Abominable (2019 film)

Abominable
Everest, a large hairy white creature, looks down at Yi, a small girl, who is reaching up and placing her hands on its chin.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJill Culton
Written byJill Culton[1]
Produced bySuzanne Buirgy
Peilin Chou
Starring
Edited byPamela Ziegenhagen-Shefland
Music byRupert Gregson-Williams
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • September 7, 2019 (2019-09-07) (TIFF)[6]
  • September 27, 2019 (2019-09-27) (United States)
Running time
97 minutes[7]
Countries
  • United States
  • China
LanguageEnglish
Budget$75 million
Box office$188 million[7][8]

Abominable is a 2019 animated adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation, Pearl Studio, and Zhong Ming You Ying Film. Written and directed by Jill Culton and co-directed by Todd Wilderman, the film stars the voices of Chloe Bennet, Albert Tsai, Tenzing Norgay Trainor, Eddie Izzard, Sarah Paulson, and Tsai Chin. The film follows a teenage girl named Yi (Bennet) who encounters a young Yeti on the roof of her apartment building in Shanghai, names him Everest and embarks on an epic quest to reunite the magical creature with his family at the highest point on Earth along with her mischievous friends Jin (Trainor) and Peng (Tsai), but the trio of friends will have to stay one-step ahead of Burnish (Izzard), a wealthy man intent on capturing a Yeti, and zoologist Dr. Zara (Paulson) to help Everest get home.

The film was announced in 2010 as its original title Everest. By 2016, Culton passed on the project after being replaced by Wilderman and Tim Johnson, but eventually rejoined in February 2018, replacing Johnson, who remained with the project as an executive producer. DreamWorks announced in December 2016 that the film would be released in September 2019, with Pearl Studio and Zhong Ming You Ying Film co-producing the film. The cast were announced between March and June 2018. In May 2018, DreamWorks changed the title to Abominable. The music in the film was scored by Rupert Gregson-Williams.

Abominable premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2019, and was released by Universal Pictures in the United States on September 27[9][10][11] while Pearl Studio distributed the film in China.[5] The film received generally positive reviews from critics for its animation and grossed over $188 million worldwide on a production budget of $75 million.

In Southeast Asia, Abominable has garnered controversy for a scene involving a map of the region with the nine-dash line, a contested demarcation line used by China to lay claim over a portion of the South China Sea. Due to this, the film has been banned in several countries involved in territorial disputes with China over the South China Sea—namely, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

A follow-up television series, Abominable and the Invisible City, was released on streaming service Peacock and Hulu from October 2022 to March 2023.

  1. ^ "Abominable". Universal Pictures. Archived from the original on 2019-11-19. Retrieved 2019-02-22.
  2. ^ McNary, Dave (May 18, 2018). "DreamWorks-Pearl Studio Animated Movie 'Everest' Retitled 'Abominable' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Variety Media. Archived from the original on May 19, 2018. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Film releases". Variety Insight. Variety Media. Archived from the original on September 3, 2018. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
  4. ^ "DreamWorks Animation And Pearl Studio Announce Cast Of "Abominable" At Annecy International Animation Festival" (Press release). June 14, 2018. Archived from the original on May 26, 2019. Retrieved October 18, 2019 – via PR Newswire.
  5. ^ a b McLean, Tom (September 8, 2019). "'Abominable': All Yeti for the Big Screen". Animation Magazine. Archived from the original on September 9, 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  6. ^ "Abominable". TIFF. Archived from the original on 2019-08-23. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
  7. ^ a b "Abominable (2019)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  8. ^ "Abominable (2019)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  9. ^ "Universal Delays DreamWorks Animation's 'How to Train Your Dragon 3,' Sets 'Everest' Feature". Animation World Network. December 7, 2016. Archived from the original on March 25, 2017. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  10. ^ Brendon Connelly (23 March 2017). "What's going on at DreamWorks Animation?". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on 11 February 2022. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  11. ^ "Abominable". Universal Pictures. Archived from the original on 19 November 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.