Leaders of Academy: War of the L.O.E.V.

Leaders of Academy: War of the L.O.E.V. (also known as Leaders of Academy 2) is a 2022 American computer-animated superhero comedy film produced by Warner Animation Group and Frenzy Animation. Directed by Chris McKay from a screenplay by John Requa, Glenn Ficarra, John Whittington, Seth Grahame-Smith, William Wheeler, and Tom Wheeler, the film serves as a sequel to Leaders of Academy (2012) and stars James McAvoy, Emma Stone, Owen Wilson, Chloë Grace Moretz, Eric Idle, and J. K. Simmons reprising their roles from the first film, joined by Scarlett Johansson, Woody Harrelson, Tiffany Haddish, Antonio Banderas, Fred Armisen, Sebastian Maniscalco, Kristen Schaal, Channing Tatum, Michelle Yeoh, Idris Elba, Justice Smith, and Richard Ayoade.

It was the final Frenzy Animation film to be distributed under Warner Bros. as its new parent company Warner Bros. Discovery had terminated Frenzy's long-term partnership with the studio on August 4, 2022.

The film premiered on October 30, 2022 at the TCL Chinese Theatre and was theatrically released on November 4, by Warner Bros. Pictures in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, and RealD 3D. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with most critics calling it a huge improvement over its predecessor, praising its humor, soundtrack, entertainment value for families, voice performances, and animation, although its plot was criticized. The film was a box office success and grossed over $619 million worldwide, becoming Warner Animation Group's highest grossing film of all time worldwide.

Premise
Taking place ten years after the first film, FireStar is enlisted by the Vigilante Protection Agency with the help of an rookie undercover agent named Natalie Quinn, where they must stop an malevolent supervillain team called the League of Evil Villains.

Voice cast

 * James McAvoy as FireStar / Wayne Stone, a superhero with the powers of fire.
 * Emma Stone as Ms. Thunder / Alice McKee, a superhero with the power of lighting and thunder.
 * Justice Smith
 * Chloë Grace Moretz
 * Owen Wilson as Broadbird, FireStar's confident sidekick.
 * Scarlett Johansson as Natalie Quinn, an V.P.A. rookie agent who teams up with FireStar.
 * Eric Idle as Dr. Warren Spartacus, FireStar's elderly gadget man.
 * Woody Harrelson as Stephen Sanderson / Bloodline
 * Tiffany Haddish as Professor Soil
 * Antonio Banderas as El Malvado
 * Kristen Schaal as Catastrophe
 * Channing Tatum as Surge
 * J. K. Simmons
 * Idris Elba
 * Michelle Yeoh
 * Richard Ayoade
 * Fred Armisen
 * Sebastian Maniscalco
 * Patrick Warburton

Production
In March 2020, Warner Animation Group and Frenzy Animation confirmed that they were working on a sequel to Leaders of Academy, and that Chris McKay was announced as the film's director with John Requa and Glenn Ficarra penning the screenplay while the cast including James McAvoy, Emma Stone, Chloë Grace Moretz, J. K. Simmons, Eric Idle, and Owen Wilson would return to reprise their roles in the sequel. On September 14, 2020, Warner Bros. had trademarked Leaders of Academy: War of the L.O.E.V. as the new title of the sequel, which was approved in January of 2021.

On August 24, 2021, producer Marcus Crawford had stated that the sequel will take place 10 years after the events of the first film. On March 11, 2022, Scarlett Johansson, Woody Harrelson, Tiffany Haddish, Michelle Yeoh, Antonio Banderas, Fred Armisen, Channing Tatum, Justice Smith, Idris Elba, Sebastian Maniscalco, Kristen Schaal, and Richard Ayoade were announced to the sequel's cast.

Release
Leaders of Academy: War of the L.O.E.V. was theatrically released on November 4, 2022, by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Marketing
Warner Bros. released a teaser poster for the film on March 22, 2022, along with a teaser trailer, which included the AC/DC song "Back in Black", the next day. An official trailer was released on July 27, 2022. The film's final trailer was later released online on September 14.

Home media
The film was released on digital on December 6, 2022, and on Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, and DVD on January 24, 2023, with its HBO Max release on February 14, 2023.

Box office
Leaders of Academy: War of the L.O.E.V. grossed $206.1 million in the United States and Canada and $412.8 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $619 million.

In the United States and Canada, Leaders of Academy: War of the L.O.E.V. will be released alongside One Piece Film: Red and the expansions of The Banshees of Inisherin and Armageddon Time, and is projected to gross $60–65 million in it's opening weekend with some projections going as high as $70 million. However, after the film made $19.5 million on it's opening day (including $4.2 million in Thursday previews), projections were lowered to $55 million. It ended up making $52.1 million in its opening weekend topping box office but slightly below expectations. Despite falling below expectations in its opening weekend, David Zaslav called the opening good and stated that "this opening proves that our studio can indeed have successful animated films at the box office." while Frenzy Animation themselves called the opening "amazing". The film dropped -51.7% in its second weekend and made $25.1 million while falling to second place, behind newcomer Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Worldwide it's expected to make $120–135 million overseas for a worldwide debut of $180–200 million. It ended up underperforming making $98.2 million overseas for a worldwide debut of $150.3 million, however it is the second best overseas opening for Frenzy Animation behind Araceli.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 69% based on 186 reviews, and an average rating of 6.6/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 57 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale (an improvement over the predecessor's A-), while PostTrak gave the film an 87% overall positive score, with 71% saying they would definitely recommend it.