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Trolls World Tour

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Trolls World Tour (also known as Trolls 2: World Tour or just Trolls 2 ) is a 2020 American 3D computer-animated musical comedy film, the sequel to the 2016 film Trolls , and the second film in the DreamWorks Trolls franchise. It was directed by Walt Dohrn with co-direction by David P. Smith , produced by Gina Shay , and written by Jonathan Aibel , Glenn Berger , Elizabeth Tippet , Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky . The film stars Anna Kendrick , Justin Timberlake , Rachel Bloom , James Corden , Ron Funches , Kelly Clarkson , Anderson .Paak , Sam Rockwell , George Clinton and Mary J. Blige .'

The film was first given a sneak preview at the Licensing Expo 2019. [6] Produced as the 38th full-length animated feature by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures, it was set to be theatrically released in the United States on April 10, 2020, [7] but due to the COVID-19 pandemic , it was released on digital platforms instead. It was later decided to release the movie on demand. As the pandemic receded, the film was released back in regular movie theatres.

It involves Poppy and Branch as they discover some new Troll tribes that represent the music genres aside from their own tribe. The film also focuses on an event named "Queen Barb's Rock World Tour", of which the title " Trolls World Tour " is a reference to.

The movie had a number of trademarks registered in addition, dated from 6/4/2019.

A sequel titled " Trolls Band Together " is set to be released in November 17, 2023 [8] , but official production and concept development remain ambiguous. [9] Justin Timberlake claimed in April 2020 that they wish to make a total of seven Trolls movies, which made a third Trolls movie highly likely. [10]

• 3.1 Main Voices
• 3.2 Additional Voices
• 3.3 Unused Voices
• 5.2 Software Usage
• 5.3 Character Development
• 5.4 Plot Changes/Scene Deletions
• 5.5 World Building
• 6.1 Promotional Songs
• 6.2.1 Movie
• 6.2.2 Ending Credits
• 6.3 Soundtrack
• 6.4 Cut/Deleted Songs
• 7 Success and Critical Response
• 8 Awards & Accolades
• 10.1 Trolls: Holiday in Harmony
• 10.2 Trolls: TrollsTopia
• 10.3 Home Video Releases
• 10.5 Toys & Games
• 10.6 Cosmetics
• 10.7 Food & Beverages
• 11 Etymology
• 12 Cultural References
• 13 Continuity
• 15 Taglines
• 16.1 Official Trailers
• 16.2 Music Videos/Credits
• 16.3 Movie Clips
• 16.4 Clip Compilations
• 16.5 Behind the Scenes
• 16.6 Interviews
• 16.7 International and TV Spots
• 16.8 Promotional Videos
• 16.9 How to Draw + Crafts
• 16.10 Commercials
• 17 References
• 18 External Links

It's all glitter and happiness in Troll Village until Queen Poppy and Branch make a surprising discovery - there are other Troll species beyond their own, each defined by a different genre of music. When a mysterious threat puts all the Trolls across the land in danger, Poppy, Branch, and their band of friends must embark on an epic quest through unfamiliar terrain to do the impossible: create harmony among the diverse Trolls to unite them against certain doom.

The movie begins at Techno Reef , where the Techno Trolls gather for a massive rave as their leader King Trollex is about to drop his latest song One More Time . After the song drops and the Techno Trolls enjoy their music, a shadow approaches in the distance.

King Trollex stops the party and approaches by himself. Queen Barb of the Rock Trolls greets him, and tells him to hand over the Techno String . When Trollex refuses to do so, she and her Rock Trolls attack. They send the Techno Trolls flying and destroy Trollex's DJ booth. To try and limit the damage and preserve his peoples' vibe, Trollex agrees to hand the String. Barb tells him that when she's done, they're all going to have the same vibe.

At Troll Village , Queen Poppy begins her morning routine and starts singing Trolls Wanna Have Good Times , the Trolls ' morning medley. During this, Branch starts to think about taking his and Poppy's relationship to the next level and states he just has to get the guts to tell her she is the one. He joins in the medley. During the medley, Poppy and her friends witness the birth of Tiny Diamond , Guy Diamond 's newborn son who turns out to be a Hip hop Troll . The medley continues as the Trolls now celebrate his birth.

At the end of the medley, Poppy and Branch see everyone off about their day. Branch then tries to talk to Poppy and tell her how he feels but he can't say the words, Poppy ends up revealing that she considers him a friend. The word "friend" echoes in his mind and he zones out. Trying to make up for it, the two try and high-five each other but fail, though Poppy then succeeds with Fuzzbert .

Their attention is turned to Biggie , who's being attacked by a bat . Poppy takes it away from him but now has it in her hair. Branch calms the bat down and attention is drawn to a message it was carrying. Poppy reads about a big event Queen Barb of the Rock Trolls is hosting and to bring the Strings. An anxious King Peppy takes the message from her and attempts to destroy it, but Branch calms him down. Peppy explains that other Trolls besides them exist, and they're called "Pop Trolls". This makes sense to them, and they all nod in agreement. Poppy wants to hear more about the other Trolls, but Peppy explains that they're very different from them, while Cooper takes note of Peppy's words about there being different Trolls. He causes the entire village to freak out when he says some don't understand the concept of "Hammertime".

The group breaks down to Poppy and The Snack Pack members. Peppy explains that in the beginning, everything was boring until a Troll made a note that caught everyone's attention. This was the start of the Trolls love for music and they took six Strings, one for each type of music: Techno, Funk, Classical, Country, Hard Rock and Pop. Then over time, arguments broke out over their differences leading to arguments. The Tribes' elders decided it was best each Tribe took a string and go their separate ways, and ever since the Tribes have been isolated from each other.

Peppy shows them the String, which he explains has a lot of power. Peppy wants to run and hide while Poppy wants to go meet Barb, whom she thinks is trying to unite the Trolls again. Peppy and Poppy get into a row over what is best. Later that night, Poppy goes to sneak out in Sheila Balloon , but is caught by Branch. Cooper hears them talking and watches from a nearby bush. Poppy unties the balloon and starts to float away. Branch is unable to just let her go, so he jumps into the balloon. After they leave, Cooper realizes one of the Trolls looks just like him; he leaves Pop Village to find them.

The next morning, Barb leaves the Ocean and arrives onshore singing Crazy Train . She nips into her Angler Bus and shows off the Techno String. She places it into her guitar, converting it to the Rock String's power. As she sits down, she thinks her father King Thrash is missing, but it turns out that he's just in the toilet. As he leaves, she explains to the senile old Troll the plan to get the Strings and play the Ultimate Power Chord. The Old King goes to do the Rock hand gesture, but needs Riff 's help to finish it.

Poppy and Branch try to fly the balloon, but the manual is big and Poppy tries to learn without it, which leads Sheila to tell her to stop. They discover Biggie has stowed away on the Balloon, hidden under the cotton candy Poppy brought with her, since Mr. Dinkles was attracted to it. Poppy explains they're going to help Barb unite the Trolls.

As they approach Symphonyville , they discover that Barb has already arrived ahead of them and everything is in ruins. Pennywhistle , the sole survivor, tells them that Barb took their string from Trollzart and all the Classical Trolls , leaving nothing left behind - they lost everything. Poppy comes to the realization Barb wants to destroy all music. Biggie freaks out over this, so Poppy does a Pinky Promise that no matter what she will protect him.

Meanwhile, as they leave the mountains, Barb's bat "Debbie" returns to her owner, carrying a reply from Poppy and having been given a makeover to the horror of Barb herself. Barb reads Poppy's message saying she hopes to be best friends with Barb, but Barb doesn't understand how someone can be friends as it takes years to form a friendship. Just then, a glitter bomb goes off in Barb face, and Barb has a rant about Pop music. When her father starts to sing the Pop song from the message, Barb has had enough and brings in the Bounty Hunters Chaz the Smooth Jazz Troll , Tresillo and his reggaeton Trolls , The K-Pop Gang and The Yodellers . She explains that she plans to make Rock the dominant music, but will spare whoever brings her Queen Poppy and let them have a tiny territory, stressing to Tresillo when he comments on the size that's the offer. Only the Yodellers didn't show to the meeting, but Barb is confident they'll bring in Poppy as she burns Poppy's message.

The Pop Trio arrive at Lonesome Flats , home of the Country Trolls . At first, there is no one around, but high noon hits and the mayor, Delta Dawn , appears singing Born to Die , which brings out all the Country Trolls. Poppy comments that the song is sad. Branch likes it, but Poppy thinks they don't know that music is supposed to make them happy. Delta feels sorry for the trio as they "look like they were beaten up by a rainbow", and isn't bothered by them. Poppy attempts to cheer them up by singing a medley that covers all the most important songs. Soon the three find themselves alone as the Country Trolls hide from their music.

Delta throws the three in jail for "Crimes against music". When Poppy warns Delta about Barb, Delta isn't worried about her. Poppy has to face that some Trolls don't want to have fun and Branch tries to cheer her up. They begin "plan B", and Branch and Biggie start to dig their way out with the intent to return home. Hickory abruptly shows up and busts the trio out. They escape on the Jail door as Delta, Clampers Buttonwillow , Growley Pete and a number of other Country Trolls give chase.

The four Trolls ride over the edge of a ravine to escape Delta. After falling into the river below, Delta is annoyed that they escaped. The four Trolls survive the fall into the river, with Mr. Dinkles being pulled back from a near-death experience by Biggie. Branch has questions as to why their new friend helped. Hickory explains he didn't think it was fair they rushed to discriminate against the Pop Trolls. He builds them a boat to make getting to the Funk Trolls faster.

During the river journey, Branch wonders in mistrust about Hickory, but Poppy is fine with him and wonders if Branch is questioning her judgement. As the Trolls settle for the evening, Chaz attacks. The three Pop Trolls are put under a trance and when they snap out of it, they're tied up. Hickory kicks Chaz off the boat, thus saving them as he put gumdrops in his ears to block out the noise of Chaz's smooth jazz music. Biggie freaks out as it's clear Poppy cannot keep them safe, thus breaking her Pinky Promise. He leaves to head back to Pop Village.

Meanwhile, Cooper is lost in the desert and tries to drink from a mirage. He snaps out as he's taken by a strange force.

On the river, Hickory sings I Fall to Pieces and confronts Branch over his obvious feelings for Poppy. Branch notes he tried to tell her how he felt about her but failed. Hickory notes of the two of them that Branch is doing all the listening, thus she may not even hear him right now. They come across a large object in the sky and are taken by a bubble beam, with Branch and Hickory landing hits on each other as they try to fight it.

The three arrive in the flying city of Vibe City , and are greeted by a Funk Troll whom they think is Cooper. He turns out to be Prince D , Cooper's twin brother. Cooper introduces them to King Quincy and Queen Essence , his parents. When D states he's half-Hip Hop, Poppy questions her map, which D comments is likely out of date. Branch notes it still has Disco on it. When Poppy speaks about how they're all alike, Quincy states they're not. Poppy suggests to combine their efforts, with Quincy stating that they'll do anything but that.

They then reveal the true history of the Strings. Prince D sings It's All Love (History of Funk) and explains that in the past, what broke the Tribes up was the Pop Trolls themselves. The Pop Trolls stole the six strings to play only remixes of all the other music. The other Trolls finally got their Strings back, but the damage was done and everyone no longer trusted that this wouldn't happen again, so they split.

When the song finishes, Quincy and Essence explains that denying their differences would be denying who the truth of who they are. Poppy comments they hadn't thought about this. The alarm goes off and the Funk Trolls prepare for battle as Rock has arrived. Cooper sends his friends on their way to protect them, despite Poppy's plea to let them help. As the trio leaves, the Funk Trolls are plunged into darkness as Riff pulls the plug on their lights.

As the trio float away from Vibe City, they see the Rock Trolls arriving and Poppy wants to go back. Branch finally puts his foot down and tells Poppy its time to go home. Poppy defends herself as wanting to prove she is a good queen, but Branch points out a good queen listens and she has not been, not to her father, not to Biggie, not to Quincy and not even to him. He has backed her up throughout the journey even when she was wrong. He replies he heard back there that differences do matter - like them.

As their bubble lands and bursts, the two have a fight and Branch leaves for home and abandons Poppy, stating as he departs that she's the most important person to him right now. Sad, Branch begins to sing Perfect For Me , a song in the vein of the Country Trolls' sad style. Poppy joins in despite them being far apart at this point. When Branch finishes the song, The K-Pop Gang arrive and capture him. They demand he takes them to Poppy, but Tresillo and his Reggaeton Trolls interfere. The two groups can't live without their music and dance off against each other for Branch. Branch stops them and makes a proposal.

Poppy meanwhile reflects on her thoughts with the String. She puts it away when Hickory arrives, but in her despair at the situation accidentally pulls it out in front of Hickory. It is then revealed Hickory, along with his brother Dickory have been pretending to be a Country Troll together to get close to Poppy. Dickory tries to take the String while Hickory attempts to help Poppy. Their yodelling grabs Barb's attention, and Poppy is snatched by Carol and another Rock Troll. Dickory hands Barb the Pop String and Barb confronts her worry, commenting on how short Poppy is compared to her and how she didn't know why she was worried about her. As the two interact, Barb reveals she has already attacked Pop Village.

Biggie arrives at the village, and finds the surviving members of The Snack Pack. They make costumes and attempt to break into the Rock Trolls' home to rescue Poppy. During their intrusion though, Sid Fret and another Rock Troll catch them. The group convinces them that they're also Rock Trolls, but this lands them into Barb's backup band. Smidge comments "We're screwed".

Elsewhere, Barb brags to Poppy about how she's basically won and asks if Poppy enjoys being Barb's best friend as a mockery of Poppy's earlier message, Poppy comments they are not friends. Barb reflects that as a Queen she's used to hearing people, telling her what she wants to hear and not really being friends. She puts the Pop String in the guitar and comments she'll play the Ultimate Power Chord, then Poppy will see what happens.

On stage, Barb sings Barracuda while The Snack Pack pretends to play along in fear, while Peppy and the Funk twins are hurried forward to the front. When attention is drawn to them, Biggie smashes a guitar shouting "Barracuda" and it seems to get attention off of them. Barb then introduces the Trolls to their former leaders, calling Pop "the worst of all". As Barb goes to play the Ultimate Power Chord and hit Poppy with the power of her guitar, she is hit with the balloon manual as Shelia Balloon appears carrying Branch, the K-Pop Gang and the Reggaeton Trolls. This proves to be a temporary setback as Barb begins to play again. Branch swings over to Poppy and throws himself in the way, where he was a large boulder falls to the ground. When it smashes open, Branch has been converted into a Rock Zombie.

Barb is hooked up to an Angler Bus and flies around the stage converting the other leaders into Rock Zombies. She turns back to Poppy who has opened her cage, she gets Branch to use his mullet to grab her and then hits Poppy with the Power Chord. At first it appears as though Poppy is converted, Barb hands her the Guitar so she can convert Peppy and the Funk Twins, the final members of the leaders' family, but Poppy turns to face Barb. Poppy used gumdrops to protect herself from Barb's Power Chord. Poppy tells Barb that she won't let anyone else be converted. Riff interrupts and speaks up against Barb, questioning how anyone could know they're cool if they all look the same, as some of the Rock Trolls see Poppy and Riff's point of the outlook and agree.

Poppy also tells Barb that a good queen listens and that real harmony takes a lot of different voices. She proceeds to destroy the guitar, snapping the Strings and reverting Branch, Queen Essence, King Quincy, Trollex, Delta Dawn and Trollzart, and her Rock Zombie appearances back to their normal selves. However, every Troll becomes grey in the process as the music fades from every Troll present, and with them the Trolls have lost all music, including rock. When Poppy goes to make sure Branch is okay after he was reverted from his Rock Zombie form, Barb witnesses in horror that the Strings have been destroyed as they fade away. Barb then puts the blame on Poppy, stating history has repeated itself with Pop ruining everything once again. Depressed, the Trolls take a moment to let it sit and face the fact that their music is gone, but Cooper feels a beat within him as he realizes that music is still in his now-glowing pink heart.

As Cooper uses a microphone to amplify the rhythmic heartbeat for everyone to hear, his brother Prince D begins to make a hook beatboxing sound as he joins in, with all the other Trolls witnessing this. Queen Essence notes that her sons are making music; Delta Dawn feels the beat with her lit-up heart as she begins to clap and stomp her feet along to the melody, who then turns to her Country Trolls who also join in. The beat continues as everyone's hearts light up while the Trolls begin a simple background harmony in unison. Essence states Barb can't take their music from them, while Quincy states that while it all started with the Strings, it now comes from within themselves. As the other Troll tribes vocalize melodically with all their hearts lit, Trollex says the music comes from their experiences, Delta adds their lives, and Essence adds their culture; Trollzart simply calls the harmony beautiful. Poppy finally understands the thing she hasn't grasped about differences, knowing Barb can't take away the music that is within all of them.

Now knowing that differences matter after all, Poppy steps forward and begins singing the song Just Sing . She's soon joined by Branch, both becoming the first to regain their colors. Barb asks Thrash what's happening, to which he replies that she must let everyone be what they want to be, as he plays music and regains his colors too. As Poppy and Branch continue singing, the other Tribe leaders join one by one; every Troll slowly recolors as they join in, until Barb is the sole remaining grey Troll. Near the end of the song, Barb finally joins, as she plays her guitar in which she recolors, her hair becoming rainbow-colored as she accepts other Trolls' music with the help of her father . Poppy's hair also colors up with rainbow colors, with the Trolls now united at last.

The song ends with all leaders standing side by side and an united Troll Kingdom. When Poppy said to Peppy that she should've listened to what he had to say and not run off, they settle their differences on the earlier row and he take pride in raising a strong and self-confident daughter, proclaiming himself as a "genius" parent. Meanwhile, Poppy tells Barb now she isn't forcing her and she'd like to be friends with her and Barb finally agrees. In the meantime, Branch concurs with Poppy and confesses his love to her, to which she states back she loves him too; the pair finally do a connected high-five, which begins their relationship as more than just friends. As the camera pans out, the pair can be seen kissing.

Back at Pop Village, Poppy tells the new version of Troll history on how their ancestors were wrong to young Trolls from each Tribe. She's joined by Branch as she says you can't harmonize alone. The two depart and the Pop Village celebration begins. The leaders of the Trolls interact, have fun, and Prince D and Branch sing Don't Slack . During the party, Cloud Guy meets a female cloud; they propose and then have a family. The song ends with Poppy and Branch riding into the sky, Debbie following them.

In the closing mid-credits scene, King Gristle Jr. and Bridget appear, having missed the Trolls' party.

Main Voices

• Anna Kendrick as Queen Poppy
• Justin Timberlake as Branch
• Rachel Bloom as Queen Barb
• James Corden as Biggie
• Ron Funches as Cooper
• Kelly Clarkson as Delta Dawn
• Anderson .Paak as Prince Darnell
• Sam Rockwell as Hickory
• George Clinton as King Quincy
• Mary J. Blige as Queen Essence
• Kenan Thompson as Tiny Diamond
• Kunal Nayyar as Guy Diamond
• Aino Jawo as Satin
• Caroline Hjelt as Chenille
• J Balvin as Tresillo
• Flula Borg as Dickory
• Ester Dean as Legsly
• Jamie Dornan as Chaz
• Gustavo Dudamel as Wolfgang Amadeus Trollzart
• Ozzy Osbourne as King Thrash
• Anthony Ramos as King Trollex
• Karan Soni as Riff
• Charlyne Yi as Pennywhistle
• Yeri as Kim-Petit
• Irene as Baby Bun
• Seulgi as Gomdori
• Wendy as Wani
• Zooey Deschanel as Bridget
• Christopher Mintz-Plasse as King Gristle Jr.
• Kevin Michael Richardson as Mr. Dinkles
• Walt Dohrn as Cloud Guy , Metal Mr. Dinkles , Fuzzbert , King Peppy and Smidge

Additional Voices

• Walt Dohrn as the Announcer, the Country Music Baby and the Country Music Farmer
• David P. Smith as the Country Music Rooster, the Desert Sun, the Eighth Goat, Licky Bug and the Scrapbook Troll
• Kevin Michael Richardson as the Mr. Dinkles God, Growley Pete and Sid Fret
• Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Bliss Marina and Sheila Balloon
• Justin McElroy as Techno Beat Drop Button , the Tumbleweed and Skyscraper
• Griffin McElroy as the Country Music Tear and Skyscraper
• Travis McElroy as the Hard Rock Tear and Skyscraper
• Betsy Sodaro as Clampers Buttonwillow
• Marcella Lentz-pope as Carol
• Berenice Amador as Marimba
• Jamila Hache as Tambora

Unused Voices

The following are the voice actors either mentioned by DreamWorks or related to the movie who were thought or meant to appear. They're listed to confirm their status:

• Chance the Rapper was meant to have had a voice role, which was announced in November 2019. However, his name isn't featured in the movie's credits. [11] It was later confirmed he was meant to have originally done the role of Prince D. [12] Chance was announced at the same time as Sam Rockwell in May 2018. [13]
• Gwen Stefani was cited by early reactions to be returning as DJ Suki . However, DreamWorks never confirmed her name in any related promotional material themselves. No information has since appeared to confirm if she was ever in the voice cast. [14] To date, the only evidence that Stefani was meant to return is the Stylin' DJ Suki doll. In addition, Trolls: TrollsTopia , whose first season was originally complete and ready to release 5 days after Trolls World Tour 's release, features DJ.

On February 28, 2017, Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation announced a sequel to Trolls , with Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake reprising their respective roles as Poppy and Branch. [15]

In May 2017, podcasters The McElroy Brothers began campaigning for roles in the film via a podcast titled "The McElroy Brothers Will Be in Trolls 2". Following the campaign's success, DreamWorks confirmed in September 2018 that the brothers would make cameo appearances in Trolls World Tour . [16]

The film saw the additions of Sam Rockwell, Chance the Rapper, Anthony Ramos, Jamie Dornan, Karan Soni and Flula Borg to the cast in May 2018. James Corden, Icona Pop, Ron Funches, and Kunal Nayyar were also announced to reprise their roles. [17] On June 12, 2018, the film was retitled as Trolls World Tour . [18] In October 2018, it was confirmed that Kelly Clarkson had joined the cast, and will perform an original song. [19]

In June 2019, along with promotional posters, new cast members have been announced, which include J Balvin, Mary J. Blige, Rachel Bloom, George Clinton, Ester Dean and Gustavo Dudamel. [20] In June 20, 2019, the film's first official trailer was released online and on the DreamWorksTV's official YouTube channel. A second trailer was released on November 15, 2019.

Alongside Timberlake, Clarkson, .Paak, Blige and Clinton, songs were provided by Chris Stapleton and SZA.

On March 7, 2019, trademarks were placed on Trolls World Tour for books and magazines , clothing , toys, games and playthings , entertainment and prerecorded videos .

The film's third and final trailer was released online on March 7, 2020.

In an interview with Walt Dohrn, he noted that as soon as the film was over, the crew had been bittersweet about its completion, as they wanted to work on the sequel straight away. [21]

A note related to the development cycle of the film is that at the time Trolls: The Beat Goes On! was dealing with the Party Crashers storyline arch. There was a consequence of the film's production on the story arc, which caused a temporary pause at one point. This was because of Trolls World Tour being supposed to introduce new Troll Tribes, which limited what Trolls: The Beat Goes On! could do with the Party Crashers storyline. [22]

The marking custom animation to promote the film was provided from Minimo VFX & Jellyfish Pictures , who would do the animation for Spirit Untamed and have produced assets for The Boss Baby: Family Business and The Bad Guys .

Trolls World Tour was digitally released on video streaming platforms on April 10, 2020. The movie was also released in Digital HD on June 23, 2020, and on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on July 7, 2020. The movie was also available to stream on the streaming service Peacock. [23]

Development

The main theme of Trolls World Tour is "differences" and how different people lead very different lives. As a result, some of the underlining themes are much darker and sinister than in Trolls . [24] The intention, however, was not to start out as purposely making a movie on cultural appropriation from the start. [25]

Each Tribe represents a different music, and thus a different culture and race of Trolls. Although they're all "Trolls", they're not all the same. Each Troll Tribe has its own look, behavior and music genre preferences, as well as reactions to life in general. The Trolls' music is used as a means to represent cultures getting along with each other, which is a reference to real-life cultures and their problems.

The main reactions to each Troll culture are represented by the two Queens Barb and Poppy. They have very extreme, but opposing points of views on their world. Poppy's inability to comprehend things that don't fit in her worldview results in her being unable to understand just how different they are; she experiences a culture shock when meeting other Trolls. Poppy wants to save them all, but her issues with understanding the different cultures get in the way. Meanwhile, Barb doesn't care, as she puts value of her own over the others, and thus wants to take away what they have and failing to understand how differences make things more interesting. While Poppy believes different music should unite the Trolls, Barb thinks that divides them, and the only way to get them united is all of them sharing the same music genre. As the film goes on, the differences of the different Trolls put strain even on the basics of Poppy's relationships, and even Branch questions their friendship when he finally speaks against her.

Barb's own campaign for world domination leaves her convinced she's correct, and the actions of her and her Rock Trolls are somewhat zealous. This referenced the fact that the writers had grown up among the Rock culture of the 1980s, where wearing something like a Judas Priest shirt would have made the wearer say "This is who I am."; this formed the basis of how the Rock Trolls acted. [25]

Some of the comments that Trolls make in the film are also real-life comments. It's common for Rock and Metal fans to criticize modern music, such as claiming that EDM is "not real music", while citing Rock and Metal as examples of real music. Likewise, Classical can be viewed as "boring" to many. All of Barb's comments during her temper tantrum at Poppy are real criticisms towards Pop music. Genres under the classification of "Techno" are often criticized as unreal music because of their lack of actual instruments, mostly relying on machines to do all the work, which results in just "bleeps and bloops". Meanwhile, sad songs are often criticized for being depressing, such as those exampled by Born to Die , as some people prefer music that's uplifting and gives good feelings. These criticisms the Trolls make at each other's music are a reflection of actual music fans and their criticisms at fans of other genres; it's used to reflect how people criticize others living against their own.

Smaller themes include history being written by the winners, as the Pop Trolls of the past hadn't accurately recorded their own involvement in the initial splitting of the Tribes. This was apparently kept in the script from early throughout production, as a means of showing a teenager growing up and realizing that what they had learned from their parents and culture was fake. The realization to the characters was real and powerful. [25]

Another small theme was making promises, such as the Pinky Promise when Poppy can't actually see it through.

For Barb and the Rock Trolls, their disdain towards Pop Trolls is a form of "ancestry shaming", wherein current living individuals are treated based on their ancestors' actions.

Though made in passing comment as a joke, the fact Disco Trolls may have once existed and have since gone extinct has also been noted as one of the many other darker tones of the movie, as it implies that entire subcultures of Trolls have disappeared over time.

Software Usage

The film was made and rendered using DreamWorks own software rending engine, as DreamWorks uses its own in-house software.

The fuzz was generated afterwards using an effect in MoonRay Render. [26]

The data for the production of the film was exchanged via a partnership with NetApp solutions, DreamWorks has been using this software for over 20 years, as it provides a number of services including cloud file exchange and storage for their files. The service had to provide DreamWorks with access to 1,200TB of file storage space and used nearly half a billion files, of which all were to be accessible and used by the creators of the movie. [27]

The hair of each Troll was created with several new tools, including ImportDrawOver and SketchCurve to render each curve of hair, along with another tool named Z-Depth Push , which was developed to handle positive and negative Z-depths relative to the camera. The movie made use of a number of custom cameras in conjunction with these tools to capture the right angles and depth. SketchCurve was used for scenes where hair was wrapped around targets, such as the scene where Poppy captures Debbie in Pop Village. Z-Depth Push allowed the rendering of the Strings whenever they were placed on Barb's guitar to be rendered in the correct 3D space. Certain stylers were modified to accomodate to the new features, such as Barb's mohawk transformation near the end of Just Sing , which used the Kink , Clump and Contract stylers. Funk Troll characters, mainly King Quincy and Queen Essence , needed a custom CurveJiggle tool to aid their rendering, handle the many individual segments and layers for their bodies, and control the bouncing in their movement. The Reggaeton Trolls had a handling different to that of other Trolls in order to help with their mesh and movements. [28]

A reading software was also developed, which read the data without allowing copying of it, improving rendering speed and using up less processing in the making. Overall, the movie was a more technically advanced than Trolls , and used some of the most advanced rendering tools at the time for its fur and fuzz details. [29]

Character Development

Impact of Technology on Character Development

Due to the changes in technology, a simple port of old model designs from Trolls wasn't completely possible. The team also made adjustments to Poppy's facial design. Just to make her eyes bigger changed a lot, especially as Walt Dohrn and David P. Smith are traditional artists. The characters in Trolls World Tour have more flexibility in their models, and move more like traditional cartoon characters rather than modern CGI ones. [21] The crew had to work with a lot of new models and import a lot of old ones into the new software. [30]

It was mentioned that a lot of scenes were fully animated, but to create a "snap" effect, frames were deleted to get a smooth yet instant effect. [31] Another cheat in scenes is when Poppy high-fives Branch after "Just Sing"; though she appears to motion many steps, she only took 5 in reality. The illusion of distance was created using zooming effects and glares. [32] The decision was made to turn off blur after the early trailers, which the film greatly benefitted from. [33]

Character Changes

The following Trolls had their names changed:

• Queen Essence was originally named "Mama Bootsy".
• Riff was going to be named "Spyke".
• Chaz was originally named "Jax the Smooth Jazzer".
• In addition, the name "Carol" was originally assigned for a child Rock Troll, who was later renamed Amp . "Carol" was later given to an adult Rock Troll .
• Clampers Buttonwillow was originally named "Chompers".
• Tadd was originally called "Coral Blush"; all the merchandise carried this name except The Art of DreamWorks Trolls World Tour which was never given a full release.

Tadd and his family weren't green, but instead both his father and him were blue while his mother was pink. Bliss Marina was also a generic blue Random Troll . Likewise, King Trollex had a green hoop around his neck and some slight color changes. The Techno Trolls were meant to be semi see-through, which is still referenced in some merchandise. " Crunch " was a name given to a Rock Troll, who appears to have been switched for Sid Fret late into development.

Concept art for Cooper at all stages of his life was created, but never used. His brother Prince D at one point looked more like him, just with a golden cap, a blue goatee, and golden rings in his dreads. In the final movie version, Darnell doesn't have a cap at all, has less gold rings in his hair and completely lacks a goatee. Also, the Funk Trolls were meant to be ruled by a single giant King. In the movie, Cooper met a pair of Jazz birds , which went through a number of design changes. In concept art, he met actual Trolls, dressed in a classy manner. [34]

King Thrash looked more like his voice actor Ozzy Osbourne at one stage, as seen in a cut scene animatic.

Ancient Trolls resembling cavemen were also conceptualized, but not used in the film either.

In concept art as well, the K-Pop Trolls looked very different to their final film versions, while the Reggaeton Trolls remained mostly the same. Some of the rejected concepts for the K-Pop Trolls included both male and female Trolls. They also had a more oriental appearance. [35]

Barb's face is particularly unique among the Trolls. Part of the "The Sound of Silence" scene was meant to test out how she would interact with Poppy and that her assets were working. Her head was initially so large that it caused issues with her face and had to be scaled down by 10%. [30]

Characterization

The movie brings to question Poppy's character from the first film, addressing the issue of what makes a good leader. In Trolls and Trolls Holiday , Poppy was shown to do her own thing and not to listen to Branch. Finally, this comes to a head when it causes her problems as Queen, as she fails to hear what others have to say. When Hickory joins her group of travelling friends, he makes it worst by telling her what she wants to hear and thus causing her to further ignore Branch and Biggie who are travelling with her. She pursues her quest even though it's going badly, and her people and friendships are strained as a result. Later, Poppy's inability to listen is used against Barb when Barb was forced to acknowledge or ignore Riff when he spoke up against her plans, as Poppy throws the lesson she has had to learn at Barb.

Branch's character was carried over from the first movie, and he has growing feelings for Poppy. Originally, he pair would have been more aware of the reaction to them both denying a relationship with each other. Instead, Poppy remained ignorant of the Branch's feelings for most of the movie.

Plot Changes/Scene Deletions

The storyline's plot begun with the writers asking how to make their world bigger, and they played with the idea of there being other kinds of Trolls that specialize in music. Some ideas were brainstormed, which had both big and small "troll-town" ideas. The idea of the Pop Trolls being a secondary villain in Trolls World Tour had been taken from the idea that people didn't know The Beatles and Elvis Presley had taken ideas from other singers before them. [25] The plot was written over the course of 3 years after the basis was sorted. [21]

Another issue the movie faced was repeating themselves, especially with plot and gags. While it's fine that Guy Diamond farted glitter in the first film, repeating this joke was avoided in the second. [21]

In early promotional material released before the movie itself did, Barb's reason for going after the Strings was because she was jealous the Pop Trolls' popularity and success, and wanted to end their dominance. This was changed at some point before the movie's release, but references to this can be found in very early 2020 merchandise. The Strings weren't always part of the movie's plot, and early concepts just had the Rock Trolls destroying everything and leaving it in ruins, so that Rock would be left the only genre standing strong.

The true history of the Strings was changed significantly. This is tied in with the earlier "Pop being dominant" reason for Barb embarking her World Tour in the first place. The Strings' original plot made it into the Trolls World Tour: The Junior Novelization , due to how late changes to the film were being made. Just Sing also makes references to the altered plot that only makes sense for the original version of the Strings' history.

Chris Heltzel had added to his gallery some storyboards for the movie out of Lonesome Flats, with some segments having multiple possible directions on how they could play out. At one point, the introduction of Delta Dawn was very different: the Country Trolls were busy going about their day when Hickory ran into town to report on the destruction of the Classical Trolls' home after being sent to investigate. Delta would confirm she too had been sent an invitation like Poppy, and would comment she knew it was a set up, ordering the protection of their String, indicating the Strings were in the plot by this revision. The song was different, and instead of Born To Die she sung about how they had prepared for this day their entire lives, and Barb wouldn't be allowed to commit a crime. A Country Troll is still born during the song, but comes from an adult's tail end and not the hair on their head. The Trolls are then shown forming a barricade using cacti. The song is said by Poppy to be serious and intense instead of sorrowful and empathic as displayed in Born To Die; Branch still likes the song despite this. The Country Trolls are then seen training; Delta ends the song unarming her Banjo with the Country String and placing it in a jar for safekeeping. When Poppy goes to talk to Delta, Delta mistakes the Pop Trolls for Rock Trolls; Poppy manages to correct Delta, but Delta doesn't believe a team-up is the best idea, as the Country Trolls have the home field advantage. The storyboard ends as Poppy goes to sing the most important songs in the history of music. [36]

The escape from Lonesome Flats was also slightly different, with a group of Tumbleweeds joining in the chase. Originally, the Pop Trolls and Hickory escaped by Hickory halting, causing those chasing them to fall off the cliff. An alternative version, of which a variant was used in the final movie, had Branch freeing himself from the mustache lasso, getting flung towards the others and knocking the group off the cliff; Hickory tries to make it to the other side but fails.

Based on a toy with a design from the Hasbro Small Figurines "bobblehead" set, Poppy was meant to befriend Carol at one point, then depicted as a child. Her prototype "child" design, later made into the separate character of Amp , can be seen in the Trolls World Tour Look and Find book, along with many elements that were changed late into the movie's development. Other elements can also be seen in the Hasbro Tiny Dancers series.

In another storyboard supplied by Chris Heltzel, Peppy was shown to be lecturing Guy Diamond on how to raise Tiny Diamond; he exampled Poppy's confident and independence, deciding that he had been a fool to raise her to be like that. Guy notes down that Tiny should n't think anything but like his own self. Peppy explains Poppy is out there without a clue of what she's up against and Guy notes Tiny should never leave the village. Additionally, any hopes and dreams should be discouraged. Throughout this the view switches between Guy and Peppy's talk and Tiny, who progressively grows frustrated with doing things like his father's way. The trio are interrupted from the talk with the sound of Rock music, as the Rock Trolls arrive to Pop Village bursting through the doors of the library. In the supplied board, multiple possible introductions were shown of Barb meeting the trio. The storyboard ends with her demanding the string before she has to act up.

Deleted Scenes

The movie originally begun with Poppy singing The Sound of Silence , with Barb interrupting her to do a guitar solo. At one point, she stage-back-slides along the ground. This led into the main movie with Poppy asking "Who was that?", as seen in the first Trailer. A lot of Barb's introduction animation was later used for when Poppy appears to have been turned into a Rock Zombie. A cut version of this was referenced by a real-life enactment of the scene before production. This scene was mostly a test of how Barb and Poppy would interact with each other as well. [30]

The cut scene of King Trollex removing the Techno String from Techno Beat Drop Button

The Techno string was originally held in Techno Beat Drop Button ; the scene of King Trollex removing the string and giving it to Barb was cut from the movie.

There was originally a birth scene of Guy Diamond actually going to push his son out, with Branch reminding him to remember the procedure while Poppy telling him that he doesn't need any training and all he needs is have room for hugs, while other Snack Pack members like Biggie and Smidge are panicking. [37]

A deleted scene involved Cooper talking with his reflection in a mirror regarding his own destiny, before embarking his journey.

The trip with Branch and Poppy in Sheila Balloon was meant to have a Can You Feel It? musical number. The number depicted all the other Trolls from Poppy's "Pop" perspective as different but all "Pop-like" to her, and was meant to show how far Poppy's ideas of the other Trolls were removed from reality. In the actual movie, Poppy's lack of understanding how the other Trolls were different was toned down due to this scene's removal. The reason the scene was removed was because the developers had to make a decision between adding songs and moving the plot forward. They originally wanted more songs in the movie than what there ended up being. [38]

In an early cut scene animatic, Barb didn't hire Bounty Hunters. She instead stopped off a diner where unpopular genres of Trolls ended up playing to a empty crowd, and hired several of them to get her Poppy. The Mariachi Sisters , Little Miss Polka and The Barbershop Boys were all cut from the movie, and were among the types of Trolls that didn't make it into the movie's final version as a result.

Another concept for the Bounty Hunters also was revealed by Jeremy Bernstein, in which he went for a "dusty meeting" approach. [39]

Concept art depicts Cooper being with Poppy, Branch and Biggie when they arrive at Lonesome Flats , which shows that he wasn't originally going to be doing a solo journey. [40]

In later versions, Cooper is removed by the time the group arrived at Lonesome Flats. The plot is also adjusted so Poppy, Branch and Biggie also met Hickory first before meeting the Country Trolls, who then took them to Lonesome Flats .

In the storyboard, Poppy, Branch and Biggie would have made a joke at the Lonesome Flats jail. It involved them stating that if they stayed any longer, they would end up like "the skeleton family", with the skeletal remains of two adult Trolls and a child being pointed to. [41]

Biggie would be gone by the time where the Queen of Pop song would have been played in the movie.

In early scripts, the Funk and Rock Trolls had a music battle. [42] Poppy was also supposed to get lost in a "Funky forest". [43]

References to a "Funky Poppy" design is seen in early promos. Topps Trolls cards for the film still reference this cut design. Branch, Biggie and Mr. Dinkles also have Funk designs in the set; the presence of Biggie's design indicates that a possible plot change happened with him, and the Funk Trolls' string may have been taken sooner than in the original plot.

There was going to be a song named Cloud 9 , which was set to play when Cloud Guy became a father and looked after his three children .

The outfits that The Snack Pack wore to infiltrate the Rock Trolls originally resembled more closely to Hard Rock, rather than their final Rock 'n' Roll-themed designs in the movie. Once again, the Tiny Dancers (with Smidge being seen in her original outfit) and the "Trolls World Tour Look and Find" book show the original designs.

World Building

Each part of Troll Kingdom has a different look. Volcano Rock City is made of leather and denim. Lonesome Flats resembles a quilt. Vibe City uses neon lights and vinyl record references. Techno Reef uses LED and crochet .

As with the Trolls film, many of the landscapes had real-life model counterparts to help with visualization. The ancient ancestors of the Trolls as depicted by Peppy were created in real life with actual textiles and materials before being photographed for use in the movie. [44]

A lot of focus was put onto the overall world to make it bright and fuzzy. Due to the amount of fuzziness there were concerns with rendering. The team relied on VFX supe Matt Baer who figured out the best way to render all the fuzz seen in the movie and overall, Trolls World Tour was an improvement over Trolls . The team wanted to focus on balancing visual story telling. In addition, a lot of trust was put into the creative decision. In turn, Trolls World Tour did a things that had never been done before. So finding the right production team for the job was also important. [45]

The fuzziness and fur of the world was a important focus for the movie and the concert scenes alone were some of the fuzziest ever made. Each scene required much processing power from computer software to render the scenes, lighting was one of the first focusing points of any scene and how it reacted to all the fur and fuzz. Each fur or clump of hair was rendered in a curve that was distinct and rendered at multiple levels to create layers of depth, while being overseen by traditional artists during the process. As a result, scenes in Trolls World Tour were significantly more in-depth and detailed then Trolls before it, with some scenes having over a million curves. [29]

One big balancing act that needed to be handled is the idea of handling dazzling and overwhelming. While the production had to reference the culture of each music genre, it was hard to avoid stereotypes. One of the challenges was turning one Troll Tribe into 6. [46]

Trolls World Tour was allowed to go near water, whereas they had forbidden Trolls to do so. The biggest challenge of the entire movie had been the scale of the project and world building. [21]

The crew often used fabrics in real life to see how it would look in the Trolls' world. For the Rock Trolls, their world is made of silk, leather, denim and fishnets. Its look was created by having fabric blown by a fan to see how it looked. The lava is made of satin fabric. The Country Trolls' world is made of quilted fabrics, burlap, denim, and gingham, and their rivers were formed with gossamer fabric. The cliffs were rendered as stacks of blankets on top of one another. The mountains in the Classical Trolls' world were meant to look as if they were made of rococo-brocade fabric and satin-cord-trimmed; Machu Picchu was used as reference for their shape. They also looked at the wigs and ended up creating a look with a bit of silliness to it by accident. Vibe City was inspired by 1970s LP art, with gold, silver and purple coloration placed into the background. Techno Reef was made to look like a macramé dance club world with lasers, and was inspired by nautical ropes. All of the production team's departments had to come together to make its scene happen. [47]

The DreamWorks Trolls twitter account ran a series of Tweets under the tag of "#TrollsArtTuesday" showing concept art. [48]

The movie's plot takes place over the course of approximately 3 days, with the sunlight in each part of the day being monitored. [49]

The music was based on the 6 main genres featured in the movie: Funk, Pop, Rock, Techno, Classical and Country. Each Tribe started out with a song each. Music demos were made over the course of the 3-year production by Ludwig Göransson and Joseph Shirley. Musicians enjoyed their music coming to life within the movie. The more challenging part was when it came to the movie's original songs. [21] Justin Timberlake described exploring all the new styles of music as exciting and a little daunting. [50]

In 2021, the song " Just Sing " won the "Hollywood Music In Media Award for Best Original Song, Animated Feature". [51]

Promotional Songs

• Crazy Train
• Rock You Like a Hurricane
• Trolls Just Wanna Have Good Times
• One More Time
• Just Sing (Oreo commercials)

Movie Songs

• The Other Side (instrumental and choirs)
• One More Time - Anthony Ramos
• Rock You Like A Hurricane - Rachel Bloom
• Trolls Wanna Have Good Times - Anna Kendrick , Justin Timberlake , James Corden , Ester Dean , Aino Jawo , Caroline Hjelt , Kenan Thompson & the Pop Trolls
• U Can’t Touch This - MC Hammer
• Pop Muzik - Joseph Shirley
• Crazy Train - Rachel Bloom
• Born to Die - Kelly Clarkson
• Hocus Pocus - Focus
• Trolls 2 Many Hits Mashup - Anna Kendrick , Justin Timberlake , James Corden & Walt Dohrn
• Leaving Lonesome Flats - Dierks Bentley
• I Fall to Pieces - Sam Rockwell
• Move On Up - Curtis Mayfield
• Atomic Dog World Tour Remix - George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, Anderson .Paak & Mary J. Blige
• It's All Love (History of Funk) - George Clinton , Anderson .Paak & Mary J. Blige
• Perfect For Me - Justin Timberlake & Anna Kendrick
• Russian Roulette - Red Velvet
• Mi Gente - J Balvin & Willy William
• Yodel Beat - Ludwig Göransson
• Rainbow, Unicorns, Everything Nice - Walt Dohrn & Joseph Shirley
• Barracuda - Rachel Bloom & James Corden
• Just Sing (Trolls World Tour) - Justin Timberlake , Anna Kendrick , James Corden , Kelly Clarkson , George Clinton , Mary J. Blige , Anderson Paak , Rachel Bloom , Kenan Thompson , Anthony Ramos , Red Velvet , Aino Jawo , Caroline Hjelt & Sam Rockwell

Ending Credits

• Don't Slack - Anderson Paak & Justin Timberlake
• The Other Side - SZA & Justin Timberlake
• Rock N Roll Rules - HAIM & Ludwig Göransson

See Trolls World Tour (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) .

Cut/Deleted Songs

• Can You Feel It?
• Master of Puppets [52]
• Title Unknown
• Queen of Pop [53]

Success and Critical Response

Due to the money Trolls made previously in cinemas, releasing Trolls World Tour on VOD was considered a ludicrous risk, as the franchise was at this point worth $700 million. However, a contribution to the discussion was that 3 of the trailers received 150 million views. It was estimated that 9-12 million views for the release onto home cinema would result in a $200 million revenue upfront, which was expected to cover the film's costs. The cost of production was $90 million for the movie, and $30 million for P&R. [54]

Instead, the digital release of Trolls World Tour resulted in it making more money in less than a month than Trolls did in 5 months. [55] This was far better than predicted; it was able to compete with Sonic the Hedgehog and Frozen II , and held onto the no.1 film spot for several weeks after its inital release, taking the spotlight from those films. [56] The film was later nominated for Best Movie of 2020 and Best Family Movie of 2020 at the People's Choice Awards . [57] In the UK, the film was a chart topper, grabbing the no.1 spot for 7 weeks (though not consecutively). [58]

In April 2020, Timothoy Donohoo of CBR proposed the reason both Trolls and Trolls World Tour were successful was because they had a level of Nostalgia factor, due to the Troll dolls having been around since 1959. In comparison, the rivalling movie UglyDolls had failed because it was a newcomer with only recent success. While the Troll dolls had waned in popularity since the 1990s, 50 years of nostalgia gave the way for Trolls to succeed, but the lack of such a factor led UglyDolls down the path of failure at the box office. Another factor was though many of the UglyDolls cast could sing, Trolls had used actors that could perform and thus had established reputations of being able to also act. [59]

According to a report, 80% of all sales from VOD is profit for studios versus the theaters, which is at 50% of that profit. A factor in the success of Trolls World Tour was the lack of competition. Another factor is the fact it was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Slashfilm claiming that "it dropped just when families needed something to distract their stir-crazy kid". [60]

In June 2020, the HollyWood Reporter had a much more critical response to the film's success, and claimed that while Trolls World Tour had made $100 million back at the time, it was still in the red due to development cost, boasting that it may never make back the money. Promotion of the film had cost $35 million. While the experiment with Trolls World Tour worked out, they didn't think it was enough to repeat the experiment with bigger franchises such as the upcoming Fast & Furious movie F9 , due at a later date. The film had also sparked worry among its stars that they wouldn't be paid for their contributions, due to it being unreleased at the in the cinemas at that point. On advantage, Universal had kept that the VOD release was a bigger profit. [61]

The cinema industry attempted to make people react negatively to Trolls World Tour , only for it to make $100 million on digital sales alone. The COVID-19 pandemic resulting in cinemas to close started a slide for AMC Theatres. In October 2020, Disney would follow suit and push to release its own movies on Disney+, leading AMC to announce that if ticket prices didn't raise it would face liquidation in 2021. In addition, it faced being stuck with an outdated film stock. Trolls World Tour is now considered a turning point in the spiral for the company. [62]

UPI France was one of the countries largely unaffected by NBCUniversal's decision to feature the film on VOD, and allowed the film a wide release in France due to French cinema rules being different to that of other countries. [63]

In December 2020, an artical by GQ Magazine noted why Trolls World Tour had been the most important film of 2020 for Universal. This was owed to its impact on cinemas when it skipped a cinematic release. Trolls World Tour was the first of several films to recieve that treament, the others that followed were The King Of Staten Island , The Invisible Man and Emma all causeed by the Covid-19 Pandemic since Cinemas were now empty and unable to attract an audience for these films. In addition, the argument about paying $15 per head was brought into question as custom could just pay a single price and watch the same blockbuster at home. Additional notes included how convient things had gotten. The next note was that it was not 2010 and the experience of watching something at home was a different experience now. TV sets were now bigger and more easy available, with the added bonus of being able to pause the screen when a friend or family member needed to make use of the toilet during the movie. While the Cinemas called out the move, it was pondered if that was now the end of the cinematic experience. There was some cost in revenue from a lack of focused control over Cinema tie-in merchandise. 2021 would see a several services such as Disney+ . They did not believe the impact would last one year and more would follow, since Cinemas needed big name bucks to stay alive if they could not attract them this would be over with the eventual possible destruction of Cinemas. [64]

In 2021, it was reported that due to both Trolls World Tour and The Croods: A New Age , DreamWorks thrived in 2020 despite the pandemic, and Trolls World Tour alone grossed nearly $350 million worldwide, $80 million of which within 6 weeks. Meanwhile, The Croods: A New Age had reeled in $160 million. This is without DreamWorks' serial TV animation success taken in mind, as the company was also now looking into adult TV media in the near future. [65]

Overall, Trolls World Tour made $43 million worldwide from cinema releases, and $48 million on DVD and Blu-Ray sales, in addition to its VOD revenue by February 2021, being most successful in France and Austrilia. By July 2023, it had made $54,237,879 on home market sales. [66]

While it's unknown how much the actors were paid, it was expected that Justin Timberlake would earn a 7-figure number in back-pay salary. [67]

Geeks Under Grace reviewer Tyrone Barnes gave the film an overall positive review, claiming that it had a sense of déjà vu. However, he noted that it felt like a cut-down version of Avengers: Infinity War , which came out two years before Trolls World Tour . [68]

Awards & Accolades

• When Barb shouts "Rockers!" at Trollex, her right hand clips through her head and behind her ear as she does the Rock gesture.
• When Poppy says the line "Bring your string to the biggest party the world has ever seen", in the invite it can be seen that it actually says "Bring your own string to the biggest party the world has ever seen". Poppy skipped the word "own".
• During Just Sing , sometimes Rock Trolls while headbanging will move their hair through other Trolls.
• Also during Just Sing, all members of The Snack Pack except Poppy and Branch disappear from the stage by the end.
• Sometimes, The K-Pop Gang 's reflective outfits will reveal parts of the skybox area which isn't rendered. This is difficult to see and happens so fast the viewer won't see it particularly well unless the screen is paused.
• When Queen Poppy was brushing her teeth with the lollipop, The teeth become white in the next scene.

Related Media & Merchandise

Compared to Trolls , Trolls World Tour has had much greater amounts of merchandising overall. Part of this can be put down to the movie's success, and can also be contributed to the number of trademarks held related to this movie. In addition to the 5 trademarks for "Trolls World Tour", a number of characters have been trademarked. These include Growley Pete, Tiny Diamond and Delta Dawn.

The movie highly benefited from its release at home rather than the cinema. [74] Its success is put down to a positive response and good marketing. Due to the fact it was no longer being released in cinemas, the marketing of the movie had to change suddenly and without much notice. Companies distributing merchandise were forced to change their approach, as they were no longer selling merchandise for a cinema-related film. [75]

Companies had different approaches to the marketing of the movie.

Trolls: Holiday in Harmony

Trolls: Holiday in Harmony is a TV special based upon the events of Trolls World Tour which was released in November 26, 2021 on NBC. It's a spiritual successor to Trolls Holiday .

Trolls: TrollsTopia

Trolls: TrollsTopia is a television series based on the film that involves the Trolls' everyday events of the tribes residing in the city. 7 seasons of the series have been streamed on Hulu and Peacock throughout from November 19, 2020 to August 11, 2022.

Home Video Releases

The DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD releases of Trolls World Tour were released on July 7, 2020, while the Digital HD version was released on June 23, 2020.

There were several buyer options, including:

• The Walmart version of the Dance Party edition included the DVD, Blu-Ray and downloadable options, plus a special pair of Funko keyrings of Queen Poppy and Branch. This version was sold exclusively in the United States. [77]
• The Target version included a digital version of the artbook The Art of DreamWorks Trolls World Tour . [78]
• A Blu-ray 3D version.
• A 2-movie release with Trolls included.
• A collectible steelbook that was only available at Best Buy. [79]
• "Dance! Dance! Dance! Collection" Blu-ray and DVD which includes Trolls and Trolls Holiday .
• A 3-movie release edition which includes Trolls and Trolls Band Together .

The "Trolls World Tour: Dance Party Edition" includes 2 movie versions, the normal theatrical version and the movie with Dance Party Mode. The edition also comes with bonus features and extras, which includes:

• " Tiny Diamond Goes Back To School " Animated Short
• Trolls Village
• Symphonyville
• Lonesome Flats
• Volcano Rock City
• Techno Reef
• Intros by Director Walt Dohrn, Producer Gina Shay and Co-director David P. Smith
• Cooper’s Destiny
• Let’s Go Save the World
• Bicycle Built for Two
• Meet the Bounty Hunters
• Making New Friends
• Trolls Perfect Harmony
• Opening Act
• The Other Side
• Don't Slack
• It's All Love
• Theatrical Trailers (Digital HD only)
• Feature Commentary with Director Walt Dohrn, Producer Gina Shay and Co-director David P. Smith

The Trolls World Tour: The Junior Novelization was released on March 24th 2020. This is the adapted book version of the film written by David Lewman who also had written Trolls: The Junior Novelization and Trolls Holiday: The Junior Novelization . He also wrote the Big Golden Book and Little Golden Book retellings of the story.

The Trolls Magazine also begun updated its title and publication to the movies new release.

Similar to Trolls book The Art of DreamWorks Trolls , The Art of DreamWorks Trolls World Tour was created with behind the scenes information. However, the book was never sold and is only available on e-bay currently as only Employees of DreamWorks and others involved in the movie recieved a copy of the book.

Toys & Games

Starting from January 2020, Trolls World Tour had much more merchandise to offer before and after release of the movie itself, and toys and games were released throughout 2020 by various companies. The amount was notable compared to the amount for Trolls in 2016 and 2017 and by 3 months more Merchandise had been produced overall for the movie then Trolls had seen in its first year.

Hasbro updated their small range figurines to include Trolls World Tour toys (though this range was noted for its issues related to quality during this period), as well as the medium range (a new line of fashion dolls were produced) and many new feature dolls . A new toy line Tiny Dancers was created. As exampled with the Tiny Dancers, one of the notable issues with merchandise for the movie is the inconsistency between product and final movie character designs, of which this series best examples. Both King Trollex and Prince D have their early designs.

Top Trumps released a Trolls World Tour deck that is compatible with the past Trolls deck. Other games were made by companies and Topps Trolls had a collectable trading card game.

Wow Stuff also produced a number of figurines as did Funko and LEGO Sets were made for Trolls.

In August 2020, a doll related to the movie, known as " Giggle and Sing Poppy ", was removed. It was removed from shelves a short time after released into stores due to the placement of the button that activated its functions. The removal was based on concerns of it was inappropriate. [80]

As with Trolls , PÜR produced promotional cosmetic sets as a tie-in with the movie in their PÜR X TROLLS range. Compared to their Trolls lineup, the promotion was much larger, with an entire lineup of cosmetics being produced.

China Glaze also released a nail polish collection based on the film.

Food & Beverages

Cakebites did a special promotion for the movie featuring two cakes, one for Pop Trolls and the other for Rock Trolls . Funables also ran a promotion as did TostaRica . Lay's ran a promotional tie-in with their "Poppables" range across the various flavours, while SeaBrook also did a promotion for their own crisps.

MacDonald 's also did a Happy Meal promotion with a number of toys could be collected.

The title of the movie is a play on words. While it references Barb's "Rock World Tour", it also acts as a quick guide or "world tour" of the various locations within Troll Kingdom .

In Japan, the movie was titled Trolls Music☆Power .

It was originally announced as Trolls 2 , with a number of countries have later gone on to use a variant of that title.

Cultural References

• The scene where the Rock Trolls emerge from the ocean after destroying Techno Reef is a reference to the Mad Max chase scene.
• When Poppy, Branch, Biggie and Hickory are about to fall into the river out of Lonesome Flats, they briefly float in midair. This is likely based on the common classic cartoon logic rule of "gravity does not work until you look down", which was made infamous by the Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoons.
• The One More Time scene is likely a reference to the opening of Daft Punk's movie Interstella 5555 , a visual adaptation of the song's album Discovery . Similarly to the Trolls World Tour scene, the opening involves an alien planet in which a band plays at a concert, only for a human military force to invade and kidnap the band. The fact that the military force brainwashes the band and makes them look like humans is also a parallel to Barb's goal of converting all non-Rock Trolls to Rock music.
• Queen Barb's "punk rock" design is a classic Troll Doll design for the Good Luck Trolls . There have been several Punk Trolls since the 70s, including one famous one by Russ.
• "It still has Disco on it" implies that there once was Disco Trolls for there to be a significant genre reference, but it mostly notes the cultural joke of "Disco is dead". The event that often said to have "killed Disco" is the Disco Demolition Night explosion, which caused a cultural backlash and riots.
• The Pop Trolls alternation of the history of tribes, is a nod to real world historic events, where people embellished the events. This was especially true for battles, where the victor recorded events in their favour.
• The way Trolls were divided by DreamWorks in previous Trolls media was by family, the classifications of which were " Guru ", " Giant ", " Rainbow ", etc; for example, Branch and Poppy were in the "Rainbow" family. These terms were dropped after Trolls World Tour 's announcement, and Trolls became identified by their Tribe instead of their family.
• The 2D-animated TV series are generally not considered canon to the franchise's overall storyline, but this is still a roughly accurate setting for how long since Trolls the movie takes place. [81]
• Trolls: Holiday in Harmony happens only a short time after Trolls World Tour . [81] Tiny Diamond states he is 1 month old in Trolls Band Together .
• Trolls Band Together would invalidate Trolls: TrollsTopia s plot as it took place just 1 month after Trolls World Tour .
• Trolls World Tour marked a shift in character development and handling. One such example is seen in The Snack Pack , who was the main focus of Trolls -era media. However, in both Trolls: Holiday in Harmony and the 2D animation Trolls: TrollsTopia , stories were written that featured few members, with Trolls: TrollsTopia only featuring the group together in a major role in the series first episode and Trolls: Holiday in Harmony only showing Poppy, Branch, Legsly, Tiny Diamond and Guy Diamond.
• The time from Trolls to Trolls World Tour is less than 1 year with its related special Trolls: Holiday in Harmony taking place only a short time after the events of Trolls World Tour .
• The events of the film actually lead to John Dory confirming Branch was still alive and part led to John tracking Branch down and are partly responsible for the events of Trolls Band Together being able to occur.
• The events related to Floyd , in regards to Velvet and Veneer 's rise to fame at Mount Rageous actually are taking place as Trolls World Tour is happening, as Floyd's capture occurred 1 month before Trolls World Tour and 2 months prior to Trolls Band Together .
• The movie also explains why the Pop Trolls had to rescue themselves from the Troll Tree despite there being other Tribes. Its due to their involvement with the Strings - no one was going to rescue them.
• The rule was also referenced often as a running gag in Trolls: The Beat Goes On! , and later in Trolls: TrollsTopia .
• It has more deleted scenes and cut songs than the first movie .
• The moment where Poppy and Branch hug and kiss is zoomed out, which is meant to be a bonus for fans paying attention. [83] [84] [85] DreamWorks had not decided to answer if the Poppy and Branch pairing is official until " Trolls Band Together ". [86]
• The plot of the movie from the start of Barb's Rock World Tour to Just Sing takes place over the course of 3 nights and 3 days. The day and night cycle was actually noted on the storyboard, including evening and morning sun.

Official Trailers

Music Videos/Credits

Movie Clips

Clip Compilations

Behind the Scenes

International and TV Spots

Promotional Videos

How to Draw + Crafts

Commercials

• ↑ https://variety.com/2020/film/reviews/trolls-world-tour-review-anna-kendrick-justin-timberlake-1234570986/
• ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/as-a-virus-upends-hollywood-may-never-be-a-return-normal-1286691
• ↑ https://variety.com/2020/film/news/trolls-world-tour-streaming-theatrical-window-future-1234573263/
• ↑ https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/23/why-hollywood-is-sticking-with-movie-theaters-and-not-streaming.html
• ↑ https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt6587640/
• ↑ https://www.licensingsource.net/view-our-licensing-expo-2019-picture-gallery/
• ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony. "... ‘Trolls 2’ Moves To Spring 2019 – Update" . Deadline . Published October 4, 2017. Updated December 6, 2017. Retrieved June 12, 2018.
• ↑ https://twitter.com/Trolls/status/1462854754153820161
• ↑ https://twitter.com/KevanShorey/status/1249406969804292096
• ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/9355124/justin-timberlake-trolls-movies-sequels/
• ↑ https://www.nme.com/news/chance-the-rapper-joins-trolls-2-cast-2312657
• ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CD0SRmQj5pF/?igshid=1lw06uwqie4g1
• ↑ https://deadline.com/2018/05/sam-rockwell-chance-the-rapper-trolls-2-animated-movie-1202387559/
• ↑ https://kakuchopurei.com/2020/03/12/trolls-world-tour-review-kkp/
• ↑ https://variety.com/2017/film/news/trolls-2-announced-april-2020-dreamworks-animation-1201998983/
• ↑ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mcelroy-brothers-will-be-in-trolls-world-tour/id1240927514
• ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/chance-rapper-joins-cast-trolls-2-1110763
• ↑ https://www.animationmagazine.net/features/new-details-revealed-about-dreamworks-trolls-sequel/
• ↑ https://deadline.com/2018/10/kelly-clarkson-trolls-2-perform-original-song-1202476507/
• ↑ https://www.awn.com/news/dreamworks-animation-reveals-21-posters-and-cast-trolls-world-tour
• ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 https://www.awn.com/animationworld/walt-dohrn-talks-trolls-world-tour
• ↑ https://jimmortensen.tumblr.com/post/628619921782374400/since-beat-gose-on-is-done-and-you-no-longer-are
• ↑ https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Trolls-World-Tour-(2020)#tab=summary
• ↑ https://www.looper.com/201091/things-only-adults-noticed-in-trolls-world-tour/
• ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-features/trolls-world-tour-music-criticism-990498/
• ↑ https://twitter.com/KevanShorey/status/1251183867941105664
• ↑ https://www.netapp.com/blog/trolls-world-tour-technology/
• ↑ https://research.dreamworks.com/research_library/hair-effects-in-trolls-world-tour/
• ↑ 29.0 29.1 https://research.dreamworks.com/research_library/organizing-the-fuzziest-concerts-for-trolls-world-tour/
• ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 https://twitter.com/KevanShorey/status/1256363844500205568
• ↑ https://twitter.com/KevanShorey/status/1251165147713769480
• ↑ https://twitter.com/KevanShorey/status/1248771336530345984
• ↑ https://twitter.com/NickTyson/status/1249886874224582656
• ↑ http://www.avnergeller.com/twt/u1rlv36cgvuedwwoi5jbl2f1dqrl85
• ↑ http://www.avnergeller.com/twt/op478vrrovenunfokzjd3v2foo0s9a
• ↑ https://www.chrisheltzel.com/
• ↑ https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjHVFCvjMPo/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D
• ↑ https://twitter.com/jon_magram/status/1277010857285742596
• ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CNLvdJXjE2w/
• ↑ https://twitter.com/Dreamworks/status/1207073070386561024
• ↑ https://twitter.com/Dreamworks/status/1209564267382337536
• ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/B-2gmHfjOZn/
• ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/B_LVVr-DP-N/
• ↑ https://twitter.com/Trolls/status/1207072793696669696
• ↑ https://www.cartoonbrew.com/sponsored-by-dreamworks-animation/how-the-colorful-musical-environments-of-trolls-world-tour-were-created-200574.html
• ↑ https://twitter.com/hashtag/TrollsArtTuesday?src=hashtag_click
• ↑ https://twitter.com/Le_Mans_66_VF/status/1229938262938181632/photo/1
• ↑ https://7news.com.au/entertainment/all-star-cast-comes-together-for-trolls-world-tour-c-1326170
• ↑ https://twitter.com/Trolls/status/1354832390422749190
• ↑ https://www.instagram.com/tv/B_B7oiVj7sO/
• ↑ https://www.instagram.com/jeremybernstein/p/B_L82PfDAkc/
• ↑ https://deadline.com/2020/04/trolls-world-tour-vod-box-office-movie-profits-universal-coronavirus-1202903913/
• ↑ link to the awesome news
• ↑ https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/trolls-world-tour-holds-on-to-official-film-chart-number-1__30635/
• ↑ https://twitter.com/Trolls/status/1311782477023907841
• ↑ https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/film-news/trolls-world-tour-makes-triumphant-18948032
• ↑ https://www.cbr.com/trolls-succeed-uglydolls-failed-nostalgia/
• ↑ https://www.slashfilm.com/trolls-world-tour-vod-sales/
• ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/trolls-world-tour-stars-want-pay-but-will-studio-make-any-money-1293394
• ↑ https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/10/13/did-disney-just-hammer-the-last-nail-in-amcs-coffi/
• ↑ https://www.screendaily.com/news/uip-france-boss-explains-why-he-is-releasing-trolls-world-tour-wide-in-france-this-week/5153991.article
• ↑ https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/trolls-world-tour
• ↑ https://variety.com/2021/film/news/dreamworks-trolls-world-tour-croods-new-age-1234946338/
• ↑ https://parade.com/1379772/hannah-southwick/justin-timberlake-net-worth/
• ↑ https://www.geeksundergrace.com/movies/review-trolls-world-tour/
• ↑ https://cinemaaudiosociety.org/cinema-audio-society-nominations-for-the-57th-annual-cas-awards-for-outstanding-achievement-in-sound-mixing-for-2020/
• ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/awards/9517388/diane-warren-james-newton-howard-winners-2021-hollywood-music-in-media-awards/
• ↑ https://www.etonline.com/2021-kids-choice-awards-the-complete-winners-list-161949
• ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20210307215716/https://deadline.com/2021/03/saturn-awards-nominations-2021-nominees-list-1234706492/
• ↑ https://deadline.com/2021/03/ves-awards-nominations-2021-visual-effects-society-mandalorian-tenet-soul-1234704513/
• ↑ https://kidscreen.com/2020/05/27/trolls-world-tour-changes-its-marketing-tune/
• ↑ https://marketing.twitter.com/na/en/success-stories/trolls-world-tour-twitter-case-study
• ↑ https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/1135629-trolls-world-tour-digital-blu-ray
• ↑ https://www.walmart.com/ip/Trolls-2-World-Tour-Walmart-Exclusive-with-FUNKO-Pop-Keychains-Blu-ray/732316851
• ↑ https://www.walmart.com/ip/Trolls-World-Tour-Target-Exclusive-Blu-Ray-DVD-Digital-NEW/712437620
• ↑ https://twitter.com/Trolls/status/1277681695748227073
• ↑ https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/06/business/hasbro-removes-trolls-doll-poppy-button-trnd/index.html
• ↑ 81.0 81.1 https://twitter.com/theitz/status/1464986148401344512
• ↑ Trolls World Tour will be released on VOD the same day will be playing in theaters
• ↑ https://twitter.com/KevanShorey/status/1250068883547004931
• ↑ https://twitter.com/KevanShorey/status/1255379110257401856
• ↑ https://twitter.com/KevanShorey/status/1248745007441268736

External Links

• Official website
• DreamWorks Animation Wiki: Trolls World Tour
• Trolls World Tour on Wikipedia
• 1 Queen Poppy

Trolls World Tour/Gallery

• View history

Images from the 2020 film, Trolls World Tour .

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Screenshots [ ]

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‘Trolls World Tour’: There’s More at Stake Than Musical Diversity for the DreamWorks Animated Sequel

Bill desowitz.

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Thanks to the pandemic, “ Trolls World Tour ” is a far more significant movie than anyone could’ve imagined. In ordinary times, the fluffy sequel about musical inclusion and diversity wouldn’t have made much of a dent. But now Friday’s release from Universal and DreamWorks Animation has become a test case as the first major studio movie to bypass theatrical distribution by going straight to VOD. And, regardless of how well it does commercially, “World Tour” serves a larger cultural purpose as original entertainment for families that have been stuck at home during the pandemic.

“We were all together watching closely as things were developing,” said director Walt Dohrn (co-director of “Trolls”), “and, when it was decided we were going to go this route, it was [great] to share it with as many people as possible. In addition, it was meant to make you feel good, from the production design to the music to the themes to the jokes. We designed it to be a big, great theatrical experience, but we were very aware that people would watch it at home and on their phones. It was an honor to embrace that home environment earlier than usual.”

Related Stories ‘Trolls World Tour’ Review: A Silly and Psychedelic Treatise on Modern Music for Kids and Stoners Universal’s ‘Trolls’ Move Shows Studios Now Have Upper Hand Over Theaters — Maybe Permanently

In approaching the sequel, though, Dohrn wanted to expand both the music and world-building. Thus, there’s a lot more at stake for singing trolls Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and Branch (Justin Timberlake) than maintaining their happy, glittery Pop village. They discover a larger musical universe (funk, country, techno, classical, and rock) that has gone its separate way and is under attack by heavy metal diva, Queen Barb (Rachel Bloom).

And they’ve assembled quite the all-star ensemble: From the land of funk are Mary J. Blige, George Clinton, and Anderson Paak. Representing country are Kelly Clarkson, Sam Rockwell, and Flula Borg. Anthony Ramos (“Hamilton”) leads the techno tribe, conductor/violinist Gustavo Dudamel and Charlyne Yi cover classical, and Kenan Thompson raps as a newborn troll.

“It’s not enough just to represent these six genres,” added Dohrn. “We worked with a musicologist to determine the genres, but we started expanding as much as we cold. Hopefully, we got a large brushstroke with as much diverse genres as we could.” And, with Black Sabbath’s Ozzy Osbourne playing the decrepit rock king, and Clinton portraying the king of funk, the director got to take advantage of being close to musical royalty. “George was a consultant and I loved the Parliament album covers,” he said. “We showed him all the development work and wanted to capture that spirit. He was definitely our guiding force.”

Yet it’s clear that the endangered rock format is the antagonist as a shout out to boomers. But Dohrn was careful not to vilify it. “We were very cautious,” he said. “We got a lot of notes from the studio, but in talking to some rock bands and reading a lot about rock people, they are very hardcore and passionate about their genre. That’s what allowed us to tell that story from the rock point of view. Wouldn’t it be a better world if the only music was the best music, which is our music? But I thought also that the music is aggressive and the characters can behave a little more aggressively.”

But, once again, the centerpiece of “World Tour” is the exceptional production design by Kendal Cronkhite, who established the handmade, fiber-based world of the first film and enlarged it in more epic fashion by pulling from distinctive materials associated with their musical worlds. For example, the world of rock looked like denim and leather, and the country landscape resembled a large, quilted blanket. In fact, DreamWorks’ big tech advancement was creating a crocheting software program.

“We had this rule in the first film not to have water, but we wanted to go underwater in this film,” said Dohrn. “And so we open with techno and toyed with water like a stage design in the style of ‘The Muppets.’ And we found an artist who did micro coral reef. It still was all fiber based. The river looked like ripped organza. We thought: Let’s go further. The organic materials transport the audience into a different space.”

In addition to “The Muppets,” the director threw in lots of visual references from other favorite films, including “Fantasia,” “Yellow Submarine,” and “The Wall.” “Maybe it’ll be like some of those midnight movies that I grew up with,” Dohrn said. “Maybe it’ll find its way into a theatrical experience when this is all over.”

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• DreamWorks Animation

DreamWorks Animation is an American animation studio, considered by many as a successor to Amblin Entertainment 's feature animation division, Amblimation . DreamWorks Animation has produced a series of computer-animated films, including Shrek , Madagascar , Kung Fu Panda , How to Train Your Dragon , Puss in Boots , The Croods , Trolls , and The Boss Baby , among others. It was formed by the merger of the feature animation division of DreamWorks Pictures and Pacific Data Images (PDI). Originally under the banner of DreamWorks Pictures, it was spun-off into a separate public company on October 27, 2004. Starting with Over the Hedge , their movies were distributed through Paramount Pictures , who acquired the rest of DreamWorks SKG in February 2006.

In August 2012, DreamWorks Animation signed a five-year distribution deal with 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios, currently owned by The Walt Disney Company), then a subsidiary of News Corporation (later 21st Century Fox), which began after the release of Rise of the Guardians ; and whilst in China, the company formed Oriental DreamWorks (renamed Pearl Studio in 2018) and in Korea, the company kept its distribution agreement with CJ Entertainment .

On April 28, 2016, Comcast officially announced that it intended on acquiring DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion, valuing the company at $41 per share. The acquisition was completed on August 22 of that year, and became a unit of NBCUniversal . Universal Pictures took over distribution rights of DreamWorks Animation's films shortly after the 20th Century Fox deal ended; and they would release their first theatrical DWA film, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World , on February 22, 2019. As of today however, Paramount Global still retains the TV (and select streaming) rights to most of the Paramount-distributed DreamWorks Animation films under license from Universal Pictures via Paramount Worldwide Television Licensing & Distribution, which are also licensed by Trifecta Entertainment & Media for syndication. In Japan, DreamWorks titles are currently distributed by GAGA in partnership with Universal's Japanese distributor, Toho-Towa.

• Before 2004, films released by the company had the DreamWorks Pictures logo.
• The general theme used for the logo is a variation of Fairytale , from Shrek .

1st Logo (May 15, 2004-October 25, 2011)

Early variant without "SKG"

Early variant

Over The Hedge variant

Variant only known to exist on the trailer for Flushed Away and a teaser for Bee Movie

Later variant without "ANIMATION"

Later variant

Over the Hedge teaser

Handheld video games

Visuals: The camera pans up through a cloudy light blue sky at daytime as the familiar DreamWorks crescent moon is seen. A boy (similar to that of the 1997 DreamWorks Pictures logo) flies up onto the moon holding a bunch of balloons, and as he takes his place, he takes out his fishing rod and casts it, while letting go of the balloons. The camera pans further up into a cloud formation similar to the DreamWorks Pictures logo, as the balloons fly up and then pop into the word " D R E A M W O R K S ", in its corporate font. The text slightly eases in as " ANIMATION SKG ", underneath a dark blue line, fades in underneath.

• This logo would later be used as one of the sky backgrounds used for the DVD and Blu-ray menus to Shrek Forever After , albeit zoomed in.
• It was yU+co's decision to make the logo take place during the day in contrast to how its main studio counterpart takes place at night, as it made the logo comparatively more lighthearted. [1]
• On Shrek 2 and DVD releases until Over the Hedge , there's an early version of the logo where it just says " ANIMATION " underneath.
• On The Madagascar Penguins in A Christmas Caper , the " ANIMATION SKG " variant of the logo has the boy and the moon above.
• On Over the Hedge , only the line appears below the name. A rare version of this exists where it has the boy and the moon above; however, unlike the former, this actually wasn't used on any films, it's only known to have appeared on the trailer for Flushed Away and a teaser for Bee Movie .
• Starting in 2006 , the kid and the moon appear above the text , with " SKG " underneath with lines on the left and right of it respectively, much like the regular DreamWorks Pictures logo, although the text later reverted back to the previous name.
• On Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Monsters vs. Aliens , there are more clouds than usual and it stays on the moon when the kid releases the balloons, as the name fades in below.
• On a teaser for Over the Hedge , an odd variant appeared where the moon and kid are whiter than usual (similar than the 2009 logo) and the logo is slightly stretched from top to bottom, having the effect of cutting the moon off slightly at the top of the frame. This was also a placeholder logo for their DVDs.
• On their handheld video games , there is a print version of the logo on a white background.
• A still version of the logo exists at the end of their films.

Closing Variant: Just the last few seconds of the logo's sequence.

Technique: CGI by Pacific Data Images utilizing designs from yU+co, using an HP workstation with custom 3D software.

Audio: A majestic and peaceful orchestrated piece, which is adapted from the track "Fairytale" from Shrek . Composed by Harry Gregson-Williams, who co-scored the aforementioned film with John Powell.

Audio Variants:

• Sometimes, the opening theme is heard instead, or the logo is silent.
• On an MBC Persia airing of Shrek 2 , the 2012 Universal Pictures logo's music is heard, due to a reverse plastering error.
• None or the film's ending theme for the still version .

Availability: Seen on all DreamWorks Animation films from the era beginning with Shrek 2 and ending with Monsters vs. Aliens .

• It was also used as a placeholder home video logo until Over the Hedge .
• It was seen on home video and streaming prints of Shrek 4-D , retitled The Ghost of Lord Farquaad on a Shrek DVD sampler on General Mills cereal boxes.
• It also appears on some video games based on DreamWorks Animation films, except for Shrek 2 and Shark Tale , which use the 1997 DreamWorks Pictures logo instead.
• It oddly still appeared on video games until Puss in Boots , after the next logo was came out.
• On the Nickelodeon network premiere airing of Trolls World Tour , it was seen at the end of the bottom text credits, despite that film releasing two decades later after that logo. More recent airings have the DreamWorks Television logo instead.

Legacy: A memorable logo for those that grew-up with their films from the era.

2nd Logo (March 26, 2010-June 2, 2017)

Monsters vs. Aliens 3D Super Bowl trailer

20 Years variant

20 Years brand campaign

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Season 2 trailer

Visuals: In a starry nighttime sky, there is a full light gray moon. A shadow appears on it as it turns into a crescent moon, revealing the boy (now in light gray ) from the last logo sitting on it. He takes out his fishing rod and casts it, swinging it around the clouds as the camera pans out. Then, the words " D REAM W ORKS " zoom out and spread one-by-one below the moon, ending with " ANIMATION SKG " appearing between two lines in light gray .

• On the Super Bowl trailer for Monsters vs. Aliens , the name underneath reads " SKG ", much like the normal DreamWorks Pictures logo.
• On the aforementioned anniversary brand campaign , it starts as normal, but when the boy's fishing hook swings by the screen, it sweeps up letters that form the word "YEARS" which then settle underneath the moon. From there, the number "2" appears to the left of the moon (with the moon taking the place of the "0" to form the "20") and the words "OF DREAMS" and "AND LAUGHTER" fade in below "YEARS" in columns. The DreamWorks text (without the line and "ANIMATION SKG") then fades in above the "20", as copyright information appears underneath the logo.
• On the season 2 trailer for Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous , the line and "ANIMATION SKG" are replaced with the Comcast byline .
• A still version exists at the end of their films and most of their shorts.

Technique: CGI done by DreamWorks Animation's Glendale campus.

Audio: A dreamy flute/piano/string piece that leads into the previous logo's theme, accompanied by a choir and several different instruments. However, most films used an opening theme instead, sometimes interpolating the fanfare. This was again composed by Harry Gregson-Williams. The still version is silent or uses the film's ending theme.

• On Shrek 3-D re-releases under the name of The Ghost of Lord Farquaad , it has the end of the theme from the previous logo, except for the Brazilian Portuguese track, which uses the opening track from previous prints of the short syncing up with the opening credits, since the audio track was left unaltered except for a narrated translation of the new title.
• On the short Puss in Boots: The Three Diablos , it is the same as the movie but with no sound effects.
• Trolls and both The Boss Baby movies use different versions of the theme with their custom variants.

Availability:

• It was first seen on the Super Bowl trailer of Monsters vs. Aliens (the actual film has the previous logo), and later debuted officially on How to Train Your Dragon , and appeared on all DreamWorks Animation films from 2010 to 2017, with the final film to use this logo being Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie .
• Also seen on some licensed games from the company during this era.
• Despite the logo's retirement in 2017, this has been used sporadically on later productions, such as the trailer for the second season of Jurassic Park: Camp Cretaceous as well as The Boss Baby: Family Business , which uses the original Boss Baby variant.
• The standard version of the logo with its fanfare was only seen on Shrek Forever After and the 2013 DVD and Blu-ray release of Shrek the Musical .

Legacy: Another memorable logo from the company.

3rd Logo (November 24, 2017-June 21, 2022)

2017 version

2018 version

Visuals: On a black background, some light blue paint streaks fill onto the screen, as some painted clouds start appearing, creating a daytime scene. The scene then fizzles with a sunset setting, growing in size from the top-right, as more and more clouds appear, slowly becoming 3D. As the screen zooms through the clouds, they take on a dark blue tint as the scenery turns to nighttime. A navy blue energy forms a white moon in the center, and the redesigned boy on a crescent carves onto the moon, forming the inverted print logo. Clouds blow in from the left and from the right, as the word " D REAM W ORKS " forms from light streaks under the logo, followed by the Comcast byline wiping in, as some clouds disappear from the background while some remaining ones slowly move upwards.

Trivia: On October 12, 2022, DreamWorks Animation posted a 60-second compilation of the logos and its variants (mostly those from DreamWorks Animation Television ) (including the DreamWorks Pictures logo, as well as the tail end of Universal Pictures logo from the Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous variant of the DreamWorks Animation Television logo), backed by the music from the 1st logo and "Fairytale" from Shrek , the song that was a part of the fanfare, on the studio's Facebook and X (Twitter) pages here .

• On trailers , the byline is already there when the name forms.
• An inverted version of this appeared on Trolls Holiday (where this logo debuted).
• A still version exists.
• On some current prints of Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (plastering the 2004-2009 logo), the logo is sped up, bylineless and fades out early.

Technique: CGI, mixing 2D and 3D animation, Youxi Wu did the clouds paintings for this logo.

Audio: It opens with a string/flute melody, sounding similar to the previous two logos' music, which then builds into a different triumphant fanfare, adapting some of the tone from the DreamWorks Pictures fanfare by John Williams, ending with a choir, similar to the choir from the 2nd Jim Henson Pictures logo. Composed by John Powell.

• None or the ending theme for the print and inverted print versions .
• Sometimes, the opening theme of the movie is heard instead, or the logo is silent .
• On Dragons: Dawn of New Riders , the last part of the 2009 fanfare is used on the still version.
• First seen on Trolls Holiday , albeit in a print version; the dark blue background version of this was seen on the shorts Bird Karma and Bilby (though online prints of the latter onward replaced it with a still version of the standard logo).
• The standard version was first revealed on the trailer for How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World , with the fully animated version debuting on the film itself, and also appeared on Abominable , Spirit Untamed , and as variants on Trolls World Tour , The Croods: A New Age , The Bad Guys , and The Bad Guys in Maraschino Ruby , with the former being shown after the 25th Anniversary logo and the latter was also the last film to use this logo (albeit as a custom variant, while the standard version appeared at the end).
• This logo is also found at the end of The Boss Baby: Family Business , due to that film having the previous logo (albeit using a custom variant) at the beginning.
• It was last officially seen on trailers for Puss in Boots: The Last Wish , with the film itself using the 5th logo.
• This logo pays homage to the evolution of animation, evolving from hand-drawn 2D animation into the 3D animation of today.
• The "Everything Wrong With" video humor link, during their review of the DreamWorks film The Bad Guys , spoke on how the logo was physically impossible.

4th Logo (25th Anniversary) (April 10, 2020)

Visuals: There are clips from past DreamWorks Animation films, such as Home , Turbo , Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie , Kung Fu Panda , Shrek 2 , Abominable , among many others, with a clip from the previous film being shown first, before Guy Diamond (from the Trolls franchise, voiced by Kunal Nayyar) appears, hanging from the top of the screen by his hair. The clips disappear, and Guy sneezes and covers it in silver glitter to reveal the company's 25 Years logo.

Technique: CGI by Shine Studios.

Audio: A shortened version of the previous logo's fanfare, accompanied by Guy sneezing.

Availability: Only seen on Trolls World Tour .

5th Logo (December 21, 2022-)

Visuals: The original logo begins as such: over a clear night sky, the Moon Child from the 3rd logo stands up from their crescent, grabs it, and starts flying while the moon vanishes into light. As the camera then pans throughout the sky, they pass by various DreamWorks characters from various franchises and films; in order, the Bad Guys (from their self-titled film, all inside a car, with Mr. Wolf pointing a finger gun at the Moon Child, which they do back), Toothless (from How to Train Your Dragon , who flies out of a constellation and towards the camera), Po (from Kung Fu Panda , on an island with a temple, performing a gesture), Ted Templeton Jr. (from The Boss Baby , on the other side of the island, surrounded by toy blocks and a baby bottle), and Poppy (from Trolls , inside a bubble). The Moon Child high-fives her, causing the bubble to burst and the scene to transition into a sunny atmosphere, with some hills and a riverbank. The Moon Child then passes by Shrek, Princess Fiona, and Donkey (all from Shrek ), the former two of whom they wave goodbye to. The Moon Child then flies above the clouds into the cloud background from the 3rd logo (with more defined clouds this time). As they stop in front of the moon, the Moon Child casts their rod, forming the print logo design. As this happens, the text from the 3rd logo fades in under the moon.

• The boy on the moon was re-dubbed as the Moon Child to relate to anyone. [2] As a result, the child's silhouette is now gender-neutral.
• The sequence lasts 32 seconds and took eight months to create.
• The 2D art background represents the matter that connects all life and makes up dreams.
• The roster of DreamWorks characters shown is planned to differ throughout every upcoming film. For example, if a character represented in the logo also appears in the following film, it will be replaced with another one from an unrelated franchise.
• The characters are redesigned (Po having less of a fur texture, Shrek's face having simpler features, etc.) for a sense of co-existence within the same universe.
• The logo first appeared on DreamWorks' YouTube channel as an unlisted video on November 22, 2022.
• At the end of their films, the logo is still .
• Starting with Trolls Band Together released in 2023, Po, Ted Templeton Jr. and Poppy are replaced with Alex and Marty from Madagascar (Marty rides Alex like a horse), Eep Crood from The Croods (swinging on a tree) and the titular character from Puss in Boots (ripping open the screen with his sword, revealing the Moon Child and the scene with Shrek ).

Technique: CGI, which incorporates elements from the previous logos.

Audio: A re-orchestrated and more majestic rendition of the 2nd logo's theme, taking elements from the previous fanfare and having the brass instruments be more prominent. This was once again composed by Harry Gregson-Williams.

• None for the still variant.
• On Trolls Band Together , the theme is slightly lower-pitched.
• Seen on all DreamWorks films since Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (trailers and TV spots uses the previous logo).
• It also appeared at the end of Orion And The Dark (at the beginning, the custom variant is shown).
• The wrapped characters' version officially debuted on Trolls Band Together.

Legacy: The logo serves as an homage to the company's entire library, and their history with very successful films, though the logo has received a mixed reaction, with many praising the return of Harry Gregson-Williams' fanfare, but some criticizing the apparent lack of other DreamWorks franchises and films (though this criticism subsided due to DreamWorks confirming that the characters could change for each film).

• ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20131226220356/http://www.yuco.com/projects/dreamworks
• ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/dreamworks-animation-moon-child-curtain-raiser-1235269225/
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Los angeles latino international film festival sets 2024 lineup with ‘in the summers’ to open, ‘trolls world tour’ filmmaker walt dohrn signs exclusive overall deal with dreamworks animation.

By Anthony D'Alessandro

Anthony D'Alessandro

Editorial Director/Box Office Editor

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EXCLUSIVE: Trolls franchise filmmaker Walt Dohrn has inked a multi-year deal with DreamWorks Animation , Deadline has learned.

A longtime DreamWorks talent, Dohrn will have an overall first look exclusive deal for original animated projects at the studio along with executive producing, directing, development and supervisory duties on various projects.

“For over ten years, Walt has been a key part of the DreamWorks family,” said DreamWorks Animation President Margie Cohn, “His singular vision and sensibility is a part of our DNA and we’re happy to have his creative energy dedicated to both creating future DreamWorks franchises and mentoring the next generation of talent”.

“DreamWorks has been my home for many years and I have such a tremendous amount of respect for all the artists who day-in and day-out continue to push creative boundaries in storytelling,” said Dohrn. “I am looking forward to sharing details about my next project and continuing my collaboration at the studio with Margie.”

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The news follows the recent success of Dohrn’s directed DWA sequel Trolls World Tour , which Universal released via PVOD this past spring due to theaters shuttering during the pandemic; the Justin Timberlake-Anna Kendrick sequel reportedly making over $100M (and another $4.8M from drive-in theaters). The first Trolls , which Dohrn co-directed, grossed more than $346M worldwide in 2016, spurring a franchise across consumer products, global TV licenses, a 52 episode Netflix spinoff series ( Trolls: The Beat Goes On ) and home entertainment ancillaries that sources have informed us is worth around $700M (prior to the debut of Trolls World Tour ). Trolls also yielded a quadruple-platinum hit in Justin Timberlake’s single “Can’t Stop the Feeling” from the film and scored an Oscar nom.

Prior to  Trolls,  Dohrn was head of story on Peabody and Sherman and Shrek Forever After .  On many occasions, he has lent his voice to various characters in previous DreamWorks Animation films, most recently as King Peppy in Trolls World Tour and Cloud Guy in Trolls . In Shrek Forever After , he made his debut as a voice performer in a leading role as the villain Rumpelstiltskin. As head of story on Shrek Forever After , Dohrn was responsible for supervising the development of the film’s plot, working in close collaboration with director Mike Mitchell and supervising a team of story artists.

Since joining DreamWorks Animation in 2002, Dohrn also contributed to the story of Rise of the Guardians, Shrek the Third, Madagascar, Shark Tale and Shrek 2 . In addition, he wrote the lyrics for the songs “Final Showdown” ( Shrek the Third ) and “Fairy Godmother Song” ( Shrek 2 ).

Prior to joining DreamWorks Animation, he worked as a storyboard artist and writer. His credits include the Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob Squarepants and Dexter’s Laboratory .

Dohrn is repped by Andrew Cannava at UTA and attorney Todd Stern.

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