Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night

Dusk and Dawn: A Zodical Night is a 2022 American computer-animated comedy fantasy film, produced by MGM Animation Studios. The third installment in the Dusk and Dawn franchise, and the sequel to Dusk and Dawn 2 (2008), the film was directed by Rob Connor and co-directed by Rachel Rooker, from a screenplay by Connor, Susanna Fogel, Eyal Podell and Jonathon E. Stewart. Gregory Smith, Zooey Deschanel, Anthony Hopkins, Christine Baranski, Dan Aykroyd, Isla Fisher, Nicole Kidman, Jeff Garlin, and Bill Nighy reprise their roles from the previous films, with newcomers Jonathan Groff, Bobby Cannavale, Kate McKinnon, Matt Frewer, James Corden, Gary Anthony Williams (replacing Keith David), and Alex Borstein (replacing Jennifer Darling) joining the ensemble cast. In the film, Dusk and Dawn accidentally switch colors of their appearances when several optical phenomena including the zodiacal light occur in their homes; the pair must work together to stop the zodiacal light so they can return to their normal forms before it is too late.

The film was theatrically released in the United States on March 25, 2022, by United Artists Releasing. It grossed over $501 million worldwide and received positive reviews, with many critics considering it an improvement over its predecessor and praising the animation, humor, characters, screenplay, and the vocal performances of Smith and Deschanel, although some criticism was on the film being derivative to the first two films as well as the plot.

Plot
Years ago, Zodiac co-exists with Twilight and Sun alongside other several optical phenomena. As time passes from day to night, he then becomes suspicious of the two tribes' colors so he attempts to switch them by using other phenomena, but his poor actions led to him being separated from the main group. Years pass as Zodiac becomes obsessed with switching colors, but constantly fails until he encounters Dusk and Dawn, leading to him making up a plan to switch the pair's colors.

After the events of the second film, Dusk and Dawn were now having a celebration party again after saving Twilight and Sun's palaces from Venus. Meanwhile, Zodiac had now set up his own plans to invite Dusk and Dawn to his own special party, so that he can switch the pair's colors. Back in the palaces, Twilight and Sun receive a letter from Zodiac. Dusk and Dawn then read the letter for Zodiac's "special" party. The pair go out on a quest to find Zodiac. After climbing the mountains, they find Zodiac's secret hideout and went inside. Zodiac welcomes them to his own special party. After Zodiac's special party, Zodiac then trick Dusk and Dawn that he set up a trap for them to have their colors swapped. After having the curse, Dusk and Dawn then escape from Zodiac's hideout to head back to the palaces.

The next morning, the duo finds out in the mirrors that their colors have been swapped by Zodiac's curse. Dusk and Dawn tried to talk to Twilight and Sun about what happened, but Twilight and Sun get shocked about the duo's switched colors. Dusk then cannot believe the curse actually happened to the duo. Dawn then finds a note from Sun's, saying "to reverse the curse, find a scroll that casts a reverse spell."

More to be added

Cast

 * Gregory Smith as Dusk
 * Zooey Deschanel as Dawn
 * Anthony Hopkins as Twilight
 * Christine Baranski as Sun
 * Dan Aykroyd as Light
 * Isla Fisher as Blue
 * Nicole Kidman as Golden
 * Jeff Garlin as Morning
 * Bill Nighy as Evening
 * Jonathan Groff as Zodiac
 * Bobby Cannavale as Airglow
 * Kate McKinnon as Halo
 * Matt Frewer as Glory
 * James Corden as Dust
 * Billy West as Keeper
 * Chris Parnell as Elder Jo
 * Jennifer Hale as Elder Ji
 * Gary Anthony Williams as Elder Ja
 * Craig Ferguson as Tio
 * Tom Kenny as Mark
 * Jim Cummings as Sparkle
 * Alex Borstein as Miss Night
 * Rob Connor as Wade

Loop Group

 * Carlos Alazraqui
 * Sky Alexis
 * Sawyer Cole
 * Antonio Raul Corbo
 * David Cowgill
 * Hudson D'Andrea
 * Juliet Donenfeld
 * Terri Douglas
 * Nick A. Fisher
 * Jackie Gonneau
 * Emily Goss
 * Sunia Jae
 * Yonas Kibreab
 * Joanna Leeds
 * David Michie
 * Gracen Newton
 * Capri Oliver
 * Lily Oliver
 * Lucian Perez
 * Brendan Robinson
 * Michelle Ruff
 * Ethan Simono
 * Warren Sroka
 * Steve Staley
 * Fred Tatasciore
 * Benjamin Valic
 * Lily Villegas
 * Kari Wahlgren
 * Shelby Young

Production
After the success of Dusk and Dawn 2, Melissa Hester stated that the third Dusk and Dawn is in development. Kate Mallory stated that production has been on hold because they are still busy working on the Dusk and Dawn TV series. The third film has been in development hell for many years with Arc Productions abruptly closed down on August 1, 2016. On September 5, 2018, a third film is finally moving forward with Gregory Smith and Zooey Deschanel reprising their roles and Rob Connor directing the third film. In March 2019, Rachel Rooker was named co-director with Connor. In October 2019, it was announced that Anthony Hopkins, Christine Baranski, Dan Aykroyd, Isla Fisher, Nicole Kidman, Jeff Garlin, and Bill Nighy would reprise their roles in the third film; in addition, newcomers Jonathan Groff, Bobby Cannavale and James Corden have also joined the cast. In December 2020, the film's title was officially announced as Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night, with Susanna Fogel joining to co-write the screenplay. Kate McKinnon and Matt Frewer later joined the cast the same month.

Unlike the first two installments (which were provided by Arc Productions), its animation was provided by Mikros Image in Montreal.

Music
In January 2021, it was announced that Kris Bowers will be scoring the third film's music. The soundtrack album was released on March 25, 2022, via Epic Records.

Release
Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night was released in theaters on March 25, 2022, in RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, and IMAX. The film was originally set to be released on February 11, 2022, before having its release date moved to its current date. On February 28, 2022, MGM announced that they have cancelled the Russian release of Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Marketing
A new poster for the film was released on September 11, 2021. Two days later, the first official trailer for the film was released on September 13. A second trailer was released on November 21, 2021. Its final trailer was released on February 8, 2022.

Promotional partners include IHOP, McDonald's, 7-Eleven, and Progressive.

Video game
A video game based on the film, titled Dusk and Dawn: Solar Madness, was released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox One on March 1, 2022. It was developed by PHL Collective and published by Outright Games.

Home media
The film was released as a digital rent on April 22, 2022, and on Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, and DVD on June 14, 2022, by Studio Distribution Services (via Warner Bros. Home Entertainment) and MGM Home Entertainment.

Box office
Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night grossed $125.5 million in the United States and Canada and $376.1 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $501.6 million. It is the highest grossing film of the franchise worldwide and domestically as well as at the time MGM Animation Studios' highest grossing non-Upside Mystery film until being surpassed by Hailey months later.

In the United States and Canada, Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night was released alongside The Lost City, and is projected to gross $40 million from 4,215 theaters in its opening weekend. The film grossed $17.2 million on its first day, including $5.3 million from Thursday preview screenings. It went on to debut to $40.4 million in its opening weekend, the biggest opening of the franchise and topping the box office by displacing The Batman. Its debut was the second-largest for MGM during the COVID-19 pandemic, behind No Time to Die. The film was then displaced to second place by Morbius, grossing $17.2 million in its second weekend for a drop of 57% while expanding to 4,246 theaters. The film grossed $11.1 million in its third weekend for a drop of 35%, remaining in second place behind newcomer Sonic the Hedgehog 2. By June 22, it grossed $121.1 million, surpassing Dusk and Dawn 2 to become the highest grossing film in the franchise domestically.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 75%, based on 175 reviews and an average rating of 7.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Despite its troubling storyline, Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night is delightfully an improvement over its predecessor with its zany laughs and colorful animation." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 61 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale (the same grade as the first film, and lower than the "A" received by the second film), while those at PostTrak gave it an 83% positive score, with 70% saying they would definitely 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.