Puppet Pals Forever

Puppet Pals Forever (previously promoted as Puppet Pals: The Final Chapter) is a 2018 American computer-animated action-adventure comedy film produced by 20th Century Fox Animation for 20th Century Fox. It is the fourth installment in the Puppet Pals franchise, following 2013's Puppet Pals 3 and was directed by Steve Martino from a screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith, Peter Ackerman, Mike Reiss, and Jon Vitti and a story by Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Drew Cohen, and Jim Chapman, with Jesse McCartney, Anne Hathaway, Josh Peck, Seth Rogen, Patton Oswalt, David Hyde Pierce, John Cleese, Minnie Driver, and Isla Fisher reprising their roles from the previous installments. New cast members include Nick Kroll, Woody Harrelson, Josh Gad, Keegan-Michael Key, and Karen Gillan. The plot follows Nathan Ritter, struggling with his own family with no privacy, and now wanted to live his own life before joined the Puppet Pals, started his own family, and became a hero. However, he is tricked by a con artist named Wyatt Woodard into signing a contract into a world where Nathan was never born, which it leads to disastrous consequences, so Nathan must try to save his own life and get his friends back before time runs out. Meanwhile, Slippy, finds a mysterious bone that has a treasure map on it that directs him towards a magical island.

Puppet Pals Forever premiered in Los Angeles on September 7, 2018 and was released in the United States on September 21, 2018, by 20th Century Fox in RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, IMAX and IMAX 3D. The film received mixed reviews from critics; some praised its vocal performances, animation, and score, while others criticized its story as unimaginative and derivative. However, the film grossed $1.2 billion worldwide, against a budget of $200 million. To date, it is the sixth highest-grossing film of 2018, and the sixth highest-grossing animated film. The film was nominated at the 76th Golden Globe Awards and 91st Academy Awards, both for Best Animated Feature Film.

Voice cast

 * Jesse McCartney as Nathan Ritter, a pampered man and the co-leader of the Puppet Pals. He is also Joanna's husband.
 * Anne Hathaway as Princess Joanna, a beautiful woman who is the princess of Tinywood. She is also Nathan's wife.
 * Josh Peck as Toby, a geeky lizard.
 * David Hyde Pierce as Wayne, an swashbuckling anthropomorphic rabbit.
 * Nick Kroll as Wyatt Woodard, an con artist and later king of Golden City, who tricks Nathan into signing a contract where he was never born.
 * Woody Harrelson as Kiefer, an warrior who is part of Joanna's resistance.
 * Keegan-Michael Key as Tyreece, an chef who is part of Joanna's resistance.
 * Karen Gillan as Nicolette, an warrior who is part of Joanna's resistance.
 * Josh Gad as Melvin, a mouse who is Joanna's pet.
 * John Cleese as King Floyd, the king of Golden City and Joanna's father.
 * Minnie Driver as Queen Lila, the queen of Golden City and Joanna's mother.
 * Matthew Broderick as Captain Matt Barker, the leader and founding member of the Puppet Pals.
 * Seth Rogen as Travis, an overweight and lazy guy who is one of the members of the Puppet Pals.
 * Isla Fisher as Natalia Barker, a cheerful girl and Matt's daughter.
 * Patton Oswalt as Steve Smiley, a magical talking yellow round creature who looks similar to a yellow smiling face.
 * Jack McGraw as Ethan, son of Nathan Ritter and Princess Joanna.
 * Madeleine McGraw as Emily, daughter of Nathan Ritter and Princess Joanna.
 * David Cross as Mayor Adam, the empathetic mayor of Tinywood.
 * Chris Wedge (uncredited) as Slippy

Additional voices

 * Steve Alterman
 * Stephen Apostolina
 * Daniel Booko
 * Jeremy Bowker
 * Jen Cain
 * Catherine Cavadini
 * Vicki Davis
 * Johnny Gidcomb
 * David Michie
 * Heidi Brook Myers
 * Arthur Ortiz
 * Dave Zyler
 * Jacqueline Pinol
 * Michael Ralph
 * Maddix Robinson
 * Randy Thom
 * Dean Wein

Development
The first details of the sequel were announced after the release of Puppet Pals 3 in March 2013, when the Los Angeles Times reported that Fox Animation was working on a fourth and final film and was in negotiations with the voice cast. On May 23, 2013, Fox officially announced that Puppet Pals 4, was in development at Fox Animation Century City, while Steve Martino (who directed the first film) would direct the fourth film. Fox also indicated that it would be the final film in the Puppet Pals series and it would be slated for release for December 2016. American Dad! writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers wrote the film's story along with Jim Chapman.

Peter Ackerman, Mike Reiss, and Jon Vitti (who wrote the first film), returned as screenwriters to write the final film. In September 2014, Ackerman revealed that he, Reiss, and Vitti had begun writing the screenplay for the fourth film. By April 2016, Fox had confirmed that Seth Grahame-Smith has joined as a screenwriter for the film, and rewrote three quarters of Ackerman, Reiss, and Vitti's original script, according to Anne Hathaway.

Casting
According to a report by Deadline published in August 2014, Josh Peck was in negotiations to reprise his role of Toby. Fox announced in January 2015 that Jesse McCartney and Anne Hathaway would return to reprise their roles as Nathan Ritter and Princess Joanna, respectively. In July 2015, it was later announced that Josh Peck, Seth Rogen, Patton Oswalt, David Hyde Pierce, Minnie Driver, John Cleese, Isla Fisher, and Matthew Broderick would also return to reprise their roles from the previous films.

Hathaway stated in May 2016 that she had recorded her first lines for Joanna. On March 10, 2017, it was announced that Nick Kroll, Woody Harrelson, Keegan-Michael Key, and Karen Gillan had joined the cast in the sequel. In November 2017, Josh Gad joined the cast.

Animation
Coming soon!

Theatrical
Puppet Pals Forever premiered at the Regency Village Theater on September 7, 2018 and was released in the United States on September 21, 2018 by 20th Century Fox in 3D, RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, and IMAX 3D. It was originally scheduled for release on December 16, 2016, but in October 2013, Fox advanced the release date to July 14, 2017. In February 2014, the film was pushed back a week later to July 21. In May 2016, the release was then shifted eight months later to March 2, 2018. In December 2016, the release was later shifted to July 13, 2018. By May 2017, it was moved up two months later to September 21. On August 29, 2018, it was announced that the film would be accompanied by a new Fox Animation short film titled Super Peppy, starring Peppy Penguin and Officer Alice Summers of The Pixelators.

The film is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for ”mild action, rude humor, and brief mild language.”

Due to the popularity and preference of IMAX in 2D (as opposed to 3D) among filmgoers in North America, the film was shown in IMAX theaters only 2D domestically, but was screened in 3D formats internationally.

Marketing
Fox released the first teaser trailer for the film, along with the official teaser poster, were released on December 11, 2017. The film's teaser trailer received 112 million views on YouTube in its first 24 hours, becoming the most viewed trailer for an non-Disney animated film.

On January 16, 2018, a new international teaser poster was released. The official trailer for the film was later released on February 21, 2018. On April 25, 2018, the film's first 25 minutes were shown at CinemaCon 2018. On June 12, 2018, the film's final trailer was released. On July 24, 2018, an international trailer was released, showing more footage. The studio spent a total of $200 million promoting the film.

A customized page was created on Fandango. Coinciding with the film's release, Fox also partnered with McDonald's to produce eight toys in their Happy Meals.

Home media
The film was released on Digital HD and Movies Anywhere on December 4, 2018 and on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on December 18, 2018. Bonus features include a behind-the-scenes featurette, a short highlighting some of the Easter eggs hidden throughout the film, and deleted scenes.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 52% approval rating based on 214 reviews, with an average rating of 6.41/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Puppet Pals Forever suffers from a frustrating lack of imagination from its story and frantic animated antics, concluding this hilarious franchise with disappointing devotion." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 51 out of 100 based on 88 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an "A-" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 92% overall positive score and an 81% "definite recommend".

Box office
Puppet Pals Forever has grossed $589.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $612.6 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $1.204 billion, making it the highest-grossing Puppet Pals film in the whole franchise as well as the highest-grossing 20th Century Animation film worldwide and domestically at the time before Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood surpassed it.

United States and Canada
Puppet Pals Forever opened alongside The House With A Clock In Its Walls, Assassination Nation, Life Itself, and Fahrenheit 11/9. and was projected to gross $95–110 million in its opening weekend, which would be the biggest opening for an animated film released in September.

By the week of its release, domestic estimates had risen to $130–150 million, with some insiders still suggesting a $165 million debut was possible. The film played in 4,606 theaters, of which 3,878 venues were in 3D, along with 516 premium large format locales, approximately 420 IMAX theaters and a handful of Dolby Cinema sites, and it was the widest release ever, surpassing the record of Despicable Me 3's 4,529 theaters until it was surpassed by Avengers: Endgame the next year. Within the first 24 hours of pre-sale tickets going on sale, it broke Fandango's pre-sales record to become the top animated pre-seller of all-time, eclipsing Incredibles 2.

The film made $56.5 million on its first day including $17.2 million in Thursday night previews, the biggest of all time for Fox Animation, surpassing Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation’s $15.1 million cume. It ended up grossing $151.6 million in its opening weekend, the third biggest overall for an animated film in 2018 behind Cool Spot ($158.1 million) and Incredibles 2 ($182.7 million), and the second biggest of all time for a Fox Animation film respectively. The film's second Friday was the smallest Friday-to-Friday drop for a Fox Animation film with a gross of $25.5 million on that day which is a 54% drop from the first Friday. In the film's second weekend, it remained on the top of box office, beating Smallfoot and Night School (2018) while grossing $81.8 million (dropping 46% the lowest for the franchise) and surpassed Puppet Pals 2 ($319 million) with $328.3 million to become the highest grossing film in the franchise domestically. The film remained in first place in its third weekend while grossing $54.3 million over the weekend and topped $400 million. The film grossed $21.3 million while falling to third place in its fourth weekend behind Venom and A Star is Born while beating First Man, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, and Fox's own Bad Times At The El Royale. It grossed $18.6 million in its fifth weekend while remaining in third place and surpassed $500 million domestically. The film fell to fourth place while grossing $9.6 million in its sixth weekend. It dropped to fifth in its seventh weekend with $8.3 million. The film lost 982 theaters in its eighth weekend while dropping to ninth and grossed $4.6 million. In its ninth weekend, it remained in ninth place while grossing $3.4 million. On November 30, 2018, the film was re-released in 1,000 additional theaters increasing the theater count to 2,998 and grossed $7.5 million in its tenth weekend while it went to its sixth place finish. It finally fell outside the top 10 in its twelfth weekend with a gross of $2.2 million. It ended it’s theatrical run on March 7, 2019, after 167 days.

Internationally
Outside North America, the film made $49.5 million from 25 countries in its opening weekend, for a global debut of $202.1 million. Mexico was the largest debut with $14.1 million, followed by Australia ($8.7 million) and Russia ($5.6 million). In its second weekend of release, the film made $61.1 million from 28 countries, bringing its two-week total to $141.7 million. Its largest market was China where it made $22.6 million.

Accolades
Coming soon!

Possible sequel
Coming soon!

Spin-off
A spin-off/prequel of the main series of films entitled Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms, directed by Pamela Porter, was released on September 16, 2022. Anne Hathaway also reprised her role as Princess Joanna, and was joined by Justice Smith, Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Schwartz, Ian McShane, and Keanu Reeves. Set before the events of the Puppet Pals films, Joanna and her friends must leave Tinywood with her friends to travel to mysterious kingdoms full of enchanting landscapes where she must stop Darius and his evil forces from destroying her own city.