Trolls World Tour is a 2020 American animated musical comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation, based on the Good Luck Trolls dolls created by Thomas Dam. The sequel to Trolls (2016) and the second installment in the Trolls franchise, the film was directed by Walt Dohrn and co-directed by David P. Smith, from a screenplay by Maya Forbes, Wallace Wolodarsky, Elizabeth Tippet, and the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and a story by Aibel and Berger. The film features Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Ron Funches, James Corden, Icona Pop, Kunal Nayyar, Zooey Deschanel, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Dohrn reprising their roles from the first film, with Rachel Bloom, Kelly Clarkson, Anderson .Paak, Sam Rockwell, George Clinton, and Mary J. Blige joining the cast. The film follows Queen Poppy and Branch as they discover more troll tribes that represent music genres other than their own. Troubles arise when Queen Barb of the Hard Rock Trolls (Bloom) plans to overthrow the foreign music genres to unite the Trolls under rock music, prompting Poppy and Branch to unite the tribes and stop her before all the trolls are converted into Hard Rock Trolls.
After the first film's release, a sequel was announced in February 2017, with Kendrick and Timberlake returning to their roles. Much of the new cast was signed from May 2018 to June 2019. The custom marking animation to promote the film was provided by Minimo VFX and Jellyfish Pictures.
Trolls World Tour was released by Universal Pictures in the United States in a limited number of theaters on April 10, 2020, and was simultaneously released on video on demand, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. AMC Theatres subsequently announced they would no longer distribute the studio's films, though this was later reversed after AMC and Universal agreed on a new contract.AMC bans Universal films from its theaters over Trolls World Tour CNN, April 29, 2020AMC, largest cinema chain in US, announces boycott of Universal theguardian.com April 29, 2020Universal and AMC are quarreling: What it says about Hollywood cnbc.com April 30, 2020 The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $49 million on a $110 million budget, making it DreamWorks Animation's first computer animated film to make less than its budget. A sequel, Trolls Band Together, was released in 2023.
Plot
In the Techno Reef, King Trollex's tribe of Techno Trolls are attending a rave. Queen Barb and her Hard Rock Trolls arrive, and use weaponized guitars to destroy everything, demanding Trollex to surrender and hand over his "string".
In Pop Village, two years after the events of the first film, Queen Poppy receives a letter from Barb, inviting her to bring her "string" to unite the trolls. Poppy's father King Peppy explains there were once six magical lyre strings that represented major tribes of music - Techno, Funk, Classical, Country, Hard Rock, and Pop, but the tribes took their strings and went their separate ways after their differences broke into arguments. King Peppy, Branch, and the others do not trust Barb's invitation, but Poppy decides to sneak out with the Pop string, to prove Barb is the same as any other troll. Branch, who is trying to confess his love, and Biggie, who stowed away, accompany her on her journey. Meanwhile, one of Poppy's friends, Guy Diamond, gives birth to a son who is a miniature version of his father, which Poppy names Tiny Diamond. At the same time, Cooper finds old illustrations of trolls his shape, and sets off to find them alone.
Meanwhile, Barb sends bounty hunters of smaller music genres to find Poppy, promising to spare the tribe of the successful one. Poppy's group soon arrive at the ruins of the Classical tribe's town of Symphonyville, and meet a sentient flute named Pennywhistle, who tells them that Barb wants to forcefully unite all trolls under Rock. The group then head to Lonesome Flats to warn the centaur-like Country Trolls. Poppy feels the Country Trolls' music is too downbeat and decides to try to cheer them up first, despite Branch's reservations. The Pop Trolls wind up imprisoned, but are rescued by a smooth-talking Country Troll named Hickory. After being chased by the Country Trolls into a ravine, Hickory builds the group a raft to take them to Vibe City to warn the Funk Trolls. They encounter Chaz, a Smooth Jazz troll, who tries to paralyze them with his music. Hickory, using gumdrop earplugs to remain immune, drives him off. Angry that Poppy broke an earlier promise to keep him safe, Biggie decides to leave the group and return to Pop Village. Meanwhile, Cooper gets beamed up into a spaceship.
The group is beamed up into Vibe City, which turns out to be the spaceship that took Cooper. They reunite with Cooper, who reveals that he is actually the long-lost son of King Quincy and Queen Essence of the Funk Trolls, and twin brother of their son Prince D. As an egg, he was snatched by a bird-like monster and landed in Pop Village. Poppy maintains all trolls are the same, but Prince D explains that Pop Trolls once tried to unite all Trolls under Pop, causing the initial split. The Hard Rock Trolls attack the ship and Poppy's group is ejected to safety, accidentally separating from Hickory. After arguing with Poppy over her refusal to listen, Branch walks off and is captured by the Reggaeton and K-Pop Trolls, who fight over him until he convinces them to work together with him against Barb.
A repentant Hickory reveals he is actually a Yodeling Troll, who disguised himself and his brother Dickory as a Country Troll to steal Poppy's string. He tells Poppy to run, but Barb arrives and captures her with the Pop string. Meanwhile, Biggie returns home to find Pop Village destroyed and most of its inhabitants kidnapped. Realizing he should have never left Poppy, Biggie rallies the remaining Pop Trolls to rescue her, and they disguise themselves as Hard Rock Trolls.
At Volcano Rock City, Barb forces her captives to attend a concert, where she uses the six strings on her guitar to turn them into Rock Zombies, including Branch when he, the Reggaeton Trolls, and the K-Pop Trolls try to rescue Poppy. Poppy herself seems to have been turned, but then reveals that she used gumdrops to block out the music. She admonishes Barb for being a poor queen and not listening to her people, before smashing Barb's guitar on the ground. This restores the zombies, but the strings are destroyed, apparently ending all music and turning the trolls gray. Foiled, Barb blames the Pop Trolls for repeating history and destroying music.
Cooper hears his heartbeat and starts beatboxing with Prince D, convincing other Trolls to make sounds to create a rhythm. Poppy leads everyone into singing together from their hearts, restoring their music and colors, including Barb, who accepts Poppy's offer of friendship. Branch finally confesses his feelings for Poppy. Later, Poppy tells the children of different tribes how important different voices are in harmony. Meanwhile, the Trolls celebrate settling their differences, and Bridget and Gristle arrive to Troll Village, unaware of the events that have taken place, and worried they have missed the party.
Voice cast
Production On February 28, 2017, Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation announced a sequel to the 2016 film Trolls, with Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake reprising their respective roles as Queen Poppy and Branch.
In March 2017, podcasters the McElroy brothers began campaigning for roles in the film via a podcast titled "The McElroy Brothers Will Be in Trolls 2". Following the campaign's success, DreamWorks confirmed in September 2018 that the McElroy brothers would make cameo appearances in World Tour.
Sam Rockwell, Chance the Rapper, Anthony Ramos, Jamie Dornan and Flula Borg were added to the cast in May 2018. Corden, Icona Pop, Funches, and Nayyar returned to reprise their roles. On June 12, 2018, the film was retitled as Trolls World Tour. In October 2018, it was confirmed that Kelly Clarkson had joined the cast, and will perform an original song. In June 2019, along with promotional posters, new cast members have been announced, which include: J Balvin, Mary J. Blige, Rachel Bloom, George Clinton, Ester Dean and Gustavo Dudamel.
The marking custom animation to promote the film was provided from Minimo VFX & Jellyfish Pictures, who would do the animation for Spirit Untamed and have produced assets for The Boss Baby: Family Business and The Bad Guys. With the then-recent addition of the MoonRay rendering system, DreamWorks decided to use less motion blur for the character animation, unlike the previous film, and more traditional animation smears. More films from DreamWorks continued to utilize this technique following World Tour.
Music
Along with Timberlake, Clarkson, .Paak, Blige and Clinton, songs are provided by Chris Stapleton and SZA.
The first single from the movie's soundtrack, "The Other Side", by Timberlake and SZA, was released on February 26, 2020. The Trolls World Tour: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on March 13, 2020.
The score is composed by Theodore Shapiro, in his second DreamWorks Animation film, following Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.
Release Theatrical Universal Pictures had originally planned to release Trolls World Tour theatrically in the United States on April 10, 2020. It was later pushed up to February 14, 2020, before being pushed back to April 17, 2020. Following the delay of No Time to Die, it was once again pushed up to the original April 10 release date. It was also set to be released on March 20 in the United Kingdom, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, its release date was pushed back to April 6.
On March 17, Universal announced that the film would be released simultaneously in theaters and for digital rental on April 10 in the United States and Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By then, Trolls World Tour had only been released in Russia, Singapore, and Malaysia. Other films distributed by the studio, such as The Invisible Man and The Hunt were also released digitally before the end of the usual 90-day theatrical run. The film was the first from Universal to receive a simultaneous theatrical and pay television release since 1983's The Pirates of Penzance.
As the lockdown measures receded, the film was released in three Santikos Theatres locations in San Antonio, Texas on May 1, 2020. Theatres in Hong Kong also started to show the film a week later on May 8, 2020. In Russia the film was made available in IMAX cinemas. In Austria and the Netherlands, it was released in both 4DX and Dolby Cinema.
Home media Trolls World Tour was made available for an early digital purchase on June 23, 2020. The film was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on July 7, 2020. All releases include an original short film entitled "Tiny Diamond Goes Back to School". By July 19, the film had totaled $23.6 million worth of DVD and Blu-ray sales. The movie was also available to stream on the streaming service Peacock.
Controversy