My Little Pony: The Movie (2017 film)

My Little Pony: The Movie is an upcoming animated musical fantasy film based on the television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, which was developed as part of the 2010 re-launch of the My Little Pony franchise by Hasbro. The film is directed by Jayson Thiessen and based on a story and screenplay co-written by Meghan McCarthy, both Friendship Is Magic veterans. It stars the series' regular voice cast of Tara Strong, Ashleigh Ball, Andrea Libman, Tabitha St. Germain, and Cathy Weseluck, with guest performances by Emily Blunt, Kristin Chenoweth, Liev Schreiber, Michael Peña, Sia, Taye Diggs, Uzo Aduba, and Zoe Saldana.

The film is produced by Allspark Pictures and DHX Media, and uses traditional animation created with Toon Boom Harmony. It is scheduled to be released theatrically on October 6, 2017, in the United States and Canada by Lionsgate.

Synopsis
In order to stop a threat to Equestria, Twilight Sparkle and her friends – Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike – embark on a journey beyond their home, meeting new friends and overcoming challenges in the process.

Cast

 * Tara Strong as Twilight Sparkle, a highly magical and intelligent alicorn who is Equestria's Princess of Friendship, responsible for spreading friendship and harmony across the kingdom. She is also the leader of the "Mane 6" ponies. Rebecca Shoichet performs Twilight Sparkle's singing voice.
 * Ashleigh Ball as Rainbow Dash and Applejack, two of the "Mane 6"; Rainbow Dash is a loyal pegasus with an adventurous spirit, and Applejack is an honest apple farmer pony.
 * Andrea Libman as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, two of the "Mane 6"; Pinkie Pie is a party-obsessed pony filled with joy and laughter, and Fluttershy is a kind yet timid pegasus who cares for animals. Shannon Chan-Kent performs Pinkie Pie's singing voice.
 * Tabitha St. Germain as Rarity, a generous fashion designer unicorn and one of the "Mane 6". Kazumi Evans performs Rarity's singing voice.
 * Cathy Weseluck as Spike, a baby dragon and Twilight Sparkle's faithful assistant.
 * Emily Blunt as Tempest Shadow, an embittered unicorn from Equestria who serves as the Storm King's second-in-command in order to restore her broken horn. On the development of the character, screenwriter Meghan McCarthy said, "We just arrived at this idea of a character who had come from Equestria, and had not had the positive experience that Twilight [Sparkle] and her friends had. It felt like a good counterpart to our heroes was to have a villain who didn't just not get friendship, but had a reason that she didn't understand it." McCarthy also called Blunt's performance "a big influence" on how the character was animated in the film.
 * Michael Peña as Grubber, a wisecracking "pug-faced hedgehog" and Tempest Shadow's cohort. McCarthy said that Grubber "needed to be goofy" to counterpoint the "very straight-laced, hard core [sic]" Tempest. Peña ad-libbed much of the character's dialogue, with McCarthy saying, "You get Michael Peña in a recording booth, and you just are like, 'Please just go and say funny things.' He will be there for hours, just giving you all kinds of really great material that was not something that we had originally scripted!"
 * Liev Schreiber as the Storm King, a deranged, despotic, satyr-like "storm creature" who conquers lands in search of powerful magic. On his acceptance of the role, Schreiber said he was eager to appear in a film he would be able to take his children to see, noting his repertoire of violent, adult-oriented films. He considers the character to be "one of the more intense roles [he's] played".
 * Taye Diggs as Capper, a humanoid cat who is a cunning yet good-hearted con artist.
 * Zoe Saldana as Captain Celaeno, a harpy-like parrot and jaded pirate captain who is relegated to the Storm King's delivery service.
 * Kristin Chenoweth as Princess Skystar, an excitable seapony and magically transformed hippogriff princess. Chenoweth said of her character, "Let's just say she's been locked up for a while and is longing for friends." She joked that she dabbled in method acting for the role, making sure her hair was "on point for every recording session".
 * Uzo Aduba as Queen Novo, the benevolent ruler of the hippogriffs-turned-seaponies, and Princess Skystar's mother.
 * Sia as Songbird Serenade, a pegasus and famous pop star in Equestria. The character's design is modeled after Sia's facially obscured stage persona.

Various other Friendship Is Magic actors reprise their roles from the television series. Nicole Oliver voices Princess Celestia, an alicorn and ruler of Equestria, as well as Lix Spittle, a member of Captain Celaeno's crew.

Development
At San Diego Comic-Con International in 2012, Friendship Is Magic head writer Meghan McCarthy commented on the possibility of a feature film based on the series, saying that it was not in her control whether or not the film would be made. The film was announced on October 20, 2014, with Joe Ballarini attached as screenwriter and McCarthy as co-executive producer. Hasbro Studios president Stephan Davis said of the film that "I think it gives us an opportunity to tell a bigger story, that maybe we [can't] tell on television" and that "[it's] also an opportunity to broaden the franchise". The film is one of the first being produced through Hasbro Studios' self-financing film label Allspark Pictures, which also produced the live-action adaptation of Jem and the Holograms. During PonyCon AU on February 22, 2015, McCarthy said that the movie would be unrelated to the Equestria Girls spin-off franchise, and that the crew was "going all out on it, to make sure it doesn't just feel like an extended episode".

On August 7, 2015, Lionsgate announced that they would distribute and market the film worldwide, with the exception of China. Series director Jayson Thiessen and McCarthy were both confirmed as the film's director and screenwriter, respectively; Michael Vogel was also signed on as co-executive producer alongside McCarthy, with Hasbro executives Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis as producers. Rita Hsiao and Vogel were later announced as co-writers alongside McCarthy.

The film was showcased at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on May 10 along with eight other Lionsgate films to help sell the movie to international distributors. On April 30, 2016, concept artwork and other information was officially revealed at PonyRadioCon in Moscow; the panel included additional plot details such as the main characters' transformation into "sea ponies" for a portion of the film.

Casting
The initial Lionsgate announcement listed the principal voice cast of Friendship Is Magic – Tara Strong, Ashleigh Ball, Andrea Libman, Tabitha St. Germain, and Cathy Weseluck – reprising their roles alongside actress Kristin Chenoweth as a new character. On February 12, 2016, it was announced that Emily Blunt joined the voice cast. By April 27, 2016, actors Michael Peña and Uzo Aduba were in negotiations to join the cast. On May 16, Liev Schreiber and Taye Diggs were confirmed additions to the cast. On June 20, Ashleigh Ball stated through Twitter that she had begun recording for the film's songs. At San Diego Comic-Con in July 2016, singer Sia was announced to be portraying a new "pop star pony" character called Songbird Serenade. On January 11, 2017, it was reported by Variety that Zoe Saldana had joined the cast. Friendship Is Magic voice actress Nicole Oliver confirmed via Twitter on January 23 that she is also a part of the film's cast, reprising her role as Princess Celestia.

Animation
Michel Gagné joined the film as an effects animator on April 2, 2016, taking an eight-month hiatus from an animated Spider-Man movie made by Sony Pictures Animation. In early October 2016, Gagné reported that Nik Gipe was hired onto the film's staff as his assistant. He also mentioned that the film was being animated using Toon Boom Harmony instead of the usual animation software Adobe Flash that is used in the television series. The production of the film ended by July 29, 2017.

Music and soundtrack
The film's official soundtrack was released on September 22, 2017 by RCA Records.

The film's songs and score were composed by Friendship Is Magic songwriter Daniel Ingram, who first announced at GalaCon 2015 that he would be collaborating with a live studio orchestra for the film. On his songwriting for the film, Ingram said, "I had to challenge myself to push beyond what had been done in the TV show; to write bigger, more epic." It was stated through the PonyRadioCon panel that the film would have a total of eight original songs. At Hasbro's Toy Fair investor presentation on February 17, 2017, it was announced that there would be seven songs. Around 5,800 pages of sheet music were created for all orchestral parts of the score. Recording for the score began on June 5, 2017, and finished on June 11.

Sia contributed an original song to the film, titled "Rainbow", which was released as a single on September 15, 2017. A music video for the song later released by Entertainment Weekly on September 19. Danish band Lukas Graham also contributed an original song for the film titled "Off to See the World", which was used in the film's first trailer. Other artists included in the album are DNCE and CL.

Release
My Little Pony: The Movie was originally scheduled for release on November 3, 2017, but it was subsequently moved up to October 6, 2017. The theatrical release will be accompanied by an animated short from the Hasbro Studios web series Hanazuki: Full of Treasures. A New York premiere was held at the AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13 theater on September 24, 2017, twelve days prior to the nationwide release date.

Marketing
Numerous toys based on characters, sets, and props from the film were made by Hasbro, and a vast majority of the products was released on August 1, 2017. The 2016 PonyRadioCon panel included a brief preview for some of the planned merchandise being developed for the film, including T-shirts and graphics. On July 27, 2016, the My Little Pony Collectible Card Game hinted on Twitter about a new set of cards based on the film. Hasbro's toyline for the film was shown and promoted at Toy Fair 2017 and various other toy conventions. Entertainment Earth has produced plushies for the film, and started releasing them in waves on their website.

Several books and comics related to the film have been announced: My Little Pony: Annual 2018, which contains "exclusive content from the My Little Pony movie" was released on August 10, 2017; and a "prequel" story released on August 1. On January 23, 2017, Hachette Book Group listed five different books for the film, all released on August 29, 2017. Books based on the film have been showcased at BookCon 2017 on June 4, with guest appearances by Andrea Libman and Ashleigh Ball. IDW Publishing released a four-issue comic book miniseries titled My Little Pony: The Movie Prequel, with the first issue released on June 28, 2017. Viz Media released an art book for the film on August 29, 2017.

A teaser trailer for the film was released online on April 6, 2017, and in theaters alongside Smurfs: The Lost Village the following day. The first full trailer debuted online on June 28, 2017, and was released with Despicable Me 3 two days later. Another trailer was released by USA Today online on September 12, 2017. The same day, the official My Little Pony Facebook page hosted a live Q&A stream with two of the movie's characters, Pinkie Pie (voiced by Andrea Libman) and Twilight Sparkle (voiced by Tara Strong).

Home media
My Little Pony: The Movie will be released on DVD and Blu-ray sometime in 2018.