We've all heard of Angry Birds, the smart phone game app that took the world by storm when it launched in 2009. As the iPhone and other smart phones gained popularity and became the norm, so did Angry Birds. The game, with its funny, animated red birds and green pigs, was quick to branch out into merchandising and developing more themed games and add-ons. Now, they're getting ready to add another major development: an Angry Birds movie. Conveniently titled, well, The Angry Birds Movie, the film features the same lovable red birds and green pigs from the game, but many fans are wondering if The Angry Birds Movie is just the game on the big screen, or something entirely new.
As you might recall (come on, admit it...) the Angry Birds game pretty much just consists of players angling Angry Birds into a slingshot to be fired at the Bad Piggies in an effort to defeat them and take back the bird eggs the pigs are taking from them. Different colored birds have different powers or strengths: there's Red, your basic angry bird, Bomb, the big, black bird who explodes on contact, and Chuck, the triangular yellow bird that has excessive speed. Players can choose what bird to use to defeat various levels of evil, green pigs, all the while retrieving eggs/points and using their anger for good. Over the years, as more levels and games have been released, more birds have joined the Angry Birds crew, including Stella, the super-fast pink bird, and more Bad Piggies.
The Angry Birds Movie uses the game's basic premise as a plot, and complicates it a little bit with less slingshots and more jokes. In the film, the Angry Birds' island home is invaded by the Bad Piggies, who arrive on a menacing pirate ship and quickly seem to take over the unsuspecting town. Only Red and his friends seem disturbed by the pigs' presence in their home, but Red isn't taken seriously because of his anger issues — Angry Birds, get it?
Based on the newly released trailer, it looks like the Bad Piggies' arrival will send Red and his friends, Chuck and Bomb, on an adventure to find the Mighty Eagle and fight to defend the other birds from the evil invaders. If you're wondering how Angry Birds' signature slingshot will be used in the film, here's your answer: in the trailer, it looks like the Bad Piggies bring the slingshots to the island — they are seen stuffing Red into the slingshot and sending him off into the sky.
The rest of the film is a bit of a mystery, but star Josh Gad, who voices Chuck, dropped a few hints as to what fans can expect from the movie. In an interview with IGN, Gad likened The Angry Birds Movie to The Lego Movie, saying, "It's really irreverent, and like that Lego Movie sensibility it's subversive and funny and unexpectedly smart and really beautiful."
With a cast that includes Peter Dinklage, Jason Sudeikis, Maya Rudolph and Bill Hader, The Angry Birds Movie is definitely on track to rival The Lego Movie in terms of an all-star ensemble. Only time will tell whether the movie will be the beginning of a new era of app-turned-movies.
Images: Columbia Pictures; Giphy (3)
