Imagineland (film)

Imagineland (titled Metro Waltz in the United States) is a 2022 British 3D computer-animated comedy adventure film based on Stanley Butler's children's novel series of the same name. The film was directed by David Bowers, co-directed by Barry Cook, and written by Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Mark Burton, and Peter Baynham. The film tells the story of a creative teenage boy named Metro Waltz, who must protect a group of imaginary friends he created from an mad scientist named Professor Wizzletum, who wants to eliminate imagination forever.

Imagineland was released in the United Kingdom on 22 April 2022 by StudioCanal to mixed reviews from critics. In the United States, the film was released as Metro Waltz on 10 March 2023 by Lionsgate (under their Lionsgate Animation label) with a new English dub and script where it received universally negative reviews and was a box office disappointment.

Plot
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Cast

 * Asa Butterfield (Iain Armitage in the American version) as Metro Waltz, a heroic and imaginative teenager.
 * Emilia Clarke (Ariana Grande in the American version) as Vera Marshall, a tomboyish teenage girl.
 * Eddie Redmayne (Ben Schwartz in the American version) as Ginkko, an bashful yet mischievous rabbit.
 * Naomie Harris (Taraji P. Henson in the American version) as Wendi Witty, an comedic but intelligent wolf.
 * Martin Freeman (Zachary Levi in the American version) as Monty Moose, an dim-witted but resourceful moose.
 * Hugh Laurie (Danny DeVito in the American version) as Twig, an clever talking train.
 * Ralph Fiennes (Zach Galifianakis in the American version) as Professor Wizzletum, an ruthless mad scientist.
 * Sacha Baron Cohen (Kevin Hart in the American version) as Hudson, Wizzletum's assistant.
 * Rowan Atkinson as Benny Buzzard, an apathetic buzzard who guides Metro and his friends.
 * Ian McKellen as Kizor, the elderly yet loyal wizard of Imagineland.
 * Florence Pugh (Zooey Deschanel in the American version) as Queen Juliette, the optimistic queen of Imagineland.
 * Emily Blunt (Kate McKinnon in the American version) as Ms. Waltz, Metro's mother.
 * Simon Pegg (Dan Fogler in the American version) as Mr. Waltz, Metro's father.
 * Helen Mirren as Narrator (American version only)
 * James Corden as Goat (American version only)

Production
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Music
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Metro Waltz (United States)
According to Lionsgate Animation CEO Mark Holloway, he saw an screening of the film during his trip to the United Kingdom and he decided to do an American version. In the US version, the majority of the British cast's voice work was dubbed by American celebrities such as Ariana Grande, Zach Galifianakis, Ben Schwartz, Taraji P. Henson, Kevin Hart, Danny DeVito, Zachary Levi, and Zooey Deschanel. Only two original voices remained, those of Ian McKellen and Rowan Atkinson. The United States version also adds James Corden and Helen Mirren as the film's narrator. Holloway, Aaron Woodley, Scott Bindley, Bob Barlen, and Cory Edwards served as uncredited writers of the U.S. dialogue.

Unlike its original U.K. version, the film was universally lambasted by critics, who criticized its script, humor, overusage of pop-culture references, tone, voice performances, lack of originality, and plot, while also being a box office bomb.

Release
Imagineland had its world premiere at the BFI Southbank in London on 7 April 2022, and was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on 22 April. The American version of the film, Metro Waltz, was released in the United States by Lionsgate on 10 March 2023, in RealD 3D and digital 3D.

In mid-June 2022, Lionsgate acquired the film's North American distribution rights from StudioCanal for $33 million (£25 million). The film's U.S. release was first scheduled for February 24, 2023, under the working title Metro in Imagineland followed by the casting announcements of the film's American dub. In September 2022, the film was then retitled to Metro Waltz and was subsequently pushed back a week to March 3, switching dates with Jesus Revolution. It was then pushed back once again to March 10, in the wake of Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre moving to the March 3rd slot. The film was originally shot in 2D for its original UK release, but after Lionsgate showed an interest in it, the film was converted to 3D by DNEG for its American release. The U.K. version of the film was granted a China release and will be released there on April 21.

As pre-sale tickets went on sale on March 3rd, Lionsgate reportedly encouraged U.S. theaters to offer tickets to all showings of Metro Waltz (excluding 3D) for just $5, a significantly lower cost than most American movie tickets. The film's American theatrical release was accompanied by Taiko Studios' 2018 Academy Award-nominated animated short film One Small Step.

Marketing
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Home media
Imagineland was released in the United Kingdom on Blu-ray, DVD & 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on 25 July 2022.

Box office
Imagineland was released on 22 April 2022 in the United Kingdom, where it took in $8.9 million (£7.2 million) on its opening weekend, finishing 1st at the box office, and becoming StudioCanal's second highest-grossing film opening weekend in the United Kingdom, behind Paddington 2. In its second weekend, the film dropped 24% and grossed $5.4 million, finishing 2nd behind Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple.

The top international markets for the film were United Kingdom ($22.7 million), France ($6.2 million), Australia ($4.9 million), and Germany ($1.7 million).

North America
In the United States and Canada, where the film was titled Metro Waltz, was released alongside Scream VI, 65, and Champions, and was initially projected to gross $10–15 million in its opening weekend. However, after making $2.2 million on its opening day (including $407k from Thursday night previews), projections were lowered to $7 million. The film ended up making $6.2 million in it's opening weekend with the performance blamed on the negative reviews. It later dropped -53% in its second weekend and made $2.8 million while falling to 10th. The film's underperformance in North America forced Lionsgate to take a write-down of $82.3 million.

Review embargoes for the film were lifted midday March 9, only a few hours before the film premiered to the general public, in a move considered among several tactics studios are using to try to curb bad Rotten Tomatoes ratings. Speaking of the effect embargoing reviews until last minute had on the film's debut, Jon Feltheimer, the CEO of Lionsgate, said "Metro Waltz was built for people under 18... so we wanted to give the movie its best chance."

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 70% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 6.23/10. The critical consensus reads, "Imagineland isn't quite as imaginative, but its slick and stunning animation crafts an intriguing all-ages adventure with a surprising amount of colorful flair."

On Rotten Tomatoes, the US version of the film, entitled Metro Waltz, has an approval rating of 6% based on 67 professional reviews, with an average rating of 3.31/10. The critical consensus for the US version reads: "Overloaded with pop culture references and an unimaginative story, Metro Waltz does very little to distinguish itself from a long list of like-minded family-friendly alternatives." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 15 out of 100, based on 23 reviews, indicating "overwhelming dislike", becoming the second lowest-rated animated film on the site, behind The Emoji Movie. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 52% of audience members gave the film a positive score, with 34% saying they would definitely recommend it.