Roblox

Roblox (known in some countries as The Roblox Movie) is a 2026 3D computer-animated science fiction action-advneture comedy-drama film produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination, in association with Roblox Corporation, Lord Miller Productions and Perfect World Pictures, and distributed by Universal. It is based on a gaming platform of the same name. The film is directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, from a screenplay by Derek Connolly, and a story by Robert Smigel. It stars the voices of Oscar Isaac, Chris Evans, Jessica Chastain, Mark Wahlberg, Bill Hader, Ben Schwartz, Steve Carell, David Baszucki, Ryan Reynolds, Jason Sudeikis, Frank Welker, Max Martini and Nick Kroll. This film serves as the first installment in Illumination's Roblox Cinematic Universe.

Roblox was theatrically released on September 1, 2026 in 2D, 3D, RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, IMAX, IMAX 3D, 4DX, and ScreenX by Universal Pictures, and received universal acclaim from critics, audiences, and the fans of the platform, praising its animation, visuals, voice acting, character appearances, humor, style, soundtrack, and the darker and mature tone compared to Illumination's previous projects, while comparing it favourably to The LEGO Movie and Wreck-It Ralph. It is widely considered as one of the greatest and most influential animated movies ever made. With a worldwide gross of $1.5 billion against a budget of $350 million, it became the second highest-grossing film of 2026, the second highest-grossing animated film of all time, and had the best opening weekend for an animated title. Roblox won numerous awards, including Best Animated Feature at the 99th Academy Awards, 54th Annie Awards, and 84th Golden Globe Awards. It was the the second non-Disney/Pixar film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, as well as the first Illumination film to win that award. A sequel, Roblox 2: The Attack of Julien, was released on July 7, 2029, while a third film is in development.

This film is dedicated to Erik Cassel, co-founder of Roblox, who died on February 11, 2013, respectively.

Synopsis
An ordinary robloxian named Jake was always alone and people like to make fun of him. All of a sudden, when Ellernate starts preparing for an attack, he teams up with other robloxians he met such as Melvin, Jesse, Omar, Chad, Builderman, Donny and Noah to save the Roblox universe from Ellernate who is trying to take over.

Cast

 * Oscar Issac as Jake - A lonely robloxian who has live in Robloxia for his whole life and faced hate and abuse from other people. He also knew that Ellernate and other villains were gonna destroy Planet Builder and take over the universe.
 * Chris Evans as Melvin - A smart and playful robloxian who was always ready to have fun. He knows a lot of things with portals, technology and science. He is Jesse's brother.
 * Jessica Chastain as Jesse - Melvin's sister. She is determined and ready for long journeys
 * Mark Wahlberg as Ellernate - A cruel and ruthless being who wants to take over the universe and reshape it in his own liking. He is based off a hacker of the same name, who is the strongest in Roblox.
 * Bill Hader as Sean - An anti-hero who was always ready to fight criminals. He is Chad and Omar's big cousin, and Laith's brother.
 * Ben Schwartz as Laith - A robloxian who thinks he is better than most people, but ends up failing all the time. So, he joined with the team to prove that he can actually have skills.
 * Steve Carell as Donny - A robloxian who likes to cheer up Jake if he feels negative about Ellernate during his journey. Later, he betrayed Jake and the others and teamed up with Ellernate.
 * David Baszucki as Builderman - The god of the Roblox univers who always make sure everything goes fine.
 * Ryan Reynolds as Chad - Omar's brother. He likes to go outside, have some fresh air and loves going on adventures
 * Jason Sudeikis as Roblox - The main god of the universe when it was used to be called DynaBlocks, but somehow died when Ellernate betrayed Builderman and the other gods, which is the reason why the universe's name was changed to Roblox, in memory of his death.
 * Frank Welker as Omar - A robloxian who has autism and is eager to go on big adventures with the others.
 * Welker also voiced the avatars.
 * Max Martini as Narrator - The person who goes through the whole story of the film.
 * Nick Kroll as Noah - A person who was stuck in prison at the Jailbreak realm for 10 years. He also help Jake and the others along his journey.
 * Daniel Middleton as himself - A youtuber who makes daily videos on the realms. He appears as a cameo in the film.
 * Ed Helms as Sheriff - He is the leader of the Jailbreak realm.
 * The cops are an organization and the quaternary antagonists.
 * TBD as Cop #1
 * TBD as Cop #2
 * TBD as Cop #3
 * TBD as Cop #4
 * Malin Åkerman as Jake's mom. - The mother of Jake.
 * Kurt Russel as Jake's dad - The father of Jake.
 * Amy Poehler as Mrs. Block - Jake's teacher in Robloxia High School.
 * Mark Hamill as Bus Driver - the bus driver of Robloxia High School.
 * Tom Hanks as Mr. Lynn - The principal of Robloxia High School.
 * Tom Butler as Johnny - A person who wants to get revenge on the cops for killing his friends and sending him to prison.
 * TBD as additional voices #1
 * TBD as additional voices #2
 * TBD as additional voices #3
 * TBD as additional voices #4

More info coming soon...

Development
On November 28, 2023, Roblox Corporation posted an X (formerly known as tweet in Twitter due to being rebranded to X), showing an image that are almost pitch black with an avatar on it. People were confused with what it was, so they start talking about it. When they turned up the brightness, it shows 2 movie cameras between a scared avatar with a text saying "We're reimagining an animated film experience". The announcement went viral after people saw this investigation.

On December 12, 2023, Roblox made a blog post about the film, explaining their partnership with Universal Pictures and Illumination, with a release date for September 2026. On February 24, 2024, it was announced that a Roblox group Scriptbloxian Studios was in talks to produce a Roblox film (though the deal was not finalized at the time). This resulted in a formation of an animation studio Scriptbloxian Animation.

On May 23, 2024, it was reported that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller had signed on to direct, produce, and write the story for Roblox. During the event of RDC 2024, it was stated that the film would be “the standard for video game movies, being a film that both fans and casual viewers can enjoy”. In the same month, it was also announced that Derek Connolly would write the screenplay while Robert Smigel would co-write the film.

Writing
The writing began on May 7, 2024, though the script was still in progress. During an interview with BBC News, Lord and Miller were writing and discussing the first few drafts for a Roblox movie and would have fully written the film after the release of Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. Miller announced that the first draft of the script was completed. In an interview with Collider, producer Chris Meledandri confirmed that Lord and Miller were rewriting the script during production.

According to Lord and Miller, Roblox takes place in an alternative universe. Miller explained that “we wanted to try and tell a more complicated and sophisticated version of the story that we did with The LEGO Movie, where we had two different beings going against each other, like good vs evil. And part of the fun of the movie is trying to figure out what’s happening in the world of Roblox."

For Omar's character, Smigel described it as "a natural evolution of an autistic person". In response to the #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs trend, the filmmakers hired consultants from Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) and autistic people as writing assistants and supervisors so that Frank Welker can spent time with them in order to understand and do the portrayal well.

Filming
Hoyte van Hoytema (known for collaborating with Christopher Nolan) serves as the cinematographer for Roblox. The film used a combination of IMAX 65 mm and 65 mm large-format film. It is also the second film to shoot sections on IMAX black-and-white photographic film for flashbacks, which Kodak created and FotoKem developed. The film's dialogue made it possible for virtual IMAX cameras, to be used as the primary format. IMAX lenses were enabled for filming. For the second time in a feature film, IMAX cameras were used hand-held, which Lord and Miller advised as the best way to shoot on realms.

Visual effects and animation
The animation was provided by Illumination Studios Paris, which also provided animation for Illumination's previous films, while the additional animation was provided by Scriptbloxian Animation. Lord and Miller wanted the film to look like machinima. They added a new technology for a video game engine Roblox Studio that allows people to do professional 3D CGI animation on the characters themselves. This was later finalized and released to the public as an update known as Roblox Studio 2026 after the film's release. Meledandri stated that "with new technologies used for this new movie, we're happy to say that they have taken the animation to lengths we have never seen before in our history." The animation team explored multiple design styles for each realm that is within Planet Builder, and developed new animation approaches for some of these styles.

Wētā FX developed the visual effects. For three hours and three days a week, Lord and Miller met with Wētā, which was in charge of the outer space segments and produced the bulk of the visual effects shots, with 900 in total; Lord remarked that "this is one of the hardest movies we have ever done", as three 3-hour long meetings a week were necessitated to discuss the visual effects. They wanted the film to have its atmosphere that makes the audience feel as if they were in a Roblox universe, which they described it as "virtual reality but without the headset". Part of the film takes place in Planet Dark. Both the outer space and Planet Dark segments were post-processed with film grain to add a "live-action feel".

Music
The film's original score was composed by Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno. They both incorporated some cinematic electronic and ambient music score to reflect the Roblox universe, as well as the darker ones for Ellernate's heritage. Lorne Balfe and Roger Eno serves as the executive music producers for the film.

Several artists such as SZA, Megan Thee Stallion, Taylor Swift, DJ Khaled, Ke$ha, Becky G, Jonas Blue, Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow, and Lil Uzi Vert performed new original songs for the film.

Roblox - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

 * Taylor Swift - Unstoppable

More info coming soon...

Roblox - Original Motion Picture Score

 * 1) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Universal Opening
 * 2) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Creation
 * 3) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Morning Commute
 * 4) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Bloxible / Life Goes On
 * 5) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Planet Dark
 * 6) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Jake's Warning
 * 7) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Everyone Gets Kidnapped
 * 8) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Melvin and Jesse / The Lair
 * 9) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Getting The Team Together
 * 10) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Top of the Universe
 * 11) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Builderman Meeting
 * 12) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Work At A Pizza Place
 * 13) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Teleporation
 * 14) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - We're Breaking Out
 * 15) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Avatars' Chase
 * 16) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Arrival
 * 17) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Donny's Betrayal
 * 18) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Trying To Escape / Ellernate's Vengeance
 * 19) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Realm Domination / Melvin's Plan
 * 20) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Opera
 * 21) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - We Did It
 * 22) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Teamwork / The True Hero
 * 23) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Emergency Newcomer
 * 24) Hans Zimmer and Brian Eno - Prison Punishment

Marketing
The marketing campaign for Roblox reportedly costed $750 million dollars and began with the reveal of the the first photo of the film, alongside the release of the 118-second teaser trailer for the film a day before the Super Bowl LIX on February 11, 2026 in which gained extremely positive reviews from users with many pointing out the character's design and the backgrounds. This trailer features a hybrid orchestral cover of Rise by Katy Perry.

At the San Diego Comic-Con on May 22, 2026, twenty minutes of footage that was completed was shown to the audiences to even more positive reviews. In June of that year, the second and official trailer was released on YouTube to huge praise; in its 5 hours of the trailer being revealed online gained around 70 million views and as of July 2026, it had been viewed nearly 600 million times. For the promotion, Illumination partnered with Hyundai Mobility Company, making the film sponsor on their road throughout the 2026 season. The last and final trailer was released in theatres on August 8, 2026, nearly a month before the world premiere of the film.

List of Roblox games being introduced in the film

 * Adopt Me!
 * Brookhaven RP
 * Doors
 * Flee the Facility
 * Hide and Seek Extreme
 * Jailbreak
 * MeepCity
 * Murder Mystery 2
 * Natural Disaster Survival
 * Phantom Forces
 * Pet Simulator X
 * Royale High
 * Rainbow Friends
 * Speed Run 4
 * Theme Park Tycoon 2
 * Tower of Hell
 * Welcome to Bloxburg
 * Work at a Pizza Place
 * Hyundai Mobility Adventure

Release
Roblox was theatrically released by Universal Pictures on September 1, 2026, in commemoration of the platform's 20th anniversary. While people are watching the film in cinema, they'll get a chance to see a theatrical short based on The Super Mario Bros. Movie, titled Party at Bowser's Castle. It's about Bowser Jr. and his siblings throwing a secret rave at their castle while their father Bowser is on vacation.

Home media
The film streamed on Peacock 45 days afterwards. It was released on digital on November 17, 2026 and released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on Blu-Ray Disc, Blu-Ray 3D, Ultra HD Blu-Ray (with IMAX Enhanced), Blu-Ray 4K, and DVD on October 23, 2026. The Blu-Ray and DVD releases include shorts such as Builderman's Quest, Omar's Patience, Melvin and Jesse's Portal Adventure, and Laith's Test, the outtakes, and the behind-the-blox featurette. The film debuted on Netflix on December 25, 2026, and on Apple TV+ on May 17, 2027. It headed to Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max on July 22, 2027, and on Hulu on July 30, 2027.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 98% based on 282 reviews, with an average rating of 9.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Roblox is not only a mind-blowing film based on a gaming platform, but also acts as a middle finger to modern Disney." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 90 out of 100, based on 100 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale,, while those at PostTrak gave it an average 4 out of 5 stars; social media monitor RelishMix noted online responses to the film were "better than what it was".

Jesse Hassenger of The A.V. Club called it "lovable and entertaining", giving it a grade of A+ and writing "This film is a great way to introduce its new audience into the world of Roblox and it will definitely entertain those who might be interested in the franchise." TheWrap's Yolanda Machado praised the screenplay and directing and wrote that the film "expands on the entire platform, crafting a story that is timely, inventive, hilarious, emotional, and perfect for all ages."

Critics compared it favourably to The LEGO Movie and Wreck-It Ralph. Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly says that while it was better than what he expected, saying "They would be unstoppable for Roblox fans around the world. This is The LEGO Movie turned up to an 11." For The Hollywood Reporter, Michael Rechtshaffen wrote "The film brings the characters of Roblox together. It kinda reminds me of Wreck-It Ralph, and ultimately that’s all that really matters here."

Copyright
'''Universal Pictures and Illumination have accepted the rights to use the term Roblox, Powering Imagination, etc. They have also accepted the right to use the Roblox characters for the film. The characters and terms are owned by Roblox Corporation. The names and the looks of the characters that did not originate from Roblox belongs to its respective owners.'''

©2020 Universal Pictures, Illumination and Roblox Corporation. All rights reserved.

Trivia

 * The opening and end credits texts for Roblox are in Gotham font, similar to what Roblox Corporation uses for their content.
 * Mark Wahlberg's second animated film.
 * Like any other animated films, the credits for Roblox were made to look like a gameplay.
 * It is the first Illumination film to have YouTube celebrities be part of the casting.
 * It is also the fourth film to have YouTube celebrities, the others being Ralph Breaks the Internet, Smosh: The Movie, and The Angry Birds Movie.
 * Due to Minecraft getting its own movie, Roblox decided to the same with theirs.
 * The avatars are the only characters to have clones. In fact, there are 5,000 avatars as Ellernate's minions.
 * The part where Ellernate minds controls people to help him is similar to Minecraft: Story Mode where PAMA does the same.
 * The hospites have the same role as the villagers from Minecraft.
 * This movie acts like The LEGO Movie in some part of ways.
 * The name of the hospites are basically guests in Latin, which is a reference to the roles in Roblox.
 * It is the most expensive animated film ever made, surpassing Tangled.
 * It is also one of the most expensive films ever made due to the fact that they need to copy the Roblox character morphs and turn them into CGI-looking.