Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation

Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation (also known as Alaina Gleen 3 and marketed as such on home video releases) is a 2017 American 3D computer-animated comedy film produced by 20th Century Fox Animation for 20th Century Fox. It is the third installment in the Alaina Gleen reboot series, following 2013's Alaina Gleen 2. It was directed by Mike Bell and Emma Maxwell (in her directorial debut) from a screenplay by Nicholas Stoller, Michael McCullers, with Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky and a story by series creator Thalia Ward and Brad Cuddyer. The film stars the reprised voices of Kristen Bell, Bill Hader, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Jim Carrey, Maya Rudolph, Wanda Sykes, Dwayne Johnson, Andy Samberg, Danny McBride, Kenan Thompson, and Katie Crown, joined by Stephanie Beatriz, Zachary Levi, Bobby Cannavale, Nick Kroll, Emily Blunt, and Mel Brooks.

In the film, after leaving school for the summer, Alaina's mother, Sally Gleen, decides to take Alaina Gleen and her friends on an cross-country trip for the entire summer in order to reconnect with each other, with initially disastrous results, while Max Hat finds love with an anthropomorphic flower named Flo. In Leon County Texas, Alaina discovers that Flo is actually an abandoned imaginary friend of Leonard von Lutz, Max's old enemy from the 1960s who has a Texas shaped and sized pool at his wealthy Hilltop Lakes mansion which he never leaves (to the poor).

Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation premiered on July 6, 2017 in Los Angeles, and was released in the United States on July 21, 2017, in RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, and select IMAX theaters. It received mixed reviews from critics, but was a huge box office success, grossing over $891.8 million worldwide. The film received a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the 45th Annie Awards, and was also nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 90th Academy Awards. A fourth and final sequel is currently in development and is scheduled to be released on November 5, 2021.

Plot
In 1968, young Max Hat, his friends (Eddie Elephant, Ellie Bird, and Spy Squirrel) and his father Hank, travel in disguise on a train where they find Max's old arch-enemy Doctor Leonard von Lutz who boarded the train and unveils the imaginary creatures; where later the creatures escape by climbing through the train's roof, and they jump off the train where the train later crashes, with Max believing his father is dead. Years pass as Leonard becomes obsessed with destroying Max and the imaginary creatures and friends, but is constantly outsmarted by him.

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Voice cast

 * Kristen Bell as Alaina Gleen
 * Bill Hader as Max Hat
 * Matthew Maxwell as young Max Hat
 * Zac Efron as Jason Baxter
 * Taylor Swift as Lucy Jones
 * Jim Carrey as Professor Hinkle Higgins
 * Andy Samberg as Eddie Elephant
 * Connor Miller as young Eddie Elephant
 * Emily Blunt as Flo Flower
 * Nick Kroll as Leonard von Lutz
 * Stephanie Beatriz as Cassie Baxter
 * Zachary Levi as Colin the Tiger
 * Michael Peña as Lorenzo the Wonder Dog
 * Bobby Cannavale as Samuel Snake
 * Mel Brooks as Hank Hat
 * Maya Rudolph as Sally Gleen
 * Wanda Sykes as Betty Gleen
 * Danny McBride as Roger Rumpkins
 * Kenan Thompson as Officer Bernie
 * Dwayne Johnson as Spy Squirrel
 * Andrew Mendez as young Spy Squirrel
 * Katie Crown as Jenny McNulty
 * Leslie Mann as Ellie Bird
 * Rose Lewis as young Ellie Bird
 * Nev Scharrel as Zoey Bird
 * Noah Schnapp as Alex Bird
 * Jason Drucker as Benny Bird
 * Frank Welker (uncredited) as Summer
 * Rhys Darby, Curtis Stone, Colin Moody, and Rose Byrne as Fred, Frank, Vinny and Moxie
 * Brad Cuddyer as Spy Turtle, Josh
 * Nolan North as Tom
 * Mike Minchin as Spy Skunk
 * Nicholas Stoller as First Policeman
 * Greg James as Second Policeman

Additional voices

 * Lori Alan
 * Steve Apostolina
 * Bob Bergen
 * Dave Boat
 * Daniel Booko
 * Jessica DiCicco
 * Terri Douglas
 * Eddie Frierson
 * Edie Mirman
 * Johnny Gidcomb
 * Jackie Gonneau
 * Grey Griffin
 * Wendy Hoffmann
 * Phil LaMarr
 * Joanna Leeds
 * Mona Marshall
 * Scott Menville
 * Max Mittelman
 * Heidi Brook Myers
 * Laraine Newman
 * Matt Nolan
 * Arthur Ortiz
 * Paul Pape
 * Ben Pronsky
 * Maddix Robinson
 * Pepper Sweeney
 * Fred Tatasciore
 * Matthew Wood

Production
In September 2013, John Cohen, the film's producer, said just days before the second film's release that the studio was "talking about number 3 and moving forward and taking the reboot franchise to the next level". That same month, series creator Thalia Ward stated that she will not return to direct the sequel. In December 2013, 20th Century Fox announced that the third film, under the tentative title of Alaina Gleen 3, was in development and had been set for release on May 19, 2017, after the huge box office success of the second film. Kristen Bell, Bill Hader, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, and Jim Carrey also reprised their previous roles, as Alaina Gleen, Max Hat, Jason Baxter, Lucy Jones, and Professor Hinkle Higgins, respectively, and the film was written by Ward with new writers Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky. By early May 2016, the film had been entitled Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation. On August 26, 2016, Nick Kroll, was cast as the main antagonist for the film, Leonard von Lutz. On November 3, 2016, Stephanie Beatriz and Zachary Levi were cast in the film.

Release
Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation premiered at the Regency Village Theater on July 6, 2017. The film was originally scheduled for a May 19, 2017 release, but in May 2016, Fox announced that Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation would instead be released on July 21, 2017. A short film, Alien Pet, that promoted the third film was shown in front of theatrical screenings of Ice Age: Collision Course back in July 2016. It was theatrically released in the United States on July 21, 2017 in 3D and selected IMAX theaters, including an Dolby Cinema release as part of 20th Century Fox's new distribution deal with Dolby Laboratories.

Marketing
Tie-ins with Chuck E. Cheese's, Chevrolet, Ziploc, General Mills, and Amazon, and a series of five Lego sets were used to promote the film. AMC Theatres also partnered with Fox to play the movie in Mandarin at five theatres and in Spanish at 13 locations in the U.S and Canada meaning there will be a mix of subtitled and dubbed formats of Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation. The first teaser trailer was released online on December 5, 2016, and the official trailer for the film was released on March 15, 2017. The final trailer was released on May 30, 2017. A 95-second sneak peek of the film was released online via 20th Century Fox's YouTube channel on July 7, 2017. The studio spent a total of $120 million promoting the film.

A video game based on the film was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on July 18, 2017. It was published by Activision and developed by Outright Games.

Home media
Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation was released on digital and Movies Anywhere on October 13, 2017 and on DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on October 17, 2017 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Box office
Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation grossed $274.8 million in the U.S. and Canada and $616.9 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $891.8 million, against a production budget of $165 million.

North America
In North America, the film opened alongside Dunkirk, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and Girls Trip, and was projected to gross $75-85 million in its opening weekend playing in 4,410 theaters. It made $4.1 million from Thursday night previews, and $32.2 million on its first day. In its opening weekend, it exceeded expectations and grossed $97.9 million, finishing first at the box office, making it the best July opening for 20th Century Fox Animation, surpassing The Simpsons Movie, and the best opening of the Alaina Gleen reboot series. In its second weekend, the film grossed $73.9 million, still topping the box office (with a fresh record of 4,447 theaters showing the movie), beating fellow newcomers The Emoji Movie and Atomic Blonde. It later made another $54.5 million in its third weekend, still topping the box office once again. By its fourth weekend, it was finally dethroned by Annabelle: Creation, falling to second place and grossing $34.6 million.

Outside North America
Internationally the film was released in five markets on July 14, 2017, and grossed $8.2 million in its opening weekend. In its third week of release, the film opened in 46 more markets, grossing $95.6 million. The film's largest markets were China ($53.7 million), Japan ($21.2 million), the UK ($49.9 million), Germany ($41.1 million) and France ($37.1 million)

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 53% based on 181 reviews, and an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation should keep nostalgic fans of the franchise consistently entertained with 97 minutes of colorful animation, and zany, scattershot, fast-paced gags, leaving little else to the classic cartoon." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 47 out of 100 based on 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Accolades
The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 90th Academy Awards and the 45th Annie Awards, However, the awards both went to Coco.

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

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