Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms

Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms is a 2022 American computer-animated adventure fantasy musical comedy film produced by 20th Century Animation for 20th Century Studios. It is a spin-off/prequel and the fifth installment overall in the Puppet Pals franchise. The film was directed by Pamela Porter with co-direction by Ash Brannon and written by Maya Forbes, Wallace Wolodarsky, Allison Schroeder, and Rob Tucker. Anne Hathaway reprised her respective role as Princess Joanna, and was joined by Justice Smith, Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Schwartz, Ian McShane, Keanu Reeves, Octavia Spencer, Jodie Comer, Martin Freeman, Stephanie Beatriz, Jenny Slate, Marc Maron, Gina Rodriguez, Cheech Marin, John Leguizamo, Keegan-Michael Key, Minnie Driver, and John Cleese.

Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on September 4, 2022, and was released in the United States on September 16 by 20th Century Studios. It received critical acclaim, many of whom considered it the best Puppet Pals film since the second film in 2010 as well as praising its animation, screenplay, characters, music, and vocal performances, particularly of Hathaway, Smith, Steinfeld, Schwartz, Reeves, and McShane with many critics deeming the film superior to the main Puppet Pals films. The film grossed $289.7 million worldwide.

Premise
Set before the events of the Puppet Pals movies and after the ending of Joanna: Princess of Tinywood, Joanna and her friends must leave Tinywood with her friends to travel to mysterious kingdoms full of enchanting landscapes where she must stop Darius and his evil forces from destroying her own city.

Voice cast

 * Anne Hathaway as Princess Joanna, a beautiful young woman who is the princess of Tinywood.
 * Justice Smith as Warren Ratcliffe, the guard of Tinywood who is Joanna's right hand man in any situation she's in.
 * Hailee Steinfeld as Lucy Miller, Joanna's best friend.
 * Ben Schwartz as Josh Barlows, a young wizard in Tinywood. Schwartz reprises his role from the series.
 * Ian McShane as Darius, a outcast of Tinywood who despises magic.
 * Jodie Comer as Annabelle, a teenage sorcerer who lost both of her parents.
 * Octavia Spencer as Starlica, a mysterious dragon.
 * Minnie Driver as Queen Lila
 * John Cleese as King Floyd
 * Dave Franco as Edwin, Joanna's underachieving cousin. Franco replaces Zac Efron from his role in Puppet Pals 3.
 * Keanu Reeves as Wesley, a retired knight.
 * Zoë Kravitz as Terri, Darius' young daughter.
 * Kevin Bacon as Tim, a knight in charge of the Tinywood army.
 * Martin Freeman as Billy, Joanna's technical services person for Tinywood's army who makes the weapons.
 * Stephanie Beatriz
 * Jenny Slate
 * Marc Maron as Poppa, an older short temper dragon.
 * Gina Rodriguez
 * Cheech Marin
 * John Leguizamo
 * Keegan-Michael Key
 * Chris Wedge as Slippy the Dog

Development
The film had been in development since 2007, a year after the first Puppet Pals film was released. As a Puppet Pals spin-off, it was initially planned for release sometime in 2012 as a direct-to-video film. By March 2010, the original film had eventually been cancelled due to the film having story problems.

In April 2018, five months before the release of the franchise's fourth film, Puppet Pals Forever, rumors arose that the Princess Joanna spin-off film would be revived at 20th Century Fox, shortly after Craig Gutierrez announced an spin-off television series centered on Joanna and her adventures, before even meeting the Puppet Pals. Jesse McCartney, who voiced Nathan Ritter in the films, said that Puppet Pals Forever (2018) would be the final installment in the franchise, but producer John Cohen disclosed a possibility of a fifth film, as 20th Century Animation was not ruling out that possibility. After the massive box-office success of Puppet Pals Forever, 20th Century Animation CEO Stuart Snyder officially announced that the Princess Joanna spin-off film was back in production on May 21, 2019. It was also reported that Pamela Porter would be the film's director, marking her directorial debut for a feature film. Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation screenwriters Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky were asked by Fox to write the script for the spin-off film to help emphasize a witter and dramatic tone.

In October 2019, Craig Gutierrez, who had created the Joanna television series, had been brought on board as an executive producer on the film, and said that the film would tie-in with the TV series. By June 2020, Allison Schroeder (of Hidden Figures and Christopher Robin fame) and Rob Tucker (who wrote some episodes of the Princess Joanna spin-off series), came to do rewrites on the original screenplay by Forbes and Wolodarsky. In October of that same year, Hathaway said the script was under restructuring. She also hinted at the possibility of Nathan and Toby appearing in the film.

In December 2020 at a Disney Investor Day meeting, the film's title was revealed as Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms, with Anne Hathaway reprising her role as the titular character, and depicting Joanna's own adventure before the Puppet Pals films. By February 2021, Walt Disney Animation Studios CCO Jennifer Lee had been brought on board as an executive producer of The Four Kingdoms.

Animation and design
To be added.

Casting
To be added.

Music
In August 2021, Christophe Beck was offered to score the film, and he accepted. The film's director, Pamela Porter, announced in December 2020 that the film would be a musical, with the songs being written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, who they wrote the songs for Disney's Frozen films. During the 2022 Annecy International Animated Film Festival in June, it was revealed that there will be 5 original songs for the film.

Marketing
The marketing campaign for Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms began on November 17, 2021, with the teaser poster being released on that day. The teaser trailer was officially released online a day later on 20th Century Studios' YouTube channel on November 18 and was viewed 365.2 million times in its first 24 hours becoming the most-viewed animated trailer as well as overall trailer of all time in that time period. On April 27, 2022, Disney premiered a new trailer of the film at the studio's CinemaCon panel, with it releasing online about a day later. Disney had also showcased the first 10 minutes of the film at their CinemaCon panel as well to a well received reception from the audience with critics calling it the best of the franchise as well being described as a "beautifully animated" start. The film's final trailer debuted at San Diego Comic-Con on July 24, 2022 and was released online on 20th Century Studios' YouTube channel a day later.

A four-part documentary featurette entitled The Magic of Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms was released on the Disney+ streaming service on Disney+ Day, September 8 in anticipation of the film's release, chronicling the conception and production of the film. A collaboration with Minecraft, featuring content from the film as well as content from the overall Puppet Pals franchise, was released in September 2022.

After the underperformance of fellow Disney spin-off film, Pixar's Lightyear (2022), the marketing was shown to be related to the main films. The film had a total promotional marketing value of $150 million, the most expensive for 20th Century Studios.

Theatrical
Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms was released in theatres in the United States on September 16, 2022 in IMAX, RealD 3D, 4DX, and Dolby Cinema. The film had its world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on September 4, 2022, and was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8. On August 29, when tickets went on sale for the United States, an early access screening was announced for September 14.

In theaters, Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms was preceded by Snowbell, a six-minute short film which had previously been screened at the 2022 Annecy International Animated Film Festival on June 14.

In addition to being released in most international markets, the film was banned in the Arab world (including Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the United Arab Emirates), as well as in Malaysia and Kazakhstan, due to the inclusion of an LGBT character as well as in China after Disney declined The Republic of China's request to cut scenes. In Singapore, as a result of the character, the film was allowed for only people above 16 years of age.

The film was originally scheduled to be released on April 21, 2023 by 20th Century Studios. On July 28, 2021, the film was moved up to September 16, 2022 as a result of Disney's updated film slate.

Box Office
As of September 16, 2022, Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms grossed $89.1 million in the United States and Canada and $200.6 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $289.7 million worldwide.

United States and Canada
Three weeks prior to its release, industry tracking projected the film would gross $160–175 million in its domestic opening weekend, although some insiders saw those figures as conservative and expected a $175–190 million debut all which would be the best for a September release even by the lowest end. By the week of release, projections were raised to $175–190 million with some going to $195 million. However after the film made $89.3 million on it's opening day (including $39.3 million from Thursday night previews and $8 million from Wednesday screenings, the best for an animated film), which is the second best for an animated film behind Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood 's $103.8 million, projections were increased to $210–220 million.

Internationally
Worldwide the film is projected to gross $325–350 million overseas, for a worldwide opening weekend total of $500–540 million. In France on its opening day, it broke the record for the biggest animated opening day with $8.2 million as well as in Italy and Korea with its respective $3.2 million and $2.9 million opening day.

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 97% based on 262 reviews, with an average rating of 8.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Brilliantly animated, smartly written, wholly witty, and stocked with dazzling songs, Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms is a visually stunning, thoroughly worthy addition to the line of animation that'll catch its family-friendly audience off-guard." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 81 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an "A" grade on an A+ to F scale.

Industry response
Singer/actor Pharrell Williams who is the main writer of the Cool Spot franchise along with being the voice of the titular character praised The Four Kingdoms calling it "one of the best animated films [he has] ever seen", while Anne Hathaway the voice of Princess Joanna herself described it as "an emotional rollercoaster along with it's light-hearted and humorous moments" and also called it the best film of the Puppet Pals franchise. Actor Johnny Depp, praised the film, calling it "a masterpiece and the finest work of animation" while also citing Princess Joanna as one of the best films made by 20th Century Animation. Actor Tom Holland, who voices Bryce Jones and Splish in The Pixelators and Cool Spot franchises respectively, stated in an interview that the film blew his expectations off the roof and called it "one of 20th Century Animation's finest movies". Pete Docter, writer and director of 2015's Inside Out and the chief creative officer of Pixar, described the film as "the Toy Story 3 of the franchise", and also believed that this would influence a new wave of animated films by sister studio 20th Century Animation. Docter continued saying that, "This film should be seen on the biggest screen you can find" and also added stating that "the musical numbers fit into each part of the film and gives out a good experience". Kevin Lima, who directed 20th Century Animation's previous film, Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple, named the film as one of his favorite films of all time. Quest for the Toon Temple co-director Mike Mitchell and Alaina Gleen creator Thalia Ward both loved the film as well. The Walt Disney Company's CEO Bob Chapek called the film "beautiful" and praised it's musical moments.