Regular Show: The Movie

Regular Show: The Movie is a 2015 American animated science-fiction comedy film based on the Cartoon Network original series, Regular Show. It is produced by Cartoon Network Studios and premiered on August 14, 2015 at The Downtown Independent theater in Los Angeles, where it was shown until August 20, 2015. The film was released digitally on September 1, 2015, on DVD on October 13, 2015, and ultimately had its television premiere on November 25, 2015 on Cartoon Network. The events of the movie takes place during the seventh season of the show.

Plot
In the distant future, Rigby leads Benson, Skips, Hi-Five Ghost, Muscle Man, and Pops against a evil man named Mr. Ross who is erasing time. They find Mr. Ross' weapon is guarded by a future version of Mordecai, who attempts to kill Rigby for a transgression he did in the past. When the entire team is killed, Benson sacrifices himself so that Rigby can use a timeship to reach the past and stop the chaos. Rigby does so, but not before Mordecai shoots him with a plasma shotgun.

In the present, Mordecai and Rigby barely convince Benson not to fire them after running late due to Rigby's idea to get breakfast burritos. When the timeship crash lands in the park, future Rigby appears to tell Mordecai, Rigby and their co-workers that when Mordecai and Rigby were in high school, they created a time machine that backfired and created a "Time-nado", a tornado with the ability to travel through space and time, which was harnessed and weaponized by their former science teacher and volleyball coach, Mr. Ross, who was held responsible and sent to prison. Before dying, future Rigby also reveals future Mordecai shot him and says Rigby must soon reveal a secret from his past in order to save the universe, even if it costs him his friendship with Mordecai. When questioned for details, Mordecai explains they created the time machine because Rigby got into their dream college, College University, but Mordecai did not. Benson tries to convince everyone the whole thing is a hoax until Muscle Man finds a plasma shotgun and blows up Benson's car with it.

After preparing for the mission, the employees use the ship to reach Mordecai and Rigby's high school days but damage the ship's engines in the process. Skips, Muscle Man and Hi-Five Ghost stay behind to repair the ship's engines while Benson and Pops follow Mordecai and Rigby to the science lab to find the time machine that past Mordecai and past Rigby was working on with past Mr. Ross, who is angry at Rigby for costing the volleyball team the championship but was forced to let him do an extra credit assignment to pass his class. However, the volleyball team attack them and make them separate, forcing Mordecai and Rigby to get help from their past selves.

After convincing past Rigby to make a model volcano instead, the group destroy the time machine and return to the timeship only to find the repairs stalled due to an encounter with Muscle Man and Hi-Five Ghost's past selves. Complicating matters further is that temporal ruptures begin appearing just as the repairs are finished. Rigby, who had slipped away earlier, alerts them that past Mordecai and past Rigby are heading to the high school to finish a second time machine future Mr. Ross planted. The employees race back to the science lab but are held up by Mr. Ross and future Mordecai, allowing past Mordecai and past Rigby to botch the time machine and create the Time-nado. Mr. Ross then forces Rigby to admit the truth while holding Mordecai hostage: he never got into College U but Mordecai did and he created Mordecai's fake rejection letter in order to maintain their friendship. Mr. Ross tries to kill Mordecai with a volleyball bomb in the confusion, but future Mordecai jumps into the bomb's path, taking a heavy wound and forcing Mr. Ross to retreat.

Enraged over the duplicity that has affected his life, Mordecai ends his friendship with Rigby completely, blaming him for holding him back the entire time. This prompts a heartbroken Rigby to run off with the timeship, leaving the group behind. Before dying, future Mordecai gives his present version his timeship and instructs him to patch things up, saying what Rigby did was no excuse to side with Mr. Ross. As the group tries to rebound, a distress call from future Gene the Vending Machine prompts them to help out. Meanwhile, after a failed suicide attempt to fly into the sun, Rigby encounters Father Time, who is falling apart due to the Time-nado and convinces Rigby to apologize to Mordecai. Rigby heads to the future and races back to the Time-nado space station but gets intercepted along with Mordecai by Mr. Ross at the temporal crystal power core. With Techmo's help, the duo manages to decapitate Mr. Ross and, after they restore their friendship, they use the plutonium from Mordecai's ship to destroy the Time-nado. They later convince past Rigby to apologize to past Mr. Ross before he's taken to jail, thus ending the feud between them.

In the present, Mordecai and Rigby agree that, despite how cool their future selves turned out, they won't let their friendship degrade into trying to kill each other, which alters the future and erases their dead future selves from the timeline. The next day, as Benson catches them out of the park, the pair race back in the timeship from a fast food place with Rigby saying they'll "never be late again".

Voice cast

 * J. G. Quintel as Mordecai, Hi-Five Ghost
 * William Salyers as Rigby
 * Sam Marin as Benson, Pops and Muscle Man
 * Mark Hamill as Skips
 * Jason Mantzoukas as Mr. Ross
 * David Koechner as Principal Dean
 * Minty Lewis as Eileen
 * Roger Craig Smith as Francis Jablonski, Frank Smith, Fast Food Guy
 * Ali Hillis as Ship Computer, Barbera
 * Kurtwood Smith as Gene
 * Eddie Pepitone as Sherm
 * Paul F. Tompkins as Gino
 * Fred Tatasciore as Father Time, Security Guard, Timenado Mechanic, Willy, News Reporter
 * Steven Blum as Techmo, Brit, Commander, TV Game
 * Janie Haddad as Margaret

Development
The movie was first announced in February 2015 during the Cartoon Network upfront. Series creator J.G. Quintel announced on June 11, 2015 via Twitter that production of the movie has been completed. A trailer for the movie was shown at the 2015 Comic Con International event on July 10, 2015 and was later released online on July 12, 2015. Despite the movie being announced in February 2015 it began production in 2014.

During production of the fourth season, the network asked the creator if they'd like to do a forty-minute special episode, Quintel turned it down and asked to do a movie instead, the network agreed. The idea was then put into development.

Quintel confirmed that the movie is canon and is set in the middle of season six and season seven.

The sixth season of Regular Show was affected by the movie. It was set to have 40 episodes, but due to the production of the movie, only 31 were produced. Season seven featured the regular 40 episodes per season.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack for the film featured three real-life songs including, "March of the Swivel Heads", "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades" and "Pale Blue Eyes".

Theatrical release
The movie first screened at the L.A. Downtown Independent on August 14, 2015 and continued to screen until August 20, 2015. The movie also screened at select Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas across the United States and it had a select showtime at the SVA Theatre of New York and at the Cinema Montrereal CANADA during October 2015.

Television premiere
Regular Show: The Movie premiered on November 25, 2015 in the United States on Cartoon Network and premiered on Cartoon Network in the United Kingdom and Ireland and Cartoon Network in Australia and New Zealand on November 28, 2015. The film premiered in Asia (including Philippines) on November 30, 2015. The film premiered in Central and Latin America on December 7, 2015. The movie premiered on Cartoon Network in Canada on November 25, 2015.

Home media release
The film was released on digital platforms such as iTunes and Google Play Movies & TV on September 1, 2015. The movie was later released to DVD by Warner Home Video on October 13, 2015. The movie has grossed $131,783 in domestic DVD sales.

Critical response
Regular Show: The Movie received positive reviews from both critics and audiences alike. Although it doesn't have yet a critical response from Rotten Tomatoes, the film does have an 83% rating from audiences. It has also earned a 7.5/10 on IMDb.

Ratings
The movie was watched by 2.17 million viewers and received a 0.5 rating in adults 18-49.