With the announcement of the most awaited movies of Sony Pictures Animation for the year 2017 followed the revelation of the voices behind the leading characters of The Emoji Movie; the recent one being of the stage, TV and film artist Patrick Stewart playing Poop Daddy – the poop emoji.
“We’re playing Poop very upper crust,” said director Anthony Leondis. “In our movie, he’s the one that makes the (poop) jokes and doesn’t know he’s doing it. And who better to play a posh and classy emoji than Sir Patrick Stewart?”
The Emoji Movie written by Eric Siegel, Anthony Leondis, Mike White and distributed by Columbia Pictures is slated to release on 4 August, 2017 and will also feature voices of T.J. Miller as Gene – an emoji who can show multiple expressions, Ilana Glazer as Jalibreaker – a codebreaker emoji, James Corden as Hi-Five and Maya Rudolph as Smiler. Besides these, Steven Wright, Rob Riggle, Jennifer Coolidge and Jake T. Austin have also lent their voices for the film.
Recently, a teaser trailer was released by Sony Pictures Animation which wasn’t received well by the audience. Most of the teaser uploads received more than double the number of dislikes than the likes. The one minute teaser features meh, ice-cream and poop emojis wherein we are greeted in an unwelcoming fashion by the ‘meh’ emoji. Due to the dull tone of the teaser, it failed to captivate the audience and it would be great if a trailer is released any time soon. The movie is set to release on 4 August, 2017.
The Emoji Movie follows Sony Pictures Animation’s Smurfs: The Lost Village which is expected to hit the theatres on 7 April, 2017. Based on the comic book creation by Peyo, directed by Kelly Asbury and written by Stacey Harman and Pamela Ribon, this fully computer-generated 3D animation adventure-comedy explores the life of the blue creatures and is not an addition to the plot lines of the first two movies in The Smurfs series.
The announcement revealed that Smurfette won’t be the only female Smurf! There are more in the movie who will be voiced by Michelle Rodriguez, Ellie Kemper, Ariel Winter and Julia Roberts as Smurf Storm, Smurf Blossom, Smurf Lily and Smurf Willow, respectively. The “Lost Village” will comprise of these female Smurfs and along with them there will be voice cameos by Gordon Ramsay as Baker, Gabriel Iglesias as Jokey, Tituss Burgess as Vanity, Jeff Dunham as Farmer, Jake Johnson as Grouchy, and director Kelly Asbury himself as Nosey.
The last movie for the year 2017 by SPA would be The Star, which is set to hit the screens on 10 November, 2017. It follows the story of a small but brave donkey named Bo who yearns for a life beyond his daily grind at the village mill. One day he finds the courage to break free, and finally goes on the adventure of his dreams. On his journey, he teams up with Ruth, a loveable sheep who has lost her flock and Dave, a dove with lofty aspirations. Along with three wisecracking camels and some eccentric stable animals, Bo and his new friends follow the Star and become accidental heroes in the greatest story ever told – the first Christmas.
The voice cast includes Steven Yeun (Bo the donkey), Kelly Clarkson (Leah the horse), Aidy Bryant (Ruth the sheep), Keegan-Michael Key (Dave the dove), Kristin Chenoweth (Mouse), Anthony Anderson (Zach the goat), Gabriel Iglesias (Rufus the dog), Ving Rhames (Thaddeus the dog), Delilah Rene (Elizabeth), Kris Kristofferson (Old Donkey), Gina Rodriguez (Mary), Zachary Levi (Joseph), with Oprah Winfrey (Deborah), Tyler Perry (Cyrus) and Tracy Morgan (Felix) as the three camels, and Christopher Plummer (King Herod).
Next up is the highly anticipated sequel – Hotel Transylvania 3 (21 September, 2018). Though not much was revealed about the movie, we did learn that an animated short – Puppy will be showcased along with The Emoji Movie. Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, the short will showcase how the residents of Hotel Transylvania find their world turned upside-down when youngster Dennis gets a surprise monster-sized pet.
As for the movie, we finally get to hear the good news that Tartakovsky is returning as the director for the third part. The movie will be produced by Michelle Murdocca with Adam Sandler serving as the executive-produced, along with a screenplay by Genndy Tartakovsky and Michael McCullers. Here’s the synopsis of Hotel Transylvania 3:
Mavis surprises Dracula with a family voyage on a luxury Monster Cruise Ship so he can take a vacation from providing everyone else’s vacation at the hotel. The rest of Drac’s Pack cannot resist going along and once they leave port, romance zings Drac when he meets the mysterious ship captain Ericka. Now it’s Mavis’ turn to play the overprotective parent, keeping her dad and Ericka apart. Little do they know that his “too good to be true” love interest is actually a descendent of Van Helsing, arch nemesis to Dracula and all monsters!
The biggest announcement was undoubtedly the untitled animated movie Spider-Man which will release on 21 December, 2018 as it will feature Miles Morales and not Peter Parker as the Spider-Man. Miles Morales first appeared in Ultimate Fallout #4 (2011) comic, following the death of Peter Parker and is a teenager of Black Hispanic descent.
The movie will be written by The Lego Movie’s Phil Lord, who also acts as co-executive producer on the project with Chris Miller. It is being directed by Bob Persichetti (The Little Prince) and Peter Ramsey (Rise of the Guardians) with Phil Lord penning the movie. Avi Arad (Iron Man), Amy Pascal (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Phil Lord and Chris Miller serve as executive producer, and Christina Steinberg (Trollhunters) as the producer.
Last in the line of Sony Pictures Animation is the musical animated feature Vivo which is queued to release on 18 December, 2020. Broadway musical creator and Pulitzer Prize winner Lin-Manuel Miranda has written the songs for the film. Academy Award nominated Kirk DeMicco will direct the film whose script is written by Quiara Alegria Hudes. Laurence Mark serves as executive producer and Lisa Stewart as the producer.