Wonder Park

Wonder Park is a 2019 computer animated adventure film produced by Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Movies, with Ilion Animation Studios handling animation. The film stars the voice talents of newcomer Brianna Denski, Matthew Broderick, Jennifer Garner, Ken Hudson Campbell, Kenan Thompson, Ken Jeong, Mila Kunis, John Oliver, Kath Soucie, Norbert Leo Butz, and Kevin Chamberlin. The film was directed by former Pixar animator Dylan Brown in his directorial debut; while he was involved through most of the production, Paramount dismissed him in January 2018, citing "inappropriate and unwanted conduct".

The film was released in 2D and 3D formats in the United States on March 15, 2019 by Paramount Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed over $117 million worldwide. A television series based on the film will debut that same year on Nickelodeon, making it the third animated film from Nickelodeon Movies (after Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and Barnyard) to spawn an animated series on the network, as well as the first to not be produced by Steve Oedekerk or animated in the United States.

Plot
June Bailey, an aspiring girl with a bright imagination, and her mother come up with the story of Wonderland, a magical amusement park run by a group of animals: Boomer, a big blue bear that greets guests; Greta, a wild boar; Gus and Cooper, beaver brothers; Steve, a porcupine who is in love with Greta; and Peanut, the leader of the park and a chimpanzee that has the ability to create rides by listening to June's mother's voice.

Over time, Mrs. Bailey starts to get sick and is sent away for recovery, June starts alienating from Wonderland, and burns the blueprints of the park out of frustration. Sometime later, Mr. Bailey sends June to math camp, after misinterpreting a note from her father as a cry for help, she uses her friend Banky to create a distraction on the bus to escape and return home, instead, she finds a broken-down Wonderland in the woods.

The park is currently being stormed by a cloud named the Darkness, June and the animals attempt to fix the park's mechanism but are attacked by Chimpanzombies, the park's former plush toys. In the chaos, June gets separated from the animals and finds herself in a floating chamber known as Zero-G Land.

There, June finds Peanut hiding from the Darkness and confesses he felt lost after he stopped hearing the voice in his head, this leads June to realize that the Darkness was created by herself as a result of her cynicism from her mom's illness, the Chimpanzombies break in and take Peanut as their prisoner but June manages to escape.

June runs back to the animals to tell them she found Peanut, but also confesses that she is responsible for the Darkness. Feeling upset over this revelation, they abandon her. After noticing the piece of the blueprint and realizing that she has been able to create the ideas for the park herself, June manages to fix one of the attractions to catch up with the animals and make it to the park's mechanics.

The gang finds the Chimpanzombies taking Peanut to get sucked up into the Darkness. The animals fight back while June rushes to save Peanut by jumping into the void. She reveals to him that she provided the voice for his imagination and that he should not let the Darkness take over him, giving him an idea to make a slide to escape, and June then notices that the park's mechanics is her name written in cursive, just like the blueprint piece. With Peanut's help, they get the mechanics back up and running by using her name to move the gears, and clear up Wonderland from the Darkness. A cloud remains over the park, to which June interprets as a reminder to continue to be imaginative.

June returns home and with it, a cured Mrs. Bailey, and they set up a Wonderland in their backyard. June then shares to other kids the story of Wonderland.

Voice cast

 * Brianna Denski as Cameron "June" Bailey, an optimistic, imaginative girl
 * Sofia Mali as Young June
 * Ken Hudson Campbell as Boomer, a narcoleptic blue bear who welcomes the visitors to Wonderland
 * Tom Baker voices Boomer in the UK version
 * Jennifer Garner as June's mother
 * Matthew Broderick as June's father
 * Kenan Thompson as Gus, a beaver who is Cooper's brother
 * Ryan Fitzgerald voices Gus in the Australian version and Joe Sugg in the UK version
 * Ken Jeong as Cooper, a beaver who is Gus' brother
 * Wippa voices Cooper in the Australia version and Caspar Lee in the UK version
 * Mila Kunis as Greta, a wild boar who is Steve's love interest
 * John Oliver as Steve, a porcupine who is the safety officer of Wonderland
 * Norbert Leo Butz as Peanut, a chimpanzee who acts as Wonderland's mascot and ride creator
 * Oev Michael Urbas as Banky, June's best friend
 * Kevin Chamberlin as Uncle Tony
 * Kate McGregor-Stewart as Aunt Albertine
 * Kath Soucie as Bus Counselor Shannon

Production
Production on Wonder Park commenced in September 2014. In June 2015, it was revealed that Spain's Ilion Animation Studios would produce the fully animated 3D film. In November 2015, Paramount Animation officially announced the project originally titled Amusement Park, with former Pixar animator Dylan Brown helming. The voices in the film would be provided by Matthew Broderick, Jennifer Garner, Ken Hudson Campbell (originally Jeffrey Tambor), Kenan Thompson, Ken Jeong, Mila Kunis, and John Oliver. For the role of June Bailey, more than 1,500 people auditioned before 11-year-old Brianna Denski of Plymouth, Connecticut, got the role.

In January 2018, it was reported that director Dylan Brown was fired from the production by Paramount Pictures following an investigation into complaints of "inappropriate and unwanted conduct". Since production was nearly complete at the time, the studio did not hire a replacement and Brown was uncredited. In April 2018, the title of the film was changed from Amusement Park to Wonder Park.

Music
The music for Wonder Park is scored by composer Steven Price. The album was released on March 8, 2019.

Grace VanderWaal recorded the song "Hideway" for the film.

In April 2018, it was reported that Rachel Platten would perform an original song for Wonder Park. The single, titled "Wonder", was released in March 2019.

Release
Wonder Park was released on March 15, 2019, by Paramount Pictures in 3D. It was previously scheduled for release on March 22, 2019. In January 2017, the film was moved up from its original release date of March 22, 2019 to July 13, 2018. A few months later, it was pushed back to August 10, 2018, and by August 2017, it was pushed back for a final time to March 15, 2019.

Home media
Wonder Park will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 18, 2019, and on Digital on June 4, by Paramount Home Media Distribution.

Box office
Wonder Park has grossed US$45.2 million in the United States and Canada, and US$72.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of US$117.3 million against a production budget of around $80-100 million.

In the United States and Canada, Wonder Park was released alongside Captive State and Five Feet Apart, and was projected to gross $8–14 million from 3,838 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $5.4 million on its first day, including $700,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $16 million, which although beating projections, Deadline Hollywood said was "[not] enough to consider this...production a success". The film fell 45% in its second weekend, grossing $8.8 million, and another 45% in its third to $4.5 million.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 32% based on 99 reviews, with an average rating of 4.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads "Colorful and energetic but lacking a compelling story, Wonder Park is little more than a competently made diversion for very young viewers." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Television series
Prior to Wonder Park's release, Paramount Animation announced that a TV series based on the film will debut sometime in 2019 on Nickelodeon after the film's theatrical release, making it the third animated film from Nickelodeon Movies to have a TV series spin-off from the film after Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and Barnyard, also making it the first animated film from Paramount Animation to have a TV series spin-off from the film. The series will be animated in CGI (similar to the feature) and produced by Casey Leonard, the director of the original Nickelodeon film Lucky.

Mobile game
Prior to the film's release, a licensed mobile game titled Wonder Park Magic Rides was released by Pixowl.