The Bad Guys (film)

The Bad Guys is a 2022 American animated heist comedy film  loosely based on the children's book series of the same name by Aaron Blabey, produced by DreamWorks Animation Studios and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film was directed by Pierre Perifel (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Etan Cohen, and stars the voices of Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Alex Borstein, and Lilly Singh. It tells the story of a criminal group of anthropomorphic animals who, upon being caught, pretend to attempt to reform themselves as model citizens, only for their leader to find himself genuinely drawn to changing his ways for good as a new villain has his own plans.

Work on the film started in March 2018, with Cohen writing the screenplay; the characters and themes drew inspiration from various crime films and anime series such as Pulp Fiction (1994), the Ocean's film trilogy, Lupin III, and Sherlock Hound, while the inspiration for the film's animation style came from Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). Production began at DreamWorks Animation's Glendale campus and some additional production assets were borrowed from Jellyfish Pictures, with voice acting being done remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bad Guys was released theatrically in several countries beginning March 16, 2022, and in the United States on April 22, in 2D and RealD 3D formats. It received positive reviews from critics for its animation, screenplay, humor, and voice acting. It was also a box office success, grossing $250 million worldwide. A sequel is in development and is set to be released on August 1, 2025.

Plot
In a world where humans and anthropomorphic animals coexist, pickpocket and robber Mr. Wolf leads The Bad Guys, a gang of infamous criminal animals known for their thefts and escapades. His gang consists of his best friend and safecracker Mr. Snake, expert hacker Ms. Tarantula, master of disguise Mr. Shark, and loose cannon/muscle Mr. Piranha.

After being insulted by Governor Diane Foxington on live television for their predictability, Wolf convinces his gang to pull off a heist to steal a valuable award, the Golden Dolphin, before it is awarded to guinea pig philanthropist Professor Marmalade. At the awards ceremony, Wolf inadvertently helps an elderly woman and feels good for it, which arise conflicted feelings on him and delay their escape, resulting in their arrest. Secretly planning to steal the award again, Wolf persuades Foxington to let Marmalade reform them.

Marmalade's initial attempts to reform the gang are disastrous due to the gang's nature, and an attempt to rescue guinea pigs from a research lab goes awry due to Snake eating them. Foxington initially decides to call off the experiment, but relents when Wolf confesses that he became a criminal because it was easier to fall into the villainous role society expects of him due to his species; she admits she understands and has hope for him. Wolf then finds himself rescuing a cat from a tree, which Marmalade records and publishes, turning the public image of the gang around. However, Snake fears that Wolf is losing sight of the plan.

At a charity event set up by Marmalade, the gang execute another heist to steal the award, but Wolf, having been convinced by Foxington that he and his gang could actually do good, ultimately decides to take the offer of a fresh start. In sudden poor timing, however, a meteorite which was on display is stolen, and the gang is blamed and arrested. Marmalade meets them in private and reveals that he stole the meteorite and had planned for the gang to be framed. He also reveals that he was the old woman Wolf had helped at the awards ceremony. Enraged over being manipulated, Wolf lashes out at Marmalade in front of everyone, reinforcing their negative opinion of them.

In prison, Wolf tells his gang that he does not want to be a criminal anymore and that he believes a better life is possible for all of them. Snake rejects his proposal, adamant their public perception cannot be turned, which causes the two to fight. Their fight is interrupted when a mysterious person, soon revealed to be Foxington, rescues them. Wolf identifies her as The Crimson Paw, a former criminal mastermind. Once free, the gang still blindly reject Wolf, who goes with Foxington. Upon returning to their hideout however, they find it wholly emptied of their loot, as Wolf had revealed its location to Foxington earlier to atone for his crimes. After Snake willingly gives Shark his last Push Pop to comfort him, they realize that Wolf was right and set out to help him. However, Snake continues to deny it and leaves to ally with Marmalade, who plans to use the meteorite to power a device to hypnotize an army of guinea pigs into stealing his own charity funds. Foxington reveals to Wolf that she reformed when she was about to steal the Golden Dolphin, realizing that she was not being anything more than what everyone saw her as.

Wolf and Foxington break into Marmalade's home to steal the meteorite, only to be captured by Marmalade and Snake. The rest of the gang rescues them and steals the meteorite while foiling Marmalade's heist. But just as they are about to turn the meteorite over to the police, they decide to try and bring Snake back. During a harrowing car chase, Marmalade kicks Snake out of his helicopter to blackmail Wolf into giving him the meteorite back. The gang manage to rescue Snake and make up with him once more, incidentally destroying Marmalade's mind control helmet in the process. The police then show up to arrest the gang while Foxington tries to defend them, but just as she's about to reveal her criminal past, the gang willingly turn themselves in to take responsibility for their past actions, believing she has already made up for hers with the good she does as governor.

Marmalade attempts to take credit for recovering the meteorite, but it is revealed to be a fake planted by Snake, who had faked his defection and secretly switched it for a meteorite-shaped lamp in his manor and rigged the real meteorite to explode, blowing up Marmalade's manor and exposing him as the thief. When the lamp falls on Marmalade, a diamond that he stole from Foxington falls out of his suit (which Wolf had originally stolen from her when they first met, but then returned to her), which police chief Misty Luggins recognizes as having been stolen by the Crimson Paw years ago. With his true nature exposed, and implicated as the Crimson Paw, Marmalade is arrested. As the gang celebrates Marmalade's defeat (despite still being headed for prison), Wolf then reveals to Snake that he deliberately left behind the Push Pop, much to Snake's shock. Wolf remarks that he always knew there was good in Snake, as he and the gang happily accept they are now good guys.

In a post-credits scene, the gang is released for good behavior after one year, and join Foxington to begin their new lives.

Voice cast

 * Sam Rockwell as Mr. Wolf, a witty, charming, pickpocket wolf and the leader of "The Bad Guys" gang, who also acts as the gang's getaway driver.
 * Marc Maron as Mr. Snake, a grouchy and cynical safe-cracking snake, Wolf's second-in-command, as well as his best friend.
 * Awkwafina as Ms. Tarantula, a sharp-tongued and sarcastic expert hacker tarantula also known as "Webs".
 * Craig Robinson as Mr. Shark, a childish and sensitive master of disguise shark.
 * Anthony Ramos as Mr. Piranha, a short-fused, loose-cannon piranha and the "muscle" of the gang.
 * Richard Ayoade as Professor Marmalade, a wealthy guinea pig philanthropist and scientist who mentors Wolf's group with doing "good deeds", but is secretly an evil and greedy individual intending to steal from his own charity.
 * Zazie Beetz as Diane Foxington (a.k.a. The Crimson Paw), a red fox serving as the state governor; a former master thief turned good as well as Wolf's love interest.
 * Alex Borstein as Police Chief Misty Luggins, the hot-tempered human chief of police who is determined to arrest The Bad Guys at any cost.
 * Lilly Singh as Tiffany Fluffit, a local human news reporter with the tendency to exaggerate her reports.
 * Frank Welker (uncredited) as the Kitty, an orange tabby cat who befriends Wolf after being rescued from a palm tree.

Development
On July 22, 2017, Australia's The Daily Telegraph reported that several studios had expressed interest in adapting Aaron Blabey's book series The Bad Guys into a feature film. In March 2018, DreamWorks Animation announced the development of a film based on the book series, with Etan Cohen writing the screenplay. The following year, in October, it was reported that the film would be directed by Pierre Perifel in his feature directorial debut, with Cohen and Hilary Winston set to co-write the film's script. Throughout the development of the film, the crew worked remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was described as having "a similar twist on the heist genre that Shrek did on fairy tales, and what Kung Fu Panda did for the kung fu genre". Winston was only credited for Additional screenplay material with Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs writer Yoni Brenner while the film was executive produced by Cohen, Blabey, and Foundation Media's Patrick Hughes. The cast was announced on July 28, 2021.

Animation, design, and influences
The film's design was inspired by Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, with DreamWorks adopting a more illustrative and stylized aesthetic than their previous films. Character designs took inspiration from a mix of styles from directors such as Luc Besson's The Fifth Element, Michael Mann’s Heat, Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven, and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, and Pulp Fiction. The film was also inspired by anime and manga series such as Sherlock Hound and Lupin III as well as the French-Belgian animated film Ernest & Celestine, due to how it influenced the approach to the characters.

While most of the animation for the film was provided by DWA Glendale, Jellyfish Pictures, who previously worked with DreamWorks on How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming, Spirit Untamed and The Boss Baby: Family Business, handled the additional asset production services using proprietary softwares like Premo and Moonray, along with a new tool called Doodle – created for the 2D effects and for allowing the animators to move the lines around the character rigs. The film's opening diner scene, inspired by the similar opening scene from Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, is the longest one-shot in DreamWorks Animation history, lasting two minutes, 25 seconds and seven frames.

Music
On June 22, 2021, Daniel Pemberton was signed to compose the score for the film, having previously composed the soundtrack for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. A song "Good Tonight" written by Pemberton and Gary Go was made and released on March 18 by Back Lot Music, performed by Anthony Ramos, who does the additional lyrics with Will Wells. The album was released on March 31 with two other new songs included with "Good Tonight", includes a cover of "Feelin' Alright" by Elle King (released on March 25) and "Brand New Day" by The Heavy. Director Pierre Perifel, producer Damon Ross and composer Daniel Pemberton recorded backup vocals on Brand New Day. Following the release of the film on April 22, a new remix of "Good Tonight" was released by Party Pupils.

Additionally, "Stop Drop Roll" by Can't Stop Won't Stop, "Howlin' for You" by The Black Keys, "Fly Me to the Moon" by Julie London and "Go" by The Chemical Brothers are heard in the film but not included in the soundtrack album. Furthermore, "Bad Guy" by Billie Eilish was only featured in the trailers.

Marketing
The film's marketing campaign began on December 14, 2021, with the release of the first trailer, one first-look photo, and a cast table read. The first trailer was also shown during theater screenings of Sing 2. A second trailer, released on February 23, 2022, accumulated nearly a quarter of a billion views by the time of the film's release. Social media analytic RelishMix said the film had a social media reach of 220 million before its debut, which was significantly lower than Sonic the Hedgehog 2's reach of 445 million, though they noted the high subscriber rate of the child-friendly DreamWorks YouTube channel. A television spot aired during the Super Bowl pre-game garnered 8.5 million views when it was released on YouTube. Overall, fourteen promotional YouTube videos attracted 110.1 million views. The Bad Guys also had a tie-in with the 2022 March Madness tournament, featuring a virtual bracket for the film's characters and commercials during pre and post-game coverage on TNT and TBS. A Snapchat AR lens of Mr. Wolf and a TikTok trend set to Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy" were used to promote the film. Deadline Hollywood said Universal took advantage of April Fool's Day (April 1), the day tickets went on sale, with the release of another Snapchat AR lens that went viral after it was used by popular influencers such as MrBeast and Michael Le, gaining 21.5 million views and over 1.8 million likes on TikTok.

Theatrical
On October 7, 2019, it was reported that the film would be theatrically released on September 17, 2021, taking over the release date of Spooky Jack. In December 2020, the film was delayed with The Boss Baby: Family Business taking its original slot, though it was confirmed that it would get a new date "within the coming weeks" due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2021, the release date was rescheduled to April 15, 2022. In October 2021, it was pushed back again by one week to April 22. The Bad Guys had a red carpet screening at the Ace Hotel Los Angeles on April 12, 2022, with Beetz in attendance. On March 1, 2022, Universal pulled the release in Russia in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Home media and streaming
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released The Bad Guys on DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray and for digital download in the United States on June 21, 2022. The film was released on NBCUniversal's Peacock streaming service on July 1, 2022. As part of their 18-month deal with Netflix, the film streamed on Peacock for the first four months of the pay-TV window, before moving to Netflix on November 1, 2022, for the next ten, returning to Peacock on September 1, 2023, for the next four, and finally moving to Amazon Prime Video on January 1, 2024.

A 3D Blu-ray release of the film was released in Australia on May 10, 2023.

Box office
The Bad Guys grossed $97.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $153.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $250.4 million.

In the United States and Canada, The Bad Guys was released alongside The Northman and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, and was projected to gross $13–20 million from 4,008 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $8 million on its first day, including $1.15 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $24 million, topping the box office. Deadline Hollywood noted that the over-performance was thanks to a diverse turnout, big marketing push, and recent success of family films. Women made up 56% of the audience during its opening. The ethnic breakdown of the audience showed that 40% Caucasian, 25% Latino and Hispanic, 20% African American, and 9% Asian or other. The film grossed $16.2 million in its second weekend, finishing first again. It made $9.6 million in its third weekend and $7 million in its fourth, both times finishing second behind newcomer Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It stayed in the box office top ten until its eleventh weekend.

Outside the U.S. and Canada, the film earned $8.5 million from 25 international markets in its opening weekend. This included a strong $1.7 million opening in Spain, where it finished ahead of The Batman and tied with Encanto as the best debut in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. In its second weekend, it made $6.5 million from 37 markets. Its third weekend added $10.5 million, which included a $3.1 million debut in the UK and $1.7 million from Australia, where the film had the best opening for an animated film since the start of the pandemic. It made $7.5 million in its fourth weekend, which included a debut in France of $1.5 million. The film crossed the $50 million mark outside the U.S. and Canada in its fifth weekend, ahead of its North American release, after adding $6.5 million. In its sixth weekend, the film made $5.9 million, which Deadline Hollywood noted as a "terrific 9% drop" before its release in China on April 29. The film added $9 million in its seventh weekend. This included an opening of $4.53 million in China, where it received a "strong" 9.1/10 rating from audiences on the Maoyan website. The film earned $7.2 million the following weekend, which included a debut of $1.93 million in Korea. The Bad Guys also surpassed the gross of Encanto in China. It made $6.7 million in its ninth weekend, crossed the $100 million overseas mark in its tenth weekend, and added another $5.8 million in its eleventh weekend. It made $8.9 million the following weekend, surpassing the earnings of Moana and Toy Story 4 in China. In its thirteenth weekend, it made $3.5 million.

Critical response
Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an average score of 4 out of 5 stars.

The Washington Post's Kristen Page-Kirby gave 3 stars out of 4, and concluded: "The moral of the story doesn't pack a huge wallop. Not that it needs to. (We can't all be Encanto.) Still, it's clever, visually interesting and very, very funny. Even when the humor goes lowbrow, it makes narrative sense. A joke about flatulence is a lot funnier when it's essential to the plot. The Bad Guys gets that. In fact, The Bad Guys gets a lot of things. It knows precisely what it is — and what it sets out to do, it does well. It's a heist film with heart and humor, and where's the crime in that?" IGN's Ryan Leston gave a rating of 8 out of 10 and wrote: The Bad Guys is a slick, hilarious heist movie with buckets of laughs and a lot of heart. It's Ocean's Eleven meets Little Red Riding Hood with Sam Rockwell's Wolf going on a charm offensive to stay out of jail... and he might just win you over in the process. Richard Ayoade has a blast as the sanctimonious Professor Marmalade and the entire voice cast brings their A-game with some stellar gags that will get you roaring with laughter. The Bad Guys is a fun, family-friendly caper that's bursting with action and brimming with laughs." Chicago Sun-Times 's Richard Roeper gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4, and commented that "The animation combines computer-generated 2D and 3D with a look that will remind you of a Saturday-morning cartoon—only much crisper and more dazzling. There's nothing photorealistic about the animation; it's stylized and has very specific definition of Heist Movie Los Angeles, with the sky so bright it's almost overexposed, and yet somehow creating a bit of a noir vibe. This is a great-looking film with terrific performances, some lovely messaging and a steady parade of solid laughs—some the kids will enjoy and just as many targeted squarely at the grown-up kids in the audience."

The Guardian's Wendy Ide gave 3 stars out of 5 and said: "Like Roger Rabbit, the pacing owes a debt to the demented frenzy of classic Looney Tunes animations, but the film also nods to heist movies, notably the Oceans series. It's deliberately preposterous – the disguises are rarely more convincing than the kind of false nose and moustache combo you might find in a cracker. But there's a kernel of believability where it matters: in the easy repartee and fully fleshed friendships. It's sharp, silly and frequently very funny."

Accolades
The film was awarded the title of Truly Moving Picture Award at the 2022 Heartland Film Festival and was nominated for Best Animated Film at the Hollywood Critics Association and Satellite Awards. Beetz received a nomination for Outstanding Voice Performance at the 2023 Black Reel Awards. The film also was nominated for Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature at the 21st Visual Effects Society Awards, a Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Animated Movie as well as Awkwafina receiving a nomination for Favorite Female Voice From an Animated Movie at the 2023 Kids' Choice Awards, and for five Annie Awards (winning one).

The film was nominated for Best Edited Animated Feature Film and for Outstanding Achievement in Casting at the 38th Artios Awards.

Sequel
In March 2022, a month before the film was released, Perifel said that he would love to do a sequel. Two years later, DreamWorks Animation officially confirmed a sequel with a release date set for August 1, 2025. Perifel will return to direct and JP Sans, who served as head of character animation on the previous film, will co-direct, with the cast reprising their roles. On July 13, 2024, it was announced that Natasha Lyonne has reportedly been cast in the sequel.

Television special
A holiday special inspired by the characters from the film was produced by DreamWorks Animation Television. It was directed by Bret Haaland from Fast & Furious Spy Racers, and executive produced by Haaland and Katherine Nolfi from Abominable and the Invisible City and Spirit Riding Free. The holiday special, titled The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday, debuted on November 30, 2023, on Netflix. None of the film cast reprised their roles. The special takes place before the events of the film and features the titular Bad Guys reluctantly restoring holiday cheer to Los Angeles after Christmas was unexpectedly canceled.