The Bad Guys

The Bad Guys is a 2022 American computer-animated crime comedy film loosely based on the children's book series of the same name by Aaron Blabey, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film was directed by Pierre Perifel (in his feature directorial debut), written by Etan Cohen, and stars the voices of Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Alex Borstein, and Lilly Singh. It tells the story of a group of criminal animals who, upon being caught, pretend to attempt to reform themselves as model citizens, only for their leader to find himself genuinely drawn to changing his ways as a new villain has his own plans.Work on the film started in 2018, the plot drew much inspirations of crime films and anime series such as Pulp Fiction and Beastars (minus the dark content associated with both features). Animation that inspired for the design of the film came from Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Production began at DWA Glendale and some additional production assets were borrowed from Jellyfish Pictures, with voice acting being done remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.The Bad Guys was released in several countries beginning March 16, 2022, and in the United States on April 22, in 2D and RealD 3D formats. It received generally positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, grossing $184 million worldwide, making it the ninth highest-grossing film of 2022.