The Animaniacs Movie is an upcoming American live-action/animated musical adventure comedy film directed by Adam McKay, written by Tom Ruegger, and produced by Steven Spielberg. It serves as a continuation to the 1993-99 series of the same name, ignoring the events of Wakko's Wish and the 2020-23 revival. Spielberg also serves as an executive producer.
Plot (work-in-progress)[]
In the early 1930s, siblings Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner are created by aspiring African-American cartoonist Willie Whacker. Despite being praised for their character development, the trio's outlandish behavior causes them to be locked up in the water tower of Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California.
In 1993, the siblings are discovered by filmmaker Steven Spielberg who offers them a deal to create "Animaniacs", a five-season animated TV series based on their misadventures along with a supporting cast of cartoon characters in search of stardom; and if the Warners agree, Spielberg will grant them their freedom. The trio delightfully accepts, much to the ire of Thaddeus Plotz, the newly-appointed CEO of Warner Bros., who still belives that the Warners should stay isolated in the tower. After the show’s success, and by the series finale in 1998, the Warners are given their freedom to which they pull off "one last tower escape" on New Year’s Eve 1999, thus vanishing into the night.
Twenty years later, Destiny Drake, the teenage daughter of D.J. Drake, and her older brother Damien III, pitch to Warner Bros. executives the idea of a reunion special featuring the Animaniacs cast, who have since gone their separate ways after the Warners disappearance. The water tower is now occupied by Chelsea, a homeless cartoon squirrel and a fan of the Warners. She frequently hides from Warner Bros. security when foraging for food and supplies and also has a crush on Kelvin Jackson, a young security guard whom she nicknames "Kelly T. Guard" after her predecessor Ralph T. Guard. Upon graduating from college one day, Chelsea encounters the Warners, whose antics end up getting her caught and thrown out of the lot. In an effort to cheer her up, the trio decide to help Chelsea find her biological mother who is rumored to be living in Australia thanks to a postcard of a beach house Chelsea recieved in the mail.
Meanwhile, Destiny and Damien recruit Kelvin after being given 48 hours to reunite the Animaniacs. Though reluctant, Kelvin eventually decides to go with them; using Chicken Boo as a cover to maintain their job. Unbeknownst to them, the lot is taken hostage by hired mercenaries and old enemies of the Animaniacs.
During a flight to Australia, the Warners inadvertently cause the plane to crash into Ireland, forcing them and Chelsea to hitchhike to Belfast where they get a boat to London. Back at the lot, the ringleader of the hostage takeover is revealed to be former film director C. C. Deville, known as "Maestro" to his henchmen. He explains that the founders of Warner Bros. secretly invented a high tech atomic weapon and that he intends to unlock it using the Warners's DNA which, upon activation, will turn the world population into cartoon characters, thus turning it into a dystopia. To make matters worse, his henchmen are armed with paintball guns loaded with "a highly-contagious substance" and that they will kill any toon who disobeys his demands.
The lives of the Animaniacs, post-production, are revealed: Pinky and The Brain continue to live in their rundown laboratory, Slappy Squirrel resides in a retirement home, Rita & Runt live with the late Dr. Scratchansniff's nephew Oliver, the Goodfeathers run a nightclub in Downtown Los Angeles known as "Godpiegon 54", and Minerva Mink runs a beauty company with Katie Ka-Boom as assistant manager. Kelvin, Destiny, and Damien soon learn from them about their struggles with adapting to life after the 1990s but all agree to the reunion.
In London, the siblings and Chelsea are overwhelmed by 21st century shenanigans, culminating in Chelsea accidentally ingesting LSD at a party they come across and going on an eating binge. After helping Chelsea regain her regular size, the Warners move on to over locations across the globe including Paris, Ibiza, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and eventually Sydney.
Once there, they find out that the beach house is occupied by a now teenage Mindy, who had become estranged from her parents after Buttons was sent away. Mindy reveals that she befriended Chelsea's mother during a vacation and convinced her parents to take in an infant Chelsea due to her mother’s poor health. By 1997, one year before the show’s conclusion, Chelsea was adopted by close relatives and it’s eventually revealed that her mother passed away in 2003; thus leading Mindy to inheritance her ashes to give to her daughter. Heartbroken by this revelation, Chelsea takes the ashes and parts ways with the siblings, thanking them for their help.
However, Nuclear Man, sent by Deville to capture the Warners, arrives and kidnaps Yakko and Wakko while Dot and Mindy reminisce their childhood together. The kidnapping is also witnessed by Chelsea after she scatters her mother’s ashes.
Cast[]
- Storm Reid as Kelvin "Kelly T. Guard" Jackson
- Paul Dano as C. C. Deville / "Maestro"
- Billie Eilish as Destiny Drake
- Finneas O'Connell as Damien Drake III
- Anya Taylor-Joy as Helen "Hello Nurse" Norris
- Christopher McDonald as Thaddeus Plotz
- Melissa Barrera as Nora Rita Norita
- Clark Peters as William "Willie" Whacker
- Stephan James as young William "Willie" Whacker
- Robert Lewis as Oliver "Ollie" Scratchansniff, Nuclear Man (voiced by Steve Blum)
- Katlin Olsen as Katlin "Katie Ka-Boom" Jones
- Gabriel LaBelle as Dexter Douglas / Freakazoid (voiced by Paul Rugg)
- Kiernan Shipka as Mindy
- Halle Berry as Det. Patience Phillips
- Michelle Yeoh as Det. Chantelle Chen
Additionally, Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, and Timothy Dalton reprise their roles as Damien "D.J." Drake Jr., Katherine "Kate" Drake (née Houghton), and Damien Drake from Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Steven Spielberg appears as himself, while Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, and Danny Glover make uncredited cameo appearances as themselves who, along with Spielberg, are digitally de-aged to represent their younger selves in 1993.
Voice Cast[]
- Rob Paulsen as Yakko Warner, Pinky, Dr. Otto von Scratchansniff
- Tress MacNeille as Dot Warner, Marita Hip Hippo
- Jess Harnell as Wakko Warner, Walter Wolf
- Margot Robbie as Chelsea Squirrel
- Maurice LaMarche as The Brain, Squit "The Godpigeon" Goodfeather
- Sherri Stoner as Slappy Squirrel
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Skippy Squirrel
- Julie Brown as Minerva Mink
- Ariana Grande as Rita Scratchansniff
- Kid Cudi as Runt Scratchansniff
- Frank Welker as Ralph T. Guard, Buttons, Flavio Hip Hippo, Chicken Boo, Pharfignewton
- John Mariano as Bobby Goodfeather
- Eric Bauza as Pesto Goodfeather