Pingu 2: Lost in the Arctic (2021 film)

Pingu 2: Lost in the Arctic is a 2021 American-British-Swiss animated film and a sequel to Pingu: The Movie (2018) and is based on the stop-motion children's television show, Pingu. The film is produced by Animal Logic and The Pingu Company in association with Mattel Creations and HiT Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures in the US and StudioCanal in the UK. This time, Nick Herbert returned to direct the sequel while Liz Whitaker took on as producer of the film and then the franchise later on. Ross Hastings returned as writer for the film and David Sant and Marcello Magni returned to reprise their voices. Alan Sylvestri, however, did not return and Carl Johnson took over as composer for the film and future Pingu films.

The film premiered in the United Kingdom on July 16, 2021, the United States on August 13, 2021, and then in Switzerland on September 10, 2021. The film initially received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its beautiful animation and charming humor but criticism for its unoriginal screenplay and it’s darker tone in contrast to it’s predecessor. The film grossed twice more than the first film, earning $298.1 million worldwide against it’s $70 million budget. The film earned a nomination at the 94th Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature but lost to Encanto. The film only earned a Golden Globe Awards nomination, two BAFTA Awards nominations, and earned three Annie Awards nominations, receiving no wins compared to it’s predecessor. The upcoming second sequel, Pingu 3: Take Me Home, is scheduled to be released in July 2023 in the UK and August 2023 in the US and an upcoming fourth Pingu film that is slated for a 2025 release.

Synopsis
When his sister accidentally gets lost in the Arctic, Pingu and his friends attempt to search for Pinga there, only to get themselves lost. They now have to find their way back to Penguin City while encountering some new friends and creatures they have seen before.

Plot
[Will be worked on when the film is done]

Cast

 * David Sant as Pingu, Father, Grand-pappy, Grandpa, Pingj, Robby, Pingo, Pingg, Pen-Pen, Chef Fred and The Inventor.
 * Marcello Magni as Mother, Pinga, Pingu’s three aunts, The Twins, Pingi, Pendra and Flower Shop Lady.
 * Paul Terry as Thomas the Polar Bear, Henry the Atlantic Puffin, and James the Bald Eagle
 * Latesha Barrel as Shera the Arctic Fox and The Great Arctic Wolf

Production
In April 2018, Liz had expressed his interest in doing a sequel, if the first film did well financially. Director Nick also expressed interest in developing a sequel that focused on extending the world of Pingu and giving he and his friends new adventures to explore. In June 2018, Universal Pictures confirmed that a sequel to Pingu: The Movie was in development, with Herbert set to return as director alongside Hastings returning as writer and Whitaker this time as a producer.

The same month as the film’s announcement, Universal announced the creation of The Pingu Company, a production company/division designed to create original content spanning stop motion series based on the franchise’s world, with Liz Whitaker set, not only as producer of the sequel and future Pingu movies, having previously been the director of the first film alongside Herbert, but also run the studio as chief creative officer, and Nick Herbert as not only the director, but also as writer (alongside Hastings) and executive producer of future Pingu films. Nick revealed that the reason for Universal’s founding of The Pingu Company was so that the Pingu crew can make the films with or without DreamWorks (if the studio’s available or not depending on it’s production schedule).

Animal Logic returned to the animation for the sequel, however DreamWorks was unable to return to help in the film’s production due to being too busy on other films the studio was working on like How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Abominable, Trolls World Tour, and The Croods: A New Age. For the animation, the crew traveled to places such as the Arctic Circle in Greenland and Antarctica (Pingu’s home) to explore, study and draw the ice landscapes, mountains and the northern lights that Pingu and his friends would travel. They also studied other arctic animals for each character’s species aside from Penguins (Pingu and the other penguin characters) and Seals (Robby) such as polar bears, Atlantic puffins, bald eagles, arctic foxes and wolfs.

In March 2020, the film’s production was temporarily halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nick stated that the film was about 95 percent complete before the pandemic halted the film. Production resumed in September 2020, with most of the animators working at home.

In late 2020, Universal Pictures announced that the sequel would introduce new characters for the sequel such as Thomas the Polar Bear, Henry the Atlantic Puffin, James the Bald Eagle, Shera the Arctic Fox and The Great Arctic Wolf. While David Sant and Marcello Magni return to reprised their roles for the sequel, two new voice actors join in to voice the new characters, such as Paul Terry (for Thomas, Henry, and James) and Latesha Barrel (Shera and The Great Arctic Wolf).

Music/Songs
Alan Silvestri was originally meant to return to compose for the film, but due to his busy work composing for Avengers: Endgame, Universal and The Pingu Company hired Carl Johnson to compose for the sequel. Johnson would go on to become the composer for the Pingu films. The film features a song in the end credits called Hand in Hand by South Korean band Koreana, which is the English version of the Korean song played as the the official song at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

Release
Pingu 2: Lost in the Arctic was released in the United Kingdom by StudioCanal on July 16, 2021 and then later in the United States by Universal Pictures on August 13, 2021. The film was later released in Pingu's home country of Switzerland on September 10, 2021. Universal originally scheduled the film for a March 12, 2021 release, but after thinking that it would fare well in summer and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was delayed to a late summer 2021 release date

Box office
Pingu 2: Lost in the Arctic grossed $100,529,784 in the United States and Canada, and $198,051,470 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $298,102,940, against a production budget of $70 million.

In the United States and Canada, Pingu 2: Lost in the Arctic was released alongside Free Guy, Don't Breathe 2, and Respect. The film made $4.3 million on its first day, debuting third behind Free Guy and Don't Breathe 2. It went on to debut to $21.4 million, finishing second at the box office behind both Free Guy.

In the United Kingdom, the film grossed £74,660,950 ($90,123,210).

Critical response
On Rotten tomatoes the film received an approval rating of 71% based on 91 reviews and an average rating of 6.8/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 65 out of 100 based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.-

Home media
Pingu 2: Lost in the Arctic was released on Universal's streaming service, Peacock on December 24, 2021 and then on DVD, Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray, Digital HD on December 31, 2021 by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, just one week before it’s home media release.

Follow-ups
In November 2021, Universal Pictures and The Pingu Company announced the development of a third Pingu film entitled Pingu 3: Take Me Home which is scheduled to be released on August 11, 2023. The film’s synopsis reads, In the film, Pingu and his family return back to their old home back in Penguinville but Pingu and Pinga seem to miss their new home back in Penguin City. Universal Pictures and The Pingu Company also announce the development of a fourth Pingu film under the working title, Pingu 4, which is slated for a 2025 release date.

Trivia

 * This marks Pingu's second theatrical animated feature ever made.
 * This is the first sequel to the first Pingu film.
 * This is the first Pingu production to be made by The Pingu Company, a division of Universal and production company that would be in charge of creating original content and feature films spanning stop motion series based on the franchise’s world. Most of the Pingu crew who worked on the first film have moved in after the release of the Pingu: The Movie.
 * This is the first Pingu film to not have DreamWorks Animation be involved in a Pingu production. The second installment would be the first Pingu film to be made by Animal Logic and The Pingu Company without DreamWorks Animation. DreamWorks would fortunately return for the third film, Pingu 3: Take Me Home.
 * Even though Mattel and HiT Entertainment left during the development of Pingu: The Movie, they still stayed as both the marketing team (along with Universal) and owners of the brand, since they still own the rights of Pingu.
 * This film takes place during the follow-up series, Pingu In The City.