The Croods is a 2013 American 3D computer-animated comedy adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It stars the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, Cloris Leechman, and Randy Thom. The film is set in a fictional prehistoric Pliocene era known as "The Croodaceous" (a prehistoric period which contains fictional prehistoric creatures) when a caveman's position as a "Leader of the Hunt" is threatened by the arrival of a prehistoric genius who comes up with revolutionary new inventions as they trek through a dangerous but exotic land in search of a new home. It is DreamWorks Animation's 26th feature film.
Written and directed by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders, and produced by Kristine Belson and Jane Hartwell, the film premiered at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival on February 15, 2013, and was released in the United States on March 22, 2013. As part of the distribution deal, this was the first DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox, since the end of their distribution deal with Paramount Pictures. The Croods received generally positive reviews, and proved to be a box office success, earning more than $587 million on a budget of $135–175 million. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature and for a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. The film launched a new franchise, with a television series, Dawn of the Croods, which debuted on December 24, 2015, on Netflix. A sequel directed by Joel Crawford, titled The Croods: A New Age, was released on November 25, 2020.
Trivia[]
- The first DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox, until Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.
- The third DreamWorks Animation film to have a female protagonist, after Chicken Run, and Monsters vs. Aliens.
- This is the first DreamWorks Animation film to use the bone bite sound effect originally from various Hanna-Barbera cartoons.
- The the first DreamWorks Animation film to have a home media release be distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, until Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.
- The second DreamWorks Animation films to be composed by a non-recurring composer, after 2005's Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.