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Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules is a 2022 computer-animated comedy film directed by Luke Cormican (on his feature directorial debut), based on Jeff Kinney’s 2008 novel of the same name. It is a sequel to Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021) and the second Rodrick Rules adaptation following the 2011 live-action feature.
Besides, this is the second fully-animated picture in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film series and the sixth overall. Brady Noon, Ethan William Childress, Chris Diamantopoulos, Erica Cerra, and Hunter Dillon return to reprise their roles from the first film.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Bardel Entertainment, with the latter providing animation services, and it premiered on Disney+ on December 2, 2022, as a Disney+ original film.
The Road To Success Of Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” received the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award for Favorite Book six years in a row, and as of current year, more than 275 million copies of Jeff Kinney’s 17 novels had sold worldwide, making it the sixth best-selling series of all time. He’s also written three other books as part of a spin-off series.
The “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” franchise, which follows middle-schooler Greg Heffley as he illustrates his daily life in a diary, is still going strong, with four live-action feature films released by 20th Century Fox between 2010 and 2017, as well as an animated feature film, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, released last December by Walt Disney Pictures and Bardel Entertainment.
Diary Of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, the second 3DCG animated film in the franchise, will be released on Disney+ on Friday, December 2nd, by Kinney and the Disney team.
Kinney, who spent nearly a decade working on the first book until it was released in 2007 after its 2004 online debut, acts as writer and producer on the film, which is directed by Teen Titans GoLuke !’s Cormican.
Based on the second book in Kinney’s series, the animated sequel to 2021’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid follows the raucous antics of angst-ridden, disaster-prone middle school student Greg Heffley. However, the tale this time revolves around Greg’s problematic relationship with his spikey-haired, high school-aged older brother Rodrick.
Rodrick is a slacker who spends far too much time practicing with his rock band, Löded Diper, but while he enjoys tormenting Greg, he ultimately has genuine respect for his younger brother. So, when Greg and Rodrick’s parents leave the boys’ home alone for the week, Rodrick takes Greg under his wing and teaches him the “Rodrick Rules” of life, with no apostrophe “s.”
Though the route to success was not easy, Kinney’s series swiftly gained popularity once it was published, proving that a goofy and wimpy cartoon middle-schooler can earn its position among children’s fictional heroes. In a recent interview, Kinney discussed the new film, the role of animation in amplifying Greg and the other characters, and his hopes for how these stories would affect family dynamics.
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How Did The Journey Of “Diary Of A Wimpy Kid” Begin?
Jeff Kinney aspired to become a newspaper cartoonist like his idols, Charles Schultz, Bill Watterson, and Gary Larson. Unfortunately, the syndicates did not appreciate his work, and the realm of cartoon syndication was becoming increasingly confined. So Jeff didn’t stand a chance. He tried for three years to become a syndicated cartoonist but was unsuccessful.
Jeff eventually realized that if he wanted to view my cartoons, he needed to create a different format for them. Jeff worked on Diary of a Wimpy Kid for approximately eight years before showing it to anyone. Finally, he brought a sample package to New York Comic Con, got an editor, and was published about a year later.
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Key Messages of Diary Of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
Truthfulness comes first, followed by humor. They are attempting to present a story that doesn’t feel manufactured, but rather real to a child’s existence. And, of course, they have to make these stories amusing or they won’t work. Humor is greatly enhanced by animation.
Animation can be thought of as an abstract. It has a lot of potential. However, the film’s best moments are sometimes the quiet ones. Grandpa Heffley is played by Edward Asner, and he expresses his disappointment as a father that his boys did not stay close. They’re employing animated characters to make a powerful statement. That’s quite cool that you can do that.
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What needed to change to bring characters into 3D animation from the book illustrations?
It was difficult to ensure that the characters were believable. They experimented with numerous models. Rowley Jefferson, for example, was a particularly difficult character to depict due to his unusual skull shape. But they have got the pattern and the formula down pat. So he drew anything as a sketch on a page, and it’ll come out as a 3D animated character. It’s all a result of their abilities.
When you look at Rodrick’s head in the book, you’ll notice that he has these spiky hairs. However, they are all in a row. So, when you place that on his head in 3D, it almost looks like a Chia Pet. In some ways, it’s unsettling. Frank, the father, had a similar problem with his hair. There will undoubtedly be numerous technological challenges.
What’s intriguing is that they don’t know how different the film would have looked if they had another hundred million dollars to spend on it because their characters are really basic and there aren’t many new nuances. They have no skin textures or anything of the sort. The characters are straightforward.
