Villagers and Pillagers - Part I

Villagers and Pillagers - Part I is a 2023 animated comedy-drama adventure musical fantasy film, produced by Warner. Bros Animation in association with Mojang Studios and was released by Warner. Bros Picture. It is directed by Jared Hess (who would co-wrote the story), produced by Ruben Ortiz and the game creators Markus "Notch" Persson and Jens "Jeb" Bergensten from a screenplay by Dean DeBlois (who both directed and wrote the 2002 film, Lilo & Stitch) alongside, Chris Bowman and Charlie Kaufman, plus a story by Jared Hess and David Callaham. It is largely based on the popular, best-selling video game, Minecraft that was released back in 2011 and it is marked by many to be the second film ever that is based on the game itself since Minecraft: The Movie in which released a year prior in November 2022 to mixed reviews, but was highly successful.

The film stars the voices of Mo Ankir as the voice of Norman, alongside David Snyder, Zechariah Eubanks, Samuel Code, Yotam Ofek and Esteban Vasquez. The score was compose by composer Ludwig Göransson while the songs were written by well-known songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (who wrote the songs for the 2013 and 2019 Disney film, Frozen and Frozen II). The story follows about an adult villager named Norman "Norm" who get revenge after he was kicked out with his team for doing crazy stuff that wasn't allowed. The idea of the second feature-film based on Minecraft was brought up during the production of Minecraft: The Movie. It was announced at the end of Minecraft Live 2020 with Jared Hess set to direct and later started early development with the working title, The Pillagers. It is the first feature-film based on a video game to be in the traditional (2-D) animation style. Animation and production on the film went underway.

After getting delayed once due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Villagers and Pillagers - Part I had its world premiere at the Paris Theatre in New York City on September 19, 2023, then opened theatrically in limited release on October 5, 2023, before expanding into a worldwide release on October 27, 2023 in 2D, 3D, IMAX, RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema and 4DX formats. Upon its release, the film received near-universal acclaim from critics, audiences and fans of the video game with praise aimed at its voice acting (especially Mo Ankir, David Snyder and Samuel Code), screenplay, themes, animation, Ludwig Göransson's score, musical songs, emotional weight, charm and its faithfulness to the source material. Also, it was a huge commercial success, grossing a worldwide total of over $500 million dollars at the box office against its $90-100 million production budget; crossing the half-billion dollar mark and became the highest-grossing video game in the United States behind Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022), the highest-grossing video game of all time and the sixth highest grossing film of 2023. Villagers and Pillagers received numerous awards and nominations, including one awards for Best Animated Feature Film, a nomination for Best Sound at the 96th Academy Awards, and three awards at the Annie Awards. It resulted in the movie to launch a new film franchise that would includes, a feature-length sequel, titled Villagers and Pillagers - Part II in November 2024, a spin-off series, The Villagers in December 2024, a third film, titled Villagers and Pillagers - Part III in November 2026 and a upcoming feature-film, The History of the Villagers scheduled for release on December 25, 2026.

Plot summary
A press release from mid-July 2022 describes the story as follows:"When a young villager named Norman find a base underground that is full of potions while playing with his friend named Jim, he finally found his dream job. Years passed by and Norman is an adult who works as a cleric with a group of villagers until one day, someone ended up finding the base and kick them out. Now, Norman want to get revenge and would do something horrible to create his army"

Cast

 * Mo Ankir as Norman, a 20 year old villager who works as a cleric with his team and a friend of Jim. He is the main villain of the film and was originally meant to be a pillager, but in the updated script, he is a evoker in which can spawned ghosts from the ground.
 * Martin Stephens voiced Norman as a child


 * David Snyder as Jim, a 22 year old villager who works as a farmer just like his father and mother is. He is kind, helpful and a friend of the villain, Norman.
 * Noah Jupe voiced Jim as a child
 * Zechariah Eubanks as Arila, a 17 year old teenager who is still choosing a job and a friend of both Jim and Norman.

Development
During the production of Minecraft: The Movie, Notch posted a blog on November 12, 2019 that he and Jeb were reporting to be already producing a another, but secret feature-film that was once again, based on their game, Minecraft from the many ideas that screenwriter, Chris Bowman pitched to them. Before the announcement was made, Hubbel Palmer started to work on the screenplay in which was entitled as The Villagers and the Pillagers for least about two months.

Music
"Main article: Villagers and Pillagers - Part I (soundtrack)"

Release
Villagers and Pillagers - Part I was released theatrically in the United States and the United Kingdom on October 27, 2023 by Warner. Bros Picture. Part I was initially scheduled for release on November 24, 2022; on the day of the thanksgiving, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic that occurred during its production, the film was postponed to be instead released on October 27, 2023.

Box office
Villagers and Pillagers - Part I grossed $309.6 million dollars in the United States and Canada and $200.7 million dollars in other territories, for a worldwide total of over $500 million. It is the highest-grossing video game in the United States, the highest-grossing video game of all time, the sixth highest grossing film of 2023, and the third-highest-grossing traditionally animated film, behind Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train (2020).

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside, SAX (2023) and was projected to grossed $20-30 million on its opening weekend, while some estimates expected the film to make $40-45 million and few even as high as $60 million. The film opened nationwide in theaters on Friday, October 27, 2023 and after gaining around 30.8 millions (including $20+ millions from its Thursday previews), estimates were raised to around $70 millions dollars. It ultimately gained a total of $73 millions dollars, plus $42.5 millions overseas for a total of around $115.5 million worldwide, topping the box office domestically. It remained #1 in the United States with on its second weekend, it gained $61 million (a 16% drop) and on the third, made $35 million (a 42% drop) until on its fourth weekend, in which the film made around $20 million dollars (a 54% drop). On its fifth weekend, the film made around $5.3 million, and $3.1 million on its sixth.

Outside of the United States and Canada, the film made $42+ million, becoming the #1 film internationally. Its top countries that garnered the most revenue were the United Kingdom ($64 million), China ($51 million), India ($31.4 million) and Mexico ($23.5 million). It finished its theatrical run on June 1, 2024 with a worldwide total of 500+ million, becoming a box office success.

Critical response
Villagers and Pillagers - Part I opened to near-universal acclaim with many reviewers favorably comparing it the films of the Revival Era of Disney, especially The Princess and the Frog (2009), Frozen (2013), Moana (2016) and Encanto (2021). On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 231 critics' reviews are positive with an average rating of 9.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "With the return of traditional animation, great storytelling and funny humor, Villagers and Pillagers - Part I is a wonderful film that the family can watch and enjoy together." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 89 out of 100 based on 54 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, and PostTrak reported it received an average 4 out of 5 stars, with 89% of viewers they surveyed saying they would definitely recommend it.

Nick Schager of The Daily Beast gave the film a positive review, praising the animation, story and musical numbers and saying that, "Warner. Bros is returning back to its golden era of animation". John Nugent of Empire Magazine gave the film a four out of five stars, writing, "Villagers and Pillagers bring back the classic animation style and smash it together with its amazing humor, the spellbinding songs and its wonderful storyline". Akeem Lawanson of IGN gave the film a score of 9 out of 10, heavily praising its faithfulness to the source material and the voice acting, stating that, "The film is amazing in every way and keep its charm and the nostalgia the game have while Mo Ankir and David Snyderare were doing great performing their lines".

Glen Weldon of NPR gave the film a positive review, saying, "I just want to hug this film so much. It had some of the best (2-D) animation I ever, alongside with its great songs, and a wonderful, wonderful plot." Writing for RogerEbert.com, Nick Allen rated the film four out of four, praised the humor, and said that, "This film is not only perfect, but it also hilarious at the same time too." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly declared that the film is "one of the best animated musicals that Warner Bros released since Cats Don't Dance (1997)." David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a "A-" and wrote that the film is "one of the greatest musicals to ever be released since Disney Revival Era films." Alex Stednan of IGN gave the film a score of 10 out of 10 and wrote that, "Thanks to its humor and the charm, Villagers and Pillagers - Part I is a great treat for Minecraft fans who really want to see the characters on the big screen". Todd McCarthy of Deadline Hollywood wrote "It work extremely well, especially the plot, and the characters". Despite all of the positive reviews, there were some mixed ones.

Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com wrote that, "Kids may love the film lot and lot, however adults will be very disappointed."

Franchise
"See also: Villagers and Pillagers (franchise)"Even before Part I was released in 2023, Warner. Bros and Mojang Studios would start working on a sequel titled, Villagers and Pillagers - Part II in which would released a year later in November of 2024 to even more critical and commercial success. A third one would released two years later in November of 2026 to the same success as the two same movies.

A spin off prequel, titled The History of the Villagers is set to be released on December 25, 2026 and is serve as the finale of the franchise.