Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood

Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood  (also known as Cool Spot 2) is a 2021 American computer-animated comedy film produced by 20th Century Animation and Virgin Produced and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. It is the sequel to 2018's Cool Spot which in turn is based on the 1993 video game of the same name. In Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood, Spot and his friends get sucked into a movie projector after a butchered audition where he must rescue his friends from death while learning the values of life and popularity. Most of the cast members such as Pharrell Williams and Mila Kunis reprised their roles from the original film along with new cast members such as Soulja Boy, Rami Malek, Chris Hemsworth, Timothée Chalamet, and Young Thug while D.L. Hughley joins the cast replacing Jason Mitchell. This film is the final voice performance by DMX before his death and was dedicated in his memory.

The film was released on December 3, 2021 by 20th Century Studios in 2D, RealD 3D, IMAX, and Dolby Cinema formats. Upon release, the film received critical acclaim with it's humor, casting, voice acting, chemistry, vibrant animation, darker tone, and emotional weight being praised as well with critics considering it to be one of the few sequels films superior to the original. The film grossed over $1.8 billion worldwide breaking various box office records making it the second highest grossing film of 2021 as well as the seventh highest grossing film of all time while also being the highest grossing animated film of all time domestically and worldwide.

A third film is currently in development at 20th Century Animation.

Plot
In 2011, Cool Spot and his team in Pop City High School is in the final quarter of the game against Lakewood High in the finals basketball game. Rival player Jack Swagga tries to think of an illegal play in the basketball game to win victory in the championship during his senior year. Swagga ends up headbutting all the players except Spot to win the game, however, Spot quickly knows of his plan and after 10 seconds hits the clock, Spot hits a buzzer beater winning the game. Spot ends up winning various scholarships to college and knocks out Swagga while he wakes up 3 hours later being expelled and ends up having to drop-out of school while having his own family disown him. Later that night, McQueen and his friend nicknamed the Kool-Aid Man decide to go on a robbing spree during which a man is shot and killed where the Kool-Aid Man is convicted of murder while McQueen was let off of all charges and eventually goes missing.

In the present time, three years after the death of Fresh-up Freddie, Cool Spot who is now a celebrity with two kids with Eve Coke, his wife is living up to his fame from being in various television series as well as movies to being interviewed and even having his own Hollywood Walk of Fame star. As Cool Spot goes on a restaurant date with Eve Coke he is harassed by Quez, Lez, Dez, and Wez which annoys Spot but later meets Jack Swagga, who is a famous actor, rapper, and director, asks Spot to be in his new film full of all-stars which Spot agrees to and asks if his friends can be in it which Swagga agrees to.

Spot enters filming along with his friends and cast members where everyone is suddenly sucked into the projectors, and land into a town in the middle of the desert where they are welcomed by a dog named Bobby Rae to the "Wild Wild East" zone. Meanwhile, in the real world Swagga, finally arrives on set and discovers everyone is missing while being interviewed on TV.

In the projector after rumbling through the Wild Wild East zone and defeating the corrupted sheriff, the sky rumbles and has a crack in it which everyone ignores. After taking the train out of the Wild Wild East, Spot discovers that everything is turned to black and white where they meet Laurence Cooper, a silent film actor who is being chased by a serial killer, Austin LaMarque. LaMarque sends his minions to attack Cooper where Spot and his friends ends up defeating them and escaping the world. Arriving at a hotel, LaMarque and Bobby Rae, explains to Cool Spot that they are stuck in a projector because of an unknown mastermind who made a deal to get rid of Spot but reveals that a spell from the Planet Garth can help but Fido Dido and Bebe are reluctant to go along with them. While Spot is gone, Swagga enjoys his new profound fame and becomes the biggest star in the world while discovering that the projector is growing bigger in size and tracks Cool Spot worried about his safety.

Spot and the group end up talking to the Realm Keeper who approves of Spot's heroicness and decides to give him directions to the Planet Garth where they ask the Garthian King Gargon for help which he declines due to being strangers and weird-looking, then tries to kill everyone until Splish convinces the King that Spot is worthy of his assistance and promises him Cheetos in return. Suddenly, "the invaders" who have been attacking all the Realms find Spot and attacks them while killing the citizens of Planet Garth. Spot later returns to the Realm Keeper where he congratulates until Jack Swagga subdues the Realm Keeper and blows up the main realm.

Spot and his friends wake up to discover that the real world is now corrupted and mutated with all the worlds that Spot was in during the projector where Jack Swagga reveals himself to be Mapper McQueen and later reveals that he murdered the man and blamed Kool-Aid Man to get his respect back from everyone while also having revealed that the film was actually a set up to get rid of all the biggest stars in the world so McQueen can end up being the biggest star of the world and faked his disappearance. McQueen later tell his plan of ends up nearly fatally injuring Cool Spot while knocking out Eve Coke and kidnapping her.

Splish while walking around injured finds Spot who is knocked out and bleeding. After Eve gives Spot a kiss on the head while being healed, he later wakes up and joins with DJ O-Ro, Bebe, and Splish to find McQueen. After finding him and making out a plan, Eve, Fido, 7-UP, Splish, Orie, Bobby Rae, King Gargon, and everyone else battle against McQueen's army. While fighting in Pop City's palace, Spot remembers that showing his teeth during his basketball game made McQueen dizzy so he shows his teeth to McQueen which blinds him and ends up getting stabbed by Spot.

After McQueen's death, Gargon reveals that the only way to return the world to normal is through a spell although the caster has to sacrifice their life to make the spell completely work. 7-Up confidently decides to do the spell and convinces Spot that he will be okay. 7-Up gives his gold bracelet of his brand to Spot and promises him that he will forever be a hero in his heart. His friends leave him an emotional goodbye with Spot hugging 7-Up before he vanishes along with everyone returning to their respective worlds while Earth goes back to normal. Months later, Spot receives a Gold Medal of Honor by the President while reassuring that Pop City will be safe with a statue and memorial of 7-Up built at the park.

Cast
Additionally KSI and Lil Wayne, who produced a song for the movie, also cameo as cowboys of The Wild West. Media moguls, musicians, and actors, T-Pain, Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, Will Smith, Sean Combs, Damon Dash, Youngboy Never Broke Again, Too Short, and Juice Wrld all have brief cameos as themselves in a montage playing before introducing Cool Spot when he gets interviewed on BET. NBA players Steph Curry, LaMelo Ball, Isaiah Thomas, and Klay Thompson all voice Cool Spot's teammates during the high school basketball game while NBA players Anthony Davis, Draymond Green, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant as well as rapper Quavo all voice Mapper McQueen's teammates.
 * Pharrell Williams as Cool Spot, an eccentric anthropomorphic red dot that sports sunglasses and often proclaims himself as the coolest person in Pop City, who is now the coolest person on the planet and is the husband of Eve Coke.
 * Issac Ryan Brown as a teenage Cool Spot.
 * Soulja Boy as Mapper McQueen / Jack Swagga, a cocky short-tempered former basketball player turned rapper that Cool Spot was classmates with in high school. McQueen later reveals himself to be Jack Swagga and tricks Spot into getting sucked into the projector to steal his fame. Williams stated that this character was based on the rapper 6ix9ine, who is known for having trolling tactics that anger people around him, and late Chicago rapper King Von.
 * Rami Malek as Laurence Cooper, a 1930's actor who is an average everyday man. Laurence Cooper refers to famous actors Laurence Olivier and Gary Cooper who were famous in the 1900s.
 * Mila Kunis as Eve Coke, the now wife of Cool Spot who works with her brother Berry to maintain the coolness of the world.
 * Snoop Dogg as Bebe, a laid-back green dot who is shown to have swagger that's different from others and best friend's with Cool Spot.
 * Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson as Kool-Aid Man, an unknown man who was released from Sparkle Prison after being framed for murder.
 * Tom Holland as Splish, a sarcastic, wise-cracking blue dot with big eyes that was neutral towards Cool Spot in the first film but now is his biggest supporter.
 * Luke Wilson as Fido Dido, a black and white man with messy hair who is Cool Spot's cousin and the brother of Drinky. In this film, he finally cleaned his hair.
 * André 3000 as DJ O-Ro, a anamorphic Oreo who is Cool Spot's personal DJ. According to Williams, 3000 would have a larger role in this film than the previous film.
 * Bill Murray as 7-Up, a talking Soda that is best friends with Spot.
 * Jamie Foxx as Orie, a wild dog who is similar to an Oreo that Cool Spot ends up keeping as a pet.
 * DMX as Orie's barking/angry voice. This is his final performance in film before his death in April 2021.
 * Bobby Moynihan as Berry Coke, the brother of Eve Coke and Spot's brother-in-law.
 * D.L. Hughley as Drinky, a yellow dot who is the cousin of Cool Spot and brother of Fido Dido. In this film, he has matured but still has his occasionally childish antics. He was previously voiced by Jason Mitchell in the first film.
 * Daniel Kaluuya as Cokebot, the butler assistant to Cool Spot that follows every order of his master no matter what.
 * Alison Brie as Princess Gulpman, the princess of Pop City.
 * Michael Jai White as Womp Daddy, Cool Spot’s sarcastic and monotone father who is shown to be slow and boring unlike his son.
 * Angela Bassett as Swag Mom, Cool Spot's mother who has a similar personality to him unlike his father.
 * Trevor Jackson as Lil' Cooky, Cool Spot's younger teenage brother who has the same cool persona like his older brother although he's more hated than loved.
 * Pop Smoke as Gargon, the alien King of Planet Garth who is also a wizard. Pop Smoke recorded his brief lines before his death in February 2020 during pre-production.
 * Timothée Chalamet as Bobby Rae, an anamorphic Pitbull who is a cowboy in the "Wild Wild East' film series and ends up being a best friend to Orie.
 * Chris Hemsworth as Dave, Mapper McQueen's apathetic but smart butler.
 * Andra Day as Linda McQueen, the mother of Mapper McQueen who disowned her son after he lost the basketball game at the beginning of the film.
 * Scarface as Tripp McQueen, the deceased father of Mapper McQueen that was killed in a car accident.
 * Young Thug as:
 * Quisp, a purple alien/human who is an old friend of Cool Spot that was found trapped inside the film that is later to be revealed to be a hologram to track Cool Spot.
 * Oaf, a former henchmen turned bodyguard of Cool Spot due to Spot's newfound fame. Oaf has a notably deeper and raspier voice in this film than the previous one.
 * Diedrich Bader as Splurge, the reasonable but apathetic clerk at UpMart.
 * Tracy Morgan as Granddaddy Spot, Cool Spot's grandfather who is old-fashioned and loves using older technology.
 * Maya Rudolph as Grandmomma Spot, Cool Spot's grandmother who is more hip and is slightly deaf.
 * Lil' Yachty as Lil' Ade, a rapping Powerade bottle who was the former vice president of Pop City before his drug dealing scandal which got him fired and later killed.
 * Alec Baldwin (uncredited) as Fresh-up Freddie, the now deceased enemy of Cool Spot and was revealed to be a friend of Mapper McQueen. Unused audio recordings as well as archive recordings and outtakes from the first film were used for this film to construct a performance due to Baldwin being unable to record new lines because of his commitments to other projects.
 * Jason J. Lewis as Paul, the A.I. of Cool Spot's car. He was previously voiced by Mac Miller in the original film.
 * Eminem as:
 * a Cool Spot impersonator
 * Bib, a servant of King Gargon
 * Austin LaMarque, a silent serial killer who tries to kill Laurence Cooper
 * Berry Merry, the former henchman to the late Fresh-up Freddie that was killed by Cool Spot during a battle in the jungle. He was previously voiced by Seth MacFarlane in the previous film.
 * Harkins, the corrupted sheriff of the Wild Wild East
 * Dennis Haybert as Joe, a puppy who is the pet of Mapper McQueen that has anger issues.
 * Ving Rhames as the Realm Keeper, the keeper that transports Cool Spot and his friends from realm to realm in the projector.
 * Corey Burton and Dee Bradley Baker as the Twizzla Twins, two hip and youthful older men who are often seen being hip and young for their older ages.
 * Tom McGrath, Conrad Vernon, Alexander Bates, and Kevin Clash as Quez, Dez, Lez, and Wez, four bumbling police officers who often try to arrest Cool Spot due to his loudness and often for no reason.
 * Tom Kenny as Marlon and Wayne, two M&M's that are at every party.

Deeney Hopps also makes a non-speaking cameo as well.

Development
In May 2018, a month before the film's release, Fox greenlit a sequel, with all the writers slated to return, for a possible 2021 release date and also stated that they were committed to making sequels to Cool Spot. Producer John Cohen also stated that he wants other notable mascots to be featured in the sequel as well.

On September 17, 2018, it was confirmed that production on the sequel had commenced due to the huge success of the film at box office. On December 20, 2018, it was announced that the sequel would be released on July 30, 2021, with Lord and Miller returning to direct with Chernin, Williams and Jason Felts producing. In January 2019, in face of the proposed acquisition of 21st Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that Cool Spot 2 is in production as Iger announced that the film was on Disney's slate of films being released in the following years. According to Lord and Miller, they both received inspiration from the video game's sequel Spot Goes To Hollywood in which they played earlier while preparing for the script of Cool Spot. Lord and Miller also revealed that the film will feature other notable mascots in entertainment and food as well as the film being in a more darker tone than the first and more adult.

On June 15, 2020, 20th Century Studios announced that the film's full title would be Cool Spot 2: Spot Goes to Hollywood. On October 11, 2020, the 2 in the title was dropped and simply named Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood.

Casting
In May 2018 after the green-lighting of the sequel, Williams, Kunis, Holland, Wilson, Snoop Dogg, Murray, DMX, Moynihan, Kaluuya, Brie, Bassett, and White were all expected to reprise their roles. Jason Mitchell was also expected to reprise his role as Drinky, but was removed from the cast list due to allegations and was subsequently replaced by comedian D.L. Hughley. Michael B. Jordan was set to reprise his role but was unable to due to scheduling conflicts while Mac Miller was set to reprise his role as Paul, the A.I, however due to his death in September 2018, before the film's script was written. Another cast member, DMX, passed away on April 9, 2021, however, all his lines were recorded before his death, marking this his final film before his death. During production, Tom Holland had to frequently record his lines during production of his other films such as Spider-Man: No Way Home, Uncharted, and Cherry.

At the 2019 Annecy International Animated Film Festival in June, further more details including the plot were announced with Disney CEO Bob Iger revealing that 50 Cent would reprise his uncredited role as the Kool-Aid Man in the original film and that the film that many more mascots will be featured in the film. In July 2019, Rami Malek was added to the cast as apart of the main cast. On August 30, 2019, Chris Hemsworth was added to the cast after tweeting a picture of him recording on Twitter. On April 6, 2020, rapper Soulja Boy announced that he is in the movie and has a major role in it which was later confirmed to be a villain role.

On December 25, 2020, it was announced that Timothée Chalamet and rapper Young Thug were cast in undisclosed roles, with the latter being in the first film as Oaf and it is currently unknown if he is going to reprise his role as Oaf while voicing a new role, however, on March 5, 2021, he was confirmed to be in another role while also reprising his role as Oaf. On January 31, 2021, Soulja Boy's role was revealed to be Mapper McQueen. Williams also stated in an interview on March 23, 2021, that he wanted the late rapper Juice Wrld to voice act in the film but unfortunately was unable to get the rapper in the film due to his untimely death, however ultimately Juice Wrld ended up having a brief cameo in the film. On November 19, 2021, it was revealed that Jason J. Lewis, who voiced Paul in subsequent media, would reprise his role as Paul in the film.

Animation
Like the first film, Spot Goes to Hollywood was animated at the Fox Animation Century City studio with additional animation at Industrial Light & Magic, however Fox stated that the same newer animation technology systems used starting with The Pixelators: Level Two was used in the film as well. Some of the characters were given newer and more enhanced looks as well such as Cool Spot giving him a much more brighter and enhanced look. Since the management of the animation studio has changed due to the acquisition of Fox by Walt Disney Studios, the animators had to start from scratch to design the characters on their computers again with some of the same systems that Pixar animates their films with being used on giving the film's characters and backgrounds a more photorealistic look. The studio also gave the more human characters a more realistic look, utilizing motion-capture in some sequences for the real life people playing in the film.

Clay Kaytis also made a statement that the film features both traditional and CG animation, marking a return to traditional animation to 20th Century Animation for the first time since the early 2000s. Production of the film was also being done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic after the film's initial delay, giving more time for the animators to enhance various characters designs as well as looks. Kaytis stated that this was the hardest film to animate due to complex designs of characters as well as backgrounds. The film was rendered with 20th Century Animation's Boom Rendering with additional rendering under Pixar Renderman.

Music
On June 15, 2020, it was announced that Ludwig Göransson will return and compose the film's score after doing the original film’s score. Like the first film, Lil Uzi Vert made an original song for the film titled "Demon High", while KSI and Lil Wayne also made a song for the film titled Lose.

Theatrical
Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood was released on December 3, 2021, in RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema and IMAX.

Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood was originally scheduled to be released on July 30, 2021 by 20th Century Studios. On April 3, 2020, it was pushed back to April 29, 2022 as a result of Disney's updated film slate due to the 2019–20 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic's impact on the film industry. On March 23, 2021, the film was moved up to January 14, 2022 as a result of the cancellation of Nimona due to Blue Sky Studios' closure. On July 28, 2021, the film was moved up a month to December 3, 2021. On February 21, 2022, it was announced that an extended R-rated cut of the film would be released in theaters on March 11, 2022, including deleted scenes that were removed from the original release.

Unlike the first film, it was rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for "intense sequences of animated violence, strong language, drug use, and some suggestive comments", making it the first film produced and made by 20th Century Animation as well as 20th Century Animation Century City to have that rating. Producers Pharrell and Eminem made a claim for the rating stating that the film will be more adult themed R-rated comedy-horror like as the first film was like a PG-13 comedy film. The film was passed as 15 by the BBFC in the United Kingdom. Like the first film, a more mature cut of the film, this time being rated R, was released into theaters on March 11, 2022.

Marketing
The first teaser trailer for the film was released on July 5, 2021. It received 322.9 million views in its first 24 hours, becoming most viewed trailer for an animated film, dethroning Incredibles 2 113.6 million views as the most viewed trailer overall, as well as surpassing the nearly two year record of Frozen 2 116.4 million views. The official trailer was later released on September 2, 2021. Disney spent $300 million marketing the film.

Merchandise
In May 2020, a hat with the film's logo became available on the Disney Shop website. On September 15, 2021, Nike teamed up with Disney to develop limited edition shoes for the film as well.

Home media and streaming
Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on digital on March 29, 2022, and on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on April 26, 2022.

It was later available for streaming on Disney+ and HBO Max on May 18, 2022, after Disney reached a deal with WarnerMedia for certain upcoming films from 20th Century Studios to be streamed between Disney+, HBO Max, and Hulu. The extended cut of the film is only available for streaming on Hulu.

Critical Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 96% based on 502 reviews, with an average rating of 9.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "A more darker yet funny take on a critically acclaimed film, Spot Goes to Hollywood takes on the traditional sequel trope on Disney's beloved 20th Century Animation division and expands the humor as well as action that the original film didn't have with it's even bigger all-star cast provides good laughs with their good chemistry." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 90 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "critical acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare "A+" grade on an A+ to F scale, the first 20th Century Animation film to receive this rating and an improvement over the original film's "A". PostTrak reported 95% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 89% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Amelia Emberwing of IGN gave the film 9 out of 10, stating that the "pop cultural impact of the original film as well as it's generally smart wits and humor gives the film something to enjoy while avoiding sequelitis" while praising the performances of Soulja Boy, Williams, and Pop Smoke.

Box Office
Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood grossed $721.5 million in North America and $1.143 billion in other territories for a worldwide total of $1.864 billion. It is the second highest grossing film of 2021, the seventh highest grossing film of all time, the fifth highest grossing film in the United States and Canada, the highest grossing animated sequel as well as the highest grossing animated film of all time domestically and worldwide, and the highest grossing film produced by 20th Century Animation. It surpassed Puppet Pals Forever to become 20th Century Studios' highest grossing animated film in North America. Based off a final projected worldwide gross of $1.68 billion (a figure that was surpassed), Deadline Hollywood estimated the film's final net profit to be $600 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs versus box office grosses and home media revenues.

Pre-sale tickets went on sale in the United States on November 21, 2021, and ticket service sites such as Fandango had their servers crash due to heavy traffic and demand with Fandango calling the pre-sales orders the best since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. By the week of its release, opening weekend projections had reached upwards of $180 million. A day before release, it became Fandango's top pre-selling animated film of all time, outselling the previous record-holder, The Lion King.

Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood was initially projected to gross anywhere from $150–170 million in its opening weekend, a record opening during the pandemic while Disney estimated a $160 million debut. The film made $103.8 million on its opening day (including $38 million from Thursday night previews) the biggest for an animated film as well as for a film in the pandemic at that period of time as well as being the first animated film to make $100 million on its opening day, increasing box office projections to $220–230 million. It ended up making $232.5 million (including $70.5 million on Saturday and $58.2 million on Sunday), the biggest opening weekend since Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker as well as the first animated film to open to $200 million, the biggest for a predominantly Black cast as well as the third biggest opening in December and the the fifth biggest opening weekend of all time. The opening weekend audiences were 51% male and 32% under the age of 17 and 46% were 17-32 year olds, while 42% was African American, 30% Caucasian, 18% Hispanic, and 10% Asian.

The film dropped a hefty -79% on it's second Friday, grossing $21.7 million on that day remaining on top and by Saturday, the film's ninth day in release, the film had grossed $424.4 million, topping the entire lifetime domestic gross of the original, not accounting for inflation ($422.3 million). The film later dropped 58% in its second weekend and made $97.6 million, remaining in first while having the best second weekend for an animated film. It dropped to second behind newcomer Spider-Man: No Way Home and grossed $49.3 million in its third weekend. By February 24, 2022, it crossed $700 million domestically, making it the first animated film as well as the sixth film to do so.

Outside of the United States, the film was projected to make $200–250 million overseas for a total $350–450 opening weekend worldwide. It overperformed and grossed $350.2 million for a total worldwide opening weekend of $582.7 million, the biggest worldwide opening weekend of all time for an animated film as well as the fourth biggest of all time. On March 3, 2022, it was announced that the film would be extended for it's release again in a re-release to bump the film over $2 billion.

Future
In September 2021, in an interview with CNN, Lord and Miller hinted that a third film would be possible, saying, "we would like to show more stories featuring these unique and special characters. But you may have to wait a bit for it to happen as we are far from finished with these characters." On December 3, 2021, after the record breaking opening day of the film, it was announced that a sequel is in development with Lord stating that "it'll be the best installment of the series and possibly the final one." In March 2022, it was announced it'll be a two-parter with two sequels being produced and animated back to back with a release in 2025 and 2026 respectively.