The Peanuts Movie

The Peanuts Movie (known in some countries as Snoopy and Charlie Brown: A Peanuts Movie) is a 2015 American animated comedy film based on Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts, produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the fifth full-length Peanuts film and the first in 35 years. The film was directed by Steve Martino from a screenplay by Cornelius Uliano and Craig and Bryan Schulz (Schulz's son and grandson, respectively). The film stars the voices of Noah Schnapp as Charlie Brown and, via archival recordings, Bill Melendez as Snoopy and Woodstock. The film sees Charlie Brown trying to improve his odds with the Little Red-Haired Girl, while Snoopy writes a book where he is a World War I Flying Ace trying to save his fellow pilot and love interest Fifi from the Red Baron and his flying circus. Development of the film began in 2006, six years after the death of Charles Schulz and the final release of the last Peanuts comic strip. Craig Schulz, the son of Charles, pitched a film idea to his son, Bryan Schulz. Twentieth Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios announced development of a computer-animated film in October 2012, with Steve Martino directing, due to his faithfulness to the style of Dr. Seuss in the film, Horton Hears a Who! (2008), also produced by Blue Sky. Numerous elements from the comic strip were featured in the film, such as Charlie Brown's skating pond, his house, "the wall" and Lucy's psychiatrist booth, as well as the Snoopy and Woodstock voice tracks from Bill Melendez. The soundtrack was composed by Christophe Beck, with contributions by Meghan Trainor and David Benoit. The Peanuts Movie premiered in New York City on November 1, 2015, and was released in the United States five days later on November 6. It grossed $246 million worldwide against a $99 million budget to become the 7th highest-grossing animated film of 2015. The film was met with generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the animation, voice acting, and faithfulness to the source material, but received minor criticism for its lack of ambition.