Yeoll High

Yeoll High is a 2028 American flash-animated comedy film produced by Cartoon Network Studios. The film was directed by Alex Winter, with a screenplay by Michael McCullers and a story by franchise creator Xavier Shaquille. It stars Anna Kendrick, Avril Lavigne, Abby Elliott, Cheri Oteri, Adam Pally and Viola Davis reprising their roles; John Krasinski, Chloe Bennet, George Salazar and Katie Ladner accompany the cast.

The film is a prequel to the Knight School franchise that predates Ellenor's transfer to Knight School in the first film. Starting her freshman year, Ellenor discovers a group of cool kids in her class and does what she can to be part of their group and be one of the popular kids in school.

The film was released in theaters on September 22, 2028 by Warner Bros. Pictures. the film received positive reviews and grossed $232.3 million against a $40 million budget.

Plot
After graduating the local middle school, Yeoll Middle, Ellenor was transferred to the town's high school, Yeoll High, where she finally reunites with her long time friends Darcey and Jane. Determined to succeed on her "clean slate", she starts off with signing up on several after school classes. First was gym class; which ended with her failing pull ups, basketball, dodgeball, and swimming, but was able to pass wrestling. Her second sign up was football, which she pulled off as well. During the rest of high school, she and her friends were ridiculed for their quirks; Ellenor's "talking belly" routine, Darcey's interests into preteen stuff, and Jane biting her fingernails. After school, Ellenor was "more or less" pleased with her first day, and plans to improve.

The next day, Ellenor and her friends find a gang of jocks and popular kids, run by a jock named Johnny a.k.a. Trent. Ellenor, after taking a stand by shoving a few of them aside for herself and her friends, finds herself in with the cool kids; the dumbfounded girl then asks if she could think her acceptance over, which Trent agrees to. Before the school day was over, Ellenor accepts his offer and finds herself a member of the cool kids. However, she does not get to have her friends tagging along as they might cramp their style; Ellenor reluctantly acquiesces, must to Darcey and Jane's dismay. At Ellenor's house, Darcey hopes Ellenor will have time for her and Jane after hanging out with Trent's group, to which she promises; which ends up with her flaking on her friends due to her hanging with the cool kids as she finds it as a huge opportunity to become on top.

Straining their friendship, Jane and Darcey end it with Ellenor, whereas she, regardless of their decision, still wants to be friends with them. As they leave her, Trent suggests that she forget them and move on; Hurt from him rejecting them from his group and telling her to forget them, Ellenor tells them about how she met Darcey and Jane; she was in elementary school and she was forced to socialize with the other students, which was where she met the mischievous Jane and innocent minded Darcey. Sharing a few common interest, they became best friends for seven years. While the other cool kids show sympathy towards him, Trent scolds her friendship with them as he finds them embarrassing to be with, to which Ellenor punches him to the floor and they commence in a fight. As they get suspended, Trent kicks her out of the cool kids, which Ellenor was fine with after how coldly he treated her.

Ellenor, guilty of ditching her friends after she was accepted in the cool kids, decides to make amends with Darcey and Jane. First was Darcey, who forgives her quickly as she missed her. Next was Jane, who was still upset with Ellenor after she ditched her and Darcey, but accepts her apology after a hesitant Ellenor does the Truffle Shuffle she wanted her to do since. As they were reunited, Ellenor was determined to give Trent his comeuppance by challenging him by competing against Madern in the upcoming football match tonight; if she wins, Trent must treat her and all other inferior students as equals.

As the match was in full swing, Ellenor's team, the Yeoll Jousters, were winning through 15–11, until their rival team, the Madern Daisies, played dirty tactics from tripping the players and deliberately bumping into her teammates. At halftime, both teams were in a tie by 23–23. Ellenor was deadset on breaking the tie, and she had managed by throwing the football over the goal post; giving the Jousters the win by 24–23. Even though she won fair and square, Trent still sees her and her friends "weirdos". Realizing how rude and condescending he is, the cool kids defend them and go against Trent. Trent, engaged over the fact that his former gang turns their back on him, gut punches Ellenor and pulls on her arms before leaving.

The very next day, Ellenor was accepted by her fellow students; Trent was fortunately expelled indefinitely as he was responsible for countless vandalism and bullying to other students; and Ellenor, Darcey, and Jane were back to being friends and having time for each other. In the present day, Ellenor was in the cafeteria having told the story about her freshman days with Darcey and Jane to Agatha, Oliver, Andrew, Bill, Troy, and Ellenor's boyfriend Lance. Agatha asks if she could hear about when she was transferred to Knight School, which Ellenor promises to tell after school.

Voice cast

 * Anna Kendrick as Ellenor, a freshman to Yeoll High and leader to her friends that is determined to be part of the cool kids.
 * Avril Lavigne as Darcey, Ellenor's goth-dressed best friend with a childish personality.
 * Abby Elliott as Jane, Ellenor's second friend who has a tendency of pulling pranks and cause trouble in class.
 * John Krasinski as Johnny "Trent", leader of the cool kids with a condescending attitude.
 * Chloe Bennet as Kate, Trent's "partner in crime" who serves as his yes-man.
 * Katie Ladner as Brook, the gossip girl of Yeoll High.
 * George Salazar as James "Jimmy", Trent's muscle.
 * Cheri Oteri as Carrie Wilson, the principal of Yeoll High.
 * Adam Pally as Whitey, the teacher in Ellenor's class.
 * Viola Davis as Ms. Marshall, the guidance counselor of Yeoll High.
 * Jane Lynch as Gretchen, Ellenor's mother.
 * William Shatner as Anthony, Ellenor's father.
 * Bill Fagerbakke as Irving, Darcy's father.
 * Paul Reubens as Kenneth, Jane's father.
 * Lake Bell as Jackie, Jane's father.

Additional voices include Tara Strong as Alex, David Kaufman as Robert "Bobby" Kayman, Dee Bradley Baker as Gary, Grey Griffin as Eunice, Catherine Taber as Cathy, Greg Cipes as Joe, Wally Wingert as Dan, and Eric Bauza as Oswald, and Amanda Leighton voices Betty, reporter for the Yeoll High school paper. Xavier Shaquille, storywriter and producer of the film, voices a little boy.

Characters shown near the end and heard during the film are Ben Schwartz as Lance, Kelly Marie Tran as Agatha, Seann William Scott as Andrew, Damon Wayans Jr. as Oliver Jade, Jerry Trainor as Troy, and Chris Hardwick as Bill; all of whom reprise their roles from Knight School and Knight School II.

Production
Shaquille was set to do a prequel where Ellenor was a freshman in Yeoll High. All the cast from the first two films reprised their roles for the prequel while Shaquille chose John Krasinski, Chloe Bennet, and Be More Chill cast members George Salazar and Katie Ladner as the prequel cast.

Release
The film was released in theaters on September 22, 2028 in the United States. It was released in the United Kingdom on September 28, then on October 12 in Australia. The film was paired with a short film called Sir Jeff, a short film based on Cartoon Network's 2014 television series Clarence.

Home media
Yeoll High was released on digital platforms on December 5, 2028, then on DVD and Blu-ray on December 19 by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. On that same day, WBHE released a DVD and Blu-ray set consisting of all three films, titled the "Complete Semester Collection".

Box office
Yeoll High had made $122.3 million ($53 million in the United States and Canada and $69.4 million in other territories) against a $40 million production budget.

Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a "Certified Fresh" rating of 78% based on 93 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Yeoll High keeps the franchise's way of having a simplistic plot, but its characters and change-of-pace premise are what make it differ from the main two." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 73 out of 100 based on reviews from 30 critics, indicating "mixed-or-average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an "A–" on an A+ to F scale.

Future
After production on Yeoll High, Shaquille claimed he had no plans on any following media for Knight School besides a potential spin-off focused on Darcey.