Puppet Pals Forever

Puppet Pals Forever After The Final Chapter previously promoted as Puppet Pals 4 The Final Chapter is an 2018 American 3D computer animated action adventure comedy film produced by 20 Century Fox Animation for 20th Century Fox. It is the 4 installment in the Puppet Pals franchise, following 2012 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 Jim Chapman and Tom Ropelewski with Jesse McCartney, Anne Hathaway, Josh Peck, Seth Rogen, Patton Oswalt, Jon Lovitz, John Cleese, with Minnie Driver, and Sarah Vowell reprising their roles from the previous installments, New cast members include Nick Kroll, Woody Harrelson, Josh Gad, with Keegan Michael Key, and Karen Gillan.

Puppet Pals Forever After premiered in Los Angeles on September 7, 2018 and was released in the United States on September 21, 2018, by 20 Century Fox in RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, IMAX and IMAX 3D. The film received mixed reviews from critics some praised it vocal performances, animation, and score, while others criticized it story as unimaginative and derivative. However, the film grossed $1.2 billion worldwide, against a budget of $200 million. To date, it is the highest grossing Puppet Pals film and making it the 6 highest grossing film of 2018, and the 3 highest grossing animated film. The film was nominated at the 76 Golden Globe Awards and 91 Academy Awards, both for Best Animated Feature Film.

Release
Puppet Pals Forever After premiered at the Regency Village Theater on September 7, 2018 and was released in the United States on September 21, 2018 by 20 Century Fox in 3D, RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, and IMAX 3D. It was originally scheduled for release on March 2, 2018, but in December 21, 2016, Fox had to advanced the release date to June 29, 2018. The release was then shifted to September 21, 2018. On August 29, 2018, it was announced that the film would be accompanied by a new Fox Animation short film titled Virtual Reality Officer, starring Officer Alice Summers from The Pixelators.

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

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

Marketing
A customized page was created on Fandango. Coinciding with the film release, Fox also partnered with McDonald to produce 8 toys in their Happy Meals.

The film also has it own PlayStation VR game, being Fox Animation 1 PlayStation VR development.
 * The teaser trailer was released on December 14, 2017, and was shown before Star Wars 8 The Last Jedi, Jumanji 2 Welcome To The Jungle, Paddington 2, Peter Rabbit (2018), Black Panther (2018), and Early Man, and it quickly became viral, getting more than 112 million views in 24 hours.


 * The 1 official trailer was released online on March 5, 2018, and was shown before A Wrinkle In Time (2018), Sherlock Gnomes, Rampage (2018), Avengers 3 Infinity War, and Show Dogs.
 * The 2 and final theatrical trailer was released online on June 6, 2018, and was shown before The Incredibles 2, Jurassic World 2 Fallen Kingdom, Cool Spot, Ant Man And The Wasp, Hotel Transylvania 3 Summer Vacation, Birdz, and Teen Titans Go! To The Movies.

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.

Box office
Puppet Pals Forever After 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.

United States And Canada
Puppet Pals Forever After opened alongside The House With A Clock In It Walls, Assassination Nation, Life Itself (2018), and Fahrenheit 11 9. and was projected to gross $95 110 million in it opening weekend, which would be the biggest opening for an animated film released in September.

By the week of it 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 512 premium large format locales, approximately 420 IMAX 3D theaters and a handful of Dolby Cinema sites, and it was the widest release ever, surpassing the record of Despicable Me 3 4,529 theaters until it was surpassed by Avengers 4 Endgame the next year. Within the 1 24 hours of pre sale tickets going on sale, it broke Fandango pre sales record to become the top animated pre seller of all time, eclipsing The ''Incredibles 2. ''

The film made $56.5 million on it 1 day including $17.2 million in Thursday night previews, the biggest of all time for Fox Animation, surpassing Alaina Glenn 3 Imaginary Vacation $15.1 million cume. It ended up grossing $151.6 million in it opening weekend, the 3 biggest overall for an animated film in 2018 behind Cool Spot $158.1 million and The Incredibles 2 $182.7 million, and the 2 biggest of all time for a Fox Animation film respectively. The film 2 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 100% drop from the 1 Friday. In the film 2 weekend, it remained on the top of box office, beating Smallfoot and Night School while grossing $70.1 million. The film dropped to second place in it 3 weekend while grossing $54.3 million over the weekend. The film grossed $21.3 million while falling to 3 place in it 4 weekend behind Venom and A Star Is Born (2018) while beating 1 Man, Goosebumps 2 Haunted Halloween, and Fox own Bad Times At The El Royale. It grossed $18.6 million in it 5 weekend while remaining in 3 place. The film fell to 4 place while grossing $9.6 million in it 6 weekend. It dropped to 5 in it 7 weekend with $8.3 million. The film lost 982 theaters in it 8 weekend while dropping to 9 and grossed $4.6 million. In it 9 weekend, it remained in 9 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 it 10 weekend while it went to it 6 place finish. It finally fell outside the top 10 in it 12 weekend with a gross of $2.2 million. It ended it theatrical run on March 7, 2019, after 167 days.

Internationally
Outside North America, the film made $49.5 million from 25 countries in it 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 it 2 weekend of release the film made $61.1 million from 28 countries, bringing it 2 week total to $141.7 million. It largest market was China where it made $22.6 million.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 100% approval rating based on 214 reviews, with an average rating of 6.56 10. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an A+ on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 100% overall positive score and an 100% definite recommend.

Epilepsy issues
Many disability advocates, including the Epilepsy Foundation, have raised concerns that scenes with flashing lights, mostly in a party sequence as well as Nathan hallucinations, can trigger seizures in viewers affected by photosensitive epilepsy. As a result, several theaters have started posting warnings for audiences. Fox issued a statement to USA Today stating that they appreciated the efforts the theaters had already made in making signs warning people seeing the movie. They then asked theaters to warn audiences about the scene in a memo that reads, Puppet Pals Forever After contains a sequence of flashing lights, which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photo sensitivities.

In response to this, the UK released a re edited version of the film with all affected sequences altered so that any flashing lights and strobe effects now pass the Harding test.