Vinicius and Tom: Heroes of Nature

Vinicius and Tom: Heroes of Nature (Portuguese: Vinícius e Tom: Heróis da Natureza) is an upcoming 2024 American-Brazilian computer animated sports comedy action and superhero film, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and 20th Century Animation in collaboration with Birdo Studio, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film is based on the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic mascots and was created to maintain legacy of the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics. The film was also made as a sequel to Paris 2024: The Olympic Quest and We are the 15. The film is planned to be released in December 18, 2024 in the United States, December 23 in Brazil, and December 25 worldwide. The movie is also the second movie of the Mascotverse overall and the second movie of Mascotverse: World of Hades.

The film is directed and screenplayed by Jennifer Lee and stars Jeremy Shada as Vinicius, Philip Solomone as Tom, Mela Lee as Bela, Jennifer Stone as Sol, Morena Baccarin as Vida, Rodrigo Santoro as V. Schmidt, Kevin Hart as Pintado, and Grant Palmer as Pandi. Other actors voice minor characters such as the animals, crowd, or Schmidt's workers.

The movie was a success at the box office, with a budget of $121 million, making $791 million, better than the past movie. It received mostly positive reviews from the audience with praise for its animation, action sequences, soundtrack, plot, directing, and visual effects with some laundering its choice of voice actors and how late it was to produce a film dedicated to the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Synopsis
Set a few days after the events of Paris 2024: The Olympic Quest, Vinicus goes back to Rio de Janeiro to meet up with Tom in the Barra Olympic Park, their home. They had nothing to do due to the Olympics being over 8 years ago, so they played sports there and enjoyed their lifes in Rio de Janeiro. However, in the Tijuca forest, a group of criminals were chopping off the trees and killing the animals in there. When they heard the news, Vinicus and Tom were ready for their next adventure.

Cast

 * Jeremy Shada as Vinicius - the Olympic mascot and one of the protagonists. He is a happy hybrid that loves to help people and is somewhat clumsy. He is able to stretch his limbs from a very long distance.
 * Philip Solomon as Tom - the Paralympic mascot and one of the protagonists. He is a brave living plant that although is intelligent, he is very cowardly. He has the ability to pull out inanimate objects from his hair.
 * Mela Lee as Bela - one of the Carioca sisters. She represents beauty of the Tijuca forest.
 * Jennifer Stone as Sol - one of the Carioca sisters. She represents the sun that shines throughout the forest.
 * Morena Baccarin as Vida - one of the Carioca sisters. She represents wildlife of the Tijuca forest.
 * Rodrigo Santoro as V. Schmidt - the main antagonist of the movie. He is the leader of Caveira Negra (Black Skull), a clandestine company that is infamous for destroying and killing the wildlife of the Tijuca forest.
 * Kevin Hart as Pintado - a major character throughout the film. He is in charge of the Tijuca forest when Vinicius and Tom are away. He is also known to make jokes.
 * Grant Palmer as Pandi - the mascot of the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics. He is good friends with Pintado and he is very energetic. He is also younger than most of the characters.

More cast members and characters coming soon...

Production
On December 2019, the Walt Disney Company received the rights from the International Olympic Committee to produce a film franchise dedicated to the Olympic Games. The IOC also wanted the franchise to be appealed to younger audiences, so Disney bought the rights to include the mascots in their movies.The companies that were producing these films were Walt Disney Animation Studios and 20th Century Fox. While in production of Paris 2024: The Olympic Quest, the studio asked for collaboration with Birdo Studio, the company behind the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic mascots, to produce a movie dedicated to the mascots.

On October 4, 2022, Disney has announced that two movies will be released as sequels to Paris 2024: The Olympic Quest, one of these movies was Vinicius and Tom: Heroes of Nature, alongside a movie titled Cobi, dedicated to the 1992 Olympic mascot. The next day, the teaser posters for the two films were released. On November 23, 2023, the same day where Mascotverse was announced, the first trailer for this movie came out. Many people who saw the trailer believed that this movie was going to be good and "better than the Paris 2024 movie". However, many people criticized the movie for "coming out too late" since the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics ended 8 years ago.

On November 25, 2023, the voice cast was announced. Although the cast received mixed reviews, many people did not like it due to the lack of Brazilian actors and the use of American actors instead. Even with receiving backlash, many people admired that the cast was better than the cast for the Paris 2024 movie and that at least they included some actors from Brazilian descendancy.

Music
Vinicius and Tom: Heroes of Nature Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is a soundtrack album that is going to include all songs features in this movie. The soundtrack will be released on Boxing Day 2024, which is the day after this movie will be released worldwide. It was created by Walt Disney Records.

Main Article: Vinicius and Tom: Heroes of Nature/Soundtrack

Theatres

 * December 18, 2024 (United States)
 * December 23, 2024 (Brazil)
 * December 25, 2024 (Worldwide)

Home media

 * January 24, 2025 (Blu-Ray, DVD) (United States, Canada, Brazil)
 * February 4, 2025 (Blu-Ray, DVD) (Worldwide)
 * April 14, 2025 (Disney+, Hulu, Olympic Channel) (Worldwide)

Bonus features
Bonus features of the film will be available in DVD and Blu-Ray only. Here are the features that'll be included:

Rating
The movie is rated PG (Parental Guidance). The movie includes:

Action scenes

 * Vinicius and Tom overcoming the criminals
 * The final battle against V. Schmidt

Death scenes

 * Some animals are killed by the criminals, most offscreen
 * V. Schmidt is (probably) killed by the falling tree

Weapons

 * Some of the criminals point guns towards Vinicius and Tom disguised
 * Vinicius and Tom used fencing swords to fight against V. Schmidt

Violence

 * Vinicius or Tom are sometimes hurt when fighting the criminals
 * The death scenes
 * Fighting scenes

Nearly swearing

 * When Vinicius locks a criminal in the bar, he can be heard yelling "Get me out of here you mother-" before cutting to the next scene

Theatrical Short Film
Main Article: Luiz's Samba Party!

In the cinema, a short dedicated to the Rio film franchise produced by Blue Sky Studios called Luiz's Samba Party! will be shown before the movie starts. It's about Luiz, a bulldog and a major character in the franchise, hosting a party for the animals of Rio de Janeiro.

Box office
The movie was a success at the box office, and was better than the previous movie. It is the 43rd Disney movie with the highest box office, behind The Sixth Sense and in front of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Critical Response
On the first week of release, Vinicius and Tom: Heroes of Nature received mostly positive reviews from both critics and audiences, with many of them stating that the movie was better than the previous one, Paris 2024: The Olympic Quest. However, many people criticized the casting. It received a 89% rating score on Rotten Tomatoes as the consensus says "The most beloved sports mascots are back in Vinicius and Tom: Heroes of Nature". The movie has a 72% rating on Metacritic, 9.2/10 on IMDB, and a 5/5 in Common Sense Media.

Shared universe
Main Article: Mascotverse

Since Disney acquired all the rights to use the Olympic mascots on their movie, they're planning on making a shared universe and media franchise to continue the legacy of the past Olympic Games. On November 23, 2023, 5 days after Paris 2024: The Olympic Quest was released worldwide, Disney and 20th Century Studios announced the Mascotverse where it will include feature films, series, and TV shows of the Olympic and Paralympic mascots, as well as mascots from the Asian, Pan American, European, and Commonwealth Games. The universe is planned to have 3 parts, with the first part being called World of Hades, and this movie will be the first movie in the series overall and the first movie of the first part. The first part is planned to start from 2023 and end in 2036, the year where the 2036 Olympics will be scheduled. The second part is planned to start in 2038, the year where the 2038 Winter Olympics will begin, and it is unknown when it'll end, but it'll focus more on old Olympic mascots and Winter Olympic mascots. The third and final part doesn't have any date for it to start or end. Someone working for the staff behind Mascotverse said that the third part "might be starting somewhere between 2048 and 2052".

Sequels
Main Article: Vinicius and Tom: Heroes of Nature Part 2

Film director and screenwriter Jennifer Lee said that she is "very sure" that a part 2 for this movie will come out. However, she also said that there are currently no plans of releasing a part 2.

Gallery
Main article: Vinicius and Tom: Heroes of Nature/Gallery

Trivia
Main article: Vinicius and Tom: Heroes of Nature/Trivia