Stray (film)

Stray (also known as Stray: The Movie) - is a 2027 Netflix CGI-animated-adventure-sci-fi film based on the game of the same name developed by BlueTwelve Studio in 2022. The film was directed by Ruben Fleischer and Graham Annable and produced by Casey Affleck and Derek Kolstad, with a soundtrack composed by Yann Van Der Cruyssen as well as the game's original soundtrack. The plot of the film is also based on the plot of the game, but with minor differences.

Plot
A group of four stray cats roam the ruins of an abandoned building, one of them falls into an abyss and is trapped in a deserted underground city. Soon the cat finds a laboratory where he helps to upload artificial intelligence into the body of a small B-12 drone. He explains that he previously helped the scientist, but most of his memory was damaged and he needs time to recover. B-12 promises to help the cat return to the surface and escorts him further into the city. As they travel further, the pair discover that while the town is completely devoid of human life, the Companions' robot servants remain. During the absence of humanity, they became self-aware and built their own society, but they were also trapped underground. The ruins are also teeming with Zurks, mutant creatures that were created to devour garbage, but later switched to organic life and robots.

The pair meet a member of the Outsiders group, Momo, who is dedicated to finding a way to the surface. With the help of the Companions, the cat and B-12 make it to the Midtown sector, where they meet another "outsider" Clementine, who is planning to steal a nuclear battery to power a subway train that leads to the surface. The trio are caught and arrested by the Guardians, but the cat helps everyone escape from prison. Clementine stays behind to mislead the Guardians while Cat and B-12 escape on a subway that takes them to the city's control center. B-12 finally regains all of his memories: the scientist tried to upload his consciousness into the robot's body, but the process went awry. B-12 also remembers that Walled City 99 was built to shelter humanity from a catastrophe on the surface, but in the end a plague wiped out the entire human population. Realizing that humanity's legacy now belongs to the Companions and the cat, B-12 sacrifices himself to open the blast doors above the city, exposing it to sunlight, which kills the Zurks and deactivates the Guardians. When the main exit is open, the cat leaves the city and reaches the surface. When the cat leaves, the screen near the exit flashes and activates.

Announcement
The film's production announcement was announced at the 2023 San Diego Comic-Con. There they announced the directors of the film and its producers, as well as showed the first promo art and revealed the year of the film's release.

Writing
The film's directors Ruben Fleischer and Graham Anneble also worked on the script of the film. Initially, there were as many as 4 versions of the script for the film. According to the ideas of the first film, it was supposed to tell a detailed story of the origin of the city of robots, in which the main character, the cat, fell into. This script was abandoned due to the fact that BlueTwelve Studio wanted the film to be about the game itself, and not about its lore. Scenarios 2 and 3 were also discarded due to the complexity of implementation and too large plans. The writers settled on the 4th version of the script. They worked on the script from the beginning of 2024 until the fall of that year.

Animation
The game was also animated by BlueTwelve Studio and Netflix Animation. Similar to the film script, a different style of animation was also planned. But in the final version of the film, the animation was at the level of animation from the game. Animation worked from 2024 to 2026.

Effects and graphics
BlueTwelve Studio and Netflix Animation also worked on the effects and the graphics themselves. The graphics and effects were at the level of the game, but especially in order to have an effect while watching the viewer, everything was done at a slightly higher level.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack was written by the same person who wrote the soundtrack for the game itself, namely Yann Van Der Cruyssen. The soundtrack is almost the same as in the game, but with some changes, as well as a few new songs.


 * 1) Inside the Wall
 * 2) Dead City
 * 3) Follow the Light
 * 4) Intruder
 * 5) Guardian
 * 6) The Notebooks
 * 7) Slums
 * 8) Rooftops
 * 9) Town Square
 * 10) Town Square Madness
 * 11) Communication
 * 12) Secret lab
 * 13) Dead End
 * 14) Raft
 * 15) Roberto is Out
 * 16) Sewers
 * 17) Hatching
 * 18) Ant Village
 * 19) Midtown
 * 20) Outlaws
 * 21) Future is Already Here
 * 22) Trash Zone
 * 23) Rikonium
 * 24) Cells
 * 25) Roberto is Out (Rock version)
 * 26) Stealth
 * 27) Courtyard
 * 28) Last Night
 * 29) Clean City
 * 30) Close
 * 31) Control Room
 * 32) Daybreak
 * 33) Credits Theme

Reviews
The movie, as well as the game, was able to gain a lot of popularity from those who played the game. Also on Rotten Tomatoes, critics gave the film a 98% rating, calling it one of the best animated films on Netflix. The audience rated the film 100%. On the IMDb website, the film was rated 9.7/10.

Awards

 * Emmy Awards 2027 - Best Animated Film of the Year.
 * Oscar Awards 2027 - Best Animated Film Based on a Video Game.
 * Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2027 - Favorite Animated Movie.
 * Oscar Awards 2028 - Best Motion Graphics.

Stray: Director's Cut
In 2028, a director's cut of the film was released for DVD and Blu-Ray, which includes all the cut scenes of the film which increase the running time from 3 hours to 4.

Interactive short film
In 2029, an animated short film was released on Netflix, which includes an interactive movie feature where we can control the actions of one of the city's robots.

Trivia

 * Initially, a sequel was planned, which was supposed to tell about what adventures awaited the main character, the cat, after the events of the film. But the sequel was canceled due to difficulties in the script, as well as the then lack of a production budget.
 * Initially, Paramount had the rights to make the film, but due to lack of time to make the film, the rights to the film were bought by Netflix.
 * The film could have been released in 2030, but due to the great and well-done work, the film was released 3 years earlier.