And So We Battle

And So We Battle is a 2024 Japanese-American-Australian epic intercompany crossover film co-produced by Screen Gems, YouTube Premium, The Pokémon Company, OLM Inc., Toei Animation, Gainax, Marvel Studios, Image Comics, Sega, Original Film, Blumhouse Productions, Scott Cawthon Productions, Legendary Pictures, Channel Awesome, Cinemassacre, SpindleHorse Toons, Glitch Productions, Good Universe, 87North Productions, and Toho and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing and YouTube. A massive multiplayer crossover between the Pokémon anime, Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Neon Genesis Evangelion, the MCU, the Spawn comics, the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movies, the MonsterVerse, Five Nights at Freddy's, The Nostalgia Critic, The Angry Video Game Nerd, Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss, Murder Drones, and The Amazing Digital Circus, the film intertwines live-action with anime, traditional animation, computer animation, motion capture and visual effects, and practical animatronics, and serves as an epic crossover event in celebration to their legacies. Directed by Francis Lawrence and Epicocity (the latter in their directorial debut) from a script by Hideki Sonada, Anthony and Joe Russo, Rachel Tietz, and Seth Cuddeback, the film centers around the characters from the aforementioned franchises and series duking it out in a battle for freedom while contending with many foes along the way, with one of them planning to unleash the demon Dark Gaia. The film features a gargantuan ensemble cast consisting of Sarah Natochenny, Ikue Ōtani, Haven Paschall, Mike Liscio Jr., Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld, Michelle Knotz, Jimmy Zoppi, Lisa Ortiz, Catrin Lloyd Bollard, Will Arnett, Sean Schemmel, Wendee Lee, Chris Sabat, Charles Martinet, Tracey Moore, Kate Higgins, Jessica DiCicco, Susan Roman, Tara Strong, Casey Mongillo, Ryan Bartley, John Krasinski, Elizabeth Banks, Dwayne Johnson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, Christopher Walken, Jamie Foxx, Ben Schwartz, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Idris Elba, Chris Evans, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Jim Carrey, Lee Majdoub, Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Josh Hutcherson, Piper Rubio, Elizabeth Lail, Matthew Lillard, Kellen Goff, Doug Walker, Malcolm Ray, Tamara Chambers, Rob Walker, Jim Jarosz, Aiyanna Wade, James Rolfe, Jill Harris, Stephanie Beatriz, Michael Kovach, Edward Bosco, Kimiko Glenn, Mick Lauer, Brandon Rogers, Richard Steven Horvitz, Vivian Nixon, Erica Lindbeck, Alex Brightman, Elsie Lovelock, Nola Klop, Lizzie Freeman, Alex Rochon, Amanda Hufford, Mariassa Lenti, Sean Chiplock, Ashley Nichols, Gooseworx, Ariana Grande, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, Selena Gomez, Ottavia Devivo, Willem Dafoe, and Tom Kenny.
The project was announced on October 13, 2023, when Sony Pictures Releasing and YouTube declared to surpass Avengers: Endgame as the largest crossover in existence. The film's writers' room was assembled in November 2023, while Lawrence and Epicocity (the latter of the two previously creating the Ancienverse series of Pokémon fanfictions) were hired to direct the following month. Principal photography began in February 2024 in Oklahoma, Tokyo and Sydney and wrapped in April 2024. Animation for the Pokémon, Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon and Neon Genesis Evangelion characters were provided by TMS Entertainment and the animation for the Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss characters was provided by Bento Box Entertainment using the Toom Boom Harmony software, while 20 visual effects ranging from Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) to Framestore worked on the visual effects for the MCU characters and the MonsterVerse versions of Godzilla and King Kong, Jim Henson's Creature Shop created the animatronic characters for Freddy Fazbear and his crew, Marza Animation Planet and Blur Studio provided the computer animation and visual effects for Sonic and the gang, and the computer animation for both the Murder Drones and Amazing Digital Circus characters was done by Sony Pictures Imageworks, respectively. With an estimated production budget of $900 million, And So We Battle is currently the most expensive film ever made.
The film was released digitally on YouTube Premium on July 12, 2024, with Sony and YouTube releasing the film theatrically in the United States two days later. The film received universally positive reviews from critics and audiences alike, becoming one of the greatest films of all time. It has grossed $5.79 billion worldwide at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time.