The Jumping Ground Movie

The Jumping Ground Movie is an upcoming 3D traditionally-animated/computer-animated surreal action-adventure-science fiction-comedy film based on the Cartoon Network television series The Jumping Ground, directed by Josh Holt, and produced and co-written by series creators Lee Eisenhower and Conrad Vernon. It is an international co-production between Australia, Canada and the United States, and will be the third theatrical film based on a Cartoon Network series, the first was The Powerpuff Girls Movie and the second was Regular Show: The Movie.

The film was announced in September 2014, with further details being announced at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International.

The Jumping Ground Movie was screened at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2016 and is scheduled to be released in the United States on July 15, 2016, in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received mixed to negative reviews from critics and has grossed over $38 million worldwide.

Synopsis
SG-1, led by PuffPuff Humbert (voiced by Sean Astin), have been attacked by a powerful unstoppable wave of unknown aliens, who destroy the USS Odyssey, leaving them stranded on a new, Groundbridge-less planet, where they find themselves in conflict with a new ruthless enemy (voiced by Peter Dinklage), while finding a way to get off the planet.

Plot
PuffPuff Humbert and Lance Patrick are fined $5.6 million dollars by Stamford Gate GCC's commanding officer Peter Mandelson, for violating the Prime Directive by saving the planet Nibiru from a volcanic eruption and exposing the ship to the primitive inhabitants. Upon hearing of Puff's fining by the National Executive Committee, Puff's father David tells his son that there is greatness in him, even if he is punished by Stamford Gate's staff regarding his heroic acts. After a one-week recess, Michigan State Senator and prominent Groundbridge government regulator Michael Finch pays a visit to Stamford Gate, and announces a summer-long voyage on the USS Odyssey, with one student being chosen to guide the mission. Puff, despite his fining, is handpicked by Finch to supervise the mission, in which nearly every student would be going on.

Puff, Lance, and any of their colleagues, including fellow group members Rob Broflovski, Zowie Hosker and Melvin Sneedly travel to the Jebidiah Pencaster Space Centre for the launching ceremony, with their families at the launch. Less than a few hours into the operation, the ship reaches the Skylab, where Space Monitor Paul Callaghan gives the team a task to deliver sacred goods to PC5-Y78. Six days into the voyage, Clyde Donovan detects a suspicious signal in front of the ship. A swarm of cybernetic aliens attacks the Odyssey, in which Puff gives the immediate order to abandon ship. The passengers escape the ship using escape pods, in which are bound towards an unauthorised planet on the 1989 Off-World Planets List. Later, the crew escapes the pods, and soon find out that the Odyssey was destroyed in the process. As the team figures out what happened and where they are, Toad Sanderson borrows Rob's GPS to track their coordinates, but it can't determine where they are.

A swarm of drones then ambushes a majority of the group, leaving the others to explore onslaught. Puff Zowie, Lance, Rob, Melvin, Toad, Clyde, Tobias Wilson, Jimmy Swanson, Timmy Burch, Skipper and Dino-Rang are abducted and taken to the basecamp of Edward G. Rathcock, a corrupt military general who is strictly concerned about the activity of the Stamford Gate student body and has an alliance with the Goa'uld. He harshly confronts the kids, and threatens them on their past actions and warns them that there are consequences on them. As a fight between the kids and Rathcock ensues, Rathcock summons his group of minions: The Hellfire Club, consisting of Doug Duerson, Stink-Oh, Clobba, Spot, Grimer and Tussle Sprout. Toad falls in love with Spot, whilst Puff continues to plea with Rathcock to help him and his friends to return home. As Rathcock, unconvinced by Puff's remarks, orders the capture of the kids, they are rescued by an emerald warrior named Kyrah, who takes them to a nearby village, and explains to them what happened and why they are on the planet on the first place.

Meanwhile, Rathock is confronted by the Goa'uld ruler Shinnok, who questions the general on the kids' motifs, and introduces him to Draxoid. Draxoid orders Rathcock to be genetically enhanced, using Arkeyan fossil fuels. Shinnok then orders Draxoid and the Hellfire Club to annihilate the Stamford Gate student body with ease.

The kids later arrive at the village, and reluctantly accept it as their basecamp until they are rescued. Rob, however, is eager to check the village out more; he shoplifts from various stalls and shops, Much to Lance's disgust. Zowie asks whether the planet has any Groundbridges of any kind. Puff, having figured the whole situation out, says there are no Groundbridges, on the planet, codenamed PCY-009, as it has not been discovered by people visiting from Earth.

Back on Earth, Stamford Gate receives an unclassified signal. Suddenly, Draxoid appears, and threateningly interrogates Mr. Mandelson and Dr. Janet Frasier on the student body's whereabouts and their intentions for sealing their purpose for victory. Draxoid then warns Mandelson and Frasier that if Puff and his friends do not return home within 140 hours, Earth, and many other planets in the galaxy, will be annihilated, one by one.

More to follow...

Production
In December 2013, It was reported that Warner Bros. was in negotiations with the co-creators of the Cartoon Network series The Jumping Ground, Lee Eisenhower and Conrad Vernon for a feature film based on the show, co-written and produced by Eisenhower and Vernon, alongside Ryan Todd, Dan Lin, Chris McKay, and Mary Parent.

In September 2014, it was then announced that the film had already entered production under the title of The Jumping Ground Movie and Josh Holt came on board as the director.

Music
In October 2015, Michael Giacchino was hired to compose the film's score. In addition to his score, the film will re-use original sound-bytes from the show composed by Kevin MacLeod.

Release
The Jumping Ground Movie is scheduled to be released in 2D, RealD 3D, IMAX 3D and large-format screens in the United States on July 15, 2016, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It will be released first in Australia on June 29, two weeks and two days early before opening in the USA and other countries. For its UK release, Entertainment Film Distributors will distribute the film, whilst Constantin Film and Roadshow Films will release the film in Germany and Australia, respectively.

The film was screened outside of competition at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2016.

Marketing
The film's first teaser trailer debuted in front of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation on July 31, 2015.

In September 2015, To help with the film's promotion, Jumping Ground Studios, the studio responsible for the Jumping Ground franchise's creation, made a deal with The Lego Group to make a series of Lego sets or Lego Dimensions packs, scheduled for a spring 2016 release.

A balloon-themed after Rob debuted at the 2015 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to promote the film.

A second trailer debuted on December 11, 2015, and was shown in front of screenings of In the Heart of the Sea. An extended version of that trailer was shown during March 2016 in front of screenings of Zootopia and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

A TV spot was shown during Super Bowl 50, on February 7, 2016.

Product placement partners on the film include McDonald's, 7-Eleven, AT&amp;T, Walmart, and M&amp;M's, as well as Premier League football club Arsenal F.C., satellite television network Sky, and train operating company Virgin Trains, in the United Kingdom.

A third trailer debuted in front of The Jungle Book, on April 15, 2016, before a fourth and final trailer debuted on May 20, 2016, shown in front of The Angry Birds Movie.

Box Office
The Hollywood Reporter placed the film among the biggest summer box office risks of 2016.

Internationally, The Jumping Ground Movie will receive a scattered release from the end of June to September in a total of 66 markets, and is set to face competitions from other animated films like Finding Dory, The Secret Life of Pets and Ice Age: Collision Course. It was released in Australia and France two weeks ahead of its U.S. release where it grossed $10.20 million in the two markets.

Critical response
Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 36%, based on 86 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Jumping Ground Movie boasts more of the big ideas and surreal mishaps than usual as if it was an extended episode of the Cartoon Network cult classic, but when equipped with a slew of flaws such as unthoughtful conception, tissue-thin writing and an unprecedented amount of unwanted clichés, it's no match for the dark forces that would threaten it's somewhat whimsical premise." On another review aggregator, Metacritic, the film has a normalized score of 43 out of 100, based on 58 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film three stars out of five, saying "It's a nice surprise to see the beloved Cartoon Network characters on the big screen in the third theatrical film from one of American television's leading animation destinations, but sadly, the intense action sequences are not enough to prevent enthusiastic cinemagoers to eventually get bored half-way into the actual feature."

Sequels
During an interview with MTV News in mid-November 2015, Sean Astin, the voice of PuffPuff, talked about possible sequels: "It might be two films, three films, It could be four. It could be five. Who knows? The story will continue."

On March 21, 2016, it was reported that a sequel is already in the works with Jared Bush writing the screenplay and Eisenhower and Vernon returning to produce.