The Movie of a Teenage Robot

The Movie of a Teenage Robot is a 2008 American computer-animated action-adventure superhero comedy film based on the Nickelodeon animated series of the same name. Written and directed by Rob Renzetti, directed by Ash Brannon, produced by Don Bluth, Alex Kirwan and Jordan Kerner, co-produced by Joseph Holt, Jill Friemark and Dan Krall and written by Scott Peterson, Heather Martinez and Chris Reccardi based on a screenplay by John Fountain and Brian Lynch, the film stars the voices of Janice Kawaye as Jenny Wakeman, along with Candi Milo, Chad Doreck, Audrey Wasilewski, Quinton Flynn, and Jim Carrey.

16-year-old teenage robot Jenny "XJ-9" Wakeman was flying around Termorton on a sunny day when she heard via her mother, Nora, that reports of a planned mass attack by Lord Crazy, with his henchmen The Clown and The Jester, was spread across the town. Threatened by Lord Crazy, Tremorton would be destroyed in 5 days if Jenny did not comply with their orders. The film is a co-production between Paramount Animation, Nickelodeon Movies, Village Roadshow Pictures, Frederator Incorporated and The Kerner Entertainment Company, with Sony Pictures Imageworks providing animation services.

The film premiered at the Kodak Theatre on July 25, 2008, and was released theatrically on August 2, 2008 by Paramount Pictures and internationally on August 17, 2008 by Roadshow Entertainment. It received near critical success, with critics and audiences praising the animation, voice cast (particularly Kawaye, Milo, Doreck and Carrey), musical score by Christopher Lennertz, songs, plot, storyline, pacing, and gave universal praise for its faithfulness to the source material. It was a box office success, grossing $200.5 million worldwide on its $50-$65 million budget.

Plot
In development.

Cast
Additional voices include Amy Poehler, Grey DeLisle, Will Arnett, Tom Kenny, Ryan Reynolds, Seth Rogen, Cree Summer, Moira Quick, Hugh Jackman, Seth Rogen, Michael Peña, Samuel L. Jackson, Dorothy Elias-Fahn, Robbie Coltrane, Michael E. Rodgers, Alec Baldwin, Bill Paxton, Isla Fisher, and Jack Black.
 * Janice Kawaye as Jenny Wakeman / XJ-9, an optimistic and friendly sentient robot created by her surrogate mother Nora Wakeman. Her role in the film shows that she has taken more on her responsibility on her job of saving the world and protecting mankind. She eventually started dating Brad at some point after the series.
 * Candi Milo as Dr. Nora Wakeman, an elderly spinster robotics scientist and the one who built Jenny, who often simply refers to her as "Mother" or "Mom".
 * Chad Doreck as Brad Carbunkle, Jenny's boyfriend and Tuck's older brother. His role in the film has him dating Jenny at some point. Throughout the film, he starts worrying about his brother Tuck being harmed by any threat.
 * Audrey Wasilewski as Tuck Carbunkle; Brad's 7-year-old little brother. He is usually tagging along with his brother and Jenny, though his aptitude for adventure is significantly less than Brad's.
 * Quinton Flynn as Sheldon Lee, an inventor and tinkerer who is friends with Jenny, Brad and Tuck. His role in the film has him trying to except Brad and Jenny dating, but he is a little jealous about it.
 * Flynn also voices Don Prima, who considers himself the most handsome guy in town. However, he is obnoxiously shallow (a prima donna, hence his name), and is more likely to cry over ruined shoes than care for anyone besides himself. Jenny once had a crush on Don, but gave up on him after seeing his self-centered attitude for himself.
 * Jim Carrey as:
 * Lord Crazy, the leader of The Mayhem Corporation, a corporation that causes destruction and pain towards others. He has a hatred for the town of Tremorton, hence why he's in need to destroy the town and ruin the lives for the many citizens. He is known for calling all the shots when being the leader.
 * The Clown, known for making notorious jokes to distract a bunch of people. Under management by his leader, Lord Crazy, leader of The Mayhem Corporation. His jokes are able to distract others, including Jenny Wakeman.
 * The Jester, known for making fun of others and making disrespectful comments and compliments about others. Lead by Lord Crazy, he is the second of Lord Crazy's henchmen, alongside The Clown.

Development
Development on a film based on My Life as a Teenage Robot first began in April 2004, during the production of Season 2. Thanks to the success of previous Nickelodeon franchise-based films in the late 1990s to the early 2000s, series creator Rob Renzetti had plans on making a full-length feature film. Plans on a storyboard process was revealed two months after the film went into full-motion, with Rob Renzetti, Scott Peterson, Heather Martinez, and Chris Reccardi planning to write the story, along with John Fountain and Brian Lynch developing the screenplay.

Cancellation
Development on the film was cancelled unexpectedly and out-of-nowhere, with no given explanation from the Nickelodeon representatives on the reason why it was cancelled. According to an article published to the Los Angeles Times on October 21, 2004, it stated that Nickelodeon cancelled the film due to apparent "script issues", and further stated it "wasn't going to be good", said Nickelodeon executive Herb Scannell.

When interviewed by the L.A. Times, series creator Rob Renzetti expressed disappointment to Nickelodeon, saying that this film "was my dream", adding he "was very upset with Nickelodeon for their cancellation of such a good project". Due to the cancellation, fans of the My Life as a Teenage Robot series heavily criticized Nickelodeon's choices to cancel the film and boot it out of the production schedule. Multiple news articles were published, and was covered on CBS News and WTVT (or Fox 13 Tampa Bay).

Back in Production
In late-December 2004 to mid-January 2005, the cancellation was removed, and the film was back in production. Rob Renzetti expressed immediately relief when he got word of the cancel being lifted. Paramount Pictures CEO Gail Berman addressed an apology from the company, stating: "It has come to our attention about the cancellation of the My Life as a Teenage Robot movie, and we have made the decision to remove the cancellation report, and the project will resume production on January 28, 2005. We, at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio, sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused."

Casting
Coming soon!

Music
In July 2006, it was revealed that Christopher Lennertz was to compose the score for the film. The score was composed at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox.

Animation
The animation for the film was produced at Sony Pictures Imageworks in Vancouver, British Columbia. The animation began on May 30, 2006, before wrapping up on March 13, 2008, and was packed up and shipped to Paramount's animation division, Paramount Animation, in Los Angeles, California. The animation was completed on May 19, 2008.

Post-production
Coming soon!

Soundtrack
The soundtrack for The Movie of a Teenage Robot featured music from Snoop Dogg, Coldplay, and from television series composers Peter Lurye, James L. Venable and Paul Dinletir. Jenni Karr's performance of the My Life as a Teenage Robot theme song was shown at the beginning and end of the film, during the credits. The album was released on Interscope Records on August 1, 2008.

Release
The Movie of a Teenage Robot had its official premiere at the Kodak Theatre on July 25, 2008. It was then theatrically released on August 2, 2008 by Paramount Pictures, and in Australia and New Zealand on August 17, 2008 by Roadshow Entertainment. The Movie of a Teenage Robot was rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for "frenetic superhero action, some violence, mild language, and suggestive themes".

Marketing
Prior to the film's release, in March 2008, Paramount Pictures had made a partnership deal with Hasbro, and the company produced and distributed exclusive merchandise and figurines of characters from the series. McDonald's had tie-in promotional deals with Paramount as well, and included My Life as a Teenage Robot toys with their Happy Meals.

The first theatrical release poster was unveiled in early April 2008, with the caption "XJ-9 is about to kick some robotic assets in her motion picture debut!", and included a CGI render of Jenny Wakeman shown in a "superhero landing" position, glaring at the middle. The first official trailer premiered at screenings of Spider Man 3 and Shrek the Third. The trailer received high praise for its orchestral score and its more dramatic tone compared to the actual television series itself. The trailer has been nicknamed "Jenny's First Big Screen Trailer" by the My Life as a Teenage Robot community since it first premiered.

Home media
The Movie of a Teenage Robot was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 13, 2007 by Paramount Home Entertainment, and was later released on Universal Media Disc (UMD) on September 27, 2007. The DVD, Blu-ray and UMD releases contained a commentary with Rob Renzetti and Janice Kawaye, a 5-minute CGI-animated short film, the DVD trailer to Shrek the Third (2007), the trailer to The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008), and the trailer to Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008).

Video game
"Main article: The Movie of a Teenage Robot (video game)"A video game based on the film was released on August 29, 2008 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Wii, later on August 31, 2008 on PlayStation Portable, PC and Mac, and on September 3, 2008 for Game Boy Advance and DS. It was released in Japan on September 6, 2008 for the ports listed above.

Box office
The Movie of a Teenage Robot debuted at #2 in the United States and Canada, though debuted at #1 in other countries. The film opened alongside Bratz, El Cantante, Hot Rod, The Bourne Ultimatum, and Underdog. The film made $14.9 million on its first day, with an additional $2.6 million in Thursday night previews, and made $21.1 million in its opening weekend, performing below expectations of $35-40 million. However, outside of the United States and Canada, the film made $39.4 million in its opening weekend, becoming much more successful in Eurasia, as well as in African countries. The film concluded its theatrical run on March 11, 2008 and made a total of $81.2 million in the United States and Canada and $119.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $200.5 million on its budget of $50-$65 million.

Critical response
The film was opened to near-universal acclaim from critics and audiences alike, with review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reporting an approval rating of 90% based on 112 professional critics' reviews, with an average rating of 8.35/10. Its critical consensus reads: "Saving Tremorton from Jim Carrey's comedic yet powerful wrath comes this heart blasting, action-packed adventure with XJ-9 in The Movie of a Teenage Robot, which screws the nuts and bolts together to form one big story with outstanding visuals, a clean voice cast, and a heart-wrenching score." The film is listed as Nickelodeon's best film of all time, dethroning their own Rango. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100 based on nine critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore assigned the film a rare average grade "A+" on its scale of A+ to F.