Tony Leondis

Anthony Leondis (born March 24, 1972) is a Greek-American filmmaker, known for being the director of The Emoji Movie, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, and Igor.

Career
Leondis started his career as a story artist working on films such as The Prince of Egypt and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. He later joined DisneyToon Studios, where he co-wrote the script for Kronk's New Groove. Leondis made his directorial debut on Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch in 2005. In 2008, he directed his first theatrical animated film, Igor, for Exodus Film Group.

Since 2009, he was directing at DreamWorks Animation an animated feature film about ghosts, titled B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations. The film, which was based on his original idea, was scheduled to be released in 2015, but by late 2014, it was pulled from DWA's schedule and went back into restructuring. By 2015, Leondis left DreamWorks to develop his next animated film, while B.O.O. is left dead at the studio.

The Emoji Movie
In 2017, Leondis directed and co-wrote Sony Pictures Animation's animated film The Emoji Movie, about emojis. Leondis pitched the film to the studio and co-wrote it with Eric Siegel.

The film was released on July 28, 2017. Though the film was a box-office success, it was panned by critics. He won two Razzie Awards for Worst Director and Worst Screenplay, the latter he shared with Eric Siegel and Mike White, making him the first animation director in motion picture history to get those categories.

2017–present
Following the failure of The Emoji Movie, Leondis has expressed some interest in pursuing live-action filmmaking. In an interview with IGN Greece, Leondis said,


 * If I did some live action movie, I would like to be in a fantasy world. I like animation the idea of creating the world, the whole world. So yeah, some time ago I would have liked to make live action.