Happy Tree Friends: The Movie (2023 film)

Happy Tree Friends: The Movie is an upcoming 2023 Chinese-American animated black comedy action-adventure feature film based on headline adult bloody violent animated black comedy web series created by Kenn Navarro, Rhode Montijo and Aubrey Ankrum. The film is directed by David Feiss and co-directed by Steven R. MacLeod (in his two theatrical feature directional debuts) from a screenplay by both Ken Pontac and the writing tem of Amos Vernon & Nunzio Randazzo, who previously wrote the 2022 Sony Pictures Animation film Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, originally released by Amazon Studios. Navarro, Montijo and Ankrum co-produce the film alongside Melissa Cobb, Akiva Goldsman and Robert Ogden Barnum.
The film is simultaneously the seventh and generally the first installment (since 2012's Happy Tree Friends: The Last Bowl) in the Happy Tree Friends film series, and the spiritual parallel follow-up to the series. The film will feature three segments: the New Episode (first segment) which will follow Lumpy as "Prime Minister", Ultimate Death (second segment) which is a crossover sequence on Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers and follows the main cast's most powerful death (plus some with deaths including the Generic Tree Friends), and New Start (third and final segment) which follows to the younger versions of the main cast and new characters appearing in, in addition to those already seen in the children's spin-off The Adventures of Cuddles and Toothy. Unlike the previous original installments and similar to The Adventures of Cuddles and Toothy, the characters will speak fully in the film, although the main cast speaks gibberish in the previous original installments. RJ Eleven and Aubrey Ankrum will compose songs for the film, while Jerome Rossen, who composes the music for Happy Tree Friends since 2005, returned to compose the film's score.
The film features a non-speaking cast of Kenn Navarro, Nica Lorber, Rhode Montijo, David Winn, Lori Jee, Warren Graff, Aubrey Ankrum, Liz Stuart, Jeff Biancalana, Peter Herrmann, Michael "Lippy" Lipman, Mark Giambruno, Francis Carr, Renée T. MacDonald and Ken Pontac, while featuring a speaking cast of Brady Noon, Seth Rogen, Bret Iwan, Rosalie Cheng, Melissa Benoist, Jeremy Jordan, Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Will Ferrell, Maisie Williams, Gina Rodriguez, Charlie Heaton, Elizabeth Olsen and Dustin Milligan.
Co-produced by Mondo Media and Netflix Animation Studios in association with Redknot, Alibaba Pictures and Beijing Enlight Pictures, with animation provided by Mercury Filmworks (plus live-action and animation crossover visual effects handled by Industrial Light & Magic, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and TMS Entertainment) and distributed by Netflix, unlike the previous original installments, which were distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, the film is scheduled to be released simultaneously in theatres and on Netflix on November 24, 2023.
==Plot==
The film follows the three segments: the New Episode, the Ultimate Death, and the New Start.
The first segment of the film, New Episode, will focus on the main characters of Happy Tree Friends all together in one episode, in which Fliqpy kills some of them and The Ants kills Sniffles.
The second segment of the film, Ultimate Death, will focus on the new epic, emotional and action-packed death of the main cast along with many characters who died (including the Generic Tree Friends and Lumpy's Elephant), with all the characters with no deaths (including Buddhist Monkey) returning. The Ultimate Death will feature crossover characters from media including My Little Pony, Transformers, The Croods, Kung Fu Panda, Christopher Robin, Space Jam: A New Legacy, Caribbean Babies' ', and more, with characters from Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars as saviors. The segment will feature action-packed styling from the 2022 Disney+ Original Movie Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and will feature visual effects crossed by Industrial Light & Magic, TMS Entertainment, and Sony Pictures Imageworks.
The third and final segment of the film, New Start, will focus on the main cast being younger, with the main characters being elderly. The New Start will see new characters from over 212 different animal species. Along the way, Cuddles meets Josh, who believes that ants are killing everyone, while Vixy and her family enjoyed life. Flippy and Petunia married within the segment and have five children: Boomer, Navy, Petal, Iris and Tank. Then both Flaky's loudest scream and his extremely indestructible tantrum destroying things cause the new world to collapse and become a withered world. Boomy, the main antagonist of The Adventures of Cuddles & Toothy, returns to conquer a new world.
The film will feature new personalities and lives that have powered the world of Happy Tree Friends, and he realizes how the characters are, the longer they live, the better they get.
==Cast==
=== Non-dialogue===
*Kenn Navarro as Cuddles, Lifty & Shifty, Flippy and The Grizzly Bear
*Nica Lorber as Flaky
*Rhode Montijo (in his early lines) as Lumpy and Splendid
*David Winn (in his late lines) as Lumpy and Splendid
*Lori Jee as Giggles, Petunia, Cub and Panda Mom
*Warren Graff as Toothy and Handy
*Aubrey Ankrum as Pop and Fliqpy
*Liz Stuart as Sniffles
*Francis Carr as Russell
*Peter Herrmann as Disco Bear
*Michael "Lippy" Lipman as Nutty
*Mark Giambruno as Buddhist Monkey
*Renée T. MacDonald as Lammy
*Ken Pontac as Buddhist Monkey
===Dialogue=== 
*Brady Noon
*Seth Rogen
*Bret Iwan
*Rosalie Cheng
*Melissa Benoist
*Jeremy Jordan
*Chris Pratt
*Bradley Cooper
*Will Ferrell
*Maisie Williams
*Gina Rodriguez
*Charlie Heaton
*Elizabeth Olsen
*Dustin Milligan
==Development==
===Early plans===
The film was first announced in 2014 alongside film for Deep Space 69 and the sequel to Dick Figures: The Movie.http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/mondo-announces-feature-film-plans-for-happy-tree-friends-dick-figures-and-deep-space-69-104500.htmlhttp://www.tubefilter.com/2014/10/10/mondo-media-happy-tree-friends-dick-figures-deep-space-69-movie/
As of now until 2021, very little is known about it, but more news will likely come in the future. According to his Twitter feed, Kenn Navarro says he's heard of the movie but is currently not involved with it.https://twitter.com/ChainKnuckle/status/485081899916730369/photo/1It has been stated by Navarro that, at least to his knowledge, production for the film has yet to begin.
During their time at San Francisco's Anime, Video Game, and Cartoon Convention (AOD 2015), Warren Graff and Ken Pontac confirmed that no new episodes were planned due to the fact that a movie is indeed being planned.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9J4iXPDjzE
According to Home Plate Entertainment's website, the movie is currently in pre-production. But with no official word of its production since 2014, it is speculated that the project has halted or been scrapped altogether. When a fan asked about whether the film had been cancelled, Kenn replied "a treatment that [I] and the writers did was all the work (that [I] know of) for the movie".https://twitter.com/ChainKnuckle/status/792398506661023744
===Resurgence===
On September 7, 2018, Mondo Media confirmed that the film was finally back in production, this time, at New Line Cinema, with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg serving as producers via Point Grey. Image banner. It was also confirmed to be a new 3D animated horror movie. But later, the movie went into development hell, because Rogen and Goldberg were not involved in this movie. The plans were also false.
The film was finally revived by Disney in early 2020. In June 2020, Ankrum stated, "We'll be ready to see everything, but nothing worked, at least maybe we can get our plans back, and it's going to be something or what." When both Ankrum and Navarro enjoyed the time together, they played a game in which toy characters are placed in a giant toy car that plunges into a toy volcano. Ankrum and Navarro claimed that "there could be new episodes or the volcano where the characters die. Ankrum and Navarro then signed promotional deals with Sega of America which is in the exit states to start initial projects, although they had more success with Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm (2009).
Meanwhile, in August 2020, Happy Tree Friends' Discord members were told there might be a movie to be made, though it would be very successful to accompany titles like the upcoming Avatar 2 film set for its Christmas 2022 release. Navarro and Ankrum then made a play in which the Happy Tree Friends characters go to the volcano and die, later describing the play as "forever violence" though the play was praised and they eventually watched Avatar, in which Navarro and Ankrum agreed to start a two-segment film (later three when the film is in development). Navarro and Ankrum came up with an idea involving the game (described as "forever violence") and Avatar's wartime moments, with an idea being turned into a script that is scheduled to be developed into a film for release in late September. 2022, although the release was set for early 2023. Navarro and Nemao met and decided to bring the Happy Tree Friends-style fan appearance. characters created to become real on film.
Navarro then suggested rebooting the film series that followed six films, all of which were released theatrically by Warner Bros. Pictures from 2006 to 2012. Despite that, WarnerMedia, since approving its plans to acquire broadcast rights, it has become the best partner since its subsidiary Warner Bros. owns the film rights to Happy Tree Friends, while it would agreed to drop the rights for distribution following the aftermath of the negative reception of The Last Bowl.
Mondo Media announced that it would reboot the film series in January 2021, with development on the film beginning in February 2021, with a theatrical release in February 2023. Universal Pictures has agreed to co-produce and co-finance the film, but it was then abandoned in early June 2021 at the end of the liner. Additionally, in February 2021, with the film in development, media conglomerate The Onward Company and Mondo Media announced the Happy Tree Friends revival, including that film and the proposed revived series.
In March 2021, Sega of America, the newly formed subsidiary of The Sonic & Donkey Kong Company (which its parent company Sega Sammy merged with Nintendo to form it), announced that it would acquire Mondo Media for $15 million, including the rights to Happy Tree Friends, with the intention of developing a reboot film adaptation of Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm (later re-released for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5 in September 2021 to February 2022). The Company Forward. However, it never materialized, as The Onward Company will later acquire Mondo Media and the rights to Happy Tree Friends for $15 million on June 11, 2021. In July 2021, Mondo Media announced that the film will include three segments, which will feature new character deaths, though Mondo Media announced that it will include characters from other media besides Happy Tree Friends, including My Little Pony and Power Rangers, that the characters will return.
In January 2022, Mondo Media announced the start of production on the film to be released on November 17, 2023, with Ankrum, Navarro and Montijo serving as producers. David Feiss was soon announced as director with Steven R. MacLeod serving as co-director, while Ken Pontac wrote the film's script. Pontac stated, "We'll be okay with writing the movie and we'll think we can make sure how we're going to work with those segments." Montijo declared that it was a promise that the film will have inspiration from both. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) and Sausage Party (2016), including Bullet Train (2022). Ed Skudder (Dick Figures) announced that he will return to work as a movie's story consultant. Redknot, producer of The Dog & Pony Show and Agent Binky: Pets of the Universe, later co-produced the film, with Patricia Burns as executive producer of the film, while Alibaba Pictures was announced as co-financier of the film, joined by Beijing Enlight Pictures.
In February 2022, Netflix announced that it had acquired the distribution rights to the film. Half of the production was set up at Netflix Animation Studios in Los Angeles, California, while it was announced that Mercury Filmworks would provide animation for the film using Toon Boom Harmony. While Netflix executives later asked how they felt about that, even as Mondo Media brings the return of Happy Tree Friends to Netflix as a "feature film", though The Onward Company would later serve it up as a "Netflix Original Feature Film". Pontac would set up the plotline involving the murder of "Happy Tree Friends" for the last death segment. Despite that, The Onward Company announced plans to scale back development efforts for the upcoming “Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm” reboot movie (which was eventually cancelled on November 4, 2022 after the release of Puyo Puyo: The Movie in favor of the film), while the development was criticized by #1 popular fans.
Executives from The Onward Company and Netflix took over the deal to broadcast and decided to contract with each other saying they needed more than 30% to 50% to take what's being developed.
In March 2022, Vanessa Esteves stated that the film will be co-financed in China. Redknot executive producer Pam Westman stated, "We'll be needed to take development and figure out how to get to the new event and on top of that we'll be able to make and start the side as we collaborate on the film."
In June 2022, it was confirmed that Amos Vernon and Nunzio Randazzo, who co-wrote Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, were tapped to co-write the script with Pontac. In July 2022, Netflix announced the casting of the film featuring Kenn Navarro, Nica Lorber, Rhode Montijo, David Winn, Dana Belben, Ellen Connell, Lori Jee, Warren Graff, Aubrey Ankrum, Liz Stuart, Francis Carr, Peter Herrmann, Michael "Lippy" Lipman, Mark Giambruno, Francis Carr, Renée T. MacDonald and Ken Pontac reprising their roles for the film's non-dialogue. Brady Noon, Seth Rogen, Chris Pratt and Jeremy Jordan were announced at the casting call to direct the dialogue for the film, in which the characters from Happy Tree Friends will speak in the film, unlike the previous original installments (which featured Happy Tree Friends characters speaking gibberish and making sounds) and like The Adventures of Cuddles & Toothy (which featured Happy Tree Friends characters talking once). In September, a new casting was announced; with Bret Iwan, Rosalie Cheng, Melissa Benoist, Bradley Cooper, Will Ferrell, Maisie Williams, Gina Rodriguez, Charlie Heaton and Elizabeth Olsen team up for the film's dialogue elements. Dustin Milligan was announced for dialogue in October. The film will be a joint project between Netflix, Mondo Media, Redknot, Alibaba Pictures and Beijing Enlight Pictures.
Industrial Light & Magic, Sony Pictures Imageworks and TMS Entertainment were brought on board to provide crossover visual effects and additional animation to the film.
==Release==
Happy Tree Friends: The Movie is scheduled to be released simultaneously in theatres and on Netflix on November 24, 2023. Mondo Media set the film's release for late November or December 2022. During 2020, the film was announced to be released in early 2023. In January 2022, The Onward Company announced the film's release date as November 17, 2023, before it was further delayed a week later on November 24, with its previous November 17, 2023 premiere taken by Trolls Band Together.
==Gallery==
File:Happy Tree Friends The Movie - Poster -3.jpeg|The poster featuring Lumpy.
File:Happy Tree Friends The Movie - Poster -2.jpeg|The poster featuring Cuddles and Giggles.
File:Happy Tree Friends The Movie - Poster -4.jpeg|The poster featuring Handy and Petunia.
File:Happy Tree Friends The Movie - Poster -1.jpeg|The poster featuring Fliqpy.
==Trivia==
*This will be the 1090th installment of the Disney Movieverse, as well as the 35th film from The Onward Company.
*This will be Netflix Animation Studios's tenth animated feature, and will be the first feature produced by Mondo Media since Dick Figures: The Movie.
*The film will also be the first film produced by Redknot.
*The film's second segment, Ultimate Death, will inspire action-packed material from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Sausage Party, Bullet Train and Fifty Shades trilogy. Ultimate Death will be a crossover segment with select media including My Little Pony, SpongeBob Squarepants and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
*This will also served as a reboot to the long-running Happy Tree Friends internet series.
==See also==
*Happy Tree Friends
*Mondo Media
*Back to the Outback
*Over the Moon
*The Gray Man
*The Christmas Chronicles
*Stranger Things
*The Willoughbys
*The Sea Beast
Category:2023 Films
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