Animator vs. Animation (film)

Animator vs. Animation (also titled The Animator vs. Animation Movie in other territories) is a 2022 American live-action/animated direct-to-video action-adventure epic fantasy-comedy film directed by Alan Becker, Tim Hill, Pat Casey and Josh Miller, written by Alan Becker and Tim Hill and produced by Becker, Julia Pistor, Jens Bergensten and Agnes Larsson based on a screenplay by Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger and John Whittington, the film is based on the animated web series of the same name, as well as Animation vs. Minecraft by Alan Becker. The film stars Tom Aglio as The Second Coming, with Michael Kovach, Terrance Drye, Patton Oswalt, Scott Porter, Niall Burns, Parker Simmons, Patrick Seitz, Carl G. Brooks, Phil LaMarr, and Alan Becker.

The plot of the film follows The Second Coming (Aglio), an orange computer-animated stick figure, created by Alan Becker (himself) on a Microsoft Windows computer, who lives with his friends, Red (Kovach), Blue (Drye), Yellow (Oswalt) and Green (Porter). The Second Coming is a reincarnation of The Chosen One (Simmons), a black computer-animated stick figure, who had a hatred for The Dark Lord (Seitz), a red computer-animated stick figure, though have gotten along with each other after their warfare. The Dark Lord is prone to destruction, typically in the case of computer viruses and malware. While in a heated argument with The Chosen One, he sends a virus to Alan Becker's PC, nicknamed ALANSPC.

The film was produced by Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Nickelodeon Movies, Miramax Films, Stickman Studios (Alan Becker's production company), Mojang Studios, and Original Film, with Top Draw Animation providing 2D animation sequences, with Autodesk Maya and Blur Studio providing 3D animation sequences. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 1, 2022 by Paramount Home Entertainment, and on Digital on August 2, 2022. It had a limited theatrical release on August 5, 2022. It was praised by critics for its animation, visuals, musical score by Scott Buckley, plot, emotional weight, and its drama, though criticized the 110-minute runtime. The film made $21.6 million on a $50 million budget, due to it being a limited theatrical release. A sequel is in development.

Plot
TBA

Voice cast

 * Tom Aglio as The Second Coming, an orange computer-animated stick figure and the main protagonist.
 * Michael Kovach as Red, a red computer-animated stick figure, and friends with The Second Coming.
 * Terrance Drye as Blue, a blue computer-animated stick figure, and friends with The Second Coming.
 * Patton Oswalt as Yellow, a yellow computer-animated stick figure, and friends with The Second Coming.
 * Scott Porter as Green, a green computer-animated stick figure, and friends with The Second Coming.
 * Niall Burns as Purple, a purple computer-animated stick figure. Originally an archnemesis of The Second Coming and his friends, he was a King of a Minecraft village on a macOS High Sierra.
 * Parker Simmons as The Chosen One, a black computer-animated stick figure from Alan Becker's old computer, seen in a flashback. The Chosen One is enemies with The Dark Lord.
 * Patrick Seitz as The Dark Lord, a red computer-animated stick figure and the main antagonist. He has an obsession with computing and malware, and is the creator of the ViraBot, a dangerous computer virus that targeted Alan Becker's PC.
 * Chris Geere as the ViraBots, a group of executable application spiders part of the computer virus ViraBot.
 * Carl G. Brooks as Victim, a dark-grey computer-animated stick figure. He is the original incarnation of The Chosen One, who first appeared on Alan Becker's PC, as presented in a flashback.
 * Phil LaMarr as King Orange, a dark-orange computer-animated stick figure, and the secondary antagonist. A sought of destruction, much like The Dark Lord, he seeks to create a black hole in the Nether, and destroy Minecraft.

Live-action cast

 * Alan Becker as himself, an animator and video gamer. He is the husband of his wife, Kaori Becker.
 * Kaori Becker as herself. She is the wife of her husband, Alan Becker.

Development
Alan Becker had never sought to make a feature-length film about his franchise. However, in 2018, he was approached by Paramount Pictures, with the concept of a film by him. Becker once again had his doubts, but Paramount had stated in an email shared by Becker (with corporate consent) that the film would "be direct-to-video", rather than theatrical. Upon reading, Becker agreed to a film deal. Paramount soon brought in the help of Nickelodeon Movies, Paramount's family entertainment division.

Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger were soon hired to write the screenplay for the film, with John Whittington to additionally write the screenplay, which brought in the help of Original Film. Alan Becker served as director, writer and producer of the film, while Tim Hill served as director and co-writer. Additionally, Julia Pistor served as producer, with Jens Bergensten and Agnes Larsson as co-producers, which soon brought in Mojang Studios. Pat Casey and Josh Miller served as additional directors.

Casting
TBA

Animation
2D animation was produced overseas in Manila, Philippines at the Filipino animation studio Top Draw Animation. However, 3D animation was produced at Paramount Animation in Los Angeles, California, with Autodesk Maya providing animation services, and Blur Studio providing visual effects. Overseas animation was complete, and animation from Manila and Los Angeles was soon shipped to the Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank, California.

Music
"Main article: Animator vs. Animation (soundtrack)"The score and composition for Animator vs. Animation was composed by Swedish composer Scott Buckley, who composed the score for other Animator vs. Animation videos by Alan Becker. The scoring took place at the Sony Pictures Studios Scoring Stage at the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. Additional original songs were composed by American music composer AaronGrooves. The album was released through Paramount Music on August 2, 2022.

Home media
The film was released exclusively on DVD and Blu-ray on August 1, 2022 by Paramount Home Entertainment, and was later released on Digital on August 2, 2022. Originally going to be a theatrical film, Paramount stated in a corporate letter to Alan Becker that the film would be direct-to-video. The film was rated PG by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) for rude humor, epic violence, and mild language. After being given a PG-13 rating twice, the crew altered the humor and language to a more tolerable setting, and was received a PG rating after being sent a third time.

Limited theatrical release
The film saw a limited theatrical release on August 5, 2022 by Paramount Pictures.

Critical response
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 91% based on reviews from 104 critics, with an average rating of 8.35/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Pulling all the strings together for an epic adventure of stick figures, Animator vs. Animation is visually amazing -- especially since it uses literal stick figures to make the movie interesting." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".