Pingu: The Movie (2018 film)

Pingu: The Movie (also known in other territories as Pingu's Big City Adventure) is a 2018 American-British-Swiss animated film based on the stop-motion children's television show, Pingu. The film is produced by DreamWorks Animation in association with Mattel Creations and HiT Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures in the US and StudioCanal in the UK. Nick Herbert and Liz Whitaker directed the film, Ross Hastings wrote the screenplay, Alan Sylvestri composed the music, and David Sant, and Marcello Magni provided the voices.

The film first premiered in the United Kingdom on February 16, 2018, the United States on March 9, 2018, and then in Switzerland on April 13, 2018. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the animation, humor, charm, and faithfulness to the source material, and it grossed $270.8 million worldwide against it's $45 million budget. The film was nominated at the 91st Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature but lost to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It got nominated at the Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA Awards, won Best Animated Film at the Toronto Film Critics Awards and earned 4 nominations at the Annie Awards and won it for Best Animated Feature.

Pingu: The Movie would spark a franchise of films, which includes two sequels—Pingu 2: Lost in the Arctic (2021) and Pingu 3: Take Me Home (2023), A revival/continuation of the series, that premiered in Japan 5 months before the film, titled Pingu in the City aired in 2017 and later in the UK and the US in 2018, and an upcoming sequel entitled Pingu 4 set to be released in 2025.

Synopsis
Pingu and his family are about to move into the big city and Pingu is not ready for the changes in his life. But with the help of friends both old and new, Pingu will find a way to embrace his new life in Penguin City.

Plot
[Will be worked on when the film is done]

Cast

 * David Sant as Pingu, Father, Grand-pappy, Grandpa, Pingj, Robby, Pingo, Pingg, Pen-Pen, Chef Fred, Carpenter, The Inventor, Football Manager.
 * Marcello Magni as Mother, Pinga, Pingu's three aunts, The Twins, Pingi, Pendra and Flower Shop Lady.

Production
The film was announced on February 24, 2006, before the last episode of the original Pingu series, Pingu and the Abominable Snowman was aired, with Nick Herbert said to director, HiT Entertainment developing the film and DreamWorks Animation set to do the animation with the film planned to be released in July 2009. After some story problems the crew at Hit and Nick faced, DreamWorks hired Liz Whitaker to help Nick with directing, with her becoming a director alongside him and Ross Hastings to write a new script for the film. And then in December 2012, After creative differences, story clashes and more ongoing problems between HiT Entertainment executives and Nick, Liz, Ross, and the crew, the company gave the project to DreamWorks with most of the Pingu crew migrating to the studio. In 2014, The film was suddenly put on hold temporarily due to DreamWorks’ restructure change after the poor box office of their films, Mr. Peabody & Sherman and How to Train Your Dragon 2. In 2016 The film’s production resumed after DreamWorks' deal with Universal caused the movie to be pushed to November 2017, with most of the crew returning to work on the film. After Universal Pictures’ acquisition with DreamWorks, the movie was pushed back a year later in March 2018.

The animation was animated and outsourced by Animal Logic, the Australian animation and visual effects digital studio behind The LEGO Movie franchise and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, who DreamWorks brought in to help finish the animation in time for it’s 2017 date before Universal push it to 2018. For the animation, DreamWorks and Animal Logic made the film's animation replicate a stop motion film in the style of the original series despite everything done through computer graphics, right down to the backgrounds, designed by Steve Odekerk, and everything looking as if it was made out of plasticine like the series.

The cast from the 5th & 6th seasons (David Sant and Marcello Magni) reprised their roles for the film.

Songs
For the score of the film, DreamWorks hired Alan Silvestri to compose the score for the film. The film features a song in the end credits called Believe it or Not by Joey Scarbury, which was a theme song from the 1980s superhero comedy-drama, The Greatest American Hero.

Release
Pingu: The Movie was released in the United Kingdom under StudioCanal on February 16, 2018 and then later in the United States under Universal Pictures on March 9, 2018. The film was later released in Pingu's home country of Switzerland on April 13, 2018.

Box office
Pingu: The Movie grossed $76,197,737 in the United States and Canada, and $194,662,662 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $270,860,399, against a production budget of $45 million.

In the United States and Canada, Pingu: The Movie was released alongside A Wrinkle in Time, The Strangers: Prey at Night, and The Hurricane Heist. The film made $4.1 million on its first day, debuting third behind A Wrinkle in Time and Black Panther. It went on to debut to $7.3 million, finishing third at the box office behind both Black Panther and A Wrinkle in Time. Some analysts believe that despite it’s poor opening weekend, the film fared well thanks to some good word-of-mouth and it’s praise from critics.

In the United Kingdom, the film only grossed £67,000,000 ($82,674,650).

Critical Response
On Rotten tomatoes the film received an approval rating of 88% based on 110 reviews and an average rating of 8.9/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 84 out of 100 based on 49 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Home media
Pingu: The Movie was released on DVD, Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray, Digital HD on May 18, 2018 by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. The film was released on Universal's streaming service, Peacock on March 10, 2023, just in time for the 5th anniversary of the film's release.

Follow-ups
A Japanese revival/continuation of the series, called Pingu in the City (ピングー in ザ・シティ, Pingū in za Shiti), first aired in Japan on NHK on October 7, 2017 (5 months before the film), ITVBe's preschool block LittleBe in the UK on February 25, 2019, and on NBCUniversal's Peacock in the US on March 15, 2019.

The sequel, titled Pingu 2: Lost in the Arctic was released on August 13, 2021. In the story, Pingu and his friends attempt to search for Pinga across the Arctic only to get themselves lost and have to find their way back to Penguin City while meeting some friends and creatures on their way. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, it was an immediate hit at the box office.

The second-sequel, titled Pingu 3: Take Me Home was released on August 11, 2023. In the film, Pingu and his family return back to their old home back in Penguinville but Pingu and Pinga seem to miss their new home back in Penguin City. The film was another hit at the box office and critics gave it a positive reception, calling it an improvement then the previous film.

In November 2023, Universal Pictures announced that a fourth film titled Pingu 4 is under production and is scheduled for a summer 2025 release date.

Trivia

 * This is the first Pingu film for several things
 * This marks Pingu's first theatrical animated feature ever made.
 * This is the first Pingu production to be made since the 2009 BBC Children in Need music video.
 * The is the first film to be distributed by Universal Pictures, making it DreamWorks' first animated film to be distributed by the company after their purchase in 2016.
 * The backgrounds for the film were designed by Steve Odekerk, the founder of O Entertainment.
 * This is DreamWorks' second CG stop motion animated film since 2006's Flushed Away, Animal Logic's second computer stop motion animated film after The Lego Batman Movie (a month later to it's US release), the first stop motion film not animated by Aardman Animation and the first stop motion/CG stop motion animated DreamWorks film the studio made without Aardman.
 * This film takes place in between the original Pingu series and its follow-up series, Pingu In The City.

Credits
See Pingu (2018 Movie)/Credits