The Peanuts Movie

The Peanuts Movie is an upcoming American 3D computer-animated comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox based on Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts. The film is directed by Steve Martino and written by Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz, and Cornelius Uliano. It features the voices of Bill Melendez (via archive recordings) and Noah Schnapp. It is set to be the fifth full-length feature film to be based on the comic, and the first feature film based on the characters in 35 years. The film will commemorate the 65th anniversary of the comic strip, and is scheduled to be released on November 6, 2015. The film will star Charlie Brown on an epic quest.

Premise
Snoopy goes up against his nemesis the Red Baron, while Charlie Brown tries to win the affection of the Little Red-Haired Girl.

Cast and characters

 * Bill Melendez as Snoopy and Woodstock (from archival recordings)
 * Noah Schnapp as Charlie Brown
 * Hadley Belle Miller as Lucy van Pelt
 * AJ Teece as Pig-Pen
 * Noah Johnston as Schroeder
 * Venus Schultheis as Peppermint Patty
 * Alexander Garfin as Linus van Pelt
 * Francesca Capaldi as the Little Red-Haired Girl
 * Mar Mar as Franklin
 * Mariel Sheets as Sally Brown
 * Rebecca Bloom as Marcie
 * William Alexander Wunsch as Shermy
 * Anastasia Bredikhina as Patty
 * Madisyn Shipman as Violet

Because of the robust amount of existing Peanuts characters, the film will not introduce any new characters. Other characters expected to appear include Snoopy's love interest, Fifi; Snoopy's brother Olaf; and a group of Beagle Scouts.

Production
In 2006, six years after the release of the last original Peanuts strip, as well as the death of creator Charles M. Schulz, his son Craig Schulz came up with an idea for a Peanuts film, which he showed to his screenwriter son Bryan Schulz. "I was happy to show my son," Craig said. "He showed me how to make it bigger — how to blow it up more — and he helped me put in structure." When presenting their film to studios, Craig stipulated that the film remain under Schulz control, saying, "We need[ed] to have absolute quality control and keep it under Dad’s legacy... You can’t bring people in from the outside and expect them to understand Peanuts." On October 9, 2012, it was announced that 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios were developing a 3D computer-animated feature film based on the strip, with Steve Martino directing from the screenplay by Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz, and Cornelius Uliano. Craig, Bryan, and Uliano are also producing. Craig, claiming there is no one "more protective of the comic strip than myself," chose Martino as director because he showed faithfulness to classics in his adaptation of Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!.

On the film's plot, Martino said: "Here's where I lean thematically. I want to go through this journey... Charlie Brown is that guy who, in the face of repeated failure, picks himself back up and tries again. That's no small task. I have kids who aspire to be something big and great... a star football player or on Broadway. I think what Charlie Brown is — what I hope to show in this film — is the everyday qualities of perseverance... to pick yourself back up with a positive attitude — that's every bit as heroic... as having a star on the Walk of Fame or being a star on Broadway. That's the [story's] core. This is a feature film story that has a strong dramatic drive, and takes its core ideas from the strip." Martino and his animators spent over a year looking at Charles Schulz' original drawing style to help translate the "hand-drawn warmth... into the cool pixel-precision of CGI" without the fear of something getting lost in translation, such as "how the dot of an eye [conveyed] joy or sorrow so efficiently". In addition to receiving the rights to use Bill Melendez's voice for Snoopy and Woodstock, Martino was also able to get the rights to archive music from previous Peanuts specials. Classic locations will be featured, such as Charlie Brown's skating pond, his house, "the wall" and Lucy's psychiatrist booth, each retaining their "eternal look of the strip." Additionally, despite being outdated technology, rotary phones and typewriters will be seen, as well as Lucy's psychiatrist booth still costing a nickel. Adult characters voices are represented by the "wah-wah" of a trombone, as in previous Peanuts media.

On January 8, 2013, Leigh Anne Brodsky became the managing director of Peanuts Worldwide and was set to control all the global deals for the film. In April 2013, Fox announced that the film would be released in 3D. In October 2013, it was announced that Paul Feig would also produce. By April 2015, 75% of the animation was complete, with some footage scheduled to debut at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.

Release
The Peanuts Movie is scheduled to be released on November 6, 2015. It was originally scheduled for release on November 25, 2015, to "commemorate the 65th anniversary of the comic strip and the 50th anniversary of the TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas", before being rescheduled to November 6, 2015 in November 2012. The film will be released as Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie in the United Kingdom.