The Pixelators

The Pixelators is a 2016 American 3D computer-animated comedy film produced by 20th Century Fox Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from a screenplay by Nicholas Stoller, Derek Connolly, and Rodney Rothman, with a story by Lord, Miller, Connolly, and Nicole Perlman, and features an cast with the voices of Tom Holland, Anna Kendrick, Kevin Hart, Jason Statham, Ryan Reynolds, Zoe Saldana, Keegan-Michael Key, Jason Sudeikis, Gabriel Iglesias, Ellie Kemper, Kristen Wiig and Jenny Slate and tells the story of two video game designers which they get sucked into an video game universe deep inside the realms of a magic arcade cabinet.

The Pixelators premiered on November 23, 2016 at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles, and went into general release on December 9 in 3D, IMAX 3D and Dolby Cinema. The film had mixed reviews from critics who praised the animation and voice acting but criticized the plot and lack of originality. The film was a box office success, grossing $592 million worldwide against a $155 million budget and receiving an nomination for Best Animated Feature at the 44th Annie Awards, and was also nominated for Best Original Score, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing at the 89th Academy Awards. A sequel, The Pixelators: Level Two, was released on February 7, 2020.

Plot
Coming soon!

Cast
Several characters from other Fox films and media also make cameo appearances with their original or current voice actors, such as Kristen Bell as Alaina Gleen, Mandy Moore as Kate Anderson from Kate &amp; Chris, Selena Gomez as Crystal, Anne Hathaway as Princess Joanna from Puppet Pals, John Leguizamo as Sid from Ice Age, Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson from The Simpsons, Meg Ryan as Anastasia "Anya" Romanova from Anastasia, and Andy Serkis as Caesar from the Planet of the Apes reboot films.
 * Tom Holland as Bryce Jones
 * Jason Drucker as an young Bryce Jones
 * Anna Kendrick as Officer Alice Summers
 * Kevin Hart as Carl Stevenson
 * Jason Statham as Lord Hex
 * Ryan Reynolds as Peppy Penguin
 * Zoe Saldana as Nya, a nature warrior princess
 * Jason Sudeikis as Jay, a speedy bird-like creature
 * Bill Hader as Dale Duck, Peppy Penguin's best friend
 * Ellie Kemper as Amelia, the gatekeeper of Pixel City
 * Gabriel Iglesias as Carlos
 * Keegan-Michael Key as The Master Rapper
 * John Cena as Big Bill, an tough fighter
 * Kristen Wiig as Harper Jones, Bryce's mother
 * Jenny Slate as Trinity, a "super cool" dancer.
 * Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill as Ed and Elliot, two multicolored shape-shifting creatures who annoy Bryce.
 * Nick Offerman as Wizman, an wizard
 * Patrick Stewart as Mayor Simon, the mayor of Pixel City
 * Will Forte as Mr. Marshmallow
 * Seth Green as Hack Master #1
 * Chris Hardwick as Hack Master #2

ADR Voice Performers

 * Steve Apostolina
 * Maggie Baird
 * Daniel Booko
 * Jen Cain
 * Richard Epcar
 * Jeffrey Todd Fischer
 * Catherine Cavadini
 * Randall Thom
 * Yuri Lowenthal
 * Johnny Gidcomb
 * Danielle Hartnett
 * Joanna Leeds
 * Susan Leslie
 * David Michie
 * Heidi Brook Myers
 * Joey Naber
 * Matt Nolan
 * Debi Derryberry
 * Raymond Ochoa
 * Arthur Ortiz
 * David Cowgill
 * Devika Parikh
 * Courtney Peldon
 * Ben Pronsky
 * Scott Menville
 * Jason Grant Smith
 * Warren Sroka
 * Kelly Stables
 * Skip Stellrecht
 * Fred Tatasciore
 * Byron Thames
 * Angelo Vacco
 * Matthew Wolf
 * Lisa Wilhoit
 * Ruth Zalduondo
 * Dave Zyler

Popular culture cameos and references
Coming soon!

Music
Most of the soundtrack comes from old songs from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. This was because Phil Lord was so fascinated with nostalgia that he wanted the film to be unique as well. Additionally, The Weeknd made a song called “I Feel It Coming“, with a 80’s nostalgia feel for the movie and was used in the end credits.

Release
The Pixelators premiered at the Regency Village Theater on November 23, 2016 in Los Angeles in an out-of-competition screening. In the United States, it received a wide theatrical release by 20th Century Fox starting on December 9, 2016 in RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, Dolby Cinema, premium large formats, and D-Box. The film was later released in the United Kingdom on December 30, 2016 and in Australia on December 22, 2016. The film was released two months later in China on February 17, 2017.

The film was initially scheduled for release on November 4, 2016, but in March 2015, It was moved forward to December 16, 2016 to avoid competition with DreamWorks Animation's Trolls. In May 2016, The Pixelators was pushed back a week back to December 9, 2016, to avoid competition with Lucasfilm's Rogue One.

The film had its TV broadcast debut on February 22, 2019, airing on FX. The airing achieved over 5.2 million viewers, lifting FX's usual ratings in February.

Marketing
A video game based on the film was released on December 6, 2016 for Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, and published by Activision and developed by Beenox.
 * The film's teaser trailer was released on January 26, 2016, and was later released with Kung Fu Panda 3, Zootopia, The Jungle Book, Captain America: Civil War, The Angry Birds Movie, and X-Men: Apocalypse.
 * The first theatrical trailer was released on June 7, 2016, and was shown with Finding Dory, The BFG, The Secret Life of Pets, Ghostbusters, Ice Age: Collision Course, Pete's Dragon, and Kubo and the Two Strings.
 * The final poster and trailer were released on September 8, 2016 and the trailer was later shown before Puppet Pals 3D, Storks, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life, Trolls, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and Moana.
 * TV spots aired between September and December of 2016.

Home media
The Pixelators was released on Digital HD on March 17, 2017, and on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, and DVD on March 28, 2017 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Box office
The Pixelators grossed $248.2 million in the United States and Canada and $344.2 in other countries for a worldwide total of $592.4 million, against a budget of $155 million.

North America
In the United States and Canada, The Pixelators was released alongside Office Christmas Party and the expansions of Miss Sloane and Nocturnal Animals and pre-release tracking suggested the film would open to $55–60 million from 4,054 theaters in its opening weekend. It played in 3,460 3D theaters, 425 IMAX theaters, and 315 premium large format screens. It earned $5.2 million from Thursday night previews. Buoyed by good word of mouth, it earned $22.9 million on its opening day, breaking the record for the biggest opening day for a original Fox Animation film at that time, until it was broken by Cool Spot in 2018. It ended up overperfoming in its opening weekend, grossing $70.2 million, which is the second biggest animated opening in December behind Paradoria ($113.9 million). In its second weekend, the film made $43.6 million, dropping 38%, and finishing second behind newcomer Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ($155 million).

Critical response
The Pixelators received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 47% based on 162 reviews and an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Even though The Pixelators boasts an talented cast and top-notch CG animation, they aren't enough to save the disappointing end result from a muddled story, pop-culture references, and loud and frenetic action that has little replay value." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 46 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter considered the film "very amazing and hilariously well-done." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, saying "An eye-popping and irreverent animated experience from the guys who brought you The Lego Movie... The Pixelators is an fast, fizzy and frenetically entertaining film that proceeds to obliterate with a 2-hour blast of color, noise, ingenuity and fun." Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal criticized the film's story, describing it as "too formulaic." Glenn Kenny of The New York Times gave the film a negative review, writing, "Let's be clear, then: The Pixelators isn't pointless because it's based on video games. It's pointless because it's pointless". Andy Webster of The New York Times called it, "A poor man's Wreck-It Ralph". In his review for TheWrap, Alonso Duralde wrote, "The Pixelators is an awful candy coated, hard shined brick of postmodernism—a mix of pop-culture references, 80s nostalgia, product placements and internet memes".

Sequel and potential spin-off
Coming soon!

Television series
Coming soon!