Computeropolis

Computeropolis is a 2004 American computer-animated science fiction action-comedy film produced by Universal Feature Animation for Universal Pictures. It is the seventh animated feature in the Universal Animated Features canon, as well as Universal's first fully computer-animated film. The film was directed by Audel LaRoque from a screenplay by Thomas Lennon and a story by LaRoque and Michael Wildshill, and stars the voices of Jesse McCartney, David Spade, Kelsey Grammer, Dan Fogler, David Hyde Pierce, Jodi Benson, Jon Lovitz, Jennifer Tilly, and William Shatner. It follows a young computer game designer named Peri Dazz, who attempts to publish his own game named Frenzy to the internet and suddenly stumbles upon an eponymous online universe deep inside the realms of his computer. While finding a way to return home, Peri joins Nicky Kickzoo, the protagonist of the Frenzy game, on a risky mission to eliminate King Trojan, a virus capable of corrupting the entirety of the global system.

LaRoque envisioned the story in 1997, which was based on his dream of himself finding a computer that "sucked him into the computer world". He then began developing the film after production had finished on Paint World (1999) and wrote the original story with Wildshill to pitch it to Universal, with Lennon writing the screenplay. Following Lennon's first draft, Gary Hall, John France, and David Silverman were brought in to reconstruct the third act and add additional material, while the latter was selected to co-direct. The Universal animation team drew inspiration for Computeropolis ' s urban design from major cities including New York City, Seattle, and London. John Debney and Heitor Pereira composed the film's score.

Computeropolis premiered at the Fox Village Theater on June 27, 2004, and was released in the United States on July 2, 2004. It received universal acclaim from critics and was a box office success, grossing $687 million worldwide on its $65 million budget, making it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2004. Computeropolis won the 2004 Annie Award for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production for David Spade, for his voice performance as Nicky Kickzoo, and was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles. The film's success helped spawn an expanded franchise, with three sequels — Computeropolis 2, Computeropolis 3, and Computeropolis: The Deep Web — and a television series.