Tom & Jerry (2021 film)

• Tom as Himself, an adult accident-prone, hapless blue/gray bicolor cat who is enlisted by Kayla to get Jerry out of the Royal Gate Hotel
  • He does not have a speaking role, but T-Pain voices his singing that mimics Ray Charles,[16] with archived vocals from the late William Hanna,[10] and additional ones provided by Kaiji Tang.[17][18]
• Jerry as Himself, a small, young, cheeky and clever brown house mouse who moves in at the Royal Gate Hotel
  • He does not have a speaking role, but his vocals are archived from the late William Hanna, with additional ones provided by André Sogliuzzo.[19]
• Bobby Cannavale as Spike, Ben's muscular, brutish, yet goofy gray American bulldog who is the stereotypical dumb brute that clashes with Tom
• Nicky Jam as Butch, a disgruntled alley black cat who leads an alley cat gang and antagonizes Tom
• The Plastic Cup Boyz as the Alley Cats, an alley cat gang lead by Butch that claim to live on the Royal Gate Hotel's alley:
  • Joey Wells as Lightning
  • Harry Ratchford as Topsy
  • Na'im Lynn as Meathead
  • Spank Horton as Ash
• Lil Rel Howery as Angel/Devil Tom, Tom's shoulder angel and shoulder devil
• Utkarsh Ambudkar as Real Estate Rat, a rat who works as a real estate agent
• Tim Story as Pigeon Announcer, a singing pigeon
• Jeff Bergman as Droopy (uncredited cameo)

Other Tom and Jerry characters who appear in non-speaking roles include Toots, Preeta's shy fluffy beige cat and love interest for Tom, Goldie, the Royal Gate Hotel's goldfish, and Clyde, a large cat in Butch's gang.

On January 22, 2009, Warner Bros. Pictures announced plans for a new Tom and Jerry theatrical movie, as a live-action/CGI hybrid film produced by Dan Lin with a script written by Eric Gravning,[20] following the success of Alvin and the Chipmunks.[21] It would've followed Tom and Jerry's origins over a Chicago backdrop, where they reluctantly work together to get back home.[22]

On April 6, 2015, plans shifted to a CGI-animated film, with a script written by Bryan Schulz and Cornelius Uliano, who co-wrote The Peanuts Movie with Craig Schulz.[23][24] It was about a young family who moves into a New England country house inhabited by Jerry and adopts Tom to get rid of him, until they team up to protect the family and their house from an outside threat, and learn the meaning of family and friendship.[25][26] Tom and Jerry: Cowboy Up! recycled parts of the script.

On October 15, 2018, Tim Story was hired to direct a Tom and Jerry film combining "classic animation and live-action",[27][28] influenced from Who Framed Roger Rabbit's technique,[29][30] which would begin filming in 2019, with a script written by Kevin Costello that was pitched in 2017 and purely influenced from the original cartoons.[31][32] It was reported that Story immediately mentioned his "admiration for the characters and how he'd love tackling that property.", when he was in discussions with Warner Bros. executives about what he was interested in directing.[33] Claiming that it was his dream project to direct a Tom and Jerry film.[34] While Costello's idea was to place the cat and mouse in a fancy New York hotel set to plan an Indian wedding,[35][36] as "a much bigger canvas" than the titular duo's usual house environment.[28] Director Tim Story, producer Chris DeFaria, and writer Kevin Costello also all agreed to use the classic shorts, and even pictures of them taped in the production office, as reference material for the film, which the studio gave them access to.[37][38][36] In addition to the original Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the film also pays tribute to silent cinema.[11] During production, Story also ran through many of the classic shorts from memory,[39][40] went back to read about the franchise's history,[41] and even re-watched some Charlie Chaplin, for more inspiration in the film's humor and storytelling with silent characters.[10] Story was also against the idea of making Tom and Jerry fluently talk, because they only sparingly spoke in the original cartoons and that the duo's charm comes from their non-verbal activities and interactions.[11] He also hoped the film will appeal to longtime fans and a new generation of audiences,[36] and also quotes "Fingers crossed, if they [William Hanna and Joseph Barbera] are looking from above, they’ll be proud of what we made.”[42]

Working on Tom and Jerry was a hugely exciting and intimidating experience. There’s a reason these characters are still so popular, 81 years later, all over the world, and I wanted to be extremely careful to honor that. Tom and Jerry had to be themselves, look like themselves, not talk like themselves, and obviously, engage in absurd, gleeful, over-the-top cartoon violence. I had so much fun going through the old shorts, trying to break everything down on a character level, and finding ways to recontextualize classic elements in a way that felt nostalgic but new.

— Kevin Costello

In March 2019, it was reported that Zoey Deutch and Olivia Cooke were frontrunners for the lead live-action role of Kayla, "who teams up with Tom to stop the pesky Jerry from ruining an important event for herself." Additionally, Sofia Carson, Elle Fanning, Jennifer Lawrence, Ariel Winter, Naomi Scott, Meg Donnelly, Hailee Steinfeld, Yara Shahidi, Kelly Marie Tran, Becky G and Isabela Moner were all in consideration for the role.[43] In April, Chloë Grace Moretz was in final negotiations to star in the film.[44][45] Moretz described Kayla as "a lot like Jerry" and as "a girl who gunned for what she wanted to achieve but realizes that time and honesty is what will prevail in the end", as well as "a total goofball", the latter aspect which allowed Moretz to "lean into who [she is] in real life".[46] She also said Kayla is "a little unlikeable with some of the decisions she makes", yet she still wanted the character to feel likeable.[11] Moretz was inspired in her performance by Bob Hoskins' performance as Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, as well as by actresses Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Aniston, Lucille Ball, and Meg Ryan.[11] Moretz, an avid fan of the source material, says the film "really does harken back to the Tom and Jerry we love.".[47] When she was first given the script, she was openly anxious about the film and worried that a more modern take on the characters wouldn't work. She ended up being proud of the film's faithfulness to the material and characters, and felt it's a great way to introduce them to a new generation of audiences.[48]

Later that month, in March 2019, it was reported that Peter Dinklage was considered for the role of Terrance, Kayla's boss and the human antagonist of the film.[49] In May 2019, Michael Peña joined the cast in the role Dinklage was eyed for.[50] Colin Jost, Ken Jeong, Rob Delaney, Jordan Bolger and Pallavi Sharda were added to the cast in July.[51][52] Patsy Ferran was revealed to be part of the cast in September 2019.[53] Besides Moretz, Peña, Jost, Jeong, Delaney, Bolger, Sharda and Ferran have also all grown up with Tom and Jerry, and were thrilled to take their roles.[37][54][55][56] According to director Tim Story, "Everybody knew exactly what this movie is about. Everybody knew those characters. Everybody was starting with a shared knowledge of these characters and kind of got what the movie should be.".[36]

In November 2020, Nicky Jam and Lil Rel Howery revealed that they have been cast in the film in voice roles.[57][58] On December 2, 2020, Jam revealed that he will be the voice of Butch Cat in the film.[59]

Principal photography began in July 2019 at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in Hertfordshire, England.[60] The film was shot by cinematographer Alan Stewart, on the Sony VENICE cinema cameras and Panavision Primo 70 and Primo Artiste Lenses.[61] Animators were present during filming, allowing cast members to improvise, while figures of the animated characters were designed to match their exact size and were handled by puppeteers, to help make the animation and live-action integration more seamless.[62][11] Filming ended in September 2019,[63] before the industry's temporary shutdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[64]

Both visual effects and animation services were provided by Framestore, who tried to make the film's animation replicate traditional animation, and hired 3D animators with experience in 2D animation to animate the characters.[65][66] The animators created 3D models and all classic 2D animation techniques for them, like rendering, shading, outlines, and squash and stretch, to maintain and recreate the original 1940s-1950s Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts' 2D-animated character designs, art style, movements, and expressions.[67][68] The animators also used these shorts as reference for the animation sequences.[69] Work on the animation was done remotely during the pandemic, with the filmmakers doing creative exploration on certain shots, and finalizing material through production groups.[70][64] Numerous animators from films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Space Jam have also been involved with its animation.[37] Director Tim Story passionately coined the term "2D+ animation", as 3D replicating the look and feel of 2D animation.[71] Having computer animation mimic another form of animation isn't unusual for the Warner Animation Group (WAG) team, as their previous attempt with The Lego Movie involved imitating stop motion.

Additional animation work was done to its backgrounds, as Story and the artists also aimed to recreate the original cartoons' vintage realistic settings and universe. They used the classic shorts, as reference for its production design, like shading the vibrant sky with 2D animation and saturating the colors.[72] The 1945 short “Mouse in Manhattan” was also used as reference for the film's setting and cinematography, to help recreate its realistic look and feel of Manhattan, New York City into the movie.

As we were talking before about design, there's a homage to the older world that we wanted to bring. There's a famous short where Jerry goes to Manhattan – I think it's called "Mouse in Manhattan" — and he goes to Manhattan, and he sees New York for the first time and the skyscrapers. We wanted to be sure that we were able to kind of recreate the sense of that.

— Tim Story, in an interview to Below the Line [13]

On July 22, 2020, it was announced that Tim Story's recurring collaborator and music composer Christopher Lennertz will compose the film's score.[73] The album was released by WaterTower Music on February 12, having 30 tracks.[74] For the film's music, Story and Lennertz revisited the original cartoons' orchestral music (and usual use of jazz music) as inspiration, but also added more genres (like some Indian music and some hip-hop; most were still jazz-influenced) into the mix, to be inclusive to more cultures in every generation possible.[36] An exclusive Tom and Jerry theme tune also played in the movie's end credits,[75] while a short version of it is also available on the soundtrack.[76] More music inspiration from the original cartoons even involves the film's portrayal of Tom as a jazz pianist, such as Tom playing the piece "Soft Shoe" by jazz pianist Eric Reed, when busking in Central Park.[11]

For the film's sound design, Story was able to get the rights to archive many sound effects from the MGM Cartoon library, such as William Hanna's Tom screams and the impacts of the characters being hit, which were edited by Peter S. Elliot (another recurring collaborator of Tim Story) to sound beefier.[10] Wanting to stay as faithful to the original Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts as possible, Story promised that "audiences will hear the sound effects they’re used to, as Tom and Jerry chase after each other and destroy everything in their path."[28]

Tom & Jerry was released in the United States on February 26, 2021, by Warner Bros. Pictures, in theaters and for a month streaming on HBO Max. The movie coincidentally released on Tex Avery's birthdate, in which the movie stars for a brief second one of Avery's characters, Droopy, in an animal shelter and on a Joker parody billboard.[77][78][79] It is the first film to officially debut the new Warner Animation Group logo to match with the new shield that Warner Bros. debuted in November 2019.[80] It was originally scheduled to be released on April 16, 2021,[81] but was pushed up to December 23, 2020.[82] The film was then pushed back to March 5, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before moving up a week in order to avoid competition with Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon.[83] Samba TV estimated that 1.2 million U.S. households streamed the film over its opening weekend on HBO Max.[84] By the end of its first month, the film was watched in over 2.6 million U.S. households.[85]

On March 8, 2021, some HBO Max viewers who attempted to watch the film were accidentally shown Zack Snyder's Justice League, a movie which was supposed to release 10 days later. HBO Max quickly fixed the issue within two hours.[86]

A float of the characters appeared in the 94th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to promote the film.[87]

On September 1, 2020, it was announced that Australian toy company Moose Toys made a deal with Warner Bros. to make merchandise for the film.[88]

On February 20, 2021, Warner Bros. released two new shorts onto HBO Max titled Tom and Jerry Special Shorts to honor the 81st anniversary of Tom and Jerry, as well as to promote the film. These shorts share the same animation style and come from the same crew of HBO Max's new Looney Tunes Cartoons, also produced by Warner Bros. Animation.[89][90][91] The shorts were removed a month later for unknown reasons, but were brought back on July 8, 2021.[92] The film's writer, Kevin Costello, has also seen the shorts and acclaimed them.[93]

On March 6, 2021, Rob Delaney had been the star guest Announcer for Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, whereas the titular characters made an appearance themselves with Sir Tom Jones.[94][95]

The film was available for rent on April 16, while Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released it on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital on May 18, 2021.[3][96][97]

Tom & Jerry grossed $46.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $90 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $136.5 million.[3][5]

In the United States and Canada, the film grossed $4 million from 2,479 theaters on its first day of release. It went on to debut to $14.1 million, the second-best opening weekend of the pandemic behind Warner Bros.'s December release Wonder Woman 1984 ($16.7 million). The opening weekend audiences were 51% female and 46% under the age of 17, while 35% was Hispanic, 33% Caucasian, 21% African American, and 11% Asian.[4] David Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research, said of the figure: "With half of theaters still closed, the pandemic still a threat, and Tom & Jerry available at home, this is a very good opening."[98] In its second weekend the film grossed $6.6 million and in its third made $4 million, finishing second behind newcomer Raya and the Last Dragon both times.[99][100]

The film was initially released in seven international markets, grossing $1.45 million; Singapore led with $457,000.[101] By its second weekend of international release the film was playing in 16 markets, including debuting at number one in Brazil ($746,000) and Mexico ($395,000).[102]

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 31% based on 131 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "It isn't the worst of the long-squabbling duo's feature-length adventures, but Tom & Jerry is disappointingly short on the anarchic spirit of their classic shorts."[103] On Metacritic, the film a has weighted average score of 32 out of 100 based on 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[104] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 79% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 60% saying they would definitely recommend it.[4]

The Hollywood Reporter's John DeFore said that audiences should just "rewatch Roger Rabbit instead" and wrote: "Tim Story's Tom & Jerry is five to ten minutes of action that might have worked in one of the cartoon duo's shorts, surrounded by an inordinate amount of unimaginative, unfunny human-based conflict."[105] Kevin Maher of The Times gave the film a score of 1 out of 5 stars, writing: "nothing will prepare you for the tone-deaf nature of this live-action abomination that inserts our cartoon protagonists, Who Framed Roger Rabbit-style, into a crass Manhattan misadventure about a celebrity wedding gone awry."[106] Benjamin Lee of The Guardian gave the film a score of 2 out of 5 stars, writing: "While there's little to truly loathe in Fantastic Four and Ride Along director Tim Story's frantic new take on Tom & Jerry, there's also an equal lack of anything to truly love; this is a serviceable, if entirely forgettable attempt to relaunch an old property for a new audience."[107] Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent gave the film a score of 1 out of 5 stars, describing it as "the cinematic equivalent of a sausage casing stuffed with mystery meat", though she praised Moretz's performance.[108]

Some critics were mostly positive about the film, nevertheless. Matt Fowler of IGN gave the film a score of 6/10, and wrote: "Tom & Jerry is a sufficient family offering with a cool cast, a sparkling soundtrack, and occasional fun. It's too bad that Tom and Jerry often feel like afterthoughts in their own film and that there wasn't much more for them to do other than serve the story of others."[109] Charlotte O'Sullivan of the Evening Standard gave the film a score of 3 out of 5 stars, writing: "Ignore catty reviews that present this caper as soulless. Though horribly flawed, its internal organs are in the right place."[110] Brooke Price at The Banner, who also mentions the film's production as a reference, was positive on the film, praising its entertainment value, nostalgic feel, blend of classic animation and live-action, and faithfulness to the source material.[111] Peter Debruge of Variety was also positive on the film and said: "Truth be told, the movie's a pretty faithful extension of the frenemies' long-running feud — basically, the two cannot peacefully coexist under the same roof — and as such, we should be grateful to director Tim Story (Shaft) and screenwriter Kevin Costello (Brigsby Bear) for not dropping a two-ton anvil on our nostalgia, the way so many big-studio toonsploitation projects have in recent years."[79]