Bird Island is headed to the big screen, and as promised, Rovio and Sony Pictures have showcased the first footage for its high-profile Angry Birds film, seeding an origin story between the nefarious pigs and the titular avians.
Introducing the various breeds of short-tempered birds, the trailer is but a tease of what to expect from the 2016 animation, as directors Fergal Reilly and Clay Kaytis look to lend some personality to those colorful sprites that have soared across a billion mobile screens over the past few years. Penned by Jon Vitti, Sony’s CG animation is facing an uphill battle to win over its doubters, and today’s vertical slice is a breezy and vibrant hint of Reilly and Kaytis budding newcomer to the competitive animation scene.
Leading the charge is Horrible Bosses‘ star Jason Sudeikis as Red, a bumbling avian with a temper problem, along with Josh Gad as the nimble Chuck and the volatile and quite literally explosive Bomb (Danny McBride). They’ll act as the core trio of Sony’s Angry Birds, with an impressive ensemble cast that includes Bill Hader, Kate McKinnon, Maya Rudolph, Keegan-Michael Key and Peter Dinklage.
No matter how impressive the voice cast, the studio’s world-building feature will ultimately be judged on how engaging the story proves to be. An origins tale of Bird Island and the rivalry between the pigs and the avians is an interesting route to take – along the lines of, say, How to Train Your Dragon – but whether it’s the franchise builder that Sony is hoping for will be told in time.
Sony Pictures’ Angry Birds animation will take flight on July 1, 2016
The movie takes us to an island populated entirely by happy, flightless birds – or almost entirely. In this paradise, Red (Jason Sudeikis, We’re the Millers, Horrible Bosses), a bird with a temper problem, speedy Chuck (Josh Gad in his first animated role since Frozen), and the volatile Bomb (Danny McBride, This is the End, Eastbound and Down) have always been outsiders. But when the island is visited by mysterious green piggies, it’s up to these unlikely outcasts to figure out what the pigs are up to.