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Noveltoons: All Together Now is a 2022 American computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by Paramount Animation for Paramount Pictures and based on the Noveltoons franchise. It is the 79th feature film produced by the studio. The film is directed by Alexandra Farwell and Rich Moore from a screenplay by Farwell, Eyal Podell, Jonathon E. Stewart, and Peter Ackerman and a story by Farwell, Zaiden Fischer, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. It stars the voices of Billy West, Jess Harnell, Phill LaMarr, Danny Mann, Charlie Adler, Kath Soucie, and Tara Strong reprise their respective roles from other media, with Kathryn Newton (replacing Tara Strong), Jenny Slate, Rachel Bloom (replacing Kath Soucie), Jason Statham, Zach Galifianakis, Indina Menzel, Ken Jeong, Trey Parker, Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Tiffany Haddish, Fred Armisen, and Danny Trejo joining the cast. In the film, Friendly Fox discovers that the forgotten Noveltoons are now live in the different, but strange world called the "Famous World", where both two different cartoon characters, known as "Famous" and "Fleischers", lives. However, he later learns that a heartless, evil villain named Keyon plans to steal the world's supply of Madcaps, the source of what makes everything zany, in order to unleashing ultimate powerful forces. It's up to Friendly and his toon friends to take a journey to Famous World to stop this villain from stealing the Madcaps. During their adventure, Friendly and the gang encounter many strange and weird commodities of the world, and the gang they soon discover that some of their crazy personalities come from Famous World.

In August 2011, following the box office success of The Flamingo Prince when Paramount announced that they would reboot the Noveltoons film series. After several years in development hell, the film was officially announced in June 2018 and Alexandra Farwell was set to direct the film, with a new script written by Eyal Podell and Jonathon E. Stewart and a story by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. Rich Moore later joined as the film's co-director in July 2019 and production began that same month. It marked the first theatrically released film to feature the Noveltoons characters since the release of Noveltoons: Wacky & Out! (2004). It is the first film in the franchise to be fully animated in stylized CGI rather than traditional 2D animation.

Noveltoons: All Together Now premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on October 30, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 4, 2022, by Paramount Pictures in IMAX, RealD 3D, and Dolby Cinema. The film was released to generally positive reviews, with critics calling it a "pleasant surprise that plays homage to the classic cartoons" and most reviewers calling it "the best in the franchise" and an improvement from the previous films, while criticism was on it "playing it too safe". The film was a surprise hit at the box office as it grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide, becoming the highest grossing film of the franchise, the fourth film released during the COVID-19 pandemic to gross $1 billion, and the third highest grossing film of 2022. A sequel is currently in development at Paramount Animation.

Plot[]

Coming soon!

Cast[]

  • Billy West as Friendly Fox
  • Phil LaMarr as Barry Bird
  • Kathryn Newton as Sylvia Barker
  • Eric Bauza as Felipe Beaver
  • Tara Strong as Maria Johnson
  • Kath Soucie as Susan Wilson and David Jones
  • Tress MacNeille as Donna
  • Danny Mann and Charlie Adler as Clippy and Winkie
  • Fred Tatasciore as Nack Wombat
  • Jenny Slate as Melody Fox
  • Rachel Bloom as Holli
  • Jason Statham as Keyon, a master criminal plotting to steal the Madcaps in order to unleash the powerful forces of the Famous World.
  • Pete Davidson as Terry, Keyon's gullible assistant.
  • Zach Galifianakis
  • Indina Menzel
  • Ken Jeong
  • Trey Parker
  • Lil Rel Howery
  • Tiffany Haddish
  • Fred Armisen
  • Danny Trejo

Production[]

Development[]

Shortly before the release of Noveltoons: Wacky & Out! in 2004, producer Max Howard stated that a sequel was in early development, but was ultimately cancelled given the poor financial reception to said film. In a 2008 interview with Digital Spy, Nancy Farwell's granddaughter and Toonatics creator Alexandra Farwell stated that making another theatrical Noveltoons film was "a huge challenge" for the studio.

On August 6, 2011, shortly after the box office success of The Flamingo Prince, Paramount Pictures officially announced that they would reboot the Noveltoons film series with an fully-animated 3D feature film being written by Brian Lynch. In November 2013, Matthew O'Callaghan was originally hired to direct the film while John Cohen would produce the film along with Dallas Sharp. Alexandra Farwell would be involved in a creative capacity and would also serve as an executive producer on the film. O'Callaghan described the film as a "nostalgic taste" and said it would be released sometime in 2016. However, by January 2013, O'Callaghan and Brian Lynch both decided to drop out of the project due to "creative difficulties". On November 2, 2014, Julie Young, the CEO of Paramount Animation officially announced that production for the fully-animated Noveltoons film was cancelled. According to some news reports, there had been doubts about proceeding with the project after both O'Callaghan and Garland left the project, and it was Paramount's decision to cancel the film.

Several years later, on June 15, 2018, Paramount officially announced that the fully-animated Noveltoons film was back in production with a new plot, and Alexandra Farwell was also announced as the film's new director, replacing Matthew O'Callaghan. News websites report that the new film would be fully CGI-animated. In July 2018, it was reported that Kung Fu Panda and Trolls co-writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger had been hired to be the film's screenwriters, with John Cohen returning as producer. Farwell explained that the reason why Paramount decided to bring back the film is because of their "pure passion" for the series, and that the film would pay homage to the original cartoons. Wreck-It Ralph and Zootopia director Rich Moore later joined as the film's co-director in July 2019 and production began the following month. In October 2019, Peter Ackerman later joined as screenwriter for the film. Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger both later withdrew from the film in May 2020, citing "philosophical differences.", and later received "story by" credit in the final film. Subsequent rewrites were provided by David Feiss and Matthew Fogel, where they received an 'Additional Screenplay Material' credit.

On August 19, 2020, Farwell revealed an "animation test" footage for the film on her Twitter account, about which she said, "It's just something that kind of represents what we want to do. I couldn't be more excited by how it turned out."

On November 12, 2020, the film's official title was revealed to be Noveltoons: All Together Now, which would be about the Noveltoons going a epic journey to a mysterious but strange world, where they must stop a evil villain from the world's supply of Madcaps, and was announced that the film was scheduled for release on July 29, 2022. By February 2021, Farwell had confirmed that Eyal Podell and Jonathon E. Stewart had rewrote three quarters of Aibel and Berger's original script. In April 2021, Farwell had to complete the screenplay with Podell and Stewart.

Casting[]

In April 2021, Billy West, Jess Harnell, Phill LaMarr, Danny Mann, Charlie Adler, Kath Soucie, Tara Strong, and Tress MacNeille was revealed to be reprising their roles as Friendly Fox, Barry Bird, Clippy, Winkie, Maria Johnson, Susan Wilson, David Jones and Donna, respectively. Later that month, Kathryn Newton and Rachel Bloom joined the voice cast as the roles of Sylvia Barker and Holli. Strong and Soucie claimed that they had not been contacted about the decision to recast their roles.

In September 2021, Zach Galifianakis, Indina Menzel, Ken Jeong, Trey Parker, and Tiffany Haddish were announced to be joining the cast. In July 2021, Danny Trejo, Pete Davidson, and Lil Rel Howery were added to the cast.

Animation[]

All Together Now was animated in-house at Paramount's feature animation department in Los Angeles, California, as with most Paramount Animation films beforehand. Paramount hired 3D animators with a passion for 2D animation for the project. The strategy the animators used was to base the animation off a stylized 3D/CGI VFX modeling medium through a vintage 2D finish by creating innovative rigging, animation techniques used to create 2D animation, and custom tools such as lighting and rendering, resulting in the film's 3D/CGI animation maintaining the look, feel, and spirit of 2D animation, in the vein of the original classic shorts in the 1940s and 1950s, to pay even greater homage to what the cartoons have always been. The animators also used the original Noveltoons cartoons as reference and inspiration for the film's animation. The film was rendered with Paramount's Blast Rendering System with additional rendering under Pixar's Renderman.

Production of the film was also being done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Music[]

On August 9, 2021, it was announced that John Powell will compose the film's score with Guy Moon doing additional music.

Release[]

Theatrical[]

Noveltoons: All Together Now is scheduled to be released in theatres in the United States on November 4, 2022 in IMAX, RealD 3D, and Dolby Cinema. The film was originally scheduled to be released on July 29, 2022. On March 23, 2021, the film was moved up to the current November 4 release.

The film is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) for “some cartoon violence, rude humor, some thematic elements, brief language, and action/peril".

Marketing[]

The teaser poster was revealed on March 7, 2022, and the teaser trailer was officially released online on Paramount Pictures' YouTube channel on March 10 and attained 124.2 million views within the first 24 hours. The film's first official trailer was later released online on June 15, 2021, along with a new poster. A second and final official trailer was released on September 12, 2022. Paramount released a short film, titled Friendly's Spooky Halloween, as a Halloween styled promotion for the film on October 21, 2022. McDonald's had also promoted the film with a set of 8 toys being offered in their Happy Meals between October and November 2022.

Lego has revealed three new sets based on scenes from Noveltoons: All Together Now. The three sets were available on September 25, 2022. A collaboration with Minecraft, which was a DLC pack themed to the overall franchise and the film itself, was released in the game's Marketplace in late-October. Friendly, Barry and Sylvia also appear in Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway as a playable guest character. A four-part documentary featurette entitled The Working on Noveltoons: All Together Now was released on the Paramount+ streaming service on October 28, 2022.

Home media and streaming[]

Noveltoons: All Together Now was released for download and streaming on Paramount+ on December 13, 2022. It was released on DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray on February 7, 2023, by Paramount Home Entertainment. Bonus features include an audio commentary track, deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and 3 animated short films.

Following the release of Noveltoons: All Together Now on Paramount+, viewer tracking application Samba TV reported that 5.6 million U.S. households watched the film within its first five days of being available on Paramount+, comparable to Puffy's Years.

Reception[]

Box office[]

Noveltoons: All Together Now was theatrically released in the United States on November 4, 2022 by Paramount Pictures. The film grossed $377.2 million domestically and $727.8 million overseas for a worldwide total of $1.105 billion against its budget of $200 million. Breaking several box office records, the film became the third-highest grossing film of 2022, behind Top Gun: Maverick, the highest grossing animated film of 2022, overtaking Minions: The Rise of Gru, and the thirty-third-highest grossing film of all time, behind Skyfall.

Prior to the film's release, the film was heavily promoted by Paramount Pictures, which gave the film a high financial boost, with financial marketing backed by McDonald's and Lego, with the short film Friendly's Spooky Halloween, which premiered before the film during commercial breaks. It grossed $48.7 million in its opening weekend with $4.1 million in Thursday night previews, and $104.1 million in its opening week, finishing first at the domestic box office. Meanwhile overseas, the film made $78.8 million in its opening weekend with $9.3 million in Thursday night previews, and made $168.3 million in its opening weekend, racing to first at the overseas box office, and grossing above its expectations of $90-110 million.

Heading into its second opening weekend, in North America, the film made $68.1 million in its opening weekend, for an increase of 7%, and made $89.1 million in its second opening week, for a decrease of 5% and grossing below its expectations of $90-95 million. Overseas, in its second opening weekend, the film made $88.5 million in its second opening weekend, and made $196.2 million in its second opening week, finishing first.

Critical response[]

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an "Certified Fresh" approval rating of 78% based on 184 reviews, and an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Noveltoons: All Together Now didn't win over many people who aren't hardcore fans of the classic cartoons or the franchise's usual meta-humor, but it's still a colorful zany fun." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 60 out of 100 based on 42 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". 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 score of 4 out of 5 stars, with 72% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Accolades[]

Noveltoons: All Together Now was nominated at the 95th Academy Awards in six categories, winning three, including the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The film also received an Academy Award for Best Original Score for composer John Powell, and an Academy Award for Best Actor, with Billy West's performance of Friendly Fox winning said award. Additionally, the film won two BAFTA awards, one Golden Globe award, and three A

Future[]

After the successful box office opening of the film, a sequel was announced to be in development. On January 18, 2023, it was announced that Paramount officially greenlit a sequel with most of the cast members returning.

Transcripts[]

Main transcript[]

To see the transcript of the film, click here.

Trailer transcripts[]

To see the transcripts for the trailers of the film, click here.

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