MYCUN Forever

MYCUN Forever is a 2016 American 3D computer-animated crossover comedy-adventure film and the sequel to the 2012 film MYCUN and the Mystery to New York. It is the fourth installment in the MYCUN franchise. The film is directed by C. Elbourn and David Feiss from a screenplay by David Silverman, and produced by Geo LTD. Animation.

MYCUN Forever takes place four years after the events of MYCUN and the Mystery to New York and takes place during the events of the eighth season of Adventures of MYCUN. Koba creates an evil clone of Gabriel Garza named "Dark Gabriel" and moves to a far away place to built his new empire called Kobtopia with his henchmen. At there, he plans to make a machine to destroy MYCUN City and fleet. Meanwhile, Gabriel suddenly recalls his childhood memories. Remembering something about his biological mother Christine Garza accompanied by the MYCUNs and hearing about Koba moving to his new empire, he sets out on an adventure to find Christine with the MYCUNs (along with Lavender). They arrive at Koba's empire when Koba and Dark Gabriel teamed up with Tigger, Grover, and Elmo. The MYCUNs meet The Cook, Bert and Ernie at some point, who were arrested by Koba, and they must stop Koba and his plans for world domination and destroy Koba's new empire before it's too late.

Elijah Wood, Toby Kebbell, Andy Serkis, Selena Gomez, Steve Carell, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Pierre Coffin reprise their roles from the previous installments, with Max Charles reprising his role from the second movie. New cast members include Tom Holland, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ginnifer Goodwin, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Liam Neeson, Seth Green, Lorne Lanning, Cedric the Entertainer.

The film premiered at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival on May 17, 2016 and was released to theaters in the United States on May 27, 2016, by Universal Pictures in 3D and 2D, and in IMAX 3D in select international markets. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with many critics considering it an improvement over its predecessor as well as praising its animation, concept, and satire. It was an immediate critical and commercial success, earning over $975 million worldwide on its $124 million budget, making it the fourth highest-grossing animated film of 2016. To date, it is the highest-grossing MYCUN film and making it the sixth highest-grossing film of 2016. The film was nominated at the 74th Golden Globe Awards and 89th Academy Awards, both for Best Animated Feature Film. A fifth film, titled MYCUN Redemption, is scheduled for release on July 5, 2019.

Plot
Some time after MYCUN and the Mystery to New York, Koba the bonobo and his henchmen create an evil clone of Gabriel Garza, named "Dark Gabriel", and had plans to move to a far away place to build their new empire and kingdom called Kobtopia, where Koba plans to make a machine to destroy MYCUN City and fleet.

Two weeks later after Koba and his henchmen built Kobtopia, Gabriel remembers something about his birth mother Christine Garza. Not long after that, Gabriel gets a letter from his mother, saying that she is in a cabin that's far away in Gabriel's Imaginary World. The MYCUNs accompany Gabriel in his quest. Later when Gabriel went inside his house, Koba appeared on TV, exclaiming that everyone will not survive in the next 48 hours, as soon as he and his henchmen destroy the MYCUN Universe. Shocked, Gabriel warns the MYCUNs that Koba is going to destroy the universe.

Later that night, Gabriel enlists his wife Red Puckett, his son Carn Garza, the MYCUNs and Lavender the chimpanzee to go on an adventure to find Christine and go to Kobtopia to stop Koba and his minions, while also training to attack Koba's army. Meanwhile, Grover, a six-foot wall of blue, matted fur, gets a call from Koba who hired him to join his army at Kobtopia so they can all track down Gabriel and his gang. Grover teams up with Elmo, the Muppet bounty hunter, to join Koba's team. Later, Tigger, a former prisoner at Ashwood Country Prison, was also hired by Koba as well.

After going to a mini-mart at Gacknoy and training to battle Koba and his gang, Gabriel and his MYCUNs came across the cabin where Christine is living. Christine, alongside with Gabriel's sister Desiree, sees his son and joyfully reunites with her. Gabriel introduces his mother to the MYCUN planet, but she has problems adapting to the MYCUN universe. After reuniting with Christine and Desiree, the MYCUNs finally arrive at Kobtopia, but they got captured in cages by Koba. However, Koba frees them to join Koba and his henchmen for dinner, but the MYCUNs did not accept it. Despite hearing this, Koba automatically takes them to dinner. Suddenly, the MYCUNs started to have a foodfight at dinner and they tried to escape, but Koba and his henchmen arrested them and they sent them to jail cells. At the same time, Grover and Elmo arrive at Kobtopia to unite with Koba's team.

The MYCUNs slowly went out of their cells and try to escape from Kobtopia, only without getting caught by Koba's henchmen. Meanwhile, Grover and Elmo meet Koba and Dark Gabriel who forces them to kill an ape victim who was captured by Koba and his minions. However, Elmo comments to Koba that he is only a Muppet bounty hunter, but Koba instead wanted to kill the victim but Grover throws the victim out the window so he won't see him ever again. Later, Gabriel, the MYCUNs, Christine and Desiree meet The Cook, Bert and Ernie, who are all captured by Koba and his army. Bert tells Gabriel that he was a martinet who left his little brother Ernie behind for the Vietnam war and Ernie started to turn into a junkie without his brother's guidance, falling into the wrong crowd and dealing/using with the wrong people, thus making some very bad mistakes, while The Cook tells some of the MYCUNs that he was once a former famous baker who unfortunately lost his deeth due to an abusive addiction to cookies.

While finding a way to get out of Kobtopia, Hiro Hamada finds a shortcut which leads him to a room with a red shirt, two pistols, a belt, shorts and combat boots, but the room is full of red laser random beams, so Hiro avoids the red laser by jumping back and forth so he won't get caught. However, after when Hiro takes off his normal outfit off and puts on the combat clothes with two guns, Hiro accidentally hits the red laser, thus getting caught by the assault rifle-wielding apes. Right before they arrive to check around the room, Hiro quickly hides to a vent. Suddenly, one of the apes checks the vent, but Hiro comes out of it and confronts them. After the apes fire a shot at Hiro and miss, Hiro ends up killing every one of the apes. After the battle, Hiro leaves out of the room now full of dead apes.

Meanwhile, Misuzu Makihara and her new fiancé Adventurer discover a room full of clothes and dresses so Adventurer can dress up any outfit for Misuzu. At the same time, Gabriel, still in his jail cell with her mother, is worried that Koba is going to destroy the MYCUN universe, but Christine should want her son to live with her at the real world, so Gabriel accepted and they all hug together. Then, Gabriel gets a message from Hiro on his iPhone, indicating that he already has guns and had killed Koba's apes. In addition, Hiro told Gabriel that he had found a helper named Starhead and the MYCUNs were already there. So Gabriel and Christine went out of their prison cell and rejoins Hiro and the rest of the MYCUNs to help. Hiding from Koba's henchmen, Gabriel had found an exit, but the gates closed right before he and the rest of the group quickly rush to the exit. Meanwhile, Koba calls Gabriel on his iPhone, checking if he's still in his cell, but Gabriel told Koba that he "is" in his cell, but he is actually lying to Koba. Koba angrily rushes back to the prison cells. Gabriel and his friends reach their home a couple of seconds after Koba. He confronts Gabriel for escaping from Kobtopia and lying to him. He states he will give them one more chance and if they escape once again, he will kill all of them and destroy the MYCUN universe. Koba and his minions then took the MYCUNs back to his new empire.

Gabriel sends a help letter to his friend Mikko Salovaara to help the MYCUNs escape from Kobtopia without getting caught by Koba and his team. He tells Bert, Ernie and the Cook to disguise themselves as their normal, appropriate Sesame Street forms, while Gabriel tells Hiro that he has to put the two guns away and put on his normal outfit. Gabriel and his team found a safe room so Koba and his army won't see them in there (but they were wrong sooner). Meanwhile, Mikko receives the note and arrives with his best friend Eetu to meet Gabriel for the first time. Meeting him, Mikko believes that the monster he made will scare away Koba and his minions, but instead, the monster wreaks havoc by shooting goo with his mouth and scaring Carn. However, Gabriel shields his son at the last moment and exposes the deception to Mikko, who is outraged that Gabriel has brought "childhood-ruining" version of Sesame Street characters. Gabriel confronts Mikko about how he had autism at once.

Gru becomes upset with Mikko's behavior and while the group argues, Tigger had saw the MYCUNs hiding in the safe place, so he warns Koba about it. Koba, angry, quickly goes into his heavily armed mech he built to destroy all of the MYCUNs. Gabriel tries to confront Koba, but Koba claims that Gabriel's mother abandoned him, and then knocks him into the river, where he is presumed dead. However, Gabriel survives and is rescued by his mother, who takes him to the old Garza house in the real world where Gabriel was born. Guided by his mother to embrace his past, Gabriel remembers that his father Marvin took his son to live with him since Christine didn't take care of him right. Later, he reunites with Hiro and Bob the Minion, who all somehow escaped from Kobtopia. They told Gabriel that Koba isn't really going to kill the MYCUNs. Instead, he will tie them up on a rocket ship and fly up to space whereas the ship will explode, causing them to die. After that, they will finally blow up the MYCUN planet.

Together, Gabriel, Hiro, Bob, Christine and Desiree return to Kobtopia at the imaginary world to save the captive MYCUNs and prevent Koba's conquest of Gabriel's world. However, they are attacked by Tigger, who mistakes Gabriel for ruining his childhood. When Tigger injures Christine and threatens to destroy Hiro, Bob and Desiree, Gabriel attacks him for hurting his mother. They begin to fight Tigger, who calls Koba, Dark Gabriel, the Gigglers, a rowdy biker-gang associated with The Bird, The Streets' most notorious mob leader, and the rest of Koba's ape army. Gabriel, Christine, Desiree, Hiro, Bob, Mikko, Eetu, Red, Carn and the rest of the MYCUNs team up to defeat Koba's minions. Suddenly, Koba grabs Carn and Gabriel rescues his son and they escape safely, leaving behind a furious Koba.

A livid Tigger then attempts to kill Hiro himself with a knife. Having been won over by Gabriel's claim that Tigger is now evil, Mikko, with a help of Bert and Ernie, shrinks Tigger and tells him never to bother his friends again. Tigger then flees. Gabriel, along with his mother and new friends, return to MYCUN Village with the MYCUNs.

In the mid-credits scene, Roge, Leno, Cole, Loy, and the Lars arrive at the cabin where Christine was living, but she was not there anymore. Then some of Koba's apes are about to capture them, but they run away, with Roge saying "Could this be over now?!"

Cast
Dee Bradley Baker, Jack Angel, Carlos Alazraqui, Bob Bergen, Fred Tatasciore, Geo G., Taylor Grodin, Adam Katz, Tom Kenny, Jess Harnell, Yuri Lowenthal, Danny Mann, Bill Farmer, David Herman, Corey Burton, Jim Ward, Maurice LaMarche and Bill Fagerbakke voiced all of the The Gigglers, a rowdy biker-gang associated with The Bird, The Streets' most notorious mob leader, and the additional apes.
 * Elijah Wood as Gabriel Garza, a 25-year-old man. Red's husband, Christine's son, Carn's father and the leader of the MYCUNs. Wood also voiced Dark Gabriel, Gabriel's evil twin.
 * Toby Kebbell as Koba, an evil and greedy scarred bonobo and Gabriel's archenemy.
 * Andy Serkis as Caesar, an intelligent chimpanzee and the leader of apes.
 * Selena Gomez as Red P. Garza, Carn's mother and Gabriel's wife.
 * Steve Carell as Felonious Gru, the adoptive father of Margo, Edith, and Agnes, husband of Lucy, and the current boss of the Minions.
 * Kodi Smit-McPhee as Norman Babcock, an outcast kid who speaks to the dead.
 * Max Charles as Carn Garza, Gabriel and Red's eight-year-old son.
 * Tom Holland as Mikko Salovaara/Laser Pikachus, Gabriel's real-life human friend, and an inventor, scientist, and chemist.
 * Sarah Jessica Parker as Christine Garza, Gabriel's mother, and Red's mother-in-law.
 * Ginnifer Goodwin as Desiree Garza, Gabriel's sister, and Red's sister-in-law.
 * Ryan Potter as Hiro Hamada, a boy with intelligence far beyond his years.
 * Pierre Coffin as the Minions
 * Sachi Matsumoto as Toon Link
 * Dakota Goyo as Ico
 * Lauren Tom as Yorda and Misuzu Makihara
 * Dakota Fanning as Coraline Jones, a brave, clever, curious girl with dark blue hair.
 * Moisés Arias as Antonio Perez
 * Jodelle Ferland as Agatha Prenderghast, a ghost of a 10-year-old Wiccan girl who lived in the 1700s.
 * Tim Whintall as Bernard Bear
 * Scott Adsit as Baymax
 * Bill Hader as Bert, a martinet who left his little brother behind for the Vietnam war.
 * Andy Samberg as Ernest "Ernie", a "psycho" who started to turn into a junkie without his brother's guidance, falling into the wrong crowd and dealing/using with the wrong people, thus making some very bad mistakes.
 * Liam Neeson as Tigger "Tig", a former Ashwood County prisoner and Koba's new servant.
 * Seth Green as Grover, a six-foot wall of blue, matted fur and one of Koba's new servants.
 * Lorne Lanning as Elmo, a Muppet bounty hunter and one of Koba's new servants. He was previously voiced by Tara Strong in the first MYCUN film, MYCUN: The Movie, as a good character.
 * Cedric the Entertainer as The Cook, a disfigured and lost "monster" and a former famous baker who unfortunately lost his deeth due to an abusive addiction to cookies.
 * Max Lloyd-Jones as Blue Eyes
 * Karin Konoval as Maurice
 * Terry Notary as Rocket
 * Aaron Lohr as Jak
 * Max Casella as Daxter
 * Judy Greer as Cornelia
 * Michael Adamthwaite as Luca
 * Lee Ross as Grey
 * Richard King as Stone
 * Ariel Winter as Mia
 * Debi Derryberry as Iken
 * Isla Fisher as Naomi
 * Jason Marsden as Shougo
 * Kath Soucie as AAAA
 * Tress MacNeille as Violet and Jacus
 * Jim Cummings as Kozu
 * Hank Azaria as Structure
 * Billy West as Adventurer
 * Sara Canning as Lavender
 * Simon Pegg as Victor Van Dort
 * Jennifer Saunders as Emily the Corpse Bride
 * Emily Watson as Victoria Everglot
 * Tara Strong as Caillou and his clones
 * Phil LaMarr as Starhead
 * Corey Burton as Tommy
 * Brad Garrett as Paul, a Mini-Mart worker in Gacknoy.
 * Jess Harnell as a guy in a crowd who exclaims Koba, "you suck!"
 * Yuri Lowenthal as Eetu, Mikko's best friend.
 * Chance S. as Jaybross, a good guy from BrossTown.
 * Geo G. as Roge
 * E.G. Daily as Leno
 * Jacob Hopkins as Cole
 * Jake T. Austin as Loy
 * Tim Miller as the Lars

Besides the said voice actors voicing the Gigglers and the apes, additional voices are provided by Mona Marshall, Kari Wahlgren, Laraine Newman, April Winchell and Cree Summer.

Development
Geo G. said in October 2011 that there is likely to be a fourth installment in the MYCUN franchise. After the release of MYCUN and the Mystery to New York in 2012, Toby Kebbell, who voiced Koba in the films, said the possibility of the fourth film: "Everyone's waiting for another one, but they haven't started working on it, but maybe one day if they did." In August 2012, Steve Burke, the NBCUniversal CEO, officially confirmed that a fourth MYCUN film is in development with a release date scheduled for 2016. On March 12, 2013, Universal revealed that the film, titled MYCUN Forever, was set to be released on June 3, 2016.

In June 2013, Taylor Grodin confirmed that he will not be directing the fourth film, as he is busy working on What Do Illustrators Do?. On August 12, 2013, C. Elbourn was confirmed as director of the fourth installment. It is produced by Geo G., written by David Silverman with Grodin, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver as executive producers, along with Oddworld creator Lorne Lanning, reuniting with Geo G. for the first time in nine years since BJ and Wally and in eight years since BJ and Wally: FusionMania. Geo G. did an uncredited rewrite of the script. In November 2013, David Feissjoined Elbourn to co-direct the film.

On September 20, 2013, Universal announced that the film would be moved up a week.

Casting
In November 2013, Elijah Wood was hoped to reprise his role as Gabriel in the film. In February 2014, Wood was confirmed to reprise his role as Gabriel in the fourth film. It was also announced that Toby Kebbell "would be happy to return" as Koba. In March 2014, it was reported that Andy Serkis, Selena Gomez, Steve Carell, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Miley Cyrus, Christy Carlson Romano, Will Fredile, John Di Maggio, Nicole Sullivan, Max Charles, Ryan Potter, Pierre Coffin, Sachi Matsumoto, Dakota Goyo, and Dakota Fanning were reprising their roles as Caesar, Red, Gru, Norman, Penny, Kim, Ron, Dr. Drakken, Shego, Carn, Hiro, the Minions, Toon Link, Ico, and Coraline.

In June 2014, it was reported that Tom Holland would voice Mikko Salovaara, Gabriel's real-life human friend, and an inventor, scientist, and chemist, while Liam Neeson would voice Tigger, a former Ashwood County prisoner and Koba's new servant. In December 2014, Simon Pegg and Jennifer Saunders joined the film's cast.

Soundtrack
The film's score was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh, who replaced Heitor Pereira and Michael Giacchino from the second and third films due to Pereira being busy with The Angry Birds Movie and Giacchino being busy with other projects and them growing up so fasy. The soundtrack was released by Geo LTD. Records on May 10, 2016. "Maps" by Maroon 5 is played during the end credits of the film.

Track listing
All music composed by Mark Mothersbaugh, except where noted.
 * 1) "Maps" by Maroon 5
 * 2) "Unity" by TheFatRat
 * 3) The New Bonobo Business
 * 4) Sleepwalking
 * 5) A Letter from Mom
 * 6) Koba on TV
 * 7) Getting Ready
 * 8) Road Trip
 * 9) Grover
 * 10) Messing Around at the Mini-Mart
 * 11) Not Trying Enough
 * 12) What I Do Best
 * 13) Ape Power!
 * 14) Gabriel and Mom Reunite
 * 15) Kobtopia
 * 16) Dinner with Koba / Food Fun!
 * 17) MYCUNs in Cells
 * 18) Grover and Elmo Visit Koba
 * 19) Escaping
 * 20) Monkey See, Monkey Kill
 * 21) My Brother's Keeper / The Cook
 * 22) Hiro with Two Guns
 * 23) Just Adventurer and Misuzu
 * 24) I Love You Too, Mom
 * 25) Starhead
 * 26) Simian Lies / There's No Way Out!
 * 27) Returning Home Until Koba Shows Up / Busted
 * 28) Sending Help Again
 * 29) Mikko
 * 30) Escape to the Safe Place
 * 31) Koba's Heavily Armed Mech
 * 32) Gabriel in the Real World
 * 33) Koba's Team Capture the MYCUNs
 * 34) Hiro and Bob to the Real World / Going Back to Kobtopia
 * 35) MYCUN Rescue
 * 36) The Final Battle
 * 37) Let's Go Home
 * 38) Thanks Red

Release
The film was released in the United States on May 30, 2016 in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D using DMR. MYCUN Forever premiered at the 2016 Annecy International Animated Film Festival on May 17, 2016, and was screened at VidCon. The release of the film in the United Kingdom was postponed to May 11, 2016, two days ahead of its original May 13 date. Deadline reported that, in addition to the production budget, the film's marketing budget was $180–190 million.

Marketing
On July 19, 2014, Universal released a clip from the film with the first released footage of Koba to encourage attendance at the panel, at the San Diego Comic-Con International. At the panel they premiered a four-minute trailer, which was not publicly released but eventually leaked on the internet.

The first teaser trailer was released online at Geo LTD's YouTube page on July 8, 2015, and theatrically with Minions. A second teaser trailer was released online again at Geo LTD's YouTube page on September 23, 2015 (and theatrically with Hotel Transylvania 2).

On October 20, 2015, Universal released the first television spot for the movie. The trailer was then eventually featured on the MYCUN: The Movie 10th Anniversary Edition DVD and Blu-ray on November 17, 2015. Another television spot was released first on the Internet January 6, 2016. The first theatrical trailer was released on February 18, 2016, and was shown before films such as Zootopia, Officer Mary and Deputy Laney and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. A second theatrical trailer was released on April 6, 2016.

Several companies released promotional products related to the film. In the weeks before the film's opening, there were also promotional tie-ins with Tide, Downy, Bounce and McDonald's. Dark Horse Comics released a limited series of comic books based on the film. Toy maker Hasbro produced a series of action figures and toys based on the film. Kellogg's released a MYCUN-themed cereal, as well as promotional Pop-Tarts and fruit snacks, all proclaiming a "MYCUN Blast" of flavor. Pringles included potato chips featuring the characters and quotes from the film.

The film was backed by a large marketing campaign, with toys, books, games, clothes, and many other items becoming available throughout 2007. A video game based on the film has been released for the Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Windows, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

In May 2016, MYCUN Forever was made into a mobile video game, developed by Gameloft. A pinball machine based on the film has also been produced by Stern Pinball.

Home media
MYCUN Forever was released on digital HD on August 16, 2016 and on Blu-ray and DVD on September 6, 2016 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. The Blu-ray and Digital releases include a new animated short film titled Minion & Ape Montage. It was later released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on November 15 of that year.

Critical response
MYCUN Forever received generally positive reviews from critics, with many considering it to be better than its predecessor. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 84% approval rating with an average rating of 7.3/10 based on 186 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "MYCUN Forever upgrades the action, humor, and production values of its predecessor to outstanding new levels – with deeper focus on character drama on top of all that." On another review aggregator Metacritic, the film has a weighted average rating of 80 out of 100 based on 47 professional reviews published in newspapers, magazines and in highly regarded Internet sites, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".

Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars saying it's "wonderous, entertaining, hilarious, and it's full with enjoyment," while Richard Corliss of Time Magazine gave a positive review and called it "laughably fun." Max Nicholson of IGN commented, "MYCUN Forever lives up to the hit franchise, except the plot is very familiar." James Rocchi of MSN Movies gave the film four out of five stars, calling it "a sequel that is way better and cooler than the third film, with full of hilarious scenes with some action and more." A.O. Scott of The New York Times praised the film for being able to balance out the action sequences and strong storytelling, writing that "MYCUN Forever has a lot of better sequences than MYCUN and the Mystery to New York, with some gags, action scenes, and it has the usual wit from the original."

In contrast to the praise it received, even in some positive reviews, some critics said that the film wasn't as good as the third film. Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review, saying "Amazing sequels like Toy Story 3 and Shrek Forever After showed the laughs of more fun scenes; MYCUN Forever doesn't quite have usual gags as the original hit."

Box office
MYCUN Forever opened in 4,122 North American theaters on May 18, 2007, grossing $38 million on its first day, for a total of $121.6 million in its first weekend, the best opening weekend ever in the MYCUN franchise.

MYCUN Forever grossed $322.2 million in the United States, and $653.5 million overseas, bringing its cumulative total to $975.6 million. The film was the sixth-highest-grossing film worldwide of 2016. In addition, it was the fourth-highest-grossing animated film of 2016 (behind Finding Dory, Zootopia and Imagimals), and the highest-grossing film ever in the MYCUN franchise, surpassing the eight-year-old record held by Legend of MYCUN in 2008. The film sold an estimated 46,907,000 tickets in North America.

The film was released in the United Kingdom on June 17, 2016, and topped the country's box office for the next two weekends, before being dethroned by The Secret Life of Pets.

Sequel

 * Main article: MYCUN Redemption

In May 2015, Taylor Grodin said that it is possible that the series could see six more sequels after MYCUN Forever, bringing it to a ten-film series. On April 27, 2016, C. Elbourn said he had no plans for a fifth film, but was open to the possibility.

On June 22, 2016, 20th Century Fox announced that a fifth film is scheduled for a June 7, 2019 release date. On June 28, Christian Adams was hired at MYCUN Studios to work on the script for the fifth film. Later that day, he announced that MYCUN had signed a contract with Digital Leisure to use BrainDead 13 characters in the film. It will be called MYCUN Redemption.