Return of the Tiny Men

Return of the Tiny Men is a 2023 American computer-animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The sequel to the 1988 film Tiny Men in my Backyard, it was directed by Gary Trousdale returning from the original along with Trousdale himself, Matthew O'Callaghan, and Richard Rich returning from the original to write the film's screenplay and story, while featuring an ensemble voice cast consisting of Halle Berry (replacing Victoria Dillard), along with Jim Cummings, Amy Irving, Neil Patrick Harris, Ellen Barkin, and Jean-Claude Van Damme all reprising their roles from the original film and the new additions of Keke Palmer, Amandla Stenberg, Chloe Bailey, Clint Eastwood, Hugo Weaving, Wiz Khalifa, Larenz Tate, Meagan Good, Alan Tudyk, William H. Macy, and Jason Statham. The film focuses on Lilly and RJ, now married with a teenage daughter named Lauren, stopping Blitz Axis, the legendary older brother of Lord Rex, after being resurrected by former Lord Rex minions Frode, Abhi, and Gorath and stopping them from getting the powers of the Kholin, the all powerful stone of immortal power.

Following the success of Tiny Men in my Backyard, Trousdale postponed development on a sequel in favor of working on Beauty and the Beast as well as Aladdin, The Lion King and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The script went through various changes as well as various moments which led Disney put the film in development hell until the sequel's production finally began in 2017. Due to the retirement of these actors, Victoria Dillard, Josef Sommer, and Michael DeLuise weren't able to return to reprise their roles and were subsequently replaced by Berry, Statham, and Macy respectively, while the rest of the cast members were slated to return.

Return of the Tiny Men premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on March 26, 2023, and wwas released in theaters on April 14, 2023 in IMAX, 3D, 4DX, and Dolby formats. It received critical acclaim, praising the performances, animation, emotional weight, and writing, with some critics calling it the best Disney film since the Renaissance era. The film has grossed over $1 billion worldwide.

Plot
30 years after the attack of Lord Rex on Tinyland where Lilly James defeated Lord Rex and sent his minions to the underrealm, Lilly now 45 and her husband RJ who is the king are living peacefully along with their 17 year old daughter, Lauren, who is troublesome and often gives them trouble.At school one day, Lauren along with her best friend Amaya pull off a huge lasat day of school prank on Mr. Austin and afterwards Lauren attempts to talk to popular boy Latravious but ends up getting rejected. She later receives summer school which angers her parents. Later on they go to Tinyland where Lily stops a thief named Ylume from stealing and they are greeted by Grandpa Herbert and Valerie, her cousin that resides in Tinyland. As punishment, Lauren joins in her cousin's training but it's more intense and ruthless than before.

Meanwhile in the underworld, Gorath, Abhi, and Frode, Lord Rex's former minons along with Dikembe, Frode's teenage son, are miserable as the older trio been trapped in the underealm without a track of time as after various failed escape attempt, the trio gave up until this time, Dikembe, whose an avid reader, makes a portal to Earth after learning from magic and research on the citizens of Tinyland where the trio and son along with three dimwitted monsters enter the portal to Earth, specfically San Francisco where they find out they've been trapped in the underworld for three decades. After realizing Lily James' banished the trio there, they seek to find her and disguise theirselves to look human while stealing clothes then go downtown. That same time, Lilly, RJ, Lauren, Valerie, and Amaya as well as Christina James and Milgen James, Lilly's parents are satfisied about how Lauren turned out but are dissatisfied about how Lauren is involved with Tinyland where Lauren at first is angry about the family always talking down on her where Lilly joints the argument where her and Christina end up classing that ends with Christina being punched by Lilly. The parents and the youngest gen end up leaving as Lilly runs to the bathroom crying while Lauren puts her head down. That same time, Frode orders Dikembe to rob the resturant after discovering the James family eating there but after Dikembe refuses, his mom scolds him and Dikembe runs off disappointed. Angered, Frode and the rest of trio go along with the robbery.......

Middle plot coming soon!

Ylume, realizing that Frode tricked them, tries to escape Blitz, but she's instantly evaporated after betraying the order's of Gorath. Lily, Lauren, and RJ are all thrown in the chamber as Blitz reveals his plan on using the Kholin to take over the world while also killing her. He soon absorbs the Kholin and unleashes his power which crumbles the ground and instantly learns the revival tribual method and revives his brother Lord Rex bringing him back to the flesh where after realizing the length of time that has changed, invades Tinyland along with his brother and his now reunited former minions whom all absord the Kholin and receives the power. In the chamber, Lily and Lauren are hopeless as they both apolgize to each other for arguing and disagreeing alot while RJ cries about his death until Amaya, Dikembe, and Wileson all break in to find the family where they are freed. Afterwards, they plan on taking down Blitz and his team where they...

From gaining the power of the Kholin, Lily fights the newly weakened Rex in a rematch as Blitz chases after a frightened Lauren until Isadora suddenly comes out of nowhere and stuns Blitz where they run into an alleyway. Isadora reveals that her family is from Tinyland and knows about Lily being a legend there while telling her that she has potential and she needs to stop being afraid, which makes her confident as they duo come out to join in their parents and her best friend in the fight against Blitz. Meanwhile, in Tinyland, powered up Frode, Gorath, Blitz Axis, Abhi, and Lord Rex are all in the city terrorizing and draining the energy out of people where Blitz make a compromise to evaporate the world entirely. However, no one agrees which causes Blitz to get angry and increase power, where Rex tries to talk him out of it but ends up getting injured in the process. They later fight where Rex has the upper hand until Blitz knocks a fatal blow to Rex's head. The group who sees this from the block run to Rex who apologizes for his past and finally meets his grandchildren before succumbing to his death. After this, Lily and the crew start a head on attack on Blitz and his people where they initially struggle until she makes a plan....

Rest coming soon!

Cast
Anne Hathaway, Daniel Craig, Daisy Ridley, Quavo, and Kendrick Lamar all disguised, voice various protestors against RJ and are all uncredited.
 * Halle Berry as Lilly James, a 45-year old woman who is now a famous artist as well as a former martial artist and adventurer after the events of Lord Rex's terror in 1988.
 * Victoria Dillard as 15-year old Lilly (via archive recordings)
 * Neil Patrick Harris as RJ, Lily's husband who is also the king of Tinyland.
 * Ellen Barkin as Frode, one of Lord Rex's former henchmen who is now a henchman for Blitz Axis.
 * Keke Palmer as Lauren James, Lilly and RJ's 16-year old daughter.
 * Amandla Stenberg as Isadora Williams, a 17 year old female who is Lauren's classmate and frenemy.
 * Meagan Good as Amaya Watts, Lauren's 17-year old best friend.
 * Chloe Bailey as Ylume, the crooked teenage thief in Tinyland.
 * Clint Eastwood as Herbert John James, the 95 year old grandfather of Lilly who was a former adventurer. Herbert was previously in the original film as a muted character.
 * Wiz Khalifa as Dikembe, the teenaged son of Frode.
 * Larenz Tate as Wileson Thomas, Lilly's old childhood friend.
 * Hugo Weaving as Blitz Axis, the recently resurrected brother of Lord Rex who wants the powers of the Kholin.
 * Jason Statham as Abhi, one of the former henchmen of Lord Rex. He was previously voiced by Josef Sommer in the original film.
 * Amy Irving as Christina James, Lilly's 71-year old mother.
 * William H. Macy as Gorath, a dimwitted yet resourceful warrior who's one of the former henchmen of Lord Rex. He was previously voiced by Michael DeLuise in the original film.
 * Alan Tudyk as Sir William, a royal servant who falls into RJ's royal family tree and is the son of Craven.
 * Jim Cummings as Milgen James, Lilly's 73-year old father.
 * Cummings also voices Kaylakagh, the guardian of the Kholin
 * Jean-Claude Van Damme as Lord Rex, the long deceased emperor who attacked Tinyland; he was later revived by Blitz Axis from the Kholin.
 * Gary Trousdale as Craven, RJ's smart mouthed assistant.
 * Olivia Cooke as Valerie, Lauren's teenaged cousin whose a trainee in fighting.
 * Rickey Smiley as an unnamed robber who tries to rob the James' house in the beginning.
 * Jeff Bennett, Don Hall, and Paul Briggs as Blox, Zox, and Clox, three bumbling and iditotic creatures who accidentially get let out of the Underworld.
 * Jamie Chung as Candy, a child who was abucted by Lord Rex in the flashback.
 * Thomas Mikal Ford (via archive recordings) as Kane, a deceased warrior of Tinyland who was killed by Lord Rex and his men 3 decades ago.
 * Tyler, the Creator as Latravious, a popular student that Lauren has a crush on but get's rejected by.

Additional voices
Coming soon!

Development
Following Tiny Men in my Backyard, Gary Trousdale directed his next film for Disney, Beauty and the Beast, which was released in November 1991. During the red-carpet premiere of the film, Trousdale stated that he was open to direct and write a sequel film as long as it turns out better than the original film. In 1992, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution announced that the sequel is currently in development with the main cast members slated to return along with Trousdale returning to direct along with the writing team. However, in November of that same year, the film was cancelled in favor of Trousdale developing another film which would later be The Hunchback of Notre Dame released in 1996. In 2018, interest in a sequel was revived with Trousdale reiterated interest in a sequel stating that "I have been thinking about this sequel for decades. Despite my current venture at Dreamworks Animation, I still want this sequel to be made no matter what."

Later in August 2018, CEO of Disney Bob Iger later confirmed that a sequel is in current development although Iger stated that "it's doubtful that Trousdale can return due to his venture at DreamWorks." In 2019, Trousdale left DreamWorks and confirmed that he's returning to direct the sequel.

Writing
One trouble in the writing process of the sequel was where to set the story whether directly after the events of the previous or years later. Trousdale noted that the majority of the cast grew out of the age of their roles where Trousdale later decided to set the film 35 years later. To develop the sequel as a legacy sequel, Trousdale observed various legacy sequels such as The Color of Money (1986), Tron: Legacy (2010), Creed (2015), and Blade Runner 2049 (2017) to observe how those films made up for the long absence of the characters by making them evolve as well as getting tips from Brad Bird for writing a long-awaited sequel after his success in Incredibles 2 for Pixar with Bird suggesting an ellipsis while putting more of a focus on family values along with stopping the evil villain of the film.

Trousdale also found it easier to write Lilly James as a mother as well as aging the other characters while giving her a daughter which can allow a family dynamic to be shown in the film as well.

Casting
In July 2019, it was announced that Neil Patrick Harris and Amy Irving were confirmed to reprise their roles. During the 2019 D23 Expo, it was confirmed that Ellen Barkin and Jim Cummings would also reprise their roles, and that Victoria Dillard, the original voice of Lilly James, would be replaced by Halle Berry due to Dillard's retirement from acting. Berry later revealed that she initially audition to be Lilly but Dillard ending up winning the role. That same day, Gary Trousdale was also announced to reprise his role of Craven as well. Trousdale stated that it was either "all or none" of the surviving and active actors in order to proceed with the development of the film due to the plot that he was going for and declined recasting the roles. Additionally, rumors spread of Jean-Claude Van Damme reprising his role as Lord Rex but those were later denied by Trousdale.

In November 2019, Disney announced that Keke Palmer and Hugo Weaving had joined the cast. In January 2020, it was announced that Amanda Stenberg, Clint Eastwood and Wiz Khalifa had joined the cast as well with Eastwood being cast after Trousdale watched Space Cowboys (2000) as well as The Mule (2018). By January 2022, Larenz Tate had joined the cast.

In September 2022, it was announced that Jason Statham's role in the film is Abhi after the character's original voice actor Josef Sommer retired from acting in 2010 while William H. Macy was cast as Gorath replacing Michael DeLuise due to his retirement in 2010. Eastwood's role was revealed to be Herbert John James on September 26, 2022; Herbert was an non-speaking character in the original film. Alan Tudyk was later added to the cast on November 8, 2022, voicing a new character named Sir William.

Animation
Due to the film being released nearly 35 years after the original, animation has since advanced and allowed Trousdale as well as a team of much more experienced animators to animate more freely with the transition from traditional animation to computer-animation becoming much more easier. The film will be animated in-house at Walt Disney Animation Studios and was animated in stylized computer-animation similar to fellow legacy sequel Detective Carl Returns. Since the animation technology had evolved so much since the original film's release, all the characters had to be made from scratch while reference previous concept art of the film from 1986 while trying to keep the style as similar to the traditionally animated style from the previous film. The film is animated in a combination of computer-animation along with traditional animation. Disney also used based human eye models as well as more realistic backgrounds for the film compared to the original film while giving all the characters a more enhanced and glossy look while also having Mark Henn return from the previous film to be the supervising animator for Lilly as well. The film was also rendered using Disney's Hyperion Renderer with additional rendering by Pixar's Renderman.

Music
In 2022, Trousdale confirmed that Aaron Zigman would compose the score for the film. On November 8, 2022, singer SZA announced that she would be making an original song for the film later titled "Love Letter" for the end credits and was later released on April 4, 2023.

Promotion
A first look for the movie was released on September 9, 2022 during the 2022 D23 Expo with teaser trailer later released on September 21, 2022 and received 212.2 million views within the first 24 hours, the second biggest for an animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures behind The Lion King (2019). The trailer received praise from commentators for the good transition of animating the characters from their original traditional animation in the original to computer-animation. Disney also opted to go for a spoiler-free marketing method like their films under Marvel Studios. The official and final trailer was released on March 7, 2023 and was praised for introducing Ylume and Dikembe.

Merchandise
On September 16, 2022, Disney confirmed that a Lego game based on the original movie and this film would be made. It will be released on April 28, 2023, two weeks after the film's release.

Release
Return of the Tiny Men was theatrically released on April 14, 2023 in conventional Disney Digital 3D and IMAX formats, and was accompanied by the new Mickey Mouse animated short film, The Dog Sitter. The film was originally scheduled to be released on April 7, 2023 but was moved up to March 24, 2023 to avoid competition with Universal and Illumination's Super Mario film and later moved to April 21, taking over Hyper 's old release date. It was then moved up a week to April 14th, due to fan demand. The film is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) for “action/violence, some thematic elements, language, and some scary moments."

Box office
As of April 25, 2023, Return of the Tiny Men has grossed $306.3 million in the United States and Canada and $464.3 million in international territories for a worldwide total of $770.6 million.

United States and Canada
In the United States and Canada, Return of the Tiny Men was released alongside Renfield, Suzume, and The Pope’s Exorcist, and was initially projected to make $125 million in its opening weekend at 4,500 theaters. It grossed $63.6 million on its opening day, including $20.5 million from Thursday previews, both records for Walt Disney Animation Studios and an animated film in April, leading projections to increase to as much as $150 million. The film ended up making $153.5 million in its opening weekend, the third biggest for the month of April behind Avengers: Endgame ($357.1 million) and Avengers: Infinity War ($257.6 million) as well as the biggest for a spring animated release. The film remained in first in it's second weekend, making $68.8 million and dropping -55.4%. It later reached $300 million on April 25, 2023, it's 12th day in release, the fastest for a Walt Disney Animation Studios film.

International
Worldwide it was expected to make around $100–155 million for a worldwide debut around $225–280 million. The film ended up overperforming with $210.8 million overseas for a worldwide debut of $364.3 million, the biggest for a Walt Disney Animation Studios film and the second biggest for an animated April film behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($378 million) while in China it made $25.4 million on it's opening day in China and $62.1 million in its opening weekend there.

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 98% based on 446 reviews, with an average rating of 9.4/10. The critical consensus reads, "Long-awaited and overdue, Return of the Tiny Men lives up to the name and earns it's title as one of the few sequels that exceed the original." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare "A+" grade on an A+ to F scale, the first for Walt Disney Animation Studios since Frozen (2013) and their seventh overall, and those polled by PostTrak reported 96% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 91% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Future
During the Q1 earning calls of Disney on February 8, 2023, CEO Bob Iger announced that he has sequels for various franchises throughout companies owned by The Walt Disney Company and Tiny Men was listed as one with Iger hinting a possible sequel to Return of the Tiny Men.