The film was directed byTony Leondis from a screenplay he co-wrote with Eric Siegel andMike White. Inspired by Leondis' love ofToy Story (1995), the film was fast tracked into production in July 2015 after a bidding war and the project was announced in April 2016. Most of the lead cast members were hired throughout the rest of the year. It had a production time of two years, shorter than most other animated films. The marketing of the film drew a negative response from the public and an internet backlash before the film's release. It was produced byColumbia Pictures andSony Pictures Animation.
The Emoji Movie held its premiere at theRegency Village Theatre on July 23, 2017, before being released in the United States on July 28 bySony Pictures Releasing. It was a box-office success, grossing $218 million worldwide against a $50 million budget. It received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics, who considered it one of the worst animated films of all time.[4][5] At the38th Golden Raspberry Awards, the film won four of its five nominations, includingWorst Picture, making it the first animated film to win in its respective categories.[6]
Plot
Gene is anemoji that lives in Textopolis, a digital city inside the smartphone of middle school student Alex. He is the son of twomeh emojis named Mel and Mary and, unlike other emojis, is able to make multiple expressions, which makes him anoutcast. His parents are hesitant about him going to work, but Gene insists so that he can feel useful.
Upon receiving atext message from his love interest Addie McCallister, Alex decides to send her an emoji. Once selected, Gene panics, sends a bizarre face, and wrecks the text center. He is called in by Smiler, asmiley emoji and leader of the text center, who concludes that Gene is a "malfunction" and therefore must be deleted. Gene is chased bybots. He is rescued byHi-5, a once-popular emoji who has fallen into disuse and has been relegated to the "Loser Lounge". Hi-5 tells him that he can be fixed if they find ahacker, so the two set off together so that Gene can become a "normal" emoji and Hi-5 can regain his popularity.
Smiler sends more bots to look for Gene when she finds out that he has left Textopolis, as his actions have caused Alex to think that his phone needs to be fixed. Gene and Hi-5 come to apiracyapp where they meet a hacker emoji namedJailbreak, who wants to reachDropbox so that she can live in thecloud. The trio is attacked by Smiler's bots, but escapes into the gameCandy Crush. Jailbreak explains that Gene can be fixed in the cloud, and the group goes off into theJust Dance app. While there, Jailbreak confesses she is a princess emoji who fled home after tiring of beingstereotyped. They are once again attacked by bots, and their actions cause Alex to delete theJust Dance app. Gene and Jailbreak escape, but Hi-5 is taken along with the app and ends up in theTrash.
Mel and Mary search for their son and have a very lethargic argument. They reconcile in theInstagram app when Mel accidentally shows an enamored face, revealing that he is also a malfunction and explaining Gene's behavior. While traveling throughSpotify, Jailbreak admits that she likes Gene the way he is and says he should not be ashamed of himself. The two start to fall in love and Gene debates his choice to change himself. They arrive at the Trash and rescue Hi-5, but get attacked by a bot upgraded withmalware. The three disable it and flee to Dropbox where they encounter afirewall they're able to pass using Addie's name as apassword to enter the Cloud where Jailbreak prepares to reprogram Gene. He admits his feelings for her but she only wants to venture into the Cloud, unintentionally causing him to revert to his apathetic programming out of heartbreak. The upgraded bot sneaks into the Cloud and captures Gene, prompting Hi-5 and Jailbreak to go after him with aTwitter bird summoned by Jailbreak in her princess form.
As Smiler prepares to delete Gene, Mel and Mary arrive. Mel admits to everyone that he is also a malfunction, prompting Smiler to threaten to delete him as well. Jailbreak and Hi-5 arrive and disable the bot, which falls on top of Smiler. Alex has since taken his phone to a store in hopes that afactory reset performed bytechnical support would restore his phone's functionality, which would totally destroy Gene's world upon completion. Out of desperation, Gene prepares to have himself texted to Addie, making numerous faces to express himself. Realizing that Addie received a text message from him, Alex cancels the factory reset just as it nearly finishes, saving the emojis and finally getting to speak with Addie, who likes the emoji Alex sent. Gene accepts himself for who he is and is celebrated by all of the other emojis.
In amid-credits scene, Smiler has been relegated to the "Loser Lounge" while wearing braces during her recuperation.
James Corden as Hi-5, a hand emoji representing ahigh five signal which used to be popular until he was discontinued and relegated to the Loser Lounge with the other discontinued emojis[9][10][11]
The film was inspired by directorTony Leondis' love ofToy Story (1995).[20] Wanting to make a new take on the concept, he and co-creator Eric Siegel began asking themselves, "What is the new toy out there that hasn't been explored?" At the same time, Leondis received a text message with an emoji, which helped him realize that this was the world he wanted to explore.[20] In fleshing out the story, Leondis considered having the emojis visit the real world. However, his producer felt that the world inside a phone was much more interesting, which inspired Leondis to create the story of where and how the emojis lived.[20] As Leondis is gay, he connected to Gene's plight of "being different in a world that expects you to be one thing", and in eventually realizing that the feeling held true for most people, Leondis has said the film "was very personal".[20]
In July 2015, it was announced thatSony Pictures Animation had won a bidding war againstWarner Bros. Pictures andParamount Pictures over production rights to make the film,[21] with the official announcement occurring at the 2016CinemaCon.[22] The film was fast-tracked into production by the studio after the bidding war. Unlike most other animated films, the film had a production time of two years, as there were concerns that the movie would become outdated due to the evolution of phone technology.[23]
Casting
OnWorld Emoji Day on July 17, 2016, Miller was announced as the lead.[8] Leondis created the part with Miller in mind, although the actor was initially hesitant to play the role, only accepting after Leondis briefed him on the story.[24] Leondis chose Miller because "when you think of irrepressible, you think of TJ. But he also has this surprising ability to break your heart".[24] In addition, Miller also contributed some re-writes.[25] In October 2016, it was announced thatIlana Glazer and Corden would join the cast as well.[9] Glazer was later replaced byAnna Faris.[11]Jordan Peele stated that he was initially offered the role of "Poop" (a part that would ultimately go to Patrick Stewart), which he said led to his decision to retire from acting.[26]
Music
The film's score was composed byPatrick Doyle,[27] who previously composed the score for Leondis'Igor (2008).[28] SingerRicky Reed recorded an original song, "Good Vibrations", for the film.[29] While also voicing a character in the film,Christina Aguilera's song "Feel This Moment" was also used during the film.[30]
Marketing
On December 20, 2016, a teaser trailer for the film was released, which received overwhelming criticism fromsocial media users, collecting almost 22,000 "dislikes" against 4,000 "likes" within the first 24 hours of its release.[7] A second trailer was released on May 16, 2017, which also received an extremely negative reception.[31][32] Sony promoted the release of the latter trailer by hosting a press conference in Cannes, the day before the2017 Cannes Film Festival, which featured T.J. Millerparasailing in.[33]Variety called the event "slightly awkward",[34] andThe Hollywood Reporter described it as "promotional ridiculousness".[33]
Sony Pictures was later criticized after the film's official Twitter account posted a promotional picture of a parody ofThe Handmaid's Tale, featuring Smiler. The parody was considered to be "tasteless" due to the overall themes of the work, and the image was deleted afterward.[35][36]
On July 20, 2017, Sony Pictures invited YouTube personalityJacksfilms to the world premiere and sent him a package containing variousEmoji Moviememorabilia includingfidget spinners, face masks, and aplushie of the poop emoji. Jacksfilms had sarcastically praised the movie on his YouTube channel four months prior.[43][44]
Release
The Emoji Movie premiered on July 23, 2017, at theRegency Village Theatre in Los Angeles.[45] It was initially scheduled for release on August 11,[46] but was later moved up to August 4,[47] and finally July 28.[48] In theaters,The Emoji Movie was accompanied by the short filmPuppy! (2017)[49] The film, along withDreamWorks Animation'sCaptain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, were chosen to inaugurate the removal ofSaudi Arabia's cinema ban through adouble feature screening on January 13, 2018, organized by Cinema 70; they were the first two movies to be given an official public screening in the country in 35 years.[50]
The Emoji Movie grossed $86.1 million in the United States and Canada and $131.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $217.8 million, against a production budget of $50 million.[3]
The film was released on July 28, 2017.[53]The Emoji Movie grossed $10.1 million on its first day, including $900,000 from Thursday night previews.[54] The film debuted at second place behindDunkirk, grossing $25.7 million from 4,075 theaters.[55] Its second weekend earnings dropped by 50% to $12.4 million,[56] and followed by another $6.5 million the third weekend.[57]The Emoji Movie completed its theatrical run in the United States and Canada on November 30, 2017.[58]
Review embargoes for the film were lifted midday July 27, only a few hours before the film premiered to the general public, in a move considered among several tactics studios are using to try to curb badRotten Tomatoes ratings.[59] Speaking of the effect embargoing reviews until last minute had on the film's debut, Josh Greenstein, Sony Pictures president of worldwide marketing and distribution, said, "The Emoji Movie was built for people under 18 ... so we wanted to give the movie its best chance. What other wide release with a score under 8 percent has opened north of $20 million? I don't think there is one."[59]
Critical response
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes,The Emoji Movie has an approval rating of 6% based on 134 professional reviews, with an average rating of 2.9/10. The website's critics' consensus simply displays ano symbol emoji (🚫) in place of text.[60]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assignedThe Emoji Movie a score of 12 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike", becoming the lowest-rated animated film on the site.[61] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[53]
David Ehrlich ofIndieWire gave the film a D, writing: "Make no mistake,The Emoji Movie is very, very,very bad (we're talking about a hyperactive piece of corporate propaganda in which Spotify saves the world and Sir Patrick Stewart voices a living turd), but real life is just too hard to compete with right now."[62]Alonso Duralde ofTheWrap was also critical of the film, calling it "a soul-crushing disaster because it lacks humor, wit, ideas, visual style, compelling performances, a point of view or any other distinguishing characteristic that would make it anything but a complete waste of your time".[17]
Nigel Andrews of theFinancial Times, however, gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "Occasionally it's as ifThe Lego Movie is reaching out a long, friendly arm toInside Out and falling into the chasm between. But the film is inventive too",[78] while Jake Wilson ofThe Sydney Morning Herald gave the film 4/5 stars, calling it "a rare attempt by Hollywood to come to grips with the online world".[79]
Legacy
Screen Rant later placed it at #6 of their 10 Terrible Movies You Don't Have to See to Know They're Bad list.[80]ScreenCrush would put the film at #9 on its list of the 50 worst films released during the 21st century.[81]
Steve Baker,Ricky Blitt, Will Carlough, Tobias Carlson, Jacob Fleisher, Patrik Forsberg, Will Graham,James Gunn, Claes Kjellstrom, Jack Kukoda,Bob Odenkirk, Bill O'Malley, Matthew Alec Portenoy,Greg Pritikin, Rocky Russo,Olle Sarri, Elizabeth Wright Shapiro,Jeremy Sosenko, Jonathan van Tulleken, and Jonas Wittenmark (2013)
