Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night

***Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night*** (also known as ***Dusk and Dawn 3***) is a 2021 American computer-animated comedy fantasy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. The third main installment, the fourth installment overall in the *Dusk and Dawn* franchise and the sequel to *Dusk and Dawn 2: The Belt of Venus* (2013), the film was directed by Simon J. Smith and Alessandro Carloni from a screenplay by Eyal Podell and Jonathon E. Stewart. Jeremy Shada, Mae Whitman, William Houston, Allison Janney, Bill Murray, Amanda Seyfried, Charlize Theron, Dan Snyder, and Tim Allen reprise their roles from the previous films, with newcomers Chris Pratt, Daveed Diggs, Melissa Villaseñor, Patrick Stewart, and Neil Patrick Harris joining the ensemble cast. In the film, Dusk and Dawn accidentally switch colors of their appearances when several optical phenomena including the zodiacal light occur in their place; the pair can work together to defeat the zodiacal light then they must return to their true forms once and for all.

*Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night* premiered at the New York Comic Con on October 16, 2021, and was released in the United States on November 24. It marked the first DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed by Universal Pictures, whose parent company NBCUniversal acquired DWA in 2019. It grossed over $602 million worldwide and received positive reviews, with many critics considering it an improvement over its predecessor and praising the animation, humor, characters, screenplay, and the vocal performances of Peck and Deschanel, although some criticism was on the film being derivative to the first two films as well as the plot. The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 91st Academy Awards, but lost to *Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* (which also stars Jake Johnson).

## Plot

Long ago, Zodiac co-exists with Twilight and Sun alongside other several optical phenomena. As time passes from day to night, he then becomes suspicious of the two tribes' colors so he attempts to switch them by using other phenomena, but his unhappy actions led to him being separated from the main group. Years pass as Zodiac becomes obsessed with switching colors, but constantly fails until he encounters Dusk and Dawn, leading to him making up a ordinary plot to switch the pair's colors.

*More to be added*

## Cast

*See also: List of Dusk and Dawn characters*
* Jeremy Shada as Dusk
* Mae Whitman as Dawn
* William Houston as Twilight
* Allison Janney as Sun
* Bill Murray as Light
* Amanda Seyfried as Blue
* Charlize Theron as Golden
* Dan Snyder as Morning
* Tim Allen as Evening
* Chris Pratt as Zodiac
* Daveed Diggs as Airglow
* Melissa Villaseñor as Halo
* Patrick Stewart as Glory
* Neil Patrick Harris as Dust
* Eric Darnell as Keeper
* James Corden as Elder Jo
* Haley Bennett as Elder Ji
* Kevin Michael Richardson as Elder Ja
* Cody Cameron as Tio
* Conrad Vernon as Mark
* Chris Miller as Sparkle
* Ashley Tisdale as Miss Night
* David P. Smith as Wade

### Additional Voices

* Newell Alexander
* Courtenay Taylor
* Steve Alterman
* Stephen Apostolina
* Kirk Baily
* Tress MacNeille
* Mitch Carter
* Brook Chalmers
* Vic Chao
* June Christopher
* David Cowgill
* Robin Atkin Downes
* Peter Falls
* Carter Hastings
* Sumalee Montano
* Logan Kishi
* Kimberly Brooks
* Sherry Hursey
* Rif Hutton
* Joyce Kurtz
* Richard McGregor
* Jessica DiCicco
* Juan Pope
* Moira Quirk
* Kari Wahlgren
* Michael Sorich
* Warren Sroka
* Grey DeLisle
* Marcelo Tubert
* Matthew Wolf
* Lynnanne Zager

## Production

Development on *Dusk and Dawn 3* began in late 2009 after the release of *Dusk and Dawn 2: The Belt of Venus* and by the summer of 2012, pre-production on the film was underway, though DreamWorks has kept details of the third film's development secret during that time. In December 2010, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg said that he has kept the possibility for future *Dusk and Dawn* sequels open, stating "Of course, we have a lot of stories to tell, so we're [starting to] prepare for them." In July 2012, Eric Darnell, who co-directed the first film, said he would do a third film if he could create a good story for it. In early September 2012, the third film, tentatively titled *Dusk and Dawn 3*, was scheduled for a November 4, 2016 release while Tom McGrath would direct the third film, with Eyal Podell and Jonathon E. Stewart writing the screenplay and Josh Peck and Zooey Deschanel reprising their respective roles as Dusk and Dawn.

By April 2013, DreamWorks Animation announced that the film would be split into two separate projects in the *Dusk and Dawn* series; one being the main third film and one being a spin-off film titled *Blue & Golden* for a 2015 release. DreamWorks Animation CCO Bill Damaschke stated that the reasoning was due to the third film's original story not working right and the fact that the filmmakers wanted the film to focus on the main story, resulting in the screenplay being rewritten. In addition, McGrath also left *Dusk and Dawn 3* to direct *Blue & Golden*.

On July 7, 2015, Simon J. Smith was announced as the third film's new director. In April 2016, it was announced that Alessandro Carloni was named co-director with Smith, having previously been co-directing *Kung Fu Panda 3* with Jennifer Yuh Nelson. In October 2016, it was announced that Anthony Hopkins, Christine Baranski, Dan Aykroyd, Isla Fisher, Nicole Kidman, Jeff Garlin, and Bill Nighy would reprise their roles in the third film; in addition, newcomers Jake Johnson, Bobby Cannavale and James Corden have also joined the cast. In April 2017, the film's title was officially announced as *Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night*. Kate McKinnon and Matt Frewer later joined the cast by July 2017.

## Soundtrack

*Main article: Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night/Soundtrack*
In July 2017, it was announced that Hans Zimmer and John Powell, who previously collaborated on the score for the first film, would return to score the third film's music.

## Release

In September 2012, 20th Century Fox, the studio's then-distributor partner, and DreamWorks Animation initially announced that the third film, tentatively titled *Dusk and Dawn 3*, would be released on November 4, 2016, but in May 2013, *Trolls* took over its date, thus moving *Dusk and Dawn 3* to March 10, 2017. In February 2014, the film was then moved forward to June 16, 2017, swapping release dates with *Prism*.

In January 2015, *Dusk and Dawn 3* was removed from the release schedule following DreamWorks Animation's corporate restructuring and lay-offs meant to maximize the company's "creative talent and resources, reduce costs, and drive profitability." By July 2015, the film was back on its schedule with a new release date of September 28, 2018. In June 2016, the release date had been moved up two weeks earlier on September 14, 2018. On December 5, 2016, the release date was pushed back again to May 18, 2018, taking over the slot of *How to Train Your Dragon 3* which in turn was pushed back to March 1, 2019. On March 5, 2017, the release date was pushed back once again to March 2, 2018, replacing the now-cancelled *Larrikins*. By April 2017, the third film was retitled as *Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night*.

The film had its world premiere in the out of competition section at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival on February 16, 2018. It was released on March 2 in the United States.

### Marketing

A new poster for the film was released on September 17, 2017. Two days later, the first official trailer for the film was released on September 19, 2017. A second trailer was released on November 28, 2017. Its final trailer was released on January 25, 2018.

### Home media

*Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night* was released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on Digital HD on May 22, 2018, and was released on Blu-ray, DVD and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on June 5, 2018.

## Reception

### Box office

*Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night* grossed $201.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $401.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $602.9 million, against a production budget of $125 million.

### Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 74%, based on 162 reviews and an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Despite its troubling storyline, *Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night* is delightfully an improvement over its predecessor with its zany laughs and colorful animation." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 61 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

## Video game

*Main article: Dusk and Dawn: Solar Madness*
A video game based on the film, titled *Dusk and Dawn: Solar Madness*, was released by Outright Games for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on February 27, 2018.

## Future

DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg said that he has kept the possibility for future sequels open, stating "Of course, we have a lot of stories to tell, so we're [starting to] prepare for them." In February 2018, Zooey Deschanel expressed interest in reprising her role as Dawn for a possible fourth film.

## Transcripts

### Main

To see the main transcript of the film, click here.

### Trailers

To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.