Crystal: The Rise of Darkness

Crystal: The Rise of Darkness (also known as Crystal 4) is a 2019 American computer-animated musical fantasy film produced by 20th Century Fox Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the sequel to Crystal: The Lost Realms (2015) and the fourth and final installment in the Crystal franchise. Directed by Phil Anderson from a screenplay by David Lindsay-Abaire, Phillip Melton and Anderson and a story by Mike Minchin and Drew Cohen, the film features an ensemble cast that features the voices of Avril Lavigne, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Wayne Brady, Megan Mullally, Ian McKellen, Emily Blunt, J. K. Simmons, Kristin Chenoweth, Josh Brolin, Idina Menzel, David Harbour, Brie Larson, Keanu Reeves, Dwayne Johnson, and Margot Robbie. In the film, Crystal and Jake Turner now have children (who manage to have magical powers just like their mother) and spend their lives together until one day, due to resurrection of the lost realms, the magical powers from the realms manage to turn negative and even result in the resurrection of Walsmoke who is now even more stronger than before. Now Crystal, Jake and their children must defeat Walsmoke before he manages to kill all the resurrected realms, all of the population and the buildings to finally become Walsmoke's palace.

Crystal: The Rise of Darkness premiered in Los Angeles on September 1, 2019, and was released in the United States on September 13 in RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, and IMAX formats. It was the first Fox animated film after the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney. The film grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide and received positive reviews from critics, who cited the animation, musical score, voice acting, songs, characters, emotional weight of the story and conclusion, although some feel that the story is a bit derivative to the previous films. At the 92nd Academy Awards, the film received a nomination for Best Original Song.

Plot
Coming soon!

Voice cast

 * Avril Lavigne as Crystal
 * Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jake Turner
 * Wayne Brady as Niko
 * Ian McKellen as Walsmoke
 * Josh Brolin as Periculum
 * Megan Mullally as Queen Lingla
 * Brad Garrett as Riganto
 * Whoopi Goldberg as Bonia
 * Sam Elliott as Wareeka
 * Emily Blunt
 * J. K. Simmons
 * Kristin Chenoweth
 * Idina Menzel
 * David Harbour
 * Brie Larson
 * Keanu Reeves
 * Dwayne Johnson
 * Margot Robbie

Additional Voices

 * Kirk Baily
 * Rajia Baroudi
 * Susan Boyajian
 * Rebecca Davis
 * Johnny Gidcomb
 * Jean Gilpin
 * Nicholas Guest
 * Sean Kenin
 * Arif Kinchen
 * Jennie Kwan
 * Susan Leslie
 * Cullen McCarthy
 * Edward Mendez
 * Scott Menville
 * David Michie
 * Kamali Minter
 * Sariann Monaco
 * Joey Naber
 * Jonathan Nichols
 * Juan Pacheco
 * Jessica Pennington
 * Michelle Ruff
 * Nick Shakoour
 * Alyson Stoner
 * Daisy Tormé
 * Dean Wein
 * Diamond White
 * Debra Wilson
 * David Zyler

Development
Coming soon!

Animation
Coming soon!

Music
Alan Menken and Marc Shaiman returned from Coming of Darkness to write 5 new songs for the final film, while Menken returned to compose the film's score. The soundtrack was officially released on September 6, a week before the movie's theatrical release.

Marketing
Fox released the first teaser trailer for the film on December 13, 2018 and was shown before Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and was later attached to the DVD/Blu-ray release of Puppet Pals Forever. The official trailer was released on February 21, 2019, before How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. The final trailer was released on July 16, 2019. Promotional partners for the film include General Mills, Fandango, Funko, and McDonald's.

Theatrical
Crystal: The Rise of Darkness held its world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on September 1, 2019, and was widely released in the United States on September 13, by 20th Century Fox. It was originally set for April 19, 2019, but was pushed forward to May 31, and then July 26. On May 7, 2019, the film was delayed once more to September 13, 2019, the release date originally assigned to Spies in Disguise which was moved to December 25.

Home media
Crystal: The Rise of Darkness was released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on Digital HD and 4K on November 19, 2019, followed by an Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD released on December 3.

Box office
Crystal: The Rise of Darkness grossed $455.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $686.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1.141 billion. Worldwide, the film had the biggest opening weekend of all time for an animated film with an opening weekend of $442.2 million which is also the biggest of all time for a September release. It later reached $700 million by September 23, and later $1 billion by October 12. It is currently the highest grossing 20th Century Animation film that isn't a Cool Spot or Puppet Pals film.

In the United States and Canada, Crystal: The Rise of Darkness was released alongside Hustlers and The Goldfinch, and was projected to gross $110–125 million from 4,345 theaters, playing in 2,310 3D theatres, 310 IMAX theatres, 730 premium large format screens, and 200 D-Box/4D enhanced theatres in its opening weekend. On its first day, the film grossed $60.1 million (including $10.2 million made from Thursday night previews). It went on to open to $145.2 million, finishing first at box office with the biggest opening weekend in the Crystal franchise as well as the biggest opening weekend of all time in September. In its second weekend, the film made $65.4 million, finishing first once again. It later surpassed $300 million in it's third weekend making it the fastest grossing installment in the franchise as well as the highest grossing one domestically. By the film's fifth weekend, it topped $400 million.

Internationally, the film broke records where it had the biggest opening for an animated film in some countries.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 76% based on 221 reviews, and an average rating of 6.7/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an average 4.5 out of 5 stars, with 73% saying they would recommend it.

Main
To see the main transcript of the film, click here.

Trailers
To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.