''Hitpig!'' is a 2024 animated

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by Cinzia Angelini and David Feiss. The film comes from an original story by

Berkeley Breathed Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed (; born June 21, 1957) is an American cartoonist, children's book author, Film director, director, and screenwriter, known for his comic strips ''Bloom County'', ''Outland (comic strip), Outland'', and ''Opus (comic s ...

, rooted from his 2008 children's book ''Pete & Pickles''. Breathed also wrote the screenplay alongside Dave Rosenbaum and Tyler Werrin. Produced by Aniventure and animated by

Cinesite Cinesite (also known as The Cinesite Group) is an independent, multinational business which provides services to the media and entertainment industries. Its head office in London opened for business in 1994, initially offering services in visu ...

, the film features the voices of

Jason Sudeikis Daniel Jason Sudeikis ( ; born September 18, 1975) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago (Improv Olympic), and The Second City. I ...

Lilly Singh Lilly Singh (born September 26, 1988) is a Canadian YouTuber, television host, comedian and author. She began making YouTube videos in 2010. She originally appeared under the pseudonym Superwoman (stylized IISuperwomanII), her YouTube username ...

Rainn Wilson Rainn Percival Dietrich Wilson (born January 20, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, podcaster, producer, writer, and director. He starred as Dwight Schrute on NBC's American adaptation of ''The Office'' from 2005 to 2013, and received t ...

, Anitta,

RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960) is an American drag queen, television host, singer, producer, writer, and actor. He produces, hosts, and judges the reality competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and has received List of awards ...

, Hannah Gadsby and

Charlie Adler Charles Michael Adler (born October 2, 1956) is an American voice actor and voice director. He is known for his roles as Buster Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', the Bigheads on ''Rocko's Modern Life'', Ickis on ''Aaahh!!! Real Monsters'', Doc ...

. ''Hitpig!'' was released in North America on 1 November 2024.

Plot

Hitpig is an anthropomorphic pig who was raised by bounty hunter Big Bertha to retrieve lost pets to their owners. When Bertha gets eaten by a crocodile, Hitpig is left traumatized from the event but continues Bertha's work taking on high-profile runaway animals for cash rewards. One night, an elephant named Pickles escapes from the custody of the Leapin' Lord of the Leotard; a wealthy but unsuccessful Las Vegas showman, with the help of animal rights activist Letícia dos Anjos. Upon discovering Pickles' escape, the Leapin' Lord contacts Hitpig to capture Pickles before a big show he intends to open within a couple of days. Hitpig accepts his offer upon hearing about the million-dollar bounty. Pickles is taken by Letícia to London, with the intent of transferring Pickles to India to find her family. Hitpig manages to track down Pickles and earns her trust when she mistakes Hitpig to be an ally of Letícia. However, Hitpig's catchvan gets towed, so the two are forced to take a flight back to Las Vegas. On the plane, Hitpig is spotted by Letícia, and the two engage in a dart battle over Pickles, who mistakenly opens the backdoor of the plane. Hitpig and Pickles are ejected from the plane and land at a roadside motel. The pair builds a makeshift vehicle to get back to Las Vegas, but they divert from the road when a hot air balloon festival distracts Pickles, forcing Hitpig to chase after her. They settle on using a hot air balloon as another means of transportation. The two end up in San Francisco, where they crash land on the set of a cooking game show. Pickles helps Hitpig win by using her trunk as a hand after he breaks his. Developing complicated feelings towards Pickles, Hitpig has a dream about Bertha, who explains to him that helping others was the rewarding part of bounty hunting. Hitpig then saves Pickles from drowning in a flooded house by breathing into her trunk. The next day, the Leapin' Lord finds Hitpig and Pickles and reveals to Pickles the truth about Hitpig, who still believes he is trying to take her to India, and forces Hitpig into taking the bounty. When Hitpig rejects the bounty, he intimidates him with his pet crocodile Fluffy, who happens to be the same crocodile that ate Bertha, causing him to faint. Upon waking up, Hitpig decides to rescue Pickles. Letícia, who has taken control of Hitpig's catchvan, insists on helping, alongside other animals Hitpig had captured and Super Rooster, a superhero rooster. They make their way to the Leapin' Lord's palace, only to find out that the Leapin' Lord's show involves him shooting his palace into space so that Pickles can successfully leap into his arms. With the help of Super Rooster and a polecat's nuclear-powered farts, Hitpig and his team manage to catch up to the flying palace. Hitpig makes it to the main stage to rescue Pickles, but as he tries to fight Fluffy, the catchvan detaches from the palace's entrance hatch, ejecting the Leapin' Lord, Fluffy and Hitpig. As Hitpig flies into space, Super Rooster gets ahold of the catchvan, reinstates it to the palace, and saves Hitpig. Hitpig takes the palace back to Earth safely. Sometime later Hitpig brings Pickles to India. One year later, Hitpig has opened a food truck in Italy. Pickles, unable to find her family in India, comes across his restaurant and declares that Hitpig and his friends are her true family. Hitpig decides to invite Pickles into helping him save animals alongside Letícia, and they fly off in his catchvan. The Leapin' Lord and Fluffy, meanwhile, have flown high up in space towards the Sun, where they are very quickly decimated.

Voice cast

as Hitpig, a bounty hunting pig *

as Pickles, an elephant *

as the Leapin' Lord of the Leotard, a showman from Las Vegas * Anitta as Letícia dos Anjos, an animal rights activist *

as Polecat, a polecat with

heterochromia Heterochromia is a variation in coloration most often used to describe color differences of the iris, but can also be applied to color variation of hair or skin. Heterochromia is determined by the production, delivery, and concentration of mela ...

* Lorraine Ashbourne as Bertha, Hitpig's adopted mother and mentor *

Andy Serkis Andrew Clement Serkis (born 20 April 1964) is an English actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his motion capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for computer-generated characters such as Gollum in ''The Lo ...

as a newscaster * Shelby Young as Hitpig's catchvan * Hannah Gadsby as Koala *

as Super Rooster ** Adler also voices Louis the Lobster *

Flavor Flav William Jonathan Drayton Jr. (born March 16, 1959), known by his stage name Flavor Flav ( ), is an American rapper and television personality. Known for his catchphrase "Yeah, boyeeeeee!" when performing, he is a founding member alongside Chuck ...

as Chef Emcee

Production

''Hitpig!'' was conceived by

as a film adaptation of his 2008 children's book ''Pete & Pickles''. The film initially entered development at

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

in 2014 before being abandoned soon afterwards. Prior to the creation of ''Hitpig'', Breathed had first attempted to adapt ''Pete & Pickles'' in 2010, as a computer-animated preschool series with

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

. In 2020, it was announced that the British animation firm Aniventure would produce the film, with Cinzia Angelini and Maurizio Parimbelli directing. Shortly afterwards, Parimbelli would be replaced by David Feiss. Animation production was handled by

through its

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

facilities A facility is a place for doing something, or a place that facilitates an activity. Types of facility include: * A commercial or institutional building, such as a hotel, resort, school, office complex, sports arena, or convention center * Med ...

as well as its

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. In 2020, it was announced that

Peter Dinklage Peter Hayden Dinklage (; born June 11, 1969) is an American actor. Portraying Tyrion Lannister on the HBO television series ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), Dinklage won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama S ...

, Hannah Gadsby and Dany Boon had joined the cast. When David Feiss joined on as a director, Boon would exit the project, and would be recast by veteran voice actor and Feiss' former '' Cow and Chicken'' collaborator

, who also provides the voices for two other roles for the film. On March 8, 2022, it was announced that Anitta would be providing the voice for the character Letícia dos Anjos. In May 2024, it was reported that

would be playing the titular character, replacing Dinklage, while GFM Animation launched international sales. Isabella Summers composed the score for the film.

Release

In August 2024, Viva Pictures acquired the United States rights and released the film for a theatrical release on 1 November 2024. VVS Films released the film in Canada on behalf of Viva Pictures. Kazoo is set to release the film in the United Kingdom for a 2025/2026 release.

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, ''Hitpig!'' was released alongside ''

Here Here may refer to: Music * ''Here'' (Adrian Belew album), 1994 * ''Here'' (Alicia Keys album), 2016 * ''Here'' (Cal Tjader album), 1979 * ''Here'' (Edward Sharpe album), 2012 * ''Here'' (Idina Menzel album), 2004 * ''Here'' (Merzbow album), ...

'' and ''

Absolution Absolution is a theological term for the forgiveness imparted by ordained Priest#Christianity, Christian priests and experienced by Penance#Christianity, Christian penitents. It is a universal feature of the historic churches of Christendom, alth ...

''. The film debuted with $1.2 million from 2,107 theaters in its opening weekend, finishing 13th at the box office.

Critical response

Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American 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 from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

References

External links

* * at Aniventure * {{IMDb title, qid=Q114853077 2024 films 2024 computer-animated films 2020s adventure comedy films 2020s British animated films 2020s Canadian animated films 2020s children's adventure films 2020s children's animated films 2020s children's comedy films Adaptations of works by Berkeley Breathed Animated adventure films Animated comedy films Animated cyberpunk films Animated films about pigs Animated films about talking animals Animated films based on children's books Animated films set in the future British animated feature films British children's animated films British computer-animated films Canadian animated feature films Canadian children's animated films Canadian computer-animated films Fictional bounty hunters Works by Berkeley Breathed