MOBILE TEASER: Sony’s “The Emoji Movie”

MOBILE TEASER: Sony’s “The Emoji Movie”

December 20th, 2016

Jerry Beck

Sony Pictures Animation has launched the world’s first-ever vertical movie trailer designed especially for mobile users supporting the forthcoming animated The Emoji Movie – a computer animated adventure that “unlocks the never-before-seen secret world inside your smartphone”. For the first 24 hours, the trailer will be optimized for mobile users and best viewed on the phone. Mobile moviegoers can see the teaser trailer for The Emoji Movie if you CLICK HERE – an extended version in theaters nationwide this Wednesday.

The teaser trailer features the vocal performance of Steven Wright, who joins the cast as Mel Meh, the father of T. J. Miller’s character, Gene. The Emoji Movie will be released in theaters nationwide via Columbia Pictures on August 4, 2017.

In the movie, Gene, an emoji born with multiple expressions, teams up with his handy best friend Hi-5 and the notorious codebreaker Jailbreak on an epic adventure through the apps on a teenager’s phone. Apps featured in the film include Candy Crush Saga, Dropbox, Instagram, Just Dance®, Spotify, Twitter, and YouTube. Popular apps Crackle, Facebook, Shazam, Snapchat, and Twitch also appear in the movie.

Some apps are presented as standalone worlds of their own that come to life in thrilling ways. In the music streaming app Spotify, characters ride rushing streams made of music. In Candy Crush Saga, our heroes are trapped inside the game board and must play through the levels in order to survive.

Ice Cream, Cookie, Poop and Luggage in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation’s “The Emoji Movie”.

Tony Leondis, the director of the film, said, “Everyone – from your preschooler to your grandmother –sends emojis every day to share love, frustration, happiness… We all have an immediate connection with these icons that we send out as ways to express ourselves, and it paved the way for a very rich story and characters that audiences of all ages and backgrounds will be able to relate to.”

Kristine Belson, president of Sony Pictures Animation, added, “We knew early on that we wanted actual apps in the movie, to ground it in reality and raise the stakes for our characters. The fact that each app we approached said yes right away was an incredible testament to how engaging and relevant this movie is.”

Steven Wright’s character “Mel Meh”

The Emoji Movie unlocks the never-before-seen secret world inside your smartphone. Hidden within the messaging app is Textopolis, a bustling city where all your favorite emojis live, hoping to be selected by the phone’s user. In this world, each emoji has only one facial expression – except for Gene (T.J. Miller), an exuberant emoji who was born without a filter and is bursting with multiple expressions. Determined to become “normal” like the other emojis, Gene enlists the help of his handy best friend Hi-5 (James Corden) and the notorious code breaker emoji Jailbreak (Ilana Glazer). Together, they embark on an epic “app-venture” through the apps on the phone, each its own wild and fun world, to find the Code that will fix Gene. But when a greater danger threatens the phone, the fate of all emojis depends on these three unlikely friends who must save their world before it’s deleted forever. Directed by Tony Leondis. Written by Tony Leondis & Eric Siegel and Mike White. Produced by Michelle Raimo Kouyate.

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Jerry Beck

Writer, cartoon producer and author of more than 15 books on animation history. A former studio exec with Nickelodeon and Disney; currently on the faculty at both CalArts in Valencia and Woodbury University in Burbank, California.