Trolls World Tour

Trolls World Tour
Production Information
Directed by	Walt Dohrn David P. Smith
Produced by	Gina Shay
Written by	Jonathan Aibel Glenn Berger Elizabeth Tippet Maya Forbes Wallace Wolodarsky
Music by	Theodore Shapiro
Studio	DreamWorks Animation
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release Dates	March 20, 2020 (cinemas, UK) April 6, 2020 (VOD, UK/Ireland) April 10, 2020 (VOD, US/Canada/Italy) April 23, 2020 (VOD, Germany/Switzerland/Australia) April 29, 2020 (VOD & cinemas, South Korea) August 21, 2020 (cinemas, China) September 17, 2020 (cinemas, Australia) September 25, 2020 (cinemas, Mexico) October 2, 2020 (cinemas, Japan/Sweden/Poland) October 8, 2020 (cinemas, Brazil/Argentina) October 10, 2020 (cinemas, Denmark) October 14, 2020 (cinemas, France/Belgium) October 29, 2020 (cinemas, Hungary) April 3, 2021 (cinemas, Philippines) May 27, 2021 (cinemas, Israel)
Running Time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$90–110 million
Box Office	$51.3 million

Trolls World Tour is a 2020 American 3D computer-animated musical comedy film, the sequel to the 2016 film Trolls, and the second film in the DreamWorks Trolls franchise. It was directed by Walt Dohrn with co-direction by David P. Smith, produced by Gina Shay, and written by Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, Elizabeth Tippet, Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky. The film stars Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Rachel Bloom, James Corden, Ron Funches, Kelly Clarkson, Anderson .Paak, Sam Rockwell, George Clinton and Mary J. Blige.'

The film was first given a sneak preview at the Licensing Expo 2019. Produced as the 38th full-length animated feature by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures, it was set to be theatrically released in the United States on April 10, 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was released on digital platforms instead. It was later decided to release the movie on demand.

The film focuses on an event named "Queen Barb's Rock World Tour", of which the title "Trolls World Tour" is a reference to.

The movie had a number of trademarks registered in addition, dated from 6/4/2019.

A sequel, generically titled "Trolls 3" is set for release in November 17, 2023, but official production and concept development remain ambiguous. Justin Timberlake claimed in April 2020 that they wish to make a total of seven Trolls movies, which made a third Trolls movie highly likely.

Synopsis

It's all glitter and happiness in Troll Village until Queen Poppy and Branch make a surprising discovery - there are other Troll species beyond their own, each defined by a different genre of music. When a mysterious threat puts all the Trolls across the land in danger, Poppy, Branch, and their band of friends must embark on an epic quest through unfamiliar terrain to do the impossible: create harmony among the diverse Trolls to unite them against certain doom.

Plot

The movie begins at Techno Reef, where the Techno Trolls gather for a massive rave as their leader King Trollex is about to drop his latest song One More Time. After the song drops and the Techno Trolls enjoy their music, a shadow approaches in the distance.

King Trollex stops the party and approaches by himself. Queen Barb of the Rock Trolls greets him, and tells him to hand over the Techno String. When Trollex refuses to do so, she and her Rock Trolls attack. They send the Techno Trolls flying and destroy Trollex's DJ booth. To try and limit the damage and preserve his peoples' vibe, Trollex agrees to hand the String. Barb tells him that when she's done, they're all going to have the same vibe.

At Troll Village, Queen Poppy begins her morning routine and starts singing Trolls Wanna Have Good Times, the Trolls' morning medley. During this, Branch starts to think about taking his and Poppy's relationship to the next level and states he just has to get the guts to tell her she is the one. He joins in the medley. During the medley, Poppy and her friends witness the birth of Tiny Diamond, Guy Diamond's newborn son who turns out to be a Hip hop Troll. The medley continues as the Trolls now celebrate his birth.

At the end of the medley, Poppy and Branch see everyone off about their day. Branch then tries to talk to Poppy and tell her how he feels but he can't say the words, Poppy ends up revealing that she considers him a friend. The word "friend" echoes in his mind and he zones out. Trying to make up for it, the two try and high-five each other but fail, though Poppy then succeeds with Fuzzbert.

Their attention is turned to Biggie, who's being attacked by a bat. Poppy takes it away from him but now has it in her hair. Branch calms the bat down and attention is drawn to a message it was carrying. Poppy reads about a big event Queen Barb of the Rock Trolls is hosting and to bring the Strings. An anxious King Peppy takes the message from her and attempts to destroy it, but Branch calms him down. Peppy explains that other Trolls besides them exist, and they're called "Pop Trolls". This makes sense to them, and they all nod in agreement. Poppy wants to hear more about the other Trolls, but Peppy explains that they're very different from them, while Cooper takes note of Peppy's words about there being different Trolls. He causes the entire village to freak out when he says some don't understand the concept of "Hammertime".

The group breaks down to Poppy and The Snack Pack members. Peppy explains that in the beginning, everything was boring until a Troll made a note that caught everyone's attention. This was the start of the Trolls love for music and they took six Strings, one for each type of music: Techno, Funk, Classical, Country, Hard Rock and Pop. Then over time, arguments broke out over their differences leading to arguments. The Tribes' elders decided it was best each Tribe took a string and go their separate ways, and ever since the Tribes have been isolated from each other.

Peppy shows them the String, which he explains has a lot of power. Peppy wants to run and hide while Poppy wants to go meet Barb, whom she thinks is trying to unite the Trolls again. Peppy and Poppy get into a row over what is best. Later that night, Poppy goes to sneak out in Sheila Balloon, but is caught by Branch. Cooper hears them talking and watches from a nearby bush. Poppy unties the balloon and starts to float away. Branch is unable to just let her go, so he jumps into the balloon. After they leave, Cooper realizes one of the Trolls looks just like him; he leaves Pop Village to find them.

The next morning, Barb leaves the Ocean and arrives onshore singing Crazy Train. She nips into her Angler Bus and shows off the Techno String. She places it into her guitar, converting it to the Rock String's power. As she sits down, she thinks her father King Thrash is missing, but it turns out that he's just in the toilet. As he leaves, she explains to the senile old Troll the plan to get the Strings and play the Ultimate Power Chord. The Old King goes to do the Rock hand gesture, but needs Riff's help to finish it.

Poppy and Branch try to fly the balloon, but the manual is big and Poppy tries to learn without it, which leads Sheila to tell her to stop. They discover Biggie has stowed away on the Balloon, hidden under the cotton candy Poppy brought with her, since Mr. Dinkles was attracted to it. Poppy explains they're going to help Barb unite the Trolls.

As they approach Symphonyville, they discover that Barb has already arrived ahead of them and everything is in ruins. Pennywhistle, the sole survivor, tells them that Barb took their string from Trollzart and all the Classical Trolls, leaving nothing left behind - they lost everything. Poppy comes to the realization Barb wants to destroy all music. Biggie freaks out over this, so Poppy does a Pinky Promise that no matter what she will protect him.

Meanwhile, as they leave the mountains, Barb's bat "Debbie" returns to her owner, carrying a reply from Poppy and having been given a makeover to the horror of Barb herself. Barb reads Poppy's message saying she hopes to be best friends with Barb, but Barb doesn't understand how someone can be friends as it takes years to form a friendship. Just then, a glitter bomb goes off in Barb face, and Barb has a rant about Pop music. When her father starts to sing the Pop song from the message, Barb has had enough and brings in the Bounty Hunters Chaz the Smooth Jazz Troll, Tresillo and his reggaeton Trolls, The K-Pop Gang and The Yodellers. She explains that she plans to make Rock the dominant music, but will spare whoever brings her Queen Poppy and let them have a tiny territory, stressing to Tresillo when he comments on the size that's the offer. Only the Yodellers didn't show to the meeting, but Barb is confident they'll bring in Poppy as she burns Poppy's message.

The Pop Trio arrive at Lonesome Flats, home of the Country Trolls. At first, there is no one around, but high noon hits and the mayor, Delta Dawn, appears singing Born to Die, which brings out all the Country Trolls. Poppy comments that the song is sad. Branch likes it, but Poppy thinks they don't know that music is supposed to make them happy. Delta feels sorry for the trio as they "look like they were beaten up by a rainbow", and isn't bothered by them. Poppy attempts to cheer them up by singing a medley that covers all the most important songs. Soon the three find themselves alone as the Country Trolls hide from their music.

Delta throws the three in jail for "Crimes against music". When Poppy warns Delta about Barb, Delta isn't worried about her. Poppy has to face that some Trolls don't want to have fun and Branch tries to cheer her up. They begin "plan B", and Branch and Biggie start to dig their way out with the intent to return home. Hickory abruptly shows up and busts the trio out. They escape on the Jail door as Delta, Clampers Buttonwillow, Growley Pete and a number of other Country Trolls give chase.

The four Trolls ride over the edge of a ravine to escape Delta. After falling into the river below, Delta is annoyed that they escaped. The four Trolls survive the fall into the river, with Mr. Dinkles being pulled back from a near-death experience by Biggie. Branch has questions as to why their new friend helped. Hickory explains he didn't think it was fair they rushed to discriminate against the Pop Trolls. He builds them a boat to make getting to the Funk Trolls faster.

During the river journey, Branch wonders in mistrust about Hickory, but Poppy is fine with him and wonders if Branch is questioning her judgement. As the Trolls settle for the evening, Chaz attacks. The three Pop Trolls are put under a trance and when they snap out of it, they're tied up. Hickory kicks Chaz off the boat, thus saving them as he put gumdrops in his ears to block out the noise of Chaz's smooth jazz music. Biggie freaks out as it's clear Poppy cannot keep them safe, thus breaking her Pinky Promise. He leaves to head back to Pop Village.

Meanwhile, Cooper is lost in the desert and tries to drink from a mirage. He snaps out as he's taken by a strange force.

On the river, Hickory sings I Fall to Pieces and confronts Branch over his obvious feelings for Poppy. Branch notes he tried to tell her how he felt about her but failed. Hickory notes of the two of them that Branch is doing all the listening, thus she may not even hear him right now. They come across a large object in the sky and are taken by a bubble beam, with Branch and Hickory landing hits on each other as they try to fight it.

The three arrive in the flying city of Vibe City, and are greeted by a Funk Troll whom they think is Cooper. He turns out to be Prince D, Cooper's twin brother. Cooper introduces them to King Quincy and Queen Essence, his parents. When D states he's half-Hip Hop, Poppy questions her map, which D comments is likely out of date. Branch notes it still has Disco on it. When Poppy speaks about how they're all alike, Quincy states they're not. Poppy suggests to combine their efforts, with Quincy stating that they'll do anything but that.

They then reveal the true history of the Strings. Prince D sings It's All Love (History of Funk) and explains that in the past, what broke the Tribes up was the Pop Trolls themselves. The Pop Trolls stole the six strings to play only remixes of all the other music. The other Trolls finally got their Strings back, but the damage was done and everyone no longer trusted that this wouldn't happen again, so they split.

When the song finishes, Quincy and Essence explains that denying their differences would be denying who the truth of who they are. Poppy comments they hadn't thought about this. The alarm goes off and the Funk Trolls prepare for battle as Rock has arrived. Cooper sends his friends on their way to protect them, despite Poppy's plea to let them help. As the trio leaves, the Funk Trolls are plunged into darkness as Riff pulls the plug on their lights.

As the trio float away from Vibe City, they see the Rock Trolls arriving and Poppy wants to go back. Branch finally puts his foot down and tells Poppy its time to go home. Poppy defends herself as wanting to prove she is a good queen, but Branch points out a good queen listens and she has not been, not to her father, not to Biggie, not to Quincy and not even to him. He has backed her up throughout the journey even when she was wrong. He replies he heard back there that differences do matter - like them.

As their bubble lands and bursts, the two have a fight and Branch leaves for home and abandons Poppy, stating as he departs that she's the most important person to him right now. Sad, Branch begins to sing Perfect For Me, a song in the vein of the Country Trolls' sad style. Poppy joins in despite them being far apart at this point. When Branch finishes the song, The K-Pop Gang arrive and capture him. They demand he takes them to Poppy, but Tresillo and his Reggaeton Trolls interfere. The two groups can't live without their music and dance off against each other for Branch. Branch stops them and makes a proposal.

Poppy meanwhile reflects on her thoughts with the String. She puts it away when Hickory arrives, but in her despair at the situation accidentally pulls it out in front of Hickory. It is then revealed Hickory, along with his brother Dickory have been pretending to be a Country Troll together to get close to Poppy. Dickory tries to take the String while Hickory attempts to help Poppy. Their yodelling grabs Barb's attention, and Poppy is snatched by Carol and another Rock Troll. Dickory hands Barb the Pop String and Barb confronts her worry, commenting on how short Poppy is compared to her and how she didn't know why she was worried about her. As the two interact, Barb reveals she has already attacked Pop Village.

Biggie arrives at the village, and finds the surviving members of The Snack Pack. They make costumes and attempt to break into the Rock Trolls' home to rescue Poppy. During their intrusion though, Sid Fret and another Rock Troll catch them. The group convinces them that they're also Rock Trolls, but this lands them into Barb's backup band. Smidge comments "We're screwed".

Elsewhere, Barb brags to Poppy about how she's basically won and asks if Poppy enjoys being Barb's best friend as a mockery of Poppy's earlier message, Poppy comments they are not friends. Barb reflects that as a Queen she's used to hearing people, telling her what she wants to hear and not really being friends. She puts the Pop String in the guitar and comments she'll play the Ultimate Power Chord, then Poppy will see what happens.

On stage, Barb sings Barracuda while The Snack Pack pretends to play along in fear, while Peppy and the Funk twins are hurried forward to the front. When attention is drawn to them, Biggie smashes a guitar shouting "Barracuda" and it seems to get attention off of them. Barb then introduces the Trolls to their former leaders, calling Pop "the worst of all". As Barb goes to play the Ultimate Power Chord and hit Poppy with the power of her guitar, she is hit with the balloon manual as Shelia Balloon appears carrying Branch, the K-Pop Gang and the Reggaeton Trolls. This proves to be a temporary setback as Barb begins to play again. Branch swings over to Poppy and throws himself in the way, where he was a large boulder falls to the ground. When it smashes open, Branch has been converted into a Rock Zombie.

Barb is hooked up to an Angler Bus and flies around the stage converting the other leaders into Rock Zombies. She turns back to Poppy who has opened her cage, she gets Branch to use his mullet to grab her and then hits Poppy with the Power Chord. At first it appears as though Poppy is converted, Barb hands her the Guitar so she can convert Peppy and the Funk Twins, the final members of the leaders' family, but Poppy turns to face Barb. Poppy used gumdrops to protect herself from Barb's Power Chord. Poppy tells Barb that she won't let anyone else be converted. Riff interrupts and speaks up against Barb, questioning how anyone could know they're cool if they all look the same, as some of the Rock Trolls see Poppy and Riff's point of the outlook and agree.

Poppy also tells Barb that a good queen listens and that real harmony takes a lot of different voices. She proceeds to destroy the guitar, snapping the Strings and reverting Branch, Queen Essence, King Quincy, Trollex, Delta Dawn and Trollzart, and her Rock Zombie appearances back to their normal selves. However, every Troll becomes grey in the process as the music fades from every Troll present, and with them the Trolls have lost all music, including rock. When Poppy goes to make sure Branch is okay after he was reverted from his Rock Zombie form, Barb witnesses in horror that the Strings have been destroyed as they fade away. Barb then puts the blame on Poppy, stating history has repeated itself with Pop ruining everything once again. Depressed, the Trolls take a moment to let it sit and face the fact that their music is gone, but Cooper feels a beat within him as he realizes that music is still in his now-glowing pink heart.

As Cooper uses a microphone to amplify the rhythmic heartbeat for everyone to hear, his brother Prince D begins to make a hook beatboxing sound as he joins in, with all the other Trolls witnessing this. Queen Essence notes that her sons are making music; Delta Dawn feels the beat with her lit-up heart as she begins to clap and stomp her feet along to the melody, who then turns to her Country Trolls who also join in. The beat continues as everyone's hearts light up while the Trolls begin a simple background harmony in unison. Essence states Barb can't take their music from them, while Quincy states that while it all started with the Strings, it now comes from within themselves. As the other Troll tribes vocalize melodically with all their hearts lit, Trollex says the music comes from their experiences, Delta adds their lives, and Essence adds their culture; Trollzart simply calls the harmony beautiful. Poppy finally understands the thing she hasn't grasped about differences, knowing Barb can't take away the music that is within all of them.

Now knowing that differences matter after all, Poppy steps forward and begins singing the song Just Sing. She's soon joined by Branch, both becoming the first to regain their colors. Barb asks Thrash what's happening, to which he replies that she must let everyone be what they want to be, as he plays music and regains his colors too. As Poppy and Branch continue singing, the other Tribe leaders join one by one; every Troll slowly recolors as they join in, until Barb is the sole remaining grey Troll. Near the end of the song, Barb finally joins, as she plays her guitar in which she recolors, her hair becoming rainbow-colored as she accepts other Trolls' music with the help of her father. Poppy's hair also colors up with rainbow colors, with the Trolls now united at last.

The song ends with all leaders standing side by side and an united Troll Kingdom. When Poppy said to Peppy that she should've listened to what he had to say and not run off, they settle their differences on the earlier row and he take pride in raising a strong and self-confident daughter, proclaiming himself as a "genius" parent. Meanwhile, Poppy tells Barb now she isn't forcing her and she'd like to be friends with her and Barb finally agrees. In the meantime, Branch concurs with Poppy and confesses his love to her, to which she states back she loves him too; the pair finally do a connected high-five, which begins their relationship as more than just friends. As the camera pans out, the pair can be seen kissing.

Back at Pop Village, Poppy tells the new version of Troll history on how their ancestors were wrong to young Trolls from each Tribe. She's joined by Branch as she says you can't harmonize alone. The two depart and the Pop Village celebration begins. The leaders of the Trolls interact, have fun, and Prince D and Branch sing Don't Slack. During the party, Cloud Guy meets a female cloud; they propose and then have a family. The song ends with Poppy and Branch riding into the sky, Debbie following them.

In the closing mid-credits scene, King Gristle Jr. and Bridget appear, having missed the Trolls' party.

Cast

Main Voices

• Anna Kendrick as Queen Poppy
• Justin Timberlake as Branch
• Rachel Bloom as Queen Barbara
• James Corden as Biggie
• Ron Funches as Cooper
• Kelly Clarkson as Delta Dawn
• Anderson .Paak as Prince Darnell
• Sam Rockwell as Hickory
• George Clinton as King Quincy
• Mary J. Blige as Queen Essence
• Kenan Thompson as Tiny Diamond
• Kunal Nayyar as Guy Diamond
• Aino Jawo as Satin
• Caroline Hjelt as Chenille
• J Balvin as Tresillo
• Flula Borg as Dickory
• Ester Dean as Legsly
• Jamie Dornan as Chaz
• Gustavo Dudamel as Wolfgang Amadeus Trollzart
• Ozzy Osbourne as King Thrash
• Anthony Ramos as King Trollex
• Karan Soni as Riff
• Charlyne Yi as Pennywhistle
• Red Velvet as The K-Pop Gang
  • Joy as Ari
  • Yeri as Kim-Petit
  • Irene as Baby Bun
  • Seulgi as Gomdori
  • Wendy as Wani
• Zooey Deschanel as Bridget
• Christopher Mintz-Plasse as King Gristle Jr.
• Kevin Michael Richardson as Mr. Dinkles
• Walt Dohrn as Cloud Guy, Metal Mr. Dinkles, Fuzzbert, King Peppy and Smidge

Additional Voices

• Walt Dohrn as the Announcer, the Country Music Baby and the Country Music Farmer
• David P. Smith as the Country Music Rooster, the Desert Sun, the Eighth Goat, Licky Bug and the Scrapbook Troll
• Kevin Michael Richardson as the Mr. Dinkles God, Growley Pete and Sid Fret
• Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Bliss Marina and Sheila Balloon
• Justin McElroy as Techno Beat Drop Button, the Tumbleweed and Skyscraper
• Griffin McElroy as the Country Music Tear and Skyscraper
• Travis McElroy as the Hard Rock Tear and Skyscraper
• Betsy Sodaro as Clampers Buttonwillow
• Marcella Lentz-pope as Carol
• Berenice Amador as Marimba
• Jamila Hache as Tambora

Unused Voices

The following are the voice actors either mentioned by DreamWorks or related to the movie who were thought or meant to appear. They're listed to confirm their status:

• Chance the Rapper was meant to have had a voice role, which was announced in November 2019. However, his name isn't featured in the movie's credits. It was later confirmed he was meant to have originally done the role of Prince D. Chance was announced at the same time as Sam Rockwell in May 2018.
• Gwen Stefani was cited by early reactions to be returning as DJ Suki. However, DreamWorks never confirmed her name in any related promotional material themselves. No information has since appeared to confirm if she was ever in the voice cast. To date, the only evidence that Stefani was meant to return is the Stylin' DJ Suki doll. In addition, Trolls: TrollsTopia, whose first season was originally complete and ready to release 5 days after Trolls World Tour's release, features DJ.

Production

2017

On February 28, 2017, Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation announced a sequel to Trolls, with Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake reprising their respective roles as Poppy and Branch.

In May 2017, podcasters The McElroy Brothers began campaigning for roles in the film via a podcast titled "The McElroy Brothers Will Be in Trolls 2". Following the campaign's success, DreamWorks confirmed in September 2018 that the brothers would make cameo appearances in Trolls World Tour.

2019

The film saw the additions of Sam Rockwell, Chance the Rapper, Anthony Ramos, Jamie Dornan, Karan Soni and Flula Borg to the cast in May 2018. James Corden, Icona Pop, Ron Funches, and Kunal Nayyar were also announced to reprise their roles. On June 12, 2018, the film was retitled as Trolls World Tour. In October 2018, it was confirmed that Kelly Clarkson had joined the cast, and will perform an original song. In June 2019, along with promotional posters, new cast members have been announced, which include J Balvin, Mary J. Blige, Rachel Bloom, George Clinton, Ester Dean and Gustavo Dudamel.

Alongside Timberlake, Clarkson, .Paak, Blige and Clinton, songs were provided by Chris Stapleton and SZA.

On March 7, 2019, trademarks were placed on Trolls World Tour for books and magazines, clothing, toys, games and playthings, entertainment and prerecorded videos.

2020

In an interview with Walt Dohrn, he noted that as soon as the film was over, the crew had been bittersweet about its completion, as they wanted to work on the sequel straight away.

A note related to the development cycle of the film is that at the time Trolls: The Beat Goes On! was dealing with the Party Crashers storyline arch. There was a consequence of the film's production on the story arc, which caused a temporary pause at one point. This was because of Trolls World Tour being supposed to introduce new Troll Tribes, which limited what Trolls: The Beat Goes On! could do with the Party Crashers storyline.

Trolls World Tour was released in Digital HD on June 23, 2020, and on Blu-ray and DVD on July 7, 2020.

Success and Critical Response

Due to the money Trolls made previously in cinemas, releasing Trolls World Tour on VOD was considered a ludicrous risk, as the franchise was at this point worth $700 million. However, a contribution to the discussion was that 3 of the trailers received 150 million views. It was estimated that 9-12 million views for the release onto home cinema would result in a $200 million revenue upfront, which was expected to cover the film's costs. The cost of production was $90 million for the movie, and $30 million for P&R.

Instead, the digital release of Trolls World Tour resulted in it making more money in less than a month than Trolls did in 5 months. This was far better than predicted; it was able to compete with Sonic the Hedgehog and Frozen II, and held onto the no.1 film spot for several weeks after its inital release, taking the spotlight from those films. The film was later nominated for Best Movie of 2020 and Best Family Movie of 2020 at the People's Choice Awards. In the UK, the film was a chart topper, grabbing the no.1 spot for 7 weeks (though not consecutively).

In April 2020, Timothoy Donohoo of CBR proposed the reason both Trolls and Trolls World Tour were successful was because they had a level of Nostalgia factor, due to the Troll dolls having been around since 1959. In comparison, the rivalling movie UglyDolls had failed because it was a newcomer with only recent success. While the Troll dolls had waned in popularity since the 1990s, 50 years of nostalgia gave the way for Trolls to succeed, but the lack of such a factor led UglyDolls down the path of failure at the box office. Another factor was though many of the UglyDolls cast could sing, Trolls had used actors that could perform and thus had established reputations of being able to also act.

According to a report, 80% of all sales from VOD is profit for studios versus the theaters, which is at 50% of that profit. A factor in the success of Trolls World Tour was the lack of competition. Another factor is the fact it was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Slashfilm claiming that "it dropped just when families needed something to distract their stir-crazy kid".

In June 2020, the HollyWood Reporter had a much more critical response to the film's success, and claimed that while Trolls World Tour had made $100 million back at the time, it was still in the red due to development cost, boasting that it may never make back the money. Promotion of the film had cost $35 million. While the experiment with Trolls World Tour worked out, they didn't think it was enough to repeat the experiment with bigger franchises such as the upcoming Fast & Furious movie F9, due at a later date. The film had also sparked worry among its stars that they wouldn't be paid for their contributions, due to it being unreleased at the in the cinemas at that point. On advantage, Universal had kept that the VOD release was a bigger profit.

The cinema industry attempted to make people react negatively to Trolls World Tour, only for it to make $100 million on digital sales alone. The COVID-19 pandemic resulting in cinemas to close started a slide for AMC Theatres. In October 2020, Disney would follow suit and push to release its own movies on Disney+, leading AMC to announce that if ticket prices didn't raise it would face liquidation in 2021. In addition, it faced being stuck with an outdated film stock. Trolls World Tour is now considered a turning point in the spiral for the company.

UPI France was one of the countries largely unaffected by NBCUniversal's decision to feature the film on VOD, and allowed the film a wide release in France due to French cinema rules being different to that of other countries.

In December 2020, an artical by GQ Magazine noted why Trolls World Tour had been the most important film of 2020 for Universal. This was owed to its impact on cinemas when it skipped a cinematic release. Trolls World Tour was the first of several films to recieve that treament, the others that followed were The King Of Staten Island, The Invisible Man and Emma all causeed by the Covid-19 Pandemic since Cinemas were now empty and unable to attract an audience for these films. In addition, the argument about paying $15 per head was brought into question as custom could just pay a single price and watch the same blockbuster at home. Additional notes included how convient things had gotten. The next note was that it was not 2010 and the experience of watching something at home was a different experience now. TV sets were now bigger and more easy available, with the added bonus of being able to pause the screen when a friend or family member needed to make use of the toilet during the movie. While the Cinemas called out the move, it was pondered if that was now the end of the cinematic experience. There was some cost in revenue from a lack of focused control over Cinema tie-in merchandise. 2021 would see a several services such as Disney+. They did not believe the impact would last one year and more would follow, since Cinemas needed big name bucks to stay alive if they could not attract them this would be over with the eventual possible destruction of Cinemas.

In 2021, it was reported that due to both Trolls World Tour and The Croods: A New Age, DreamWorks thrived in 2020 despite the pandemic, and Trolls World Tour alone grossed nearly $350 million worldwide, $80 million of which within 6 weeks. Meanwhile, The Croods: A New Age had reeled in $160 million. This is without DreamWorks' serial TV animation success taken in mind, as the company was also now looking into adult TV media in the near future.

Overall, Trolls World Tour made $43 million worldwide from cinema releases, and $48 million on DVD and Blu-Ray sales, in addition to its VOD revenue by February 2021.

While it's unknown how much the actors were paid, it was expected that Justin Timberlake would earn a 7-figure number in back-pay salary.

Geeks Under Grace reviewer Tyrone Barnes gave the film an overall positive review, claiming that it had a sense of déjà vu. However, he noted that it felt like a cut-down version of Avengers: Infinity War, which came out two years before Trolls World Tour.

Related Media & Merchandise

Compared to Trolls, Trolls World Tour has had much greater amounts of merchandising overall. Part of this can be put down to the movie's success, and can also be contributed to the number of trademarks held related to this movie. In addition to the 5 trademarks for "Trolls World Tour", a number of characters have been trademarked. These include Growley Pete, Tiny Diamond and Delta Dawn.

The movie highly benefited from its release at home rather than the cinema. Its success is put down to a positive response and good marketing. Due to the fact it was no longer being released in cinemas, the marketing of the movie had to change suddenly and without much notice. Companies distributing merchandise were forced to change their approach, as they were no longer selling merchandise for a cinema-related film.

Companies had different approaches to the marketing of the movie.

Trivia

• The way Trolls were divided by DreamWorks in previous Trolls media was by family, the classifications of which were "Guru", "Giant", "Rainbow", etc; for example, Branch and Poppy were in the "Rainbow" family. These terms were dropped after Trolls World Tour's announcement, and Trolls became identified by their Tribe instead of their family.
• It is the first movie to have same-day VOD release.
• The One More Time scene is likely a reference to the opening of Daft Punk's movie Interstella 5555, a visual adaptation of the song's album Discovery. Similarly to the Trolls World Tour scene, the opening involves an alien planet in which a band plays at a concert, only for a human military force to invade and kidnap the band. The fact that the military force brainwashes the band and makes them look like humans is also a parallel to Barb's goal of converting all non-Rock Trolls to Rock music.
• The scene where the Rock Trolls emerge from the ocean after destroying Techno Reef is a reference to the Mad Max chase scene.
• When Poppy, Branch, Biggie and Hickory are about to fall into the river out of Lonesome Flats, they briefly float in midair. This is likely based on the common classic cartoon logic rule of "gravity does not work until you look down", which was made infamous by the Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoons.
  • The rule was also referenced often as a running gag in Trolls: The Beat Goes On!, and later in Trolls: TrollsTopia.
• It has more deleted scenes and cut songs than the first movie.
• The moment where Poppy and Branch hug and kiss is zoomed out, which is meant to be a bonus for fans paying attention. DreamWorks is currently not decided to answer if the Poppy and Branch pairing is official until "Trolls 3".
• There's no indication of time since Trolls within the movie itself. However, Trolls: TrollsTopia happens about a year after Trolls based on the episodes "Cloud Control" and "The Makeunder". According to "Girls' Night", TrollsTopia has already been set up for "months", which would put Trolls World Tour itself at happening in less than a year after Trolls. In the other direction, taking from Trolls, the Trolls: The Beat Goes On! episode "BFFF" has Branch working on a time capsule for "months", indicating that months had also passed since Trolls.
  • The 2D-animatied TV series are generally not considered canon to the franchise's overall storyline, but this is still a roughly accurate setting for how long since Trolls the movie takes place.
  • Trolls: Holiday in Harmony happens only a short time after Trolls World Tour.
• Trolls World Tour marked a shift in character development and handling. One such example is seen in The Snack Pack, who was the main focus of Trolls-era media. However, in both Trolls: Holiday in Harmony and the 2D animation Trolls: TrollsTopia, stories were written that featured few members, with Trolls: TrollsTopia only featuring the group together in a major role in the series first episode and Trolls: Holiday in Harmony only showing Poppy, Branch, Legsly, Tiny Diamond and Guy Diamond.
• The plot of the movie from the start of Barb's Rock World Tour to Just Sing takes place over the course of 3 nights and 3 days. The day and night cycle was actually noted on the storyboard, including evening and morning sun.

External Links

• DreamWorks Animation Wiki: Trolls World Tour
• Trolls World Tour on Wikipedia