Birdz (2018 film)

Birdz is an 2018 American 3D computer-animated comedy film produced by GoStudios for 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Mark Dindal from a screenplay by Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, Nicholas Stoller, and Karey Kirkpatrick, and a story by Steve O'Connell and stars the voices of Dave Franco, Tati Gabrielle, J.K Simmons, Bryan Cranston, Kate McKinnon, Maya Rudolph and Steve Buscemi.

The film premiered at the Regency Village Theater on May 19, 2018, and was released on May 25, 2018 in RealD 3D by 20th Century Fox. It has mixed reviews from critics, although many particularly praised its animation, concept, and satire.

Plot
Zack is a carefree bird who prefers playing with his friends rather than accept responsibility. His father Ben is the leader of the bird farm. After  interrupts a meeting with his wild antics, Ben has a talk with his son, warning him that he will never be happy if he spends his life partying without acting more maturely. Zack ignores his advice and leaves to have fun with his friends Mike the Bird, Peck the Chicken, Bob the Pig, Nathalie the Bird, and Jim the Ferret. That same day, Zack meets a pregnant bird named Lily, who is accompanied by her two friends, Heather and Finn

That night, the animals throw a party in the barn. All the animals at the barnyard are there except Ben, who guards the fence line. Zack is assigned a shift along with Ben, but Zack talks himself out of work. Before Zack leaves, Ben tells him that the night he found him as a baby bird stumbling alone in the nest, he swore he saw the stars dance, thus giving him reason to know his place was at the farm. Meanwhile, Mike follows Finn home to find him sleeping in the farmer's garage. To wake Finn up, Mike throws rabbits at the window. He tells him to be "free" from his garage captivity and introduces him to a world of sweet temptations he has never known. When Finn becomes sick from eating too many candy bars, events quickly spiral out of control as the two raid the town's grocery store. Mike escapes before Finn is caught by a police officer.

Later, Ben takes on a pack of wolves led by Danny, plundering the bird coop. He manages to fight off the pack until he is bitten on the leg by another wolf, making him fall. The wolves pile on Ben, but he manages to grab Danny and escapes the pile. He threatens to punch him but lets him go, scaring away him and the wolves. Ben falls on the ground, exhausted. Zack is alerted and he runs outside to his father. Ben dies and is buried on a hill by the farmer, and the other animals mourn Ben after the farmer leaves.

After Ben's death, all the animals elect Zack as the new leader of the bird farm. Zack shirks his duties by leaving Jim and Peck in charge of the coop, then helps the trouble-making Jersey Birds, Calvin, Jack, and Tim teach a lesson to a mean human girl called Annie Johnson for bird-tipping, eluding the police along the way causing to get lost in the forest. The next day, after causing a flood at Steve's dam, Zack and Mike are confronted by Scott, a bird hunter; They end up in a waterfall, which floods and sends the other animals falling down it.

At first, everyone blames Zack, who accuses Mike of lying to him about leading him home. Mike admits he thought that if Zack spent time with him, he would befriend him. Zack leaves to unwittingly find Scott's log cabin. Scott returns and talks to his gun "Rosie" and says he would take back what is his, discovers him (like Goldilocks and the Three Bears), and pursues him to the barnyard. The next day, Zack decides to leave the farm, to face off Danny and the wolves, realizing that his chances of victory are slim.

The next morning, before leaving, Zack is informed that the wolves took some birds including Emily, a baby bird who is one of Zack' friends. He realizes that he has been fooled by Danny, as he was not expecting him and the wolves until tonight, and sets off to rescue the birds. Zack confronts the pack but is easily defeated after Danny bites him in the leg; however, Mike, Peck, Bob, Nathalie, Jim, and Tom, Ben's old friend, and the Jersey Birds arrive to help Zack.

Later that night, Zack leads a revolution against the hunters, sending them running after Tom blows up their trucks with a propane tank named "Mr. Happy" ignited by using an emergency flare. Scott returns for a final confrontation and shoots Mike in the process, which enrages Zack and leads him to tie up Scott with his own gun. Zack rushes over to Mike's body but soon finds that he survived the shot, only losing his half of his feathers in the fracas. The other animals thank Zack for his help and then proceed to take out their vengeance on Scott by smothering him with honey and pillow feathers.

After hijacking a biker gang's motorcycles from the diner, Zack and the rest make it back to the barn to witness Lily giving birth to a bird that she names Li'l Ben. then takes responsibility and becomes leader of the bird farm as he watches the stars of himself, Lily and Li'l Ben dance just like Ben said. Mrs. Johnson gets ready for bed, but she noticed that Wild Alex is on top of her head.

In a mid-credits scene, Scott, is seen tarred, feathered and tied on the top of Harper and Hank's RV at night, mistaken for Bigfoot.

Voice cast

 * Dave Franco as Zack the Bird, the main protagonist.
 * Tati Gabrielle as Lily the Bird, Bobby's love interest.
 * J.K Simmons as Ben the Bird, Bobby's father.
 * Maya Rudolph as Linda the Hen
 * Steve Buscemi as Danny the Wolf, the main antagonist.
 * Bryan Cranston as Tom the Mule
 * Kate McKinnon as Heather the Bird
 * Bill Hader as Mike the Bird, Zack's friend.
 * Kevin Hart as Finn the Bird
 * Josh Gad as Peck the Chicken
 * Danny McBride as Bob the Pig
 * Steve Zahn as Jim the Ferret
 * Ed Helms as Duke the Dog
 * Fred Tatasciore as the Farmer
 * Jennifer Aniston as Mrs. Johnson
 * Kristen Schaal as Harper Stevens
 * Peter Dinklage as Hank Stevens
 * Jenny Slate as Annie Johnson
 * Seth Rogen as Calvin the Bird
 * Ava Acres as Emily the Bird
 * Michael Cera as Steve the Beaver
 * Nick Kroll as Scott the Bird Hunter
 * Keegan-Michael Key as Jack the Bird
 * Thomas Middleditch as Tim the Bird
 * Katie Crown as Nathalie the Bird

Additional voices

 * Gregg Berger
 * Bob Bergen
 * Greg Cipes
 * Scott Menville
 * Terri Douglas
 * David Cowgill
 * Mona Marshall
 * Carlos Alazraqui
 * Terri Douglas
 * Yuri Lowenthal
 * Tara Strong
 * Bridget Hoffman
 * Kari Wahlgren
 * Steve O'Connell
 * Nicholas Stoller
 * John Venzon
 * Ariel Winter
 * Roger Craig Smith
 * E.G. Daily
 * Dee Bradley Baker

Production
In April 2014, 20th Century Fox and GoStudios announced the film, as appropriately joked as the Untitled Bird Project. A release date was not set at that time. In June 2015, Fox and GoStudios announced that it would be titled Birdz, with Nicholas Stoller and Walt Dohrn directing from the screenplay by Jonathan Aibel, Karey Kirkpatrick and Glenn Berger. In May 2016, it was announced that Nicholas Stoller had stepped down as director, leaving Walt Dohrn as the film's sole director but Nicholas Stoller still remained as a writer. Eric Newman explained that, Nicholas Stoller could not commit to directing the film. By August 2016, Mark Dindal was announced as co-director. In November 2017, it was announced that Walt Dohrn had stepped down as director, leaving Mark Dindal as the film's sole director.

Casting
Coming soon!

Design
Coming soon!

Animation
The film will be animated at Sony Pictures Imageworks, simliar to Toon Party.

Sound
The sound design for the film is the done by Michael Babcock and Christopher Boyes and mixed by Gary A. Rizzo and Gary Summers with foley by Catherine Harper and Dan O'Connell.

Music
On October 17, 2017, it was announced that John Debney would compose the music for the film.

Release
Birdz premiered on May 19, 2018 at the Regency Village Theater, and is scheduled to be released in the United States on May 25, 2018 by 20th Century Fox in 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D. The film was shown alongside a Toon Party short film, Summer Vacation, a short film directed by Nicholas Stoller.

In June 2015, 20th Century Fox scheduled the film for a December 15, 2017 release. In August 2016, the release date had been pushed back from its original release date of December 15, 2017 to April 27, 2018. But in November 2017, It was pushed back to May 25, 2018.

The first official teaser for the film was released on September 14, 2017, and was later attached to ''The Lego Ninjago Movie. It was also shown before My Little Pony: The Movie, Puppet Pals: Collsion Course and Thor: Ragnarok''. The first official trailer was released on December 13, 2017. A second and final trailer was released online on February 21, 2018 and was shown during screenings of Kate & Chris: FusionMania.

Box office
In the United States and Canada, the film is projected to gross around $30 million in its opening weekend.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 57% based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, Birdz is a clichéd palette of tired jokes and CG animal shenanigans that have been seen multiple times in the world of animated films". Another review aggregator Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 56 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".