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 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 is scheduled to be released on December 3, 2021 by 20th Century Studios. It received critical acclaim upon its release with most praise on it's plot as well as it's satire and vibrant animation compared to the first film while most critics called it one of the best animated sequels of all time comparing it to Toy Story 2.

Premise
Set 4 years after the original film, Cool Spot, who has now risen to newfound worldwide fame and finally marries his longtime girlfriend Eve Coke while having kids with her, finds himself trapped in a projector after being tricked into thinking he's having a movie based on himself where he must save his friends from death with the help of Kool-Aid Man who just recently gotten out of prison and more new friends while being pitted against an old rival.

Cast
Additionally KSI and Lil Wayne, who produced a song for the movie, also cameo as cowboys of The Wild West. Also, Bump Cola appears in the film as a cameo being briefly voiced by James Corden.
 * 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, a cocky, short-tempered rapper who has fallen into obscurity. 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 a wise-cracking 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.
 * 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 mature 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.
 * Chris Hemsworth as Dave, Mapper McQueen's apathetic but smart butler.
 * Timothée Chalamet as Bobby Rae, an anamorphic Pitbull who is a cowboy in the "Wild Wild East' film series.
 * Young Thug as:
 * Quisp, a purple alien/human who is an old friend of Cool Spot that was found trapped inside the film.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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 and outtakes from the first film were used for this film.
 * Pop Smoke as Gargon, the alien King of Planet Garth. Pop Smoke recorded his brief lines before his death in February 2020 during pre-production.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.

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.

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, it is currently unknown if this character will be recast or have archive recordings. 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.

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. It was also leaked that other Fox properties will be featured in the film.

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. 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 will be 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 will be used for this film as well. Some of the characters were given newer and more enhanced looks as well.

Clay Kaytis stated that the film will feature both traditional and CG animation. Production of the film was also being done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

Theatrical
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 moved to April 22, 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 June 15, 2020, the film was moved up a month to March 18, 2022. On January 22, 2021, the film was pushed back to June 3, 2022, as a result of Disney's updated film slate. The film will be released in RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema and IMAX. On March 19, 2021, the film was moved up to January 28, 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.

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 1 week old record of Frozen 2 116.4 million views. The official trailer was later released on September 2, 2021. According to Disney, the marketing was made to avoid spoiling the fact that Mapper is an antagonist.

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.

Critical Reception
The film critical acclaim from critics, with most calling it a very successful follow-up to the preceding film as well as calling it better with some comparing it to Toy Story 2. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rare approval rating of 100% based on 189 reviews, with an average rating of 9.2/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 90 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "critical acclaim".

Box Office
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.

Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood is projected to gross anywhere from $100-150 million in it's opening weekend, a record opening during the pandemic.