| Yeoll High | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Alex Winter |
| Screenplay by | Michael McCullers |
| Story by | Xavier Shaquille |
| Produced by | Xavier Shaquille |
| Starring | Avril Lavigne Anna Kendrick Abby Elliott John Krasinski Chloe Bennet Katie Ladner George Salazar Cheri Oteri Adam Pally Viola Davis |
| Narrated by | Avril Lavigne |
| Edited by | Braden Oberson |
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
| Production companies | Cartoon Network Studios Smashup Productions |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date | September 22, 2028 (United States) |
| Running time | 85 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $40 million |
| Box office | $122.3 million |
Yeoll High is a 2028 American flash-animated comedy film produced by Cartoon Network Studios. The film was directed by Alex Winter, with a screenplay by Michael McCullers and a story by franchise creator Xavier Shaquille. It stars Avril Lavigne, Anna Kendrick, Abby Elliott, Cheri Oteri, Adam Pally and Viola Davis reprising their roles; John Krasinski, Chloe Bennet, George Salazar and Katie Ladner accompany the cast.
The film is a prequel to the Knight School franchise that predates Ellenor's transfer to Knight School in the first film. Starting her freshman year, Darcey's friendship is tested when Ellenor wants to be one of the popular kids in school.
The film was released in theaters on September 22, 2028 by Warner Bros. Pictures. the film received positive reviews and grossed $232.3 million against a $40 million budget.
Plot[]
After graduating the local middle school, Yeoll Middle, Darcey was transferred to the town's high school, Yeoll High, where she finally reunites with her long time friend Ellenor and "tagalong" friend Jane. She starts off with signing up on several after school programs such as passing pull ups, dodgeball, and swimming in gym class, but failed while Ellenor passed; her second sign up was cheerleading. During the rest of high school, Darcey and Ellenor befriend the school's troublemaker Jane and are ridiculed for their quirks; Darcey's interests into preteen stuff and Ellenor's "talking belly" routine. After school, Darcey was "more or less" pleased with her first day, while Ellenor plans to improve after taking the criticism seriously.
The next day, Ellenor signs up for wrestling and for the football team, which she passes; her ambition attracts a gang of jocks and popular kids, run by a jock named Johnny a.k.a. Trent. Ellenor, after discussing it with Darcey, accepts his offer in accepting her as a member with the cool kids. After a few weeks since joining the cool kids, Darcey has Ellenor pinky-promise to make time for her and Jane after hanging out with Trent's group, to which she promises. Her promise is broken when Trent says she must leave her friends behind as they might cramp their style; Ellenor reluctantly acquiesces, much to an eavesdropping Darcey. She later confronts Ellenor over the order she was given, questioning if her fame is more important than her friendship with her, although Ellenor still wants to be there for her despite that.
Jane, revealed to be a former member of the cool kids before being rejected due to her impaired vision, sympathizes with Darcey. Asking about how she became friends with her, Darcey met her she was in elementary school when Ellenor was forced to socialize with the other students. Sharing a few common interests, they became best friends for seven years. Ellenor, meanwhile, takes advice from her parents in her friendship with Darcey and her membership with the cool kids; her mother, Gretchen, suggests threatening them to have her join while her father, Anthony, suggests she discuss her important friendship is to them. As she tries to talk it out, Trent talks her into a "Spice-off" to avoid it; After finishing respectively twelve bottles of hot sauce, he spikes the last bottle and gives it to her. After drinking them, she hallucinates and wakes up on the lawn of Darcey's house, where she finds Darcey standing in front of her. Darcey had decided to end her friendship with Ellenor after catching her with Trent playing "Beat the Heat" at a party.
As the days go by, Darcey avoids Ellenor, to the latter's chagrin, while Trent suggests that she forget her and move on; a furious Ellenor punches him to the floor and calls him out on his heartless treatment towards her and resigns from his group. Ellenor later makes amends with Darcey, where she accepts after seeing her stand up to Trent. Ellenor and Darcey challenge him by competing against Madern in the upcoming football match tonight; if she wins, Trent must treat her and all other inferior students as equals. As the match was on, Ellenor's team, the Yeoll Jousters, were winning through 15–11, until their rival team, the Madern Daisies, played dirty tactics from tripping the players and deliberately bumping into her teammates. At halftime, both teams were in a tie by 23–23. Ellenor was dead set on breaking the tie, and she had managed by throwing the football over the goal post; giving the Jousters the win by 24–23. Even though she won fair and square, Trent still sees her and her friends "weirdos". The cool kids defend them and go against Trent. Trent, enraged over the fact that his former gang turns their backs on him, gut punches Ellenor before leaving.
The very next day, Ellenor and Darcey were back to being friends and having time for each other with Jane becoming part of the group while Trent was fortunately expelled indefinitely as he was responsible for countless vandalism and bullying to other students. Two years later, Ellenor was called into the principal's office for failing Medieval History.
Voice cast[]
- Avril Lavigne as Darcey, a freshman to Yeoll High and Ellenor's goth-dressed best friend with a childish personality.
- Anna Kendrick as Ellenor, Darcey's tomboyish best friend that is determined to be part of the cool kids.
- Abby Elliott as Jane, Ellenor's second friend who has a tendency of pulling pranks and cause trouble in class.
- John Krasinski as Johnny "Trent", leader of the cool kids with a condescending attitude.
- Chloe Bennet as Kate, Trent's "partner in crime" who serves as his yes-man.
- Katie Ladner as Brook, the gossip girl of Yeoll High.
- George Salazar as James "Jimmy", Trent's muscle.
- Cheri Oteri as Carrie Wilson, the principal of Yeoll High.
- Adam Pally as Mr. Whitey, the teacher in Ellenor's class.
- Viola Davis as Ms. Marshall, the guidance counselor of Yeoll High.
- Jane Lynch as Gretchen, Ellenor's mother.
- William Shatner as Anthony, Ellenor's father.
- Bill Fagerbakke as Irving, Darcey's father.
- Paul Reubens as Kenneth, Jane's father.
- Lake Bell as Jackie, Jane's father.
Additional voices include Tara Strong as Alex, David Kaufman as Robert "Bobby" Kayman, Dee Bradley Baker as Gary, Grey Griffin as Eunice, Catherine Taber as Cathy, Greg Cipes as Joe, Wally Wingert as Dan, and Eric Bauza as Oswald, and Amanda Leighton voices Betty, reporter for the Yeoll High school paper.
Production[]
Shaquille was set to do a prequel where Ellenor was a freshman in Yeoll High, which would later have Darcey be the lead character. All the cast from the first two films reprised their roles for the prequel while Shaquille chose John Krasinski, Chloe Bennet, and Be More Chill cast members George Salazar and Katie Ladner as the prequel cast.
Release[]
The film was released in theaters on September 22, 2028 in the United States. It was released in the United Kingdom on September 28, then on October 12 in Australia. The film was paired with a short film called Sir Jeff, a short film based on Cartoon Network's 2014 television series Clarence.
Home media[]
Yeoll High was released on digital platforms on December 5, 2028, then on DVD and Blu-ray on December 19 by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. On that same day, WBHE released a DVD and Blu-ray set consisting of all three films, titled the "Complete Semester Collection".
Reception[]
Box office[]
Yeoll High had made $122.3 million ($53 million in the United States and Canada and $69.4 million in other territories) against a $40 million production budget.
Critical response[]
Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a "Certified Fresh" rating of 69% based on 88 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Yeoll High keeps the franchise's way of having a simplistic plot, but its characters and change-of-pace premise are what make it differ from the main two." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 73 out of 100 based on reviews from 30 critics, indicating "mixed-or-average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an "A–" on an A+ to F scale.
Future[]
After production on Yeoll High, Shaquille claimed he had no plans on any following media for Knight School besides a potential spin-off focused on Darcey.