Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple

Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple is a 2022 American 3D computer-animated adventure slapstick comedy film produced by 20th Century Animation and based on the Twentieth Toons franchise. The film is directed by Kevin Lima and Mike Mitchell from a screenplay by Eyal Podell, Jonathon E. Stewart, Peter Ackerman, and Kevin Costello and a story by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. It stars the voices of Tom Kenny, Phil LaMarr, Eric Bauza, Jeff Bergman, and Candi Milo, with Kathryn Newton (replacing Tara Strong), Jenny Slate, Paul Giamatti, Nolan North, Jake Gyllenhaal, Brie Larson, Ken Jeong, Bill Nighy, Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Taraji P. Henson, Fred Armisen, and Danny Trejo.

Plans for a CGI Twentieth Toons film began in November 2010 after the box office success of Alaina Gleen, when Fox announced that they would reboot the Twentieth Toons film series with Brad Garland writing a new film. After several years in development hell, the film was officially announced in August 2018 and Kevin Lima was initially hired to direct the film, with a new script written by Eyal Podell and Jonathon E. Stewart and a story by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. Mike Mitchell later joined as the film's co-director in June 2019 and production began that same month. It marked the first theatrically released film to feature the Twentieth Toons characters since the release of Twentieth Toons: Tooned Out (2005). It is the first film in the franchise to be fully animated in stylized CGI rather than traditional 2D animation.

Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on April 14, 2022, and was released in the United States on April 29, 2022, by 20th Century Studios. The film was released to generally positive reviews, with critics calling it a "pleasant surprise that plays homage to the classic cartoons" and most reviewers calling it "the best in the franchise" and an improvement from the previous films, while criticism was on it "playing it too safe" as well as the plot. The film was a surprise hit at the box office as it grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide, becoming the highest grossing film of the franchise, the fourth film released during the COVID-19 pandemic to gross $1 billion, and the third highest grossing film of 2022.

A sequel is currently in development at 20th Century Animation.

Premise
The film follows Felix Fox (Tom Kenny) and his friends, who must take a journey to a mysterious island, where they must prevent a heartless, evil villain named Ryton (Paul Giamatti) from unleashing powerful forces from a lost temple called the "The Toon Temple". During their adventure, Felix and the gang encounter many strange and weird commodities of the island, and the gang they soon discover that some of their crazy personalities come from The Toon Temple.

Voice cast

 * Tom Kenny as Felix Fox / Melvin the Mouse
 * Phil LaMarr as Benjamin Bird
 * Kathryn Newton as Laura Reed
 * Jeff Bergman as Edward the Eagle / Furious Freddie
 * Eric Bauza as Ren the Rooster / Larry Watson / Tom Turtle / Sebastian Solar
 * Candi Milo as Lucille
 * Jenny Slate as Felicity Fox
 * Fred Armisen as Mayor Morgan
 * Keith Ferguson as Marvin Mole
 * John DiMaggio as Winston Weasel
 * Fred Tatasciore as Butch Bandicoot
 * Frank Welker as Charlie Cassowary (vocal effects; uncredited)
 * Nolan North as Quickie Lombardi
 * Paul Giamatti as Ryton, a master criminal plotting to unleash the powerful forces of the The Toon Temple.
 * Pete Davidson as Terrence, Ryton's gullible assistant.
 * Jake Gyllenhaal
 * Brie Larson
 * Ken Jeong
 * Bill Nighy as Herb the Temple Keeper
 * Taraji P. Henson and Lil Rel Howery as Jodie and Jasper, two idiotic wolves who live in the caves of the jungle.
 * Danny Trejo
 * Jack McBrayer as Lenny
 * Jimmy O. Yang as Gerald
 * Mark Hamill
 * Chris Parnell
 * Hynden Walch as Trixie / Wolf #2
 * Pamela Porter as Mother
 * Mike Mitchell as Otis / Seagull / Ponk / Police Officer
 * Chuck McKay as Joe / Creepy Baboon / Wolf #1

William P. Wolf also appears in the film, but he doesn't speak.

Additional Voices

 * Steve Alterman
 * Stephen Apostolina
 * Kimberly Bailey
 * Dave Boat
 * Ranjani Brow
 * William Calvert
 * June Christopher
 * John Cohen
 * Samantha Cohen
 * David Cowgill
 * Wendy Cutler
 * Jessica DiCicco
 * Terri Douglas
 * Robin Atkin Downes
 * Jeff Fischer
 * Jessica Gee-George
 * Jackie Gonneau
 * Nicholas Guest
 * Bridget Hoffman
 * Rif Hutton
 * Daniel Kaz
 * Hope Levy
 * Kevin Lima
 * Ashley Lambert
 * Caitlin McKenna
 * Scott Menville
 * Melanie Minichino
 * Edie Mirman
 * Max Mittelman
 * Capri Oliver
 * Arthur Ortiz
 * Paul Pape
 * Jacqueline Piñol
 * Michelle Ruff
 * Warren Sroka
 * Shane Sweet
 * Randy Thom
 * Matthew Russell Wood
 * Lynnanne Zager
 * Ruth Zalduondo

Development
Shortly before the release of Twentieth Toons: Tooned Out in 2005, producer Mark Wilson stated that a sequel was in early development, but was ultimately cancelled given the poor financial reception to said film. In a 2008 interview with Digital Spy, New Twentieth Toons developer Chuck McKay stated that making another theatrical Twentieth Toons film was "a huge challenge" for the studio.

On November 12, 2010, shortly after the box office success of Alaina Gleen, 20th Century Fox officially announced that they would reboot the Twentieth Toons film series with an fully-animated 3D feature film being written by Brad Garland. News websites report that the new film would be fully CGI-animated. In March 2012, Matthew O'Callaghan was originally hired to direct the film while John Cohen would produce the film along with Lori Forte. Chuck McKay would be involved in a creative capacity and would also serve as an executive producer on the film. O'Callaghan described the film as a "nostalgic taste" and said it would be released sometime in 2015. However, by January 2013, O'Callaghan and Garland both decided to drop out of the project due to "creative difficulties". On March 3, 2013, Stuart Snyder, the CEO of 20th Century Fox Animation officially announced that production for the fully-animated Twentieth Toons film was cancelled. According to some news reports, there had been doubts about proceeding with the project after both O'Callaghan and Garland left the project, and it was Fox's decision to cancel the film.

Several years later, on August 10, 2018, 20th Century Fox officially announced that the fully-animated Twentieth Toons film was back in production with a new plot, and Kevin Lima, who previously directed Crystal: The Lost Realms was also announced as the film's new director, replacing Matthew O'Callaghan. In September 2018, it was reported that Kung Fu Panda and Trolls co-writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger had been hired to be the film's screenwriters, with John Cohen returning as producer. Lima explained that the reason why Fox decided to bring back the film is because of their "pure passion" for the series, and that the film would pay homage to the original cartoons. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part director Mike Mitchell later joined as the film's co-director in June 2019 and production began the following month. In October 2019, Peter Ackerman later joined as screenwriter for the film. Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger both later withdrew from the film in June 2020, citing "philosophical differences.", and later received "story by" credit in the final film. Subsequent rewrites were provided by Karey Kirkpatrick and Matthew Fogel, where they received an 'Additional Screenplay Material' credit.

On August 19, 2020, Lima revealed an "animation test" footage for the film on his Twitter account, about which he said, "It's just something that kind of represents what we want to do. I couldn't be more excited by how it turned out."

During Disney's Investor Day event on December 10, 2020, the film's official title was revealed to be Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple, which would be about the Twentieth Toons going a epic journey to a mysterious island, where they must prevent a evil villain from unleashing powerful forces from "The Toon Temple", and was announced that the film was scheduled for release on July 15, 2022. By February 2021, Lima had confirmed that Eyal Podell and Jonathon E. Stewart had rewrote three quarters of Aibel and Berger's original script. In April 2021, Tom & Jerry screenwriter Kevin Costello was also hired to complete the screenplay with Podell and Stewart.

Casting
In November 2020, Tom Kenny, Phil LaMarr, Eric Bauza, Jeff Bergman, and Candi Milo was revealed to be reprising their roles as Felix Fox, Melvin the Mouse, Benjamin Bird, Edward the Eagle, Furious Freddie, Ren the Rooster, Larry Watson, and Lucille, respectively. Later that month, Kathryn Newton joined the voice cast as the role of Laura Reed. Tara Strong, the longtime voice of Laura Reed, claimed that she had not been contacted about the decision to recast her role.

In April 2021, Jake Gyllenhaal, Brie Larson, Ken Jeong, Bill Nighy, and Taraji P. Henson were announced to be joining the cast. In July 2021, Danny Trejo, Pete Davidson, and Lil Rel Howery were added to the cast.

Animation
Quest for the Toon Temple was animated in-house at 20th Century's feature animation department in Century City, California, as with most 20th Century Animation films beforehand. 20th Century hired 3D animators with a passion for 2D animation for the project. The strategy the animators used was to base the animation off a stylized 3D/CGI VFX modeling medium through a vintage 2D finish by creating innovative rigging, animation techniques used to create 2D animation, and custom tools such as lighting and rendering, resulting in the film's 3D/CGI animation maintaining the look, feel, and spirit of 2D animation, in the vein of the original classic shorts in the 1940s and 1950s, to pay even greater homage to what the cartoons have always been. The animators also used the original Twentieth Toons cartoons as reference and inspiration for the film's animation. The film was rendered with 20th Century's Boom Rendering System with additional rendering under Pixar's Renderman.

Production of the film was also being done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Music
On March 9, 2021, it was announced that Mark Mothersbaugh will compose the film's score.

Theatrical
Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple was theatrically released by 20th Century Studios first in several international markets, including France, Mexico, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands on April 22, 2022, and was later released in the United States on April 29, 2022 in RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema and IMAX. The film was originally scheduled to be released on July 15, 2022. On March 23, 2021, the film was moved up to the current April 29 release, as a result of Disney's updated film slate.

On February 28, 2022, Disney cancelled the Russian release in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The film had its world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on April 14, 2022, where the cast and filmmakers were attendees at the premiere.

The film is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) for “some cartoon violence, rude humor, some thematic elements, brief language, and action/peril".

Marketing
The teaser poster was revealed on September 13, 2021 and the teaser trailer was officially released online on 20th Century Studios' YouTube channel on September 16 and attained 124.2 million views within the first 24 hours.

The film's first official trailer was later released online on December 16, 2021, along with a new poster. 20th Century Studios and Disney released a short film, titled Felix's Christmas Wish, as a Christmas styled promotion for the film on December 22, 2021. A second and final official trailer was released on February 14, 2022.

On April 1, 2022, a faux 20th Century Studios YouTube channel named "Felix Fox" uploaded a video purporting to be a bootleg recording of the film. Spanning nearly 1.75 hours in length, the opening minute shows the production logo sequences followed by a scene from the film, before spending the remainder of its runtime depicting Felix Fox and Benjamin Bird both performing aerobics to an upbeat, 1980s-inspired tune. The video and the channel were deleted shortly a week after. Burger King promoted the film with a set of 7 kids' meal toys featuring the characters from the film.

Lego has revealed three new sets based on scenes from Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple. The three sets were available on March 20, 2022. A collaboration with Minecraft, which was a DLC pack themed to the overall franchise and the film itself, was released in the game's Marketplace in mid-April.

Home media and streaming
Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on July 12, 2022, by 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment. Bonus features include an audio commentary track, deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and 3 animated short films.

Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple was also released digitally on June 14, 2022, through digital purchase on PVOD platforms and on Disney+ and HBO Max in the United States on June 14, after Disney reached a deal with WarnerMedia in December 2021 for a majority of the upcoming films from 20th Century Studios to be streamed collaboratively between Disney+, HBO Max and Hulu until HBO's deal with 20th Century, signed in 2013 before Disney's acquisition of the company, runs out at the end of 2022.

Following the release of Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple on Disney+, viewer tracking application Samba TV reported that 3.6 million U.S. households watched the film within its first five days of being available on Disney+, comparable to Alaina Gleen: World's Most Wanted.

Critical response
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 69% based on 181 reviews, with an average rating of 6.76/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple won't win over many people who aren't hardcore fans of the classic cartoons or the franchise's usual meta-humor, but for the converted, it's still a colorful burst of zany fun." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 57 out of 100 based on 42 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an average score of 4 out of 5 stars, with 71% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Amy Nicholson of The New York Times gave the film a positive review, saying, "The spirit of the classic cartoons still remains true: cheerfully random meta jokes, blink-and-you'll-miss-them references and, above all, a silly, stubbornly sentimental streak that only the craziest cynic could dismiss. If you loved growing up with the cartoons, your kids will appreciate having more fun to Felix Fox and friends' experience on their riveting, silly, and fascinating jungle adventure." Chicago Sun-Times's Richard Roeper gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4, and commented that "Quest for the Toon Temple is a goofy and bright surprise - an imaginative reboot that respects its classic cartoony roots with some stellar gags and jokes that will get you roaring with laughter, and the stylized computer-generated 3D animation is detailed and inventive enough for the whole film to feel drenched in the Twentieth Toons' demented energy." Alex Stednan of IGN gave the film a seven out of ten, saying, "What is most thrilling about Quest for the Toon Temple is the liveliness of this imaginative cartoony world, with each destination carrying with it a varying style of computer-generated 3D animation that brings with it added freshness." Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter praised the lightweight tone as a treat and a breath following the "dark and dramatic tones" of Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood.

Alonso Duralde's mixed review for TheWrap describes the film as feeling "both ambitious and lazy, frenzied, loud, and sluggish". The Washington Post's Kristen Page-Kirby gave 2 stars out of 4, and concluded: "Pop-culture and meta jokes ricochet off the heads of younger viewers to tickle the world-weary adults in the audience, with just enough sentimental goo applied at the end to unite the generations. With that in mind, it's especially perplexing that this lackluster reboot should be, of all things, a bit sluggish."

Simran Hans of The Guardian gave a 1 out of 5 stars, describing it as a "lazy, long, laugh-starved cash-grabbing reboot that was obviously pointless." Nick De Semlyen of Empire was negative of the film, where he found the story to be "confounding and convoluted for a pretty straightforward Saturday morning TV cartoon."

North America
Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple grossed $415.5 million in North America and $686.8 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $1.102 billion. On June 4, it became 20th Century Animation's ninth film to cross $800 million worldwide. On June 18, it became the third animated film of the pandemic to gross $900 million after Daniel's Big Return and Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood (both by 20th Century Studios as well). On July 3, it became the second animated and fifth overall film of the pandemic to gross $1 billion worldwide as well as fifth film by 20th Century Animation to reach this milestone and the first film in the Twentieth Toons franchise to do so.

In United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Memory, and was projected gross over $60–70 million in 4,478 theaters (playing in 2,670 3D theatres, 420 IMAX theatres, 800 premium large format screens, and 300 D-Box/4D enhanced theatres) during its opening weekend, which would automatically make it the highest grossing film of the franchise although Comscore's senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian thought the film would open closer to $50 million due to the performances of recent animated films and some sources projecting the film to gross as much as $80 million. However after making $38.3 million in its opening day (including $8.4 million during Thursday night previews), projections were increased to as much as $90–95 million in its opening weekend. It ended up overperforming, grossing $98.7 million in its opening weekend, the fourth biggest opening during the pandemic as well as being the third biggest opening for an animated film during the pandemic. The film dropped to second in its second weekend and grossed $46.5 million dropping -54%, behind newcomer Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The film later remained in second place in its third weekend and grossed $28.9 million, dropping -38%.

In its fourth weekend, it remained in second place, grossing $23.5 million while dropping -18.7%. During its fifth weekend, the film grossed $19.1 million during the regular weekend and an estimated $23.2 million during the Memorial Day weekend remaining in second place behind newcomer Top Gun: Maverick while crossing $300 million domestically. It dropped down to third place and grossed $12.5 million in it's sixth weekend. It grossed $7.7 million and $6.3 million in it's seventh and eighth weekends while dropping to fourth and fifth respectively. It dropped a mere -9%, the best hold in the Top 10 for that weekend, and made $5.6 million finishing at 6th in its ninth weekend. In its tenth weekend, the film added 1,000 theaters to it's 1,523 theater count and made $13.2 million in its regular weekend and $16.4 million over the long July 4th holiday weekend, returning back to the Top 5 landing in 5th place while overtaking The Batman ($369.3 million) to become the third highest grossing film of the year domestically. In its eleventh and twelfth weekends, the film made $9.6 million and $6.3 million, placing 5th and 6th in the respective weekends while crossing $400 million domestically in the latter weekend becoming the 5th 20th Century Animation film to do. It made $4.7 million in its thirteenth weekend and dropped to 7th. The film made $2 million in its fourteenth weekend dropping -56.7% and dropping to 10th. It later fell out of the top 10 in its fifthteenth weekend with $1.6 million.

Internationally
In international regions, the film opened from April 20 to April 22, 2022 in 13 markets and grossed $21.3 million in its first weekend. It opened up in 20 more markets and grossed $61.6 million in its second weekend. The film then opened up to eight more markets in its third weekend, including China which had the highest opening with $70 million. By it's fifth weekend, the film overperformed in Japan and made $40 million in it's opening weekend there contributing the film to become the top film internationally again with a gross of $91.3 million.

Future
After the successful box office opening of the film, a sequel was announced to be in development. On June 14, 2022, it was announced that Disney officially greenlit a sequel with most of the veteran cast members returning for the film.