The Bad Guys (film) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Bad Guys (film)
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Pierre Perifel
Produced by	Damon Ross Rebecca Huntley
Screenplay by	Etan Cohen
Starring	Sam Rockwell Marc Maron Awkwafina Craig Robinson Anthony Ramos Richard Ayoade Zazie Beetz Alex Borstein Lilly Singh
Music by	Daniel Pemberton
Editing by	John Venzon
Studio	DreamWorks Animation
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	April 22, 2022 (2022-04-22) (United States)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$69-80 million
Money made	$188.9 million

The Bad Guys is a 2022 American computer-animated caper film loosely based on the children's book series of the same name by Aaron Blabey, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film was directed by Pierre Perifel (in his feature directorial debut), written 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 group of criminal 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 as a new villain has his own plans.

Work on the film started in 2018, the plot and themes drew much inspirations of crime films and anime series such as Ocean's Eleven, Lupin III, Pulp Fiction and Beastars (minus the dark content associated with the latter two features). Animation that inspired for the design of the film came from Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Production began at DWA Glendale 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 in several countries beginning March 16, 2022, and in the United States on April 22, in 2D and RealD 3D formats. It received generally positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, grossing $188 million worldwide, making it the ninth highest-grossing film of 2022.

Plot

In Greater Los Angeles where humans and anthropomorphic animals co-exist, The Bad Guys, a gang of infamous criminal animals led by the cool-headed Mr. Wolf, commit brazen thefts and successfully evade the authorities due to the public's interpretation of them as inherently "bad" animals.

After being insulted by Governor Diane Foxington on live television, Wolf convinces his gang to pull off a heist to steal a valuable award called the Golden Dolphin from guinea pig philanthropist Professor Rupert Marmalade IV, during his inauguration at a gala. During the heist, Wolf takes some free time to pickpocket various people, but inadvertently helps an elderly woman and is praised for the good deed, leading to Wolf finding himself affected by his wrongdoings. After the gang is exposed and arrested, Wolf persuades Marmalade with Foxington's approval to reform them, planning to take advantage of the pretense to steal the award again.

Marmalade invites the Bad Guys to his home, but his lessons prove to be a struggle with them, seemingly unable to adapt to the concept of good behavior. After a "heist for good" to rescue a group of guinea pigs from a research lab fails due to Wolf's second-in-command, Mr. Snake, eating them, Foxington decides to call off the experiment but relents when Wolf confesses that he despises being hated for his species, with Foxington admitting that she understands him and that she has hope for him. Wolf contemplates the matter and finds himself rescuing a cat from a tree, which Marmalade records and publishes, turning the public image of the Bad Guys around. However, Snake fears that he is losing touch with his friend.

When the Bad Guys execute a new heist to steal the award again, Wolf cannot bring himself to finish the plan. Suddenly, a meteorite on display is stolen, causing the Bad Guys to be blamed for its theft. When the gang is arrested again, Marmalade meets them in private and reveals that he stole the meteorite and disguised himself as the old lady Wolf helped earlier to manipulate the gang into taking the blame while Foxington suspects Marmalade. In prison, Wolf explains to his gang that he doesn't want to be a criminal anymore and that they can be better, but Snake refuses, feeling that the world will never change to see them as less than monsters. Wolf yells at him for his stubbornness, infuriating Snake into attacking him until the Crimson Paw, a notorious criminal, rescues them, revealing herself to be Foxington, who reformed when she attempted to steal the Golden Dolphin herself.

Upon reaching safety, the Bad Guys, including a bitter Snake, who reveals that birthdays are a reminder of what he's seen as, abandon Wolf for betraying them, but when they return to their hideout, they find it completely emptied of their loot, as Wolf revealed its location to Foxington earlier as compensation for his crimes. After Snake willingly gives Mr. Shark his last possession out of kindness, the other Bad Guys realize that they can change their ways and proceed to help Wolf. However, Snake denies it and abandons them to ally with Marmalade, who plans to use the meteorite to power a mind-control device to hypnotize an army of guinea pigs into robbing charity funds.

Meanwhile, Wolf and Foxington break into Marmalade's home to steal the meteorite, only to be captured by Marmalade and Snake. Before they can finish off the two, they are rescued by the remainder of the Bad Guys. They then take the meteorite and proceed to foil Marmalade's plans. After a hectic effort, the Bad Guys arrive at the police station to turn in the meteorite until they decide to go after Snake and bring him back despite his apparent betrayal. During the chase, Marmalade betrays Snake as an advantage, and the Bad Guys risk their lives to save him, bargaining with Marmalade for his safety in exchange for the meteorite.

After rescuing Snake and destroying Marmalade's mind-control helmet, the Bad Guys surrender themselves to the authorities to prevent Foxington from revealing her former criminal past. Marmalade attempts to take credit for recovering the meteorite, but it is revealed to be a fake planted by a secretly redeemed Snake, having destroyed the real one, which violently implodes with his mansion along with it from afar, revealing Marmalade as the thief. When the fake meteorite falls on Marmalade, a diamond he stole from Foxington falls out, which authorities recognize as having been stolen by the Crimson Paw years ago; as a result, Marmalade is framed, destroying his reputation and leading to his arrest.

One year later, the Bad Guys are released from prison in light of their good behavior, partnering up with Foxington to begin their new crime-fighting careers.

Voice cast

The titular group of criminal animals are voiced by Sam Rockwell (Mr. Wolf), Marc Maron (Mr. Snake), Awkwafina (Ms. Tarantula), Craig Robinson (Mr. Shark), and Anthony Ramos (Mr. Piranha).

• Sam Rockwell as Mr. Wolf, a witty, charming, pickpocket gray wolf and the leader of the "Bad Guys" gang, who also acts as the crew's getaway driver. He can also break the fourth wall to address the viewers about certain things.
• Marc Maron as Mr. Snake, a sarcastic and cynical safe-cracking eastern brown snake, Mr. Wolf's second-in-command, and best friend.
• Awkwafina as Ms. Tarantula, a sharp-tongued and sarcastic expert hacker redknee tarantula also known as "Webs" or "Mata Hairy", the smallest and only female member of the gang.
• Craig Robinson as Mr. Shark, a childish and sensitive master-of-disguise great white shark and the biggest member of the gang.
• Anthony Ramos as Mr. Piranha, a Bolivian red-bellied piranha, the short-fused, loose-cannon "muscle", and youngest of the gang.
• Richard Ayoade as Professor Rupert Marmalade IV, a pompous guinea pig philanthropist who suggests that Mr. Wolf's group start doing "good deeds" while having a villainous agenda of his own. He uses the meteorite to power a mind-control device to hypnotize an army of guinea pigs into robbing charity funds.
  • Barbara Goodson voices an old woman that Mr. Wolf intended to pickpocket who is later revealed to have been an android piloted by Marmalade.
• Zazie Beetz as Diane Foxington / "The Crimson Paw", a red fox governor who is later revealed to be a former lady thief and Mr. Wolf's love interest.
• Alex Borstein as Misty Luggins, the hot-tempered human chief of police who is determined to arrest the Bad Guys at any given notice.
• Lilly Singh as Tiffany Fluffit, a local human news reporter with the tendency to exaggerate her reports.

Production

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. 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". The crew worked remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The cast was announced on July 28, 2021. The film was executive produced by Cohen, Blabey, and Foundation Media's Patrick Hughes.

Animation, design, and influences

Inspiration for the design of the film came from Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which opened an opportunity for DreamWorks to pitch something that was more illustrative and stylized than their other films. Character designs took inspiration from Hergé, Akira Toriyama, Uderzo, André Franquin and Moebius and a mix of styles from directors such as Luc Besson's The Fifth Element, Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, Michael Mann’s Heat, Steven Soderbergh's Ocean Eleven, and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. The film was inspired by anime and manga series such as Beastars, Sherlock Hound and Lupin III as well as the French-Belgian animated film Ernest & Celestine, due to influenced the approach to the characters.

While the animation for the film was provided by DWA Glendale, Jellyfish Pictures, who previously worked with DreamWorks on The Boss Baby: Family Business, How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming and Spirit Untamed, handled the additional asset production services using proprietary softwares like Premo and Moonray, alongside 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 - it lasts two minutes, 25 seconds and seven frames.

Music

On June 22, 2021, Daniel Pemberton was signed to compose the score for the film. 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 25th) 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.

All music composed by Daniel Pemberton, except as noted.

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.

Release

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 scheduled 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. The film is slated to stream in the United States on the Peacock streaming service on June 7, 2022, 45 days after its theatrical release. It will then make its Netflix debut October 7th, 2022 after Peacock's 4-month exclusive window . On March 1, 2022, Universal pulled the release in Russia in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Future

In April 2022, after the film was released, Perifel said that he would love to do a sequel.

See also

In Spanish: Los tipos malos para niños