Regular Show: The Movie

Regular Show: The Movie is a 2015 American animated science fiction buddy comedy film based on the Cartoon Network original series, Regular Show. From Cartoon Network, the film is written and directed by series creator J.G. Quintel in his directorial debut, and produced by series producer Ryan Slater. The events of the movie take place during the seventh season of the show and it is produced by Cartoon Network Studios and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film debuted in theaters on June 12, 2015 for the United Kingdom and on August 14, 2015 for the United States. The film ultimately had its television premiere on November 25, 2015 on Cartoon Network. This makes it the first theatrical Regular Show film to hit the big screen. In theaters, a Long Live the Royals short entitled Curfew Sneakout was shown prior to the film.

The film features the voices of William Salyers, J.G. Quintel, Sam Marin and Mark Hamill reprising their respective roles from the series, while Jason Mantzoukas and David Koechner joined the cast. The film had a budget of $6 million and the box office is $44 million, making it a box office hit before one year of Sausage Party directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan.

Synopsis
After a high school lab experiment goes horribly wrong, and accidentally creating a Timenado, the universe is on the verge of being destroyed and it’s up to Mordecai and Rigby to go back in time and make the things right, battle an evil volleyball coach in order to save the universe — and their friendship.

Plot
In the distant future, Rigby leads a rebellion squadron (consisting of Benson, Skips, Hi-Five Ghost, Muscle Man, and Pops) against an evil cyborg named Mr. Ross and his army when he is erasing time. When Rigby and his team reach Ross's weapon, they find it is guarded by the future version of Mordecai, who is a cyborg himself and has discovered a transgression Rigby did to him in the past and attempts to kill him. When the team gets incapacitated, Benson sacrifices himself in order for Rigby to get to a space ship/time-machine to head to the past to stop the chaos. Just as Rigby is about to travel back in time, Mordecai shows up and shoots Rigby when he hits the time travel button.

In the present, Mordecai and Rigby barely keep themselves from being fired when they run late for work. When the space ship from the future shows up and crashes into the ground, future Rigby appears and tells the employees that when Mordecai and Rigby were in high school, they created a time machine that backfired, but created a "Timenado", a tornado with the ability to travel through space and time and was turned into a weapon by Mr. Ross. They later got expelled for blowing up the science lab. Furthermore, the future Rigby reveals that Mordecai shot him, shocking the park residences that Mordecai and Rigby have ended their friendship. Before dying, future Rigby tells present Rigby that he must "tell the truth" in order to save the universe, even if it costs him his friendship with Mordecai. When questioned about the details, Mordecai explains that they created the time machine because Rigby got into their dream college, College University, but Mordecai didn't. After the unfortunate ploy, Mr. Ross, their science teacher/volleyball coach at the time, was held responsible and sent to prison. Benson tries to convince everyone that the whole thing is a hoax, until Muscle Man finds a plasma shotgun and accidentally destroys Benson's car with it. After deliberating, the employees decide they need to use the ship to go to the past and stop the end of the universe.

The group manages to get to the past (6 years in to be exact) but wind up damaging the engines in the process. Skips, Muscle Man and High Five Ghost stay behind to fix the ship while Benson and Pops follow Mordecai and Rigby in finding the time machine. They succeed in slipping into the high school but are forced to split up when they're confronted by the volleyball team. With no other options, Mordecai and Rigby are forced to get help from their past selves, who have access to the science lab because Mr. Ross, who was feuding with Rigby after his antics cost the team the championship, was forced by Principal Dean to allow Rigby to do an extra credit assignment in order to pass. The extra credit assignment was the time machine Mr. Ross was creating. He was creating it for two reasons: go back in time and win the volleyball state championship and to "get revenge". After successfully convincing past Rigby to create a model volcano instead, the past selves leave the lab, giving the present pair enough time to destroy the time machine. Pops and Benson arrive late to the carnage, all beaten and bruised after their volleyball jock encounter.

The group, assuming the work was over, head back to spaceship/time machine only to find the repairs stalled due to an encounter with Muscle Man and High 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 to the fact that past Mordecai and Rigby are heading to the high school to finish a second time machine Mr. Ross planted (although it is unknown where he got it). The employees race back to the science lab, but are quickly incapacitated by Mr. Ross and future Mordecai, allowing past Mordecai and Rigby to botch the time machine and create the Timenado. Mr. Ross then forces Rigby to admit the truth: he never got into College U, but Mordecai did, but he faked both Mordecai's rejection letter and his Acceptance letter in order to maintain their friendship. Mr. Ross then tries to kill Mordecai in the confusion, but future Mordecai intervenes, taking a heavy wound and forcing Mr. Ross to retreat.

Upset over the duplicity, Mordecai angrily ends his friendship with Rigby, forcing Rigby to run off with the spaceship/time machine. Before dying, future Mordecai gives his present version his ship (which is also a time machine) and tells him to patch things up, saying what Rigby did was no excuse to side with 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 drive into the sun, Rigby encounters Father Time, who is falling apart due to the Timenado, and is convinced to apologize to Mordecai. Rigby heads to the future and races back to the Timenado, but gets intercepted along with Mordecai by Mr. Ross at the crystal core. With Techmo's help, the duo manage to decapitate Ross and, after Rigby and Mordecai restore their friendship, they use plutonium to destroy the Timenado. They later convince past Rigby to apologize to past Mr. Ross before he's arrested, thus ending the issues between them and altering the future.

Back in the present, Mordecai and Rigby agree that, despite how cool their future selves turned out, they won't let their friendship degrade to trying to kill each other, thus erasing their future selves from the timeline. The next day, as Benson catches them away from the park, the pair race back in the spaceship/ time machine with Rigby saying they'll "never be late again".

Cast

 * William Salyers as Rigby
 * J.G. Quintel as Mordecai and Hi-Five Ghost
 * 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 Jablonski, Frank Smith, Fast Food Guy
 * Ali Hillis as Ship Computer, Rigby's Mom
 * 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 late August 2014 during the Cartoon Network upfront, after the announcement of the series being officially renewed for a seventh season on July 25, 2014 at the San Diego Comic-Con International event. A year later, creator J.G. Quintel announced on February 10, 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 March 20, 2015 and was later released online on March 22, 2015. Despite the movie being announced in late August 2014 it began production in 2013.

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 will feature the regular 40 episodes per season.

The film was originally produced for television, but CEO of Warner Bros. Pictures, Barry Meyer, decided to release it theatrically because of Regular Show's popularity. According to him, the decision was also buoyed by the financial success of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi and Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi 2, as well as Camp Lazlo The Movie.

Actor and comedian Jason Mantzoukas voiced the movie's main antagonist, Mr. Ross the Evil Volleyball Coach, while David Koechner voiced Principal Dean as well. Many other regular voice actors for the show also voiced their characters in the film.

The film's animation was provided by Saerom Animation, with additional animation done at Munich Animation Film.

Theatrical release
The movie first screened at the L.A. Downtown Independent on June 7, 2015 before it hit theaters worldwide. The film was then opened in theaters in the United Kingdom on June 12, 2015 and in the United States on August 14, 2015. The movie also screened at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas across the United States and it had a showtime at the SVA Theatre of New York and at the Cinema Montreal CANADA during October 2015. The film's theatrical release was also preceded by Curfew Sneakout, a short film based on Cartoon Network's forthcoming animated miniseries Long Live the Royals, created by Regular Show 's writer and storyboard artist Sean Szeles.

Home media
The film was released to digital on platforms such as iTunes and Google Play Movies & TV on September 22, 2015. The movie was later released to Blu-Ray and DVD by Warner Home Video on October 13, 2015 and it contains the behind the scenes, a Long Live the Royals short film Curfew Sneakout, the 18-minute featurette, the pilot episode and the audio commentaries. The movie has grossed $98,080 in domestic DVD sales.

Television premiere
The film was 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.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack for the film featured three real-life songs including, "March of the Swivel Heads" performed by The Beat, "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades" performed by Timbuk 3 and "Pale Blue Eyes" performed by The Velvet Underground. Two more songs including, "I Melt With You" performed by Bowling for Soup and "Friends to the End" performed by Owl City featuring Fall Out Boy, were played at the ending credits of the movie.

Dell Hake orchestrated and conducted the score for the film at Warner Bros. Eastwood Scoring Stage in Burbank, making it the only film directed by J.G. Quintel to be conducted by a famous musical composer and orchestrator behind The Simpsons. Hake was signed when music editor Bruno Coon recommended him to Quintel after thinking he might be the perfect man to conduct the music score for the movie, after conducting the music score for The Powerpuff Girls Movie.

Box office/Commercial reception
Regular Show: The Movie was released in theaters on June 12, 2015 in the United Kingdom and August 14, 2015 in the United States. With heavy competition, but a lot of marketing and promotion, the film earned $44 million worldwide against a budget of $6 million. The song Friends to the End by Owl City featuring Fall Out Boy was used to help promote the movie.

Critical reception
Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 84% approval rating based on the 115 reviews, and its average rating on IMDb is 7.5/10. The critical consensus reads, "Regular Show: The Movie is so fun and exciting on the big screen because it's for kids and teens, but some think it should have been a TV movie." Metacritic, assigns the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore gives the film a "B+" on its A+ to F scale.

Ratings
The movie was watched by 2.17 million viewers and received a 4.5 rating in adults 18-49.

Trivia

 * This is the first movie based on a Cartoon Network series since "Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show" in 2009, and the first one to be released theatrically since "The Powerpuff Girls Movie" back in 2002.
 * According to J.G. Quintel, they started production on the movie while they were writing Season Five and finished it before they began writing Season Eight.
 * Following the box office success of Camp Lazlo The Movie (2008), the film took 3 years to make. Development began in early 2012 and production began in late 2013 to early 2015.
 * This is the first ever feature film of the series.
 * This is the first animated Regular Show movie to hit theaters.
 * This is Cartoon Network's second original program to get a theatrical release, after "The Powerpuff Girls Movie" released 13 years prior.
 * This also marks Cartoon Network Studios' return to theatrically released films.
 * This is Cartoon Network's first theatrically released film since  Camp Lazlo The Movie  released 7 years prior.
 * This is also the first Warner Bros. animated film to be released on the same day with Warner Bros.' live-action film, The Man From U.N.C.L.E..
 * The is the first film to present the new and rebooted "CN Movie Theater" logo, because now there's a seat view of a movie theater with several current characters from Hanna-Barbera, Looney Tunes, DC Comics, Turner Entertainment and Cartoon Network in the seats.
 * This is the very first theatrical Warner Bros. film to rely solely on hand-drawn animation mixed with CGI animation instead of Flash animation.
 * It marked Warner Bros.' return to traditional animation, as it was the studio's first traditionally animated film.
 * The movie takes place after the events of the episode "Dumptown USA" and before the events of "The Parkie Awards".
 * This is Warner Bros.' first animated film to be produced at 1.85:1 since The Ant Bully (2006).
 * This is the first CN original movie since "Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show", which aired on November 8th, 2009 and the first one to be released theatrically in movie theaters.
 * This is Jason Mantzoukas' first Warner Bros. animated film, followed by "The Lego Batman Movie" released 2 years later.
 * This makes it Cartoon Network's rebirth of theatrical films, and Warner Bros.' rebirth of hand-drawn animation.
 * The film was animated by Saerom Animation, with additional animation done at Munich Animation Film.
 * This is the third animated film with a wide release to be based on an animated television sitcom, after "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America" released 22 years prior and "The Simpsons Movie" released 8 years prior.
 * Friends to the End, performed by Owl City featuring Fall Out Boy for the movie, is a reworded version of the song of the same name by the characters from Tom and Jerry: The Movie.
 * Before the movie, a short film called "Curfew Sneakout" based on Cartoon Network's forthcoming animated miniseries Long Live the Royals was played.
 * This was one of the successful films of 2015.
 * This movie has received a 84% rating from Rotten Tomatoes & IMDb gave it 7.5/10.
 * The film was in normal 3D, Real D 3D, IMAX 3D, Digital 3D, & XD 3D.
 * The original cast reprised their roles in the movie.
 * The animation of the movie is the same as the show, although CGI was used for the moving spaceships, the Timenado, the time beams, Father Time, as well as the hallway inside the Timenado.
 * A trailer was first shown at Comic-Con on March 20, 2015.
 * On February 10, 2015, J.G. Quintel announced via Twitter that the film had been completed.
 * Quintel has also confirmed that the movie is canon and is set in the middle of season six and season seven.
 * The movie includes three real-life songs, "March of the Swivel Heads", "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades" and "Pale Blue Eyes". Two more songs, "I Melt With You" and "Friends to the End" were played at the ending credits of the movie.
 * The real-life show, "Everybody Loves Raymond" is mentioned.
 * Also another real-life media referenced by Ross (but not exactly mentioned) in the movie is "Back To The Future".
 * The following is a list of episodes that are seen when Rigby go around the time portals: "Limousine Lunchtime", "Rigby in the Sky With Burrito", "The Real Thomas", "Temp Check", "Death Punchies", "The Power", "Lunch Break" and "Mordecai and the Rigbys".
 * This entire movie revolves around destroying the Timenado, which first appeared in "A Skips in Time".
 * Originally the movie was supposed to be a 40 minute special, but J.G. Quintel refused and acknowledged Cartoon Network to make it a full movie and both agreed.
 * The movie was on the short-list for becoming nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, although it did not get nominated. This also marks the first Cartoon Network Feature to come into the Academy Award.
 * The movie revealed that Mordecai and Rigby been best friends since they were toddlers.
 * The movie focuses more on Rigby than Mordecai.
 * Although Rigby is the main protagonist of the movie, ironically, it is Hi-Five Ghost who is the first one to note that strange things were happening, because he tells the others when future Rigby's ship crashed into the park.
 * Although Mordecai and Rigby were expelled that would make Mordecai not get his diploma. But in "More Smarter" Mordecai somehow has his diploma despite being expelled, although Mordecai stated in the movie that, after being expelled, he went to junior college instead.
 * A tune similar to Tears for Fears's "Head Over Heels" plays when West Anderson High School first appears, making this sequence a slight reference to the cult movie Donnie Darko.
 * When Mordecai and Rigby rush to the park, the music and the situation is a reference to Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
 * The movie's future timeline is foreshadowed in some Season 7's episodes, which is soon happening in the finale of that season and all part of the Season 8's storylines. Except it is now in a brand new timeline, retconning some of previous timeline's fate of Mordecai and Ross' future, thanks to Rigby's atonement.
 * The theatrical version also features the Warner Bros. Pictures and Cartoon Network logos during the beginning of the film.