Sunnie

***Sunnie*** is a 2017 American computer-animated fantasy comedy-drama film produced by Frenzy Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox, and is based on Mike Copeland's daily comic strip of the same name. It was written and directed by Ryan Marshall from a screenplay by Nicholas Stoller and Brad Garland from a story by Marshall. The film stars Amanda Leighton as the titular character, with Ben Schwartz, Katie Crown, Josh Gad, Chris Pratt, David Cross, Elizabeth Banks, Rob Riggle, Zac Efron, Dylan O'Brien, Amy Poehler, and Peter Dinklage. Animation services were provided by Reel FX Animation Studios and Mikros Image Montreal. The film follows a teenage girl named Sunnie, where she meets Justin, R.O.B.E.R.T. and Bella for the very first time and they are enlisted by The Zenn Crew to set off on a journey in order to prevent a diabolical villain from opening the Darkworld and conquering the world with its sentient mutant creatures.

*Sunnie* premiered on September 30, 2017, at the Regency Village Theatre and was released in theatres and RealD 3D, IMAX, and Dolby Cinema on October 13, 2017. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its animation, voice cast, and score, but criticized the plot and lack of originality. *Sunnie* was a box office success, grossing over $347.7 million worldwide against its $70 million budget. A television series based on the film, *Sunnie's World*, premiered on Fox Family on April 5, 2019. A sequel was released in Canadian theaters on October 2, 2020 and was digitally released on Disney+ on January 29, 2021.

## Plot

In the fictional small town of Dellswhite Hills, a lonely younger Sunnie Stewart (Amanda Leighton), who just moved into the town, befriends a talking trashed-out robot named R.O.B.E.R.T. (Josh Gad), and he manages to live among Sunnie's family. At the first day at her new school, she meets Justin Barker (Ben Schwartz) and Bella Robbins (Katie Crown) for the first time, where Bella just despises Sunnie, while Justin has a secret crush on her.

Eight years later, Sunnie, now a teenager, has dreams of venturing out to different places with the help of R.O.B.E.R.T. and her older brother, Joshua (Dylan O'Brien).

One day at the Dellswhite Hills High School, Sunnie's teacher Ms. Fitzgerald (Jenny Slate), announces that the town is having their first annual science convention, where Sunnie can finally improve her brother's invention skills. To enroll, she, Joshua, and R.O.B.E.R.T sign up for the town's showcase and they present their project: Tinybots, batches of miniature robots that could help any human being and can combine together in any imaginable position just by using a transmitter. Travis (Peter Dinklage), the convention's host, announces that Sunnie and her family won the contest. As the Stewart family leave to celebrate Sunnie's success, a massive fire suddenly breaks out in the convention center and Joshua rushes in to save Travis, believing he is the only person left inside. The building explodes moments later, killing them both. Weeks later, a depressed Sunnie, mourning Joshua's death, where R.O.B.E.R.T. tries to comfort her, but Sunnie decides to give up as a inventor and her wishes to venture out to the open world. The two then find Sunnie's only Tinybot and follow it to an abandoned warehouse. There, they discover that someone has been mass-producing the small robots and are attacked by a mysterious man, though they are rescued by Captain Zenn (Chris Pratt), Alyia Starling (Elizabeth Banks), and Doctor Dog (David Cross). They reveal that the newly-made Tinybots belong to super criminal Hunter (Rob Riggle), who wants to capture R.O.B.E.R.T. as part of a plan involving finding three keys to open the gateway to the Darkworld, a underworld full of mutant sentient creatures led by giant mutant lion named Marek. The group then head to a abandoned carnival to find the first key, where they are chased by Hunter and his Tinybots again. Fortunately, the group escape as they get the key.

Meanwhile, Justin, discovers that her and R.O.B.E.R.T. are with Captain Zenn through social media, so Justin teams up with Bella and Louis Gibbs (Zac Efron) to find the two, before encountering Officer Finley (Erin Fitzgerald), who is revealed to be Hunter, in disguise who then imprisons them in his airship. Sunnie, R.O.B.E.R.T., Captain Zenn, Doctor Dog, and Alyia Starling arrive at a large, hidden, mysterious island where Zenn calls it "The Forbidden Jungle of Mysteries". In the jungle, the group are chased and attacked by various giant mutant animals, such as chimpanzees with really good fighting skills and a swarm of man-eating vultures. Thinking quickly, Sunnie creates a torch of fire, which scares the vultures away. However, the other mutant animals are captivated by the fire, having never seen it before. They steal Sunnie's torch (and they also mess around with her) and accidentally set the land around them in flames. Some giant corn is also lit, which rockets up to the sky, prompting a display of "fireworks" as the kernels explode, turning them into giant popcorn kernels and landing onto the group. The group are then captured by a pack of wolves, led by Jeff (Keegan-Michael Key) and Carl (Anthony Anderson). The two wolf leaders challenge Zenn to a battle in order to get the second key, but Zenn is obviously defeated by the wolves. Fortunately, Sunnie distracts the wolves by repeatedly hitting R.O.B.E.R.T., allowing the group to escape. The wolves then chase after the group, where they later escape via a inflatable raft through a river. They proceed to explore the rest of the mysterious island.

Meanwhile, Bella, Louis, and Justin later escape Hunter's airship with the help of a bucket-headed Tinybot. After they discover Hunter's plan to open the gates to the Darkworld and a shrine to his menacing cat Jeffrey (Chris Parnell). Hunter captures them again and explains he wants to rescue Jeffrey after he was trapped during an attempt to steal the Darkworld's riches. He needs R.O.B.E.R.T. in particular because he is Hunter's own powerful creation, where he escaped from his old laboratory. Sunnie and the group then find the final key in a mysterious cave where it is guarded by a sleeping giant named Bengruel. Sunnie attempts to get the final key, but she wakes up Bengruel, and it begins to chase the group. Zenn uses his acrobatic skills to save the group and elude Bengruel, where they escape from him. However, the group have another encounter with the wolves at a nearby shore, where the wolves take Sunnie and R.O.B.E.R.T. away from the Zenn Crew, leaving them to escape. Sunnie and R.O.B.E.R.T. are then taken to a mysterious temple, where the mysterious man who attacked the two earlier reveals himself as Travis, who is actually Hunter's assistant and had stolen and used Sunnie's Tinybots to shield himself from the explosion that killed Joshua. Enraged at the discovery that Joshua had died in vain, Sunnie tries to attack him, where Justin arrives, but he is revealed to be Hunter in disguise as he steals the final key. Hunter's robot minions throw Bella, Louis, and Justin out of his airship and the robots imprison the teenagers in the temple, as R.O.B.E.R.T. is taken away from Sunnie.

Sunnie begins to lose hope and breaks into tears, as she views videos of her and R.O.B.E.R.T. helping each other on her phone. However, Zenn and his crew land into the temple and they convince her to stand up and think of an escape plan. After Sunnie gave an inspiring speech, everyone works together to save R.O.B.E.R.T. and the world. Arriving in Egypt, Hunter uses the three keys to reveal the gate and attempts to use R.O.B.E.R.T.'s hand to open it, only to be interrupted by Sunnie and her friends in the Zennship. The Tinybots shoot them down, destroying the ship, while Hunter releases Marek; unaware that Doctor Dog landed them safely. As he, Hunter, and the civilians flee from the rampaging Marek, R.O.B.E.R.T. runs to the crash site and reunites with Sunnie and her friends. Hunter reunites with Jeffrey in the Darkworld and they escape with some of the treasure. With help from the Tinybots and the Zenn Crew, they get Marek through the gate and Sunnie and R.O.B.E.R.T. finally lock the gate down. However, in a moment of despair, Hunter tries to kill Sunnie and R.O.B.E.R.T. by using his airship, only to have the Tinybots to make his airship to fall off a nearby cliff. In the aftermath, the Tinybots turn on Travis and Jeffrey are arrested and taken into custody.

Everyone praises Sunnie for her heroism and she officially accepts Justin as her boyfriend. Just before Sunnie, R.O.B.E.R.T., Justin, Bella, and Louis go back home, Zenn and his crew let the teens join their team as trainees. Finally, the teens return back home and they celebrate with Zenn, Alyia, and Doctor Dog, and as a result the teens become more adventurous, where they continue their exploits in their new lives as Sunnie thinks that she'll always make Joshua proud.

In a mid-credits scene, it turns out that Hunter survived the fall, and he looks toward the camera and says, "What happened here"? before a small rock hits him on the head, knocking him unconscious.

## Voice cast

* Amanda Leighton as Sunnie Stewart, an adventurous and cute teenage girl.
	+ Aubrey Wilson as a young Sunnie Stewart
* Ben Schwartz as Justin Barker, a clumsy and nerdy teenage boy, who has a secret crush on Sunnie.
	+ Noah Schnapp as young Justin Barker
* Katie Crown as Bella Robbins, a beauty-obsessed teenage girl who always picks on Sunnie.
	+ Heidi Marshall as young Bella Robbins
* Josh Gad as R.O.B.E.R.T., an talking smart robot who met Sunnie when she was a kid and Hunter's own creation.
* Chris Pratt as Captain Zenn / Steve, the son of the original Zenn.
* Elizabeth Banks as Alyia Starling, the aid of Captain Zenn who pilots the Zennship.
* David Cross as Doctor Dog, the sidekick of Captain Zenn.
* Rob Riggle as Hunter, a diabolical master criminal plotting to get the treasures from the Darkworld by using R.O.B.E.R.T as the key to it.
* Dylan O'Brien as Joshua Stewart, Sunnie's older brother.
* Amy Poehler as Emily Stewart, Sunnie's mother.
* Zac Efron as Louis Gibbs, a "cool" teenage boy.
* Peter Dinklage as Travis, Hunter's assistant.
* Jenny Slate as Ms. Fitzgerald, Sunnie's teacher.
* Keegan-Michael Key and Anthony Anderson as Jeff and Carl, two wolves who reside in The Forbidden Jungle of Mysteries.
* Tony Hale as Todd, the rabbit sidekick of Hunter, who later befriends with Sunnie.
* Rhys Darby as Hugh Larson, Sunnie's next-door neighbor
* Maya Rudolph as Alice Larson, Hugh's wife.
* Sean Charmatz as Officer Brad, a police officer who pursues R.O.B.E.R.T. at the beginning of the film.

### ADR Loop Group

* Ashley Albert
* Rosemary Alexander
* Steve Alterman
* Holly J. Barrett
* Ranjani Brow
* Edita Brychta
* Darcy Rose Byrnes
* Mitch Carter
* June Christopher
* Niall Cunningham
* Robin Atkin Downes
* Terri Douglas
* Moosie Drier
* Giselle Eisenberg
* Peter Falls
* Chase Fein
* Johnny Gidcomb
* Marissa Goodman
* Nicholas Guest
* Jason Harris
* Bridget Hoffman
* Rif Hutton
* Hope Levy
* Terence Mathews
* David Michie
* Heidi Brook Myers
* Paul Pape
* Shakira Ja'nai Paye
* Raymond Ochoa
* Peter Pamela Rose
* Michael Sorich
* Kelly Stables
* Byron Thames
* Ruth Zalduondo

## Production

In 2011, While directing *Puppet Pals 3* at Fox Animation, Ryan Marshall pitched and wrote a treatment of a film adaptation of the *Sunnie* daily comic strip as a computer-animated film and said that he always wanted to do an animated film about the comics, as he was a big fan of them. Personal issues had percolated into the story as they weighed on him in life.

In July 2013, Frenzy Animation announced that the film was in development with its scheduled release in late 2016 with Ryan Marshall writing and directing. In May 2015, it was announced that 20th Century Fox would distribute the film after winning a bidding competition against Columbia Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Paramount Pictures for the distribution rights with the film rescheduled for summer 2017.

In October 2015, it was reported that Amanda Leighton and Ben Schwartz were in talks to voice their lead characters which were confirmed next month. In July 2016, Katie Crown, Josh Gad, Chris Pratt, David Cross, Elizabeth Banks, Rob Riggle, Zac Efron, Nick Offerman, and Amy Poehler joined the voice cast. In November 2016, Henry Jackman was announced to score the film. Reel FX and Mikros Image Montreal animated the film.

## Release

*Sunnie* was originally scheduled to be released on July 21, 2017, but in May 2016, the film was later pushed back to December 20, 2017, with *Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation* taking its place. In November 2016, Fox pushed back the release date two months earlier to October 13, with Blue Sky's *Ferdinand* taking its December slot. The film premiered at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles in an out-of-competition screening on September 30, 2017. The film received a wide release in the United States on October 13, 2017, the United Kingdom on October 27, 2017, and in Australia on November 23, 2017. It was also released in select IMAX theatres in the United States.

It was accompanied in theaters by *Homer and Lisa's Virtual Odyssey*, a short film directed by David Silverman and Steven Markowski based on the *The Simpsons* franchise*.*

### Marketing

The teaser trailer for *Sunnie* was released online at Frenzy Animation's and 20th Century Fox's YouTube pages on December 7, 2016 and was shown in front of *The Pixelators* in theaters a couple days later. The official theatrical trailer for the film was released online on March 27, 2017, and was carried as a trailer before *The Boss Baby* in theaters. The final trailer was released on July 17, 2017, and was shown before *Alaina Gleen: Imaginary Vacation*. Licensing partners include Fandango, Kraft, Funko, General Mills, and Chuck E. Cheese's.

### Video game

*Main article(s): Sunnie (video game)*
A video game based on the film was released on October 10, 2017 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 3DS and PC. It was developed by Outright Games and published by Activision.

### Home media

*Sunnie* was released on digital HD on January 12, 2018 and on Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, and DVD on January 23, 2018.

## Reception

### Box office

The film grossed $159.1 million in the United States and Canada and $188.6 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $347.7 million.

*Sunnie* opened alongside *Happy Death Day* and *The Foreigner* and is expected to gross $40-45 million in its opening weekend from its 4,019 theaters. The film made $21 million in its opening day and later grossed $53.5 million from its opening weekend. The film fell 41% in its second weekend while still remaining in first place, grossing $31 million. In its third weekend, the film still remained in first and grossed $20.6 million. By its fourth weekend, it was dethroned by *Thor: Ragnarok*, falling to second place and grossing $18.8 million.

### Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 53%, based on 196 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "*Sunnie* may satisfy young viewers and hardcore fans of the comics, but its exhausting and predictable plot continues Frenzy Animation's mediocre streak." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 27 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.

### Accolades

 Favorite Voice From an Animated Movie
 Annie Awards | Annie Award for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

## Television series

A CGI animated television show based on the film, titled *Sunnie's World*, premiered on April 5, 2019 on Fox Family. Amanda Leighton, Ben Schwartz, Katie Crown, Josh Gad, and Jenny Slate reprise their roles while Chris Pratt was replaced by A.J. Locascio for Captain Zenn.

Ryan Marshall and Marcus Crawford served as executive producers of the show.

## Sequel

*Main article: Sunnie 2*
On December 18, 2017, Fox announced a sequel slated for an October 9, 2020 release, with Leighton, Schwartz, Crown, Gad, and Pratt reprising their roles. The following month, the release date was pushed back to December 11, 2020. Along with the release date change, it was announced that Marcus Crawford and Mark Wilson will return to produce the sequel, as well as Nicholas Stoller and Brad Garland, returning to write the script while Ryan Marshall would return to direct.

In June 2019, Fox revealed that the film will be released on August 14, 2020, and was also announced that most of the cast from the first film will reprise their roles in the sequel, joined by Taraji P. Henson, Rachel Bloom, Lil Rel Howery, Alfred Molina, Awkwafina, and James Corden. By April 2020, Fox (now named 20th Century Studios), announced that the film would be pushed back on September 25, 2020, due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic's impact on the film industry. On July 23, 2020, it was moved back to February 12, 2021 as a result of 20th Century Studios' updated film slate due to the pandemic. On August 19, 2020, 20th Century Studios Canada announced the film would be released in Canadian theaters on October 2, 2020. On November 5, 2020, it was announced that the film's theatrical release had been cancelled and it would instead be released through video on demand and Disney+ on March 19, 2021.

## 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.

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