Ghostopolis (film)

Drama is 2022 American computer-animated coming-of-age film produced by Illumination and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is based on the 2012 novel of the same name. Directed by Raina Telgemeier and Jeffrey Katzenberg, it stars the voices of TBD.

Plot
Callie Marin, a seventh grade student, major theater enthusiast and member of the Theatre Tech Department's stage crew at Eucalyptus Middle School. In the first scene, she is walking home with her friends Greg and Matt, who are also brothers; where she confesses her feelings for Greg, an upperclassmen baseball superstar and one of her best friends. Greg responds by blushing and saying that Callie "is cool, but..." And Callie says that the girl, Bonnie Lake, that Greg recently broke up with was stuck up and a drama queen. Much to Callie's delight, she shares a kiss with Greg. At school, Callie joins the meeting of the stage crew, led by Mr. Madera and student stage manager Loren; announcing the upcoming production of the fictional Civil War-era romantic musical Moon over Mississippi with her as returning set designer and is excited to implement her plans. She envisions an exploding cannon for the play; although, there are doubts from her peers about its feasibility. Later on, Callie meets identical twin brothers Justin and Jesse Mendocino. Justin is eager to try out for the musical, but Jesse is too shy.

The next day, Callie goes to the mall with Jesse and Justin, where she shows them a book about set designs and describes her love for theatre production and her dreams for the future. As they wait for the twins' father to pick them up, Jesse and Justin sing one of the songs from the musical. Callie is shocked by their talent and propositions them to join the musical. Jesse rejects Callie's suggestion; however, he accepts her follow-up offer to work on stage crew with her. The next day at school, Callie's friend Matt, a lighting crew member for the musical and Greg's younger brother, angrily confronts her, and she is confused over his sudden aggression. She then proceeds to sit with Justin during lunch, where he shares that he is gay (though he is slightly embarrassed when he does), and although Callie is shocked, she supports him nonetheless.

Callie and Jesse then watch the auditions for Moon Over Mississippi, where the lead role is granted to West Redding, which disappoints Justin. Callie confesses her crush on Jesse to her best friend Liz, who suggests that she invite him to the upcoming school dance. The following day, Callie goes to the bookstore with the twins and asks if their father knows that Justin is gay, to which Justin responds no. In school the next day, to counteract the lack of ticket sales, Callie decides to demonstrate her cannon in front of the student body, which generates excitement and an increase in tickets.

The first two nights of the musical are a success, but the third night is marred after West breaks up with Bonnie just before the final performance. She then locks herself in a supply closet and refuses to come out, forcing the stage crew to frantically find Jesse as a backup, decked out in a red dress. He performs well and even shares a kiss with West like the role calls for. Following his performance, Jesse asks Callie to the dance, and during the slow dance Callie embraces him, and suddenly, Jesse ditches her to talk alone with West outside. Callie and Jesse have an argument about him leaving her during the dance, during which Jesse implies that he is also gay and makes a comment about how Callie falls for every nice guy. She angrily storms off in response and coincidentally runs into Greg. They go for a walk so she can clear her mind. During the walk, Greg tries to kiss Callie, but she refuses due to his reaction the last time they kissed. Later, Callie meets with Jesse where he apologizes and thanks her for helping him break out of his shell, stating if he were to date a girl it would be her. Matt then confesses his crush on Callie that was the cause of him lashing out at her during musical rehearsal, apologizing for his actions. At the end of the film, the stage crew celebrates the success of the musical and Callie is named the new stage crew manager for the following year, much to her excitement.

Trivia

 * This is the first Illumination film to feature LGBTQ+ themes.