Sheep and Wolves: Pig Deal

The prize-winning original film Sheep and Wolves became a series, as the creators decided to continue the adventures of Grey. During April 2016, Yuri Moskvin revealed the studio was working on a sequel with an anticipated release date on 2018.[7] Storyboard and scripting started in August 2016, with pre-production planned later in the fall of 2016.[8] In March 2018, Wizart showed first footage of the movie.[9] Sergey Selyanov (Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf-2, Three Heroes on Distant Shores), Vladimir Nikolaev (The Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice), and Yuri Moskin (The Snow Queen 2) joined to produce the film.[10][11]

Production studios Wizart and CTB Film Company united again from its prequel as joint production studios. This movie was the directorial debut of Vladimir Nikolaev who has been executive producer for many Wizart films. Robert Lence (The Beauty and the Beast) and Aleksey Tsitsilin (The Snow Queen, Kitten from Lizyukov Street 2) collaborated with writing the script whose foundation has the same original movie's elements like wolf in sheep's clothing.[10][11]

The writers wrote the children's tale around the theme of egalitarian society.[12] The movie also explores the theme of Grey's character development from a nascent leader of an animal society to a hero who must overcome his blunder by deciding whether to cave into his primal instincts as a wolf, or help the sheep, evoking the idiom of fish out of water.[13] The scriptwriters described the conflict that arises when new characters are introduced to the movie including the fox Simone and gypsy Mami. The conflict depicted a war between pacificts and militarists. Another aspect that the writers wanted to convey was peace through the character Belgour the elder leader who represents the ideal of peace. A review noted Belgour's ascetic, peaceful characteristics is a caricature to the many practitioners of nonresistance such as Leo Tolstoy.[14]

The clash of diametrically opposite clans was noted by a review from Germany as a take on the French comic book series Asterix, where the Gauls attack the Romans.[15] Many central themes are explored in this war such as the progress of civilization threatened by an outside force that is spurred by will to power. Rising tensions inside the village are also explored as a test for the utopian civilization on whether to commit condemnation and discrimination against not only the mysterious saboteurs who wreaked havoc on their defensive fortress but also the wolves themselves. Grey's response, "I have only one law of nature-to protect those who are weaker" rallies the community to preserve its founding ideals of democracy and equality under the law.[16]

An acclaimed cast was announced for the original Russian movie including Maxim Matveev who voiced Grey and Elizaveta Boyarskaya who voiced Bianca. The voices of the hosts of the radio show (Русский Перец) Russian Pepper, Galina Korneva voiced the polar fox Simona and the hare Mami, Anton Yuriev voiced the ram Ziko, and Alexey Sigaev voiced the wolf Chuk.[17][18] Mikhail Belyakovich voiced Gark, Nikita Prozorovsky voiced Belgour, Daniel Eldarov voiced Moz, and Mikhail Tikhonov voiced Skinny.

For the international version, Graham Halstead voiced Grey, Kate Bristol voiced Bianca, Melissa Hope voiced Simone, Vanessa Gardner voiced Mami, Billy Bob Thompson voiced Ziko, Major Attaway voiced Gark, Tyler Bunch voiced Belgour, Oliver Wyman voiced Moz, and Jason Griffith voiced Skinny. At the Berlinale during Feb 2018, Wizart revealed the first poster of the movie featuring a pig popping out of a hat while wolves and sheep look by.[19] The movie headed to the Marché du Film market in Cannes during March 2018 along with Wizart's other venture The Snow Queen: Mirrorlands.[20][21] Another March 2018 film festival that the movie attended was the FILMART Asian film market in Hong Kong.[22]

Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper put the film in the list of the most anticipated premieres to watch with children in 2019.[11] Wizart revealed the official opening date for Sheep and Wolves: Pig Deal to be Jan 24, 2019 with European release later in spring.[23][24] At the 43rd Toronto International Film Festival, the movie was presented to viewers.[24] During October 2018 at the American Film Market, several distributors showed interest for the movie. Deals were signed for distribution that included German distributor Koch Media.[25] In Nov 29, 2018, trailers for the movie was posted[26][27][28] Rai Gulp, Italy's largest children's TV channel, acquired the rights to televise the Wolves and Sheep series.[29]

In 2020, Russia held its own film festival called Key Buyers Event: Digital Edition. During the virtual content market, distributors from UK, India, and Africa appraised the Wolves and Sheep series. The film distributors such as Signature Entertainment, one of Britain's leading distributors, agreed to release the film to cinemas on August 10, 2020 with later home media available in November.[30][4][28] Gravel Road Distribution Group agreed to distribute the Sheep and Wolves series to Africa.[30] Vertical Entertainment will release the latest film from the Sheep and Wolves series to North America in January 29, 2021.[5]

The sequel featured improved aesthetics in naturally depicting grass and its reflection properties when the sun shines. Animators added new animals to the Sheep and Wolves universe including hares, polar foxes, and crocodiles including the curly-haired fashionista Marlene. The animators studied raccoon and bird anatomy to draw some of the characters.[31] Sheep and wolves were purposeful drawn to represent the mannerisms of people. The characters deliberately look very "humanized", especially the faces – namely the faces, not the muzzles.[10]

Benjamin Zecker composed the original score for the movie. Zecker who specializes in animation and films with credits including Nomad of Nowhere, Camp Camp (TV series, 2016) has over 29 different tracks for the movie.[32][33] The review from rateyourmusic had an approval rating of 3.5/5 stars.[34] Russian singer of musicals Yulia Iva sang the theme song.[35]

All music is composed by Benjamin Zecker.

A pre-premiere was held at the Karo Sky cinema in Moscow, presented by cinematic duo Elizaveta Boyarskaya and Maxim Matveev. On January 19, 2019, the premiere took place in Moscow, and on January 22, 2019 at the capital of the Chernozem region in the Proletarian cinema theater.[36] The movie debuted in Russia on January 24, 2019.[37] Before, there was a pre-release in Bulgaria on January 3, 2019 via Pro Films.[38] Distributed by Nashe Kino in Russia, the film also had parallel releases in Czech Republic(Bohemia Motion Pictures), and Estonia(Acme Film(lt)). Later 2019 releases included Latvia(Acme Film) on March 1, Hungary(ADS Service) on March 7, Norway(Storytelling Media) on May 31.[39][40]

The movie was featured in Turkey on March 22, 2019. June 2019 releases included France(KLB SAS) on June 4 as a DVD and Blu-ray premiere, Lithuania(Acme Film(lt)) on June 14, Germany(Koch Media) on June 27. The movie released in Poland on August 2, 2019 via Kino Świat(pl). Andes Films took the distribution rights at the AFM for four Latin American countries Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador for a late 2019 release. Latin American territories were handled by Snap TV.[39][40] The movie released in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia through the distributor MCF MegaCom.[41] The movie opened in Australia and New Zealand in January 2020 via Eagle Entertainment.[42] Other 2020 releases included January 30 release in Greece and March 1 release in Canada.[43][25] Signature Entertainment released the movie on August 10, 2020 in the United Kingdom.[4] On July 25, 2020 at the Shanghai International Film Festival the film was presented to China.[44]

In 2021, the film heads to the cinemas of USA, as global film distributor Vertical Entertainment picked up the latest film for release on January 29, 2021. Touted as an hybrid release of theater and VOD format, the film reels will also be packaged to the neighboring country Canada.[45][5]

KinoPoisk had a general consensus approval rating of 5.8/10 stars.[46] Kino-theatr.ru gave the movie 6.7/10 stars.[47] Tlum.ru noted the movie performed well on the aspects of cute animals, clear plot idea, doll decorations, and the exploration of good vs. evil who reviewed: "The main idea of the cartoon lies on the surface — the strong always protects the weak . And to the point. If you are given power, then use it for good. An interesting parallel is the collision of natural phenomena and the development of civilization. " The reviewers also couldn't ignore the fact that the setting is beautiful: "Lovely beautiful cozy homes in the spirit of Sylvanian families? Do children often build homes for their toys? Think of the city? Design the interior? Then they will really like this united village!"[16] InterMedia stated the movie is a good post-festival entertainer with the voice cast performance for the characters Grey and Bianca voiced by Maxim Matveev and Elizaveta Boyarskaya respectively, specially noted for its well convincing emotional expressions.[14] Ovideo stated the motley of characters in the film and how they play a role in the war is commendable. The review's conclusion stated:

Character design remains the main trump card of the studio; detailed drawing and smooth animation do not cause complaints, and the creators managed to refrain from using resource-intensive effects this time. In general, it turned out to be an uncomplicated, but very cute product that can captivate the widest audience with a funny and bright variation on the immortal theme of universal equality and fraternity.[48]

German review film-rezensionen.de gave the movie Völlig von der Wolle: Schwein gehabt(German title) 5/10 stars who noted the sequel was slightly better than the original film with its reference to Asterix: "The landscapes are very colorful, especially very green. However, both the objects and the figures are modeled rather sparingly, the effects are manageable, even with the topic. The story basically picks up on the conflict of its predecessor: sheep and wolves live together – the English title of the series is also Sheep and Wolves – but some wolves want to change that. This time it's wolves from abroad who want to put an end to it, which gives the film a bit of Asterix. Only that here there are no Gauls who fight against Romans, but sheep or pigs against wolves. Overall, Schwein was a little better than the predecessor."[15] Greek review from Movies LTD gave the movie 4/10 stars stating:

The design is decent (do not forget that we are not talking about Pixar or Disney); the pace is fast; the messages are simple. And while in the first film the main message was peaceful coexistence, in this film it is exactly what is mentioned in the "case": power in unity. This is very important for the times we live in. Gray is not exactly a born leader. He makes one blunder after another. At some point he doubts who he is and what he does. He also plays a Trojan horse (as I tell you!). The evil wolves come to break the harmonious coexistence, but in the end the good will prevail. The children will enjoy it. For parents an hour and a half will pass! It is enough to get good popcorn...[12]

French review from Focus on Animation stated the movie is suitable for a children's movie delving also into both its script and animation. The review stated the script could be perfected: "What a pity that the screenwriters did not choose to deepen the psychology of the characters already known to build with intelligence yet have a charming comment on free will." In terms of animation, the twilight scenes were better developed that has great potential to be reused in future projects: "At night, the muted atmospheres make the viewing more pleasant: one thinks in particular of the care taken at the camp of the pack of Shadows. By opting for the nuance, the animators tap into this potential for future productions."[49]

Film reviews by Chris Hunneysett states, "The punning title of this animated fairy tale is a very effective guide to the bright, busy, brief and fairly basic paw-powered fun on offer. The filmmakers haven’t broken the piggy bank on the wooly minded script, which despite the ramshackle plotting will make ewe laugh every now and again, and the relentless piggery-jokery may amuse any easily distracted kids."[50] Podcast review at Phoenix 98 FM by Stewart Pink applauded the film's surprising magnitude of ideas without having a rushed feeling. Furthermore, the review found the animated animal film is an innovative take in the animation industry worthy enough for viewing and should be placed among the standard fare of animated films that are presented today.[51] Moviesreview101 rated the movie on many fronts. The comedy is mostly slapstick, with the animation described as, "the animation does look good through the film, giving us the colourful designs for each of the animals." The final verdict for the film was: "Fun for the Kids."[52]

The budget of the movie was around ₽3.5 million rubles(~US$4.5 million).[40] First Russian premiere weekend saw the movie at the 9th place in the box office.[53] In the second week, the movie attained 4th place at the Russian box office.[54] Total fees in Russia totaled 108,514,508 rubles. Taking Commonwealth of Independent States collections into account, the gross increases to 115,857,994 rubles.[55] In total in Russia, collections amounted to $2.4 million. Wolves and Sheep: Pig Deal continued its prequel's performance in Bulgaria as it set records in the country. The movie attained top 2nd place at Bulgarian box office for the first weekend collected 72.5 thousand dollars and was down only by Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.[56][57][38] Current total international gross amounts to $3.5 million with releases still planned in UK, India, and Africa.[3]