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 of the Puppet Pals franchise and 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 is scheduled for theatrical release in the United States on September 16, 2022 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, and McShane.

Premise
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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
 * 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 daugther.
 * 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

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
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Casting
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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 $200 million, the most expensive for 20th Century Studios.

Theatrical
Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms is scheduled to be 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.

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 Prediction
In July 2022, early predictions by BoxOffice have projected that the film could gross $190–230 million in its opening weekend a record opening in September and $605–755 million in total domestically. Early reactions for the film have been unanimously well-received with a majority calling the film the best of the franchise as well as for 20th Century Animation.

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.

Worldwide the film is projected to gross $355–390 million overseas, for a worldwide opening weekend total of $515–565 million.

Pre-sale tickets
In late December 2021, the film was named as the most anticipated 2022 film by IMDb, the most anticipated animated film and blockbuster of 2022 according to the ticketing service Fandango, and the most anticipated animated and overall film by Atom Tickets. As a result of the huge anticipation for the film, various ticket sites crashed ahead of the release of pre-sale tickets with Fandango reporting that within 24 hours, pre-sale tickets on their site were higher than Puppet Pals Forever, Incredibles 2, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, The Lion King, and Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood at the same point in their release cycles. Ticket sales on Fandango surpassed those for Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple in just two hours, and by the end of the day it became the best first-day advance ticket sales for an animated film since Spot Goes to Hollywood, while also surpassing the 24-hour ticket sales of The Lion King, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Spider-Man: Far From Home, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Rogue One (2016).

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 97% based on 112 reviews, with an average rating of 8.71/10. 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 84 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".