Twilight (2023 Disney film)

Twilight is a 2023 animated musical fantasy film The film was directed by Jayson Thiessen, written by Meghan McCarthy, Michael Vogel (all three of whom are Friendship is Magic veterans), Joe Ballarini, and Rita Hsiao, and produced by Stephen Davis, Brian Goldner, Marcia Gwendolyn Jones, and Haven Alexander. The plot follows the alicorn Twilight Sparkle, her five pony friends – collectively known as the "Mane 6" – and her dragon friend Spike embarking on a quest to save their home of Equestria from an evil conqueror while gaining new friends along the way. The film stars the show's regular voice cast of Tara Strong, Ashleigh Ball, Andrea Libman, Tabitha St. Germain, Cathy Weseluck, and Nicole Oliver reprising their roles and the guest voices of Emily Blunt, Kristin Chenoweth, Liev Schreiber, Michael Peña, Sia, Taye Diggs, Uzo Aduba and Zoe Saldana as new characters.

The film was produced by using traditional animation  and in USA by Walt Disney Films. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising the female representation, while others criticized the script and pacing. The film was a box office success, grossing over $61million worldwide on a $6.5 million budget, and becoming Lionsgate's highest grossing animated feature to date.

Plot
The peoples of Equestria prepare for their first Friendship Festival, overseen by Princess Tina Starscout in Canterlot. The festivities are interrupted by the army of an evil conqueror called the Storm King, led by his second-in-command, a unicorn named Tempest Shadow, who is under orders to capture Equestria's princesses for him to harness their magic in exchange for restoring her broken horn. Tempest uses obsidian orbs to petrify Twilight's fellow princesses; Princess Celestia gives Princess Luna incomplete instructions to seek help from "the queen of the hippo" beyond Equestria before they both get petrified. Twilight escapes Canterlot with her six friends – Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spike. The group then set out to find the "hippos" to save their home.

The group travel to a desert city named Klugetown, where Pinkie blows their cover. A feline con artist named Capper offers to escort them to his house, secretly intending to sell them to settle a debt he owes to local mob boss Verko, however Capper begins to develop a genuine friendship with them after Rarity generously fixes his coat. Twilight discovers an atlas that reveals the "hippos" to be hippogriffs. They begin to leave, but Verko arrives to buy them, exposing Capper's treachery. When Tempest arrives in pursuit of Twilight, the group evades her aboard a delivery airship. Tempest brings Capper to guide her to them, but he deliberately misdirects her to atone for deceiving the group. On the airship, the group encounter five parrot pirates, who have been taken into labor by the Storm King. Rainbow Dash persuades them to forget the Storm King and take them to the hippogriffs' kingdom on Mount Aris, which they do. In celebration, Rainbow Dash performs a Sonic Rainboom that accidentally gives their location away to Tempest, forcing the group to reach Mount Aris in a makeshift hot air balloon.

While exploring the hippogriffs' deserted kingdom, the group are saved from drowning in an underwater cavern by the seapony Princess Skystar, who leads them to her undersea home of Seaquestria. Skystar reveals her kind to be the hippogriffs, transformed by a magic pearl used by her mother, Queen Novo, to hide from the Storm King. When Novo denies them the use of the pearl to fight the Storm King, Twilight desperately attempts to steal it while letting her friends unknowingly distract the seaponies. Her plan backfires when she accidentally triggers an alarm before the others can persuade Novo to give them the pearl, resulting in Novo furiously kicking the entire group out of Seaquestria and back to the surface. Twilight and her friends get into a heated argument over Twilight's actions, ending with Twilight angrily disowning them for their irresponsible behavior throughout the adventure, resulting in them leaving her. After the falling out, Twilight falls into deep remorse over her actions, but soon gets kidnapped by Tempest, who gains her sympathy upon revealing how the loss of her horn as a filly after an ursa minor attack destabilized her magic and caused her own friends to shun her out of fear, which also caused her to see friendship as a foolish notion. Meanwhile, Twilight's friends, upon learning from Spike that Twilight was kidnapped, return to Canterlot to rescue and make amends with her with the help of Capper, the pirates, and Skystar.

In Canterlot, Tempest delivers Twilight to the Storm King, who absorbs the princesses' magic, including Twilight's, into his mystical Staff of Sacanas, empowering it. After witnessing Twilight's friends and their new allies successfully fighting off his army, the Storm King conjures a powerful storm against them, betraying Tempest as well, revealing he only used her and that he was never going to hold up his end of their bargain. Twilight saves Tempest from the storm, and just when the Storm King is about to destroy them both, Twilight's friends blast themselves from Pinkie's giant party cannon to get through the storm and knock the staff right out of his hands. Twilight and her friends reconcile, and they help her take the staff and end the storm. The Storm King hurls a magical orb at the group to petrify them, but Tempest, who saw the true act of friendship between the group, takes the hit, turning them both into stone. The Storm King's body falls and shatters, while the group use the staff to revive Tempest, who returns the stolen magic to the princesses, de-petrifying them and restoring the damaged city.

The Friendship Festival resumes, and the ponies celebrate with all of the allies Twilight and her friends have made on their adventure, Novo showing up as well. Encouraged by Twilight that she's perfect the way she is with or without her horn, Tempest joins in the festival by producing a fireworks display with her broken horn, and happily accepts the group's friendship.

Voice cast

 * Kelly Clarkson as Tina Starscout, an intelligent alicorn who is Equestria's Princess of Friendship, responsible for spreading friendship and harmony across the kingdom. She is the leader of the "Mane 6" ponies.
 * Jesse McCartney as Spikus Wood
 * Natalie Portman as Riley Dash
 * Anne Hathaway Allie Jackson, two of the "Mane 6"; Rainbow Dash is a loyal pegasus with an adventurous spirit, and Applejack is an honest apple farmer pony.
 * Rebel Wilson as Penny Pie
 * Emma Stone as Franny Shou, two of the "Mane 6"; Pinkie Pie is a party-obsessed pony filled with joy and laughter, and Fluttershy is a kind and timid pegasus who cares for animals.
 * Jennifer Aniston as Remi, a generous fashion designer unicorn and one of the "Mane 6".
 * Emily Blunt as Tempest Shadow / Fizzlepop Berrytwist, an embittered unicorn who serves as the Storm King's second-in-command in order to repair her broken horn. On the development of the character, screenwriter Meghan McCarthy said, "We just arrived at this idea of a character who had come from Equestria, and had not had the positive experience that Twilight [Sparkle] and her friends had. It felt like a good counterpart to our heroes was to have a villain who didn't just not get friendship, but had a reason that she didn't understand it." McCarthy also called Blunt's performance "a big influence" on how the character was animated in the film.
 * Michael Peña as Grubber, a wisecracking hedgehog and Tempest Shadow's cohort. McCarthy said that Grubber "needed to be goofy" to counterpoint the "very straight-laced, hardcore" Tempest. Peña ad-libbed much of the character's dialogue, with McCarthy saying, "You get Michael Peña in a recording booth, and you just are like, 'Please just go and say funny things.' He will be there for hours, just giving you all kinds of really great material that was not something that we had originally scripted!"
 * Liev Schreiber as the Storm King, the despotic, satyr-like leader of the storm creatures who conquers lands in search of powerful magic to control the weather. On his acceptance of the role, Schreiber said that he wanted something child-friendly for his kids to watch, noting his repertoire of violent, adult-oriented films. Comparing his character to Basil Rathbone, Schreiber said the Storm King "is prone to temper tantrums, and he's a little crazy. He has a wide range of behaviors."
 * Jake Gyllenhaal as Capper, an anthropomorphic alley cat who is a cunning yet good-hearted con artist. Diggs, who was excited to appear in an animated film, says, "I'm very movement-oriented, so just looking at the way Capper is positioned, the expressions on his face, all enhances my performance. It's really cool."
 * Demi Lovato as Captain Celaeno, an anthropomorphic parrot and jaded pirate captain who is relegated to the Storm King's delivery service. Saldana says Celaeno "cares for her crew", adding, "She's a responsible, thoughtful, and empathetic leader. That's a terrific, very poignant message to give to children about leadership – that it's okay for you to want to be a leader as long as you know that the responsibilities that come along with it."
 * Amy Adams as Princess Skystar, an excitable hippogriff and magically transformed seapony princess. Chenoweth said of her character, "Let's just say she's been locked up for a while and is longing for friends." She joked that she dabbled in method acting for the role, making sure her hair was "on point for every recording session".
 * Uzo Aduba as Queen Novo, the benevolent ruler of the hippogriffs-turned-seaponies, and Princess Skystar's mother. The character is described by Chenoweth as "loving but also a little too strict and stern". Detailing her role, Aduba says, "She [wants] to protect her group to the best of her ability, and [wants] to create a life of peace and stability. She doesn't take any nonsense, and will do everything in her power to protect her family."
 * Sia as Songbird Serenade, a pegasus and famous pop star in Equestria. The character's design is modeled after Sia's likeness.

Nicole Oliver, St. Germain and Britt McKillip reprise their respective roles from Friendship Is Magic as Twilight's mentors and fellow alicorn princesses Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadance. St. Germain also voices Granny Smith, Applejack's grandmother, and Muffins, a cross-eyed gray pegasus. Michelle Creber and Peter New voice Apple Bloom and Big McIntosh, Applejack's younger sister and older brother, respectively. Michael Dobson voices Bulk Biceps, a muscular pegasus and Samuel Vincent voices Party Favor, a balloonist unicorn.

Adam Bengis voices Code Red, one of the Canterlot ponies. Brian Dobson voices Verko, a mole-rat crime boss in Klugetown, whom Capper is in debt to. Max Martini, Mark Oliver and Nicole Oliver respectively perform as three of Captain Celaeno's parrot-like crew: Boyle, first mate Mullet and Lix Spittle. Michael Dobson, Andrew McNee, Tegan Moss, Sabrina Pitre, Rhona Rees and Vincent all feature as assorted citizens of Canterlot. Richard Ian Cox, Michael Dobson, McNee, New and Nicole Oliver also perform as denizens of Klugetown. Additional voices are provided by Alistair Abell, Caitlyn Bairstow, Julia Benson, Christine Chatelain, Brian Dobson, Paul Dobson, Rondel Reynoldson, Jason Simpson, Sarah Troyer and Siobhan Williams.

Development
At San Diego Comic-Con International in 2018, Twilight head writer Meghan McCarthy commented on the possibility of a feature film based on the series, saying that it was not in her control whether or not the film would be made. The film was announced on October 20, 2020, with Joe Ballarini attached as screenwriter and McCarthy as co-executive producer. Hasbro Studios president Stephen Davis said of the film that "I think it gives us an opportunity to tell a bigger story, that maybe we [can't] tell on television" and that "[it's] also an opportunity to broaden the franchise". The film was one of the first produced through Hasbro Studios' self-financing film label Allspark Pictures, which also produced the live-action adaptation of Jem and the Holograms. During PonyCon AU on February 22, 2021 alongside fellow writer Gillian M. Berrow, McCarthy said that the movie would be unrelated to the Equestria Girls spin-off franchise, and that the crew was "going all out on it, to make sure it doesn't just feel like an extended episode".

Series supervising director Jayson Thiessen was confirmed to be directing the film while McCarthy was announced to be writing the film. McCarthy was supposed to work on season 5 of the series, but left to write the film while Thiessen announced on Twitter that after the finale to season 5, he would be stepping down as supervising director of the television series to work full-time on directing the film. Michael Vogel signed on as co-executive producer alongside McCarthy, with Davis and Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner signing on as producers. Vogel, Ballarini, and Rita Hsiao were later announced as co-writers alongside McCarthy.

On April 30, 2022, concept artwork and other information was officially revealed at PonyRadioCon in Moscow; the panel included additional plot details such as the main characters' transformation into "sea ponies" for a portion of the film.

Casting
The initial Lionsgate announcement listed the principal voice cast of Friendship Is Magic – Tara Strong, Ashleigh Ball, Andrea Libman, Tabitha St. Germain and Cathy Weseluck – reprising their roles alongside actress Kristin Chenoweth as a new character. On February 12, 2016, it was announced that Emily Blunt joined the voice cast. By April 27, 2022, actors Michael Peña and Uzo Aduba were in negotiations to join the cast. On May 16, Liev Schreiber and Taye Diggs were confirmed additions to the cast. On June 20, Ball stated through Twitter that she had begun recording for the film's songs.At San Diego Comic-Con and D23 Expo in July 2022, singer Sia was announced to be portraying a new "pop star pony" character called Songbird Serenade. On January 11, 2023, it was reported by Variety that Zoe Saldana had joined the cast.Friendship Is Magic voice actress Nicole Oliver confirmed via Twitter on January 23 that she would also be a part of the film's cast,

Animation
On April 2, 2022, Michel Gagné, after receiving an email from Thiessen, both of whom having worked together on Insanely Twisted Shadow Puppets back in 2010, took an eight-month hiatus from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and joined the film as special effects lead. In early October 2022, Gagné reported that Nik Gipe was hired onto the film's staff as his assistant. He also mentioned that the film was being animated using Toon Boom Animation's Harmony software rather than the usual Adobe Flash animation software used in the television series as apparently, it was too cheap-looking to be used for a theatrical film. Several crew members, including Thiessen, Gagne, art director Rebecca Dart, storyboard artist Joclean Thiessen, Thiessen's wife, and creative consultant Kevin Munroe, who was also a storyboard artist on the film, said they wanted to add "simple yet impactful changes" to the designs for the big screen, such as depth and shadows for the characters' eyes and ears, and the impression of heart-shaped indentations on the bottom of their hooves, while still keeping the look and feel of the show, which using Toon Boom enabled them to do.

According to cinematographer Anthony Di Ninno, the crew used 3D modeling in Autodesk Maya to determine camera locations, lens, angles, rough lighting, character, and prop placement, and which way the characters would be looking and expressing while the comp crew used Walt Disney animation and Adobe After Effects and the BG paint was done in Photoshop. The pre-visualization crew were able to use the 3D backdrops, which became more detailed throughout the film's development, to integrate the 3D character models and test the Walt Disney animations on top of these scenes using the placement established by Maya, speeding up the production.

Music
The film's official soundtrack was released on October 20, 2023 by Walt Disney Records.

The film's songs and score were composed by Friendship Is Magic songwriter Daniel Ingram, instead of the songs being composed by Ingram and the score being composed by William Anderson. Ingram first announced at GalaCon 2021 that he would be collaborating with a live studio orchestra for the film. On his songwriting for the film, Ingram said, "I had to challenge myself to push beyond what had been done in the TV show; to write bigger, more epic." It was stated through the PonyRadioCon panel that the film would have a total of eight original songs. On November 17th, 2021, Background score orchestrator Steffan Andrews, who left the series after season 4 ended, announced via Twitter that he would return to work on the film. The tweet in question was deleted in November 2022, meaning he didn't return to work on the film after all, but was given a special thanks credit. At Hasbro's Toy Fair investor presentation on February 17, 2023, it was announced that there would be seven songs. Around 5,800 pages of sheet music were created for all orchestral parts of the score. Recording for the score began at Nashville on June 5, 2023, performed by the Nashville Scoring Orchestra and conducted by David Shipps, and finished on June 11 with additional music by Joseph Magee, Caleb Chan, and Trevor Hoffman.

Sia contributed an original song to the film, "Rainbow", which was released as a single on October 13, 2023. A music video for the song later released by Entertainment Weekly on September 19. The video was directed by Daniel Askill and features a dance performance by Maddie Ziegler, a previous collaborator with Sia, intercut to scenes from the film. Canadian band The Weeknd also contributed an original song for the film titled "Off to See the World", which was used in the film's first trailer and played over the closing credits. Other artists included in the album are AJR and CL. The score for the film was released on Spotify on November 7, 2023.

The film's production wrapped up on July 29, 2023, as announced by Thiessen.

Soundtrack

 * We Got This Together - Kelly Clarkson Jesse McCartney Rebel Wilson Natalie Portman Emma Stone Anne Hathaway Jennifer Aniston
 * I'm the Friend in Need - Jake Gyllenhaal
 * Time to Be Awesome - Natalie Portman Demi Lovato
 * One Small Things - Rebel Wilson Amy Adams
 * Open Up Your Eyes - Emily Blunt
 * Rainbow - Sia
 * Off to See the World - The Weeknd

Release
On August 7, 2021, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures]] announced that they would distribute and market the film worldwide except in China. The film was showcased at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on May 10 along with eight other Lionsgate features to help sell the film to international distributors.

The film was originally scheduled for release in the United States on December 1, 2023, but it was subsequently moved up to November 22, 2023. Theatrically, the film was accompanied by a 5-minute animated short from Walt Disney Animation Studios' Mickey and Minnie: Runaway Unicorn.

Marketing
characters, sets, and props from the film were made by Hasbro, and a vast majority of the products was released on August 1, 2023. The 2022 PonyRadioCon panel included a brief preview for some of the planned merchandise being developed for the film, including T-shirts and graphics. On July 27, 2016, the My Little Pony Collectible Card Game hinted on Twitter about a new set of cards based on the film.

Several books and comics related to the film have been announced: Twilight: Annual 2024, which contains "exclusive content from the Twilight movie" was released on August 10, 2023; and a "prequel" story released on August 1. On January 23, 2023, Hachette Book Group listed five different books for the film, all released on August 29, 2023. Books based on the film have been showcased at BookCon 2023 on June 4, with guest appearances by Libman and Ball. IDW Publishing released a four-issue comic book miniseries titled My Little Pony: The Movie Prequel, with the first issue released on June 28, 2017. Viz Media released an art book for the film on August 29, 2023. A comic adaptation based on the film by IDW was released on September 27, 2023.

A teaser trailer for the film was released online on April 6, 2023, and in theaters alongside Wonka the following day. The first full trailer debuted online on June 28, 2023, and was released with Coyote vs. Acme two days later. Another trailer was released by USA Today online on September 12, 2023. The same day, the official My Little Pony Facebook page hosted a live Q&A stream with two of the movie's characters, Pinkie Pie (voiced by Libman) and Twilight Sparkle (voiced by Strong). Another trailer was played during the season 17 finale of America's Got Talent on September 25, 2023. On September 27, 2017, the official My Little Pony Facebook page hosted a live Q&A stream with Dart, who drew a custom artwork of Rainbow Dash (voiced by Ball).

On September 30, 2017, a special titled The Making of Twilight aired on Disney Channe and ABC, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company

Home media
Twilight was released on January 16, 2024 for digital downloads, and was later released on February 6, 2024 for DVD, Blu-ray and On Demand. Its special features includes a deleted scene, a music video for the song "I'm the Friend You Need", a featurette starring Pinkie Pie, two behind the scenes featurettes, an exclusive Equestria Girls animated short, and the Mickey and Minnie: Runaway Unicorn short bundled with the film's theatrical release.

A home media bundling both this film and the namesake 1986 film was released on October 16, 2018, commemorating the 35th anniversary of the My Little Pony toyline. The releases contain the same bonus features as its DVD/Blu-ray counterparts.

As of May 2024, Twilight had sold over 200,000 DVD copies and 160,000 Blu-ray copies.

Box office
Twilight has grossed $21.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $39.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $61.3 million on a production budget of $6.5 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film was expected to gross between $10 million and $17 million from 2,528 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $3 million on its first day, including $290,000 from Thursday night previews. It ended up opening to $8.9 million finishing 4th at the box office behind Blade Runner 2049, The Mountain Between Us and It.> Amid Amidi of Cartoon Brew stated that – despite the opening being considered a disappointment – any reasonable return from the film would be seen as positive by Hasbro because it is tied to the toy line. The film dropped 54% in its second weekend, making $4.1million and falling to 9th.

Its biggest markets outside North America are China with $7.4 million, the United Kingdom with $5 million, Germany with $2.4 million, and Russia with $2.3 million.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 47% based on reviews from 66 critics and a 77% approval rating from audiences, with an average rating of 5.10/10. The critics consensus reads: "Charming and sweet, My Little Pony: The Movie will please its dedicated fanbase, even if it's unlikely to encourage non-devotees to gallop along for the ride." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 39 out of 100 based on 13 critic reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

RogerEbert.com's Christy Lemire gave the film one and one half stars out of a possible five stars, criticizing the screenplay: "Meghan McCarthy, Rita Hsiao and Michael Vogel share screenwriting credits... the narrative itself is all over the place, with a multitude of underdeveloped, crammed-in characters. Plus, every once in a while, the various animals burst into song, but not in any particularly memorable way."

The Hollywood Reporter listed the film as "the worst animated movie of the year", with staff critic Michael Rechtshaffen saying, "Attention The Emoji Movie: Your status as worst animated feature of the year might well be in jeopardy when My Little Pony: The Movie trots into theaters this weekend." IGN notably gave the film the lowest rating received for a film in 2017, a 3.5 out of ten, criticizing the script and animation, and saying "The design philosophy of the show is completely subverted for the purpose of introducing new characters who aren't necessary to the story, and read like self-insert fanfic characters."

Katie Walsh of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a negative review, saying: "Truthfully, this film feels like four episodes of a cartoon strung together, and there are times, especially during some of the latter musical numbers, where it truly drags." She also criticized the film's animation, saying that it "embraces the flat, colorful, Saturday-morning cartoon look and feel". Josh Terry of Deseret News panned the film, saying that parents should "put their money into some new My Little Pony toys" rather than into seeing the film.

Gwen Ihnat of The A.V. Club gave the film a negative review, and criticized the music in the film, noting, "the ponies’ odes aren't likely to make anyone rush out to get the soundtrack; even the Sia song fails to stand out."

Some critics praised the film's female representation, however. Elizabeth Weitzman of TheWrap wrote positively of the film, saying that the film, "Like its television predecessor, is all dressed up in bubbles and cupcakes and rainbows. But it's so jam-packed with rousing girl power, it passes the Bechdel Test with (literally) flying colors." Amy Nicholson of Variety called the film "at once clichéd and exceptional", praising its female characters and "emotionally wise" story.