From Popular App to All-Star Cast, ‘Angry Birds’ Opens Nationwide

The year was 2009 and Angry Birds was a relatively unknown iPhone app. Then in what felt like overnight, it was one of the most popular apps out there. It was pretty basic, pigs and birds in what appeared to be a war. With the success of the video game and later the mountains of merchandise that soon came with it, Hollywood knew someone had to start penning the script, then Jon Vitti did. It seems like perhaps they missed the height of the Angry Birds phenomenon but thanks to a cast that has as many stars as a night out at the Emmys, “Angry Birds” may wind up being the sleeper, animated hit of the summer.

Jason Sudeikis stars as Red, the signature bird with the permanent scowled brow. His feathered community rallies together to let him know that he may need anger management. Of course, he feels they’re being dramatic about the whole thing. One thing leads to another and he agrees but not before the birds’ sworn enemies – the pigs – hit the scene. The swine ship in and try to take over subsequently causing an all-out war. Birds are being tossed by slingshot and walls are being torn down.

Sudeikis leads the cast and his character’s arch-enemy, aside from the other birds urging him to seek therapy, is fellow “Saturday Night Live” alum, Bill Hader. Those two are joined by a who’s who of comedic talent including Josh Gad who audiences will recognize as the voice of Olaf from Disney’s giant hit “Frozen.” Also, voicing these creatures are “Game of Thrones” star Peter Dinklage, Sean Penn, Jillian Bell and Kate McKinnon.

While it’s been some time since Angry Birds app was all the rage, it seems as if that doesn’t matter to moviegoers. People, young and not so young, are still rocking the backpacks, shirts and hats; with this movie being released on a pretty dry weekend at the theaters it may turn out to reach promising numbers at the box office after all. It doesn’t have the nostalgia of “Finding Dory” or the history of “Kung Fu Panda” but it has a stellar cast that could make even a silly war between birds and pigs worth the money.

“Angry Birds” opens everywhere May 20.