Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple

Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple is a 2022 American 3D computer-animated adventure 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, Jake Gyllenhaal, Brie Larson, Ken Jeong, Bill Nighy, Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Tiffany Haddish, 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 has grossed $785 million worldwide becoming the highest grossing film of the franchise as well as the third highest grossing film of 2022 and received generally positive reviews from critics, calling it a "pleasant surprise that plays homage to the classic cartoons" while criticism was on it "playing it too safe".

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)
 * 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
 * Tiffany Haddish and Lil Rel Howery as Jodie and Jasper, two idiotic wolves who live in the caves of the jungle.
 * Danny Trejo

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

Development
Coming soon!

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 Tiffany Haddish 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 will be animated at the Fox Animation Century City studio, as Fox stated that the same stylized animation used with Alaina Gleen: World's Most Wanted will be also used for this film. Clay Kaytis stated that the film will feature both traditional and CG animation. The film's budget is around $200 million, making it the most expensive film of the franchise.

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 September 16, 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.

Home media
Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple will be released on digital on June 14, 2022, 45 days after its theatrical release; as well as on 4K, DVD and Blu-ray on July 12, by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment; two months after its theatrical release.

Reception
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 70% based on 205 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. 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 66 out of 100 based on 14 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."

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
As of May 30, 2022, Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple has grossed $305.4 million in North America and $480.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $785.7 million.

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 $120 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 $90–105 million in its opening weekend. It ended up 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.

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 opened up in Japan to a surprising $40 million, making it 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.