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Tom & Jerry (2021 film)
Tom & Jerry[4] (marketed as Tom & Jerry: The Movie)[5] is a 2021 American live-action/computer-animated slapstick comedy film based on the titular cartoon characters of the same name created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, produced by the Warner Animation Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the second theatrical film based on the characters, following Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1992), and the third to animate them in the real world, following Anchors Aweigh (1945) and Dangerous When Wet (1953). The film's story follows Tom enlisted to get rid of Jerry, before his presence threatens New York City's fanciest hotel and its wedding.
The film is directed by Tim Story and written by Kevin Costello.[6] It stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Michael Peña, Colin Jost, Rob Delaney, Pallavi Sharda, Jordan Bolger, Patsy Ferran, and Ken Jeong in live-action roles, with Nicky Jam, Bobby Cannavale, and Lil Rel Howery in voice roles. The titular characters are voiced by William Hanna via archival recordings, with additional vocals from Kaiji Tang and André Sogliuzzo (though the characters are listed as themselves in the credits). The film languished in development hell, due to the studio spending years to search for a writer to pen the most faithful take on the characters for a feature film.[7] Starting with a live-action film in 2009, to an animated film in 2015, and have then shifted to the Warner Animation Group producing a hybrid film blending classic animation and live-action in 2018, with filming beginning in 2019.[8]
Tom & Jerry was theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on February 26, 2021, along with a one-month simultaneous streaming release on HBO Max. The film was a box-office success, grossing over $132 million on a $79 million budget, but received generally negative reviews from critics, who criticized the human characters and screenplay, despite praising its stylized animation and sense of nostalgia.[9]