The Peppa Pig Movie

The Peppa Pig Movie is a 2024 American-British post-apocalyptic action-adventure dark comedy film based on the long-running animated preschool series Peppa Pig created by Neville Astley and Mark Baker. The film is directed by Reese-Frake Waterfield, produced by Astley and Baker, and written by Waterfield and Mike White from a story by Waterfield. The film replaces the show’s original voice cast in favor for an all-celebrity cast, including Anya Taylor-Joy starring as the titular character, alongside Chris Pine, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Paul Rudd, Chris Evans, Jordan Peele, Kate McKinnon, Tina Fey, TJ Miller, Mindy Kaling, Zoe Saldana, Kristen Wiig, Channing Tatum, Tom Holland, Helen Mirren, Peter Cullen, Julie Andrews, Patrick Stewart, Chris Pratt, Sarah Silverman, Chloë Grace Moretz, Dwayne Johnson, Michael Keaton, Awkwafina, Lucy Liu, Fred Armisen, Angela Bassett, Ron Perlman, and Vin Diesel, with Taika Waititi as the Narrator. A darker, more satirically humorous and grim adaption parody of the series, the film follows a human called Rhys who arrives in Peppa Pig’s world, seeking to get her and her friends and all animals in the world extinct. Peppa must now rally her friends to stop Rhys’ plans of animal extinction.

The Peppa Pig Movie suffered from a difficult, troublesome, and rushed production. Initial plans for a feature film based on the franchise began on April 6, 2023. Neville Astley and Mark Baker, the creators of the show, were originally set to write and direct the film, which would have followed a more lighthearted and faithful adaption on the series. However on June, Lionsgate wanted the film to be more satirical in tone and attract the show’s teenage and adult audiences. So they replaced Astley and Baker with Frake-Waterfield, who previously directed Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, to make the film instead. The script was pressured under a tight deadline from Lionsgate, who wanted to desperately get the film made, resulting in an unfinished and unpolished final draft. The show’s original voice actors were originally set to return, but Lionsgate decided to replace them with celebrities. As with the series, animation was made using CelAction.

The Peppa Pig Movie was theatrically released on May 31, 2024, on the 20th anniversary of the franchise. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, critizicing the generic animation, voice performances, direction, plot, humor and ending. The dark tone also got divisive reactions, with some citing it as parody and involuntarily hilarious while others met it as too sad and inappropriate for the show’s preschool audience. Despite this, the film attracted young viewers of the series worldwide and grossed $1.709 billion, surpassing The Lion King (2019) to become the highest-grossing animated film of all time, as well as the second-highest-grossing film of 2024 (behind Avatar: The Seed Bearer) and the ninth-highest-grossing film of all time.

Premise
Peppa Pig and her family and friends have always lived in peace. However, the biggest threat to their life emerges when a human called Rhys arrives to their world, seeking to get all the animals extinct. Now, Peppa and her family must lead all their animal friends to stop Rhys' plans and survive against him.

Plot
It’s a sunny normal day in Peppa Pig’s house, and she and her brother George play in the house and mock Daddy Pig for his fatness. go out to to jump on Muddy Puddles. The rest of the day is pretty normal and joyful; Peppa and George play with their friends — Danny Dog, Pedro Pony, Susy Sheep, Rebecca and Richard Rabbit, Candy Cat, Zoe Zebra, Emily and Edmond Elephant, and Freddy Fox — and visit Granny Pig and Grandpa Pig, as well as Uncle Pig and Auntie Pig and Chloe Pig. After all of that, Peppa and George and their friends, at their playgroup led by Madame Gazelle, go on a field trip to a place known as “the Ancient Lands”. At the Ancient Lands, the group learns about the first animal in the world, Poopa Pig, who was conveniently a pig and was Peppa and George’s great-great-great-grandfather. Peppa is happy for his significance in world history and begins annoying his friends about it, claiming that she deserves to rule the world one day. However, on the way back to the playgroup, the group is shocked to discover that the Playgroup building has been completely destroyed, and not just the rooftop this time.

Gazelle tries to check in on the rubble, but suddenly, a trap bomb explodes, killing her. Mrs. Rabbit, who drove the playgroup bus, is shocked at this and tries to call the police, but the bus also explodes, killing her, though Peppa and George and their friends luckily escaped in time. When Peppa and her friends’ parents come to pick them up, the kids tell them about what happened. At her home, Peppa, George, Mommy and Daddy Pig see on the news about a mysterious human named Rhys, who is trying to apparently get all animal citizens on the world extinct. Daddy says that he can help, but Peppa says that he can’t due to his fatness. Just then, the lights in the house go out, and Peppa and George are scared, though they calm down and decide to play with their friends outside.

However, they find that Zoe Zebra and Candy Cat have been frozen solid after being attacked by Rhys. The rest of the group survived the attack, and Peppa and George reunite with them to make a plan to strike back against Rhys. Danny Dog wants to use Freddy Fox’s dad’s truck to make a weapon to shoot against Rhys, but Pedro Pony wants to simply use his glasses to make fire on Rhys and burn him. The argument between the two is interrupted by Edmond Elephant, who has a very smart idea to build giant glasses out of Freddy’s dad’s truck (as Danny requested) to burn down Rhys (as Pedro requested).

The group rides on their bikes and go to Freddy’s house, where they discover a note from Rhys that says that Freddy’s dad has been arrested for stealing stuff for his truck and got killed afterwards. They also discover that the truck has been stolen and kept by Rhys in the Ancient Lands. The group changes plans and decide to make the machine using Grandpa Pig’s tools, so they go to that house. On the way there, they find Daddy Pig, who wants to help Peppa, but he refuses to let him go with them, saying for the final time that he is too fat. Daddy is sad at this and feels that he can’t do anything. While working on Grandpa’s workshop, the place is bombed and attacked by Rhys, who meets Peppa for the very first time. They have a big battle, but Rebecca Rabbit and Emily Elephant die in the fight, while Freddy, Richard, and Edmond are captured by Rhys. Danny attempts to use the unfinished invention on Rhys before he can escape, but he accidentally ends up aiming the fire at Peppa, but Pedro sacrifices himself. In his final words, Pedro confesses his love to Peppa before she kisses him on the cheek. However, Danny is jealous.

The surviving Peppa, George, Danny, and Susy head to the Ancient Lands, where they plan to just attack Rhys physically. When infiltrating, they find a lot of the animals that Peppa knows captured in cells, among them being Freddy, Richard, Edmond, Dr. Brown Bear, Mr. Bull, Mr. Potato, Dr. Hamster, and Policeman Stag, as well as the Queen and Father Christmas, the only two previously-known humans in the world. Rhys arrives and explains that humans used to be the only beings that lived in the world, before Rhys decided to experiment with animals to turn them into anthropomorphic mutants. The first experimented animal, Poopa Pig himself, was successful, but the formula accidentally spread out throughout the world and mutated nearly all humans in the world and turned them into the anthropomorphic animals that live the most now, with the only remaining humans being Rhys, the Queen, and Father Christmas (the latter two having been forced to hide the truth of the human era of the world ever since). Rhys has been hidden from the world for 30 years and has now decided to finally get all animals extinct and make a formula to recreate humans again using his DNA, as the mutation virus was incurable.

Rhys captures Peppa, George, Danny and Susy and activates a series of nuclear bombs across the world that will all explode in 10 minutes and destroy all animals at once. Mommy and Daddy Pig, at their home, are worried at Peppa and George not coming home yet. After seeing the news a report from Rhys about the nuclear bombs, Daddy, knowing that he must save Peppa and George no matter what, finally believes in himself again and decides to hulk up, finally getting rid of his fat stomach and getting muscles and abdomen.



Daddy then runs to the Ancient Lands, where he manages to fight Rhys in a one-vs-one duel and knocks him unconscious by chocking him with his abdomen. Daddy then deactivates the nuclear bomb control, turning them all off, and frees Peppa and her friends. However, Rhys wakes up and goes enraged, and reactivates the nuclear bombs with no way to set them off. Upon this, the animals realize that they are doomed.

While panicking, the animals find a nearby rocket and they all go inside it to escape from Earth and survive. However, at the last second, Peppa kicks all the animals out of the ship and keeps it for only herself, claiming that she will finally rule her own world as she foretold her friends at the beginning of the movie, and escapes from Earth alone. Afterwards, the nuclear bombs explode, killing Peppa’s family, her friends, and all anthropomorphic animals in the world, with only she having survived out of the situation.

Rhys is happy for his success and sees a sunset in silence. Meanwhile, Peppa arrives on a distant planet to settle her own life. The film ends with a reprise of the Peppa Pig theme song, sung by Peppa from her new planet.

Voice Cast

 * Anya Taylor-Joy as Peppa Pig
 * Chris Pine as George Pig
 * Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Mommy Pig
 * Paul Rudd as Daddy Pig
 * Chris Evans as Danny Dog
 * Jordan Peele as Pedro Pony
 * Kate McKinnon as Susy Sheep
 * Tina Fey as Rebecca Rabbit
 * TJ Miller as Richard Rabbit
 * Mindy Kaling as Candy Cat
 * Zoe Saldana as Zoe Zebra
 * Kristen Wiig as Emily Elephant
 * Channing Tatum as Edmond Elephant
 * Tom Holland as Freddy Fox
 * Helen Mirren as Madame Gazelle
 * Peter Cullen as Dr. Brown Bear
 * Julie Andrews as Granny Pig
 * Patrick Stewart as Grandpa Pig
 * Chris Pratt as Uncle Pig
 * Sarah Silverman as Auntie Pig
 * Chloë Grace Moretz as Chloe Pig
 * Dwayne Johnson as Mr. Bull
 * Awkwafina as Mrs. Rabbit
 * Michael Keaton as Mr. Potato / Super Potato
 * Lucy Liu as Dr. Hamster
 * Fred Armisen as Policeman Stag
 * Angela Bassett as the Queen
 * Ron Perlman as Father Christmas
 * Vin Diesel as Rhys, a human who wants to get Peppa and all of her friends and animals extinct.
 * Taika Waititi as the Narrator

Astley/Baker script
On April 6, 2023, on the official Peppa Pig Twitter account, it was announced that an animated theatrical feature-length film based on the franchise was in the works. In an interview, series co-creator Neville Astley said that the film was now openly discussed due to the commercial success of Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which showed that “every single big children’s franchise can be made in film, no matter which one”. The film would be distributed by Lionsgate, who previously distributed My Little Pony: The Movie, another Hasbro franchise.

Astley and Mark Baker’s script was finished by May 2023, prior to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. It was set to follow a simple, unambitious premise; it was set to follow Peppa and her family going on a road trip across the world. It would follow the style of two amazing films, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (2017) and The Addams Family 2 (2021). However, when the duo showed the script to Lionsgate later that month, they hated it, ripped it to pieces, threw it to a fire, and proceeded to punch Baker in the face, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Lionsgate later said that they were not looking for a faithful adaption to the franchise’s decade-old episodes, but for a darker, more satirical and widely different take on the characters and their adventures, citing the unanimous disaster that was Foodfight!: It’s About Time (2023) as a reason for the type of story they wanted to tell this time.

Hiring of Frake-Waterfield
On June 1, Rhys Frake-Waterfield, who made the independent horror film Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, signed on to direct and co-write the film, replacing Astley and Baker. However, the duo remained as producers. Lionsgate hired Frake-Waterfield since he had experience with adapting long-cherished children’s properties to the big screen in a parody fashion, which is the style they were looking for the film. Frake-Waterfield said that the fact that the film was heavily financed by an actual studio in contrast to the independent funding for Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey allowed him to make a “more opportunistic script” while keeping some of the parody and dark vibes of Blood and Honey.

Since Frake-Waterfield is not a WGA writer, he managed to write the script normally during the WGA strike. Frake-Waterfield patiently wrote the script under a 2-month deadline, taking his time. On June 4, Lionsgate set the film for a release date of May 31, 2024, to celebrate the franchise’s 20-year anniversary. Lionsgate explained that the script being written just Lee’s than a year before the film’s release was not an issue, given the franchise’s known simple animation utilizing CelAction.

On June 16, Frake-Waterfield was informed by Lionsgate that the script had to be submitted that day within an hour, despite him being very far from finishing it and being uninformed of the deadline, having still not written the film’s climax. To meet up for the deadline, he cut nearly all of the final battle he originally planned in a treatment, leaving just one fight of Daddy Pig against the main antagonist Rhys. He also made a “quick resolution” for the film’s ending, with Peppa leaving her family and friends perish on Earth thanks to Rhys’ nuclear bomb while she escapes to another planet. Frake-Waterfield did not know that the show would still run and air during the film’s release, leaving the film in danger to be deemed as non-canon to the franchise. To try to solve this continuity error and save the film from being deemed non-canon, he talked with Astley and Baker to set the film at the end of the series’ timeline, set after the inevitable final episode that would exist in the future. He submitted the unpolished, “final” draft to Lionsgate exactly 1 second before the deadline.

The film was originally supposed to include the show’s original voice cast, with Amelie Bea Smith, John Sparkles, Morwenna Banks, Richard Ridings, Oliver May, and Alice May, with Ridings voicing the film’s villain. However, after they finished recording their lines, Frake-Waterfield decided to replace all of the voice actors for the film in favor for celebrities. Anya Taylor-Joy was announced to replace Smith in the titular role of Peppa Pig for the film on December, with Chris Pine voicing George, Julia Louis-Dreyfus voicing Mommy, and Paul Rudd voicing Daddy. The rest of the very large cast was announced on January.

Marketing
The film’s very first teaser trailer was released on January 2024, and revealed the film’s huge cast. The trailer garnered 439.56 million views worldwide in 24 hours, surpassing Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) to become the most-viewed trailer in that timeslot. A second trailer was released on March. The final trailer was released on CinemaCon 2024.