ROBLOX: The Movie (2022 film)

ROBLOX: The Movie (also known as just ROBLOX in some countries) is a 2022 computer-animated action-adventure fantasy film produced by Tracy Blagdon, Phil LaFrance, Jamie LeClaire, Kyle Mac Dougall and David Baszucki and is based on the popular children's video game ROBLOX by Baszucki, Erik Cassel and ROBLOX Corporation.

The film was directed by Erik Cassel and British animator James Muckle in their feature directorial debuts and written by Baszucki and Cassel. The film features the voices of Tom Holland, Jack Black, Tom Hanks, Emma Stone, Tara Strong, Robert Downey Jr. and Alec Baldwin.

ROBLOX: The Movie was theatrically released on February 25, 2022 by Paramount Pictures in 2D, 3D, IMAX, IMAX 3D, RealD 3D and Dolby Cinema formats. The film received critical acclaim by critics and audiences alike, with critics praising its voice cast (particularly Holland, Black, Hanks and Stone), screenplay, animation, score and its plot. The film grossed $1.029 billion against the production of $50 million, making it the highest grossing film of 2022, overtaking Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and became the highest grossing animated film of 2022.

Sypnosis
All-time Roblox veteran Maxwell "Max" Johnson (Walker Scobell) was playing as his character Max (Tom Holland), named after him, as he was wandering around, when he got the newspaper. It read "THE TOWN OF BLOXBURG IS IN CRISIS!" All emergency services are down and the town is on the edge of extinction. But, Max (Holland) and his Bloxburg friend Emma (Emma Stone) avenge with other civilians across the town, with negotiations with the president of Bloxburg, Adam (Tom Hanks), on what to do.

Plot
TBA

Animated/in-game cast

 * Tom Holland as Bloxburg citizen Max
 * Jack Black as Tom, the Bloxburg Citizen Hunter; black mask, shirt, jacket, leggings and shoes, has pale arms
 * Tom Hanks as the President of Bloxburg, Adam Benson
 * Emma Stone as Bloxburg citizen Emma
 * Tara Strong as Meep (voice)
 * Robert Downey Jr. as the President of Meep City
 * Alec Baldwin as John Doe, a Roblox legendary user and "hacker"; pale arms, yellow top with Roblox "R", and blue leggings
 * John Favereau as Hacker 101, a professional Roblox hacker
 * John Leguizamo as Jack, the Bloxburg Citizen Hunter; black mask, shirt, jacket, leggings and shoes, has dark arms
 * Emjay Anthony as The Noob, an average Roblox noob; yellow arms, green torso, green leggings
 * Chris Pratt as John
 * Charlie Day as The Astronaut
 * Will Arnett as Oakley
 * Mike Myers as Casey
 * Natalie Palamides as Lin
 * Amanda Leighton as Claire
 * Tom Kenny as Ajulious Ceasar
 * Richard Ayoade as ElgordoPR
 * Thomas "Tommy" Doyle as Linkmon99
 * Albert Spencer Aretz as Flamingo, a Roblox veteran and famous Bloxburg celebrity
 * Fred Tatasciore as Bloxwatch, a member of the famous ROBLOX hacking group of the same name
 * Nick Offerman as Guest 666, a Roblox Guest with spiky blue hair and a villainous hacker

Live action cast

 * Walker Scobell as Max Michael Johnson, a 12 year old kid who plays his character, Bloxburg citizen Max
 * Zac Efron as Joseph Maxwell Kenneth, a 34 year old retired computer workshop owner, who plays the President of Bloxburg

Development
In late 2019, Roblox developer David Baszucki announced at the 2019 San Diego Comic Con that a feature length film was in the works with Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures, which hyped fans up. Production began in June, but into January 2020, production slowed, before coming to a stop, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2020, production reopened and it soon wrapped up on February 10, 2022.

Casting
Casting swiftly went underway in September 2019 when Tom Holland signed to play Max, a ROBLOX Bloxburg citizen. Additional cast members, including Jack Black, Tom Hanks and Emma Stone signed to play their decided character roles, which included Bloxburg citizen hunter Tom (Black), the President of Bloxburg, Adam Benson (Hanks) and Max's friend, Emma (Stone). In January 2020, like the production, it stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Animation
The animation was produced at Paramount Animation, Nickelodeon Animation Studios and Roblox Studios. For Paramount Animation, the production took place in Los Angeles, California. For Nickelodeon Animation Studios, the animation took place in Burbank California. And for Roblox Studios, the animation took place in San Mateo, California.

CG animation
The CG animation was produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studios and Roblox Studios. For Nickelodeon Animation Studios, the company assisted the animation of Jam Filled Entertainment, a Canadian-based animation production studio based in Ottawa, Ontario. Tracy Blagdon, the producer for the CG animation for Thomas & Friends, produced the animation, while Phil LaFrance, Jamie LeClaire and Kyle Mac Dougall co-produced the film.

Jam Filled Entertainment is best known for animating Thomas & Friends as mentioned, and is known for animating the competing animated slice of life series The Loud House, which competes with SpongeBob SquarePants on Nickelodeon.

Parts of CG was animated by Rough Draft Studios South Korea for flashback scenes, for where elements, such as explosions, were rendered at 24fps, while the standard animation was rendered in 12fps.

Additional CG animation was produced by the British animation studio Toothpaste Animation Studios. James Muckle, the founder of the company, was the leader of animation, while the company had acquired many employees, mainly from the United Kingdom, bumping its original employee count from 5 to over 75. The animation was produced in Cinema4D, Blender and Sony Vegas. Additional animation and photography was produced in Adobe After Effects.

Traditional animation
The traditional animation sequences were animated by Rough Draft Studios South Korea, a Seoul-based animation company and its namesake subsidiary of Rough Draft Studios. The standard traditional 2D animation was produced in 12fps. Dong Soo Lee and Jun Hee Yoo were the lead animation directors for the animation production.

Rough Draft Studios South Korea is best known for animating popular Nickelodeon cartoons, including SpongeBob SquarePants, My Life as a Teenage Robot, Dexter's Laboratory, and the studio produced Cartoon Network programs, including The Powerpuff Girls, Adventure Time and Steven Universe.

Separate animations were produced by Jam Filled Entertainment and the Filipino-based animation studio Top Draw Animation. Top Draw is best known for animating many television shows including The Tom and Jerry Show, and animating feature length films including My Little Pony: The Movie and The Loud House Movie.

Live action filming
The filming for live action scenes were filmed in Ontario, Canada. Cameras and lenses were provided by Panavision for filming. Separate filming for scenes featuring Zac Efron were filmed in Orlando, Florida.

Release
ROBLOX: The Movie was screened at the Regency Village Theater on February 20, 2022 and was released theatrically on February 25 in the United States, and in other territories on February 28 by Paramount Pictures.

Russia release cancellation
In other territories, ROBLOX: The Movie was pulled from Russian releases, due to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war.

Box office
ROBLOX: The Movie opened theatrically on February 25, 2022 in the United States and Canada. It grossed $475.4 million in the United States and Canada and $554.6 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $1.029 billion. The film became the highest grossing film of 2022, overtaking Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the highest grossing animated film of 2022.

United States and Canada
ROBLOX: The Movie was released in America and Canada on January 21, 2001. The film was screened in 3,025 theaters in the states of America and provinces in Canada.

In North America, the film was projected to gross $65-75 million in its opening weekend. It made $5.9 million from Friday night previews. The film made over $89.6 million on its first day ($78.2 million with an additional $11.4 million in Saturday night previews), beating its projections. The week finished with $189.2 million, finishing at number one at the American and Canadian box offices.

Entering its 2nd weekend of the film's opening, the film was set with promotional tie-in's from McDonald's and Burger King, along with merchandising from Mattel and Hasbro. The film made $13.4 million from Friday night previews, and made $102.4 million on the first day of the 2nd week ($95.3 million and $7.1 million in Saturday night previews), beating its projections again. The second week finished with $195.8 million, again finishing at number one at the American and Canadian box offices.

The film's box office projections ended on June 12, and the film grossed $475.4 million in total from its projections.

Other territories
In other territories, the film was released on February 28, 3 days after the US release. The film was screened in 3,896 theaters in multiple territories outside of the United States and Canada.

The film's box office projections were estimated between $75-90 million. In other territories, the film was released in seven markets on January 26, and grossed $49.5 million in its opening weekend. In its 2nd week of release, the film opened in 20 more markets, grossing $61.3 million. In the 3rd week of its release, the film opened in 29 more markets, grossing $87.2 million.

Throughout its theatrical run in other territories outside of the United States, the film's largest markets were the United Kingdom (£134.9 million | $165 million), Germany (€119.1 million | $125.1 million), Japan (¥10.9 billion | $81 million), China (¥506.4 million | $75.4 million), Australia (A$64.1 million | $58 million) and South Korea (₩62.7 billion | $50.1 million).

The film's box office projections ended on June 17, with the film totaling $554.6 million in total from its projections.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 136 critic reviews were positive, with an approval rating of 8.4/10. The critical consensus reads "Wonderfully animated with a convincing backstory and plot, ROBLOX: The Movie will have players of the original video game playing more." On Metacritic, the film has an approval rating of 87 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore assigned the film a rare grade of "A+" on its A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave the film a 96%, with 94% of audiences definitely recommending it.