Since its release in June, the film has been watched more than 236 million times, overtaking the action comedy Red Notice to take the top spot. It is the latest in a series of chart-topping achievements by the film which has become a surprise global hit. Songs from the movie have also been some of the most streamed online on Spotify, while the track Golden hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this month.
"Nothing is cooler than when a kid watches a movie and feels like they're really being seen," Hale says. Sketch, he hopes, will teach kids that they're not alone in the world, despite whatever feelings might be churning inside.
The Schwoopers are an argumentative, chaotic Jewish household, swooshing back and forward in time as they navigate romance, coming of age, marital breakdown, parenting, and purpose.
The Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation, and Technology, now in its third year at OMSI, showcases over 170 films, VR experiences, and panel presentations.
"Flow winning an Oscar for Best Animated Film has been celebrated for its use of the free-to-download software Blender, which enabled the film's Latvian animation team to craft a lush, human-free world of staggering beauty and rising water."
The Smurfs go to the real world for the same reason they do everything else in the movie, which at different points invokes the multiverse, serves up bewildering lore, and includes a pillar-of-light showdown out of a superhero movie - because no one involved in it has any idea what they're doing.
The use of music in Kyle's short is particularly hilarious - stock, YouTuber-esque music underpins every sad moment with jarringly upbeat vibes, creating a juxtaposition that delivers laughs as well as discomfort.
I just think that it's lazy on the part of the studio. When Universal Pictures president Peter Cramer told him the studio was planning a remake, he asked to direct it not out of enthusiasm, but out of concern over how another director might interfere with the version of the story he and Sanders put on screen.