Animal Farm (2025 film)
Film by Andy Serkis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Animal Farm (marketed as Animal Farm: A Cautionary Tail)[6][7] is a 2025 animated comedy-drama film directed by Andy Serkis and written by Nicholas Stoller, loosely based on the 1945 novella by George Orwell. The film stars Seth Rogen, Gaten Matarazzo, Steve Buscemi, Glenn Close, Laverne Cox, Kieran Culkin, Woody Harrelson, Jim Parsons, Serkis, Kathleen Turner, and Iman Vellani. It is the third adaptation of the novella, following the 1954 animated film and the 1999 live-action film, with an alternative, coming-of-age plot that introduces new characters such as a piglet called Lucky, an original character who is also the central protagonist.
- Andy Serkis
- Adam Nagle
- Dave Rosenbaum
- Jonathan Cavendish
| Animal Farm | |
|---|---|
American theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Andy Serkis |
| Screenplay by | Nicholas Stoller[1] |
| Based on | |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Edited by | Kevin Pavlovic |
| Music by | Heitor Pereira |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Angel Studios |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 96 minutes |
| Countries | |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35 million[3] |
| Box office | $5.8 million[4][5] |
Animal Farm premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on 9 June 2025, and was released in the United States and Canada on 1 May 2026, by Angel Studios.[8] The film received generally negative reviews from critics and was a box-office bomb, only grossing $5.8 million against a $35 million budget in its first days of theater run.[9]
Plot
After failing to make his mortgage payments, Farmer Jones's Manor Farm is repossessed by the bank. The farm is set to be sold to Pilkington Industries, led by vicious billionaire Frieda Pilkington, who intends to slaughter the livestock. While the animals initially believe they are being taken on vacation to a "laughterhouse", a sow named Snowball realizes their true fate and decides that the animals should rebel against the humans. The animals drive out the owners and take control of the farm, renaming it 'Animal Farm'. Under Snowball's watch, they establish an autonomous government with a code of laws designed to prevent them from becoming like humans.
As the animals struggle to learn how to run the farm on their own, fellow pig Napoleon objects to Snowball's plan to build a watermill and begins convincing the other animals that Snowball is hindering their freedom. Napoleon pressures Snowball into leaving, seizing control of Animal Farm. Meanwhile, in an attempt to take the farm once more, the bank requires the farm to pay $1,000 per month, expecting it not to be able to. However, the animals manage to raise the funds by operating a market, with them using their extra money to shop at Pilkington's mall. Pilkington, still insistent on owning the farm, begins to ally with Napoleon and the pigs, giving them free things to use Napoleon through his conceit and greed. With the help of his lackey Squealer, Napoleon starts warping the laws of Animal Farm to begin favouring pigs and humans, convincing the animals that they misremembered the original.
Soon, life on Animal Farm starts to become miserable for the other animals, all while Napoleon and the pigs begin to enjoy an affluent lifestyle, behaving more and more like humans in the process. Snowball's former protege, Lucky, whom Napoleon takes a liking to as a son figure, begins questioning the regime when fellow pig Puff leaves due to the conditions. His perception is further shattered when Napoleon and Squealer well Boxer, the shire horse, to Pilkinton's slaughterhouse after breaking at saving a human.
Feeling despondent, Lucky is motivated by the elderly donkey Benjamin to rebel against Napoleon. Lucky and the other animals stage a plan to ridicule Napoleon as he addresses Pilkington's company. However, the dam breaks, flooding the farm. After both of them end up on the water tower, Napoleon tries to fight Lucky, but ends up drowning after being trapped by the water tower. With Napoleon gone, Lucky and all the other animals look up towards the stars, uncertain but hopeful about their future.
Voice cast
- Seth Rogen as Napoleon, a Gloucestershire Old Spots pig and co-leader of the rebellion who rises to power at Animal Farm.
- Gaten Matarazzo as Lucky, a Gloucestershire Old Spots piglet torn between Napoleon and Snowball's teachings.
- Kieran Culkin as Squealer, a Gloucestershire Old Spots boat and Napoleon's aide
- Glenn Close as Freida Pilkington, Mr. Jones' neighbor and a billionaire scheming to take over Animal Farm. She is named for and loosely based on Mr. Pilkington and Mr. Frederick from the novel.
- Steve Buscemi as Mr. Whymper, a banker and assistant to Pilkington.
- Laverne Cox as Snowball, a Tamworth sow and co-leader of the rebellion who is Napoleon's rival. This character was male in Orwell's book.
- Woody Harrelson as Boxer, a hard-working shire horse who is Benjamin and Lucky's best friend.
- Jim Parsons as:
- Carl, a sheep who mistrusts Napoleon.
- Carl's flock, who blindly follow others.
- Andy Serkis as:
- Randolph, a rooster.
- Farmer Jones (uncredited), the original owner of the farm.[10]
- Kathleen Turner as Benjamin, an elderly, cynical donkey and Boxer and Lucky's best friend.
- Iman Vellani as Puff and Tammy, two show piglets and Lucky's friends. Puff being Lucky's love interest.
Production
In July 2011, a feature film adaptation of George Orwell's 1945 novella Animal Farm was announced to be in development, with Rupert Wyatt serving as director. Wyatt and Andy Serkis, who had worked together on Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), were slated to serve as co-screenwriters.[11] By October 2012, Serkis was announced to have taken over directorial duties, with the project being developed as a HFR-3D film.[12] In August 2018, Netflix purchased distribution rights to the film.[13][14][15] Serkis began pre-production on the project, after completing his directing duties for the Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) film Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021).[16]
By April 2022, it was announced that production had commenced as an animated film at Cinesite Studios, with a screenplay written by Nicholas Stoller.[17][18] Serkis also served as producer, alongside Adam Nagle, Dave Rosenbaum, and Jonathan Cavendish with both Stoller and Wyatt set to serve as executive producers.[19] Connie Nartonis Thompson produced the film on behalf of Cinesite. The project is a joint-venture production between Cinesite, Aniventure, and the Imaginarium Productions, with Netflix dropping the distribution rights.[20][21] In March 2023, during an interview with Screen Rant, Serkis stated that one year of production had passed while another year was left for the film.[22] Deadline Hollywood reported in May 2024 that Animal Farm finished production.[23]
In April 2025, the cast was announced, with Serkis, Seth Rogen, Steve Buscemi, Glenn Close, Iman Vellani, and Kieran Culkin among the additions.[24]
Release
Animal Farm had its world premiere on 9 June 2025, at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.[25] It premiered in the United Kingdom on 11 October 2025, at the BFI London Film Festival.[26] In December 2025, Angel Studios acquired the U.S. theatrical distribution rights for the film. It was released on 1 May 2026.[27]
Reception
Box office
Animal Farm grossed $1.15 million from 2,600 theaters on its first day of release in the United States and Canada, including Thursday night previews.[5]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 28% of 64 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "All Animal Farm adaptations are equal, but some Animal Farm adaptations are more watchable than others."[28] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 29 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[29] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C-" on an A+ to F scale, the lowest grade ever for an animated film and for Angel Studios.[30]
Peter Debruge of Variety wrote: "Serkis' 21st-century update dilutes Orwell's political allegory in favor of what passes for something more 'audience friendly': His approach adopts the celebrity voices, cutesy character designs and antic, mile-a-minute energy of big-studio American toons. The result isn't nearly as polished as Illumination or DreamWorks movies, but 'good enough for government work,' as the saying goes."[31]
Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood wrote: "With a screenplay, alternately funny and frighteningly perceptive by Nicholas Stoller, this gorgeously animated version is not outwardly trying to be political but nevertheless is uncannily meeting its time and proving to be a little too close for comfort to America's drift toward authoritarianism."[32] Rafael Motamayor's IGN review noted that Serkis shifts Orwell's allegory from Stalinism to modern corporate corruption, trading a dystopian tone for "something a little more uplifting." He praised the visuals and cast, but felt the adaptation "lost some teeth" compared to the novel.[33]
Tim Robey, writing for The Daily Telegraph, gave it one out of five stars, heavily criticizing the film: "A Trump-era makeover for this classic is totally misjudged, from terrible songs to toilet humour."[34] Mark Kennedy rated the film zero out of four stars in an Associated Press review, writing that "screenwriter Nicholas Stoller and director Andy Serkis' awfully misguided Disneyfication of one of the greatest allegorical satires in the English language is a cinematic car crash."[35] In Civitas Outlook, Titus Techera wrote that the film "completely betrayed Orwell's story."[36]
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