Undertale (2022 film)

Undertale is an upcoming American live action/computer animated comedy drama fantasy adventure film directed by James Bobin. Based on the cult classic RPG created by Toby Fox, it was written by Lord, Nicole Perlman, and Bob Persichetti, from a story by Phil Lord and Toby Fox. The film was produced by Legendary Pictures in association with 21 Laps Entertainment and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. Kara Hayward and Asher Angel plays their live action roles as Frisk and Leon, while Mark Hamill, Phillipa Soo, Jeff Bridges, Tony Hale, Zendaya, Justin Felbinger, Kate Miducci, Nick Jonas, Laurence Fishburne, Pierce Gagnon, and Robert Patrick play their animated roles. It's the first movie to be released as part of a cinematic universe known as the Indie Initiative. The plot follows the two as they find a secret inside Mount Ebott and learn about the lost past of the monster race.

The film was announced by Fox himself via Twitter on January 2022 and Bobin was announced as the director in March of the same year. Principal photography began May 2023 in Georgia and parts of Thailand and Dublin and ended in February 2024.

The movie was released worldwide in October 21, 2028 to average to positive reviews from critics and fans of the game with praise for it's visual effects, tone, and performances, particularly those of Soo and Fishburne. It was also a box office success, grossing $417 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing video game adaptation movie of all time in front of Sonic The Hedgehog and Pokemon Detective Pikachu.

Plot
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Long ago, there was once two races known as humans and monsters lived in harmony, until it happen when both races broke together and start the war known as the Great War against each other. After a 10-year battle, the humans won and sealed all monsters in the mountain known as Mount Ebott. However, as time went on, the story was soon erased by mankind, turning it into just a myth, than a historical event. Many years later in Magnolia City, 2 young humans appear as the main protagonists, Frisk, an orphan, and Leon, a loner, who decide to go on a school field trip to Mount Ebott together. When they arrive however, they are chased by the school's bully Samuel. They go inside the mountain to hide from him, but in the process, they get caved in. However, a red light emerges out of nowhere, and it seems to take shape into a heart. They chase the light a few times before Frisk grabs it, but then, the ground beneath them starts to shake, and it eventually collapses, causing them to fall. When they wake up, they are introduced to Flowey, a sentient flower who seemingly knows everything about the underground. Flowey then teaches the two about their soul and LV, but then they get betrayed by Flowey himself. All hope seems lost, but then a fireball threw the flower out of the way and Toriel, the caretaker of the ruins, runs up to them. She's the one that can take care of Frisk and Leon throughout the ruins as she train Frisk about compassion and mercy by telling him the story of Jonah and the Whale. She showed the both of them how to fight at the dummy, in which she succeeded, so Toriel tell Frisk that she can walk by himself. Meanwhile, Frisk met a ghost name Napstablook who was blocking his path, then Frisk got it to Toriel's home until he had realized that he must have found a hole to escape the mountain. So he went back and tell Toriel of how to find the exit from the ruins, but Toriel is going to destroy the exit of the ruins and she won't stop until Frisk had determination of briging back peace and harmony, so he must tell her that he will never hurt her, so Toriel understood that she can let him go, but not return to that place. So she waved goodbye, hugged him, and walked away until she was gone. However, when Frisk and Leon are walking to the exit from the ruins, they encountered Flowey again who told him that Frisk can do by his own rules where in this world is "kill or be killed" and Flowey will become a god in the future so he left the mountain.

Frisk entered a new location called Snowdin. While Frisk was walking, he was followed by someone, which turns out to be a lazy talking skeleton name Sans. He can help him out with his older brother Papyrus to have fun where Papyrus was finding humans in the underground to become as the Royal Guard. Later, Frisk meet Papyrus for the first time where Papyrus is fighting and looking for humans to capture. Until then, Papyrus gave up to capture him where Frisk gave him compassion and mercy, and the humans will become Papyrus's friends, which made Papyrus happy and he will help him out. Meanwhile at the waterfall, a royal guard is tracking down Frisk which got a good friend name Monster Kid who can help him throughout the waterfall cavern. When they split up, Frisk fell down in the garbage dump. He later got attacked by Mad Dummy until the evil dummy is gone and Frisk was save by Napstablook. Meanwhile Frisk is cornered by Undyne where she is going to kill him when Monster Kid is protecting the human to make Frisk run away from her until Frisk was spotted by Undyne who was ready to kill him for a chase. Undyne starts chasing Frisk and Monster Kid around Mount Ebott until Undyne fell down in Hotlands because she was almost dying from thirst, so Frisk give her some water and ran away before she would see him again. Frisk had found a building where a doctor is living there. That doctor was named Dr. Alphys. She was originally going to stop this human, but she saw that all of his actions were mindful, kind, and friendly, so she give Frisk a phone for help at the puzzles, but she had a big problem about a robot name Mettaton who became the host in entertainment, but he's also very murderously, and when he saw a human, he would kill it. It's too late for Frisk and Dr. Alphys as Mettaton breaks in, fighting the human in a questions game. Later Frisk got the answers correct and passed the game, so Mettaton will return because it was a pilot episode that he will fight Frisk for "More Drama, More Action and More Bloodshed". Alphys tell Frisk to be more careful as there are lots of traps around in the Hotlands. Meanwhile, Frisk is been seen the room filled with spiderwebs which he was been encountered by Muffet then she was been spared the human life, meanwhile he had found a hotel where Mettaton lives until he meet Sans where their can have a talk of Frisk leaving the underground and even about Sans past where he found the biggest door that he can test of his knock knock jokes until he heard a female voice in the other side from the door Frisk thinking it was Toriel, after Sans and Toriel having fun for jokes until later Toriel is feeling upset and said was "If the human past this door, please please take care of them" so Sans promise to her which he can take care of Frisk. After Sans say goodbye so Frisk is enter the CORE where it had filled with many monster, when finally got to meet Mettaton for a big battle and aired on television for the biggest finale when Alphys calls Frisk that Mettaton had a switch in his back which she thinks that Mettaton will be switched off, but it didn't turn the robot off but it transform Mettaton to Mettaton EX, so Frisk got an idea that he had to entertain the viewers to get the most views ever, until Mettaton EX's arms and legs fell, but he's not hurt, then it work, and Mettaton EX is happy that he can get a few collars, but his face is turned down that it was his finale ever so Mettaton happily said thanks and tells him that he can let Frisk to the King of Monsters before he was completely turned off. Then, Alphys is here and she was glad that Mettaton is changed, as they got to the elevator, she tell Frisk that she was sad because the only way to escape the mountain is to kill the king and she left and say goodbye to Frisk, and walked away before she was gone. When Frisk is exit out the elevator where he had notice that the house was look alike Toriel's home but in grey so he take a look around the house when he found a Worn Dagger and a locket where it had a letter said "Best Friends Forever" and a photo but it was very rusty until he was meet the other monsters he had encountered and spared which the monster tell Frisk about what happened about few years ago. They then tell the story of the first child and Asriel, who died and was buried undereath the castle. So Frisk and Leon say thanks for the backstory of the history until he was enter Hallway of Judgement where Sans is here so he was began to judged of Frisk actions of EXP which the acronym known as "execution points" and even LOVE is known as "Level of Violence" if Frisk had kill a monster or not, then Sans find him not guilty where he never gain any LOVE and never hurt many monsters which Frisk is have "Determination" that he was doing the right thing so Sans let him pass to fight againest Asgore. Then Frisk meet the King of Monsters Asgore Dreemurr where he was watering the golden flowers until he turn around and see a human right fount at him, so Asgore can tell Frisk know what to do where he show Frisk the barrier where it look like very longest path so Asgore is ready to accepted for the battle until then Asgore destroy Frisk's Mercy that he cannot Spare him which Frisk had to do was hurt him.

Humans

 * Kara Hayward as Frisk Dreemurr-An orphan who doesn't know her parents. Is adopted by Toriel and Asgore.
 * Asher Angel as Leon Porter-Frisk's only friend
 * Julia Roberts as Betty Porter-Leon's mom who is stressed after her father, died when he was 5.
 * Ralph Macchio as Mr. Reid-Leon and Frisk's teacher

Monsters

 * Mark Hamill as Flowey the Flower-A talking flower and appear as the central antagonist of the movie.
 * Phillipa Soo as Toriel Dreemurr-A caring mother that was the former queen of the underground, now the caretaker of the ruins.
 * Seth Rogen as Sans the Skeleton-A talking skeleton that he only like to make puns at his brother, which he can help Frisk.
 * Alan Tudyk as Papyrus-A lively skeleton who wants to capture a human
 * Zendaya as Undyne-A very brave fish is who is recruited by Asgore as part of the Royal Guard.
 * Justin Felbinger as Monster Kid-A reptile kid with no arms and is the fan of Undyne.
 * Kate Miducci as Alphys-A very shy dinosaur who loves anime and manga and has a crush on Undyne.
 * Nick Jonas as Mettaton-A robotic celebrity who is the host of entertainment in the Underground on a television channel called MTT. He does a cooking show, a musical, the news and much more.
 * Laurence Fishburne as Asgore Dreemurr-An anthropomorphic white goat and is the king of the Underground and all monsters who used to be with Toriel before she left him all alone.
 * Pierce Gagnon as Asriel Dreemurr-He was an anthro white goat and is the king's son, he was the true form of Flowey when Flowey absorbs everyone's souls into one little white anthro goat.
 * Ron Perlman as Asriel Dreemurr(God of Hyperdeath)-
 * Keiyan Lonsdale as Napstablook-A ghost with crippling depression and is the cousin of Mettaton.
 * Tilda Swinton as Muffet-A female spider who runs a bakery and has a pet cupcake monster. Has an army of spiders by her side.

Development
In September 15 2021, the day of Undertale's anniversary, Fox expressed his thoughts on making a TV show and movie based on his game, plus the publishing rights for future games. In October 8, it was announced that Legendary Entertainment had acquired these live-action adaptations from Fox with Sony Pictures set to distribute the movie. By December, it was announced that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller would develop the film, as well as possibly direct. In March 2023, 2 months after production had started, 21 Laps Entertainment joined the production, and financed the film with $70 million dollars. As a result, joined the producer team. In May, Shawn Levy, Dit was announced that James Bobin had been set to direct the movie.

Writing
On October 10 2021, it was announced that Alex Hirsch, the creator of Gravity Falls had been set to write the film, based on the improvised story written by Fox. Hirsch wanted to write a film that would appease fans of the source material while changing things up a little. For example, Hirsch decided to add Leon into the film, even though the character wasn't part of the original game. He said that Leon was added because Frisk doesn't talk that much, and that's she's shy, so she has someone to help talk to. He then decided to cut some content of the original game up so that it would hit the 2 hour mark, like when Frisk decides to date Papyrus. He also added some elements of his shows, like Gravity Falls. In December 15, it was announced that Lord and Bob Persichetti would be rewriting the script originally by Hirsch.

Casting
Casting directors Sarah Halley Finn and Douglas Aibel wanted actors to capture the motivations, traits, and emotions of the game's signature characters. For Toriel, thousands of actresses auditioned for the role. Emily Blunt, Marissa Tomei, and Uzo Aduba all auditioned for the role, but the role was given to Phillipa Soo, most likely because of her role of Chang'e in Over The Moon. Papyrus was a hard one, as his canon voice resembles something like Skeletor. Domhnall Gleeson was considered for the role, but Alan Tudyk was ultimately cast as him. However, Leon was even harder to cast, due to him not appearing in the original game. They eventually chose Asher Angel for the role because of his strength of Billy Batson in the movie Shazam! By August 3 2022, Ralph Macchio, Justin Felbinger, Kate Miducci, Pierce Gagnon, Keiyan Lonsdale, Seth Rogen, Nick Jonas, and Laurence Fishburne had joined the cast. On November 7, Variety reported that YouTube stars Matthew Patrick and Sean McLoughlin appearing as cameos.

Filming
Principal photography began on May 12, 2023, and concluded on February 26, 2024.

Music
The team recruited Alexandre Desplat to recreate the music originally by Fox, with him being the executive music producer. Desplat made the music so that it would recapture Fox's ability to "turn old songs into completely new experiences". Desplat had originally two prototypes of the soundtrack which where turned down by Fox before he made a suitable soundtrack that everyone liked.

Animation
The CGI animation was done by Blur Studio, who had previously worked on another video game movie, Sonic The Hedgehog, which released in February 2020. Tim Miller said that animating the film was a long process as the animation team didn't want to go down a similar path with the old design Sonic in the movie. First, they studied at the characters from the original game, and applied it to 3D. Second, they watched fan animations and films so they would have a better perspective on how to model and animate their bodies and faces. The animators didn't want to the monsters to look uncanny valley, and wanted to go through a more cartoony approach. And finally, they used motion capture to put the models into the film.

Marketing
The movie had it's premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in September 2, 2028. It later then had it's Tokyo premiere in October 20 and it's worldwide premiere in Boston in October 21.

Sony and Legendary made up a campaign that would please fans and build hype for the movie. The campaign included merchandise by iam8bit, an art gallery hosted at the Louvre, and an cook book on how to make the movie's signature foods. In February 7, 2027, Hatchet Book Group released a novel called The Tale of the 2 Races, which was written by Cory Doctorow. It then got a manga adaption by Yen Press, which was drawn by anime artist Rimukoro. Also, Fox, along with Flinthook developer Tribute Games and Annapurna Interactive, released Undertale: Reunion, a 16-bit remake of the original game, which has elements of the movie in it and was released alongside the film.

Home media
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the movie on DVD and Blu-ray on April 20, 2029. The discs included behind-the-scenes footage with the cast, promotional shots, deleted scenes, and the theatrical trailer.

Box office
Undertale grossed $137 million in the United States and Canada and $285.6 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $422.6 million. Made on a production budget of $98 million, with $44.5 million more spent on global marketing costs, the film needed to make at least $200-300 million worldwide in order to break-even.

Critical response
Undertale has received generally positive reviews, with praise towards to the film's casting, animation, screenplay, musical score, and faithfulness to Toby Fox's video game. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 87%, based on 329 reviews, and an average rating of 7.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A video game adaptation done right, Undertale brings it all in with it's animation, cast, writing, and faithfulness to the original game." On Metacritic, it had "69/100" rating of positive reviews indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade "A-" on a A+ to F scale. Audiences surveyed by PostTrak gave the film an overall positive score of 80% and 65% of the audience would definitely recommend.

Sequel
Two sequels were made after the commercial success of the movie, Undertale: Genocide and Deltarune, both received very decent reviews and sold very well, but not as much as it's predecessor.

TV series
An animated series was announced shortly after the release of the movie, with French animation studio Studio La Cachette providing the animation, Phil, Christopher, Shawn, and Roy serving as executive producers, Warren Ellis serving as creator, and Alex Hirsch and Dana Terrance serving as developers. It premiered on Netflix on January 12, 2029.