When Sony announced they had won a bidding war against two other studios to make The Emoji Movie, an animated feature based on emojis.
Sony Pictures Animation president Kristine Belson gave us a first look at the emoji movie during the Sony presentation at CinemaCon 2016 in Las Vegas on Tuesday. Apparently the pitch is kind of a knock-off combination of Wreck-It Ralphand Inside Out. Yes, the emojis inside your phone come to life and live in their own secret world inside your phone’s text application. We were shown concept art of a grid spaced suburban neighborhood that is their home, Emoji Valley.
Kristine Belson took the stage to offer the first concrete details on the movie, and let’s just say it was… interesting. “Did you know inside your phone there’s a secret world?” she asked the crowd before explaining that the movie will apparently take place inside an actual smartphone, with the emoji themselves serving as characters living in “Emoji Valley.” Things like a smartphone’s home screen are all given physical counterparts in the world of the movie, with Belson mentioning that the studio has partnered with several major app developers for inclusion in the film, though no partners were named during last night’s presentation.
The plot will revolve around the emoji realizing there’s a wider world outside of their emoji-shackles, and head out of Emoji Valley to explore the other apps – all staying within the confines of being set in a smartphone.
With companies always looking to reach wider (and younger) audiences, high-profile brand partnerships aren’t a new thing, but there aren’t too many movies in which it looks like Spotify might be taking a leading role. And in my mind, that’s just a step too far.
Sony can always look at the bright side: it’s going to have plenty of opportunity to surprise people if it turns out something that’s actually good. You’re still welcome to go and see it when it hits movie theaters on August 11 in the US though.
