Sony recently released the first teaser trailer forThe Emoji Movie, which is slated to come out later this year. While the reaction from many people online seemed to be that the movie is largely unnecessary, perhaps the cast may be able to change everyone’s minds. As hard as it may be to believe, the studio has tappedSir Patrick Stewartto voice the poop emoji inThe Emoji Movie.
Sony made the announcement during a big event they held today called Sony Animation Day. The officialSony PicturesTwitter account made the news public, saying thatPatrick Stewartwould be voicing the character, simply named Poop. That may not make the prospect ofThe Emoji Movieas a whole seem more appealing, but the idea of hearing such a distinguished actor voicing an expressive pile of poop is definitely something to grab onto. Aside from his work as Professor X in theX-Menmovies and the iconic Captain Jean-Luc Picard fromStar Trek: The Next Generation,Patrick Stewarthas done quite a bit of voice work onFamily GuyandAmerican Dad, so this is oddly in his wheelhouse.
In addition to bringing onSir Patrick Stewartas Poop, it was also announced during the event that SNL alumMaya Rudolphwill be voicing Smiler, a smiley face emoji.The Emoji Moviealso nabbed the talents ofJennifer Coolidge(2 Broke Girls) andJake T. Austinfor the movie. They will be joiningDeadpoolstarT.J. Miller, who is providing the voice for the main character Gene and legendary comedianSteven Wright, who is voicing Mel Meh, Gen’s dad. It may still be hard for many people to picture an entire movie centered on Emoji, but there is no question that Sony is assembling a great cast forThe Emoji Movie. That is no guarantee the movie will be great, but it certainly doesn’t hurt anything. Here is the synopsis for the movie.
“The Emoji Movie unlocks the never-before-seensecret worldinside your smartphone. Hidden within the messaging app is Textopolis, a bustling city where all your favorite emojis live, hoping to be selected by the phone’s user. In this world, eachemojihas only one facial expression - except for Gene, an exuberant emoji who was born without a filter and is bursting with multiple expressions. Determined to become “normal” like the other emojis, Gene enlists the help of his handy best friend Hi-5 and the notorious code breaker emoji Jailbreak. Together, they embark on an epic “app-venture” through the apps on the phone, each its own wild and fun world, to find the Code that will fix Gene. But when a greater danger threatens the phone, the fate of all emojis depends on these three unlikely friends who must save their world before it’s deleted forever.”
The Emoji Movieis being directed byTony Leondis, whose only feature length movie to date was 2008’sIgor. It is pretty easy to shrug at the existence of a movie like this, but prior to the actual release ofThe LEGO Movie, it was also hard to see how something like that would work, and it wound up working quite well. So, maybeSir Patrick Stewartcan save this movie from actually being a pile of poop.The Emoji Movieis set to hit theaters nationwide onAugust 4, 2017. You can check out the official Twitter announcement from Sony for yourself below, which features looks at both Poop and Smiler.
