Ron's Gone Wrong

Ron's Gone Wrong
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sarah Smith Jean-Philippe Vine
Written by	Peter Baynham Sarah Smith
Produced by	Julie Lockhart Lara Breay
Starring	Zach Galifianakis Jack Dylan Grazer Ed Helms Justice Smith Rob Delaney Kylie Cantrall Ricardo Hurtado Olivia Colman
Cinematography	David Peers Hailey White
Edited by	David Burrows[1]
Music by	Henry Jackman
Production companies	20th Century Animation Locksmith Animation TSG Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Studios[2] (through Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures[3])
Release dates	October 9, 2021 (2021-10-09) (2021 BFI London Film Festival and 36th Guadalajara International Film Festival) October 15, 2021 (2021-10-15) (United Kingdom) October 22, 2021 (2021-10-22) (United States and El Capitan Theatre)
Running time	107 minutes[4]
Countries	United Kingdom United States
Language	English
Box office	$60.4 million[5][2]

Ron's Gone Wrong is a 2021 computer-animated science fiction comedy film directed by Sarah Smith and Jean-Philippe Vine, co-directed by Octavio E. Rodriguez, produced by Julie Lockhart and Lara Breay, and written by Peter Baynham and Smith.^[6] The film features the voices of Jack Dylan Grazer, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Justice Smith, Rob Delaney, Kylie Cantrall, Ricardo Hurtado and Olivia Colman. The film follows Barney (Grazer), a lonely middle-schooler who befriends a defective "B-bot" he names Ron (Galifianakis); B-bots are robots his estranged schoolfriends entirely socialize through. Barney must find a way to protect Ron, who comes under danger from corporate employees.

Ron's Gone Wrong is the first animated feature film from Locksmith Animation,^[7] as well as the first fully animated feature film produced by TSG Entertainment. The computer animation for the film was provided by DNEG. Animation and voice acting for the film were all done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ron's Gone Wrong had its world premiere at the 2021 BFI London Film Festival on October 9, 2021, and was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on October 15, 2021, and in the United States on October 22, 2021, in a limited 3D release at the AMC and Regal theaters and originally in RealD 3D. The film was originally going to be distributed by Paramount Pictures under the Paramount Animation label, but was instead distributed by 20th Century Studios under the 20th Century Animation label. Ron's Gone Wrong serves as 20th Century Animation's first animated feature film to release theatrically since the closure of Blue Sky Studios on April 10, 2021, as well as the first animated feature film to be theatrically released under the 20th Century Studios name. The film has grossed $60.4 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics.

Plot[]

In the future, tech giant Bubble unveils their latest creation: the B-bot, created by the benevolent CEO Marc Wydell with the intent to make a robot buddy that is designed to help make friends, using Marc's friendship algorithm installed in every B-bot. In the fictional Californian town of Nonsuch, newly 12-year-old Barney Pudowski is the only middle schooler who does not have a B-bot. His former childhood friends, Savannah Meades, Rich Belcher, Noah and Ava have all become absorbed by their individual B-bots. One day, Barney's father Graham, who sells novelties online, and his Bulgarian-born grandmother Donka come to realize that he does not have any friends and empathize when Rich plays a cruel prank on Barney. They hastily go to a Bubble store, but it's closed. Fortunately, a delivery driver had been holding onto a slightly damaged B-bot that had fallen out of his truck and sells it to them.

Barney gets the B-bot as a late birthday present, but upon activating it, he quickly learns that it's defective and glitchy. Not wanting to upset his father, he decides to take it back to the Bubble store to get it fixed. He ends up running into Rich and his friends who taunt and try to humiliate him. The B-bot begins to fight back as his safety functions have been turned off and he and Barney laugh together and run. However, Rich called the police and they along with Graham and Donka are taken to the Bubble store so that the B-bot can be crushed. Not wanting to see him go, Barney secretly rescues him and names him Ron, a shortened version of his model number.

When Barney and Ron's actions are reported, Marc is happy to see Ron go against his programming while his COO Andrew Morris views it as bad publicity, believing Ron must be destroyed for the issue to be resolved. Barney teaches Ron how to be a good friend and, while hanging out, runs into Savannah who tells Ron that he needs to help Barney get friends. Despite Barney telling Savannah not to, she posts Ron's actions online, alerting Bubble. The next day, Ron gets out of the house and tries to get "friends" for Barney, bringing a series of random people to school. As Barney gets in trouble, Rich discovers Ron's unlocked function and downloads it, causing all the other B-bots to have their safety features and parental controls turned off. The B-bots run wild and, in the end, after the B-Bots have a patch update, Savannah is publicly humiliated.

Barney is suspended from school and tells Ron off, but upon returning home, realizes that Ron was truly being a friend and decides to run away with him when Bubble employees come for him. They briefly run into Savannah, still upset over her incident, and tells her that he is hiding in the woods. Meanwhile, while Andrew warns Marc about the ramifications of the B-bot, Marc sneaks away so that he can meet Ron while Bubble uses their resources to take control of all the B-bots to go looking for Ron and Barney in the woods. Due to the cold weather and Barney's asthma, he becomes weak and Ron brings him back to civilization just outside the school where Savannah, Rich, Noah and Ava rush out to help him.

Barney is taken to the hospital and recuperates before meeting Marc who is impressed with Ron. Marc fixes Ron's glitches and thereby makes him a different B-bot. Barney demands that Marc access the cloud to get Ron's original personality, but Andrew took over the Bubble company and locked Marc out. Through an elaborate plan for Barney, Graham, Donka and Marc breaking into Bubble HQ, Barney manages to make it to the Bubble database, finds Ron's original data by his light and uploads him back into his body, restoring him back to his original code. Seeing that Bubble has direct access to everyone's B-bot and realizing that everyone is just as lonely as he was, Barney suggests upgrading all the B-bots to have Ron's flaws. However, this means that Ron will be dispersed. Barney reluctantly says goodbye to Ron as his programming is spread to everyone, mixing Marc's friendship algorithm with Ron's code. Marc blackmails Andrew into giving his position of CEO back after secretly recording him admitting that the B-bots spy on their owners for profit.

Three months later, everyone has a faulty B-bot, but are happy with their wild and weird personalities. Barney no longer has one, but has become much more sociable and has gotten close with his former friends. As they hang out at the "Barney Bench" at recess, a giant Bubble tower that overlooks Nonsuch produces Ron's face, implying that he is still alive.

Cast[]

• Jack Dylan Grazer as Barney Pudowski, a socially awkward and lonesome twelve-year-old middle-schooler whom Savannah shares a friendship with.
• Zach Galifianakis as RONB1NT5CAT5CO / "Ron", Barney's malfunctioning B-bot.
• Ed Helms as Graham Pudowski, Barney's father and Donka's son.
• Olivia Colman as Donka Pudowski, Barney's grandmother and Graham's mother who was born in Bulgaria.
• Rob Delaney as Andrew Morris, the COO of the Bubble company.
• Justice Smith as Marc Wydell, the creator of the B-bot and the CEO of the Bubble company.
• Kylie Cantrall as Savannah Meades, Barney's classmate who is an aspiring vlogger.
• Ricardo Hurtado as Rich Belcher, Barney's classmate who continually pranks people in hopes of becoming famous.
• Cullen James McCarthy as Noah, Barney's classmate who loves video games.
• Ava Morse as Ava, Barney's classmate who loves science.
• Marcus Scribner as Alex, one of Rich's cronies.
• Thomas Barbusca as Jayden, one of Rich's cronies.^[8]
• Ruby Wax as Ms. Hartley, Barney's middle school teacher who tries to help him make friends.
• Sarah Miller as Bree
• Bentley Kalu as Cop
• Krupa Pattani as Sita
• John Macmillan as Bubble Techs
• Megan Maczko as Miss Thomas
• David Menkin as Shayne the Biker and Mr. Cleaver
• Iara Nemirovsky as Ellie
• Liam Payne as a B-bot who gets kicked by Andrew (cameo appearance).

Additional voices are provided by Payne, Arnold Armasaa, Flula Borg, David Burrows, Danny Carmel, Tristan Chen, Edward Crompton, Alicia Davies, Chelsea Devantez, Audrey Hsieh, Arina Ii, Luke Jameson, Youssef Kerkour, Ava Mae Leslie, Phil LaMarr, Adrian Maganza, Iain McKee, Max Perkins, Matt Pomeroy, Leah Revivo, Andre Robinson, Octavio E. Rodriguez, Julie Rogers, Jadon Sand, Brooke Singleton, Sarah Smith, Ursula Taherian, Adam Tandy, Jean-Philippe Vine, Conor Wilson, ViviAnn Yee, and Julian Zane.

Production[]

Ron's Gone Wrong is the first animated feature film from Locksmith Animation, which was founded by Smith as a committent to establish a complete business pipeline to create computer animated feature films in the United Kingdom, having previously directed Arthur Christmas (2011) under Aardman Animations where animation had to be completed by Sony in Los Angeles. Smith said the creative purpose of Locksmith is "to make films that talk to kids about their lives", with the concept of Ron's Gone Wrong in particular being based on observing the impact of the internet on children's relationships and self-esteem, which Smith realised could be made into a film after watching Her (2013), commenting "we have to make that film for kids, to [help] them evaluate those experiences".^[9]

In May 2016, Locksmith Animation formed a production deal with Paramount Pictures in which Paramount would distribute Locksmith's films under Paramount Animation.^[10] The following year, though, Paramount abandoned the deal when Paramount chairman and CEO Brad Grey was replaced by Jim Gianopulos.^[11] In September 2017, Locksmith formed a multi-year production deal with 20th Century Fox, which would distribute Locksmith Animation's films under the 20th Century Fox Animation label with Locksmith Animation aiming to theatrically release a film every 12–18 months.^[11][12]

On October 12, 2017, it was announced that the first animated feature film from Locksmith Animation would be titled Ron's Gone Wrong. Alessandro Carloni and Pixar and Aardman veteran Jean-Phillipe Vine would serve as the film's co-directors with Octavio E. Rodriguez while Peter Baynham and Smith would write the screenplay. The visual effects company DNEG was on board as a digital production partner to provide the film's computer animation.^[13] Also on October 12, 2017, Baynham and Elisabeth Murdoch were announced to executive produce the film with Smith.^[1]

Production was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Animation for the film was done remotely with crew members working from home, which included digital modelling, rigging, and lighting. Editors faced difficulty assembling footage with temporarily out-of-sync audio, which impaired judgement over the timing of edits. Voice acting was also done remotely, and involved makeshift home recording setups where blankets were used for soundproofing. A voice actor had to ask family members sharing an internet connection to come offline, in order to free bandwidth for a recording session.^[14][15][9]

The film took five years to complete. The character design for Ron was designed to be aesthetically reminiscent of "stripped-down" computer software, with the pixelated interfaces of the MS-DOS operating system being a source of inspiration. The character design of Barney was distinguished through coordinated color palettes; Barney's clothes are patterned in "earth tones" to indicate his love of nature, and his home is vibrant in contrast to the muted colors of other homes in the town he lives in.^[16]

Music[]

Ron's Gone Wrong (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film's soundtrack album which was digitally released by Hollywood Records and Walt Disney Records on October 15, 2021 (making this the first 20th Century Studios animated feature film to have the film's soundtrack album released through the two musical record labels). Featuring music composed by Henry Jackman^[17] and also featuring an original song, titled "Sunshine" (which is the film's soundtrack album's one and only hit single to be officially released on September 24, 2021, by Capitol Records), performed by One Direction member Liam Payne, the film's soundtrack album was also physically released on October 22, 2021, and was even recorded at Abbey Road Studios and Air Studios in London, England.

Track listing[]

All music is composed by Henry Jackman, except where noted.

Marketing[]

The film's teaser trailer was released on June 8, 2021, on YouTube as the official trailer was released on September 9, 2021, to the platform. TOMY made a deal with Disney and Locksmith Animation to develop and promote the film's toys including plush toys and action figures.^[18] Bill Desowitz of IndieWire said "Baynham added that DNEG provided great timing to Ron's animated performance with such a simple face. "And there were debates throughout this: ‘how do you make that not cutesy but not boring?,'" he said. "And he doesn’t have a face that you can do all the classic things with, but somehow he does...like the way his eye might slip a little bit...that speaks to his simple clownishness. He's a very simple character, but also he's incredibly sophisticated." But for Smith, the challenge was: "How do we, as parents, as children, as kids growing up in a world in which this is all they’ve ever known, how do we learn to live with the tech?""^[19]

Release[]

Theatrical[]

In October 2017, Ron's Gone Wrong was scheduled for a theatrical release on November 6, 2020.^[20] In November 2019, the film was moved to February 26, 2021.^[21] In May 2020, the film was moved to April 23, 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[22][23] On January 22, 2021, the film was then delayed further to October 22, 2021 in RealD 3D originally.^[24] The film also had its world premiere as the headlining act of the 2021 BFI London Film Festival on October 9, 2021 making it a Special BFI Presentation.^[25][4] On the same date, the film premiered at the 36th Guadalajara International Film Festival’s Guadalajara opening celebration event.^[25] The film also held a special surprise screening premiere at the El Capitan Theatre on the day of its USA theatrical release date of October 22, 2021.^[26] The film played exclusively in theaters for 45 days before heading to digital platforms.^[27]

The film is also the only film under Locksmith's deal with 20th Century Studios, as the animation studio struck a new deal with Warner Bros. Pictures to distribute future films under Warner Animation Group.^[28]

Home media[]

Ron's Gone Wrong was released on DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray on December 7, 2021 and on Digital on December 15, 2021 by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.^[29] Special features include Questions and Answers with Jack Dylan Grazer and Zach Galifianakis calling "A Boy and His B-bot", a Making Ron Right featurette and the music video of the film's soundtrack album's one and only original hit song called "Sunshine" by British English singer and songwriter Liam Payne (of One Direction fame). Ron's Gone Wrong became available for streaming on HBO Max and Disney+ on December 15, 2021, after Disney reached a deal with WarnerMedia for a majority of the upcoming films from 20th Century Studios to be streamed collaboratively between Disney+, HBO Max and Hulu until HBO's deal with 20th Century, signed before Disney's acquisition of the company in 2013, runs out at the end of 2022. Ron's Gone Wrong also made its American television premiere on HBO on December 18, 2021.^[30]

Reception[]

Box office[]

As of December 19, 2021, Ron's Gone Wrong has grossed $23 million in the United States and Canada and $37.4 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $60.4 million.^[5][2] In the United States and Canada, Ron's Gone Wrong was released alongside Dune and was projected to gross around $10 million from 3,065 theaters in its opening weekend.^[31] The film made $2.3 million on its first day, including $260,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut in fifth place with $7.3 million. On its second weekend, the film fell 48% and made $3.7 million.^[32]

Critical response[]

Ron's Gone Wrong received generally positive reviews from critics. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 80% with a "Certified Fresh" rating, based on 96 reviews, with an average rating of 6.60/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "It isn't the first animated film to confront technology creep, but in terms of striking an entertaining balance between humor and heart, Ron's Gone Wrong gets it right."^[33] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 65 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[34] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.^{[citation needed]}

James Mottram of The South China Morning Post wrote: "sweet, heart-warming and frighteningly prescient, Ron's Gone Wrong is one of the best animated films in recent memory."^[35] Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph gave the film four out of five stars and said that the film is "visualized with verve" and that "it's a zingy and mercilessly funny satire on how devices, with their ever-so-friendly interfaces, have in fact become our despots."^[36] Ben Kenigsberg of The New York Times said "As family entertainment, it's fine."^[37] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film three out of five stars, saying that the film was "entertaining, though composed with algorithmic precision", adding that "it winds up suspiciously neutral about whether kids really should abandon digital enslavement in favour of real-life human friends."^[38] Pat Padua of The Washington Post gave the film three out of four stars, writing that it "has plenty of slapstick and potty humor for kids. But adults will also be intrigued by its frequently scathing (albeit somewhat conflicted) critique of consumerism."^[39] Mark Kermode said that the film was "really good fun and a real surprise."^[40]

Anna Smith of Deadline Hollywood Daily wrote that the film was "one for all the family - just put your cellphones away first." Brandon Zachary of CBR wrote "What starts as a movie you'd expect to know every twist to transcends into something far more interesting."^[41] Charles Bramesco of The A.V. Club wrote: "As in the curiously similar The Mitchells vs. the Machines, the misadventures transmit a light-hearted commentary on the wonders and hazards of our screen-saturated culture."^[42] Wendy Ide of Screen International said that the film "transcends the familiarity of the story with deft writing, appealing animation and a big heart crammed into a small malfunctioning robot."^[43] Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "What the animated feature lacks in daring imagination, it makes up for with endearing good humor, thoughtful cultural critique and one heck of a cute robot."^[44] Mark Kennedy of the Associated Press was more critical of the film, describing it as "a derivative tale about a middle schooler and his quirky computer sidekick" and writing that it "seems to want to preach we should all disconnect from our devices and restore human contact. But then what will the filmmakers do with all that adorable merch?"^[45] Michael Ordoña of The Los Angeles Times wrote that the film "dots its primer on friendship with chase scenes and warnings about Big Tech with only mixed success."^[46] Yolanda Machando of TheWrap wrote that the film "offers partially realized messaging about social media while populating the story with elementary sight gags, too many overused "fish out of water" tropes and attractive merchandise options."^[47]

Accolades[]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Ron's Gone Wrong at IMDb