Upside Mystery 3

Upside Mystery 3 is a 2015 American computer-animated fantasy detective film, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Pin High Productions with animation being provided by Arc Productions. The third installment in the Upside Mystery franchise and the sequel to Upside Mystery 2 (2010), it was directed by Brenda Chapman from a screenplay by Josh Klausner, Steve Bencich, and Ron J. Friedman and features John Travolta, Christian Slater, Michelle Rodriguez, and Judi Dench reprising their roles, as well as new additions to the cast including Christina Ricci, Nicolas Cage, Brad Pitt, and Rob Paulsen. In the film, Hans Truman, Jason Truder, and Stella Lee unexpectedly find reports that an unknown thief was intending to steal the diamonds in Lowfon. The trio team up with a physicist to solve the case in order to find the thief.

Upside Mystery 3 was released in the United States on September 4, 2015, by 20th Century Fox in RealD 3D and IMAX 3D. The film received generally mixed reviews from critics who praised its vocal performances (particularly Travolta, Slater, Rodriguez, Ricci, and Cage) and animation but criticized its screenplay for being generic. It grossed $804 million worldwide, making it Travolta's highest-grossing film to date and the highest-grossing film in the Upside Mystery franchise, as well as the second highest-grossing MGM animated film behind Hailey (2022).

Plot
In Lowfon, an unknown thief escapes from prison to steal all the diamonds and escape in his hideout. The president of Lowfon reports on the thief's escape to Hans Truman and Stella Lee as well as Jason Truder, who was playing games when Truman forgot about his ring before reporting to the all three. Rose Elizabeth told Truman that Lowfon could be difficult to solve around before Truman, Truder and Lee arrive.

While arriving in Lowfon, its president convinces Truman, Truder and Lee to accept the mission to arrest an unknown thief again. While on the mission, Truman and Truder meet the physicist Kelly France, who is good at physics and convinces her to help them on their mission. Truman and Truder follow Tracy to prevent him from killing France. The three fight and Tracy falls to his death before Truman can learn what Tracy is working for. Stella Lee discovers the silhouette of the thief and alerts Truman, Truder and France, then catches the thief who introduces himself as Francis Fellon as he stole some diamonds. However, as he escapes from the detective crew, Fellon tells them that when he gets all the diamonds he will activate the weapon to affect the entire city.

The Lowfon president was dissatisfied that the detective crew failed to capture the diamond thief Francis Fellon. As a result of failing the mission, Jason Truder and Stella Lee left Hans' detective crew, leaving him heartbroken. Meanwhile, Kelly France tells Truman that someday his team will be recruited. Truder and Lee go on their separate ways to find Fellon while Truman and France see diamond pieces in the thief case.

With the help from Elizabeth on the phone, both Truman and France locate Fellon's place. Lee sees some of Fellon's henchmen and melee fights them while Truder uncovers Fellon's fingerprints in one of the diamonds and both try to report them to the president of Lowfon, but however, Fellon triggers the traps to capture both of them. Fellon completes his weapon so that he can activate it to effect the city but Truman and France rush into Fellon's place to rescue Truder and Lee. They all recruited each other and then fight Fellon and his henchmen. After the location collapsed, the crew reports Fellon's evidence to the Lowfon president and then he and his guards arrest Fellon.

The Lowfon president was proud of the crew that they finally captured Fellon's evidence to him. Truman also gives credit to France and detective headquarters boss Elizabeth for the detective crew's support.

Cast

 * John Travolta as Hans Truman, a detective who intended to solve the case.
 * Christian Slater as Jason Truder, Hans Truman's best friend.
 * Michelle Rodriguez as Stella Lee, a spy agent who is Hans Truman's love interest.
 * Christina Ricci as Kelly France, a physicist who works with Hans, Jason, and Stella to solve the thief case.
 * Nicolas Cage as Francis Fellon
 * Brad Pitt as the president of Lowfon.
 * Judi Dench as Rose Elizabeth, the detective headquarters boss.
 * Rob Paulsen as Tracy, a servant under Francis' command.
 * Brenda Chapman as Lowfon helicopter reporter.
 * Roger Birnbaum as Lowfon diamond store worker.
 * Vicky Jenson as Lowfon security agent.

Additional Voices

 * Stephen Apostolina
 * Holly J. Barrett
 * Jack Blessing
 * Ranjani Brow
 * William Calvert
 * Cam Clarke
 * David Cowgill
 * Rachel Crane
 * Brian T. Delaney
 * Giselle Eisenberg
 * Chase Fein
 * Dann Fink
 * Eddie Frierson
 * Don Fullilove
 * Jackie Gonneau
 * Jacob Head
 * Wendy Hoffmann
 * Ashley Lambert
 * Scott Menville
 * Michelle Ruff
 * Ethan Simono
 * Chris Sprister
 * Shane Sweet
 * Ruth Zalduondo

Development
In late 2010, Vicky Jenson stated that there would be a third Upside Mystery as long as the script is "looking-good". In November 2011, John Travolta stated that he would like to reprise his role alongside Christian Slater and Michelle Rodriguez, but said in February 2012:

"We need to wait for Rodriguez after she is done voicing her character in DreamWorks' Turbo, then we'll begin our third detective journey."

In March 2013, it was announced that the sequel had hired The Prince of Egypt and Brave co-director Brenda Chapman to direct with Josh Klausner writing the screenplay, and Travolta, Slater, Rodriguez and Judi Dench reprising their roles. Chapman left Pixar after the release of Brave and was surprised that she was offered the job for Upside Mystery 3 as producers Roger Birnbaum and Vicky Jenson believed she has unique directing style in animated films before accepting the project. In September 2013, it was announced that 20th Century Fox have won the distribution rights to the third installment. By January 2014, Steve Bencich and Ron J. Friedman were also hired to write the screenplay, joining Klausner. In April 2014, Christina Ricci, Nicolas Cage, and Brad Pitt have joined the voice cast.

Catherine Apple, who edited the first two installments, did not return for the third installment because she was busy editing Hotel Transylvania 2 for Sony Pictures Animation. She was replaced by another Arc Productions editor Jeremy Montgomery.

Animation
Arc Productions returns to provide animation for the third film, after previously animating the first two installments and the TV series.

Music
In December 2014, it was announced Marco Beltrami will not be returning due to scheduling conflicts. Lorne Balfe was announced to score the film in January 2015. The soundtrack features the score, composed by Lorne Balfe, who succeeded Marco Beltrami from the first two films. The official soundtrack for the film was released on August 28, 2015.

Theatrical
Upside Mystery 3 was released on September 4, 2015, by 20th Century Fox, who acquired distribution rights back in 2013. It was previously scheduled for December 25, 2014 before being pushed back to its current release date to avoid box office competition with other films being released in the holiday season, including The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (which MGM also co-produced), Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (which Fox also distributed) and Into the Woods. In February 2015, IMAX Corporation announced that Upside Mystery 3 would be digitally remastered into the IMAX 3D format in IMAX theaters worldwide. The film's theatrical release was preceded by Joanna's Magical Journey, a Puppet Pals short film.

Marketing
The teaser trailer was released on November 14, 2014 and was attached into the DVD and Blu-ray releases of If I Stay and Penguins of Madagascar, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Paddington, Strange Magic, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, McFarland, USA, and Cinderella in theaters. The first official trailer was released on March 25, 2015, and was attached into Home, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, Tomorrowland, Crystal: The Lost Realms, and Inside Out in theaters. An exclusive sneak peek (presented by John Travolta and Michelle Rodriguez) was also released during the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards three days later. The final trailer was released on June 24, 2015, and was attached into Max, Minions, and Shaun the Sheep Movie in theaters.

A Hans Truman balloon was released in the 2014 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Tie-ins with McDonald's, Subway, Audi, Samsung, State Farm, and Hasbro were used to promote the film.

Video game
A video game was released on September 1, 2015, developed by Behaviour Interactive and published by Activision for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.

Home media
Upside Mystery 3 was released on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on December 15, 2015, by MGM Home Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. It was also released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on August 15, 2017.

Box office
Upside Mystery 3 grossed $303.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $501.1 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $804.3 million, against a production budget of $150 million, becoming the highest-grossing film in the Upside Mystery franchise and the fourth highest-grossing animated film of 2015, behind Inside Out ($857.6 million), Crystal: The Lost Realms ($890.3 million), and Minions ($1.159 billion).

In the United States and Canada, this film was released alongside A Walk in the Woods and The Transporter Refueled, and was projected to gross $80–95 million in its opening weekend, with some estimates going as high as $100 million. It opened in 4,402 theaters, the most ever for the franchise. The film made $39.3 million on opening day (including $9 million from Thursday night previews), the highest of the series, a record for Travolta, and a 100% increase from the previous film’s $4.5 million. It went on to debut to $110.3 million, the best of the series, the highest of Travolta’s career, the largest opening weekend in a month of September (surpassing Alaina Gleen 2 ($94.4 million); the record was overtaken by It in 2017 with $123.4 million), and the fourth highest-grossing non-Disney animated movie opening of all time, behind Minions ($115.7 million), Puppet Pals 2 ($116.9 million), and Shrek the Third ($121.6 million). It earned $126.5 million over the four-day Labor Day weekend, surpassing Halloween ' s (2007) $30.6 million as the largest Labor Day weekend opening ever. The film dropped 58% and grossed $46.3 million in its second weekend while remaining on top of the box office. In its third weekend, it dropped another 54% and grossed $21.3 million, falling into third place behind Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and Black Mass.

In China, the film was released on October 9, three days after the other animated feature Inside Out and grossed $20.7 million through its opening week. It ended up making $54.3 million.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 58%, based on 230 reviews and an average rating of 5.90/10, making it the lowest-rated installment of the Upside Mystery franchise. The site's critical consensus reads: "Upside Mystery 3 doesn't necessarily solve the new case, but offers some entertaining moments that could satisfy fans of its predecessors." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, down from the "A" earned by its predecessor.

Jesse Hassenger of The A.V. Club gave the film a C+, saying "The third installment of the Upside Mystery franchise may entertain younger viewers with cases, but it literally crashes through its low-end."

Accolades
More coming soon!

Sequel
When asked about MGM making the fourth film, John Travolta stated "We're not sure. We are already open to ideas." On April 1, 2019, it was announced that Spyglass Media Group will be back to co-produce the fourth Upside Mystery installment. In the event of 15th anniversary of the first film, Travolta confirmed that the fourth installment will be the "last". It'll be titled Upside Mystery Legacy and was set to be released theatrically by United Artists Releasing in the United States on July 7, 2023.