VeggieTales: The Movie

VeggieTales: The Movie is a 2011 American Christian computer-animated children’s musical adventure comedy film based on the animated television series VeggieTales by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki. Directed by Mike Mitchell, written and produced by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki and produced by Jordan Kerner based on a screenplay by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, it is Sony Pictures Animation’s first film to be produced alongside Big Idea Entertainment, and the film stars the voices of Phil Vischer, Mike Nawrocki, Lisa Vischer, Cydney Trent, Keri Pisapia, Megan Murphy Chambers, Patrick Warburton, Michelle Yeoh, Chloë Grace Moretz, Dakota Fanning and Grant Palmer.

Development on a VeggieTales movie originally began in 2004 with FHE Pictures and Lionsgate. In 2005, Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired Big Idea Entertainment, the owner of VeggieTales, for $250 million. Jordan Kerner, owner of The Kerner Entertainment Company, signed a deal with Big Idea founders Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki, Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation. The film was produced by Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Walden Media, Big Idea Entertainment and The Kerner Entertainment Company, with animation produced by Sony Pictures Imageworks. It is the first and only VeggieTales film to be released by Columbia Pictures until 2012, when Paramount Pictures acquired the rights in May.

VeggieTales: The Movie premiered in Muscatine, Iowa on January 7, 2011 and was theatrically released in the United States on February 25, 2011 by Sony Pictures Releasing. Upon release, it received mixed reviews from critics; while there was praise for the musical score by Heitor Pereira and Mark Mothersbaugh, voice talents of Vischer, Nawrocki, Pisapia, Warburton, Yeoh and Moretz, screenplay and faithfulness to the source material, there was criticism towards its plot, humor, continuity and overall storyline. Despite the mixed reception, it was a box office success, grossing $597.1 million on its budget of $145 million, becoming Sony Pictures Animation’s highest-grossing film of all time surpassing their own The Smurfs the same year until Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse overtook it in 2023. In 2012, the film was re-released by Paramount Pictures following their acquisition the same year, and produced and released a follow-up film, titled VeggieTales 2: The Adventures of LarryBoy, which was released on February 19, 2016.

Plot
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Voice cast
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Development
The development first dates as far back as 2004, when Big Idea Entertainment announced an official VeggieTales film would be coming out in 2007, with distribution handled by Universal Pictures. However, after a troubling script process, the plans fell through.

In 2005, Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired Big Idea Entertainment for $250 million, thus making the company a subsidiary of Sony Pictures. Jordan Kerner of his production company, The Kerner Entertainment Company, had signed a deal with Big Idea founders Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki -- who developed VeggieTales -- with Sony Pictures Animation.

The film was originally going to be a blend of live-action scenes with computer-generated imagery. However, as revealed by producers Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki, they shifted towards full computer-animation, as a live-action/computer-animation hybrid film would demineralize the VeggieTales franchise if it did poorly.

Writing
Producers Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki wrote the story for the film. In an interview with film director Mike Mitchell, he stated that: "we still want to pay as close attention to the classic VeggieTales formula as possible, while also making it a fun family adventure."

Casting
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Animation
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Soundtrack
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Marketing
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Theatrical
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Home media
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Critical reaction
VeggieTales: The Movie, while received positively by fans and audiences of the series, received mixed reviews from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 36% based on 184 critics, with an average rating of 3.85/10. The site’s consensus states, “While it may not be as pleasing as Big Idea's earlier installments, VeggieTales: The Movie still delivers delightful laughs and a fun story that any kid can enjoy.” Metacritic - which uses a weighted average - reported a score of 48 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews”. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore assigned the film an average grade “A-” on its A+ to F scale.

Box office
VeggieTales: The Movie opened on February 25, 2011 in 4,102 theatres in North America, and made $43 million opening day with $6.8 million in Thursday night previews.

The film grossed $192.4 million in the United States and Canada and $404 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $597.1 million.