''The Croods'' is an American

media franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or ...

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...

. The franchise began with the 2013 film ''

The Croods ''The Croods'' is a 2013 American computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film was written and directed by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders, and stars the voices of Nicol ...

'', and has since grown to include a sequel, '' The Croods: A New Age''; two television series, ''

Dawn of the Croods ''Dawn of the Croods'' is an American 2D-animated television series that is produced by DreamWorks Animation. The series is based on the 2013 animated film ''The Croods'', taking place before the events of the film. It premiered on December 24, 2 ...

'' and '' The Croods: Family Tree''; and two video games. Set in the fictional prehistoric "Croodaceous" time period which is roamed by a series of bizarre

hybrid animals In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different breeds, varieties, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Hybrids are not always intermediates between their parents (such as in ...

, the franchise follows the eponymous

cavepeople The caveman is a stock character representative of primitive humans in the Paleolithic. The popularization of the type dates to the early 20th century, when Neanderthals were influentially described as "simian" or " ape-like" by Marcellin Bou ...

family as they travel through the dangerous but exotic lands in search of a new home after their previous home was destroyed.

Feature films

''The Croods'' (2013)

''The Croods'' is a 2013 American

computer-animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

produced by

and distributed by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

, set in a fictional prehistoric

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58caveman The caveman is a stock character representative of primitive humans in the Paleolithic. The popularization of the type dates to the early 20th century, when Neanderthals were influentially described as " simian" or "ape-like" by Marcellin ...

's position as a "Leader of the Hunt" is threatened by the arrival of a prehistoric genius who comes up with revolutionary new inventions as they trek through a dangerous but exotic land in search of a new home. The film was originally announced in May 2005, under the working title ''Crood Awakening'', originally a stop motion film being made by

Aardman Animations Aardman Animations Limited (also known as Aardman Studios, simply Aardman or Aardman Animation and stylised as AARDMAN as of 2022) is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England. It is known for films made using stop-motion and clay an ...

Chris Sanders Christopher Michael Sanders (born March 12, 1962) is an American director, screenwriter, producer, illustrator, and voice actor. His credits include '' Lilo & Stitch'' (2002) and '' How to Train Your Dragon'' (2010), both of which he co-wrote an ...

took over development of the film in March 2007; however, development of ''

How to Train Your Dragon ''How to Train Your Dragon'' (abbreviated ''HTTYD'') is an American media franchise from DreamWorks Animation and loosely based on the eponymous series of children's books by British author Cressida Cowell. It consists of three feature films: ' ...

'' postponing its original schedule for a year to a then planned March 2012. The film's final title, ''The Croods'', was revealed in May 2009, along with new co-director, Kirk DeMicco. The film features the voices of

Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gu ...

, Emma Stone,

Ryan Reynolds Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian-American actor. He is one of the highest-grossing film actors of all time, with a worldwide box-office gross of over billion. He began his career starring in the Canadian teen ...

Catherine Keener Catherine Ann Keener (born March 26, 1959) is an American actress. She has portrayed disgruntled and melancholic yet sympathetic women in independent films, as well as supporting roles in studio films. She has been nominated twice for the Acad ...

Clark Duke Clark Duke (born May 5, 1985) is an American actor, comedian, and director known for his roles in the films '' Kick-Ass'', ''Sex Drive'', and ''Hot Tub Time Machine'', as well as playing Clark Green in the TV series ''The Office'', Dale Kettlew ...

Cloris Leachman Cloris Leachman (April 30, 1926 – January 27, 2021) was an American actress and comedian whose career spanned nearly eight decades. She won many accolades, including eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations, making her the most nomin ...

, and

Randy Thom David Randall Thom (born August 21, 1951) is an American sound designer and the current director of sound design at Skywalker Sound. Career Randy Thom began working at FM radio station WYSO at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio as a voluntee ...

''The Croods: A New Age'' (2020)

''The Croods: A New Age'' is a 2020 American sequel to the 2013 film ''The Croods'', again produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

, following the Croods after leaving their cave in the first film as they encounter their biggest threat since leaving the cave: another family called the Bettermans. The film was scheduled for a September 2020 release, but the release date was moved to November 25, 2020. Along with the returning cast of the first film, the film features the voices of

Peter Dinklage Peter Hayden Dinklage (; born June 11, 1969) is an American film, television and stage actor. He received international recognition for portraying Tyrion Lannister on the HBO television series ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), for which he wo ...

Leslie Mann Leslie Jean Mann (born March 26, 1972) is an American actress. She has appeared in numerous films, including ''The Cable Guy'' (1996), ''George of the Jungle'' (1997), '' Big Daddy'' (1999), '' Knocked Up'' (2007), '' 17 Again'' (2009), '' Funn ...

, and

Kelly Marie Tran Kelly Marie Tran (born Loan Tran, January 17, 1989) is an American actress. She began acting in 2011, with most of her roles being in short film and television. She came to global prominence for her role as Rose Tico in the ''Star Wars'' seque ...

, Tran replacing

Kat Dennings Katherine Victoria Litwack (born June 13, 1986), known professionally as Kat Dennings, is an American actress. She is known for her starring roles as Max Black in the CBS sitcom '' 2 Broke Girls'' (2011–2017) and as Darcy Lewis in the Marvel ...

Television series

''Dawn of the Croods'' (2015–2017)

A 2D-animated web television series serving as a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

to the film, titled ''Dawn of the Croods'', aired on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

between December 24, 2015 and July 7, 2017. A total of 88 episodes each consisting of 2 11-minute segments were released. The cast featured new voice actors for the characters of Grug (

Dan Milano Daniel Milano (born September 10, 1972) is an American voice actor, puppeteer, writer and director. He was one of the creators of the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox sitcom ''Greg the Bunny'' and performed the title character Greg as well as Warre ...

), Ugga (

Cree Summer Cree Summer Francks (born July 7, 1969) is a American-Canadian actress and singer. She has worked extensively in animation, voicing long-running characters such as Susie Carmichael in ''Rugrats'' and Elmyra Duff in ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' and r ...

), Eep (

Stephanie Lemelin Stephanie Lemelin is an American actress and comedienne. She is best known for voicing Artemis Crock on '' Young Justice'', Eep on '' Dawn of the Croods'' and Audrey on ''Harvey Girls Forever!''. Education Lemelin graduated in 2001 from the Uni ...

), Thunk ( A.J. Locascio), Sandy (

Grey Griffin Grey DeLisle (; born Erin Grey Van Oosbree; August 24, 1973), sometimes credited as Grey Griffin, is an American voice actress, comedian and singer-songwriter. DeLisle is known for various roles in animated productions and video games. On Sept ...

), Gran (

Laraine Newman Laraine Newman (born March 2, 1952) is an American actress, writer and comedian. She was part of the original cast of NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''. She took an interest at improv in high school. After graduating, she studied mime with Marcel M ...

), and Guy (Dominic Catrambone). The first three episodes were animated in

Toon Boom Harmony Toon Boom Animation Inc. is a Canadian software company that specializes in animation production and storyboarding software. Founded in 1994 and based in Montreal, Quebec, Toon Boom develops animation and storyboarding software for film, televi ...

by Vancouver's

Bardel Entertainment Bardel Entertainment, Inc. is a Canadian animation studio founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1987. The studio's name comes from its founders, Barry Ward and his wife Delna Bhesania. Bardel is involved in the acquisition, development ...

. DreamWorks soon found that Harmony was not the best fit for animating scenes that contained multiple characters at once. The rest of the episodes were traditionally hand-drawn by South Korean studios: EMation, NE4U, and

Dong Woo Animation DongWoo Animation Co. Ltd (also known as DongWoo A&E Co. Ltd; ko, 동우에이엔이) is an animation studio located in Seoul, South Korea. It has produced many animated series and films created and produced in the United States, Canada, South K ...

. On July 9, 2017, executive producer Hay confirmed that the then recently-released fourth season of ''Dawn of the Croods'' had been its last.

''The Croods: Family Tree'' (2021–present)

On August 31, DreamWorks announced a CGI animated series titled
The Croods: Family Tree
', based on The Croods: A New Age and will be streaming September 23rd on Hulu and Peacock. Tran reprises her role as Dawn, while A.J. Locascio reprises his role as Thunk from ''

''. The new voice cast features, Amy Landecker as Ugga,

Kiff VandenHeuvel Kiff VandenHeuvel (born Christopher Jon VandenHeuvel) is an American actor, director and teacher of both improvisational comedy and voiceover. He is the host of the voiceover podcast, All Over Voiceover with Kiff VH. His film credits include '' ...

as Grug, Ally Dixon as Eep, Artemis Pebdani as Gran, Darin Brooks as Guy, Matthew Waterson as Phil, and Amy Rosoff as Hope. Mark Banker (from '' Go, Dog, Go!'') and Todd Grimes (from ''

The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants ''The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants'' is an American animated television series produced by DreamWorks Animation Television. It is based on the film, '' Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie'', which is based on the ''Captain Underpants' ...

'') serve as executive producers and showrunners for the series.

Cast and characters

* A dark gray cell indicates the character did not appear in that installment. * A indicates an actor or actress voiced a younger version of their character.

Crew

Additional Crew

Reception

Box office performance

Critical and public response

Video games

A video game based on the series, titled ''The Croods: Prehistoric Party!'', was released on March 19, 2013. Developed by

Torus Games Torus Games is an Australian video game developer founded in 1994 by Bill McIntosh. The company is located in Bayswater, Victoria. Its managing director is Bill McIntosh. The company being a family business. History They'd begin developing ...

Bandai Namco also known as the Bandai Namco Group and generally Bandai Namco, is a Japanese multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, formed from the merger of Bandai and Namco on S ...

, and published by

D3 Publisher is a Japanese video game developer and publisher founded on February 5, 1992. The company is known for the ''Simple'' series of budget-priced video games. Their games have been released for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Ninten ...

, it was adapted for

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

, and

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

. The game enables players to take the members of the Croods family on an adventure through 30 party style mini games. It received mainly negative reviews. A mobile game, titled ''The Croods'', which is a village-building game, was developed and published by Rovio, the creator of ''

Angry Birds ''Angry Birds'' is a Finnish action-based media franchise created by Rovio Entertainment. The game series focuses on the eponymous flock of angry birds who try to save their eggs from green-colored pigs. Inspired by the game ''Crush the Castle ...

''. It was released on March 14, 2013 to the

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

and Android platforms. It received negative reviews from critics, with

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

giving it a 40 out of 100.

Chronology

Chronological order of ''The Croods''' franchise history: # ''

'' (2015–2017) # ''

'' (2013) # ''

series finale A series finale is the final installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. It may also refer to a final theatrical sequel, the last part of a television miniseries, the last installment of a literary series, or ...

(2017) # '' The Croods: A New Age'' (2020) # '' The Croods: Family Tree'' (2021)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Croods (franchise), The The Croods (franchise) Science fiction franchises DreamWorks Animation franchises Film franchises introduced in 2013 Evolution in popular culture Fiction about neanderthals Prehistoric life in popular culture Animated film series Children's film series