# The Croods (franchise)

The Croods is an American media franchise by DreamWorks Animation. The franchise began with the 2013 film The Croods, and has since grown to include a sequel, The Croods: A New Age; two television series, Dawn of the Croods and The Croods: Family Tree; and two video games. Set in the fictional prehistoric "Croodaceous" time period which is roamed by a series of bizarre hybrid animals, the franchise follows the eponymous cavepeople family as they travel through the dangerous but exotic lands in search of a new home after their previous home was destroyed.

## Feature films

| Film | U.S. release date | Director(s) | Story by | Screenwriter(s) | Producer(s) |
| The Croods | March 22, 2013 | Chris Sanders & Kirk DeMicco | John Cleese, Kirk DeMicco & Chris Sanders | Kirk DeMicco & Chris Sanders | Kristine Belson and Jane Hartwell |
| The Croods: A New Age | November 25, 2020 | Joel Crawford | Kirk DeMicco & Chris Sanders | Dan Hageman, Kevin Hageman, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan | Mark Swift |

### The Croods (2013)

The Croods is a 2013 American animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox, set in a fictional prehistoric Pliocene era known as "The Croodaceous" (a prehistoric period which contains fictional prehistoric creatures) when a caveman's position as a "Leader of the Hunt" is threatened by the arrival of a prehistoric genius who comes up with revolutionary new inventions as they trek through a dangerous but exotic land in search of a new home. The film was originally announced in May 2005, under the working title Crood Awakening, originally a stop motion film being made by Aardman Animations.
Chris Sanders took over development of the film in March 2007; however, development of How to Train Your Dragon postponing its original schedule for a year to a then planned March 2012. The film's final title, The Croods, was revealed in May 2009, along with new co-director, Kirk DeMicco. The film features the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, Cloris Leachman, and Randy Thom.

### The Croods: A New Age (2020)

The Croods: A New Age is a 2020 American sequel to the 2013 film The Croods, again produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures, following the Croods after leaving their cave in the first film as they encounter their biggest threat since leaving the cave: another family called the Bettermans.
The film was scheduled for a September 2020 release, but the release date was moved to November 25, 2020. Along with the returning cast of the first film, the film features the voices of Peter Dinklage, Leslie Mann, and Kelly Marie Tran, Tran replacing Kat Dennings.

## Television series

| Series | Seasons | Episodes | First released | Last released | Showrunner(s) | Network(s) |
| Dawn of the Croods | 4 | 52 | December 24, 2015 | July 7, 2017 | Brendan Hay | Netflix |
| The Croods: Family Tree | 8 | 52 | September 23, 2021 | November 9, 2023 | Mark Banker and Todd Grimes | Hulu/Peacock |

### Dawn of the Croods (2015–2017)

A 2D-animated web television series serving as a prequel to the film, titled Dawn of the Croods, aired on Netflix between December 24, 2015 and July 7, 2017. A total of 88 episodes each consisting of 2 11-minute segments were released. The cast featured new voice actors for the characters of Grug (Dan Milano), Ugga (Cree Summer), Eep (Stephanie Lemelin), Thunk (A.J. LoCascio), Sandy (Grey Griffin), Gran (Laraine Newman), and Guy (Dominic Catrambone). The first three episodes were animated in Toon Boom Harmony by Vancouver's Bardel Entertainment. DreamWorks soon found that Harmony was not the best fit for animating scenes that contained multiple characters at once. The rest of the episodes were traditionally hand-drawn by South Korean studios: EMation, NE4U, and Dong Woo Animation. On July 9, 2017, executive producer Hay confirmed that the then recently-released fourth season of Dawn of the Croods had been its last.

### The Croods: Family Tree (2021–2023)

On August 31, DreamWorks announced a CGI animated series titled The Croods: Family Tree, based on The Croods: A New Age and will be streaming September 23rd on Hulu and Peacock. Tran reprises her role as Dawn, while A.J. LoCascio reprises his role as Thunk from Dawn of the Croods. The new voice cast features, Amy Landecker as Ugga, Kiff VandenHeuvel as Grug, Ally Dixon as Eep, Artemis Pebdani as Gran, Darin Brooks as Guy, Matthew Waterson as Phil, and Amy Rosoff as Hope. Mark Banker (from Go, Dog, Go!) and Todd Grimes (from The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants) serve as executive producers and showrunners for the series.

## Cast and characters

   * A dark gray cell indicates the character did not appear in that installment.
   * A $^Y$ indicates an actor or actress voiced a younger version of their character.
| Characters | Feature films | Feature films | Video game | Short films | Short films | Short films | Television series | Television series |
| Characters | The Croods | The Croods: A New Age | The Croods: Prehistoric Party! | Belt's Cave Journal | Dear Diary: World's First Pranks | Family Movie Night: Little Red Bronana Bread | Dawn of the Croods | The Croods: Family Tree |
| Grug Crood | Nicolas Cage | Nicolas Cage | Chris Parson | | Nicolas Cage | | Dan Milano | Kiff VandenHeuvel |
| Eep Crood | Emma Stone | Emma Stone | Stephanie Lemelin | | Emma Stone | Emma Stone | Stephanie Lemelin | Ally Dixon |
| Guy | Ryan Reynolds | Ryan Reynolds | Dominic Catrambone | Ryan Reynolds | Ryan Reynolds | | Dominic Catrambone | Darin Brooks |
| Guy | Ryan Reynolds | Gabriel Jack | Dominic Catrambone | Ryan Reynolds | Ryan Reynolds | | Dominic Catrambone | Darin Brooks |
| Ugga Crood | Catherine Keener | Catherine Keener | Elizabeth Keener | | Catherine Keener | | Cree Summer | Amy Landecker |
| Thunk Crood | Clark Duke | Clark Duke | A.J. LoCascio | | Clark Duke | Clark Duke | A.J. LoCascio | A.J. LoCascio |
| Gran | Cloris Leachman | Cloris Leachman | Jodi Carlisle | | Cloris Leachman | Silent role | Laraine Newman | Artemis Pebdani |
| Sandy Crood | Randy Thom | Kailey Crawford | Jessica DiCicco | | | | Grey Griffin | Dee Bradley Baker |
| Belt | Chris Sanders | Chris Sanders | Chris Sanders | Chris Sanders | Silent cameo | | Chris Sanders | Dee Bradley Baker |
| Phil Betterman | | Peter Dinklage | | | Peter Dinklage | | | Matthew Waterson |
| Hope Betterman | | Leslie Mann | | | Leslie Mann | Leslie Mann | | Amy Rosoff |
| Dawn Betterman | | Kelly Marie Tran | | | Kelly Marie Tran | Kelly Marie Tran | | Kelly Marie TranAbby Trott |
| Sash | | James Ryan | | | Silent cameo | | | Dee Bradley Baker |
| Shaman Monkey | | Januel Mercado | | | | | | |
| Bud | | | | | | | Dan Milano | |
| Womp | | | | | | | Dan Milano | |
| Pat | | | | | | | Cree Summer | |
| Clip | | | | | | | Cree Summer | |
| Pup Howler | | | | | | | Cree Summer | |
| Baitsy | | | | | | | A.J. LoCascio | |
| Steve | | | | | | | A.J. LoCascio | |
| Lerk | | | | | | | Grey Griffin | |
| One-Eyed Amber | | | | | | | Laraine Newman | |
| Mosh | | | | | | | Laraine Newman | |
| Pram | | | | | | | Laraine Newman | |
| Bulk | | | | | | | Dee Bradley Baker | |
| Squawk | | | | | | | Dee Bradley Baker | |
| Bearowl | | | | | | | Dee Bradley Baker | |
| Moler Bear | | | | | | | Dee Bradley Baker | |
| Tyrannaconda | | | | | | | Dee Bradley Baker | |
| Mow | | | | | | | Dee Bradley Baker | |
| Earl | | | | | | | Dee Bradley Baker | |
| Old Man Root | | | | | | | Dee Bradley Baker | |
| Yelp | | | | | | | Dee Bradley Baker | |
| Sulk | | | | | | | Dominic Catrambone | |
| Kevin | | | | | | | Dominic Catrambone | |
| Fan | | | | | | | Dominic Catrambone | |
| Night Mare | | | | | | | Dominic Catrambone | |
| Ow the Dentist | | | | | | | Dominic Catrambone | |
| Bag | | | | | | | Dominic Catrambone | |
| Little Mantrap | | | | | | | Jim Cummings | |
| Meep Boor | | | | | | | Ana Gasteyer | |
| Crud | | | | | | | Thomas Lennon | |
| Munk | | | | | | | Thomas Lennon | |
| Snoot Boor | | | | | | | Chris Parnell | |
| Gurg | | | | | | | Christian Slater | |
| Hwam | | | | | | | | Tru Valentino |

## Crew

| Role | The Croods | The Croods: A New Age |
| Role | 2013 | 2020 |
| Director(s) | Chris Sanders Kirk DeMicco | Joel Crawford |
| Producer(s) | Kristine Belson Jane Hartwell | Mark Swift |
| Writer(s) | Screenplay: Kirk DeMicco Chris SandersStory: John Cleese Kirk DeMicco Chris Sanders | Screenplay: Dan Hageman Kevin Hageman Paul Fisher Bob LoganStory: Kirk DeMicco Chris Sanders |
| Composer(s) | Alan Silvestri | Mark Mothersbaugh |
| Editor(s) | Eric Dapkewicz Darren T. Holmes | James Ryan |
| Studio(s) | DreamWorks Animation | DreamWorks Animation |
| Distributor(s) | 20th Century Fox | Universal Pictures |
| Running time | 1hr 39mins | 1hr 35mins |

### Additional crew

| TV series | Detail | Detail | Detail | Detail | Detail |
| TV series | Composer | Production companies | Distributor | Network | Running time |
| Dawn of the Croods | Gabriel Mann, Rebecca Kneubuhl | DreamWorks Animation Television | NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, Netflix | Netflix | 22 minutes per episode |
| The Croods: Family Tree | Hannah Parrott | DreamWorks Animation Television | NBCUniversal Television and Streaming | Hulu/Peacock | 22 minutes per episode |

## Reception
### Box office performance

| Film | Release date | Box office gross | Box office gross | Box office gross | Budget | Ref. |
| Film | Release date | North America | Other territories | Worldwide | Budget | Ref. |
| The Croods | March 22, 2013 | $187,168,425 | $400,036,894 | $587,205,319 | $135 million | |
| The Croods: A New Age | November 25, 2020 | $58,568,815 | $157,337,000 | $215,905,815 | $65 million | |
| Total | Total | $245,737,240 | $557,373,894 | $803,111,134 | $200 million | |

### Critical and public response

Critical and public response of The Croods films :
| Film | Critical | Critical | Public | Public |
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore | PostTrak |
| The Croods | 71% (142 reviews) | 55 (30 reviews) | A | — |
| The Croods: A New Age | 76% (157 reviews) | 56 (30 reviews) | A | 83% |

## Video games

A video game based on the series, titled The Croods: Prehistoric Party!, was released on March 19, 2013. Developed by Torus Games, and published by D3 Publisher, it was adapted for Wii U, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo DS. The game enables players to take the members of the Croods family on an adventure through 30 party style mini games. It received mainly negative reviews.
A mobile game, titled The Croods, which is a village-building game, was developed and published by Rovio, the creator of Angry Birds. It was released on March 14, 2013, to the iOS and Android platforms. It received negative reviews from critics, with Metacritic giving it a 40 out of 100.

## Chronology

Chronological order of The Croods' franchise history:
* Dawn of the Croods (2015–2017)
* The Croods (2013)
* Dawn of the Croods series finale (2017)
* The Croods: A New Age (2020)
* The Croods: Family Tree (2021-2023)