The Croods is an American media franchise by DreamWorks Animation. The franchise began with the 2013 film The Croods, and has since grown to include a sequel, The Croods: A New Age; two television series, Dawn of the Croods and The Croods: Family Tree; and two video games. Set in the fictional prehistoric "Croodaceous" time period which is roamed by a series of bizarre hybrid animals, the franchise follows the eponymous cavepeople family as they travel through the dangerous but exotic lands in search of a new home after their previous home was destroyed.
| The Croods | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | |
| Owners | DreamWorks Animation (Universal Pictures) |
| Years | 2013–present |
| Films and television | |
| Film(s) |
|
| Animated series |
|
| Games | |
| Video game(s) |
|
| Audio | |
| Soundtrack(s) | |
Feature films
edit| Film | U.S. release date | Director(s) | Story by | Screenwriter(s) | Producer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Croods | March 22, 2013 | Chris Sanders & Kirk DeMicco | John Cleese, Kirk DeMicco & Chris Sanders | Kirk DeMicco & Chris Sanders | Kristine Belson and Jane Hartwell |
| The Croods: A New Age | November 25, 2020 | Joel Crawford | Kirk DeMicco & Chris Sanders | Dan Hageman, Kevin Hageman, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan | Mark Swift |
The Croods (2013)
editThe Croods is a 2013 American animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox, set in a fictional prehistoric Pliocene era known as "The Croodaceous" (a prehistoric period which contains fictional prehistoric creatures) when a caveman's position as a "Leader of the Hunt" is threatened by the arrival of a prehistoric genius who comes up with revolutionary new inventions as they trek through a dangerous but exotic land in search of a new home.[1] The film was originally announced in May 2005, under the working title Crood Awakening,[2] originally a stop motion film being made by Aardman Animations.[3]
Chris Sanders took over development of the film in March 2007;[4] however, development of How to Train Your Dragon postponing its original schedule for a year to a then planned March 2012.[5] The film's final title, The Croods, was revealed in May 2009, along with new co-director, Kirk DeMicco.[6][7] The film features the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, Cloris Leachman, and Randy Thom.
The Croods: A New Age (2020)
editThe Croods: A New Age is a 2020 American sequel to the 2013 film The Croods, again produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures, following the Croods after leaving their cave in the first film as they encounter their biggest threat since leaving the cave: another family called the Bettermans.[8]
The film was scheduled for a September 2020 release, but the release date was moved to November 25, 2020.[9] Along with the returning cast of the first film, the film features the voices of Peter Dinklage, Leslie Mann, and Kelly Marie Tran, Tran replacing Kat Dennings.[10]
Television series
edit| Series | Seasons | Episodes | First released | Last released | Showrunner(s) | Network(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dawn of the Croods | 4 | 52 | December 24, 2015 | July 7, 2017 | Brendan Hay | Netflix |
| The Croods: Family Tree | 8 | 52 | September 23, 2021 | November 9, 2023 | Mark Banker and Todd Grimes | Hulu/Peacock |
Dawn of the Croods (2015–2017)
editA 2D-animated web television series serving as a prequel to the film, titled Dawn of the Croods, aired on Netflix between December 24, 2015[11] and July 7, 2017. A total of 88[12] episodes each consisting of 2 11-minute segments were released. The cast featured new voice actors for the characters of Grug (Dan Milano), Ugga (Cree Summer), Eep (Stephanie Lemelin), Thunk (A.J. LoCascio), Sandy (Grey Griffin), Gran (Laraine Newman), and Guy (Dominic Catrambone).[13] The first three episodes were animated in Toon Boom Harmony by Vancouver's Bardel Entertainment.[14][15] DreamWorks soon found that Harmony was not the best fit for animating scenes that contained multiple characters at once.[15] The rest of the episodes were traditionally hand-drawn by South Korean studios: EMation, NE4U, and Dong Woo Animation.[15] On July 9, 2017, executive producer Hay confirmed that the then recently-released fourth season of Dawn of the Croods had been its last.[16]
The Croods: Family Tree (2021–2023)
editOn August 31, DreamWorks announced a CGI animated series titled The Croods: Family Tree, based on The Croods: A New Age and will be streaming September 23rd on Hulu and Peacock.[17][18][19] Tran reprises her role as Dawn, while A.J. LoCascio reprises his role as Thunk from Dawn of the Croods. The new voice cast features, Amy Landecker as Ugga, Kiff VandenHeuvel as Grug, Ally Dixon as Eep, Artemis Pebdani as Gran, Darin Brooks as Guy, Matthew Waterson as Phil, and Amy Rosoff as Hope.[20] Mark Banker (from Go, Dog, Go!) and Todd Grimes (from The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants) serve as executive producers and showrunners for the series.[21][22]
Cast and characters
editList indicator(s)
- A dark gray cell indicates the character did not appear in that installment.
- A Y indicates an actor or actress voiced a younger version of their character.
| Characters | Feature films | Video game | Short films | Television series | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Croods | The Croods: A New Age |
The Croods: Prehistoric Party! |
Belt's Cave Journal | Dear Diary: World's First Pranks | Family Movie Night: Little Red Bronana Bread | Dawn of the Croods | The Croods: Family Tree | ||||
| Grug Crood | Nicolas Cage | Chris Parson | Nicolas Cage | Dan Milano | Kiff VandenHeuvel | ||||||
| Eep Crood | Emma Stone | Stephanie Lemelin | Emma Stone | Stephanie Lemelin | Ally Dixon | ||||||
| Guy | Ryan Reynolds | Ryan Reynolds | Dominic Catrambone | Ryan Reynolds | Dominic Catrambone | Darin Brooks | |||||
| Gabriel JackY | |||||||||||
| Ugga Crood | Catherine Keener | Elizabeth Keener | Catherine Keener | Cree Summer | Amy Landecker | ||||||
| Thunk Crood | Clark Duke | A.J. LoCascio | Clark Duke | A.J. LoCascio | |||||||
| Gran | Cloris Leachman | Jodi Carlisle | Cloris Leachman | Silent role | Laraine Newman | Artemis Pebdani | |||||
| Sandy Crood | Randy Thom | Kailey Crawford | Jessica DiCicco | Grey Griffin | Dee Bradley Baker | ||||||
| Belt | Chris Sanders | Silent cameo | Chris Sanders | ||||||||
| Phil Betterman | Peter Dinklage | Peter Dinklage | Matthew Waterson | ||||||||
| Hope Betterman | Leslie Mann | Leslie Mann | Amy Rosoff | ||||||||
| Dawn Betterman | Kelly Marie Tran | Kelly Marie Tran | Kelly Marie Tran Abby Trott | ||||||||
| Sash | James Ryan | Silent cameo | Dee Bradley Baker | ||||||||
| Shaman Monkey | Januel Mercado | ||||||||||
| Bud | Dan Milano | ||||||||||
| Womp | |||||||||||
| Pat | Cree Summer | ||||||||||
| Clip | |||||||||||
| Pup Howler | |||||||||||
| Baitsy | A.J. LoCascio | ||||||||||
| Steve | |||||||||||
| Lerk | Grey Griffin | ||||||||||
| One-Eyed Amber | Laraine Newman | ||||||||||
| Mosh | |||||||||||
| Pram | |||||||||||
| Bulk | Dee Bradley Baker | ||||||||||
| Squawk | |||||||||||
| Bearowl | |||||||||||
| Moler Bear | |||||||||||
| Tyrannaconda | |||||||||||
| Mow | |||||||||||
| Earl | |||||||||||
| Old Man Root | |||||||||||
| Yelp | |||||||||||
| Sulk | Dominic Catrambone | ||||||||||
| Kevin | |||||||||||
| Fan | |||||||||||
| Night Mare | |||||||||||
| Ow the Dentist | |||||||||||
| Bag | |||||||||||
| Little Mantrap | Jim Cummings | ||||||||||
| Meep Boor | Ana Gasteyer | ||||||||||
| Crud | Thomas Lennon | ||||||||||
| Munk | |||||||||||
| Snoot Boor | Chris Parnell | ||||||||||
| Gurg | Christian Slater | ||||||||||
| Hwam | TBA | ||||||||||
Crew
edit| Role | The Croods | The Croods: A New Age |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 2020 | |
| Director(s) | Chris Sanders Kirk DeMicco |
Joel Crawford |
| Producer(s) | Kristine Belson Jane Hartwell |
Mark Swift |
| Writer(s) | Screenplay: Kirk DeMicco Chris Sanders Story: John Cleese Kirk DeMicco Chris Sanders |
Screenplay: Dan Hageman Kevin Hageman Paul Fisher Bob Logan Story: Kirk DeMicco Chris Sanders |
| Composer(s) | Alan Silvestri | Mark Mothersbaugh |
| Editor(s) | Eric Dapkewicz Darren T. Holmes |
James Ryan |
| Studio(s) | DreamWorks Animation | |
| Distributor(s) | 20th Century Fox | Universal Pictures |
| Running time | 1hr 39mins | 1hr 35mins |
Additional crew
edit| TV series | Detail | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | Production companies |
Distributor | Network | Running time | |
| Dawn of the Croods | Gabriel Mann, Rebecca Kneubuhl | DreamWorks Animation Television | NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, Netflix | Netflix | 22 minutes per episode |
| The Croods: Family Tree | Hannah Parrott | NBCUniversal Television and Streaming | Hulu/Peacock | ||
Reception
editBox office performance
edit| Film | Release date | Box office gross | Budget | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | Other territories |
Worldwide | ||||
| The Croods | March 22, 2013 | $187,168,425 | $400,036,894 | $587,205,319 | $135 million | [23] |
| The Croods: A New Age | November 25, 2020 | $58,568,815 | $157,337,000 | $215,905,815 | $65 million[24] | |
| Total | $245,737,240 | $557,373,894 | $803,111,134 | $200 million | ||
Critical and public response
edit| Film | Critical | Public | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore | PostTrak | |
| The Croods | 72% (144 reviews)[25] | 55 (30 reviews)[26] | A[27] | — |
| The Croods: A New Age | 77% (158 reviews)[28] | 56 (30 reviews)[29] | A[27] | 83%[27] |
Video games
editA video game based on the series, titled The Croods: Prehistoric Party!, was released on March 19, 2013. Developed by Torus Games, and published by D3 Publisher, it was adapted for Wii U, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo DS. The game enables players to take the members of the Croods family on an adventure through 30 party style mini games.[30] It received mainly negative reviews.[31][32][33][34]
A mobile game, titled The Croods, which is a village-building game, was developed and published by Rovio, the creator of Angry Birds. It was released on March 14, 2013, to the iOS and Android platforms.[35] It received negative reviews from critics, with Metacritic giving it a 40 out of 100.[36]
Chronology
editChronological order of The Croods' franchise history:
- Dawn of the Croods (2015–2017)
- The Croods (2013)
- Dawn of the Croods series finale (2017)
- The Croods: A New Age (2020)
- The Croods: Family Tree (2021-2023)
References
edit- ^ "DreamWorks Animation Announces Feature Film Release Slate Through 2014". DreamWorksAnimation.com (Press release). DreamWorks Animation. March 8, 2011. Archived from the original on August 18, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
- ^ "DreamWorks and Aardman Are in for a 'Crood Awakening'". DreamWorks Animation. May 12, 2005. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
- ^ "'Wallace & Grommit' bring clay to Cannes". MSNBC. Associated Press. May 12, 2005. Archived from the original on January 3, 2013. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
- ^ Fritz, Ben (March 27, 2007). "Sanders joins DreamWorks". Variety. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ^ Horn, John (March 12, 2010). "'How to Train Your Dragon' was fire-tested during whirlwind production". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ^ "DreamWorks Animation Announces Plans to Release Five Feature Films Every Two Years". DreamWorks Animation. May 28, 2009. Archived from the original on May 27, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ^ Horn, John (March 12, 2010). "'How to Train Your Dragon' was fire-tested during whirlwind production". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ^ Kilday, Gregg (September 9, 2017). "DreamWorks Animation's 'The Croods 2' Back on Track for 2020 Release". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
- ^ Dela Paz, Maggie (September 16, 2020). "The Croods: A New Age Release Date Moves Up a Month". Comingsoon.net. Archived from the original on August 28, 2019. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
- ^ Galuppo, Mia (October 29, 2019), Kelly Marie Tran Joins Voice Cast of 'Croods' Sequel, Hollywood Reporter, archived from the original on December 14, 2019, retrieved October 29, 2019
- ^ Wolfe, Jennifer (December 8, 2015). "DreamWorks Animation Unveils 'Dawn of the Croods' Trailer". Animation World Network. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
- ^ Liu, Ed (July 5, 2017). "Exclusive Clip from "Dawn of the Croods" Season 4". ToonZone. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
- ^ "Dawn of the Croods - Credits". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
- ^ Amidi, Amid (December 8, 2015). "Trailer: 'Dawn of the Croods' Hand-Drawn Netflix Series". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
- ^ a b c Thill, Scott (January 6, 2016). "'Dawn of The Croods': Brendan Hay Discusses Building A Kinder, Gentler Animated Apocalypse". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
- ^ Brendan Hay [@B_Hay] (9 Jul 2017). "Most likely, yes. Hope you enjoyed your time in Ahhh! Valley as much as us" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "DreamWorks Drops Trailer and Images for 'The Croods: Family Tree' Series". Animation World Network.
- ^ "'The Croods' New TV Series Coming to Hulu and Peacock". 31 August 2021.
- ^ "'The Croods: Family Tree' Series to Air on Hulu & Peacock; Trailer, Premiere Date Unveiled". 31 August 2021.
- ^ Long, Lacy (August 31, 2021). "'The Croods: Family Tree' Trailer Reveals a New Spinoff Series Coming to Hulu and Peacock". Collider. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ Milligan, Mercedes (August 31, 2021). "Trailer: 'The Croods: Family Tree' Branches Out on Hulu & Peacock This Month".
- ^ "DreamWorks Animation's 'The Croods' Series Set at Hulu, Peacock (Video)". 31 August 2021.
- ^ "The Croods". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
- ^ "The Croods: A New Age (2020) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
- ^ "The Croods". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ "The Croods". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ a b c D'Alessandro, Anthony (November 29, 2020). "'The Croods: A New Age' Opens To $14M+ 5-Day Domestic, $35M+ WW During Pandemic Thanksgiving Stretch – Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ "The Croods: A New Age". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
- ^ "The Croods: A New Age". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ D3Publisher (December 3, 2012). "Compete in a Survival of the Crood-est in The Croods: Prehistoric Party! Video Game from D3Publisher". DreamWorks Animation. Archived from the original on January 22, 2013. Retrieved December 4, 2012.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Hardin, Jeremy (March 23, 2013). "REVIEW – The Croods: Prehistoric Party (WiiU, Wii, 3DS, DS)". Nintendo Fuse. Archived from the original on April 12, 2014. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
- ^ SirLink (May 2, 2013). "The Croods: Prehistoric Party! (Wii U) Review". Cubed3. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
- ^ Sleeper, Morgan (April 12, 2013). "Review: The Croods: Prehistoric Party! (Wii U)". Nintendo Life. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
- ^ Poxon, Ryan (June 21, 2013). "The Croods: Prehistoric Party". The Digital Fix. Archived from the original on September 19, 2013. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
- ^ "Rovio and DreamWorks Animation Make Prehistory and Bring The Croods to Your Fingertips on March 14th". Rovio. March 1, 2013. Archived from the original on March 2, 2013. Retrieved March 2, 2013.
- ^ "The Croods for iPhone/iPad Reviews". Metacritic. March 14, 2013. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
