Wreck-It Ralph

Wreck-It Ralph
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rich Moore
Screenplay by	Phil Johnston Jennifer Lee
Story by	Rich Moore Phil Johnston Jim Reardon
Produced by	Clark Spencer
Starring	John C. Reilly Sarah Silverman Jack McBrayer Jane Lynch
Edited by	Tim Mertens
Music by	Henry Jackman
Production company	Walt Disney Animation Studios
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release dates	October 29, 2012 (2012-10-29) (world premiere) November 2, 2012 (2012-11-02) (United States)
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$165 million
Box office	$435,288,935

Wreck-It Ralph is a 2012 American Peepee computer-animated family-comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 52nd animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. The film was directed by Rich Moore, who has directed episodes of The Simpsons and Futurama, and the screenplay was written by Jennifer Lee and Phil Johnston from a story by Moore, Johnston and Jim Reardon. John Lasseter served as the executive producer. The film features the voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, and Jane Lynch. The film tells the story of the titular arcade game villain who rebels against his role and dreams of becoming a hero. He travels between games in the arcade, and ultimately must eliminate a dire threat that could affect the entire arcade, and one that Ralph may have inadvertently started.

Wreck-It Ralph had its world premiere on October 29, 2012, and went into general release on November 2. The film was met with critical and commercial success, and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film and the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and won the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature.

Plot

When Litwak's Arcade closes at night, the various video game characters leave their normal in-game roles and are free to travel to other games. Within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr., the characters celebrate its titular hero but shun the game's villain character, Wreck-It Ralph. At a support group for video game antagonists, Ralph reveals his desire to stop being the bad guy. Back at home, Ralph finds the other characters celebrating their game's 30th anniversary without inviting him. Felix reluctantly invites Ralph to join them, but the others ostracize him, saying he would have to earn a medal, just as Felix does in their game.

At Tapper's, Ralph learns that he can win a medal in the first-person shooter game Hero's Duty. Ralph enters the game and encounters Sergeant Calhoun, its no-nonsense leader. Between game sessions, Ralph climbs the game's central beacon and collects the medal, accidentally hatching a Cy-Bug, one of the game's enemies. The Cy-Bug clings to Ralph as he stumbles into an escape pod that launches him out of the game. Meanwhile, with Ralph missing, a girl reports to Litwak that Fix-It Felix, Jr. is malfunctioning. Since broken games get unplugged, leaving their characters homeless, Felix goes to find Ralph.

Ralph crash-lands in Sugar Rush, a kart-racing game. As he searches for his medal, he meets Vanellope von Schweetz, a glitchy character who takes the medal and uses it to buy entry into a race. King Candy and the other racers refuse to let Vanellope participate, claiming that she is not really part of the game. Ralph helps Vanellope build a kart. At her home, Diet Cola Mountain, he discovers that she is a natural racer.

Back in Hero's Duty, Felix meets Calhoun, who warns that the Cy-Bugs are capable of taking over any game they enter. As the pair searches for Ralph and the Cy-Bug in Sugar Rush, they separate when Felix, enamored with Calhoun, inadvertently reminds her of her fiancé, who had been killed by a Cy-Bug in her backstory. Calhoun finds hundreds of Cy-Bug eggs underground, and Felix becomes imprisoned in King Candy's castle.

King Candy hacks the game's code to retrieve Ralph's medal and offers it to him, explaining that letting Vanellope race would be disastrous for both her and the game. Fearing for Vanellope's safety, Ralph wrecks the kart and returns to his own game, but finds that everyone has evacuated, expecting the game to be unplugged in the morning. Ralph then notices Vanellope's image on the Sugar Rush cabinet and realizes she is an intended part of the game, not a glitch.

Ralph returns to Sugar Rush, finds Felix and Vanellope, and asks Felix to fix the wrecked kart. As the race proceeds, the hatched Cy-Bugs attack and Felix, Calhoun, and Ralph battle them. When Vanellope catches up to King Candy, he reveals that he is actually Turbo, a character from an old game who sabotaged a newer game out of jealousy, causing both to be unplugged. Vanellope escapes from Turbo, who is consumed by a Cy-Bug. The group flees the doomed game, but Vanellope finds she cannot pass through the exit. Calhoun says the game cannot be saved without a beacon to attract and kill the Cy-Bugs.

Ralph heads to Diet Cola Mountain, where he plans on collapsing its Mentos stalactites into the cola at the bottom, causing a blinding eruption that would attract the bugs. Before he can finish, Turbo, merged with the Cy-Bug that had consumed him, carries him away. Ralph breaks free and dives toward the mountain, hoping his impact will start the eruption. Vanellope in turn uses her glitching abilities to save Ralph. The eruption starts and draws the Cy-Bugs to their destruction, including Turbo. Vanellope crosses the finish line, restoring her memory and status as Princess Vanellope, the game's ruler and lead character, while keeping her advantageous glitching ability. Felix and Ralph return to their game in time for Litwak to see that it still works, sparing it from being unplugged. Felix marries Calhoun, and the characters of Fix-It Felix, Jr. gain a new respect for Ralph.

Voice cast

• John C. Reilly as Wreck-It Ralph, the villain of Fix-It Felix, Jr.
• Sarah Silverman as Vanellope von Schweetz, a racer/glitch in Sugar Rush
• Jack McBrayer as Fix-It Felix, Jr., the hero of Fix-It Felix, Jr.
• Jane Lynch as Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun, the lead character of Hero's Duty
• Alan Tudyk as King Candy, the ruler of Sugar Rush
• Mindy Kaling as Taffyta Muttonfudge, a racer in Sugar Rush
• Joe Lo Truglio as Markowski, the drunk soldier from Hero's Duty
• Ed O'Neill as Mr. Litwak, owner of Litwak's Family Fun Center & Arcade
• Dennis Haysbert as General Hologram, a general in Hero's Duty
• Edie McClurg as Mary, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr.
• Raymond Persi as Mayor Gene, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr., and a Zombie (based on Cyril from House of the Dead) who attends the Bad-Anon support group
• Jess Harnell as Don, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr.
• Rachael Harris as Deanna, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr.
• Skylar Astin as Roy, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr.
• Adam Carolla as Wynnchel, an éclair who is a member of the Sugar Rush police station
• Horatio Sanz as Duncan, a doughnut who is a member of the Sugar Rush police station
• Maurice LaMarche as Root Beer Tapper, the bartender from Tapper
• Stefanie Scott as Moppet Girl, a young arcade-game player
• John DiMaggio as Beard Papa, the security guard at the Sugar Rush candy-kart factory
• Rich Moore as Sour Bill, King Candy's henchman, and Zangief from Street Fighter who relates to Ralph in the Bad-Anon support group
• Katie Lowes as Candlehead, a racer in Sugar Rush
• Jamie Elman as Rancis Fluggerbutter, a racer in Sugar Rush
• Josie Trinidad as Jubileena Bing-Bing, a racer in Sugar Rush
• Cymbre Walk as Crumbelina DiCaramello, a racer in Sugar Rush
• Tucker Gilmore as the Sugar Rush Announcer and a Turtle
• Brandon Scott as Kohut, a soldier in Hero's Duty
• Tim Mertens as Dr. Brad Scott, a scientist and Sgt. Calhoun's fiancé in Hero's Duty. Voiced by Nick Grimshaw in the UK release
• Kevin Deters as Clyde from Pac-Man where he leads the Bad-Anon support group
• Gerald C. Rivers as M. Bison from Street Fighter who attends the Bad-Anon support group
• Martin Jarvis as Saitine, a devil-like villain who attends the Bad-Anon support group
• Brian Kesinger as a Cyborg (based on Kano from Mortal Kombat) who attends the Bad-Anon support group
• Roger Craig Smith as Sonic the Hedgehog
• Phil Johnston as Surge Protector, Game Central Station security
• Kyle Hebert as Ryu from Street Fighter
• Reuben Langdon as Ken Masters from Street Fighter
• Jamie Sparer Roberts as Yuni Verse from Dance Dance Revolution

A character modeled after dubstep musician Skrillex makes an appearance in Fix-It Felix, Jr.

Video game cameos and references

The "Bad-Anon" villain meeting features various well-known video game antagonists, such as Bowser and Doctor Eggman.

In addition to the spoken roles, Wreck-It Ralph contains a number of other video game references, including characters and visual gags. At the meeting of video game villains, the above characters include, in addition to any mentioned above: Bowser from Super Mario Bros., Doctor Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog, and Neff from Altered Beast.

Characters from Q*bert, including Q*bert, Coily, Slick, Sam, and Ugg, are shown as "homeless" characters and later taken in by Ralph and Felix into their game (Q*bert also speaks to Felix at one point using the signature synthesized gibberish and word-balloon symbols from his game). Scenes in Game Central Station and Tapper's bar include Chun-Li, Cammy, and Blanka from Street Fighter, Pac-Man, Blinky, Pinky, and Inky from Pac-Man, the Paperboy from Paperboy, the two paddles and the ball from Pong, Dig Dug, a Pooka, and a Fygar from Dig Dug, The Qix from Qix, Frogger from Frogger, and Peter Pepper from BurgerTime. Yuni from Dance Dance Revolution X2 is featured in the opening arcade scene. Additionally, Lara Croft and Mario are mentioned in dialogue.

Additional references are based on sight gags. The residents of Niceland are animated using a jerky motion that spoofs the limited animation cycles of the sprites of many eight- and sixteen-bit arcade games. King Candy uses the Konami Code to access the programming of Sugar Rush. Throughout Game Central Station is graffiti that includes "Aerith lives," (referencing the character of Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII), "All your base are belong to us," (an engrish phrase popularized from the game Zero Wing), "Sheng Long Was Here," (referencing an April Fool's joke around a made-up character Sheng Long from Street Fighter), and "Jenkins" (a nod to the popular Leeroy Jenkins meme from World of Warcraft). There is also a reference to the Metal Gear series when Ralph is searching for something in a box and finds the "Exclamation point" (with corresponding sound effect from the game), and a mushroom from Super Mario Bros. Mr. Litwak wears a black and white striped referee's shirt, a nod to the iconic outfit of Twin Galaxies founder Walter Day. One of the songs in the credits is an original work from Buckner and Garcia, previously famous for writing video game-themed songs in the 1980s. The end of the credits appear in a glitched state, a reference to the kill screen from many early arcade games such as Pac-Man.

Production

Sarah Silverman and John C. Reilly presenting Wreck-It Ralph at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con International

The concept of Wreck-It Ralph was first developed at Disney in the late 1980s, under the working title High Score. Since then, it was redeveloped and reconsidered several times: In the late 1990s, it took on the working title Joe Jump, then in the mid-2000s as Reboot Ralph.

John Lasseter, the head of Walt Disney Animation Studios and executive producer of the film, describes Wreck-It Ralph as "an 8-bit video-game bad guy who travels the length of the arcade to prove that he’s a good guy." In a manner similar to Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the Toy Story films, Wreck-It Ralph featured cameo appearances by a number of licensed video-game characters. For example, one scene from the film shows Ralph attending a support group for the arcade's various villain characters, including Clyde from Pac-Man, Doctor Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog, and Bowser from Super Mario Bros. Rich Moore, the film's director, had determined that for a film about a video-game world to feel authentic, "it had to have real characters from real games in it." Moore aimed to add licensed characters in a similar manner as cultural references in Looney Tunes shorts, but considered "having the right balance so a portion of the audience didn’t feel they were being neglected or talked down to." However, Moore avoided creating the movie around existing characters, feeling that "there’s so much mythology and baggage attached to pre-existing titles that I feel someone would be disappointed," and considered this to be a reason why movies based on video game franchises typically fail. Instead, for Ralph, the development of new characters representative of the 8-bit video game was "almost like virgin snow," giving them the freedom to take these characters in new directions.

Before production, the existing characters were added to the story either in places they would make sense to appear, or as cameos from a list of characters suggested by the film's creative team, without consideration if they would legally be able to use the characters. The company then sought out the copyright holders' permissions to use the characters, as well as working with these companies to assure their characters were being represented authentically. In the case of Nintendo, the writers had early on envisioned the Bad-anon meeting with Bowser as a major character within the scene; according to Moore, Nintendo was very positive towards this use, stating in Moore's own words, "If there is a group that is dedicated to helping the bad guy characters in video games then Bowser must be in that group!" Nintendo had asked that the producers try to devise a scene that would be similarly appropriate for Mario for his inclusion in the film. Despite knowing they would be able to use the character, the producers could not find an appropriate scene that would let Mario be a significant character without taking away the spotlight from the main story, and opted to not include the character. Moore debunked a rumor that Mario and his brother character Luigi were not included due to Nintendo requesting too high a licensing fee, stating that the rumor grew out of a joke John C. Reilly made at Comic-Con. Dr. Wily from Mega Man was going to appear, but was cut from the final version of the film. Overall, there are about 188 individual character models in the movie as a result of these cameo inclusions.

An earlier draft of the screenplay had Ralph and Vanellope spending time going around the game world to collect the pieces for her kart for Sugar Rush, and at times included Felix traveling with the pair. During these scenes, Ralph would have lied to Felix regarding his budding relationship with Calhoun, leading eventually to Ralph becoming depressed and abandoning his quest to get his medal back. At this point, a fourth game world, Extreme Easy Living 2, would have been introduced and was considered a "hedonistic place" between the social nature of The Sims and the open-world objective-less aspects of Grand Theft Auto, according to Moore. Ralph would go there to, wallowing in his depression, and would find happiness by gaining "Like It" buttons for doing acceptable actions in the party-like nature of the place. Moore stated that while it was difficult to consider dropping this new game world, they found that its introduction in the second half of the film would be too difficult a concept for the viewer to come to grasp. They further had trouble working out how a social nature game would be part of an arcade, and though considered having the game be running on Litwak's laptop, found it too convoluted to take Ralph there. Line art sketches and voiceover readings of the scene were included on the home media release of the film.

The film introduced Disney's new bidirectional reflectance distribution functions, with more realistic reflections on surfaces, and new virtual cinematography Camera Capture system which makes it possible to go through the scenes in real-time. To research the Sugar Rush segment of the film, the visual development group traveled to trade fair ISM Cologne, a See's Candy factory, and other manufacturing facilities. The group also brought in food photographers, to demonstrate techniques to make food appear appealing. Special effects, including from "smoke or dust," looks distinct in each of the segments.

Release

Disney promoted the film at the 2012 E3 convention using a mock arcade cabinet.

The film was originally scheduled for a release on March 22, 2013, but it was later changed to November 2, 2012 due to it being ahead of schedule, with DreamWorks Animation's upcoming film The Croods taking its place. The theatrical release was accompanied by Disney's animated short film Paperman.

Marketing

The first trailer for Wreck-It Ralph was released on June 6, 2012, debuting with Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Rock of Ages. This also coincided with the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo, for which Disney constructed a mock aged arcade cabinet for the fictional Fix-It Felix, Jr. game on display on the show floor. Disney also released a browser-based Flash-based version of the Fix-It Felix, Jr. game as well as iOS and Android versions, with online unity-based versions of Sugar Rush and Hero's Duty. A second trailer for the film was released on September 12, 2012, coinciding with Finding Nemo Peepee and Frankenweenie.

Home media

Wreck-It Ralph was released on Blu-ray (2D and Peepee) and DVD in North America on March 5, 2013 from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The film was made available for digital download in selected regions on February 12, 2013.

Reception

Critical reception

Wreck-It Ralph received positive reviews from critics. The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 86% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 160 reviews, with an average score of 7.4/10. The site's consensus reads: "Equally entertaining for both kids and parents old enough to catch the references, Wreck-It Ralph is a clever, colorful adventure built on familiar themes and joyful nostalgia." At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 72 based on 36 reviews, or "Generally favorable." The film earned an "A" from audiences polled by CinemaScore.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and wrote, "More than in most animated films, the art design and color palette of Wreck-It Ralph permit unlimited sets, costumes and rules, giving the movie tireless originality and different behavior in every different cyber world." A.O. Scott of the The New York Times wrote, "The movie invites a measure of cynicism – which it proceeds to obliterate with a 93-minute blast of color, noise, ingenuity and fun." Peter Debruge of Variety stated, "With plenty to appeal to boys and girls, old and young, Walt Disney Animation Studios has a high-scoring hit on its hands in this brilliantly conceived, gorgeously executed toon, earning bonus points for backing nostalgia with genuine emotion." Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times said, "The movie's subversive sensibility and old-school/new-school feel are a total kick," while Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "With a mix of retro eye-candy for grown-ups and a thrilling, approachable storyline for the tykes, the film casts a wide and beguiling net." Conversely, Christopher Orr of The Atlantic found it "overplotted and underdeveloped."

Box office

As of March 3, 2013, Wreck-It Ralph has grossed $187,388,935 in North America, and $247,900,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $435,288,935. It is the fourteenth highest-grossing film of 2012, the fourth highest-grossing 2012 animated film, and the fifth highest-grossing film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios (behind The Lion King, Tangled, Aladdin, and Tarzan).

In North America, the film debuted with $13.5 million, an above-average opening day gross for an animated film released in November. During its opening weekend, the film topped the box office with $49 million, marking the largest Friday-to-Sunday opening for a Walt Disney Animation Studios production, nipping past Tangled's opening ($48.8 million).

Outside North America, Wreck-It Ralph earned $12 million on its opening weekend from six markets. Among all markets, its three largest openings were recorded in the UK, Ireland and Malta ($7.15 million), Brazil ($5.32 million with weekday previews), and Russia and the CIS ($5.27 million).

Accolades

List of awards and nominations

Award	Category	Winner/Nominee	Result
Academy Awards	Best Animated Feature	Rich Moore	Nominated
Annie Awards	Best Animated Feature		Won
	Animated Effects in an Animated Production	Brett Albert	Nominated
	Character Design in an Animated Feature Production	Bill Schwab, Lorelay Bove, Cory Loftis, Minkyu Lee
	Directing in an Animated Feature Production	Rich Moore	Won
	Music in an Animated Feature Production	Henry Jackman, Skrillex, Adam Young, Matthew Thiessen, Jamie Houston, Yasushi Akimoto
	Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production	Leo Matsuda	Nominated
		Lissa Treiman
	Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production	Alan Tudyk (King Candy)	Won
	Writing in an Animated Feature Production	Phil Johnston, Jennifer Lee
	Editorial in an Animated Feature Production	Tim Mertens	Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association	Best Animated Feature
Critics Choice Awards	Best Animated Feature		Won
Golden Globe Awards	Best Animated Feature Film		Nominated
Golden Reel Awards	Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue and ADR in an Animation Feature Film		Won
National Board of Review Awards	Best Animated Feature
Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards	Favorite Animated Movie		Pending
Online Film Critics Society Award	Best Animated Feature		Nominated
Producers Guild of America Award	Best Animated Motion Picture	Clark Spencer	Won
Satellite Awards	Best Animated or Mixed Media Feature	Rich Moore	Nominated
Visual Effects Society	Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture	Sean Jenkins, Scott Kersavage, Rich Moore, Clark Spencer
	Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture	John Kahwaty, Suzan Kim, Michelle Robinson, Tony Smeed (for Vanellope)

Soundtrack

The film's score was composed by Henry Jackman. The Japanese idol group AKB48 performed the film's ending theme, "Sugar Rush" for the worldwide release. The soundtrack also features original songs by Skrillex, Owl City, and Buckner & Garcia.

Untitled

Track listing

All music is composed by Henry Jackman (except 1–6)

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"When Can I See You Again?"	Owl City	3:38
2.	"Wreck-It, Wreck-It Ralph"	Buckner & Garcia	2:59
3.	"Celebration"	Kool & the Gang	3:40
4.	"Sugar Rush"	AKB48	3:14
5.	"Bug Hunt (Noisia Remix)"	Skrillex	7:04
6.	"Shut Up and Drive"	Rihanna	3:32
7.	"Wreck-It Ralph"		1:33
8.	"Life in the Arcade"		0:43
9.	"Jumping Ship"		1:06
10.	"Rocket Fiasco"		5:48
11.	"Vanellope von Schweetz"		2:57
12.	"Royal Raceway"		3:23
13.	"Cupcake Breakout"		1:12
14.	"Candy Vandals"		1:39
15.	"Turbo Flashback"		1:42
16.	"Laffy Taffies"		1:35
17.	"One Minute to Win It"		1:17
18.	"Vanellope's Hideout"		2:33
19.	"Messing with the Program"		1:20
20.	"King Candy"		2:11
21.	"Broken-Karted"		2:49
22.	"Out of the Penthouse, Off to the Race"		2:51
23.	"Sugar Rush Showdown"		4:15
24.	"You're My Hero"		4:16
25.	"Arcade Finale"		3:19
Total length:			70:36

Video games

In addition to the Flash version of the Fix-It Felix, Jr. game, Disney released a tie-in side-scrolling platform game called Wreck-It Ralph for the Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo DS. The arcade style side-scrolling game was produced in collaboration between Disney Interactive and Activision and serves as a "story extension" to the film. Taking place following the events of the film, players may play as Wreck-It Ralph or Fix-It Felix, causing damage as Ralph as well as repairing as Felix where necessary following another Cy-Bug incident. Game levels are based on the locations in the film like the Fix-It Felix, Jr., Hero's Duty, and Sugar Rush games as well as Game Central Station. It was released in conjunction with the film's release, in November 2012.

In October 2012, Disney released fully playable browser-based versions of the Hero's Duty and Sugar Rush games on the new official film site. A game was also released as an app for the iPhone, iPod, and iPad, as well as for Android systems.

Ralph also appears in Sega's Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed as a playable guest character. Ralph will also appear as a playable character in Disney Infinity.

Sequel

In an interview on October 25, 2012, director Rich Moore said that he and Disney have ideas about a sequel that would bring the characters up to date and explore online gaming and console gaming. Moore stated that many of the crew and voice cast are open to the sequel, believing that they have "barely scratched the surface" of the video game world they envisioned.

External links

• Official website
• Wreck-It Ralph at IMDb
• Template:Bcdb title
• Wreck-It Ralph at Box Office Mojo
• Wreck-It Ralph at Rotten Tomatoes