Paradoria


 * This article is about the film. For the franchise, see Paradoria (franchise). For the main setting of the film, see Paradoria (location).

Paradoria is a 2015 American computer-animated musical fantasy film produced by Universal Animation Studios and released by Universal Pictures. Loosely based on the Scottish fairy tale The Light Princess by George MacDonald, it was directed by Steve Samono and Gary Hall with co-direction by Michael Wildshill from a screenplay by Samono, John Hamburg, and Laurie Craig, and a story by Samono, Hall, Amy McNeill, Craig, and Wildshill. The film features songs written by Alan Menken, Cinco Paul and Marc Shaiman, and an orchestral score also composed by Menken. It was Universal Animation Studios' first musical film in 12 years since Magina (2003) and stars the voices of AnnaSophia Robb, Patrick Stewart, Maya Rudolph, Bryan Cranston, Jenny Slate, and Rob Riggle, and newcomer Finn Wolfhard. Taking place in the eponymous fictional kingdom, Paradoria tells the story of a princess named Keena whose extraordinarily large hair bow as wings makes her fly without gravity under a curse by orc-like monsters. One day, she meets a young boy named Jamo and the two fall in love and aspire to seek the outside world against their guardians' wishes. When they are separated from the kingdom during a raid by the monsters, the pair embrace their new lifestyle in their refuge but later become lost and begin fearing that the Paradorian kingdom will be destroyed by the monsters; Keena and Jamo now must find a way back home and stop them from destroying Paradoria.

Wildshill first attempted to adapt The Light Princess into a traditionally-animated film in 1996 during the production of Ama and the Mysterious Crystal, but scrapped the project. After production had finished on Me & Mobo (2006), Samono decided to adapt the fairy tale as a computer-animated film and proposed it to Universal Animation president Tom Ruzicka, who rejected it due to a lack of interest. After a similar failed attempt to pitch The Light Princess to Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2008, Samono brought the project back to Universal Animation Studios and recruited Wildshill to help develop the story while also citing the video games Ico (2001) and Another World (1991) and Hayao Miyazaki's anime productions as inspirations. Wildshill, who began active development of the film in 2011, originally directed the film with Samono until May 2014, leaving the latter as its sole director. The film's title Paradoria, as well as its main setting, was named after a genus of tachinid flies in the family Tachinidae. Some of the Universal Animation staff visited the Mediterranean Sea, Taghit, the Kananaskis Range, Ein Gedi, Colmar, France, and southern Montana for inspiration. Paradoria and its art style and tone were also influenced by animated films by Walt Disney Animation Studios, especially those in the Disney Renaissance era. Paradoria was the first Universal Animation Studios film to use the studio's new animation technology to produce its animated visuals and lighting.

Paradoria premiered at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles on November 25, 2015, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 11. It received critical acclaim, with many critics praising its animation, concept, screenplay, characters, music, and vocal performances, particularly of Robb and Wolfhard. The film also went on to become a huge unexpected box office success, grossing over $1.1 billion worldwide on a budget of $103 million, becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of 2015, the nineteenth highest-grossing film of all time, the sixth highest-grossing animated film of all time, and Universal Animation Studios' highest-grossing film, all records held at the time of its release. It received two Academy Award nominations, including Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for "How Much I Love You". The film's success has since helped spawn an expanded franchise including several short films, a television series, a Christmas television special, and a sequel released in 2019, as well as other media including several video games, books, toys and a stage musical.

Plot
In the peaceful kingdom of Paradoria, King Clint and Queen Melly's seven-year-old daughter Princess Keena becomes bored in her suffocating royal life. While wandering around the Paradorian village, she meets a young boy named Jamo, who also becomes lonely. While venturing into the woods to spend time together, they are encountered by a herd of large orc-like monsters, who attack the village, forcing the Paradorians to flee. Under a spell, the monsters curse Keena to her extraordinarily large hair bow as wings that makes her fly. The villagers struggle to find a safe haven, but luckily find an oasis across the desert, which they use to build a new empire.

Seven years later, Keena, now dreaming of seeing the outside world, falls in love with Jamo. After arriving at the castle, Jamo enters Keena's bedroom and asks her if she wants to leave the kingdom, but Keena refuses, saying that the outside world is dangerous and they will get in trouble if their guardians find out. When Jamo cheers Keena up by handing a flower to her, the two are caught by Clint, who tells his daughter that she is not allowed to talk to boys without his permission. Disappointed, Jamo heads back home to his adoptive mother Verra's inn, and tells her that he and Keena want to see the whole world. Verra then tells her son that someday he will learn to brave the world's many dangers at an older age.

The next day, Clint and Melly held a tournament for Keena where she can pick a boy she could marry in which she expects Jamo to arrive there. When three boys arrive at the tournament, Keena is not pleased with any of them. However, Jamo eventually arrives at the tournament much to Keena's surprise, but Clint recognizes him before and is aware that Jamo is not one of the boys she could choose to marry. As Keena then tells her father that Jamo is the only boy she could fall for, Jamo slowly dances with Keena to prove that he is innocent to Keena, but becomes clumsy by knocking over things and unintentionally breaks into chaos at the castle, thus ruining the tournament. After the disaster, an enraged Clint tells Jamo that he is a disgrace to the kingdom, causing Jamo to run off in guilt while Keena follows him. While sitting behind a tree, Jamo returns to express his gratitude to Keena and they seek outside of the kingdom, breaking the sacred rule that the pair is not supposed to see the outside world. Without letting their guardians know, the two develop a close bond, bordering on attraction, and spend time together frequently.

Meanwhile, King Kakas, the leader of the monsters, wants to retaliate against the escaped Paradorians. Kakas leads a raid on the Paradorian kingdom, during which Keena and Jamo manage to escape from the monsters. To Jamo's surprise, Keena reveals her magic bow and glides with Jamo to refuge at the woods, where the two finally spend time together alone outside of the kingdom and celebrate for their freedom. After being shown the beauty of a sunset, Keena is inspired to spend more time with Jamo and do fun stuff whatever they want. However, Keena and Jamo later begin to miss their home and worry about the other Paradorians, and Keena willingly encourages Jamo to find a way to get back home to the kingdom so the two can reunite with the Paradorians. Eventually, Keena and Jamo begin their journey and encounter a group of small creatures called neets. The pair at first believe that they can take them home, but they decide to mingle and spend time with them.

The next day, Keena and Jamo attempt to continue their journey to head back home, but they are found by Kakas and his herd, who want to serve the princess as their dinner first. Jamo flees with Keena, but the two get separated and the monsters capture Keena. Jamo tries to save Keena, but Kakas knocks him into a river, where he is rescued by some neets and a mysterious Paradorian named Canna who transport the boy to the ruins of the old Paradorian village where Jamo was born. Canna reveals that she was an elder of this place and had followed neets here and encourages Jamo to be himself, even if he's just a weak boy. Then Jamo is informed that not only the monsters took Keena, but also took some Paradorians including Clint, Melly, and Verra. Jamo vows and teams up with the neets to rescue the Paradorians. They arrive at the monsters' lair, free the rest of the Paradorians, and Clint orders the others to escape while Jamo goes to confront Kakas in his throne room.

As Kakas and his monsters attempt to eat Keena, Jamo manages to save Keena but Kakas knocks her unconscious. Jamo, believing Keena to be dead, overcomes his fear and orders the neets to attack Kakas by biting him which causes him to lose consciousness where he is knocked over into collapsing parts from the lair, crushing him to his death. As of the rest of the monsters retreat over Kakas' death, Jamo soon finds that Keena survived the battle; Keena, Jamo, the neets and the rest of the Paradorians manage to escape from the collapsing lair and travel back home.

Sometime later, Keena—who now becomes Jamo's mate—professes her love for Jamo and the two share a kiss, sparking a true friendship. Their guardians finally allow Keena and Jamo to travel with each other to the outside world with Kakas and his herd gone.

Voice cast
The voices of the Paradorian children whom Maggie takes care of were provided by Andrew Hall, Lilly Rodgers, Nina Annabelle Ross, and Willow Samono, the children of the film's filmmakers.
 * AnnaSophia Robb as Princess Keena, the beautiful 14-year-old princess of Paradoria and Jamo's lifelong crush who wears a magic winged hair bow that makes her fly under an enchantment by the monsters. She thinks she would choose Jamo as her true love.
 * Theresa Rose McNeill as 7-year-old Keena
 * Finn Wolfhard as Jamo, a kind but anxious 13-year-old boy with dark teal hair who wears a dark red cap. He falls in love with Keena and willingly longs to seek the outside world with the princess to escape boring life from the Kingdom.
 * Matthew Alexander Samono as 6-year-old Jamo
 * Patrick Stewart as King Clint, Keena's overprotecting father and the king of Paradoria.
 * Maya Rudolph as Queen Melly, Keena's mother and the queen of Paradoria.
 * Bryan Cranston as Noalus, a Paradorian who serves as Clint's adviser.
 * Jenny Slate as Verra, Jamo's adoptive mother who runs an inn.
 * Rob Riggle as King Kakas, an orc-like beast who is the leader of a herd of monsters who plot to eat Paradorians.
 * Wendie Malick as Maggie, a caretaker for the Paradorian children. She is often Keena's assistant.
 * Chris Parnell as Eugene, Clint's loyal lieutenant.
 * Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong as Vinnie and Winnie, Kakas' two henchmen.
 * Steve Samono as Neets, small creatures that resemble a mouse and a rabbit.
 * Samono also voices a monster chef who serves food for Kakas and his henchmen.
 * Dawnn Lewis as Canna, a Paradorian elder who has various neets who follow and communicate with her.
 * Gary Hall as Boppie, a Paradorian.
 * David K. Thompson as Bob, a Paradorian.
 * Laurie Craig, Craig Kellman and Daniel Ross as Kakas' other henchmen.
 * Susanne Blakeslee as a surprised Paradorian.

Additional voices

 * Ava Acres
 * Steve Alterman
 * Kirk Baily
 * Eva Bella
 * Dave Boat
 * Jack Blessing
 * William Calvert
 * Makenna Cowgill
 * Jessica DiCicco
 * Brian George
 * Grant George
 * Jackie Gonneau
 * Nicholas Guest
 * Bridget Hoffman
 * Rif Hutton
 * Marcella Lentz-Pope
 * Hope Levy
 * Cynthia Marion
 * Cullen McCarthy
 * Amy McNeill
 * Jacqueline Piñol
 * Juan Pope
 * Fred Tatasciore
 * Byron Thames
 * Marcelo Tubert
 * Tom F. Warner
 * Michael Wildshill

Development
After directing Me & Mobo (2006), Steve Samono started working on an adaptation of George MacDonald's fairy tale The Light Princess. Following the release of Me & Mobo, Samono wrote a treatment and initially attempted to pitch The Light Princess to then-Universal Feature Animation president Tom Ruzicka, but he "just wasn't interested" in the idea. It was soon followed with Samono's resignation from Universal Feature Animation in September 2006. He then joined Universal's competing studio Walt Disney Animation Studios where he served as story artist on Bolt (2008) and The Princess and the Frog (2009). While working on Bolt, Samono—a longtime fan of Disney films his adaptation was inspired by—revisited his The Light Princess treatment and pitched it to then-Disney Animation chief creative officer John Lasseter as a future production for Disney Animation. Although Samono thought the film's themes and elements would fit into Disney standards, Lasseter turned it down due to "creative difficulties".

After several failed attempts to pitch The Light Princess, Universal Animation CEO Michael Wildshill (who was just finishing directing Woo La La) convinced Samono to return to Universal from Disney. In late 2008, Samono eventually pitched several ideas to Wildshill, one of which was The Light Princess. It turned out Wildshill had thought about making a traditionally animated film adaption of The Light Princess in 1996 while completing Ama and the Mysterious Crystal, where he and his sister Cynthia Marion developed the original drawings and characters, but the project never got into production. It wasn't until after Woo La La was completed that Universal, who was searching for a project that would "fill the space between" Woo La La and Nepola's Odyssey, that The Light Princess was finally green-lit. Impressed by the film's concept, Wildshill shortly became interested in the project so he agreed to work on it with Samono. Following the cancellation of Universal's computer-animated adaptation of The Snow Queen, the protagonists of Gerda and Kai were reworked into The Light Princess ' protagonists since Samono liked the designs while revisiting the project. They also revisited the video games Ico (2001) and Another World (1991) as well as anime work of Hayao Miyazaki having the pivotal inspirations for the project.

In March 2011, Universal Animation Studios announced it was adapting The Light Princess into an animated film and that the film had been commissioned into early stages of development, but little else about the film was known at the time. The plot, director and co-director, producer and other small details were announced at the CinemaCon in April 2012. By December 2013, Universal announced that the film would be titled Paradoria, with Wildshill and Samono directing from the screenplay by the latter alongside John Hamburg and Laurie Craig while Daniel Ross would co-produce with Amy McNeill. Universal also announced that it would be releasing the film in late 2015, and hinted that it might be the December 25, 2015 release window previously announced by the studio in February 2013 for a then-untitled Universal animated film. In January 2014, Universal confirmed that it would be releasing the film on December 25, 2015. Executives at Universal and Illumination Entertainment were positive at the proposal of making Paradoria, but acknowledged it would be difficult to market.

At the 2014 CinemaCon for Universal's slate of upcoming animated films in April, Wildshill revealed that Universal had plans to turn Paradoria into a "Frozen-like entertainment property" in response to the huge success of Disney's Frozen in 2013 (which was originally rumored back in December 2013) and wanted to do something similar to what 20th Century Fox did to Anastasia in 1997. Wildshill also said it would "co-exist" with the Disney animated films in the Revival era such as Tangled and Frozen; though Universal soon stated that the film would act as a "spiritual successor to the beloved Disney classics".

Many internet reports as well as critics and fans of Frozen believe that this inspiration came from Universal cancelling their own version of The Snow Queen (which Frozen was inspired by) in favor of Disney's, Frozen beating Universal's Luna & Zak at the box office during the 2013 holiday season, and the 2014 Oscars where Despicable Me 2, another Universal animated film, was beaten by Frozen at the Academy Awards which was a "letdown" for Wildshill and his production team and these events later led to Universal wanting Paradoria to rival Frozen; they even went as far as describing Paradoria a "Frozen rip-off". However, these reports were later false as Wildshill confirmed that Paradoria was never planned to compete with Frozen and was actually less inspired by that aforementioned Disney film with the art style and songs. Additionally, co-director Steve Samono stated that the other Disney films Beauty and the Beast and Tangled were more of an inspiration for Paradoria than that of Frozen.

In May 2014, it was announced that Wildshill had stepped down as director, leaving Samono as the film's sole director even though Wildshill still remained as a co-director. Wildshill explained that, between his positions at Universal Animation Studios, Illumination Entertainment, and Gingo, he could not commit to directing the film. Associate producer David K. Thompson (who also voices Bob in the film) explained the departure: "All directors get really deep in their film. Sometimes you just need a different perspective to get the idea out. Sometimes directors... are so deeply embedded in their ideas it actually takes someone else to finish it up."

At one point during the 2014 CinemaCon, protagonist Jamo's last name was given as "Toulouse" (named after the capital of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the region of Occitanie), but that name was not retained in the final film. By the end of April 2014, the release date was pushed up two weeks from December 25, to December 11, 2015.

Writing
Karey Kirkpatrick, who worked for a year on the film's script, wrote the initial screenplay. The first draft focused on Jamo as an orphan who was adopted by Verra. However, the orphan-based theme was deleted from the story as the directors thought it was "too cliched and overused," but was later reused in its sequel. By late 2011, Kirkpatrick left the project, due to a "lack of confidence". John Hamburg and Laurie Craig were credited as co-writers of the screenplay following their contributions during the rewrite. Despite his departure, Kirkpatrick received an 'Additional Story Material' credit.

The film's title "Paradoria" comes from a genus of tachinid flies in the family Tachinidae. However, co-producer Daniel Ross suggested that the name is actually a portmanteau of the word "paradise" and the prominent historical Genoese family Doria. Ironically, the filmmakers found out that the word for the paradoria genus of tachinid flies was never in the public domain, so it was "thankfully safe" for the animators to name the film Paradoria without "causing any confusion with flies", as the film has no connection to true flies within insects. For one of the film's main characters, Samono named the protagonist Princess Keena after actress and model Monica Keena, as a "delightful montage" to her.

Like most Universal and Illumination Entertainment animated films, several major story problems were identified in 2014 only after the film had already transitioned from development into production, but computer-generated films tend to have much shorter production schedules and much larger animation teams (in this case, about 90 animators) than traditionally animated films. Since Samono was already working 12-hour days (and Saturdays) directing such a large team of animators, Gary Hall came on board as co-director to help fix the film's story issues by August 2014.

Casting
Dakota Fanning, who had previously worked with Universal Animation on Me & Mobo and Computeropolis 3, was initially hired by Universal to voice Keena, and she had recorded nearly all of the dialogue for the character, but left the project due to "creative difficulties". In addition to Fanning, Chloë Grace Moretz, Emma Stone, Christina Hendricks, Anna Kendrick, and Kristen Bell were also considered for Keena. The studio then re-cast the voice role to AnnaSophia Robb, who was chosen by producer Amy McNeill while she saw her vocal performance in Disney's Glowlight‎ (2011), to leave no traces of Fanning's version of Keena. Commenting on the casting of Robb, Hall said that she brought "very centered sweetness, tremendous heart and a great sense of humor".

The film's voice cast consisting of Robb, Jenny Slate, Patrick Stewart and Rob Riggle were first announced in December 2013, while casting was underway for the character Jamo. More than 1,200 young actors auditioned for the role of Jamo, which ultimately went to Finn Wolfhard from Vancouver, Canada when he got his first acting job from Craigslist. When the character of Jamo was being written, Elijah Wood, Jake T. Austin, Josh Hutcherson, and Jace Norman were considered for the role of Jamo. With the release of the film's first full trailer in July 2015, Wolfhard was announced as the role of Jamo, while Maya Rudolph, Bryan Cranston, Wendie Malick and Chris Parnell were added to the film's cast. This is also the second Universal animated film in which Riggle and Slate have co-starred together, the first being 2012's The Lorax. Stewart had previously worked with Universal Animation on the studio's first film Ama and the Mysterious Crystal in 1997.

Steve Zahn was originally going to provide a voice in the film. According to Zahn, the producers were dissatisfied to learn that the voice of his characters on animated films such as Chicken Little and Escape from Planet Earth were not his natural speaking voice. The producers hired him anyway, and then strongly encouraged him to use his comedic voice for the role. When Zahn refused, he was dismissed.

Animation and design
Before production began, the film's team traveled to several places such as the Mediterranean Sea, Taghit, Ein Gedi, the Kananaskis Range, Colmar, France and southern Montana for research and inspiration in order to create the look of Paradoria. They spent over a year in 2010 painting and sketching, and encountering various creatures as well as story locations.

Animation production on Paradoria began in early December 2013 at the Universal Animation Studios facility in the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot at Universal City, California, with more than 300 animators involved in the project. Much like nearly all of Universal Animation Studios' prior films, the film's animation took roughly two years to finish in order to meet its deadline. In designing the characters and art style, Samono was inspired by Walt Disney Animation Studios films in the Renaissance era he had enjoyed watching years earlier. Admiring the simplicity of Disney's art direction, Samono decided that the characters in Paradoria would be loosely styled in akin to Disney's art style in their animated films, while also blending together features of both computer-generated imagery (CGI) and traditional hand-drawn animation as depicted on Tangled and Frozen. Universal had contracted Korean Disney animators Shiyoon Kim and Jin Kim, who were finishing working on Disney's Big Hero 6, to begin working on the character designs alongside fellow Universal character designers John France, Shannon Tindle and Shane Prigmore as well as former Disney veteran Glen Keane (who also served as executive producer alongside Audel LaRoque) and his daughter Claire, while Craig Kellman served as the lead character designer for the Neets. Although the characters were initially designed by France, Jin Kim altered on some of the characters' faces. Production wrapped on November 1, 2015.

Over the five years before the film's release, Universal Animation Studios had substantially over-hauled its production workflow and animation software. Paradoria was the first Universal Animation Studios film that used BOOST, a new rendering system that offered the studio's new animation and lighting software through the entire production as part of the overhaul of the rendering system used since the first Computeropolis film. Called by Universal Animation president David Stainton as "the next generation of Universal Animation Studios", Pixar's RenderMan was considered as a "Plan B" for the film's rendering, if BOOST was not able to meet production deadlines. A software program called Zoom was used to create over 400 distinctive characters that populate the setting. Another one named Frizzle was responsible for the creation of the setting's 320,000 trees.

Development on BOOST started in 2012 and was based upon research into multi-bounce complex global illumination originally conducted at Illumination Mac Guff in France. In the planning stage of the film, CG supervisor Alexander Bates asked "What if we made these lights just work?" Before the new system, artists had to build reflections and shadows manually, which became increasingly complex as the models and the setups became more technologically advanced.

Music
The official soundtrack for the film was released on December 11, 2015 by Back Lot Music. The songs were written by Alan Menken, Cinco Paul and Marc Shaiman, while the score was written by Menken. The film originally had no songs during the early development stages, but due to the success of competing Disney musical films such as Tangled and Frozen, Universal announced in April 2014 that the film would be a musical, marking the Universal City animation studio's first musical since 2003's Magina.

Theatrical
Paradoria was released by Universal Pictures on December 11, 2015 in 2D, 3D, and select IMAX 3D theatres. In December 2013, Universal had made its first official announcement that the film was in production, with a release date scheduled for Christmas Day, December 25, 2015. In April 2014, the release date was changed to December 11, 2015, to avoid competition with DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda 3. Universal premiered the film at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles on November 25, 2015 in an out-of-competition screening.

Marketing
The teaser trailer for Paradoria debuted at the 2014 Comic Con Experience, and was then released by Universal Pictures on December 6, 2014 via YouTube and later in front of Nepola's Odyssey II a week later. The first official trailer was released on July 8, 2015, followed by a second trailer on September 23.

Universal partnered with more than 100 licensing and promotional partners in a deal valued at an unprecedented $250 million. One of the partners was Universal's parent company NBCUniversal for advertising. Spots for the film appeared on Bravo, E!, USA, Gingo, Syfy, Telemundo, and mun2. A customized page was created on Fandango. Universal also partnered with McDonald's to produce eight toys in their Happy Meals starting on December 4, 2015. A video game based on the film, titled Paradoria: Keena & Jamo's Adventure, was released on December 8, 2015 for Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, and published by Activision.

Paradoria was also promoted heavily at several Universal Studios theme parks including Universal CityWalk at Hollywood and Orlando, which both offered meet-and-greet sessions involving the film's two main characters, Keena and Jamo. In November 2015, NBCUniversal Brand Development began releasing a line of toys and other merchandise relating to the film in retailers. In some other countries such as Denmark and South Korea, the name of the secondary protagonist, Jamo, was changed to Jack due to a trademark conflict. Media outlets speculated that the name change was to avoid confusion with the Danish manufacturer of loudspeakers of the same name, and Universal Pictures International's president, Duncan Clark, acknowledged they were "thinking about the issue" at a meeting of Danish exhibitors in 2014.

Home media
Paradoria was released on Blu-ray (2D and 3D) and DVD on March 22, 2016, while a digital release was released on March 8, 2016. The releases include three short films (following in Illumination Entertainment's footsteps) titled: Camp Jamo, Noodles, and Getting Annoyed. Extras include audio commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, music videos, and short promotional clips.

Upon release, the film sold over 2.8 million Blu-ray and DVD units in its first week, making it the highest-selling home entertainment animated film for Universal of 2016 as well as the second-highest-selling home entertainment film for Universal behind only Jurassic World. Across all digital and physical formats, Paradoria generated $74.2 million in its first week. At the end of 2016, it was named the third-highest selling video of the year in the UK, selling 88 million copies since its release. It was the fourth-highest-selling DVD and the third-highest-selling Blu-ray in the country.

Following an announcement on September 20, 2016, a sing-along reissue of Paradoria was released via DVD and digital download on December 6, 2016.

Paradoria was released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on October 15, 2019.

Box office
Paradoria grossed $411.1 million in the United States and Canada and $714.9 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $1.126 billion against a budget of $103 million. Worldwide, it is the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2015, the second-highest-grossing animated film of 2015 (placing second among animated films behind only Minions), the highest-grossing Universal Animation Studios film (surpassing Computeropolis 2 in 2007), the second highest-grossing original film (behind Avatar), the third-highest-grossing animated film, and the fourth-highest-grossing film released by Universal Pictures. It is also the fourth-highest-grossing 2015 film released by Universal behind Furious 7, Jurassic World and Minions, as well as the second-highest-grossing Universal animated film of 2015 worldwide behind Minions and the second overall highest-grossing Universal animated film of all time domestically.

By breaking $1 billion worldwide, Paradoria became the second non-Disney animated film after Minions, fourth animated film after Toy Story 3, Frozen and Minions, and the 24th film in cinematic history to do so. This made Universal Pictures the first studio ever to have four films earn more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office in a single year following Furious 7, Jurassic World and Minions. Deadline.com calculated the net profit of the film to be $489.53 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film, making it the second-most profitable animated film of 2015, the second-most profitable Universal Pictures film, as well as the most profitable Universal Animation Studios film of all time.

North America
In the United States and Canada, Paradoria opened across 3,541 theaters, of which 3,100 showed the film in 3D and 900 of them showing the film in IMAX. It grossed $17.3 million during its Thursday night showings, which is the biggest of all time for Universal Animation Studios as well as the biggest for a Universal animated release. The film then earned $52.2 million on its opening day (including Thursday previews), making it the biggest opening day for a Universal Animation film, the biggest for an original film and for an animated release by Universal.

In its opening weekend, it exceeded expectations and grossed $113.9 million, finishing first at the box office. This had marked the biggest for an original non-Disney animated film (breaking Twist City ' s record), the biggest for a Universal Animation original film (breaking Me & Mobo ' s record), the studio's second-biggest of all time (behind Computeropolis 2), the biggest December animated opening, the fifth-biggest opening weekend for Universal Pictures, and the third biggest animated opening of all time, at the time, behind Computeropolis 2 ($133.5 million) and Shrek the Third ($121.6 million). It also set the record for the largest opening for any original film, live-action or otherwise, not based on sourced material, eclipsing the $77 million debut of Avatar.

In its second weekend, the film fell by 52% to $54.7 million while dropping down to No. 2, due to facing stiff competition with newcomer Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It ended its theatrical run on May 5, 2016 playing for a total of 154 days in theaters with a total gross of $411,133,101. It became the highest-grossing animated film of 2015, the fourth-highest-grossing Universal Animation Studios film, the fourth-highest-grossing Universal Pictures film of 2015, the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2015, the eleventh-highest-grossing Universal Pictures film, and the sixteenth-highest-grossing film of all time.

Outside North America
Internationally, Paradoria received a scattered release as Universal Pictures [International] took advantage of school holidays in various markets. The film went into general release in 53 countries in the months of December and January, ahead, and along with, its North American release. It was released in a total of 68 countries. It earned an estimated $14.2 million in its opening weekend from four countries on 638 screens. It added $33.5 million in its second weekend from 10 countries. In its third weekend, it grossed $62.9 million from 26 countries, coming in first place at the international box office. It finally topped the international box office, earning $126.4 million from 56 countries in its fourth weekend. It added $91.5 million from 56 countries, an increase of 25% from its previous weekend. In Australia and India, it landed at No. 2 where The Revenant took the top spot the weekend it was released in. It passed the $500 million mark in its sixth weekend.

At the time of its release, it had the biggest opening day of all time for an animated film in 16 countries, the biggest opening day of all time for a Universal Animation film, and Universal's biggest opening day of all time in 5 countries. It broke opening records for a Universal film in Germany ($36.1 million), Hong Kong ($2.9 million), Poland ($1.3 million) and India, the second-biggest for Universal in France ($10.3 million) and 6 other countries, the biggest opening of all time in Mexico ($23.8 million) and the biggest in Russia and the CIS ($8.6 million). In the UK and Ireland, with significant competition from The 5th Wave, the film had a £4.97 million ($6.1 million) opening weekend from 579 theaters, including £1.81 million ($2.9 million) worth of previews, debuting in second place behind The 5th Wave and falling just short of Universal Animation Studios' best opening in the UK.

Other notable openings were witnessed in, Japan ($8.5 million), Germany ($7.5 million), South Korea ($5 million), Spain ($5.3 million), Australia ($4.1 million), and Colombia ($3 million). In China, it opened on February 19, 2016 and earned $16.3 million on its opening day, marking the second-biggest opening day for an animated film ever in China, only behind Kung Fu Panda 2 at time. It went on to earn $53.7 million through its 8-day opening (Sunday to Sunday) and $17.7 million for the weekend alone (Friday to Sunday). It went into general releases for 30 days in China.

Paradoria became the highest-grossing Universal animated or Illumination Entertainment film of all time in Mexico (ahead of Despicable Me 2), the Philippines (ahead of Computeropolis 2), India, and Ukraine and in Russia, it is the highest-grossing Universal film and the first Universal Animation film to exceed one billion rubles. Outside North America, it is currently the highest-grossing Universal Animation Studios film, the twelfth-highest-grossing film, the fourth-highest-grossing Universal Pictures film and the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2015.

Critical reaction
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 97% "Certified Fresh" approval rating based on 285 reviews with a weighted average rating of 8.7/10. The site's critical consensus states, "With its beautiful animation, dazzling songs, and a script that captures the nostalgia of a young couple's expedition, Paradoria will perhaps find its family-friendly audience off guard." It was one of the site's highest-rated animated films of 2015, the other being Inside Out. On Metacritic, the film has a normalized score of 87 out of 100, based on 59 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale.

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times considered the film "very amazing and beautifully well-done." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, saying "Arguably their best effort ever since Computeropolis, Paradoria takes Universal Animation Studios to a new Pixar-like level of creative storytelling and innovation. It is a true experience for the studio." Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film's concept, describing it "interesting and engaging that directly lives up to the animation history," but felt that the film "should take care of its plot a little more though it's still the best that no animated film has ever done." Peter Debruge at Variety opined that Paradoria is "an animated Sound of Music".

IGN gave the film a 9.2 out of 10 'Amazing' score, saying "Very original, entertaining, heartwarming, love-spirited, sometimes scary and depressing, Paradoria is yet another blockbuster animated success for Universal in years." The Chicago Tribune ' s Michael Phillips called it the studio's best since Computeropolis, a "new touching, sweet, heartwarming entry to animation." Betsy Bozdech of Common Sense Media gave the movie 5 stars, stating that "Paradoria is filled with hearts, spirit, romance and humor that suits up with other animated movies from the likes of Despicable Me." However, Ty Burr of The Boston Globe criticized the film's story, describing it as "too formulaic."

Several critics have drawn positive comparisons between Paradoria and the modern Walt Disney Animation Studios films such as Tangled and Frozen, noting similarities in their story and animation styles. Christopher Orr of The Atlantic likened its quality to that of a Disney animated film, writing that Paradoria "may borrow elements and animation from Tangled but still tops as one of the best animated feature films of the year". Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal stated that, "Universal Pictures' answer to Disney Animation musicals is none other than, the beautifully animated musical Paradoria". However, Morgenstern continued, "While Paradoria captures the Disney art style and animation, it lacks magic."

The relationship between the lead protagonists Jamo and Princess Keena has received mostly positive reception. Rosa Prince of the UK daily newspaper The Daily Telegraph described the love between Keena and Jamo as touching. Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club praised their relationship, stating that "Keena and Jamo make a new welcome to the animation industry with their original looks and love." Claudia Puig of USA Today praised the romantic scenes of Keena and Jamo, describing them as "very adorable and charming," and also praised the emotion and direction for the lead characters. Kristopher Tapley of HitFix called Keena and Jamo's relationship as the "greatest couple for an animated movie in years."

The website /Film reported that Paradoria temporarily had a rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes in December 2015, shortly after the film's release; the score was based on 42 reviews at the time, all of which were positive.

Accolades
Paradoria was nominated for various awards and won a number of them, including several for Best Animated Feature. At the 73rd Golden Globe Awards, it was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film. It led the 43rd Annie Awards with all 11 nominations, including Outstanding Achievement in Directing in an Animated Feature Production for Samono and Hall, Outstanding Achievement in Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production for Wolfhard and Best Animated Feature.

Cultural impact
Coming soon!

Expanded franchise
A sequel titled Paradoria 2 was confirmed by Universal Studios on January 14, 2016 and was released on November 8, 2019. Steve Samono returned to direct with a script written by himself, Laurie Craig and Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. All of the main cast also reprised their roles in the sequel, and are joined by Tom Holland (replacing Wolfhard as Jamo), Zoe Saldana, Paul Giamatti, Madelaine Petsch, Gina Rodriguez, and Tom Cruise. The sequel takes place four years after the first film, featuring Keena and Jamo as young adults as they travel to a mysterious realm known as the Enchanted Realm to get a potion to heal Keena's father King Clint before their proposed marriage. Meanwhile, Jamo discovers a shocking secret about his past, and unexpectedly meets his long-lost birth mother, Londa.

A half-hour Christmas special titled Paradoria Holiday premiered on NBC on November 15, 2016. Directed by Chris Abazzi and written by Gary Hall and Erica Rivinoja, all of the main cast from the film reprised their roles in the special. A traditionally-animated television series based on the film titled Tales in Paradoria debuted on September 9, 2017 on Universal Kids. While Robb, Wolfhard, Rudolph, Slate, Malick, and Parnell reprise their roles in the series, Stewart and Cranston were replaced by Tom Kane and Fred Tatasciore, respectively. A 7-minute short film titled Keena's Magical Journey was released theatrically with Universal Animation Studios' Lix on December 8, 2017. Written and directed by Chris Abazzi, the short follows Keena and some of the neets as they go on an adventure to find the mysterious treasure of love.

Lawsuit
On October 17, 2015, two months before the release of Paradoria, Jose Garcia, a Mexican artist and writer, filed a lawsuit against Universal for allegedly stealing the idea for Paradoria from him. Garcia had been working on a creative project Seasons, a compilation comic of four seasons including one very similar to Paradoria. The author and his lawyer demanded from Universal a share of the profits from merchandising articles sold in Mexico. Garcia also alleged that the characters of Keena and Jamo were based on drawings of Seasons. The lawsuit also stated that a story artist from Universal Animation visited Garcia in 2014, and discussed Garcia's work with him. A Universal spokesperson responded, by saying that the characters in Paradoria were "developed independently by the Universal Pictures creative team, and do not infringe on anyone's copyrights". Garcia and the lawyer lost the lawsuit on September 16, 2016 and intended to file an appeal on April 18, 2017.

Main
To see the main transcript of the film, click here.

Trailers
To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.