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The Electric State is a sci-fi adventure comedy-drama film co-directed by Anthony and Joe Russo from a screenplay co-written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Based on the 2018 illustrated novel of the same name by Simon Stålenhag, the Netflix film is set in the aftermath of a war between robots and humans, and it follows an orphaned girl who teams up with a mysterious robot and a smuggler to find her lost brother in the dangerous America West. The Electric State stars Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan, Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Giancarlo Esposito, and Stanley Tucci. So, if you loved the inventive story, intricate world-building, and entertaining characters in The Electric State, here are some similar movies you should check out next.

Alita: Battle Angel (Rent on Prime Video...

The Animation Guild has ratified its contract with the major studios, despite concerns from some about protections against artificial intelligence.

The guild announced that 76.1% of the members voted in favor of the deal.

“This agreement is the next step forward in our goal to create the strongest contract for our members,” said Steve Kaplan, the business representative of the union, in a statement.

The three-year contract includes raises of 7%, 4%, and 3.5% across the board, as well as higher gains for specific crafts. Among them is a provision requiring “pay equity” for color designers, which has been traditionally female dominated, and a staffing minimum for TV animation writers.

The deal did not include most of the negotiators’ more ambitious demands, such as a provision allowing members to opt out of using AI in their jobs, and to opt out of having their work used to train AI systems. The Alliance of Motion...

Members of the Animation Guild have overwhelmingly agreed to ratify its three-year deal with the studios.

The guild saw 76.1% of its members in favor of the contract with the AMPTP. This comes after months of negotiations with the studio reps.

The new three-year deal – the 2024-2027 Animation Guild Master Agreement – wasn’t, however, as popular as its previous deal, signed in July 2022, which saw 87% members vote in support.

The guild said that voter turnout increased “beyond the historic turnout of last cycle’s vote”, which itself tripled the prior vote.

Among the provisions secured in the latest contract are increases to health and pension funds, wage increases, AI protections, and more. Specifically, this included 7% wage increased in the first year, 4% in the second year and 3.5% in the third. A.I. protections include written notifications and the ability to consult with the production and identify alternative non-GenAI tools. There are also...

The Animation Guild (IATSE Local 839) executive board has issued a statement defending its tentative deal with Hollywood studios after a number of committee members expressed disappointment.

The statement came on Wednesday after some committee members posted to social media their thoughts on the deal and that they plan to vote ‘No’ to ratify it. The tentative deal was originally reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Nov. 22.

“We believe this agreement is the strongest contract the Union has negotiated in the last decade with significant craft improvements, substantial wage increases and critical new protections,” the message read. “The executive board supports the agreement because Guild members as a whole stand to greatly benefit from its terms, across all crafts. As elected leaders, the executive board acts on behalf of the members we work with day to day, in hopes to secure a robust future for animation workers.

The Animation Guild’s executive board is praising its tentative agreement with Hollywood studios after a handful of negotiation committee members posted on social media that they will vote not to ratify it.

The board noted in a message to members on Wednesday that it had voted to recommend the ratification of the provisional deal, which was reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Nov. 22. “We believe this agreement is the strongest contract the Union has negotiated in the last decade with significant craft improvements, substantial wage increases, and critical new protections,” the board wrote in its statement. “The Executive Board supports the agreement because Guild members as a whole stand to greatly benefit from its terms, across all crafts.”

Citing an unspecified “misleading media story” about a “small minority” that does not support the deal, the executive board noted that the negotiations committee’s “table...

Tensions over The Animation Guild’s controversial new tentative contract spilled into public view on Tuesday as the ratification vote for the deal began.

Three members of the union’s sprawling negotiating committee posted on social media that they personally will be voting “no” on the tentative contract that they helped to bargain, primarily due to concerns about provisions covering generative AI. But that same day, the union’s chief negotiator said the agreement improved on recent deals “by a good margin” and warned that not ratifying the agreement could be “dangerous,” risking losing more work in Los Angeles.

The Animation Guild’s 56-person negotiating committee consisted of a “table team” of 29 members that met across the table with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and a support team of 27 members. Both teams weighed in on proposals and changes to proposals, but only the table team voted on...

Two members of the Animation Guild negotiating committee said Tuesday that they will vote against ratifying a new contract because it lacks enough protections against artificial intelligence.

Mike Rianda, the director of “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” said on Instagram that the AI terms in the deal are “far from what we were going for,” and that he had opposed recommending the deal to the membership.

“Studios can replace workers with AI. Studios can force you to use AI. Studios can give you AI work to finish on any timeline,” he wrote. “We didn’t get staffing minimums to protect crew sizes from AI job losses… This was gutting.”

The union, which represents 6,000 artists, technicians and writers, reached a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Nov. 23. The ratification vote began Tuesday and will conclude on Dec. 22.

The union released the full terms of the contract last week,...

Hundreds of members of the Animation Guild, along with fellow IATSE members joining in solidarity, gathered at the IATSE 80 headquarters in Burbank on Saturday ahead of Monday’s start of contract negotiations.

The crowd was over twice that of the Guild’s previous rally in 2022. Animation writer and negotiating committee member Joey Clift told TheWrap that the union had over 2,000 RSVPs as of Friday, doubling the number of the 2022 event. He estimated that nearly 2,500 people attended in the near 90-degree heat.

Mike Rianda, animator known for his work on “Gravity Falls,” emceed the festivities Saturday afternoon. Rianda kicked off the rally by bringing up six “animation avengers” to the stage to rally the crowd, including “Steven Universe” creator Rebecca Sugar, “Hotel Transylvania” and “Samurai Jack” creator Genndy Tartakovsky and legendary Disney and DreamWorks animator James Baxter.

Stand With Animation Rally on Aug. 11, 2024 (Credit: Tess Patton for TheWrap)

Attendees also heard from guild leaders,...

Animation workers and supporters argued that recent technological and business shifts have left their craft hanging in the balance during a packed union rally in Burbank on Saturday, with one speaker positing that “the American animation industry is at stake.”

The Animation Guild (IATSE Local 839) organized the event before it heads into bargaining over a new three-year contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that will tackle hot-button issues like AI and outsourcing. Gathering at the parking lot of IATSE Local 80 in sweltering, mid-80-degree heat, attendees heard from guild leaders, local politicians, rank-and-file workers and a few boldfaced names (director Guillermo del Toro sent a rallying cry, telling the workers to “fight like hell”), who emphasized the urgency and stakes of this year’s talks.

The overall message was summed up by union president Jeanette Moreno King (Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe): “We...

It takes multiple hands of masters, artists and filmmakers to bring a story to life, no matter the cinematic medium. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has designated categories to recognize the achievements of artists working on animation, documentary features, and shorts, an opportunity to be rewarded. However, just because you directed or produced one of these specialty films doesn’t mean these contributions will be officially named in the Oscar nominations.

To the untrained Oscar eye, it might not be obvious that despite “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” picking up a nomination for best animated feature, one of the three directors, Joaquim Dos Santos, was not among the listed nominees. It’s an arbitrary rule of the Academy that only four “teams” may be recognized in the animated feature category.

The official nominees from “Spider-Verse” are Dos Santos’ fellow directors Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson, producing partners Phil Lord and Christopher Miller,...

When credits for Thor: Love and Thunder ended, Marvel Studios promised the God of Thunder would return to the MCU for another adventure of epic proportions. While the studio’s been quiet about Thor’s return, that hasn’t kept fans from speculating about the hero’s future and press outlets from needling Taika Waititi about returning to direct another film in the franchise after helming the last two chapters, Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder. Catching up with Waititi while promoting his new sports drama Next Goal Wins, Business Insider asked if he’s involved with Thor 5.

“I wouldn’t know if that’s accurate,” Waititi explained to Business Insider. “I know that I won’t be involved.” Before putting a pin in the conversation, Waititi added, “I’m going to concentrate on these other films that I’ve signed on for.”

Waititi has several projects in development,...

This article contains minor spoilers for "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem."

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" director Jeff Rowe has a fantastic animation pedigree, having written on "Gravity Falls" and "Disenchantment" as well as co-writing/directing "The Mitchells vs. the Machines" with Mike Rianda. The latter centers on a dysfunctional family fighting against a robot uprising, told from the perspective of teenage filmmaker, Katie Mitchell.

During an interview with /Film's own Ethan Anderton, Rowe confirmed that Katie Mitchell, the budding filmmaker at the center of "The Mitchells vs. the Machines" not only exists in-universe of the new "Tmnt" flick but is also a bit of a viral star. At one point in "Mutant Mayhem," April O'Neil (Ayo Edebiri) confesses to the Turtles that one of her most embarrassing moments was when she puked live on camera during the morning announcements at school.

Other kids eventually got their hands...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem director Jeff Rowe has pulled off an increasingly rare feat, as his latest entry in the Turtles franchise has been extremely well-received by both critics and audiences.

Rowe was the co-director on Mike Rianda’s Oscar-nominated The Mitchells vs. the Machines, and producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller highly recommended him to Mutant Mayhem producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg before Mitchells was even released. Rowe and Rogen quickly bonded over films such as Jurassic Park (1993), and so they were off and running on the three-year project.

Naturally, in a post-Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) world, comparisons between the two New York City films were inevitable, but Rowe sees it less from a stylistic standpoint and more from a spiritual one. Spider-Verse gave Mutant Mayhem license to take more chances, opting for a more rough-around-the-edges look.

“The first Spider-Verse really opened a lot of doors,...

Studios shouldn’t rely just on IP-based content to make artistically bold choices, said director Jeff Rowe at Annecy.

“Right now, things like ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Sperverse’ are this Trojan horse – they are taking a well-known IP and using that to break artistic boundaries and move the medium forward. My hope is that the studios will take these kinds of risks also with original ideas.”

Rowe, now behind “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” spoke out at Variety’s “Breaking the Borders of Animation” panel, moderated by its chief film critic Peter Debruge.

“There are some borders being broken right there,” quipped Debruge, mentioning his well-received film.

As noted by Rowe, the pandemic got rid of some traditional barriers in animation, with artists from all over the world able to work on big productions from home.

“On ‘Ninja Turtles,’ we had one artist working in South Korea, another in Thailand,...

For his next project for Netflix, Jorge R. Gutiérrez is heading back to the world of Maya and the Three.

The Emmy and Annie-award-winning Mexican animation film director said he is in development on a new limited series that will be set in the same mythological Mesoamerican universe as his 2021 hit Netflix series Maya and the Three and that of his 2014 animated feature The Book of Life.

The project will be Gutiérrez’s third under the overall deal he and his production company Mexopolis signed with Netflix in 2020. Maya and the Three, a feminist spin on Mesoamerican mythology about a female warrior princess who embarks on a journey to fulfill an ancient prophecy and save humanity from vengeful gods, dropped in the summer of 2021 and was a global smash for the streamer. Gutiérrez is also in development for Netflix on his first-ever adult animation series: I, Chihuahua!, which the...

Paramount’s animated reboot “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” doesn’t hit theaters until August, but the film made a splash on Monday at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival where it debuted to a rousing reception complete with a six-minute standing ovation. The crowd’s applause was so strong, in fact, that director Jeff Rowe was dragged back onstage to take it all in.

“Being in the room and feeling all the reactions and hearing all the laughter was amazing, but what really stood out to me was to see our movie received and appreciated in that way by a lot of people who really love and care about animation,” Rowe told TheWrap in a statement.

The cut screened at Annecy had just a few scenes of rough animation but was otherwise complete (including a score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross). Those in the audience included “The Mitchells vs. the Machines...

This year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival looks to break records with a wider international reach and greater studio participation than ever before. Already set to overtake last year’s attendance, the French lakeside fest, runs June 11-17 and had run up 13,300 guests by late May — among them a U.S. delegation more than 700 strong.

“[This year marks] the most important U.S. presence ever at Annecy,” says artistic director Marcel Jean. “We’re taking in historical players such as Disney, DreamWorks and Pixar who will still come, as well as global platforms such as Netflix, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery. And [we’re welcoming] a number of big titles.”

Disney, celebrating its 100th anniversary over the course of the year, plans a special screening of “Fantasia 2000” before offering Annecy’s famously boisterous and youthful crowd a first look at the upcoming animated musical “Wish.” Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Discovery will present behind-the- scenes peeks...

In the beginning, there was "Toy Story." Pixar's first feature film set the standard for CG animated movies in 1995, and each successive film built upon that framework, whether made by Pixar, DreamWorks, or any number of their competitors. The tools and pipelines used to make these movies became holy writs, and breaking from them was unthinkable. Yet there were those who challenged the status quo. 2008's "Kung Fu Panda" featured an introductory sequence in 2D, directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson. The staff of 2015's "The Peanuts Movie" worked hard to translate the charms of the original comic strip into beautifully textured CG. But "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" was more than just a challenger. Its release in 2018 was the animation equivalent of Martin Luther hammering his 95 Theses onto Pixar's door. There was no going back.

"The Mitchells vs the Machines" was tasked with following up on the most important animated film in recent memory.

We've hardly entered the 2020s and "The Mitchells Vs. the Machines" is already in the running as one of the best animated films of the decade. Where the folks at Pixar have become really good at simulating the authenticity of our world, projects like this one scrubbed the notion of realism altogether, in favor of a vastly more interesting visual palette cleanser. Taking after "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," the blending of CGI with 2D animation has proven that the animated medium can be used to create whatever kind of playful reality you want to see.

Even beyond its frenetic pace and heartfelt story, the oversized heart at the center of "The Mitchells Vs. the Machines" is this family. It doesn't take long before you fall in love with this band of lovable weirdos, as they're inadvertently tasked with saving the world from a robot apocalypse. Chances are that you know a Mitchell in your life.

The BAFTA has revealed nominations for its Children and Young People Awards, which are returning for the first time in three years.

The BBC’s “Dodger” and “The Snail and the Whale” lead with three nominations each, followed by two nominations for “The Amazing World of Gumball,” “Jamie Johnson,” “JoJo & Gran Gran” and “Silverpoint.”

The ceremony will take place in London on Nov. 27, where 14 categories will be awarded in recognition of craft, performance, and games. All awards are voted on by BAFTA’s membership of children’s industry professionals. The ceremony will be hosted by TV and radio presenter Lindsey Russell.

Faraz Osman, chair of the BAFTA Children and Young People Committee, said: “It is a real joy to bring together the industry and celebrate the creativity and craft behind its recent output, especially after the pandemic, where children’s programming played a monumental role in family support. Through the...

He might not have won the Oscar, but animation director Michael Rianda chronicled a great perspective on the award show: his starstruck mother Debbie meeting Hollywood royalty. Rianda’s family was a central inspiration for his film The Mitchells vs. The Machines, so seeing their view of the night was very refreshing and entertaining. While he may […]

The post Oscar Nominee Michael Rianda Shows His Mom Meeting Her Favorite Celebrities appeared first on uInterview.

Several of this year’s biggest animated films wanted to take bold stylistic risks that would set them apart from what audiences had come to expect from modern CG animation. On their quest to take the next leap forward, they turned to a style known for its warmth and imperfection — 2D animation.

“The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” “Luca,” “Raya and the Last Dragon” and “Flee” — all nommed for the animated feature Oscar — found something they needed for their stories in 2D. Whether the style matched the imperfection of the characters themselves, added warmth or established a different look for a specific sequence, it became a crucial inspiration.

In “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” the filmmakers fell in love with concept art created by Lindsey Olivares, production/character designer, and decided they wanted a hand drawn, slightly off-kilter look for the movie. They needed to establish a new style that brought...

Look through the list of this year’s Oscar nominees in the animated feature category and you’ll find each hero’s journey hinges on the same thing — family. They’re either struggling to break free, trying to find their place in the world or looking back on a mystery. In every case, it’s messy.

Most of the filmmakers leaned into their own experiences with family and mined tidbits for their films. The result is movies that hits specific notes but play well for larger audiences who see themselves in the families on screen.

“One of the goals of the movie is to get kids and parents to kind of see each other and see the world through each other’s perspectives,” says Michael Rianda, helmer of “The Mitchells vs. the Machines.”

“Because, when I was a teenager, I was a little brat and later I realized [my parents] cooked for...

Phil Lord and Chris Miller are down the Oscar road again as producers on the animated feature “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” receiving an Academy Award nomination earlier this week. However, their nomination wasn’t a given because the duo has clear memories of being snubbed in 2014’s “The Lego Movie.”

On this edition of the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, Lord and Miller stop by to give their reaction to their well-deserved Oscar nomination and how they continue to redefine the animation medium with each new outing. The pair also discuss their choice to get into the business and how a meeting with ex-Sony Pictures chair Amy Pascal while working on “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” helped them move beyond jokes to telling a story. Finally, the pair also touch on the upcoming “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” if Marvel Studios has approached them about integrating it into the...

IndieWire launches Sketch to Screen, a new behind-the-scenes exploration of cutting edge animation that kicks off with Oscar contender “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” (Sony/Netflix).

From Oscar-winning producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”) and first-time director Mike Rianda (“Gravity Falls”), “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” offers a handmade, watercolor aesthetic that perfectly matches the wild road trip about a family fighting the robot apocalypse, while also contrasting them with the sleek perfection of the AI-created robot world.

Rianda was encouraged by the boldness of “Into the Spider-Verse” to make his debut even more ambitious: “The reason we wanted the movie to have a hand-drawn look is because when you see a drawing, you see all these little imperfections and…places where the pen goes, that you wouldn’t expect it to,” he said. “And it just feels really natural and organic. And our characters are natural,...

This year, three animated movies aim to talk to children and adults about the progress (and perils) exhibited by AI, social media and the internet — and the filmmakers all agree that animation is an ideal medium with which to translate these ideas into something visual.

“You get to invent everything,” says Michael Rianda, writer-director of The Mitchells vs. the Machines. “And because you have so much control, you can really caricature things in a way that you can’t in real life.”

Netflix’s Mitchells — produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and Sony Pictures Animation ...

This year, three animated movies aim to talk to children and adults about the progress (and perils) exhibited by AI, social media and the internet — and the filmmakers all agree that animation is an ideal medium with which to translate these ideas into something visual.

“You get to invent everything,” says Michael Rianda, writer-director of The Mitchells vs. the Machines. “And because you have so much control, you can really caricature things in a way that you can’t in real life.”

Netflix’s Mitchells — produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and Sony Pictures Animation ...

The Museum of Modern Art announced the lineup for the 14th annual edition of The Contenders on Friday. The film series will run from Nov. 4 through Jan. 22, 2022, primarily in person with a select number of virtual screenings.

The Contenders will open with Pablo Larraîn’s “Spencer,” the Princess Diana biopic starring Kristen Stewart. Larraîn and Stewart will appear for a conversation after the screening. The closing night film will be Sebastian Meise’s “Grosse Freiheit” which, translating to “Great Freedom,” is set in postwar Germany and follows the relationship between Hans, a man imprisoned for being homosexual, and his cellmate Viktor, a convicted murderer.

“This year’s Contenders lineup includes highly anticipated genre pics, new works by the most followed auteurs such as Jane Campion (‘The Power of the Dog’) and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (‘Memoria’) and independent films that introduce emerging cinematic voices like Amalia Ulman (‘El Planeta’) and Ahmir ‘Questlove...

On Thursday, the Austin Film Festival unveiled its 2021 lineup, comprising 26 World, North American, and US Premieres, setting Oscar nominee Peter Hedges’ The Same Storm as its Opening Night Film.

The feature examining the tumult of the Covid-19 pandemic boasts a stacked cast, with Noma Dumezweni, Mary-Louise Parker, Sandra Oh, Elaine May, Raúl Castillo, Ato Blankson-Wood, Corey Michael Smith, Rosemarie DeWitt, Ron Livingston and Alison Pill amongst its ensemble.

Other marquee titles to look out for at the 28th edition of the festival, taking place from October 21-28, include Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, Mike Mills’ latest A24 pic C’mon C’mon, led by Joaquin Phoenix, Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir Part II, starring Honor Swinton Byrne, Tilda Swinton and more, and Joachim Trier’s Neon festival favorite The Worst Person in the World.

Spencer King’s Dark Star Pictures title Time Now will make its World Premiere alongside...

The Mitchells Vs. The Machines has now become the biggest Netflix animated film on the streaming service. Netflix stated that the film was viewed by 53 million member households in its first 28 days. These numbers are higher than the 43 million that watched Over the Moon and the 38 million that watched The Willoughbys within the same timeframe.

The animated film, which comes from Sony Pictures Animation, is a big hit with both critics and audiences and that has translated to its viewing numbers on Netflix. The Mitchells Vs. the Machines comes from the minds of Lord and Miller, who have delivered several animated hits including Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, The Lego Movie, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

The film centers around a dysfunctional family whose road trip is cut short after a smartphone takes over the world and begins sending robots to kidnap humans. It features an all-star comedic cast including Olivia Colman,...

When visual development artist Chris Appelhans (“Coraline”) realized that “Aladdin” was originally a Chinese folk tale while visiting Shanghai 20 years ago, he had an aha moment about writing and directing an animated genie-in-a-bottle retelling set in modern Shanghai. The result is “Wish Dragon” (streaming Friday on Netflix), an American-Chinese co-production with Sony Pictures Animation, in which working-class college student, Din (Jimmy Wong), teams up with pink, fluffy, snarky genie, Long (John Cho), to reunite with his long-lost childhood friend, Lina (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), now a famous model.

As Appelhans watched a friend in Shanghai “struggling with family and class and concepts of success, it seemed like that timeless [‘Aladdin’] story… about a peasant boy who lives with his mother, meets a wish-granting genie, falls in love with a princess, loses himself, and finds himself again, could have newfound relevance today,” he said. “It made me think a lot about the world.

The filmmakers behind Sony Pictures Animation’s “The Mitchells vs. the Machines will participate in a free, virtual PreVIEW talk on Friday, May 14, beginning at 10 a.m. Pt., presented by the View Conference.

The 90-minute discussion, moderated by Variety’s Steven Gaydos, will feature writer-director Michael Rianda, co-director and writer Jeff Rowe, production designer Lindsey Olivares, head of story Guillermo Martinez, VFX supervisor Mike Lasker and head of character animation Alan Hawkins.

“They say it takes an entire village of people to make a film,”says View Conference Director Maria Elena Gutierrez. “We are delighted to welcome six of the talented villagers behind ‘The Mitchells vs. The Machines’ into the View Conference family for this free PreVIEW event exploring the craft behind the film. We’re bringing so much creative energy together in one place, I know this is going to be a session to remember.”

“The Mitchells vs. the...

The Mitchells vs The Machines, the new animated feature by Sony and Netflix, has been gaining rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. Serving as a family road trip comedy as well as a sci-fi satire, the film deals with the titular Mitchell family as they combat an armada of AI robots taking over the world and shutting down everyone's WiFi.

Related: 10 Best Animated Movies On Netflix, According To IMDb

Along with familiar genre tropes, the film also makes use of an amusing amalgamation of pop-culture references and jabs at the technology-addicted Gen-z. Further, it's another commendable credit in the filmography of director Michael Rianda who was otherwise known as the creator of Gravity Falls.

With the 2021 Oscar race just concluded, the race for awards in 2022 has already begun. On April 30 Sony Pictures released an animated film through Netflix, “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” and from the looks of the reviews, it might already be a contender for Best Animated Feature.

As of this writing the film has a MetaCritic score of 80 based on 23 reviews counted thus far: 21 of them positive, two of them somewhat mixed, and none outright negative. Over on Rotten Tomatoes the film is rated a whopping 97% fresh based on 89 reviews, only three of which are classified as rotten. The Rt critics consensus sums up the reviews by saying, “Eye-catching and energetic, ‘The Mitchells vs. the Machines’ delivers a funny, feel-good story that the whole family can enjoy.”

SEEAfter Oscar coronation, is an Emmy bid for ‘The Crown’ next for Emerald Fennell?

The film tells the story of the title family driving...

The new animated family adventure The Mitchells vs. the Machines offers a rousing tale of a seemingly dysfunctional family caught in the midst of a worldwide attempt by sentient machines to, well, destroy all humans. While it might sound like more serious science-fiction fare, it most assuredly is not that. Make no mistake, there is fun to be had for all in this well-made, character-driven, thoroughly entertaining tale of a family coming together to preserve what is most important – family.

The film follows the family Mitchell, particularly teenager Katie Mitchell, as the group escorts Katie to her first year of film school via road trip in the family station wagon. Of course, this family bonding exercise doesn’t go exactly as planned after electronic devices across the globe develop sentience and turn against humankind. Still, despite the disagreements between father and daughter, the Mitchells attempt to persevere through their familial...

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on Wbgr-fm on April 29th, 2021, reviewing the new film “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” streaming on Netflix beginning April 30th.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

Katie (voice of Abbi Jacobson) is an oddball teenage filmmaker headed to her dream college across the country in California. She and her father (Danny McBride) are not getting along, and have completely opposite interests. To bond, her family decides to drive her to school, and on the way a Machine Apocalypse occurs, because a tech genius (Eric André) has replaced his phone pal app (voice of Olivia Coleman) with real robots, and they immediately go rogue. It’s up to the Mitchell family, including Mom (Maya Rudolph) to save the world.

“The Mitchells vs. The Machines” is streaming on Netflix beginning April 30th, 2021. Featuring the voices of Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Eric André,...

The only real drawback to The Mitchells vs. the Machines is one that is injected into the film by design, and that’s its inability to stay in a lane. Brought to you by the co-writing/co-directing team of Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe, largely of Gravity Falls experience, the film struggles mightily with the perhaps counterintuitive […]

The post The Mitchells vs. The Machines Review – You Got Your Robot Apocalypse In My Family Roadtrip appeared first on Are You Screening?.

As the creative minds behind The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Phil Lord and Chris Miller have an undeniable track record for pulling off unlikely concepts. From 80’s TV to books about raining food, they can make it work. With The Mitchells vs. The Machines though it seemed as though the dynamic duo had produced a work with a deliberate deal-breaker forcibly inserted. Opening as a quaint, family road-trip comedy that was suddenly derailed by a robot uprising.

Now the pedigree behind the film suggests this isn’t the case. Previously directors Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe had worked on Gravity Falls, a series that also interwove quirky family dynamics with wild sci-fi/fantasy antics. However it remains the case that The Mitchells… biggest problem is that it can’t marry its two genres quite as seamlessly. And that failure is enough to break the...

Those who grew up in the ’80s or ’90s probably remember Apple Computer as the underdog, manufacturer of the friendly-looking Macintosh in a world dominated by beige and boxy Ibm clones. Flash forward a few decades, and the tech company’s stock has risen, so much so that it’s no stretch to imagine a doomsday scenario where sleek white robots turn on their human users — which is more or less the problemo that complicates an already-fraught family road trip in cuckoo apocalyptic comedy “The Mitchells vs. the Machines”.

Director Michael Rianda and writing partner Jeff Rowe are children of that pre-iPhone era, and together — aided by a small army of animators at Sony Pictures Animation — they’ve hatched a subversive delight that should appeal to Gen Y adults and their tech-savvy kiddos alike. That’s because the tongue-in-cheek, “Terminator”-esque machine uprising isn’t really the hook here. Rianda...

Often discerning the right tonal balance between crude humor, clever references to film culture at large, and the bonds that make friends and family strong, the Lord and Miller team have brought us gems like 21 Jump Street, The Lego Movie, and Spider-Verse in the last decade. Making his feature directorial and writing debut with The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Michael Rianda attempts to enter this realm with the help of the production team, colorful cast, and stunning animation by way of robo-pocalypse but unfortunately just misses the mark. If only the film curtailed the crudeness and violence that would’ve otherwise suited an adult-themed cartoon.

The Mitchell family at the story’s center is a fun, friendly, and familiar group. Kate Mitchell (Abbi Jacobson) is an aspiring film director about to go away to college who feels out of step with her family, particularly her father Rick (Danny McBride...

Coming to Netflix April 30th is The Mitchells vs. The Machines.

From the humans who brought you the Academy Award-winning Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and The Lego Movie comes The Mitchells vs. The Machines, an animated action-comedy about an ordinary family who find themselves in the middle of their biggest family challenge yet…saving the world from the robot apocalypse. No big deal, right? It all starts when creative outsider Katie Mitchell is accepted into the film school of her dreams and is eager to leave home and find “her people,” when her nature-loving dad insists on having the whole family drive her to school and bond during one last totally-not-awkward-or-forced road trip. But just when the trip can’t get any worse, the family suddenly finds itself in the middle of the robot uprising! Everything from smart phones, to roombas, to evil Furbys are employed to capture every human on the planet.

Netflix has released the first official trailer for “The Mitchells vs. The Machines,” the animated comedy from executive producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the hitmaker duo behind “The Lego Movie” and Oscar winner “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Written and directed by Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe, “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” is a star-studded family comedy about an everyday family’s struggle to relate while technology rises up around the world.

When Katie Mitchell (Abbi Jacobson), a creative outsider, is accepted into the film school of her dreams, her plans to meet “her people” at college are upended when her nature-loving dad Rick (Danny McBride) determines the whole family should drive Katie to school together and bond as a family one last time. On the drive to campus they come across a tech uprising, leaving them to figure out how to save the world from a technological singularity.

In addition to Jacobson and McBride,...

On Tuesday, Netflix took to Twitter to announce an April 30 release date for its animated comedy, The Mitchells vs. The Machines, also unveiling additions to its voice cast.

New cast members include Fred Armisen (Big Mouth), Beck Bennett (Saturday Night Live), Chrissy Teigen (Mr. Mayor) and husband John Legend (Coming 2 America), Charlyne Yi (Summer Camp Island), late-night host Conan O’Brien, Sasheer Zamata, Jay Pharaoh, Alex Hirsch (Gravity Falls), Griffin McElroy (Dimension 20) and relative newcomer Elle Mills.

Previously announced members of the Mitchells cast include Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride (The Righteous Gemstones), Maya Rudolph (Big Mouth), Eric André (Disenchantment) and Olivia Colman, among others

Written and directed by Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe, The Mitchells vs. The Machines centers on Katie Mitchell (Jacobson), a young woman who is accepted into her dream film school. While driving to campus,...

Breaking: Don’t count on Sony Animation’s Lord & Miller movie Connected for this fall. The feature joins a number of other features fleeing the immediate fall calendar or delaying until later in the year, or even in 2021. Connected, last scheduled for Oct. 23, is now being moved by the studio to an unset future date this year.

Studios saw what Tenet‘s (and other films’) grosses were like without New York and Los Angeles, and both cities are required to be part of a tentpole’s marketing blitz; hence the meltdown of the immediate theatrical fall schedule. Connected joins Wonder Woman 1984 which was recently delayed from Oct. 2 to Christmas Day, STX’s Greenland, which moved to a Tbd 4Q date after stepping off of its Sept. 25 release, and Universal/MGM’s Candyman which jumped from Oct. 16 to next year Tbd as notable delayed releases. Also, we’re waiting to see...

The Nickelodeon-owned Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise is set for yet another—to briefly borrow its parlance—totally tubular radical reboot, which is now set to launch in the form of a new theatrical animated feature film.

This time, according to Deadline, the fighting foursome will star in a CGI-conjured cinematic offering that will see Nickelodeon team with Point Grey Pictures, the shingle of Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and James Weaver, with Paramount set to distribute globally. Ramsey Naito, EVP, Animation Production and Development, will oversee the project on Nickelodeon’s behalf, with Josh Fagen similarly tasked for Point Grey.

Set as director for this new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles outing is Jeff Rowe, who—having only served as co-director (alongside Michael Rianda) on upcoming Sony Pictures animated feature Connected—makes his debut here as the lone credited director for a feature. Rowe—who previously worked as a writer...

The first trailer for Artemis Fowl debuted this week from director Kenneth Branagh. Colin Farrell, Ferdia Shaw, Lara McDonnell and Hong Chau star in the Disney film, set to release in theaters on May 29. Connected, the Sony Pictures Releasing animated feature by director Michael Rianda, features voice talents from Danny McBride and Abbi Jacobson, who lead as a father-daughter team.

Janelle Monáe stars in Antebellum, along with Kiersey Clemons and Jena Malone. Directed by Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz the film is set for release on April 24 by Lionsgate. Shailene Woodley, Jamie Dornan and Sebastian Stan star in Endings, Beginnings from ...

The first trailer for Artemis Fowl debuted this week from director Kenneth Branagh. Colin Farrell, Ferdia Shaw, Lara McDonnell and Hong Chau star in the Disney film, set to release in theaters on May 29. Connected, the Sony Pictures Releasing animated feature by director Michael Rianda, features voice talents from Danny McBride and Abbi Jacobson, who lead as a father-daughter team.

Janelle Monáe stars in Antebellum, along with Kiersey Clemons and Jena Malone. Directed by Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz the film is set for release on April 24 by Lionsgate. Shailene Woodley, Jamie Dornan and Sebastian Stan star in Endings, Beginnings from ...

From Sony Pictures Entertainment, "Connected" is a new animated comedy feature, written and directed by Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe, starring Olivia Colman, Maya Rudolph and Abbi Jacobson, opening September 18, 2020:

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"...'Katie Mitchell' is accepted into the film school of her dreams. Her whole family drives Katie to school when their plans are interrupted by a tech uprising. Now 'The Mitchells' will have to work together to save the world..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Connected"...

Kristine Belson made her first trip to the Annecy Animated Film Festival as president of Sony Pictures Animation three years ago, not long after taking control of the studio. In a speech there, she sketched out a new philosophical direction for the division: In an animation landscape dominated by longtime juggernauts and franchises, Belson wanted to make Sony Animation a filmmaker-driven studio, one without a house style, which could take chances on projects other companies might struggle to fit into their more tried-and-true pipelines.

“It was well-received at the time, but it was all theoretical,” she says of her inaugural Annecy address. “Everyone says they want to be filmmaker-driven, and I believe all of us at the various animation studios believe it, but there’s a difference between talking the talk and walking the walk.”

When Belson, who is receiving Variety’s Creative Impact in Animation award on July 9, went...

It was only a couple of months ago that it was announced that Gravity Falls: The Complete Series would be released on Blu-ray and DVD in July, and now the bonus features have been revealed! Fans can look forward to a new retrospective looking back on all 40 episodes with Alex Hirsch and the cast of the show, a behind-the-scenes finale special, deleted scenes, and so much more.

From Shout! Factory: "Bonus features for Gravity Falls revealed! Plus get a lithograph when you order the Blu-ray from us! Plus 100 pre-orders will be randomly selected to get a litho signed by series creator Alex Hirsch! So much good stuff going on, order yours at http://ow.ly/tU1Z30jbDn4

- New Audio Commentaries On All 40 Episodes With Creator Alex Hirsch And Members Of The Cast And Crew

- New "One Crazy Summer" – A Look Back At Gravity Falls Featuring Interviews With Alex Hirsch,...