There will be an Emoji movie. And yes, that emoji you’re thinking of is in it.
Following the success of 2014’s The LEGO Movie, rival movie studios were wondering what other toys and fads they could turn into animated content to peddle to the masses. For instance, we got The Angry Birds Movie earlier this year. But there were rumblings in the movie press that an Emoji movie was also coming. Now we have proof that it is really happening.
On Tuesday, a teaser trailer for The Emoji Movie was released online. And it’s a teaser in every way. There appears to be very little footage from the movie in this 59-second preview. It’s mostly a joke about the “meh” emoji drawn out for nearly a minute. Showing little enthusiasm for a movie everyone is surely skeptical of is an interesting approach. Maybe it’s kind of a wink to the audience, acknowledging that you may hate this idea, but you know that you’ll have to take your kids to see it.
Making things better is the voice of comedian Steven Wright, using his apathetic schtick to full effect. Check out the teaser for The Emoji Movie:
Did that feel like it was longer than 59 seconds to you? Maybe that’s just me. Anyway, I kept thinking I was going to make a joke about a poop emoji being a vital part of this movie, but then I didn’t have to because it’s the big reveal at the end of this teaser. Yes, they’re really putting a poop emoji in this thing. But don’t they have to? That’s like having a Star Wars movie without Darth Vader. Or something like that.
By the way, it does seem a little bit clever that the trailer is in portrait mode, not landscape, trying to emulate the experience of using emojis on our phone. That’s what I’m assuming, at least. I only ever use smiley face and thumbs-up emoji, so maybe this movie will open my eyes to a universe of possibilities.
So what is this whole thing about? Thanks to Entertainment Weekly‘s Christian Holub, we have something of a synopsis.
“The Emoji Movie follows Gene (T.J. Miller), a would-be emoji who has one big problem: He has too many expressions. In the world of Textopolis, everyone is assigned a single function. The Smiler, for instance, is always smiling. Gene is supposed to be a Meh emoji like his father (Steven Wright), seen in the teaser above, but he can’t constrain himself to one emotion.”
Since Gene has more than one expression, he’s considered a malfunction and the adventures go from there.
The Emoji Movie does show some promise in its voice cast. Providing their talents to this production are T.J. Miller (Silicon Valley) plays Gene, Ilana Glazer (Broad City) is Jailbreak and The Late Late Show host James Corden gives voice to Hi-5. More will surely be added.
All right, since you’ve been good enough to read this far, here’s a poster for The Emoji Movie featuring the poop emoji. You are most welcome.
The Emoji Movie will be in theaters for your viewing pleasure on Aug. 4, 2017.
