''The Peanuts Movie'' (known in some countries as ''Snoopy and Charlie Brown: A Peanuts Movie'') is a 2015 American computer-animated

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 ...

based on

Charles M. Schulz Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz (; November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', featuring what are probably his two best-known characters, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. He is wi ...

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ' ...

'', produced by

Blue Sky Studios Blue Sky Studios, Inc. was an American computer animation studio based in Greenwich, Connecticut. It was founded on February 22, 1987 by Chris Wedge, Michael Ferraro, Carl Ludwig, Alison Brown, David Brown, and Eugene Troubetzkoy after their e ...

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 ...

. It is the fifth full-length ''Peanuts'' film and the first in 35 years. The film is directed by

Steve Martino Stephen Michael "Steve" Martino (born July 21, 1959) is an American designer and film director. He is best known for directing the films '' Horton Hears a Who!'' (2008), '' Ice Age: Continental Drift'' (2012), and '' The Peanuts Movie'' (2015). ...

from a screenplay by Craig and Bryan Schulz (Schulz's son and grandson, respectively), and Cornelius Uliano, and stars the voices of

Noah Schnapp Noah Cameron Schnapp (born October 3, 2004) is an American actor. He gained recognition for playing Will Byers in the Netflix science fiction horror series '' Stranger Things''. His film roles include Roger Donovan in Steven Spielberg's histo ...

Charlie Brown Charles "Charlie" Brown is the principal character of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', syndicated in daily and Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. Depicted as a "lovable loser," Charlie Brown is one of the great American ar ...

and, via archival recordings,

Bill Melendez José Cuauhtémoc "Bill" Melendez (November 15, 1916 – September 2, 2008) was an American character animator, voice actor, film director and producer. Melendez is known for working on the ''Peanuts'' animated specials. Before ''Peanuts'', he p ...

Snoopy Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. He can also be found in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of the most recog ...

and

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

. The film sees Charlie Brown trying to improve his odds with the

Little Red-Haired Girl The Little Red-Haired Girl is an unseen character in the ''Peanuts'' comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, who serves as the object of Charlie Brown's affection, and a symbol of unrequited love. The character was first mentioned in the strip on Nove ...

, while Snoopy writes a book where he is a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Flying Ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

trying to save his fellow pilot and love interest Fifi from the

Red Baron Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

and his flying circus. Development of the film began in 2006, six years after the death of Charles Schulz and the final release of the last ''Peanuts'' comic strip. Craig Schulz, the son of Charles, pitched a film idea to his son, Bryan Schulz. Twentieth Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios announced development of a computer-animated film in October 2012, with Steve Martino directing, due to his faithfulness to the style of

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss"
'' Horton Hears a Who! ''Horton Hears a Who!'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss. It was published in 1954 by Random House. This book tells the story of Horton the Elephant and his adventures saving Whovi ...

'' (2008), also produced by Blue Sky. Numerous elements from the comic strip were featured in the film, such as Charlie Brown's skating pond, his house, "the wall" and Lucy's psychiatrist booth, as well as the Snoopy and Woodstock voice tracks from

. The soundtrack was composed by

Christophe Beck Jean-Christophe Beck (born November 30, 1972) is a Canadian television and film score composer and conductor. He is a brother of pianist Chilly Gonzales. He is best known for his collaborations with Disney and its subsidiaries, which include comp ...

, with contributions by

Meghan Trainor Meghan Elizabeth Trainor (born December 22, 1993) is an American singer-songwriter and television personality. She rose to prominence after signing with Epic Records in 2014 and releasing her debut single "All About That Bass", which reached ...

and David Benoit. ''The Peanuts Movie'' premiered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on November 1, 2015, and was released in the United States five days later. It grossed $246 million worldwide against a $99 million budget to become the 7th highest-grossing animated film of 2015. The film was met with generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the animation, voice acting, and faithfulness to the source material. It received nominations for the

Annie Award for Best Animated Feature The Annie Award for Best Animated Feature is an Annie Award introduced in 1992, awarded annually to the best animated feature film. History In 1998, the award was renamed Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature, only to revert t ...

, the

Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Animated Feature The Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Animated Feature is an award given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. The award was presented annually from 1998 to 2019. ''Toy Story'' is the only f ...

, and was the first Blue Sky Studios film to be nominated for a

Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film is a Golden Globe Award that was awarded for the first time at the 64th Golden Globe Awards in 2007. It was the first time that the Golden Globe Awards had created a separate category for anima ...

, but lost to '' Inside Out''.

Plot

When the

moves into the neighborhood,

becomes infatuated with her, though worries his long-running streak of failures will prevent her from noticing him. After

Lucy Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Lu ...

tells him he should try being more confident, Charlie Brown decides to embark upon a series of new activities in hope of finding one that will get the Little Red-Haired Girl to notice him. Helped by

and

, he performs a magic show act in the school's

talent show A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...

; however, he is forced to drop his act in order to help his sister

Sally Sally may refer to: People *Sally (name), a list of notable people with the name Military * Sally (military), an attack by the defenders of a town or fortress under siege against a besieging force; see sally port *Sally, the Allied reporting na ...

with hers. Charlie Brown then signs up for the

school dance A dance party (also referred to as a dance) is a social gathering where dancing is the primary activity. Some dance parties are held in a casual setting and open to the public, such as a rave, or those held in nightclubs. Other types of dance ...

and gets Snoopy to teach him. At the dance, Charlie Brown attracts praise for his skills, but he slips during his performance. This sets one of his shoes to hit the sprinkler, causing the dance to be cut short and the students to look down upon him once more. Charlie Brown is partnered with the Little Red-Haired Girl to write a book report. When she is called away for a week to deal with a family illness, Charlie Brown decides to write the report alone, on the collegiate-level novel ''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...

'', to which he writes a comprehensive report. At the same time, Charlie Brown finds he is the only student to get a perfect score on a standardized test taken earlier that school year. His friends and the other students congratulate him, and his popularity begins to climb. However, when he goes to accept a medal at a

school assembly A school assembly is a gathering of all or part of a school for purposes, such as special programs or communicating information basis. In some schools, students gather to perform a common song or prayer, and to receive common announcements. A ro ...

, he learns the test papers were accidentally mixed up, and that

Peppermint Patty Peppermint Patty is a fictional character featured in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip ''Peanuts''. Her full name is Patricia Reichardt, which is very rarely used in the strip. She is one of a small group in the strip who live across town from C ...

was actually the one who got the perfect score. Saddened that his sudden popularity was all for nothing, Charlie Brown reveals the mistake and declines the medal, thus becoming unpopular again. To make matters worse, his book report is accidentally shredded by

Linus Linus, a male given name, is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Linos''. It's a common given name in Sweden. The origin of the name is unknown although the name appears in antiquity both as a musician who taught Apollo and as a son of Apollo who di ...

' model tri-plane, causing him to admit to the Little Red-Haired Girl that he has caused them both to fail the assignment. Meanwhile, Snoopy writes a novel about his

persona trying to save Fifi from the Red Baron with help from Woodstock and his friends, using the key events and situations surrounding Charlie Brown as inspiration to develop his story. He acts out his adventure physically and coming across Charlie Brown and the gang several times along the way. Snoopy, in the end, manages to defeat the Red Baron by

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

and save Fifi. Before leaving school for summer, Charlie Brown is surprised when the Little Red-Haired Girl chooses him for a

pen pal Pen pals (or penpals, pen-pals, penfriends or pen friends) are people who regularly write to each other, particularly via postal mail. Pen pals are usually strangers whose relationship is based primarily, or even solely, on their exchange of le ...

. Linus convinces Charlie Brown he needs to tell the Little Red-Haired Girl how he feels about her before she leaves for the summer. Racing to her house, he discovers she is about to leave on a bus for

summer camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...

. He tries to chase the bus but is prevented from reaching it. Just as he is about to give up, Charlie Brown sees a kite fall from the

Kite-Eating Tree The Kite-Eating Tree is a fictional tree in the ''Peanuts'' comic strip created by Charles M. Schulz. In the comics, when Charlie Brown attempts to fly a kite, the kite always ends up tangled in the tree. In an editorial from 1964, the '' U.S ...

. The string becomes entangled around his waist and sails away with him. Amazed to see Charlie Brown flying a kite, his friends follow. Upon reaching the bus, Charlie Brown finally asks the Little Red-Haired Girl why she has chosen him in spite of his failures. The Little Red-Haired Girl explains she admires his selflessness and determination, calling him an honest, caring, and compassionate person. As a result, everyone congratulates Charlie Brown for his efforts, hard work, and for being a true friend. In the first

mid-credits scene A post-credits scene (commonly referred to as a stinger or credit cookie) or mid-credits scene is a short clip that appears after all or some of the closing credits have rolled and sometimes after a production logo of a film, TV series, or video g ...

, Lucy tries to convince Charlie Brown to kick the football once more. Charlie Brown is apprehensive, but Lucy tells him that she now understands that he is kind, compassionate, brave, and funny and that no one would pull a football away from someone with all of those qualities. Charlie Brown, convinced, agrees once more, only for Lucy to pull the football away and adds smugly that she forgot to say that he is gullible, causing Charlie Brown to smile. In the second mid-credits scene, Snoopy, Fifi, Woodstock, the Beagle Scouts, and Snoopy's siblings celebrate Snoopy's victory over the Red Baron with root beer, that is until the Red Baron shows up again and knocks Snoopy into the root beer causing him to shout "Curse you, Red Baron!" (via thought bubble). In the post-credits scene, Linus' model tri-plane finally sputters to a stop over the pond and falls straight in.

Cast

* Hadley Belle Miller as

* Mariel Sheets as

* Alex Garfin as

* Francesca Angelucci Capaldi as the

and Frieda. Describing the Little Red-Haired Girl, Capaldi says: "She's very nice and kind and has a great heart. She really does like Charlie Brown, but he has no idea, because he's shy and awkward." * Venus Omega Schultheis as

* Rebecca Bloom as

Marcie Marcie is a fictional character featured in the long-running syndicated daily and Sunday comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. Marcie is a studious girl who is sometimes depicted as being terrible at sports. She is friends with the ...

* Marelik "Mar Mar" Walker as

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

* Noah Johnston as

Schroeder __NOTOC__ Schroeder is a North German language, German (from Schröder) occupational name for a cloth cutter or tailor, from an agent derivative of Middle Low German , "to cut". The same term was occasionally used to denote a gristmiller as well as ...

* Anastasia Bredikhina as

Patty A patty or burger (in British English) is a flattened, usually round, Serving size, serving of ground meat and/or legumes, grains, vegetables, or Meat analogue, meat alternatives. Patties are found in multiple cuisines throughout the world. ...

* Madisyn Shipman as

Violet Violet may refer to: Common meanings * Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue * One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly: ** ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants Places United States * Viol ...

* AJ Tecce as

Pig-Pen Pig-Pen is a fictional character in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. While amiable, he is a young boy who is, except on rare occasions, extremely dirty and attracts a permanent cloud of dust. History "Pig-Pen" is a nickname. I ...

* Micah Revelli as Little Kid * William "Alex" Wunsch as

Shermy Shermy is a fictional character from the comic strip ''Peanuts'', by Charles Schulz. Schulz named him after a friend from high school. When Peanuts made its debut on October 2, 1950, Shermy sat with another early character, Patty on the curb, an ...

Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews Troy Andrews (born January 2, 1986), also known by the stage name Trombone Shorty, is an American musician, producer, actor and philanthropist from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is best known as a trombone and trumpet player but also plays drums, ...

as Miss Othmar and the

's mother. Andrews' trombone provided their "wah-wah" voices, along with the voices for other adult characters in the film. *

Kristin Chenoweth Kristin Dawn Chenoweth (; born Kristi Dawn Chenoweth; July 24, 1968)Kristin Cheno ...

as Fifi, Snoopy's love interest. Chenoweth created "a series of conversational-like sounds" to create Fifi's language, using Melendez's Snoopy recordings as a guide, and making his sounds more feminine. *

and

(from archival recordings). Woodstock and his bird friends are part of Snoopy's Beagle Scouts, who serve as the

's (Snoopy's) repair crew. Snoopy's siblings also appear during the end credits.

Production

Development

In 2006, six years after the release of the last original ''

'' strip, as well as the death of creator

, his son Craig Schulz came up with an idea for a new ''Peanuts'' film, which he showed to his screenwriter son Bryan Schulz. "I was happy to show my son," Craig said. "He showed me how to make it bigger—how to blow it up more—and he helped me put in structure." When presenting their film to studios, Craig stipulated that the film remain under Schulz control, saying, "We need dto have absolute quality control and keep it under Dad's legacy... You can't bring people in from the outside and expect them to understand ''Peanuts''." On October 9, 2012, it was announced that

and

were developing a 3D computer-animated feature film based on the strip, with

directing from the screenplay by Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz, and Cornelius Uliano. Craig, Bryan, and Uliano also produced. Craig, stating there is no one "more protective of the comic strip than myself," chose Martino as director because he showed faithfulness to literature in his adaptation of

''. On the film's plot, Martino said: "Here's where I lean thematically. I want to go through this journey...

is that guy who, in the face of repeated failure, picks himself back up and tries again. That's no small task. I have kids who aspire to be something big and great... a star football player or on Broadway. I think what Charlie Brown is—what I hope to show in this film—is the everyday qualities of perseverance... to pick yourself back up with a positive attitude—that's every bit as heroic... as having a star on the Walk of Fame or being a star on Broadway. That's the tory'score. This is a feature film story that has a strong dramatic drive, and takes its core ideas from the strip." Martino and his animators spent over a year looking at Charles M. Schulz's original drawing style to help translate the "hand-drawn warmth... into the cool pixel-precision of CGI" without the fear of something getting lost in translation, such as "how the dot of an eye onveyedjoy or sorrow so efficiently". In addition to receiving the rights to use

's voice for

and

, Martino was also able to get the rights to archive music from previous ''Peanuts'' specials. Classic locations are featured, such as Charlie Brown's skating pond, his house, "the wall" and Lucy's psychiatrist booth, each retaining their "eternal look of the strip." Additionally, despite being outdated technology, rotary phones and typewriters are seen, as well as Lucy's psychiatrist booth still costing a

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...

. Adult characters' "wah-wah" voices are represented by a trombone with a plunger mute, as in previous ''Peanuts'' media, courtesy of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

jazz musician

Trombone Shorty Troy Andrews (born January 2, 1986), also known by the stage name Trombone Shorty, is an American musician, producer, actor and philanthropist from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is best known as a trombone and trumpet player but also plays drums, ...

. Because of the robust number of existing ''Peanuts'' characters, the film does not introduce any new characters. On January 8, 2013, Leigh Anne Brodsky became the managing director of Peanuts Worldwide and was set to control all the global deals for the film. In April 2013, Fox announced that the film would be released in 3D. In October 2013, it was announced that

Paul Feig Paul Samuel Feig (; born September 17, 1962) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is known for directing films starring frequent collaborator Melissa McCarthy, including ''Bridesmaids'' (2011), '' The Heat'' (2013), ''Spy'' (2015) ...

would also produce. By April 2015, 75% of the animation was complete, with some footage scheduled to debut at

CinemaCon The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) is an American trade organization whose members are the owners of movie theaters. Most of the worldwide major theater chains' operators are members, as are hundreds of independent theater oper ...

in Las Vegas.

Music and soundtrack

In October 2014, it was announced that

would score the film. Events occur at 8:03 (budget), 9:00 (Beck). Beck stated, "With the ''Peanuts'' movies, I grew up on those specials from the '60s and '70s, that, of course, rerun to this day. I'm very fond of all that

Vince Guaraldi Vincent Anthony Guaraldi (; birth name, né Dellaglio, July 17, 1928 – February 6, 1976) was an American jazz pianist best known for composing music for animated television adaptations of the ''Peanuts'' comic strip. His compositions for this s ...

music, so what we did was try to find spots in the film where we could sort of touch down and remind people who were watching the film that it's still a ''Peanuts'' movie, and there's still a place for that music in the film. There's a bunch of spots where we quote the Guaraldi music, or we actually re-record his pieces quite faithfully." He also added that the score would be more orchestral than Guaraldi's previous scores, which were mainly a small

jazz combo A jazz band (jazz ensemble or jazz combo) is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands vary in the quantity of its members and the style of jazz that they play but it is common to find a jazz band made up of a rhythm section and a ho ...

. Jazz pianist David Benoit contributed to Beck's score. On July 28, 2015, it was announced that

would write and perform a song for the film, entitled " Better When I'm Dancin'".

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

released the soundtrack album on October 23, 2015. The 20-track album features Trainor's "Better When I'm Dancin",

Flo Rida Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), better known by his stage name Flo Rida (, ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 breakout single " Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the record for digital dow ...

's "That's What I Like" featuring

Fitz Fitz (pronounced "fits") was a patronymic indicator used in Anglo-Norman England to help distinguish individuals by identifying their immediate predecessors. Meaning "son of", it would precede the father's forename, or less commonly a title held b ...

, "

Linus and Lucy "Linus and Lucy" is a popular instrumental jazz standard written by American jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi, appearing in many ''Peanuts'' animated specials. Named for the two fictional siblings Linus and Lucy van Pelt, it was originally released o ...

", "Skating" and "

Christmas Time Is Here "Christmas Time Is Here" is a popular Christmas standard written by Vince Guaraldi and Lee Mendelson for the 1965 television special ''A Charlie Brown Christmas'', one of the first animated Christmas specials produced for network television in t ...

" by Vince Guaraldi, from the ''A Charlie Brown Christmas'' album, and 15 tracks of Beck's original score for the film. An exclusive edition of the soundtrack released at

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...

features a second Trainor track, "Good to Be Alive". The Japanese edition of the soundtrack includes "Good to Be Alive" and three more tracks from Beck's score. The Japan version of the movie also uses Japanese singer-songwriter Ayaka's "A Song For You" for the trailer and the ending instead of Trainor's, but it was released as a single and did not appear on the Japanese edition of the soundtrack album.

Release

Premiere and theatrical release

''The Peanuts Movie'' held its premiere in

on November 1, 2015, and was released on November 6, 2015, in the United States on 3,897 screens. The release commemorates the 65th anniversary of the comic strip and the 50th anniversary of the TV special '' A Charlie Brown Christmas''. The film was originally scheduled for November 25, 2015, and in November 2012 was rescheduled to November 6, 2015. The film was released as ''Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie'' in United Kingdom on December 18, 2015. The Australian release date was supposed to be December 21, 2015 but was postponed to January 8, 2016.

Video game

A video game based on the film, titled '' Snoopy's Grand Adventure'', was released on November 3, 2015, for

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

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 ...

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 ...

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

, and

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

, and published by

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

Home media

''The Peanuts Movie'' was released on digital platforms on February 12, 2016, before being released on DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and 4K Ultra HD a month later on March 8, 2016. The film debuted at the top of the home media sales chart for the week ending on March 13, 2016.

Reception

Box office

''The Peanuts Movie'' grossed $130.2 million in North America and $116 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $246.2 million. The film grossed $12.1 million on its opening day, earning a total of $44 million for the weekend (with 27% of the gross coming from 3D screenings), finishing second at the box office behind ''

Spectre Spectre, specter or the spectre may refer to: Religion and spirituality * Vision (spirituality) * Apparitional experience * Ghost Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Spectre'' (1977 film), a made-for-television film produced and writ ...

'' ($70.4 million). Outside North America, the film opened in the same week as the U.S. and grossed $4.56 million from 12 markets. China ($2.76 million) and Italy ($1.16 million) delivered the biggest openings. After three weekends, it opened to a total of 49 markets where it had the second biggest opening of 2015 in Mexico ($3.1 million) and debuted in the U.K., Ireland and Malta at No. 2 with $5.5 million (including previews) behind '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens''. One of the final markets was Australia where the film opened on New Year's Day 2016, earning $2.6 million in its first week.

Critical response

The review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported approval rating and an average rating of based on reviews, making it the highest-rated film produced by

. The site's consensus states: "''The Peanuts Movie'' offers a colorful gateway into the world of its classic characters and a sweetly nostalgic – if relatively unambitious – treat for the adults who grew up with them." On

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 ...

, the film has a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 67 out of 100 based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". On

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

, audiences gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

''s Michael Rechtshaffen found the film to be especially praiseworthy, feeling that Charles Schulz would have been proud of the film, though he criticized the use of Trainor's song in an otherwise good use of Guaraldi's themes with Beck's score. Peter Debruge of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' gave similar sentiments, especially praising the animation of the film. Alonso Duralde of

TheWrap ''TheWrap'' is an American online news website covering the business of entertainment and media via digital, print and live events. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman Sharon I. Waxman (born c.1963) is an American author, journalist, ...

felt the film made a nice transition to 3D, saying, while the film might not reach "the melancholy of earlier films... it nonetheless respects the importance of failure and disappointment that Schulz always included in his storytelling". He did, however, feel that ''Peanuts'' purists would take issue with a few things in the film, such as seeing and hearing so much of the Little Red-Haired Girl, who was always off-panel in the comic strips, and Peppermint Patty acknowledging that Snoopy is a dog and not a child with a big nose (even though, unbeknownst to him, Marcie told her that Snoopy was a beagle in the latter years of the strip). Pete Hammond from ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, with ...

'' admitted his trepidation about translating the characters from 2D to 3D, but enjoyed the film overall, only criticizing the amount of fantasy sequences involving Snoopy. Brian Truitt of ''

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'' gave the film three out of four stars, proclaiming the film "is all about simplicity, and what the plot lacks in nuance and complexity is made up for with relatable characters whom people have spent a lifetime watching. The movie is a testament to Charlie Brown's place in pop culture and a showcase for a new generation bound to fall in love with its perennially insecure star". Neil Genzlinger from ''

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'' named the film an NYT Critics' Pick, calling it "the most charming and the most daring experiment in human genetics ever conducted". However, he also showed concern for the modern children's audiences who may or may not only know the Peanuts gang from the holiday specials. Scott Mendelson from ''

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'' was more critical of the film, saying there was "nothing objectively wrong with ''The Peanuts Movie''", but as he personally was not a fan of the ''Peanuts'' comic strip, that made him "anti-Charlie Brown", loathing each time Charlie Brown failed in the film. Joe McGovern from ''

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'' was also not as receptive, giving the film a grade of C+, and criticizing the animation, stating, "Even if you assume that Schulz always wanted his frozen pond reflecting lustrous light and Snoopy frolicking in a lavish

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...

world, the animation steroids injected into the aesthetic here nonetheless shrivel the great melancholy that's so key to the comic's endurance".

Accolades, awards and nominations

Future

Although ''The Peanuts Movie'' has been described as a success, and Fox was reportedly interested in making a sequel and turning ''The Peanuts Movie'' into a franchise, Fox only had the rights to make one ''Peanuts'' film. Schulz's widow, Jean, has indicated that a sequel is not imminent, stating, "This one took eight years, so maybe we'll talk again then."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peanuts Movie, The 2015 films 2015 3D films 2015 comedy films 2015 computer-animated films 2010s American animated films American children's animated comedy films American computer-animated films Animated films about friendship 2010s English-language films 20th Century Fox animated films 20th Century Fox Animation films Films produced by Paul Feig Films scored by Christophe Beck Films based on American comics Films directed by Steve Martino Peanuts films Blue Sky Studios films 3D animated films 20th Century Fox films Films about children Animated films about dogs Animated films about birds