to July 2, 2021, accommodating the release ofThe Croods: A New Age.[51][52]Sing 2's release date was further pushed back to December 22, 2021.[53]
In April 2023, Meledandri confirmed a thirdSing film is in development.[54]
Universal now has "Max" and "Lunch" set up at Illumination MacGuff.
Sing* (Ill/Uni) 4,022 locations, 4-day $54.9M, 3-day: $35.2M, 4-day: $13,7K average, Total: $75.5M, 1 wk
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Data from Wikidata
