Robots (2005 film)

Robots
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Chris Wedge
Screenplay by	David Lindsay-Abaire Lowell Ganz Babaloo Mandel
Story by	Ron Mita Jim McClain David Lindsay-Abaire
Produced by	Jerry Davis John C. Donkin William Joyce
Starring	Ewan McGregor Halle Berry Robin Williams Mel Brooks Greg Kinnear Amanda Bynes Drew Carey
Edited by	John Carnochan
Music by	John Powell
Production companies	20th Century Fox Animation Blue Sky Studios
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release dates	March 6, 2005 (2005-03-06) (Mann Village Theatre) March 11, 2005 (2005-03-11) (United States)
Running time	90 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$75–80 million[2][3]
Box office	$262.5 million[2]

Robots is a 2005 American animated science fiction adventure comedy film produced by 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film was directed by Chris Wedge and co-directed by Carlos Saldanha from a screenplay by David Lindsay-Abaire and the writing team of Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, based on a story conceived by Lindsay-Abaire, Ron Mita and Jim McClain. It stars the voices of Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Greg Kinnear, Mel Brooks, Amanda Bynes, Drew Carey and Robin Williams. The story follows an ambitious inventor robot named Rodney Copperbottom (McGregor), who seeks his idol Bigweld (Brooks) to work for his company in Robot City, but discovers a plot by its new leader Ratchet (Kinnear) and his mother (Jim Broadbent) to forcibly upgrade its populace and eradicate struggling robots, known as "outmodes".

Development on the film began in 2000, when Wedge and children's author William Joyce failed to adapt Joyce's 1993 children's book Santa Calls, thus scrapping the idea and instead doing a story on robots.

Robots premiered at the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood, Los Angeles, on March 6, 2005, and was released in the United States on March 11. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the film's humor and creativity, but generally deemed its story and characters to be somewhat unoriginal and forgettable.^[4] The film was commercially successful, grossing $262.5 million worldwide against a $75–80 million budget. A sequel was discussed but never produced due to the studio's heavier focus on its flagship franchise, Ice Age.^[5]