The popular app game Angry Birds will go from tablet-sized touchscreens to the big screen in May 2016 with a 3D animated film featuring the games colorful cast of characters. In the first trailer for Angry Birds: The Movie, its revealed how the titular heroes get their name: The flightless flock is enrolled in anger management classes to keep their tempers under control. The preview also shows the games antagonists the Green Pigs invading the birds island home.
Jason Sudeikis headlines the vocalcast as Red, while Josh Gad (yellow bird Chuck) and Danny McBride (Bomb) are also cast as birds. Bill Hader plays the main baddie Leonard, with a plethora of comic actors Maya Rudolph, Kate McKinnon, Hannibal Buress, Jillian Bell, Keenan-Michael Key, Ike Barinholtz, Tony Hale and Peter Dinklage rounding out the cast. The Simpsons vet Jon Vitti penned the films screenplay.
However, the trailer is bereft of slingshots and the pig-aimed destruction found in the game, and unlike their video game counterparts, the birds in the movie have legs.
The future of the Angry Birds franchise could rest in the hands of the theatrical release as Finnish game maker Rovio Entertainment endured layoffs to 30 percent of its workforce in August. The layoffs were preceded by 130 employees being let go by the company in October 2014 amid slow sales of Angry Birds offshoot games. Following the layoffs, the company announced that they would refocus their efforts entirely on games and the upcoming film, The Verge reports.