Sunnie

Sunnie is a 2017 American computer-animated fantasy comedy-drama film produced by Frenzy Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox, and is based on Mike Copeland's daily comic strip of the same name. It was written and directed by Ryan Marshall from a screenplay by Nicholas Stoller and Brad Garland from a story by Marshall. The film stars Amanda Leighton as the titular character, with Ben Schwartz, Katie Crown, Josh Gad, Chris Pratt, David Cross, Elizabeth Banks, Rob Riggle, Zac Efron, Dylan O'Brien, Amy Poehler, and Peter Dinklage. Animation services were provided by Reel FX Animation Studios and Mikros Image Montreal. The film follows a teenage girl named Sunnie, where she meets Justin, R.O.B.E.R.T. and Bella for the very first time and they are enlisted by The Zenn Crew to set off on a journey in order to prevent a diabolical villain from opening the Darkworld and conquering the world with its sentient mutant creatures.

Sunnie premiered on September 30, 2017, at the Regency Village Theatre and was released in theatres and RealD 3D, IMAX, and Dolby Cinema on October 13, 2017. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its animation, voice cast, and score, but criticized the plot and lack of originality. Sunnie was a box office success, grossing over $347.7 million worldwide against its $70 million budget. A television series based on the film, Sunnie's World, premiered on Fox Family on April 5, 2019. A sequel was released in Canadian theaters on October 2, 2020 and was digitally released on Disney+ on January 29, 2021.

Plot
Coming soon!

Voice cast

 * Amanda Leighton as Sunnie Stewart, an adventurous and cute teenage girl.
 * Aubrey Wilson as a young Sunnie Stewart
 * Ben Schwartz as Justin Barker, a clumsy and nerdy teenage boy, who has a secret crush on Sunnie.
 * Noah Schnapp as young Justin Barker
 * Katie Crown as Bella Robbins, a beauty-obsessed teenage girl who always picks on Sunnie.
 * Heidi Marshall as young Bella Robbins
 * Josh Gad as R.O.B.E.R.T., an talking smart robot who met Sunnie when she was a kid and Hunter's own creation.
 * Chris Pratt as Captain Zenn / Steve, the son of the original Zenn.
 * Elizabeth Banks as Alyia Starling, the aid of Captain Zenn who pilots the Zennship.
 * Rob Riggle as Hunter, a diabolical master criminal plotting to get the treasures from the Darkworld.
 * Dylan O'Brien as Joshua Stewart, Sunnie's older brother.
 * Amy Poehler as Emily Stewart, Sunnie's mother.
 * Zac Efron as Louis Gibbs, a "cool" teenage boy.
 * David Cross as Doctor Dog, the sidekick of Captain Zenn.
 * Peter Dinklage as Travis
 * Jenny Slate as Ms. Fitzgerald, Sunnie's teacher.
 * Keegan-Michael Key and Anthony Anderson as Jeff and Carl, two wolves who reside in The Forbidden Jungle of Mysteries.
 * Tony Hale as Todd, the rabbit sidekick of Hunter, who later befriends with Sunnie.
 * Rhys Darby as Hugh Larson, Sunnie's next-door neighbor
 * Maya Rudolph as Alice Larson, Hugh's wife.

ADR Loop Group

 * Ashley Albert
 * Rosemary Alexander
 * Steve Alterman
 * Holly J. Barrett
 * Ranjani Brow
 * Edita Brychta
 * Darcy Rose Byrnes
 * Mitch Carter
 * June Christopher
 * Niall Cunningham
 * Robin Atkin Downes
 * Terri Douglas
 * Moosie Drier
 * Giselle Eisenberg
 * Peter Falls
 * Chase Fein
 * Johnny Gidcomb
 * Marissa Goodman
 * Nicholas Guest
 * Jason Harris
 * Bridget Hoffman
 * Rif Hutton
 * Hope Levy
 * Terence Mathews
 * David Michie
 * Heidi Brook Myers
 * Paul Pape
 * Shakira Ja'nai Paye
 * Raymond Ochoa
 * Peter Pamela Rose
 * Michael Sorich
 * Kelly Stables
 * Byron Thames
 * Ruth Zalduondo

Production
In 2011, While directing Puppet Pals 3 at Fox Animation, Ryan Marshall pitched and wrote a treatment of a film adaptation of the Sunnie daily comic strip as a computer-animated film and said that he always wanted to do an animated film about the comics, as he was a big fan of them. Personal issues had percolated into the story as they weighed on him in life.

In July 2013, Frenzy Animation announced that the film was in development with its scheduled release in late 2016 with Ryan Marshall writing and directing. In May 2015, it was announced that 20th Century Fox would distribute the film after winning a bidding competition against Columbia Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Paramount Pictures for the distribution rights with the film rescheduled for summer 2017.

In October 2015, it was reported that Amanda Leighton and Ben Schwartz were in talks to voice their lead characters which were confirmed next month. In July 2016, Katie Crown, Josh Gad, Chris Pratt, David Cross, Elizabeth Banks, Rob Riggle, Zac Efron, Nick Offerman, and Amy Poehler joined the voice cast. In November 2016, Henry Jackman was announced to score the film. Reel FX and Mikros Image Montreal animated the film.

Release
Sunnie was originally scheduled to be released on July 21, 2017, but in May 2016, the film was later pushed back to December 20, 2017, with Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation taking its place. In November 2016, Fox pushed back the release date two months earlier to October 13, with Blue Sky's Ferdinand taking its December slot. The film premiered at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles in an out-of-competition screening on September 30, 2017. The film received a wide release in the United States on October 13, 2017, the United Kingdom on October 27, 2017, and in Australia on November 23, 2017. It was also released in select IMAX theatres in the United States.

It was accompanied in theaters by Homer and Lisa's Virtual Odyssey, a short film directed by David Silverman and Steven Markowski based on the The Simpsons franchise.

Marketing
The teaser trailer for Sunnie was released online at Frenzy Animation's and 20th Century Fox's YouTube pages on December 7, 2016 and was shown in front of The Pixelators in theaters a couple days later. The official theatrical trailer for the film was released online on March 27, 2017, and was carried as a trailer before The Boss Baby in theaters. The final trailer was released on July 17, 2017, and was shown before Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation. Licensing partners include Fandango, Kraft, Funko, General Mills, and Chuck E. Cheese's.

Video game
A video game based on the film was released on October 10, 2017 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 3DS and PC. It was developed by Outright Games and published by Activision.

Home media
Sunnie was released on digital HD on January 12, 2018 and on Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, and DVD on January 23, 2018.

Box office
The film grossed $159.1 million in the United States and Canada and $188.6 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $347.7 million.

Sunnie opened alongside Happy Death Day and The Foreigner and is expected to gross $40-45 million in its opening weekend from its 4,019 theaters. The film made $21 million in its opening day and later grossed $53.5 million from its opening weekend. The film fell 41% in its second weekend while still remaining in first place, grossing $31 million. In its third weekend, the film still remained in first and grossed $20.6 million. By its fourth weekend, it was dethroned by Thor: Ragnarok, falling to second place and grossing $18.8 million.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 53%, based on 196 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Sunnie may satisfy young viewers and hardcore fans of the comics, but its exhausting and predictable plot continues Frenzy Animation's mediocre streak." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 27 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.

Television series
A CGI animated television show based on the film, titled Sunnie's World, premiered on April 5, 2019 on Fox Family. Amanda Leighton, Ben Schwartz, Katie Crown, Josh Gad, and Jenny Slate reprise their roles while Chris Pratt was replaced by A.J. Locascio for Captain Zenn.

Ryan Marshall and Marcus Crawford served as executive producers of the show.

Sequel
On December 18, 2017, Fox announced a sequel slated for an October 9, 2020 release, with Leighton, Schwartz, Crown, Gad, and Pratt reprising their roles. The following month, the release date was pushed back to December 11, 2020. Along with the release date change, it was announced that Marcus Crawford and Mark Wilson will return to produce the sequel, as well as Nicholas Stoller and Brad Garland, returning to write the script while Ryan Marshall would return to direct.

In June 2019, Fox revealed that the film will be released on August 14, 2020, and was also announced that most of the cast from the first film will reprise their roles in the sequel, joined by Taraji P. Henson, Rachel Bloom, Lil Rel Howery, Alfred Molina, Awkwafina, and James Corden. By April 2020, Fox (now named 20th Century Studios), announced that the film would be pushed back on September 25, 2020, due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic's impact on the film industry. On July 23, 2020, it was moved back to February 12, 2021 as a result of 20th Century Studios' updated film slate due to the pandemic. On August 19, 2020, 20th Century Studios Canada announced the film would be released in Canadian theaters on October 2, 2020. On November 5, 2020, it was announced that the film's theatrical release had been cancelled and it would instead be released through video on demand and Disney+ on March 19, 2021.

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

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