Cool Spot (film)

***Cool Spot*** is a 2018 British-American computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by 20th Century Fox Animation and based on the 1993 video game of the same name. Written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, it features a ensemble cast consisting of Pharrell Williams as the title character, alongside Mila Kunis, Alec Baldwin, Bobby Cannavale, Tom Holland, Luke Wilson, Snoop Dogg, Bill Murray, Bobby Moynihan, James Corden, Michael B. Jordan, Jason Mitchell, Daniel Kaluuya, Ron Funches, Alison Brie, Michael Jai White, Angela Bassett, Trevor Jackson, DMX, and Jamie Foxx. In *Cool Spot,* the titular character goes out on a journey of twists and turns to get back Pop City's coolness after it gets stolen.

Development for an adaption to the videogame *Cool Spot* were dated all the way to 1992 by Walt Disney Pictures, however, due to the failure of the 1993 videogame adaption *Super Mario Bros.* they were cancelled. Decades later, Pharrell Williams was able to pick up the idea with directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller at Fox Animation in 2013, with voice recordings starting in 2014 and additional casting later that same year. Many new animation techniques were made from combining 2-D animated characters with 3-D animation characters as well as visual effects.

The film was released in the United States on June 29, 2018, by 20th Century Fox in Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D and IMAX formats. The film set the record for the biggest opening weekend for a video game film in the United States and Canada as well as worldwide. It has grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide and received positive reviews, with praise for its musical score, faithfulness to its source, voice performances of the cast (particularly Williams, Holland, Baldwin, Murray, and Kunis), humor, soundtrack, and animation while also becoming the highest-grossing videogame adaptation of all time. The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the 76th Golden Globe Awards and 91st Academy Awards, losing both to *Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse*.

An extended PG-13-rated director's cut was released on November 20, 2018. A sequel, titled *Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood* is scheduled to be released on June 3, 2022.

This was also the final film role recorded by rappers XXXTentacion and Mac Miller before their respective deaths in June and September of 2018. The later released director’s cut of the film were dedicated in their memory.

## Plot

5-year old Cool Spot has different dreams unlike most of his classmates in his kindergarten class which is to become the coolest boy in town. However, he is made fun of by Fresh-up Freddie for this which makes him run off crying. During recess, Spot befriends a girl named Eve, who tells him that "you can do anything in the world even if it sounds dumb or unrealistic". She makes a promise with Cool Spot to support and be with him all the way to his adulthood while attempting to go for his dream.

Spot and Eve grow up, with Spot eventually turning into a hype party goer eventually giving him popularity. During these times, he eventually tries bad things such as underage drinking but also is a star athlete being known for basketball. However, after getting arrested for disturbing the peace, he temporarily stops his dream to focus in school which he ends up graduating.

Years later in the present day, Spot is introduced to his DJ/Best friend DJ O-Ro which causes an uproar of cheering as he dances and parties. Once the party is over, he reads a news article talking about his success in becoming the coolest person in the city which makes him satisfied. Spot later goes to his home where he lives with his boring dad, Womp Daddy, his hyper and cool mother, Swag Mom, and his younger brother who is inspired by Spot himself, Lil' Cooky. Spot also thanks Eve, who is now his girlfriend since 6th grade for his success on following his dream.

Somewhere else on a dark mysterious island, an evil bird who goes by his nickname Metal-Bird vows a plan to get rid of the coolness of the city after being neglected and rejected in his past years. Bump Cola, who used to be the former mascot of 7-Up is held hostage being threatened to help Metal-Bird's plan be successful by explaining that a prophecy of the coolest man in the city is the only one to stop him. Afterwards, Bump is tased and beat up while also ordered to find the coolest man in the city.

2 weeks later, Spot is at the dinner table telling his parents about his crazy day which consisted of exploding buildings and being chased. He later calls his friends, Splish, 7-Up, Bebe, and his cousin Fido Dido telling him that he'll be on TV later on in the day for the Grand Opening to the new edition to Pop City, Party Island, a building where there is nothing but parties. Spot meets Princess Gulpman, who is the princess of Pop City that aids Cool Spot and knights him as well. Dave Cola, Bump's older brother, asks Spot about his brother who has been missing for 2 weeks which Spot doesn't know about. After delivering his speech and opening up the building, Spot walks to his car only to find a person laid out on the ground who is later revealed to be Bump Cola who is frightened by something. Spot just ignores this and walks to his car where he is knocked out cold. He later wakes up to be in the mayor's office in custody with Lil' Ade and Dave Cola who tells him that he is important for the city and should go on a quest to get the city's coolness back after it is stolen by Metal-Bird. Spot doesn't take it seriously until Dave mentions Eve's life being in danger if he doesn't go which makes him more confident in going.

Spot informs his robot assistant Cokebot about the quest and commands him to tell his parents and family. However, Cokebot remembers he wants him to play rock, paper, scissors since Cool Spot lost a previous bet with him. The game lasts 24 hours and results in an impatient Spot punching Cokebot. Cool Spot attempts to sneak out the house successfully however, Drinky, Spot's cousin scares him and questions him about where he's going. While they're both arguing, Spot is confronted by Quez, Dez, and Lez, three bumbling cops that constantly harasses Spot. Spot ends up making Dez cry and prompts Spot and Drinky to run which Drinky runs back inside quickly.

At noon, Spot calls his friends and asks them if he can come with them on the quest which everyone agrees. Spot first picks up Bebe, who is at the UpMart arguing with the clerk Splurge, then he picks up Fido Dido and Splish, lastly, he picks up 7-Up his best friend. They are taken home to Spot showing them a plan on this quest which Lil' Cooky walks into and later walks out the room. Splish who is questionable about the plan later agrees and they go to Eve's house who doesn't want Spot to go out of town. Eve initially states she'll never let Spot go out on a dangerous quest until a talking cookie tells her to let him go.

Spot and his friends go out on the road until the car ends up crashing after a dark ninja slashes the car's tires making them crash off the highway into Flimsy Fishtown. They all wake up to be robbed at the entrance of the old town. While walking Spot runs into a wild dog which he tames and makes his pet naming him Orie. Later at night, Spot is at a campfire with his friends telling confessions about him which makes him argue with 7-Up. Spot who is mad runs off with Orie crying.

Being hopeless and disappointed in himself, Spot takes Orie to go urinate until he is confronted by Deeney Hopps, Bump Cola's arch-rival who fights him until he figures out that it's Spot. They later walk back to the campfire only to find everyone except Splish who is asleep in the car. Hopps informs them about Pop City being a warzone since Metal-Bird has taken over and also makes a plan on rescuing Bebe, 7-Up, and Fido Dido. However, this plan fails as everyone was caught and imprisoned in the B.O.Z.O, which is short for the Boring Zone by Metal-Bird's henchman, Berry Merry. Hopps attempts to attack Metal-Bird but ends up being shot in the chest with a ray gun and puts the B.O.Z.O. on self-destruct mode.

Before dying, Deeney Hopps told him he never initially wanted to have problems with Bump Cola. Spot who is knocked out is shown with various memories telling him that he is not just the coolest person but a hero. Tied up to a bomb, Cool Spot goes through the dark portal which most are known not to come back through. Splish, who agrees with Spot for the first time, tells everyone to avenge Spot.

Spot goes through the Legend Realm where various legends tell Cool Spot to go back and fight as his friends are in danger. Spot talks to his younger self who is proud of himself being successful and tells him to go back and help even if they bullied him. Spot who is now courageous goes back to Pop City.

Back at the city, everyone is mindless zombies who lack coolness including Splish. Spot who now has super abilities flies back to the city beating Metal-Bird's various henchmen and sees Eve being under Metal-Bird's zombie spell which makes Spot angry. Spot who is now angered searches for Metal-Bird and later finds him. They have a brief fistfight until Spot is frozen and Metal-Bird reveals himself to be Fresh-up Freddie. Spot melts himself and has a huge final fight with Freddie who is now mutated and a huge giant, through the city where Spot is later pushed into an electric shield for the zombie spell. Spot who is upset realizes the great power he has and starts dabbing which causes one citizen to return back to normal. Spot eventually goes with his plan and starts rapping and partying like his normal self until everyone is back to normal while Freddie is weakening. Freddie also shrinks to his normal size and is pushed to a ledge where Spot stomps on his hand making him fall to his death.

Spot and everyone else in the city go to City Hall cheering for Cool Spot who saves the day giving him a metal. The body of Deeney Hopps is also brought in memorial where Spot uses his powers to revive him with Hopps hugging him hard. Orie finally speaks calling Cool Spot crazy but he is a lovable owner then The Twizzla Twins later start a huge city-wide party with Cool Spot, Eve Coke, and everyone else in the city with Cool Spot and Eve sharing a huge kiss.

In a mid-credits scene, Spot is confronted by an unknown man who is later revealed to be the Kool-Aid Man who is finally released from Sparkling Prison.

In a post-credits scene, Drinky sneaks out of Cool Spot's room to wear his trademark glasses and thanks the audience for waiting for no apparent reason.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Pharrell Williams as Cool Spot, an eccentric anthropomorphic red dot that sports sunglasses and often proclaims himself as the coolest person in Pop City.
	+ Eminem voices a Cool Spot impersonator.
	+ Terrell Ransom Jr. as a 5 year old Cool Spot.
* Mila Kunis as Eve Coke, the girlfriend to Cool Spot who works with her brother Berry to help the city maintain its coolness. Rihanna provided Eve Coke's singing voice in the ending.
	+ Ava Acres voiced young Eve Coke
* Alec Baldwin as Fresh-up Freddie, a red-feathered bird who falls behind the shadow of Cool Spot's fame.
	+ Jacob Hopkins as a 5 year old Fresh-up Freddie.
* Bobby Cannavale as Dave Cola, the brother of Bump Cola who gained success after finding out the secret formula in Coolness.
* Tom Holland as Splish, a sarcastic, wise-cracking blue dot with big eyes that is neutral towards Cool Spot.
* Luke Wilson as Fido Dido, a black and white man with messy hair who is Cool Spot's cousin.
* Snoop Dogg as Bebe, a laid-back green dot who is shown to have swagger that's different from others.
* Bill Murray as 7-Up, a talking soda drink that is best friends with Cool Spot.
* Bobby Moynihan as Berry Coke, the brother of Eve Coke and an old friend of Spot who he has known ever since he was 4.
* James Corden as Bump Cola, the former mascot of 7-Up that is now retired.
* Michael B. Jordan as Deeney Hopps, the arch-rival of Bump Cola, who took the spotlight from him and is good friends with Cool Spot.
* Jason Mitchell as Drinky, a childish yellow dot who is the cousin of Cool Spot.
* Daniel Kaluuya as Cokebot, the butler assistant to Cool Spot that follows every order of his master no matter what. Jennifer Hudson provided Cokebot's singing voice when he was accidentally switched to pop singer mode.
* Ron Funches as BAM!, the new nice and spicy mascot of Sprite who is a huge black Rottweiler.
* Alison Brie as Princess Gulpman, the princess of Pop City.
* Michael Jai White as Womp Daddy, Cool Spot’s sarcastic and monotone father who is shown to be slow and boring unlike his son.
* Angela Bassett as Swag Mom, Cool Spot's mother who has a similar personality to him unlike his father.
* Trevor Jackson as Lil' Cooky, Cool Spot's younger teenage brother who has the same swag as Cool Spot.
* Jamie Foxx as Orie, a wild dog who is similar to an Oreo that Cool Spot ends up keeping as a pet.
	+ DMX as Orie's barking sounds.
* Lil' Yachty as Lil' Ade, a rapping Powerade bottle that is the vice president of Pop City.
* Jason Statham as Jason Spotham, a 7up version of the British actor Jason Statham.
* Diedrich Bader as Splurge, the reasonable clerk at UpMart.
* André 3000 as DJ O-Ro, a anamorphic Oreo who DJ’s all of the parties that are in the city.
* Lil Jon as Rico Reezy, Spot’s hyped up cousin.
* DJ Akademiks as himself, a human hip-hop/pop culture interviewer who interviews Spot after he becomes very well known worldwide.
* Seth MacFarlane as Berry Merry, a blueberry with a Italian mob-esque voice and a gloomy attitude who is Fresh-up Freddie's henchman.
* Tracy Morgan as Granddaddy Spot, Cool Spot's grandfather who is old-fashioned and loves using older technology.
* Maya Rudolph as Grandmomma Spot, Cool Spot's grandmother who is more hip and is slightly deaf.
* Ludacris as Booly Barz, a well-known rapper who Cool Spot is friends with.
* James Earl Jones as King Sweets, the king of Pop City and Princess Gulpman's father.
* Whoopi Goldberg as Queen Tasty, the queen of Pop City and Princess Gulpman's mother.
* Tylen Jacob Williams as Lil' Squirt, a teenage dot who is Lil' Cooky's best friend as well as classmate.
	+ Williams also voices a young Bebe.
* Young Thug as Oaf, one of Fresh-up Freddie's dimwitted henchmen that is the mascot of Hawaiian Punch and loves to fight people.
* Mark Hamill as Rooty, a 700 pound brown bear who hungers for soda and eats Cool Spot.
* Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson (uncredited) as Kool-Aid Man, an unknown man who was released from Sparkle Prison.
* Mac Miller as Paul, the A.I. in Cool Spot's car.
* Warren Beatty as William Bulworth, the former senator of Pop City. Beatty reprises his role from the 1998 Fox film *Bulworth*.
* Chad Hugo as a teacher in elementary school
* Chris Rock as Cool Spot's shoulder angel
* Nick Cannon as Cool Spot's shoulder devil
* Kwesi Boakye, Iain Armitage, Pierce Gagnon, Caleb McLaughlin, Fátima Ptacek, Issac Ryan Brown, and Navia Robinson as classmates in elementary school.
* Corey Burton and Dee Bradley Baker as the Twizzla Twins, two hip and youthful older men who are often seen at Cool Spot's party which they end up ruining due to often breaking and jumping onto the snack tables.
* Tom McGrath, Conrad Vernon, Alexander Bates, and Kevin Clash as Quez, Dez, Lez, and Wez, four bumbling police officers who often try to arrest Cool Spot due to his loudness and often for no reason. The inspiration of these characters is based on the The Three Stooges.
* Tom Kenny as Marlon and Wayne, two M&M's that are at every party.
* Phil LaMarr, Grey Griffin, Kevin Michael Richardson, Jeff Bennett, John DiMaggio, and Jennifer Hale as the legends in the Legend Realm.
	+ LaMarr, Griffin, Richardson, Bennett, DiMaggio, and Hale also voiced as Additional Voices.
* Jim Cummings as the News Reporter in Pop City

#### Directors Cut Cast

* Rickey Smiley as Bubba Bubba, one of Cool Spot's fellow college students who always pulled pranks on his college professors.
* Regina King as Watermelon Spot, Cool Spot's aunt who basically acts young and immature for her older age.
* Nicki Minaj as Lele, an ex-best friend of Cool Spot that he knew before he met Eve Coke.
* Lil Wayne as Dawson, an old classmate of Cool Spot's who owns his own record label now.
* Rick Ross as Bixon, one of Cool Spot's old classmates in elementary whose a big rapper now.
* Jahseh Onfroy as Leland, a man who happens to be killed by Bebe after failing to pay his $1,000 of debt to him.

An archival recording of Tupac Shakur, who was murdered in 1996, from an interview was used for a citizen in the scene of DJ Akademiks interviewing various citizens about Cool Spot.

### Additional voices

* Rosemary Alexander
* Rajia Baroudi
* Holly J. Barrett
* Daniel Booko
* Susan Boyajian
* David Cowgill
* Niall Cunningham
* Giselle Eisenberg
* Peter Falls
* Eddie Frierson
* Johnny Gidcomb
* Jackie Gonneau
* Nicholas Guest
* Jason Harris
* Bridget Hoffman
* Wendy Hoffmann
* Danielle Judovits
* Raymond Ochoa
* Devika Parikh
* Jacqueline Piñol
* Juan Pope
* Ben Pronsky
* Andre Robinson
* Al Rodrigo
* Peter Pamela Rose
* Carter Sand
* Jason Grant Smith
* Kelly Stables

## Production

### Development

Walt Disney Pictures announced a deal with Virgin Games in 1992 to acquire the rights to make an adaption to the videogame *Cool Spot*. However, the next year, due to the failure of the ill-fated *Super Mario Bros.* film adaption, Disney gave up the rights to a film adaption. By 1994 during the development of *Ama and the Mysterious Crystal*, Universal Pictures expressed their interest in making the film and acquired the rights to *Cool Spot*. In 1995, Eric Goldberg was signed to direct the film with Tim Beva and Eric Fellner to produce under their studio Working Title Films. At this same time, the film was to be traditionally animated by Universal Feature Animation and rapper Tupac Shakur was to attain the voice role of Cool Spot. However, due to his murder in 1996 along with Eric Goldberg leaving the project, the film went into development hell.

Several years later in 2010, after the success of *Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs*the previous year, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller spoke with Vanessa Morrison, the president of 20th Century Fox Animation and shown a script for a Cool Spot film that they were thinking of since 2003. She was later satisfied with this script and hired them as directors and writers of the film. In addition, Tom McGrath and Evan Katz also joined the production and were writers. Pharrell who heard that Lord and Miller became directors of the project talked with both of them and agreed with Baird to also become a writer of the upcoming film. To keep the film modern, the writers kept up with modern culture and trends while also making the film set in the current times. Williams also loosely based Cool Spot on Senator Jay Billington Bulworth from Warren Beatty's movie *Bullworth* (1998) with Beatty himself cameoing in this film as Bulworth. The film was also slated to have a PG-13 rating, which would’ve made it the first CGI Fox Animation film to receive this rating.

### Casting

In February 2013, Will Smith and Mila Kunis were in talks to play Cool Spot and "an additional love interest", however, Smith wasn't able to take the part due to scheduling conflicts with *Suicide Squad* while Kunis' part was confirmed. A month later, Fox started doing voice reel tests for an actor to portray the main antagonist Fresh-up Freddie, including Ed Helms, Kevin Hart, Alan Tudyk, Steve Zahn, and Clancy Brown, with Alec Baldwin eventually being cast.

The casting for the title character was the most difficult according to Williams himself with over 100 actors going by auditioning for the role which included Snoop Dogg (who later received the part of Bebe instead), Kenan Thompson, C.J. Wallace, Ludacris, Bow Wow, Drake, and Terry Crews. Chadwick Boseman was eventually cast and considered for the role but due to his scheduling issues with *Black Panther,* Pharrell replaced him after reading the part with most of the producers and writers praising his voice and telling that his voice fits Cool Spot the best. In addition, James Corden was cast as Bump Cola, the former mascot of 7-Up as well as Bobby Cannavale as Dave Cola, Tom Holland as Splish, Luke Wilson as Fido Dido, Snoop Dogg as Bebe, Bill Murray as 7-Up, Bobby Moynihan as Berry Coke, Michael B. Jordan as Deeney Hopps, Jason Mitchell as Drinky, Steve Coogan as Cokebot, Ron Funches as BAM!, Alison Brie as Princess Gulpman, Michael Jai White as Womp Daddy, Angela Bassett as Swag Mom, Trevor Jackson as Lil' Cooky, and Jamie Foxx as Orie, a puppy who later becomes a companion while rapper DMX provides the barks and screams of the animal as well. Voice recordings for the film lasted until December 2015, for its initial 2017 theatrical release. However, the film experienced some production problems, forcing the studio to push back the film to 2018. During this period, most of the scenes were reanimated and some dialogue was rerecorded such as Pharrell's as he stated in an interview he was unsatisfied with his voice acting during the second act of the film. According to Pharrell, the voice of Eve Coke was originally supposed to be Rihanna as she recorded her lines and all but had ended up being replaced by Kunis for unknown reasons, although Rihanna still provided the character's singing voice.

### Animation

*Cool Spot* was animated at the Fox Animation Century City studio. According to animation director Alexander Bates, the film was very hard to animate due to the different character models.

### Music

Ludwig Göransson was hired to compose the film's score by July 2017. Pharrell Williams produced the film's curated soundtrack, titled *Cool Spot: The Album.* Lord and Miller chose Williams for the project because they wanted to center the film with black culture and also because his "artistic themes align with those we explore in the film." *Cool Spot: The Album* was released on June 22, 2018 and included the singles ”Paradise” by Lil Uzi Vert and “We Get Turnt Up” by Mr. Hotspot. The soundtrack also contains more mature language than the movie itself.

## Release

*Cool Spot* was released on June 29, 2018 in 2D, 3D, Dolby Cinema, and IMAX by 20th Century Fox. The film is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for ”animated action violence, rude humor, language, drunkness, innuendo, and brief suggestive comments.” However, the British Board of Film Classification passed the film as a 12A due to the violent content, language, dangerous acts, and sexual humor in the film, making it the first computer-animated film by 20th Century Fox Animation to receive this rating.

The extended director's cut of the film is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for ”intense sequences of animated violence and action, rude humor, language, brief drug use, drunkness, innuendo, and some suggestive comments.”

### Marketing

Tie-ins with McDonald's, Chevrolet, Kraft, and Amazon, and a series of five Lego sets were used to promote the film. AMC Theatres also partnered with Fox to play the movie in Mandarin at five theatres and in Spanish at 13 locations in the U.S and Canada meaning there will be a mix of subtitled and dubbed formats of *Cool Spot.* The first teaser trailer was released online on November 5, 2017, and the official trailer for the film was released on February 15, 2018. The final trailer was released on April 30, 2018. A 95-second sneak peek of the film was released online via 20th Century Fox's YouTube channel on June 7, 2018. The studio spent a total of $120 million promoting the film.

### Merchandise

A *Cool Spot* graphic novel and comic miniseries was published by Dark Horse Comics in 2018. The graphic novel, titled *Cool Spot: Part Rap Star*, was written by Liz Marsham and illustrated by Nicoletta Baldari. A comic miniseries, titled *Cool Spot: Dancing, Dabbing & Other Stories*, was written by Christos Gage and Landry Walker, and illustrated by Gurihiru, J. Bone, Andrea Greppi and Roberta Zanotta.

A video game of the same name was released on June 22, 2018. None of the main cast members reprise their roles in the video game.

### Home media

The film was released on digital and Movies Anywhere on November 6, 2018, while the DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray was released later on November 20, 2018, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. It included special behind-the-scenes featurettes, as well as an exclusive extended director's cut that includes scenes that weren‘t shown theatrically, which is rated PG-13 by the MPAA since it has stronger language and more intense violence than the original PG-rated theatrical cut. Additionally, it features a new animated short titled *Orie's Big Night Out*.

The film had its television premiere on FXX on July 4, 2020 at 9:00 PM with a TV-PG-DLV rating.

As of August 30, 2020, the film is available to stream on Disney+.

## Reception

### Box office

*Cool Spot* grossed $422.3 million in the United States and Canada and $723.5 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $1.145 billion. On July 7, 2018 the film reached the $600 million mark, becoming the second Fox release of 2018 to do so after *Deadpool 2*.

#### North America

In the United States and Canada, *Cool Spot* was released alongside *Uncle Drew* and *Sicario: Day of the Soldado*, and was originally projected to gross $60–75 million in its opening weekend. By the week before its release, estimates were raised to $80–90 million, with a chance to go higher due to the strong positive word of mouth. *Cool Spot* played in 4,356 theaters, setting the record for widest release Fox of all time, of which 3,200 venues were in 3D, along with 425 premium large format locales, approximately 500 IMAX theaters and a handful of Dolby Cinema sites. Within the first 24 hours of pre-sale tickets going on sale, it broke Fandango's pre-sales record to become the top non-Disney/Universal animated pre-seller of all-time.

The film grossed $18.1 million from Thursday night previews, the biggest of all time for a non-Disney animated film as well as the second biggest of all time for an animated film at the time, leading weekend projections to increase to $110 million. *Cool Spot* went on to have an record breaking opening day of $73.1 million (including previews), setting various records such as biggest opening day for both a non-Disney film and an animated film released by Fox, leading to weekend estimates increasing to $145 million with some estimates going as high as $150 million. The film's Friday gross also surpassed *Lara Croft: Tomb Raider*'s entire weekend gross of $47.7 million, which was the highest opening weekend gross at the time for a videogame adaption.

It went on to open to $158.1 million, which is the third biggest opening weekend in June as well as the biggest of all time for 20th Century Fox and the third animated $100+ million opener of the summer. With the weekend gross alone, it became the highest grossing videogame adaption of all time. *Deadline Hollywood* compared the over-expected opening to *It,*from the previous year's September, and attributed it to positive word-of-mouth, audiences coming for various celebrities and famous acts in the film such as Pharrell and Snoop Dogg, as well as the advantage of being released on a usually quiet weekend for box office.With this record breaking opening weekend gross, the film was also the first non-Disney or Universal animated film to have an $150+ million opening weekend. Trying to explain this surprise, Fox’s domestic distribution chief said "we never knew the film be this big especially since it's a videogame adaption which usually is expected to do moderately well. But with this film's opening weeknd gross, it's something that is never seen before and like throwing the rules out of a window on fire." The weekend included $18.1 million from Thursday preview showings on June 28, $73.1 million on its opening day, $43.2 million on June 30, and $41.8 million on July 1. The film's opening weekend is the biggest Fox and non-Disney animated opening of all time as well as the 2nd biggest animated opening of all time behind *Incredibles 2* ($182.1 million) at the time. It further broke the record for the biggest PLF and Cinemark XD opening for an animated film with $12.4 million and $3.8 million, respectively. In IMAX, it made $15.2 million from 422 theaters the best animated IMAX opening of all time. Additionally, the film also surpassed *Lara Croft: Tomb Raider*'s entire lifeline gross of $131.1 million within three days to become the highest-grossing videogame adaption of all time domestically.

In its second weekend, the film dropped -62% in its second weekend and grossed $60.1 million while dropping to second place. In its third weekend, the film remained in 2nd place while grossing $30.2 million, dropping 49.7%.

*Coming soon!*

#### Internationally

Worldwide, the film was expected to make $190–215 million in its opening weekend, including $110–125 million internationally. Just like in North America, the film ended up overperforming and made $169.6 million from 65 countries in its opening weekend, becoming the top film in all it's markets and earning a global debut of $327.8 million, the biggest of all time for Fox and an animated film at the time until being surpassed by *Frozen II*'s $358.5 million in 2019. The film also outperformed the opening weekends for all films that Fox Animation released in all markets. Mexico was the largest debut with $21.3 million, followed by Australia ($17.7 million) and Russia ($15.4 million) both having the biggest openings of all time for Fox. In its second weekend, it opened as the top film in Belgium, Russia, and Spain. In its third weekend it opened up in 5 more territories with the biggest being the United Kingdom as it grossed $43.2 million.

In China, it was projected that the film will gross $30 million in it's opening weekend. It ultimately opened on Friday, June 28 and earned $18 million on its opening day, marking the second-biggest opening day for an animated film ever in China and the biggest opening day of all time for an animated Fox film and ended up making $43.4 million there in its opening weekend. It had the biggest opening for an animated film in China at the time ($43.4 million), Brazil ($9.2 million) and the Netherlands ($2.5 million), and the biggest of all time for an animated Fox film in Australia ($17.7 million), the Philippines ($2.1 million), Singapore ($1.3 million), India ($1 million), Indonesia, Peru and Central America, and in Russia it opened with $15.4 million, and the second biggest in the United Kingdom and Ireland ($11.7 million), Mexico ($9.4 million) and Argentina ($3.5 million). In the UK and Ireland, the film recorded the second biggest animated opening of the year with $11.7 million from 580 theaters. Moreover, it also posted the biggest animated Fox opening of all time, and the fifth biggest animated opening of all time overall based on pure Friday-to-Sunday gross alone. It added an additional 43 theaters in its second weekend, after which it added another £3.98 million ($5.1 million) at the weekend, thereby passing the £20 million mark in just ten days. It made an impressive £8.15 million during weekdays, from Monday to Thursday resulting in a £2.03 million daily average gross. According to thereby passing , this was because of the school holidays that prevailed on the weekdays. Otherwise, family films earn the vast majority of their takings on Saturday and Sunday, and showtimes typically reduce on weekdays. It returned to the top of the box office in its fourth weekend. In Brazil, in addition to recording the biggest Gingo opening ever, almost twice the previous record, it also set a new record for an all-time animated opening. In South Korea, it had the biggest opening for an animated Fox film with $7.1 million. In Japan, the film had a two-day weekend opening of $7 million on Saturday and Sunday from 511 screens on 571,000 admissions. This made it the top western release of the weekend and the biggest foreign opening weekend in the country so far of this year, It had further number one openings in Spain ($4.9 million), France ($4.7 million), Hong Kong ($1.9 million; $2.8 million including previews), and Taiwan ($1.9 million). It topped the box office in the Netherlands for three and in Spain and Australia for four consecutive weekends. By July 2018, the film was granted an extension release until August 31, 2018, due to the film's overperformance based on it's initially projected total gross of $50 million there. As of November 1, 2018, the highest-grossing markets are China ($243.2 million), United Kingdom ($101.2 million), Japan ($55.3 million), Brazil ($23.3 million), and France ($19.2 million).

### Critical reception

*Cool Spot* received positive reviews from critics. Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating of 93%, based on 356 reviews, with an average score of 8.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Fast, funny, interesting, and mouth-watering fun, *Cool Spot* subverts the video game adaption formula to a more family-friendly fare with jokes and pranks included." Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned a score of 69 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 93% overall positive score and an 83% "definite recommend".

### Epilepsy issues

Many disability advocates, including the Epilepsy Foundation, have raised concerns that scenes with flashing lights, mostly in a party sequence as well as Cool Spot's fight with Fresh-Up Freddie, can trigger seizures in viewers affected by photosensitive epilepsy. As a result, several theaters have started posting warnings for audiences. Fox issued a statement to *USA Today* stating that they appreciated the efforts the theaters had already made in making signs warning people seeing the movie. They then asked theaters to warn audiences about the scene in a memo that read, "*Cool Spot* contains a sequence of flashing lights, which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photosensitivities."

In response to this, the UK released a re-edited version of the film with all affected sequences altered so that any flashing lights and strobe effects now pass the Harding test.

### Cinematic impact

Before *Cool Spot*'s success, videogame adaptions considered successful were *Lara Croft: Tomb Raider* (2001) and *Resident Evil* (2002-2007), which received around half the opening weekend gross compared to comic book and novel adaptations. *The Angry Birds Movie* (2016), another film that's an animated videogame adaption, did slightly better with a $38.1 million opening weekend although it limped to $100 million. However, *Cool Spot*changed the box office as most box office analysts expected the film to gross as much as only $400–450 million worldwide due to it being based on a videogame that is not as well known as any other videogames that were adapted into films. Many reasons were given for why *Cool Spot* went on to be more successful than these, including the huge popularity of 20th Century Fox Animation brand to all audiences and Williams's performance. Tom Huddleston, Jr. wrote for Fortune, that *Cool Spot* was proof to Hollywood that videogame adaptions can be as successful as other types of adaptions such as superhero adaptions, "particularly when fans see that the film pays homage to the original game they played before."

### Accolades

*Cool Spot* was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 91st Academy Awards, losing to *Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse*.

## Expanded franchise

### Sequel

*Main article: Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood*
Before the film's release, Fox greenlit a sequel, with all the writers slated to return, for a possible 2021 release date. Additionally, Williams, Kunis, Holland, Wilson, Snoop Dogg, Murray, Moynihan, Coogan, Brie, Bassett, and White were all expected to reprise their roles. Producer John Cohen also stated that he wants other notable mascots to be featured in the sequel as well. On September 17, 2018, it was confirmed that production on the sequel had commenced. On December 20, 2018, it was announced that the sequel would be released on April 23, 2021, with Lord and Miller returning to direct with Chernin, Williams and Jason Felts producing. On April 3, 2020, it was moved to a full year to April 22, 2022 as a result of Disney's updated film slate due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic's impact on the film industry.

### Television series

On April 17, 2019, it was confirmed that a television series based on the film is being produced and premiered on Fox on October 20, 2019. The television series has more adult humor and stronger language than the 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.

**Upcoming:** *The Pixelators: Supercharged* (2023)