The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: The Motion Picture

The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: The Motion Picture is a 2017 American animated mystery comedy film based on the 1995 animated television series The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries. The film follows the titular duo trying to help their owner solve an important case. The film is produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The film was released theatrically in movie theaters for the United States and Canada on January 13, 2017, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film is directed by Karl Toerge and Rob Minkoff and it takes place after the show's series finale.
The film is starring the voice cast members: Jeff Bergman (replacing the late Joe Alaskey respectively), Candi Milo (replacing June Foray respectively), Frank Welker, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Kaprielian, Seth MacFarlane, Jodi Benson, Fred Willard, Gregg Berger, Kevin James, Dee Bradley Baker, John Mariano, Maurice LaMarche, Bernadette Peters, Jason Alexander and Rob Paulsen.
The film received positive reviews from critics and was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $179 million worldwide against a $35 million budget, making it the fifth highest-grossing animated film of all time and the highest-ever grossing film based on an animated television series, behind The Simpsons Movie, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, and The Rugrats Movie, as well as the fifth highest-grossing 2D-animated film not released by Disney (behind The Simpsons, Sponge Out of Water, The Prince of Egypt, and Rugrats).
== Synopsis ==
Granny, Sylvester, Tweety and Hector are on a Summer Vacation in San Francisco, California where the four settle in a 7 Star Expensive Hotel to stay they for the month after a hard days' work in Solving Mysteries. Upon Arriving in the Hotel, Granny sees her nephew, Billy running the Hotel as it's Manager. Billy got stunned when he saw Granny and greets her well just before Granny introduces her pets. In the lobby, Upon finding a room to stay in, Sylvester attempts to capture Tweety while he was staring at a female canary bird just a few meters away from him. There are even moments when Hector the Dog gets involved by trying to keep Tweety alive. Meanwhile, trouble rises with valuables start disappearing around town and Granny returns to her old job as a detective to solve the intriguing mystery. Now, the iconic duo must somehow coexist to keep their owner out of harm's way. Maybe they can accomplish that before they rip each other to pieces.
== Voice Cast ==
* Jeff Bergman as Tweety Bird and Sylvester the Cat
* Candi Milo as Granny
* Frank Welker as Hector and Runt
* Robert De Niro as Rocky
* Al Pacino as Mugsy
* Joe Kaprielian as Billy (Granny's nephew)
* Seth MacFarlane as Chris Stewart (Billy's boss)
* Jodi Benson as Katie Stewart (Chris' wife)
* Fred Willard as Detective John
* Gregg Berger as Police Officer #1
* Kevin James as Police Officer #2
* Dee Bradley Baker as Pesto
* John Mariano as Bobby
* Maurice LaMarche as Squit and the Brain
* Bernadette Peters as Rita
* Jason Alexander as Announcer
* Rob Paulsen as Pinky
== Rating ==
The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: The Motion Picture is Rated PG for Parental Guidance.
== Production ==
=== Announcement ===
In 2005, the production staff had considered a film adaptation of The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries since early in the series, which would be a feature-length theatrical movie. The voice cast was signed on to do the film in 2010, and work then began on the script.
The film was announced on March 11, 2013. Work continued on the storyboard from 2015 onwards, taking place at Warner Bros. Animation where Minton and T. Walker first pitched The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries in the 1990s, before the series premiered in 1995. The writers spent six months discussing a plot, and each of them offered sketchy ideas. Behnke suggested Granny, Sylvester, Tweety and Hector being on a Summer Vacation in San Francisco, California where the four settle in a 7 Star Expensive Hotel to stay they for the month after a hard days' work in Solving Mysteries. Minton and T. Walker really like this idea, as they felt that the main characters could be on Summer Vacation in California after working so hard in solving mysteries, until Granny returns to her old job as a detective. The film was originally gonna release on January 25, 2007, and gonna be the series finale. But on May 8, 2006, it was moved to September 4, 2009. But on February 9, 2010, it was moved to October 17, 2013 and on November 13, 2012, it was moved to June 20, 2014. 
Having eventually decided on the basic outline of the plot for the film, the writers then separated it into seven sections. Behnke, Humphrey and Peterson wrote 25 pages each, and the group met one month later to merge the seven sections into one "very rough draft". The film's script was written in the same way as the television series: the writers sitting around a table, pitching ideas, and trying to make each other laugh. The script went through over 10 revisions, and at one point the film was a musical. However, the songs were continually being shortened and the idea was dropped. Minton and T. Walker described their desire to also make the film dramatically stronger than a TV episode, saying that they wanted to "give you something that you haven't seen before, which will make you laugh a lot". But during development, the film's release date was moved to March 12, 2015, and that was moved to January 13, 2017 as the film's official release for Winter 2017. The film marks the third time a theatrical Warner Bros. Animation film isn't produced by Warner Animation Group since the group's formation in 2013.
=== Development ===
Warner Bros. Animation had already begun the process of starting development of movies with budgets of around $100 million. The intellectual property for these films was meant to be supplied by Warner Bros. Animation, Hanna-Barbera (Warner Bros. Animation's in-name only division), Cartoon Network and Turner Entertainment (also both Time-Warner divisions) among others and included The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, Samurai Jack, Adventure Time, Cow and Chicken, and more, of course, Codename: Kids Next Door. Cartoon Network had been approaching the original crew from the television series to make a high-profile, animated theatrical feature-length film adaptation and had long wanted to partner with Warner Bros. Pictures to release a Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries film given the network's extraordinary legacy in the world of animation, including some of the most enduring characters on cable television history.
Creators Tom Minton and James T. Walker agreed to make a feature film version of the show with the promise it would be the first of a planned trilogy. During development stages of the film, they and their co-producer Michael Gerard and executive producers Jean MacCurdy and Sam Register intended to revisit some of the greatest films of the time, with Scarface and The Dark Knight having the core inspirations for the film.
=== Casting ===
The series' regular voice actor: Frank Welker, reprised his role. On March 16, 2015, it was announced that Jeff Bergman joined the voice cast, reprising his roles as Tweety Bird and Sylvester the Cat. By September 23, voice actress Candi Milo was in a negotiation to join the cast. On December 14, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino were confirmed additions to the cast. On February 8, 2016, Fred Kron stated through Twitter that he will compose the film's music score.
On April 6, it was reported by Variety that Joe Kaprielian, Seth MacFarlane and Jodi Benson had joined the cast. Fred Willard, Gregg Berger and Kevin James confirmed via Twitter on May 11, that they would also be part of the film's cast. On June 22, Dee Bradley Baker, John Mariano, Maurice LaMarche, Bernadette Peters and Rob Paulsen were also confirmed additions to the cast, reprising their roles from Animaniacs and the movie, with Jason Alexander revealed to be part of the film's cast.
=== Animation ===
The feature animation was handled by Dong Yang Animation in South Korea. The crew used the same processes from the original television series in the making of the film, most notably the 'skroutlines', which was a seamless blend of a more traditional screenplay with a more simple outline which resembled strong short stories and gave the storyboard artists such as Kevin Frank, Dave Cunningham and Jim McLean all the creative and aesthetic freedom neccessary. Minton and T. Walker themselves provided the film's animatics.
Famed comic book artists Todd McFarlane, Fiona Staples and Dave Gibbons, and animation veterans Jan Browning, Brenda Brummet and Karl Jacobs also provided the film's storyboards. Andy Bialk helped on the character designs with Tom Bird and special effects work on the film. Another animation veteran Gregory Hinde also worked with Tom Minton and James T. Walker on the character designs of the film.
The bulk of the animation work was done on Apple iMac Computers, Hewlett-Packard Z800 Workstation Computers, Hewlett-Packard Z400 Workstation Servers, Samsung 22 Class LED Computer Monitors and Wacom Cintiq tablets, which allowed drawings to be done directly on screen to facilitate production using program Toon Boom Animation's Toon Boom Harmony, which was used as the main software package for the production of the film. The character animators found some difficulty with this approach, and decided to use traditional paper and pencil drawings, which were then scanned into the computer systems, for The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: The Motion Picture. Pencil on paper animation sequences would be digitally inked-and-painted, enhanced and composited into backgrounds using Toon Boom Harmony.
The character animation was done on paper without going through the clean-up animation department, and scanned directly into Photoshop. The artwork was then enhanced to affect the appearance of painted strokes and fills, and combined with backgrounds, using Adobe After Effects. The visual effects and backgrounds for the film were created digitally using Cintiq tablet displays. Tom Minton and James T. Walker explained that they went paperless for The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: The Motion Picture to help them re-introduce the 2D pipeline.
The backgrounds were painted digitally using Adobe Photoshop. Additional pre-production work was done at Warner Bros. Animation in Burbank, California where the series' pilot episode was produced. Animation and clean-up work was done at Dong Yang's facilities on South Korea. The final animation was also provided by Lotto Animation and Hanho Heung-Up in Seoul, South Korea and Mook Animation and TMS Entertainment in Tokyo, Japan. Computer animation was done at Munich Animation Film in Munich, Germany.
=== Sound and music ===
Fred Kron composed the soundtrack for the film with Jared Faber and Denis M. Hannigan serving as the soundtrack producers. In addition to using the original series' music work from J. Eric Schmidt, Gordon Goodwin, Richard Stone (who died in 2001), Cameron Patrick and Steve Bernstein on the film, he also composed themes for all of the Looney Tunes. Sylvester and Tweety's mystery score was the major focus and he also composed themes for Granny, Hector, Rocky, Mugsy, Billy, Chris Stewart and Katie Stewart, and Runt. The music score was recorded at Warner Bros. Eastwood Scoring Stage in Burbank and mixed at Remote Control Productions in Santa Monica. The score is orchestrated and conducted by Pete Anthony.
The sound design work was done at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California and Warner Bros. Animation in Burbank, California.
== Release ==
=== Theatrical release ===
The film was released theatrically in movie theaters for the United States and Canada on January 13, 2017, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film was presented in a 1.85:1 format, rather than Warner Animation Group's standard 2.39:1 format on its previous titles. The film's theatrical release was preceded by Lunch Boxing, a short film based on the animated television series ¡Mucha Lucha!.
=== Marketing ===
The teaser trailer was released on June 8, 2016, posted on the Warner Bros. Pictures YouTube channels. A second teaser trailer was released on November 8, 2016. McDonalds released Happy Meal toys to promote the film. On December 5, 2016, promotional tie-ins on every channel consist of bumpers with Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat and Hector in a movie theater announcing the film. In addition, they host the entire line-up, in intermissions between commercial break.
=== Home media ===
The film was released on Digital on March 21 and Blu-Ray and DVD on April 11, 2017. It contains the deleted scenes, a ¡Mucha Lucha! short film Lunch Boxing, the 18-minute featurette, the behind-the-scenes look at The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: The Motion Picture, featuring interviews with most of the principal cast and crew, animatics, the first episode from Season 1 and the audio commentaries.
== Reception ==
=== Critical ===
Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 91% approval rating based on the 99 reviews, and its average rating is 6.35/10. The critical consensus reads, "The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: The Motion Picture is packed with a lot of comedy and some mystery that kids won't be able to figure out." Metacritic, assigns the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore gives the film an "B+" on its A+ to F scale.
=== Box office ===
The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: The Motion Picture has grossed $86 million in the United States and Canada, and $93 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $179 million, against a production budget of $35 million.
In the United States and Canada, The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: The Motion Picture was released alongside Monster Trucks, and was initially projected to gross around $44 million from 4,218 theaters in its opening weekend, with a chance to go as high as $100 million. Therefore, The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: The Motion Picture has grossed over $179 million worldwide against a $35 million budget, making it the first highest-grossing hand-drawn animated film of 2017 and the highest-ever grossing film based on an animated television series.
== Trivia ==
* This is the first ever feature film of the series.
* This is the first animated The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries movie to hit theaters.
* This is the fourth theatrical movie based on a Cartoon Network show. The others being "The Powerpuff Girls Movie" released 15 years prior, "Regular Show: The Movie" released 2 years prior and ''The Animaniacs Movie'' released a year before.
** Although, Animaniacs and The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries are only aired by both Kids' WB and Cartoon Network, and they're made by Warner Bros.
* The movie is Rated PG for Parental Guidance.
* The film uses a combination of hand-drawn animation and CGI, much like fellow Warner Bros. Animation films Quest for Camelot, The Iron Giant and Tiny Toon Adventures: The Motion Picture.
* This is the next theatrical 2D animated movie in 19 years after Quest for Camelot (1998) and 18 years after The Iron Giant (1999).
* This marks as Warner Bros.' next 2D animated theatrical film. Warner Bros. had its original feature animation division, which produced 2D animated films.
* Before the movie, a short film called "Lunch Boxing" based on the 2002 animated television series ¡Mucha Lucha! was played.
* This is Warner Bros.' third traditionally animated film to be released theatrically, after ''Clifford's Really Big Movie'' released 12 years prior.
* This is the fifth theatrical Warner Bros. film to rely solely on hand-drawn animation mixed with CGI animation instead of Flash animation.
* The is the fifth theatrical Looney Tunes film, after "Space Jam" released 20 years prior and ''Looney Tunes: Back in Action released 13 years prior, and so far the third film to be a fully 2D-animated film, after "Tiny Toon Adventures: The Motion Picture" and "The Animaniacs Movie" released this year, but is done in hand-drawn animation mixed with CGI animation.
* In total, the film took 11 years to complete. This is because Warner Bros. greenlit the project back in 2005.
* Like the show itself, The characters from the show are animated in 2D hand-drawn animation using Toon Boom Harmony, with much of the clean-up animation, digital ink-and-paint, and compositing outsourced to Dong Yang Animation.
* This is Kevin James' third animated film outside Sony Pictures Animation's Hotel Transylvania series, after "Monster House" and "Barnyard" both released 11 years prior.
* The film was animated by Dong Yang Animation.
* The film is meant to be a spoof of various detective films.
* For the most part, the story is narrated by Sylvester.
* Rocky and Mugsy are the main villains of the film.
* Rita, Runt, and the Goodfeathers from The Animaniacs Movie appear in the film. It is revealed that Sylvester knows Rita and Tweety knows the Goodfeathers.
* The production would also use the same softwares utilized for The Princess and the Frog, Toon Boom Animation's Harmony, and Adobe's Photoshop and After Effects.
* Pinky and the Brain make a surprise appearance after the events of The Animaniacs Movie.
* This is the third film to have some of the Looney Tunes make surprise appearances.
* Candi Milo replaces June Foray as the voice of Granny in the film.
== Transcript ==
=== Main Transcript ===
: Main article: The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: The Motion Picture/Transcript
=== Trailer Transcripts ===
: Main article: The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: The Motion Picture/Trailer transcripts
== Credits ==
: Main article: The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: The Motion Picture/Credits
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