Hilda and the Lost Ring

"The life of an adventurer will have the adventure of a lifetime."

- Tagline

Hilda and the Lost Ring (also known as Hilda: The Lost Ring in some international releases) is a 2022 2D-animated fantasy adventure comedy-drama film based on the Netflix animated series of the same name. The film was directed by Andy Coyle and was produced by Sony Pictures Animation, alongside Silvergate Media and Mercury Filmworks, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film follows 11-year-old girl Hilda who, after stumbling upon a ring of great destruction, has to team up with her friends to stop the upcoming catastrophe from happening, escalating from traveling across the world, to even entering an extraterrestrial world.

Hilda and the Lost Ring premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in May 6, 2022, and released in theatres in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom on May 20, 2022. The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics, praising its dynamic animation, voice acting, soundtrack, and faithfulness to the novels and series, but mildly criticising its plot and script.

Synopsis
"The life of an adventurer for 11-year-old girl Hilda is not easy, where she is stuck with a ring containing what seems to be a warning of the future. While having that, she will need to team with her friends and alongside new ones to solve this problem. The only problem is, there are pros and cons to the ring."

-Sony Pictures

Plot
TBA.

Voice Cast

 * Bella Ramsey as Hilda
 * Ammerah Falzon-Ojo as Frida
 * Oliver Nelson as David
 * Rasmus Hardiker as Alfur
 * John Hasler as Alex
 * Daisy Haggard as Johanna
 * TBA.

Development
Plans for a theatrical Hilda film have surfaced since early 2019. Series creator Luke Pearson had pitched to Sony Pictures Animation an early script of the film, and was accepted. The film had suffered three different script changes, with the third being used as the final script. Despite advantages to the film, there were a couple of financing problems, even to the point where the film had almost gotten canceled. Fortunately, New Heights Capital stepped in and gave around $60 million dollars for the film's budget.

In October 2019, the film was announced at New York Comic Con. The scheduled release date at the time was in late 2022. However, in December 2019, Sony had acquired Silvergate Media for $195 million, removing the film from the release schedule.

Writing
The script of the movie was co-written by series writers Luke Pearson and Stephanie Simpson, with Alex Hirsch also writing.

Animation
Animation was done at Mercury Filmworks, using the Sony Pictures Imageworks engine, keeping the animation look in 2D animation with adding some new 3D elements. Additional animation was also done at Atomic Cartoons, but they were uncredited.

Music
The score of the film was done by composer Ryan Carlson, who also worked on the series. Alan Menken also composed the score.

Soundtrack
In March 2022, a soundtrack album of the film was released via Sony Classical. The album contains songs from many artists, such as The Who, Electric Light Orchestra, and Soft Cell.

Release
Before its reveal in October 2019, the film was promoted via an international alternate-reality game (ARG) titled Thereisnoanswer.org. In this ARG, fans who attended this promotion were to solve the meaning of the film's plot device.

Hilda and the Lost Ring was delayed two times. Its original release date was December 9, 2023, but was removed from the schedule when Sony acquired Silvergate Media. On January 29, 2020, its new release date was February 25, 2022, but was also removed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, on July 1, the third release was confirmed to be May 20, 2022.

Box office
Hilda and the Lost Ring received $27 million on its first opening weekend in the US, and continued to gross up to $105 million.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 70% based on 178 reviews, with an approval rating of 6.22/10. The critical consensus reads, “With the life of an adventurer risking herself on this dangerous mission, Hilda and the Lost Ring proves this as not only the adventure of a lifetime, but also the most perfect animated international adventure flick.” On Metacritic, it surveyed 35 reviews with a metascore of 60 out of 100, indicating “mixed or average reviews”, while on CinemaScore, audiences polled an “A” on an “A+ to F” scale.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Warren Lorens gave the film a 9/10, writing: “As an 11-year-old girl to trolls and spirits, Hilda proves herself to be the supernatural girl she’s always been, but this film takes it a step further, where she not only travels to two cities, but also enter a whole new world. Hilda and the Lost Ring is a must-see for kids, especially if you have those who love nature.” The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw gave the film a 4 out of 5 stars, writing: “One of the most perfect 2D-animated adventure films, Hilda and the Lost Ring’s high-tech 3D-like animation dominates this film’s good side. The soundtrack is another important factor here, showing off its 80s style music. In other words, Hilda and the Lost Ring will make you have a futuristic folk-like feeling.”

Ian Freer of Empire gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, stating “While it is a lengthy-filled action pack adventure, Hilda unfortunately flops herself into this animation film, unlike many other cartoon characters. However, that doesn’t mean that she can’t be saved from this one. Her heroic actions and quick thinking skills are what this movie needs for an 11-year-old. As compared to Sony Pictures Animation’s other movies like The Smurfs and The Emoji Movie, Hilda and the Lost Ring proves itself to be a much, much better film than the latter combined.”