Wondercolts

***Wondercolts*** is a 2005 American computer-animated musical sports comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios

and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich and Kelly Asbury from a screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Dan Fogelman, Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, and Jorgen Klubien and a story by Lasseter, Pete Docter, Ranft, Asbury, and Andrew Stanton. The film features the voices of Avril Lavinge, Hillary Duff, Zoe Saldana, Kelly Clarkson, Kristin Chenoweth, Jodi Benson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael Peña, and Emily Blunt. *Wondercolts* is also Pixar's first film with a female protagonist.

The film's story centers around a sports competition between the students of Bloomington High School and their rivals at Silver Prep Academy, one of whom is Miranda Hopkins, who has been investigating the magical activity around Bloomington High.

Lasseter conceived the film's original concept in 1997. Lasseter originally directed the film with Lee Unkrich, Kelly Asbury and Joe Ranft until November 2003 when Ranft left the project, leaving the later as its sole director. *Wondercolts* was the first Pixar Animation Studios film to use the studio's new animation technology to produce its animated visuals and lighting.

*Wondercolts* premiered at the Angelika Film Center in New York City on June 3, 2005, and was released in the United States on June 17. It received critical acclaim, with many critics praising its animation, concept, screenplay, characters, music, and vocal performances, particularly of Lavigne and Duff; it is often cited as one of the greatest animated films of all time and temporarily held a rating of 100% (at 97% as of May 2019) on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.

*Wondercolts* was an immediate critical and commercial success, earning over $853 million worldwide on its $77 million budget, making it the highest-grossing animated film of 2005 and the third highest-grossing film of the year. *Wondercolts* won two Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for "What More Is Out There?", and was also nominated for Best Original Score, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing. *Wondercolts* saw a 3D re-release in theaters on September 18, 2015 to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

The film's success has since helped spawn an expanded franchise including several short films, various television specials, and a sequel released in 2014. A short series titled *Wondercolts: Better Together*, aired on Disney Channel and Disney XD in 2016. A television series is set to be released on Disney+ in 2022.

## Plot

The students of Bloomington High School prepare for the Friendship Games, an academic and sporting competition held every four years between their school's team, the Wondercolts, and the undefeated Shadowbolts from Silver Prep Academy. Bella Robbins, who has been observing her friends' magical ability to "girl up" whenever they play musical instruments, becomes concerned when Sally Gleen transforms during a pep rally, seemingly at random. Tasked with finding the cause of this development, Sunset attempts to contact some girl for advice, but receives no response.

Meanwhile, one of the Silver Prep Academy's students, Miranda Hopkins investigates the magical activity surrounding Bloomington High. Miranda builds a locket-like device with which to detect and contain the magic for further study, hoping this will secure her application for Everton, a coveted independent study program. However, Principal Starling threatens to revoke the application to blackmail Miranda into participating in the Friendship Games and maintain Silver Prep's victory record.

Upon Twilight's arrival at Bloomington High, her device detects Bella and her friends' magic and leads Miranda to them; as she approaches, the device inadvertently drains Alice Summers' magic when she "girls up" after making uniforms for her friends. Bella, initially mistaking Miranda, quickly realizes the misunderstanding and considers consulting her in person. When Miranda follows her to a portal, the device absorbs the portal's magic and seals it off. The device similarly affects Zoey Valentine and Selena Phillips when they attempt to befriend Miranda, creating dimensional rifts to another dimension and giving Miranda's dog Spike the ability to speak.

Following Miranda's victory in the games' academic decathlon, the games continue with a "tricross relay", a relay race between archery, speed skating and motocross. Jasmine Davis transforms after advising Miranda in the race, causing the device to steal Jasmine's magic and create a rift that summons monstrous plants. Sally Gleen "girls up" to save the other competitors before losing her own magic, allowing Bloomington High to win the event, but causing Starling to accuse Bloomington High of cheating due to their perceived magical advantage.

Before the final event, Starling and the Shadowbolts pressure Miranda into releasing the magic within her device to harness it against the Wondercolts. The magic instead corrupts Miranda, turning her into a monster who proceeds to destroy the statue portal and open more rifts that threaten to destroy the parallel world. As the Wondercolts and Shadowbolts work together to save their classmates, Bella notices her friends' magical auras and realizes that their magic manifests when they exhibit the same traits as the Elements of Harmony. Gathering their magic with the device, Bella assumes an angelic form, closes the rifts, and returns Miranda to normal.

Refusing to relent for manipulating Miranda, Starling threatens to report the incident to the school board. When taunted that no one would believe her account of the magical incidents, however, she concedes to a tie that is celebrated by both teams. Reconsidering her Everton application, Starling realizes she is happier at Bloomington High and transfers there, where Miranda and the other students welcome her as a new friend.

In a pre-credits scene, a girl emerges from the portal with the counterparts of her friends gathered around it. She apologizes for her absence, explaining that she has just escaped from a time travel loop, before gawking at the sight of her own counterpart.

## Voice cast

*Main article: List of Wondercolts characters*

* Avril Lavinge as Bella Robbins
* Hilary Duff as Miranda Hopkins
* Zoe Saldana as Sally Gleen
* Kelly Clarkson as Jasmine Davis
* Kristin Chenoweth as Zoey Valentine
* Jodi Benson as Selena Phillips
* Sarah Jessica Parker as Alice Summers
* Michael Peña as Spike
* Emily Blunt as Principal Alyia Starling
* Hayden Panettiere as Kelsey Sweet
* Haylie Duff as Amanda Sugercoat
* JoJo as Mackenzie Zap
* Evan Rachel Wood as Sunny Stewart
* Jennifer Aniston as Rosie Zest
* Debra Messing as Principal Noakes
* Julia Roberts as Vice Principal Porter
* Elizabeth Banks as Dean Pela
* Matthew Lillard as Zachary Miller
* Elijah Wood as Jason Baxter
* Sarah Vowell as Lucy Jones
* Ariel Winter as Lyra
* John Ratzenberger as Joe Hoskins
* Jim Gaffigan as Roger Rumpkins
* Liz Gillies as Muffins

## Production

### Development

After directing *Toy Story* (1995), John Lasseter started working on a female-led film titled *Warrior*, but problems with acquiring the necessary film rights prevented him from continuing with that project. To avoid a recurrence of that issue, he pitched five original ideas. The genesis of one of those ideas (the one that was ultimately green-lighted) occurred in 1998, when Lasseter began revisiting his childhood, when he, as a child, drew several pictures of a teenage girl in a motocross race.

Lasseter wrote a treatment and initially pitched *Wondercolts* as a future production for Pixar as one of three ideas for possible productions for the studio several times. However, the studio refused to develop the project because they were pre-occupied with *Toy Story 2*. It wasn't until after *Toy Story 2* was completed that Pixar, who was searching for a project that would "fill the space between" *Toy Story 2* and *Monsters, Inc.*, that *Wondercolts* was finally green-lit. Impressed by the film's concept, Joe Ranft shortly became interested in the project so he agreed to work on it with Lasseter.

In September 2000, Disney announced the film, as appropriately joked as the *Untitled John Lasseter/Joe Ranft Project*, which had been commissioned into early stages of development, but little else about the film was known at the time. In August 2001, Lee Unkrich, co-director of Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo, and Kelly Asbury, director of Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Shrek 2 were set to co-direct as well. The plot, director and co-director, producer and other small details were announced at the CinemaCon in April 2002. By June 2003, Pixar announced that the film would be titled *Wondercolts*, with Lasseter, Unkrich, Asbury and Ranft directing from the screenplay by Andrew Stanton Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Dan Fogelman and Jorgen Klubien. Pixar also announced that it would be releasing the film in 2005, and hinted that it might be the June 10, 2005 release window previously announced by the studio in August 2002 for a then-untitled Pixar film.

In July 2003, Pixar confirmed that it would be releasing the film on June 10, 2005. Executives at Disney were positive at the proposal of making *Wondercolts*, but acknowledged it would be difficult to market. In October 2003, the release date was moved up a week from June 10, to June 17, 2005. In November 2003, it was announced that Ranft had stepped down as director, leaving Lasseter as the film's sole director but Ranft still remained as a co-director and so did Unkrich and Asbury which they didn't leave the project. Lasseter explained that, between his position as CEO of Pixar, he could not commit to directing the film.

During 2004 CinemaCon for Pixar's slate of upcoming animated films, protagonist Bella's last name was given as "Keena", but that name was not retained in the final film.

### Casting

The film's voice cast consisting of Hilary Duff, Zoe Saldana, Kelly Clarkson, and Kristin Chenoweth were first announced in June 2003, while casting was underway for the lead character Bella. More than 1,200 actresses auditioned for the role of Bella, which ultimately went to singer Avril Lavinge when he got her first acting job. When the character of Bella was being written, Sarah Michelle Gellar was considered for the role of Bella. In January 2004, Lavinge was announced as the role of Bella, while Jodi Benson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael Peña, and Emily Blunt were added to the film's cast. This is also the first Pixar film to have a female lead.

### Music and soundtrack

*Main article: Wondercolts: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack*

The official soundtrack for the film was released on June 7, 2005 by Walt Disney Records.

### Animation and design

Over the five years before the film's release, Pixar Animation Studios had substantially over-hauled its production workflow and animation software. *Wondercolts* was the first Pixar Animation Studios film that used RenderMan, a new rendering system that offered the studio's new animation and lighting software through the entire production as part of the overhaul of the rendering system used since the first *Toy Story* film. Called by Lasseter as "the next generation of Pixar Animation Studios". A software program called Zoom was used to create over 400 distinctive characters that populate the setting. Another one named Frizzle was responsible for the creation of the setting's 320,000 trees.

Development on RenderMan started in 2002 and was based upon research into multi-bounce complex global illumination originally conducted at Walt Disney Animation Studios. In the planning stage of the film, CG supervisor TBA asked "What if we made these lights just work?". Before the new system, artists had to build reflections and shadows manually, which became increasingly complex as the models and the setups became more technologically advanced. They spent over a year in 2000 painting and sketching, and encountering various creatures as well as story locations.

Production wrapped on February 1, 2005.

## Release

*Wondercolts* premiered on June 3, 2005 at the Angelika Film Center in New York City on June 3, 2005. John Lasseter, Zoe Saldana, Kelly Clarkson, Joe Ranft, Randy Newman, Dan Fogelman, Kristin Chenoweth, Jodi Benson, Jorgen Kluebien, John Ratzenberger, Jim Gaffigan, Avril Lavinge, Hilary Duff, and Michael Peña, including Sarah Michelle Gellar from *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* (who was originally set for the role of Bella Robbins) were among those in attendance. Also in attendance was *The Real Housewives of New York* star Kristen Taekman, *Top Chef*'s Padma Lakshmi, *America's Got Talent* host Nick Cannon, former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber, and *Sons of Anarchy*'s Drea de Matteo.

In the United States, it received a wide theatrical release by Buena Vista Pictures starting on June 17, 2005. It was previously scheduled for June 10 of that year. The film made its network premiere on ABC on October 5, 2007 and its cable premiere on Disney Channel on November 4, 2007. After the success of the 3D re-releases of *Finding Nemo* and *Monsters, Inc.*, Pixar re-released *Wondercolts* in 3D on September 18, 2015 for the 10th anniversary of the film.

### Marketing

Pixar partnered with more than 100 licensing and promotional partners in a deal valued at an unprecedented $250 million. One of the partners was The Walt Disney Company for advertising. Disney also partnered with McDonald's to produce eight toys in their Happy Meals starting on June 10, 2005.

### Trailers

* The official teaser was released on August 11, 2004, and was shown with *The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement* and *Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light*, *The Aliana Gleen Movie*, *Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow*, *Secret Magic*, *Shark Tale*, *Taxi*, *The Witch Stone*, and *Runover Boys*.
* The first theatrical trailer was released on November 5, 2004 and was shown with *The Incredibles*, *The Polar Express*, *Finding Neverland*, *National Treasure*, *The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie*, *Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events*, *Zina and the Vivid Crew*, *Fat Albert*, *Elektra*, *Coach Carter* *Racing Stripes*, and *Are We There Yet?*.
* The second theatrical trailer was released in February 11, 2005 and was shown before *Pooh's Heffalump Movie*, *Because of Winn-Dixie*, *Son of the Mask*, *The Pacifier*, *Robots*, *Animal Frenzy: The Movie*, *Ice Princess*, *Onion Mastori: The Movie*, *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*.
* The third and final theatrical trailer was released on May 6, 2005 and was shown before *Kingdom of Heaven*, *Mad Hot Ballroom*, *Kicking & Screaming*, *Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith*, *Madagascar*, *Objects: Time Warped* and *The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D*.
* TV spots began to air from May 9 to July 12, 2005.

*Wondercolts* was also promoted heavily at several Disney theme parks including Disneyland at Hollywood and Walt Disney World in Orlando, which both offered meet-and-greet sessions involving the film's two main characters, Bella and Miranda. In May 2005, Disney Consumer Products began releasing a line of toys and other merchandise relating to the film in retailers.

A series of animated prequel shorts for *Wondercolts*, were announced on November 13, 2004. On April 29, 2005, the Pixar Facebook page posted some instructions for playing in the "Friendship Games Fantasy League" and indicated that a new short would be released every Saturday during May 2005. These are separate from the film. A total of four shorts were released; the shorts, paired with a 10-minute preview of the film, aired on ABC on May 21, 2005.

### Video game

*Main article: Wondercolts (video game)*
A video game based on the film, was released on June 14, 2005 for Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable, and published by THQ. An Xbox 360 version was released on November 22, 2005.

### Home media

*Wondercolts* was released on VHS and DVD on October 18, 2005. The release included a new animated short, *A Banner Day*. Extras include audio commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, music videos, sing-alongs, and short promotional clips.

Upon release, the film sold over 2.8 million DVD units in its first week, making it the highest-selling home entertainment animated film for Disney of 2005 as well as the second-highest-selling home entertainment film for Pixar behind only *Finding Nemo*. At the end of 2006, it was named the third-highest selling video of the year in the UK, selling 88 million copies since its release. It was the fourth-highest-selling DVD in the country.

Following an announcement on May 20, 2006, a sing-along reissue of *Wondercolts* was released via DVD on August 8, 2006.

*Wondercolts* was also released on Blu-ray Disc on November 6, 2007, two years after the DVD release. It was the first Pixar film to be released on Blu-ray (alongside *Cars*, *Ratatouille*, and *Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 1*), and was released as a Blu-ray Disc and DVD combo pack and DVD only edition on April 12, 2011. The film was released for the first time in 3D on October 13, 2015, as part of a box set alongside its sequel, which included the releases on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and DVD.

*Wondercolts* was released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on September 10, 2019.

## Reception

### Box office

During its original theatrical run, *Wondercolts* grossed $340.6 million in the United States and Canada and $491.3 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $831.9 million against a budget of $77 million. Worldwide, it is the third-highest-grossing film of 2005, the highest-grossing animated film of 2005, and the highest-grossing sports film at the time.

*Wondercolts* opened in 4,219 North American theaters on its opening weekend, grossing $52.1 million on its first day, which was the biggest Friday opening day in June. During its opening weekend, *Wondercolts* earned $133.5 million from 4,219 theaters, which at the time set new records such as the highest opening for a Pixar film, the highest weekend debut for a non-sequel animated film, the highest weekend debut for an original film overall, the highest opening for a 2005 film in the United States and Canada, and previously the highest for a Pixar animated feature until it was outgrossed by *Toy Story 3* in 2010 as well as holding the biggest opening for an animated feature (record overtaken by *The Simpsons Movie* in 2007).

Regarding the film's successful opening, TBA, The Walt Disney Company's president of marketing said, "We had a great date, and this is a big win for Pixar". *Wondercolts* grossed $49.9 million and finishing first place for the second straight weekend. It fell 62.6% in its third weekend, grossing $30.8 million and finishing second behind newcomer *War of the Worlds*. The film closed on November 13, 2005.

With DVD sales and *Wondercolts* merchandise estimated to total almost $700 million, *Wondercolts*, which was produced with a budget of $77 million, was Pixar's most profitable film at the time of its release, and was also the second highest-grossing film produced by Pixar at the time.

### Critical reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 97% "Certified Fresh" approval rating based on 285 reviews with a weighted average rating of 8.7/10. The site's critical consensus states, "With its beautiful animation, dazzling songs, dark tone, and a script that captures the nostalgia of an epic sports expedition, *Wondercolts* will perhaps find its family-friendly audience off guard". It was one of the site's highest-rated animated films of 2005, the other being *Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit*. On Metacritic, the film has a normalized score of 87 out of 100, based on 59 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale.

Manohla Dargis of *The New York Times* considered the film "very amazing and beautifully well-done". Peter Travers of *Rolling Stone* gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, saying "Arguably their best effort ever since *Toy Story*, *Wondercolts* takes Pixar Animation Studios to a new level of creative storytelling and innovation. It is a true experience for the studio".

IGN gave the film a 9.2 out of 10 'Amazing' score, saying "Very original, entertaining, heartwarming, love-spirited, sometimes scary and depressing, *Wondercolts* is yet another blockbuster animated success for Pixar in years." *The Chicago Tribune*'s Michael Phillips called it the studio's best since *Toy Story*, a "new touching, sweet, heartwarming entry to animation".

The website Rotten Tomatoes reported that *Wondercolts* temporarily had a rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes in June 2005, shortly after the film's release; the score was based on 42 reviews at the time, all of which were positive.

### Accolades

*Main article: List of accolades received by Wondercolts*

*Wondercolts* was nominated for various awards and won a number of them, including several for Best Animated Feature. At the 78th Academy Awards, the film won Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song (for "What More Is Out There?"), and was also nominated for Best Original Score, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing, losing to *Brokeback Mountain* (for Original Score) and *King Kong* (for Sound Mixing and Sound Editing).

At the 63rd Golden Globe Awards, it was nominated for Best Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy. It swept the 33rd Annie Awards winning 7 out of 11 awards, including Outstanding Achievement in Directing in an Animated Feature Production for Lasseter, Outstanding Achievement in Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production for Lavinge, and Best Animated Feature.

## Legacy

### Expanded franchise

*Main article: Wondercolts (franchise)*

A sequel titled *Wondercolts 2* was confirmed by Pixar on November 12, 2005 and was released on June 20, 2014. Pete Docter directed the film. All of the main cast also reprised their roles in the sequel, and are joined by Gina Rodriguez, Ashton Kutcher, and Anthony Edwards. The sequel takes place a year after the first film, and centers on the students of Bloomington High School attending a field trip to Camp Sunshine, which becomes plagued with bizarre magical circumstances relating to a local urban legend.

A half-hour Christmas special titled *Wondercolts: Holidays Unwrapped* premiered on ABC on December 3, 2015. Directed by Pete Docter, all of the main cast from the film reprised their roles in the special. A computer-animated television series based on the film titled *Wondercolts: Tales of Bloomington High* will debut in 2022 on Disney+. A 7-minute short film titled *Zoey Sitting* was released theatrically with Pixar Animation Studios' *Toy Story 4* on June 21, 2019. The short follows Zoey Valentine babysitting.