Cool Spot (film)

Cool Spot (also known as Cool Spot: Spot's Really Cool Adventure in the United Kingdom and Europe territories) is a 2018 British-American 3D computer-animated adventure comedy film based on the 1993 video game of the same name. It was written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, produced by Gingo Animation and Virgin Produced, with animation provided by Sony Pictures Imageworks. The film features a ensemble cast with Pharrell Williams as the title character, alongside Mila Kunis, Alec Baldwin, Bobby Cannavale, Tom Holland, Luke Wilson, Snoop Dogg, Bill Murray, Bobby Moynihan, James Corden, Allison Janney, Michael B. Jordan, Adrien Brody, Steve Coogan, Ron Funches, Alison Brie, Andy Samberg, Debra Messing, Finn Wolfhard, and Frank Welker. In Cool Spot, the titular character goes out on a journey of twists and turns to get back Pop City's coolness after it gets stolen.

Development of a Cool Spot film was first announced in 1990 with future The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Incredibles 2 director Brad Bird set to direct with a release by Disney. After the failure of the 1993 Super Mario Bros. film, Bird leaving the project, various production troubles including various directors leaving the project, frequent changes to the cast, and a shut down on animation after switching from various studios, the film finally landed at Gingo Animation with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller directing, Pharrell Williams as Cool Spot, and Universal serving as distributor in 2014. 

Cool Spot had its initial world premiere in Los Angeles on August 21, 2018. The film was later released in the United States and the United Kingdom on September 14, 2018 by Universal Pictures in Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D and IMAX formats. It received widespread critical acclaim, with praise for its musical score, faithfulness to its source, voice performances of the cast (particularly Williams, Holland, Baldwin, Murray, and Kunis), humor, soundtrack, and animation, though criticism was on some of the characters' use of alcohol, especially in a film under the Gingo brand. The film went on to become a massive box office success, grossing over $1.2 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing video game adaption of all time domestically after just three days, the thirteenth highest-grossing film in North America, the sixth highest-grossing film of 2018, the fourth highest grossing PG rated film, the second highest-grossing animated film of 2018, the third-highest-grossing animated film (behind Incredibles 2 and Frozen), Gingo's highest-grossing film, and the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film while setting numerous records for the month of September.

Cool Spot received various accolades, including Best Animated Feature nominations at the 76th Golden Globe Awards, 24th Critics' Choice Awards and 91st Academy Awards. An extended PG-13-rated director's cut was released on January 8, 2019. A sequel to the film is currently in development and is scheduled to be released on February 19, 2021.

Plot
5-year old Cool Spot has different dreams unlike most of his classmates in his kindergarten class which is to become the coolest boy in town. However, he is made fun of by Fresh-up Freddie for this which makes him run off crying. During recess, Spot befriends a girl named Eve, who tells him that you can do anything in the world even if it sounds dumb or unrealistic. She makes a promise with Cool Spot to support and be with him all the way to his adulthood while attempting to go for his dream.

Spot and Eve grow up, with Spot eventually turning into a hype party goer eventually giving him popularity. During these times, he eventually tries bad things such as underage drinking but also is a star athlete being known for basketball. However, after getting arrested for disturbing the peace, he temporarily stops his dream to focus in school which he ends up graduating.

Years later in the present day, Spot is introduced to his DJ/Best friend DJ O-Ro which causes an uproar of cheering as he dances and parties. Once the party is over, he reads a news article talking about his success on becoming the coolest person in the city which makes him satisfied. Spot later goes to his home where he lives with his boring dad, Womp Daddy, his hyper and cool mother, Swag Mom, and his younger brother who is inspired by Spot himself, Lil' Cooky. Spot also thanks Eve, who is now his girlfriend since 6th grade for his success on following his dream.

Somewhere else on a dark mysterious island, an evil bird who goes by his nickname Metal-Bird vows a plan to get rid of the coolness of the city after being neglected and rejected in his past years. Bump Cola, who used to be the former mascot of 7-Up is held hostage being threatened to help Metal-Bird's plan be successful by explaining that a prophesy of the coolest man in the city being the only one to stop him. Afterwards, Bump is tased and beat up while also ordered to find the coolest man in the city.

2 weeks later, Spot is at the dinner table telling his parents about his crazy day which consisted of exploding buildings and being chased. He later calls his friends, Splish, 7-Up, Bebe, and his cousin Fido Dido telling him that he'll be on TV later on in the day for the Grand Opening to the new edition to Pop City, Party Island, a building where there is nothing but parties. Spot meets Princess Gulpman, who is the princess of Pop City that aids Cool Spot and knights him as well. Dave Cola, Bump's older brother, asks Spot about his brother who has been missing for 2 weeks which Spot doesn't know about. After delivering his speech and opening up the building, Spot walks to his car only to find a person laid out on the ground who is later revealed to be Bump Cola who is frightened by something. Spot just ignores this and walks to his car where he is knocked out cold. He later wakes up to be in the mayor's office in custody with Lil' Ade and Dave Cola who tells him that he is important for the city and should go on a quest to get the city's coolness back after it is stolen by Metal-Bird. Spot doesn't take it seriously until Dave mentions Eve's life being in danger if he doesn't go which makes him more confident in going.

Spot informs his robot assistant Cokebot about the quest and commands him to tell his parents and family. However, Cokebot remembers he wants him to play rock, paper, scissors since Cool Spot lost a previous bet with him. The game lasts 24 hours and results in an impatient Spot punching Cokebot. Cool Spot attempts to sneak out the house successfully however, Drinky, Spot's cousin scares him and questions him about where he's going. While they're both arguing, Spot is confronted by Quez, Dez, and Lez, three bumbling cops that constantly harrasses Spot. Spot ends up making Dez cry and prompts Spot and Drinky to run which Drinky runs back inside quickly.

At noon, Spot calls his friends and asks them if he can come with them on the quest which everyone agrees. Spot first picks up Bebe, who is at the UpMart arguing with the clerk Splurge, then he picks up Fido Dido and Splish, lastly he picks up 7-Up his bestest friend. They are taken home to Spot showing them a plan on this quest which Lil' Cooky walks into and later walks out the room. Splish who is questionable about the plan later agrees and they go to Eve's house who doesn't want Spot to go out of town. Eve intially states she'll never let Spot go out on a dangerous quest until a talking cookie tells her to let him go.

Spot and his friends go out on the road until the car ends up crashing after a dark ninja slashes the car's tires making them crash off the highway into Flimsy Fishtown. They all wake up to be robbed at the entrance of the old town. While walking Spot runs into a wild dog which he tames and makes his pet naming him Orie. Later at night, Spot is at a camp fire with his friends telling confessions about him which makes him argue with 7-Up. Spot who is mad, runs off with Orie crying.

Being hopeless and disappointed in himself, Spot takes Orie to go unrinate until he is confronted by Deeney Hopps, Bump Cola's arch-rival who fights him until he figures out that it's Spot. They later walk back to the campfire only to find everyone except Splish who is asleep in the car. Hopps informs them about Pop City being a warzone since Metal-Bird has taken over and also makes a plan on rescuing Bebe, 7-Up, and Fido Dido. However, this plan fails as everyone was caught and imprisoned in the B.O.Z.O, which is short for the Boring Zone by Metal-Bird's henchman, Berry Merry. Hopps attempts to attack Metal-Bird but ends up being shot in the chest with a ray gun and puts the B.O.Z.O. on self-destruct mode.

Before dying, Deeney Hopps told him he never initially wanted to have problems with Bump Cola. Spot who is knocked out is shown with various memories telling him that he is not just the coolest person but a hero. Tied up to a bomb, Cool Spot goes through the dark portal which most are known not to come back through. Splish, who agrees with Spot for the first time, tells everyone to avenge Spot.

Spot goes through the Legend Realm where various legends tell Cool Spot to go back and fight as his friends are in danger. Spot talks to his younger self who is proud of himself being successful and tells him to go back and help even if they bullied him. Spot who is now courageous goes back to Pop City.

Back at the city, everyone are mindless zombies who lack coolness including Splish. Spot who now has super ablities flies back to the city beating Metal-Bird's various henchmen and sees Eve being under Metal-Bird's zombie spell which makes Spot angry. Spot who is now angered searches for Metal-Bird and later finds him. They have a brief fist fight until Spot is frozen and Metal-Bird reveals himself to be Fresh-up Freddie. Spot melts himself and has a huge final fight with Freddie who is now mutated and a huge giant, through the city where Spot is later pushed into a electric shield for the zombie spell. Spot who is upset starts dabbing which causes one citizen to return back to normal. Spot eventually goes with his plan and starts rapping and partying like his normal self until everyone is back to normal. Freddie also shrinks to his normal size and is pushed to a ledge where Spot stomps on his hand making him fall to his death.

Spot and everyone else in the city goes to City Hall cheering for Cool Spot who saves the day giving him a metal. The body of Deeney Hopps is also brought in memorial where Spot uses his powers to revive him with Hopps hugging him hard. Orie finally speaks calling Cool Spot crazy but he is a lovable owner then The Twizzla Twins later start a huge city wide party with Cool Spot, Eve Coke, and everyone else in the city with Cool Spot and Eve sharing a huge kiss.

In a mid-credits scene, Spot is confronted by an unknown man who is later revealed to be the Kool-Aid Man who is finally released from Sparkling Prison.

In a post-credits scene, Drinky sneaks out of Cool Spot's room to wear his trademark glasses and thanks the audience for waiting for no apparent reason.

Main Cast

 * Pharrell Williams as Cool Spot, an eccentric anthropomorphic red dot that sports sunglasses and often proclaims himself as the coolest person in Pop City.
 * Eminem voices a Cool Spot impersonator.
 * Mila Kunis as Eve Coke, the girlfriend to Cool Spot who works with her brother Berry to help the city maintain its coolness. Singer Rihanna provided Eve Coke's singing voice during the end of the movie.
 * Ava Acres voiced young Eve Coke
 * Alec Baldwin as Fresh-up Freddie, a red feathered bird who falls behind the shadow of Cool Spot's fame.
 * Bobby Cannavale as Dave Cola, the brother of Bump Cola who gained success after finding out the secret formula in Coolness.
 * Tom Holland as Splish, a sarcastic, wise cracking blue dot with big eyes that is neutral towards Cool Spot.
 * Luke Wilson as Fido Dido, a black and white man with messy hair who is Cool Spot's cousin.
 * Snoop Dogg as Bebe, a laid-back green dot who is shown to have swagger that's different from others.
 * Bill Murray as 7-Up, a talking soda drink that is best friends with Cool Spot.
 * Bobby Moynihan as Berry Coke, the brother of Eve Coke and an old friend of Spot who he known ever since he was 4.
 * James Corden as Bump Cola, the former mascot of 7-Up that is now retired.
 * Allison Janney as Betty Spot, Cool Spot’s Aunt who is shown him special.
 * Michael B. Jordan as Deeney Hopps, the arch rival of Bump Cola, who took the spot light from him and is good friends with Cool Spot.
 * Adrien Brody as Drinky, a childish yellow dot who is the cousin of Cool Spot.
 * Steve Coogan as Cokebot, the butler assistant to Cool Spot that follows every order of his master no matter what. Marcella Lentz-Pope provided Cokebot's singing voice when he was accidentially switched to pop singer mode.
 * Ron Funches as BAM!, the new nice and spicy mascot of Sprite.
 * Alison Brie as Princess Gulpman, the princess of Pop City.
 * Andy Samberg as Womp Daddy, Cool Spot’s sarcastic and monotone father who is shown to be slow and boring unlike his son.
 * Debra Messing as Swag Mom, Cool Spot's mother who has a similar personality to him unlike his father.
 * Finn Wolfhard as Lil' Cooky, Cool Spot's younger brother who has the same swag as Cool Spot.
 * Frank Welker as Orie, a wild dog who is similar to an Oreo that Cool Spot ends up keeping as a pet.
 * Jay Leno as Orie's speaking voice
 * Lil' Yachty as Lil' Ade, a rapping Powerade bottle that is the vice president of Pop City.
 * Jason Statham as Jason Spotham, a 7up version of the British actor Jason Statham.
 * Diedrich Bader as Splurge, the reasonable clerk at UpMart.
 * André 3000 as DJ O-Ro, a anamorphic Oreo who DJ’s all of the parties that are in the city.
 * Seth MacFarlane as Berry Merry, a blueberry with a Italian mob-esque voice and a gloomy attitude who is Fresh-up Freddie's henchman.
 * Tracy Morgan as Granddaddy Spot, Cool Spot's grandfather who is old-fashioned and loves using older technology.
 * Jay Pharoah as Ludacris, a well known rapper who Cool Spot is friends with.
 * James Earl Jones as King Sweets, the king of Pop City and Princess Gulpman's father.
 * Whoopi Goldberg as Queen Tasty, the queen of Pop City and Princess Gulpman's mother.
 * Jason Drucker as Lil' Squirt, a little boy who is Lil' Cooky's best friend as well as classmate.
 * Mark Hamill as Rooty, a 700 pound brown bear who hungers for soda and eats Cool Spot.
 * Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson (uncredited) as Kool-Aid Man, a unknown man who was released from Sparkle Prison.
 * Mac Miller as Paul, the A.I. in Cool Spot's car.
 * Jeff Bennett and Dee Bradley Baker as the Twizzla Twins, two hip and youthful older men who are often seen at Cool Spot's party which they end up ruining due to often breaking and jumping onto the snack tables.
 * Tom McGrath, Conrad Vernon, and Geo G. as Quez, Dez, and Lez, three bumbling police officers who often try to arrest Cool Spot due to his loudness and mostly for no reason. The inspiration of these characters are based on the The Three Stooges.
 * Tom Kenny as Marlon and Wayne, two M&M's that are at every party.
 * Phil LaMarr, Grey Griffin, Kevin Michael Richardson, John DiMaggio, and Jennifer Hale as the legends in the Legend Realm.
 * Jim Cummings as the News Reporter in Pop City

Directors Cut Cast

 * Rickey Smiley as Bubba Bubba, one of Cool Spot's fellow college students who always pulled pranks on his college professors.

Additional voices

 * Steve Alterman - Pizzadog
 * Stephen Apostolina - Partygoer #1
 * Rajia Baroudi - Partygoer #2
 * Holly J. Barrett - Parent
 * Susan Boyajian - Angry Outsider
 * Steven Jay Blum - Alien #1, Buzzed Partygoer, Candinator
 * June Christopher - Kid #2, Zombiefied Mom
 * Robert Clotworthy - Zombiefied Dad
 * David Cowgill - Zombiefied Grandad
 * Niall Cunningham - Moaning Legend Spirit #1, Old Hippie Mom
 * Wendy E. Cutler - Wine drinking teen, Elderly Oreo
 * Debi Derryberry - Female Teacher, Kid #1
 * Terri Douglas
 * Robin Atkin Downes
 * Giselle Eisenberg
 * Jennifer Crystal Foley
 * Eddie Frierson
 * Maurice LaMarche
 * Jean Gilpin
 * Jackie Gonneau
 * Nicholas Guest - Nicky Snicker
 * Jess Harnell - Cop, Donut Guard, Hypotized Teenager
 * Jason Harris - Kid #3, Loud partygoer #2
 * Danielle Judovits -
 * Yuri Lowenthal - the mailman, alarm clock
 * Caitlin McKenna -
 * Scott Menville - Alien #2, Loud partygoer #1
 * Piotr Michael
 * Max Mittelman
 * Jonathan Nichols
 * Paul Pape
 * Jacqueline Piñol
 * Lynwood Robinson
 * Peter Pamela Rose
 * Dennis Singletary
 * Pepper Sweeney
 * Fred Tatasciore - Talking cookie
 * Matthew Wood
 * Ruth Zalduondo

Development
Walt Disney Pictures announced a deal with Virgin Games in 1992 to acquire the rights to make an adaption to the videogame Cool Spot. However, the next year, due to the failure of the ill-fated Super Mario Bros. film adaption, Disney gave up the rights to a film adaption. By 1994 during development of Paint World, Gingo Animation expressed their interest in making the film and acquired the rights to Cool Spot under Universal's distribution. In 1995, Eric Goldberg was signed to direct the film with Tim Beva and Eric Fellner to produce under their studio Working Title Films. At this same time, the film was to be traditionally animated and rapper Tupac Shakur was to attain the voice role of Cool Spot. However, due to his murder in 1996 along with Eric Goldberg leaving the project, the film went into development hell.

Seven years later in 2003, the film was brought back into production due to CEO of Gingo Geo G. highly expressing his huge interest in making the film which was "his favorite video game of all time" according to an interview and produced a CGI short "Cool Spot's World" in 2004 attaching it to the home media release of Zina and the Vivid Crew with the voice of Cool Spot being performed by Pharrell Williams. According to Williams, he called the short bad and didn't want to be involved with any other Gingo project. This later once again cancelled production of the film while angering Geo G. resulting in the firing of Nathan Greno from Gingo who was the director of the short film. After the firing no information of the film was heard from and later confirmed to be cancelled in 2007.

In 2010, after the success of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs the previous year, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller spoke with Geo G. and shown a script for a Cool Spot film that they were thinking of since 2003. He was later satisfied with this script and hired them as directors and writers of the film. In addition, Tom McGrath and Evan Katz also joined the production and were writers. Pharrell who heard that Lord and Miller became directors of the project talked with both of them and agreed with Geo G. to also become a writer of the upcoming film. To keep the film modern, the writers kept up with modern culture and trends while also making the film set in the current times. The film was also slated to have a PG-13 which would make it a first for Gingo Animation.

Casting
In February 2015, Will Smith and Mila Kunis were in talks to play Cool Spot and "an additional love interest", however, Smith wasn't able to take the part due to scheduling conflicts with Suicide Squad while Kunis' part was confirmed. A month later, Gingo was doing voice reel tests for an actor to portray the main villain, including Ed Helms, Kevin Hart, Alan Tudyk, Steve Zahn, and Clancy Brown, with Alec Baldwin eventually being cast.

The casting for the title character was the most difficult according to Geo G. with over 100 actors going by auditioning for the role which included Snoop Dogg (who later received the part of Bebe instead), Noah Schnapp who was rejected for the part due to sounding too young, Kenan Thompson, C.J. Wallace, and Terry Crews. Pharrell was eventually cast after reading the part with most of the producers and writers praising his voice and telling that his voice fits Cool Spot the best. In addition, James Corden was cast as Bump Cola, the former mascot of 7-Up as well as Bobby Cannavale as Dave Cola, Tom Holland as Splish, Luke Wilson as Fido Dido, Snoop Dogg as Bebe, Bill Murray as 7-Up, Bobby Moynihan as Berry Coke, Michael B. Jordan as Deeney Hopps, Allison Janney as Betty Spot, Adrien Brody as Drinky, Steve Coogan as Cokebot, Ron Funches as BAM!, Alison Brie as Princess Gulpman, Andy Samberg as Womp Daddy, Debra Messing as Swag Mom, Finn Wolfhard as Lil' Cooky, and veteran voice-actor Frank Welker as Orie. Voice recordings for the film lasted until February 2016 for its initial 2017 theatrical release. However, the film was in a turn around at the last minute, forcing the studio to push back the film to 2018. During this period, most of the scenes were redone to fit the time period that the film was going to be released in.

Animation
Cool Spot was animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks, which also animated Gingo's Archot (2014). Additional animation was produced by Gingo's Creative Step Studio in North Hollywood, California.

Music
Ludwig Göransson was hired to compose the film's score by July 2017. Pharrell Williams produced the film's curated soundtrack, titled ''Cool Spot: The Album. ''Lord and Miller chose Williams for the project because his "artistic themes align with those we explore in the film." Cool Spot: The Album was released on September 7, 2018 and included the singles ”Paradise”, ”Feels”, “We Get Turnt Up”, and “Surfin”. The soundtrack also contains more mature language than the movie itself.

Release
Cool Spot was released on September 14, 2018 in 2D, 3D, Dolby Cinema, and IMAX by Universal Pictures. The film was previously scheduled for release on September 7, 2018 but was moved back a week to avoid competition with the horror film The Nun.

The film is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for ”animated action violence, rude humor, language, drunkness, innuendo, and brief suggestive comments.”

The extended director's cut of the film is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for ”intense sequences of animated violence and action, rude humor, language, brief drug use, drunkness, innuendo, and some suggestive comments.”

Marketing
Gingo partnered with more than 100 licensing and promotional partners in a deal valued at an unprecedented $250 million. One of the partners was NBCUniversal, the parent company of Universal Pictures which distributed the film for advertising. Spots for the film appeared on Bravo, E!, USA, Syfy, Telemundo, the Gingo Channel and NBC Universo. A customized page was created on Fandango. Coinciding with the film's release, Universal also partnered with McDonald's to produce eight toys in their Happy Meals.
 * The teaser trailer was released on December 14, 2017, and was shown before Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and Maze Runner: The Death Cure
 * The first official trailer was released on March 7, 2018, and was shown before A Wrinkle In Time, Sherlock Gnomes, Rampage, and Avengers: Infinity War.
 * The second official trailer was released on May 2, 2018, and was shown before Computeropolis: The Deep Web, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Incredibles 2, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
 * The third official trailer was released on July 5, 2018, and was shown before Ant-Man and the Wasp, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, and Mission Impossible - Fallout.
 * The fourth and final offical trailer was released on August 9, 2018 and was shown before The Meg, Alpha, and Crazy Rich Asians.

Merchandise
A Cool Spot graphic novel and comic miniseries was published by Dark Horse Comics in 2018. The graphic novel, titled Cool Spot: Part Rap Star, was written by Liz Marsham and illustrated by Nicoletta Baldari. A comic miniseries, titled Cool Spot: Dancing, Dabbing & Other Stories, was written by Christos Gage and Landry Walker, and illustrated by Gurihiru, J. Bone, Andrea Greppi and Roberta Zanotta.

A video game of the same name was released on September 7, 2018. Other than Tom Holland, Luke Wilson, Snoop Dogg, Frank Welker, Finn Wolfhard, and Bill Murray, none of the main cast members reprise their roles in the video game.

Home media
The film was released on digital and Movies Anywhere on December 25, 2018, while the DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray was released later on January 8, 2019, by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. It included special behind the scenes featurettes, as well as an exclusive extended director's cut that includes scenes not shown theatrically which is rated PG-13 by the MPAA since it has stronger language and more intense violence than the original PG-rated theatrical cut. Additionally, it features three new animated shorts: Spot's Fashion Show, Orie's Big Night Out, and Lights Out.

Box office
Cool Spot grossed $500.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $736.5 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross $1.237 billion. Made on a production budget of $150 million, with about $175 million more spent on global marketing costs, the film needed to gross at least $450 million in order to break-even. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $440.8 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues, making it the fourth most profitable release of 2018 and Gingo's most profitable film of all time.

On September 24, 2018, it crossed the $500 million threshold at the worldwide box office in 10 days, becoming the fastest for an animated film to reach this milestone beating Incredibles 2 ' s record of 12 days. On October 26, 2018, the film surpassed Shrek 2 ($441.2 million), to become the highest grossing non-Disney animated film of all time domestically. On November 3, 2018, it became the sixth film of 2018 after Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Computeropolis: The Deep Web, and Incredibles 2 to reach $1 billion and also surpassed Imagimals ($1.010 billion) on the same day, to become the highest-grossing Gingo film worldwide. On December 5, 2018, the film surpassed Minions ($1.159 billion) to become Universal's highest grossing animated release of all time and the highest grossing non-Disney animated film. Worldwide, it is also the eighteenth highest-grossing film of all time.

United States and Canada
In the United States and Canada, Cool Spot was released on September 14, 2018, alongside The Predator, Unbroken: Path to Redemption, A Simple Favor, and White Boy Rick, and was originally projected to gross $40–50 million in its opening weekend. By the week before its release, estimates were raised to $70–80 million, with a chance to go higher due to the strong positive word of mouth. Cool Spot played in 4,356 theaters, setting the record for widest release Gingo of all time, of which 3,200 venues were in 3D, along with 425 premium large format locales, approximately 500 IMAX theaters and a handful of Dolby Cinema sites. Within the first 24 hours of pre-sale tickets going on sale, it broke Fandango's pre-sales record to become the top Gingo pre-seller of all-time, eclipsing Imagimals (2016), and eventually set another record a few days before the film's release as the site's top pre-seller for a non-Disney film, beating Paradoria (2015).

The film grossed $18.1 million from Thursday night previews, the biggest of all time for Gingo (besting Gabriel Garza 2 ' s $15.8 million) as well as a non-Disney animated film, leading weekend projections to increase to $110 million. Cool Spot went on to have an record breaking opening day of $63.1 million (including previews), setting various records such as biggest opening day for both a Gingo film, a non-Disney film, and an animated film released by Universal leading to weekend estimates increasing to $130 million with some estimates going as high as $150 million. The film's Friday gross also surpassed Lara Croft: Tomb Raider's entire weekend gross of $47.7 million, which was the highest opening weekend gross at the time for a video game adaption.

It went on to open to $138.1 million, far ahead of It 's respective record opening weekend of $123.1 million, which previously was the highest opening weekend gross for a film released in September and also outgrossed the entire lifeline gross Computeropolis: The Deep Web ($132.2 million) Universal's most recent animated film. Deadline Hollywood compared the over-expected opening to It, from the previous year's September, and attributed it to positive word-of-mouth, audiences coming for various celebrities and famous acts in the film such as Pharrell and Snoop Dogg, as well as the advantage of being released on a usually quiet weekend for box office. With this record breaking opening weekend gross, the film was also the 15th Gingo film to debut at number one and the first to debut at over $100 million, not counting Gabriel Garza 2 's 5 day gross. Trying to explain this surprise, Gingo's domestic distribution chief and CEO Geo G. said "we never knew the film be this big especially since it's a video game adaption which usually are expected to flop. But with the gross, it's something that is never seen before and like throwing the rules out of a window on fire." The weekend included $18.1 million from Thursday preview showings on September 13, $63.1 million on its opening day, $45.2 million on September 15, and $29.8 million on September 16. The film's opening weekend is the biggest Gingo, Universal animated, and non-Disney animated opening of all time, the 2nd biggest animated opening of all time behind Incredibles 2 ($182.1 million), the fourth biggest opening weekend of all time for Universal and the biggest opening weekend for a non-Fast and Furious and Jurassic Park film. It further broke the record for the biggest PLF and Cinemark XD opening for an animated film with $12.4 million and $3.8 million, respectively. In IMAX, it made $15.2 million from 422 theaters the best animated IMAX opening of all time. Additionally, the film also surpassed Lara Croft: Tomb Raider 's entire lifeline gross of $131.1 million within three days to become the highest grossing videogame adaption of all time domestically.

Following its record breaking opening, the film also set various records within it's first week in release with it's Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday grosses, making $21.1 million, $13.5 million, $9.8 million, $18.1 million, topping It 's respective grosses of $8.7 million, $11.4 million, $7.9 million, and $7.2 million. By Monday, in only it's fourth day of release, the film had grossed $159.2 million, surpassing both Gabriel Garza 2 's and It 's entire respective opening week grosses of $142.7 million and $158.7 million in under four days for the biggest opening week for a Gingo film, a September release, and two days later overtook Crocodile Dundee ($174.8 million) to become the highest grossing non-R rated September release as well as being 2nd highest grossing September release of all time. On September 21, 2018, the film grossed $200.1 million in only 7 days, making it the biggest opening week gross for a Gingo film and the fastest grossing one as well.

The film's second Friday was the smallest Friday-to-Friday drop for a Gingo film with a gross of $27.1 million on that day which is a 57% drop from the first Friday. In the film's second weekend, it remained on the top of box office, beating all competition while holding off Universal's own The House With a Clock in Its Walls while grossing $62.5 million (dropping 54.7%) which marked it the best sophomore frame for a Gingo film.

In its third weekend, the film once again topped box office while grossing $30.2 million, dropping 51.6%. On September 30, 2018, in only 16 days, it overtook It ' s entire lifeline gross of $327.4 million to become the highest grossing September release of all time. In its fourth weekend, it dropped 13% grossing $26.2 million and fell to No. 3 falling behind newcomers Venom (which dethroned the film for No. 1) and A Star is Born.

On October 12, 2018, the film grossed $405.4 million, becoming the first ever September release to gross $400 million domestically and two days later grossed $418.7 million, surpassing Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ($416.7 million) as Universal's highest grossing film of 2018 domestically.

In its fifth weekend, the film dropped 31.5% and grossed $18.2 million while remaining in third. On October 20, 2018, it's 36th day of release, the film grossed $431.4 million, passing Imagimals ($429.9 million) to become Gingo's highest grossing flim domestically as well as Universal's highest grossing animated film of all time. On October 26, 2018, the film surpassed Shrek 2 ($441.2 million), to become the highest grossing non-Disney animated film of all time domestically. In its sixth weekend, the film grossed $10.1 million and dropped to No. 4 behind newcomer Halloween as well as holdovers A Star is Born and Venom. In its seventh weekend, the film grossed $10.1 million dropping down a place to fifth. In its eighth weekend, it dropped down to seventh place grossing $4.9 million. In its ninth weekend, it dropped to ninth place while grossing $3.9 million. The film dropped to tenth place in its tenth weekend while grossing $2.3 million. On November 21, 2018, the film was re-released in 1,500 additional theaters increasing the theater count to 2,982 as part of Thanksgiving break and grossed $4.8 million in it's eleventh weekend while retaining it's tenth place finish. It finally fell outside the top 10 in its twelfth weekend with a gross of $2.8 million. By December 16, 2018, the film had earned $490.6 million, surpassing the $490 million projected amount for its total domestic gross.

In its 25th weekend, Universal increased the film's theater count from 80 to 235 and additionally pairing it with Sony Pictures Animation's Addie as a double feature in order to help the film become the second animated film ever to surpass $500 million domestically. On March 10, 2019, it’s 178th day of release, the film passed $500 million domestically, making it the second animated film to do so. Brian Gallagher of IGN felt the film surpassing $500 million was more impressive than Computeropolis: The Deep Web 's $1.001 billion foreign gross at the time. Gallagher pointed to Cool Spot being less front-loaded, as it grossed a multiplier of 3.16 from its $138.1 million opening, compared to the 2.83 multiplier from The Deep Web 's respective opening of $46.6 million, its domestic gross representing more of its worldwide gross which is 40.4% compared to the latter's 11.7%, not relying on an overseas gross for it to be successful, its September release date without any major competition from other films, and the fact it was "a film made specifically for teenagers, adults, and everyone in the world". It ended it’s theatrical run on May 2, 2019, after 231 days.

Internationally
Worldwide, the film was expected to make $90–115 million in its opening weekend, including $20–45 million internationally. It ended up overperforming and making $79.6 million from 25 countries in its opening weekend, becoming the top film in all it's market and debuting for a global debut of $217.7 million, the highest for both a Gingo and a animated Universal released film outgrossing Gabriel Garza 2 ' s worldwide opening of $206.1 million. The film also outperformed the opening weekends for all films that Gingo released in all markets. Mexico was the largest debut with $21.3 million, followed by Australia ($17.7 million) and Russia ($15.4 million) both having the biggest openings of all time for Gingo. In its second weekend, it opened as the top film in Belgium, Russia, and Spain. In its third weekend it opened up in 5 more territories with the biggest being the United Kingdom as it grossed $43.2 million.

It had the biggest opening for an animated film in Brazil ($9.2 million) and the Netherlands ($2.5 million), and the biggest of all time for a Gingo film in Australia ($17.7 million), the Philippines ($2.1 million), Singapore ($1.3 million), India ($1 million), Indonesia, Peru and Central America, and in Russia it opened with $15.4 million, and the second biggest in the United Kingdom and Ireland ($11.7 million), Mexico ($9.4 million) and Argentina ($3.5 million). In the UK and Ireland, the film recorded the second biggest animated opening of the year with $11.7 million from 580 theaters. Moreover, it also posted the biggest Gingo opening of all time, and the fifth biggest animated opening of all time overall based on pure Friday-to-Sunday gross alone. It added an additional 43 theaters in its second weekend, after which it added another £3.98 million ($5.1 million) at the weekend, thereby passing the £20 million mark in just ten days. It made an impressive £8.15 million during weekdays, from Monday to Thursday resulting in a £2.03 million daily average gross. According to thereby passing, this was because of the school holidays that prevailed on the weekdays. Otherwise, family films earn the vast majority of their takings on Saturday and Sunday, and showtimes typically reduce on weekdays. It returned to the top of the box office in its fourth weekend. In Brazil, in addition to recording the biggest Gingo opening ever, almost twice the previous record held by ly reduce on, it also set a new record for an all-time animated opening. In South Korea, it had the biggest opening for a Gingo film with $7.1 million. In Japan, the film had a two-day weekend opening of $7 million on Saturday and Sunday from 511 screens on 571,000 admissions. This made it the top western release of the weekend and the biggest foreign opening weekend in the country so far of this year, It had further number one openings in Spain ($4.9 million), France ($4.7 million), Hong Kong ($1.9 million; $2.8 million including previews), and Taiwan ($1.9 million). It topped the box office in the Netherlands for three and in Spain and Australia for four consecutive weekends. In China, it was projected that the film will gross $30 million in it's opening weekend. It ultimately opened on Friday, November 2 and earned $18 million on its opening day, marking the second-biggest opening day for an animated film ever in China and the biggest opening day of all time for Gingo, outgrossing Imagimals' opening day gross of $15.1 million. The film ended up over performing in China, grossing $43.4 million in it's opening weekend marking the biggest opening weekend of all time for Gingo there. By December 2018, the film was granted an extension release until January 24, 2019, as the film overperformed it's initial total gross of $50 million. As of January 1, 2019, the highest grossing markets are China ($243.2 million), United Kingdom ($101.2 million), Japan ($55.3 million), Brazil ($23.3 million), and France ($19.2 million).

Critical reception
Cool Spot received positive reviews from critics. Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating of 98%, based on 403 reviews, with an average score of 8.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Fast, funny, interesting, and mouth-watering fun, Cool Spot subverts the video game adaption formula to a more family-friendly fare with jokes and pranks included." Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned a score of 79 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 93% overall positive score and an 83% "definite recommend".

Epilepsy issues
Many disability advocates, including the Epilepsy Foundation, have raised concerns that scenes with flashing lights, mostly in a party sequence as well as Cool Spot's fight with Fresh-Up Freddie, can trigger seizures in viewers affected by photosensitive epilepsy. As a result, several theaters have started posting warnings for audiences. Universal issued a statement to USA Today stating that they appreciated the efforts the theaters had already made in making signs warning people seeing the movie. They then asked theaters to warn audiences about the scene in a memo that read, "Cool Spot contains a sequence of flashing lights, which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photosensitivities."

In response to this, the UK released a re-edited version of the film with all affected sequences altered so that any flashing lights and strobe effects now pass the Harding test.

Cinematic impact
Before Cool Spot ' s success, videogame adaptions considered successful were Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and Resident Evil (2002-2007), which received around half the opening weekend gross compared to comic book and novel adapations. The Angry Birds Movie (2016), another film that's an animated videogame adaption, did slightly better with a $38.1 million opening weekend although it limped to $100 million. However, Cool Spot changed the box office as most box office analysts expected the film to gross as much as only $350-400 million worldwide as it was a videogame that is not as well known as any other videogames that were adapted into films. Many reasons were given for why Cool Spot went on to be more successful than these, including the huge popularity of the Gingo brand to all audiences and Williams's performance. Tom Huddleston, Jr. wrote for Fortune, that Cool Spot was proof to Hollywood that videogame adaptions can be as successful as other types of adpations, "particularly when fans see that the film pays homage to the original game they played before."

Accolades
Coming soon!

Sequel
Before the film's release, Universal and Gingo greenlit a sequel, with all the writers slated to return, for a possible 2021 release date. Additionally, Williams, Kunis, Cannavale, Holland, Wilson, Snoop Dogg, Murray, Moynihan, Corden, Jordan, Brody, Jackson, Coogan, Brie, Messing, and Samberg are all expected to reprise their roles. Producer John Cohen also stated that he wants other notable mascots to be featured in the sequel as well. On December 17, 2018, it was confirmed that production on the sequel had commenced. On March 23, 2019, it was announced that the sequel would be released on February 19, 2021, with Lord and Miller returning to direct with Cohen, Williams and Jason Felts producing. Sony Pictures Imageworks will also return to provide the film's animation.

Television series
On April 17, 2019, it was confirmed that a television series based on the film is being produced and will premiere on Gingo in Fall 2019.

Main
To see the main transcript of the film, click here.

Trailers
To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.