Eviction Wars: A Foster's Film is a 2022 American computer-animated film based on the animated television series of the same name. The film is directed, written, and produced by Foster's veteran Dave McMolhan, whilst series creator Ben Jameson was responsible for the film's story and screenplay. The film is produced by FiddleGriff Animation and Mikros Image and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It's also the third theatrical film of the Foster's franchise, following House of Bloo's (1999) and Destination: Imagination (2006).
The film stars the voices of Keith Ferguson, TBA, Grey Griffin, Tom Kane (posthumously), Phil LaMarr, Tom Kenny and Candi Milo reprising their respective roles from the television series, with guest stars Brandon Rodgers, Jason Maybaum and Eric Idle.
The film was released theatrically on September 14, 2022, in the United States and Canada, featuring the new single "Can You Imagine" by Madcon (feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR & D.R.A.M.). This also marks the first major project in the entire franchise to be produced entirely with 3D computer-generated imagery as opposed to traditional 2D hand-drawn animation that the series is known for. It was later released on Disney+ on December 23, 2022, followed by a full-fledged home video release on January 10, 2023.
Plot[]
A supposed "real estate operator" wants to destroy Foster's home and capture the world of all of the imaginary friends because he finds them to be nothing more than childish distractions and a waste of time and life, so it's up to Mac, Bloo and their friends to save Foster's home and all of the captured imaginary friends before it's too late. Also, Mac befriends with a new kid in school, who is actually the son of the supposed ''real estate operator''.
Cast[]
Main Characters[]
- Bloo (Keith Ferguson)
- Mac (TBA)
- Jose (TBA)
- Frankie (Grey Griffin)
- Mr. Herriman (Tom Kane [posthumously])
- Wilt (Phil LaMarr)
- Eduardo (Tom Kenny)
- Coco/Madame Foster (Candi Milo)
Recurring Characters[]
- Jackie Khones (Dennis Haysbert)
- Goo (Katie Crown)
- Cheese (Lauren Tom)
- Terrence (Tara Strong)
- Duchess (Helena Bonham Carter)
- Fluffer Nutter (Andrea Libman)
- Yogi Boo Boo/Handy (Rob Paulsen)
- Scissors (Danny Pudi)
- Sassyfrass (Carolyn Lawrence)
- George Mucus/Sloppy Moe (Kenan Thompson)
- Myron Giant/Boris the Florist (John DiMaggio)
- Ringo Rango/Clambake (Justin Roiland)
- Madame Mustachio (Ashleigh Ball)
- Belly Bob Norton (Ian Jones-Quartey)
- Pinecone Cola (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)
- Red Rusher/Galoot Palooka/Dyno (Seth Green)
- Pokey Toehair (Jack McBrayer)
- Frit and Frat (Ben Schwartz)
- Don Lickles (Fred Armisen)
- Two Head Fred (Andy Samberg)
- Myopic Patootie (Dave Foley)
- One Eye Cy (Joe Manganiello)
- Mr. Edmonton (Edward Norton)
- Rodney Squiddlebeak (Brian Stepanek)
- Spritz Coleman (Richard Horvitz)
- Big Beaver (Khary Payton)
- Mabel Licorice (Kristen Schaal)
- Talking Racer Car (Paul Greenberg)
- Socket Tubey (Christopher Knights)
- Jokey (Eric Bauza)
- Wally (Scott Menville)
- Harold (Dee Bradley Baker)
- Magic Wand (Zach Braff)
- Bone (Kevin Schon)
- Nerd Shark (Greg Cipes)
- Groucho the Rubber Chicken (Frank Welker)
- Bloppy Pants (Jeff Bennett)
- Randolph (Wally Wingert)
- Clock (Kevin Michael Richardson)
- Billy the Squid/Master Willy the Clown (Michael Cera)
- Sunset Junction (Ricky Gervais)
- World (Max Burkholder [archival recordings])
- Mac and Terrence's Mother (B.J. Ward)
- Mac and Terrence's De-Facto Father (Jeff Bennett)
- Moose (Peter Linz)
- Abraham Lincoln Pen (Steve Carell)
New Characters[]
- Presley K. Blanford (Brandon Rodgers), a supposed "real estate operator" who wants to destroy Foster's home and capture the world of all of the imaginary friends, finding them to be nothing more than childish distractions and a waste of time and life.
- Carl (Jason Maybaum) a new kid in school who is Presley's son and met Mac and befriends with him.
- Bibbles the Rabbit (Eric Idle) is Carl's imaginary rabbit.
Production[]
Announcement[]
On July 15th, 2017, it was announced at the 2017 D23 Expo that there another Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends motion picture was being developed at FiddleGriff Animation, with the show's cast members reprising their roles. Mikros Image would also be involved with production as the film would become the first in the franchise to prominently use CGI. On September 12th, 2018, it was announced that online comedian Brandon Rodgers, Jason Maybaum and Eric Idle had joined the cast, but the film's release date wasn't revealed yet. The would be one of the first FiddleGriff films to be created using CGI instead of the usual hand-drawn animation that the studio is well-known for.
On February 13th, 2019, it was announced that actor Dennis Haysbert and actresses Katie Crown and Lauren Tom were part of the cast, as Jackie Khones, Goo and Cheese, respectively, with Tara Strong joining the cast, reprising her role as Terrence the same day. On March 13th, 2019, Helena Bonham Carter, Andrea Libman and Rob Paulsen had joined the cast, as Duchess, Fluffer Nutter and Yogi Boo Boo and Handy. Danny Pudi was announced to voice Scissors in the film the next day. On August 24th, 2019, Disney officially scheduled the film for a February 4th, 2022 release date.
Development[]
Director Dave McMolhan, who had not only previously worked on a trio of computer-animated films based off the Space Goofs cartoon series, but was one of the original veterans behind the series, agreed to make a feature film version based off the show with the promise it would be the first of a planned CGI trilogy, similar to what he did with his Stupid Invaders films for Columbia Pictures. During development stages of the film, he and his co-director Ben Jameson intended to revisit some of the greatest films of the time, with Scarface and The Dark Knight having the core inspirations for the film.
Animation[]
The feature animation was handled by Mikros Image Montreal in Canada. The crew emulated the same processes from the original television series in the making of the film, most notably the 'skroutlines', which was a seamless blend of a more traditional screenplay with a more simple outline which resembled strong short stories and gave the storyboard artists such as Vaughn Tada, Ed Baker and Chris Dent all the creative and aesthetic freedom neccessary. McMolhan and Jameson themselves provided the film's animatics.
Famed comic book artists Neal Adams, Tracy Yardley and Jim Steranko, and animation veterans Robert Alvarez, Bob Harper and Eric Pringle also provided the film's storyboards. Timothy Lamb helped on the character designs and special effects work on the film. Another animation veteran Craig Kellman also worked with Dave McMolhan on the character designs of the film.
The bulk of the animation work was done on Wacom Cintiq tablets, which allowed CGI modeling to be done directly on screen to facilitate production using programs such as Autodesk Maya and After Effects. The animation would be entirely in CGI, albeit enhanced and stylized to emulate the feeling of hand-drawn animation, which explains the "stop-motion" feel of the CGI compared to other fares. The character animation was done by going through the modeling and sculpting department using Autodesk Maya software.
The CGI was then enhanced to emulate the appearance of painted strokes and fills, and combined with backgrounds, using Adobe After Effects. The backgrounds were painted digitally using Adobe Photoshop and animated in 3D CGI using Autodesk Maya. Additional pre-production work was done at FiddleGriff Animation in Los Angeles, California. Animation and clean-up work was done at Mikro's facilities in France. Legend3D also played a role in the stereoscopic 3D conversion.
Sound and Music[]
James Newton Howard composed the soundtrack for the film with Hans Zimmer and Justin Timberlake serving as the soundtrack producers. In addition to using the original series' music work from James L. Venable and Mark Mothersbraugh on the film, he also composed themes for each character. Mac and Bloo's adventure score was the major focus and he also composed themes for Frankie, Mr. Herriman, Wilt, Eduardo, Coco, Madame Foster and Jackie Khones, and Goo. The music score was recorded at 20th Century Pictures' Newman Scoring Stage in Los Angeles and Warner Bros. Eastwood Scoring Stage in Burbank and mixed at Henson Recording Studios in Hollywood and Remote Control Productions in Santa Monica. The score is conducted by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. The music score is performed by The London Symphony Orchestra and The Hollywood Studio Symphony.
The sound design work was done at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California.
The music from the film is also recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London.
Trivia[]
- It was the first film to feature the newly reimagined Walt Disney Pictures logo in honor of Disney's 100th anniversary.
- TBA.