Taking place during the events of thefifth season of the television series, the film follows the Teen Titans, who attempt to have a movie made about them in Hollywood while dealing with supervillain Slade. Warner Bros. Pictures first announced the film in September 2017 with the series' voice cast set to reprise their roles. Arnett and Bell were added to the cast in leading roles a month later.
Teen Titans Go! To the Movies premiered in theTCL Chinese Theatre on July 22, 2018, and was theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on July 27, 2018.[4] It grossed $52.1 million worldwide on a $10 million budget. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised the story, humor, music, and entertainment value. This is one of the posthumous releases for longtime DC producerBenjamin Melniker, who died five months before its release.[5][6][7]
In Jump City, theTeen Titans arrive to stopBalloon Man but jump into arap song to introduce themselves and become distracted, forcing theJustice League to intervene. They criticize the Titans for their childish behavior and inability to take their positions as superheroes seriously, raising the fact that they do not have a feature-length film to prove their legitimacy.
At the premiere ofBatman Again, the Titans' leaderRobin is mocked and laughed at by the superhero audience after a misunderstanding leads him to assume that there is a film about him. When a supervillain namedSlade breaks intoS.T.A.R. Labs to steal a crystal, the Titans try to stop him, but he defeats and insults them.
Beast Boy,Starfire,Cyborg, andRaven create a film about Robin to cheer him up but he gets upset, turns it off before watching the ending, and declares that they will go toHollywood for a film. Upon arriving atWarner Bros. Studios, they encounter director Jade Wilson, who is responsible for all the superhero films. Jade rejects them because they lack an archnemesis. In order to have one, the Titans retrieve the crystal from Slade at Wayne Tech, however, Slade escapes, resolving Robin to split from his teammates.
The next day, Jade announces that she will make a movie about the Titans due to their successful fight with Slade. Raven, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Cyborg discover a device labeled "DOOMSDAY" and try to destroy it. Jade explains that D.O.O.M.S.D.A.Y. is simply an acronym for a new streaming service. Upset with the Titans' shenanigans, she drops them from the film and decides to make it solely about Robin. He accepts and decides that the Titans should break up, believing that they are holding each other back. As he films his movie, he begins to regret his decision and miss his friends.
On the final day of filming, Jade, who is revealed to be Slade in disguise, steals the crystal back from theTitans Tower. He then reveals that the superhero films he made were to keep all the heroes distracted with filming while he stole technology from their cities to build D.O.O.M.S.D.A.Y., with which he will control minds and conquer the world. He also purposely caused a rift between Robin and his friends to defeat them. Slade destroys the Titans Tower, but Robin escapes. He calls his friends and apologizes; they return and reconcile with him.
At the premiere ofRobin: The Movie, the Titans unmask Slade's disguise, but he unleashes the crystal's power to mind-control the Justice League and send them after the Titans. However, Slade uses the power device to hypnotize Robin and tells him to attack his friends. They show their homemade movie to remind him that he is the hero of the Titans, causing Robin to turn back to normal. The team uses their rap song to defeat Slade and destroy the crystal, snapping the other heroes and the rest of the world out of their trance. The Justice League finally acknowledge the Titans as real heroes and Robin says he has realized he can be a hero and be himself without a movie.
Greg Cipes asBeast Boy, a green-skinned humanoid, a member of the Teen Titans and Cyborg's best friend who is the youngest and comic relief of the group and has the power to shapeshift into various animals of all shapes and sizes.
Scott Menville asRobin,Batman's sidekick and the de facto leader of theTeen Titans who uses gymnastic skills, martial arts and various weapons to fight crime.
Jacob Jeffries as Robin's singing voice for the song "My Superhero Movie".
Khary Payton asCyborg, a cybernetic enhanced human cyborg who was once a former athlete and football player. He has the power of using a variety of weapons from his mechanical body as well as possessing enhanced strength. He is also the oldest of the Teen Titans, Beast Boy's best friend and even a member of the Justice League.
Tara Strong asRaven, a humansorceress who is secretly half-demon and has the ability to fly, use telekinesis, teleportation and magic as well as open portals to other dimensions. She is also the daughter of an inter-dimensional satanic-like demon namedTrigon and a human namedArella and was originally born on Azarath, her former birthplace and home realm.
Hynden Walch asStarfire, a beautiful Tamaranian princess who has the ability to fire bright green-colored bolts of ultraviolet energy and green laser beams as well as possessing immense physical strength and supersonic flight. She is also shown to have a villainous older sister known asBlackfire.
Kristen Bell as Jade Wilson, a famous filmmaker, who is actually Slade in disguise, and let the Teen Titans try to persuade to make a movie about them.[8]
Nicolas Cage asSuperman, a member of the Justice League and survivor ofKrypton. Cage, who is a big fan of Superman, was intended to play Superman in the cancelled filmSuperman Lives directed byTim Burton.[10] He later portrayed an alternate version of the character in the 2023 filmThe Flash, in a cameo appearance.
Joey Cappabianca asPlastic Man, a member of the Justice League.
In March 2018, it was announced that musiciansLil Yachty andHalsey were part of the cast, as Green Lantern and Wonder Woman, respectively, withNicolas Cage revealed as Superman the same day. Cage was originally slated to portray Superman inTim Burton's canceled Superman film,Superman Lives, in the 1990s.[10]Jimmy Kimmel was announced to voice Batman in the film through an extended cut of the trailer.[13]
TheTeen Titans Go! To the Movies soundtrack was released on July 20, 2018. The soundtrack consists of songs that the cast sing throughout the movie that serve mostly as musical pop culture references and parodies, and the musical score composed byJared Faber.
The film was released in theaters in the United States on July 27, 2018, byWarner Bros. Pictures and became generally available on November 23, 2018, followed by a United Kingdom bow a week later. It was released in Australian theaters on September 13, 2018. An early screening was held on June 22 atVidcon 2018, for both badge members and YouTubers. The film was also shown atSan Diego Comic-Con on July 20, 2018. The film had its worldwide premiere as the opening film of the TCL Chinese Theatre special screening event.[22]DC Comics announced thatTeen Titans Go! To the Movies held a watch event on November 22, 2018[23] and releasedTeen Titans Go! To the Movies for general availability on the next day. The film's theatrical release was preceded by#TheLateBatsby, ashort film based onLauren Faust's forthcomingDC Super Hero Girls television series.[24]Teen Titans Go! To the Movies was generally available for download from MSDN and Technet on November 7 and for retail purchase from November 23, 2018. The film was set to make its network television premiere onTBS on September 12, 2020, but was removed from the schedule and replaced by an airing ofSherlock Gnomes for unknown reasons.[25] The film made its official network television premiere onCartoon Network on November 25, 2020.
Teen Titans Go! To the Movies has grossed $29.6 million in North America, and $22.3 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $52 million, against a production budget of $10 million.[3]
In the United States,Teen Titans Go! To the Movies was released alongsideMission: Impossible – Fallout, and was initially projected to gross around $14 million from 3,188 theaters in its opening weekend, with a chance to go as high as $19 million.[27][28] However, after making $4.6 million on its first day (including $1 million from Thursday night previews), estimates were lowered to $10 million, and it ended up debuting to $10.5 million, finishing 5th at the box office.[29]
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 92% based on 132 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Teen Titans Go! To the Movies distills the enduring appeal of its colorful characters into a charmingly light-hearted adventure whose wacky humor fuels its infectious fun – and belies a surprising level of intelligence."[30] OnMetacritic, the film has a score of 69 out of 100 based on reviews from 25 critics.[31] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[29]
Laura Prudom ofIGN gave the film a score of eight out of ten, calling it a "gleefully unhinged deconstruction of superhero tropes that isn't afraid to take aim at the rest of DC's cinematic roster".[32]Owen Glieberman ofVariety said "Teen Titans GO! is fun in a defiantly super way, and that's a recommendation."[33] Frank Scheck ofThe Hollywood Reporter wrote that "Considering the somberness that afflicts so many DC universe releases, the tongue-in-cheek, albeit admittedly juvenile humor ofTeen Titans Go! To the Movies should come as a welcome relief to fans."[34]
David Betancourt ofThe Washington Post opined, "Teen Titans Go! To the Movies is a laugh-a-minute ride that hits you with the jokes from the very first frame. From the cute shots atMarvel Studios to the self-deprecating tone on the state of DC movies, you’ll leave the theater with a new set of superhero abs from laughing so hard."[35]
Brandon Katz ofThe New York Observer said that the film is "a fun parody of sorts that gently skewers our superhero obsessed culture, and while there may be one too many gags thrown in there which can get a bit tiresome after awhile, it's an enjoyable movie for both kids and adults".[36] Brian Tallerico ofRogerEbert.com rated the film at three out of four, saying "It's not a film designed to break ground or even offer too much social commentary on the role of superheroes in modern culture. It's built with the primary goal of making you laugh and forget your problems for just under 90 minutes, and it does exactly that."[37]
GameSpot's Chris Hayner, while finding fault with what he deemed excessivetoilet humor and some dragging in the film, said that "In a superhero movie landscape where the world is constantly being destroyed by massive CGI abominations, this is a refreshing change... it doesn't forget how funny and exciting these types of movies can be".[38]
ATeen Titans Go! episode, titled "Tower Renovation", premiered on August 13, 2018, after the firstTeen Titans Go! film's release. The episode is about the Teen Titans who attempt to rebuild the Titans Tower after Slade destroyed it in the events of the firstTeen Titans Go! film.
^Tallerico, Brian (July 23, 2018)."Teen Titans Go! To The Movies".RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC.Archived from the original on July 23, 2018. RetrievedJuly 23, 2018.
