The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie (2025)

The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie is a 2026 British-American live-action/animated science fiction comedy film based on the Cartoon Network animated series The Amazing World of Gumball. The film was produced by Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe in association with both Cartoon Network Studios and Cartoon Network, with additional funding provided by StudioCanal. It was directed and co-written by series creator Ben Bocquelet (in his feature-length directorial debut) and co-written by Mic Graves, the film stars the regular television cast of Duke Cutler, Christian J. Simon, Charles Philipp, Kyla Rae Kowaleski, Teresa Gallagher, Dan Russell, Jessica McDonald and more. The movie acts as a conclusion to the original series, taking place after the events of the series' seventh season. The film was followed by a follow-up epilogue mini-series, titled Gumball: Post Void, which premiered in January 2027. In the film, Gumball and the rest of Elmore have to save their town from "The Void".

Bocquelet expressed his interest in producing a Gumball film in 2015. The film was announced in February 2021, under the working title The Amazing World of Gumball Movie, and was set to release on the streaming service Max. After several years of development hell, the film was then rewritten and mainline production began. Although the film was initially meant for a direct-to-video release, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav saw enough potential in it that he approved a theatrical release.

The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie premiered in the village of Elmore in the United Kingdom on November 27, 2026, and was released in the United States on December 18, 2026. Receiving widespread acclaim from critics, it is frequently cited as one of the greatest animated films ever made, with critics praising the vocal performances, screenplay, emotional depth, animation, plot, characters and the musical score. The film earned $307 million worldwide, finishing its theatrical run as the ninth highest-grossing film of 2026.

The recipient of many accolades, The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie won five Academy Awards, including Best Animated Feature, Best Original Score for John Debney, Best International Feature Film, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Visual Effects; it was nominated for Best Picture, thus making it the fourth and currently most recent animated film to be nominated for this award (after 1991's Beauty and the Beast, 2009's Up and 2010's Toy Story 3). It also won two Golden Globe Awards (including Best Motion Picture – Animated) and two British Academy Film Awards (including Best Animated Film), and was named one of the top ten films of 2026 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute.

  • 1 Synopsis
  • 2 Plot
  • 3 Cast
    • 3.1 Reprised from the series
    • 3.2 New characters
  • 4 Production
    • 4.1 Resurgence
    • 4.2 Animation and visual effects
  • 5 Music
    • 5.1 Score
    • 5.2 Soundtrack
    • 5.3 Track listing
  • 6 Release and marketing
    • 6.1 Home media
    • 6.2 Video game
  • 7 Reception
    • 7.1 Box office
    • 7.2 Critical reception
    • 7.3 Accolades
  • 8 Gallery
  • 9 Trivia
  • 10 Transcripts
    • 10.1 Main
    • 10.2 Trailers
  • 11 Credits

Synopsis[]

After the "Void" affects 99% of Elmore, Gumball, Darwin and a few of their surviving friends team up to save their town by travelling across several animated universes. Adventures, battles, and hilarious debacles ensue, as Gumball and his friends navigate the Multiverse and attempt to save Elmore and their loved ones before Rob catches on. Even if they can save Elmore, the may face an even bigger threat.

Plot[]

The film begins with a flashback scene; Nicole, while running to her karate tournament, meets Richard for the first time. The two quickly become a couple, and eventually become parents of three children; Gumball, Darwin (who was adopted) and Anais. It then cuts to the last minute of "The Inquisition", and how Rob got sucked into the Void.

The next day, while the students of Elmore Junior High are learning, their classroom shakes; everyone assumes it's an earthquake, but they soon realize that it's actually the Void slowly sucking up Elmore. Most of the students manage to escape but almost all of Elmore is wiped out; only Gumball, Darwin, Anais, Carrie, Penny, Masami, Carmen, Alan and Bobert are accounted for in the immediate aftermath. After exploring more of the Void, they meet Unipuppy Wolfcorn, a wolf-unicorn hybrid, and Axe Ogasawa, an axolotl, supposedly scrapped characters from The Amazing World of Gumball who ended up in the Void as a result, and later join Gumball and his friends.

Cast[]

Reprised from the series[]

  • Duke Cutler as Gumball Watterson
  • Christian J. Simon as Darwin Watterson
  • Charles Philipp as Rob
  • Kyla Rae Kowalewski as Anais Watterson
  • Teresa Gallagher as Penny Fitzgerald, Nicole Watterson, Teri, Margaret Robinson and Polly Fitzgerald
  • Jessica McDonald as Carrie Krueger, Masami Yoshida, Molly Collins, Sarah G. Lato and Rachel Wilson
  • Adam Long as Steve Small
  • Dan Russell as Richard Watterson, Patrick Fitzgerald and Coach Russo
  • Hugo Harold-Harrison as Tobias Wilson, Alan Keane, Miss Simian, Idaho and Felix
  • Kerry Shale as Bobert 6B, Larry Needlemeyer, Colin, Hector Jötunheim and Leslie
  • Alix Wilton Regan as Carmen Verde
  • Maria Teresa Creasey as Jamie Russo and Judith Fitzgerald
  • Stefan Ashton Frank as Mr. Robinson and Tina Rex
  • Steve Furst as Nigel Brown
  • Mic Graves as Banana Joe
  • Maxwell Caizer as Ocho and Clayton
  • Beatbox Hobbit as Juke
  • Sandra Searles Dickinson as Granny Jojo, Banana Barbara, Felicity Parham, Alison Sandra Gator and Mrs. Jotunheim.
  • Naomi McDonald as Clare Cooper
  • Alex Jordan as Hot Dog Guy
  • Rich Fulcher as Frankie Watterson
  • Timothy Bentinck as Louie Watterson
  • Richard Overall as Billy Parham

New characters[]

  • Kit Connor as Unipuppy Wolfcorn - a student at Franklin Jr. High who meets up with Gumball and his friends in the "Void". He is rather level-headed and composed, and someone Gumball and Darwin are impressed with. He was formerly a 12-year-old boy named Zachary who lived in "the real world" and was a huge fan of The Amazing World of Gumball. After seeing the entire series and planning to see the movie, he wakes up in Elmore as a wolf-unicorn hybrid for "no reason at all". Thanks to his past in another universe, he frequently brings up certain scenes and occurrences throughout the series.
  • Eleanor Matsuura as Axe Ogasawa - an animesque axolotl attending Franklin Jr. High who meets up with Gumball and his friends in the "Void". Axe is very bubbly and friendly but is also quite shy and dimwitted. Throughout the film, he shows romantic interest for Masami, and by the end, they become a couple.
  • Ben Bocquelet as himself/"The Creator" - a cartoonist responsible for the creation of Elmore and the "Void", serving as the main antagonist throughout most of the film. He uses Rob to prevent Elmore from being saved.
  • Bill Hader as Bob Davis - the CEO of Cartoon Network who forces Ben Bocquelet/"The Creator" to cancel his series as a solution to write-off taxes. He serves as the overall main antagonist of the film. He is named after former Disney CEOs Bob Iger and Bob Chapek, and former ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish.
  • Logan Grove as Labmug, an older version of Gumball based off his season one counterpart, who was replaced with a clone after the events of "The Fight".

Production[]

In October 2015, The Amazing World of Gumball creator Ben Bocquelet told The Times that he was interested in creating a film based on the series. In the following years, Bocquelet would go on to say that he doubted a film would be made due to his departure in 2016, but that he had planned two drafts for potential direct-to-video and theatrical films for the show. In October 2018, Cartoon Network confirmed that a script for a movie based on The Amazing World of Gumball was being written.

Following the series finale of The Amazing World of Gumball, and the mixed-to-positive reviews it received from fans, Bocquelet said that the planned film would resolve its cliffhanger. The film was officially announced to be in development on February 17, 2021, under the working title The Amazing World of Gumball Movie. On September 21, 2021, Max and Cartoon Network announced the film had been greenlit and the working title had changed to The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie!, alongside a new series for Cartoon Network and Max. However, on August 22, 2022, it was announced that the movie would not be released to Max. Nothing was heard about the movie until almost ten months later when, at the 2024 Annecy International Animation Festival, Ben Boqcuelet was asked about the movie during a Q&A session, He confirmed that the movie was still being worked on, with the story and script currently being revised.

Resurgence[]

In September 2024, Bocquelet suggested to Warner Bros. Pictures whenever or not The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie! could be worthy of a theatrical release. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav liked Bocquelet's initial script for the film so much that he accepted the offer.

Writing for the film continued throughout 2024 and was finished by February 2025. Voice recording happened throughout March-May 2025; each voice actor was paid approximately £300,000-750,000 for the film, with Matsuura and Hader both receiving £2 million for the film.

Animation and visual effects[]

The CGI animation for the film was provided by Mikros Image, with both visual effects and animation provided by Lucasfilm's visual effects division, (ILM). This is the eighteenth collaboration with Cartoon Network in using ILM for visual effects since The Life and Times of Juniper Lee: Rise of the Te Xuan Ze (2026). The 2D animation was provided by Studio SOI, Boulder Media, and Snipple Animation Studios, who both previously worked with Cartoon Network on A Foster's Movie: Imagination Desolation. Additional CGI effects were also provided by Digital Domain, who previously provided them in The CN Movie, Light VFX, Pixomondo, and MagicLab.

Music[]

Score[]

On August 19, 2025, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse composer Daniel Pemberton signed on to compose the score for the film. On October 23, 2026, Pemberton announced via Twitter that WaterTower Music would release his score digitally.

Soundtrack[]

The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie
(Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
ReleasedNovember 27, 2026
Length61:45
LabelCartoon Network · Columbia
· i am OTHER
Singles from The Amazing World of Gumball:
The Movie (Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack)
  1. "Fish Out of Water"
    Released: September 11, 2026
  2. "Under the Stars"
    Released: October 23, 2026
  3. "Hold On"
    Released: December 4, 2026

A soundtrack album to the film was released on November 27, 2026, by i am OTHER and Columbia Records. It includes eight original songs written by Ben Locket, Neil Myers and George Gendi, with vocals performed by the film's cast members, as well as three original songs by Pharrell Williams' band N.E.R.D.. The album also contains the end credits covers of four of the new songs respectively by N.E.R.D., Grace VanderWaal, Oh, Hush!, and The Internet.

The soundtrack also features a song by Justin Bieber ("Hold On"), which makes it the second Rich Fulcher-starring film in a row to feature a song by Bieber after Arthur Christmas. It peaked at number 20 on the Hot 100 chart, giving Bieber his forty-second Hot 100 top ten hit.

Other songs featured in the film, but not on the soundtrack include Train's "She's on Fire", and Foo Fighters' "Everlong".

Track listing[]

Credits adapted from Pitchfork and iTunes.

The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."The World of Elmore"Duke Cutler, Christian J. Simon, Kyla Rae Kowalewski, Teresa Gallagher, Dan Russell and cast of The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie4:02
2."One Cool Cat"N.E.R.D.3:25
3."Under the Stars"Rachel Platten3:08
4."I Am Not a Loser"Duke Cutler and Christian J. Simon2:59
5."The Day"Teresa Gallagher and Dan Russell2:51
6."Fish Out of Water"N.E.R.D.4:33
7."Who Am I"Charles Philipp2:47
8."Just Do It, My Boy"Teresa Gallagher3:00
9."Chasing the Sun"The Wanted3:19
10."Stand by Me"Kyla Rae Kowalewski2:57
11."You're Gonna Think Big"N.E.R.D.3:32
12."We Are the Big Family"Duke Cutler, Christian J. Simon, Kyla Rae Kowalewski, Teresa Gallagher, Dan Russell and cast of The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie3:39
13."The World of Elmore (reprise)"Duke Cutler, Christian J. Simon, Kyla Rae Kowalewski, Teresa Gallagher, Dan Russell and cast of The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie1:56
14."I Am Not a Loser" (end credits)N.E.R.D.4:24
15."You Get What You Give"New Directions4:45
16."Hold On"Justin Bieber2:50
17."The Day" (end credits)Grace VanderWaal3:59
18."Who Am I" (end credits)Oh, Hush!3:18
19."We Are the Big Family" (end credits)The Internet4:01
Total length:61:45

Release and marketing[]

The Gumball Movie made its world premiere in the village of Elmore in Gloucestershire in the United Kingdom. It was later released in theaters across the country on December 4, 2026, followed by a generally international release two weeks later, by Warner Bros. Pictures. To promote the film, McDonald's resturants across most countries released a set of 13 toys, with 10 of them being re-used from a similar promotion for the series in 2018. It was theatrically accompanied by an Elliott from Earth short film called Dream Storm.

Home media[]

The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie was released on Digital HD, DVD and Blu-ray on March 2, 2027, by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The film was also put onto HBO Max and Hulu in the United States on April 9, 2027, with Netflix holding the streaming rights for the film internationally. As part of the 10-year streaming deal, Netflix also released all seven seasons of The Amazing World of Gumball as well as the epilogue series Gumball: The Future in countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, as well as most of Europe and Asia.

Video game[]

A tie-in video game titled The Amazing World of Gumball: The Video Game was released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 26, 2026, and for Google Stadia on December 4, 2026.

Reception[]

Box office[]

The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie grossed $102 million in the United States and Canada and $205 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $307 million against a $90 million budget.

The film earned $30,758,269 on its opening day in the United States and grossed a combined total of $74,036,787 in its opening weekend on 5,500 screens at 3,922 theaters, reaching the top of the box office for that weekend. It serves as the highest-grossing animated TV adaptation of all time, surpassing The Simpsons Movie. This outperformed the expectations of $30 million that Warner Bros. had for the release. It opened at the top of the international box office taking $96 million from 71 overseas territories, including $27.8 million in the United Kingdom. In Australia, it grossed $13.2 million. The United Kingdom is the highest-grossing country for the film outside in the United States with a $82.4 million gross overall, with Japan in second place with a $36.2 million gross overall. The film closed on April 8, 2027, grossing $307 million worldwide and serving as the ninth-highest-grossing film worldwide and the tenth-highest grossing in the United States of 2026.

Critical reception[]

The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie received widespread universal acclaim. According to the New York Times, most critics praised its storyline, emotional depth, characters, expansive worldbuilding, score and vocal performances. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 99% based on 245 reviews and an average rating of 9/10. It is the highest rated non Disney/Pixar animated film on the site. Its critical consensus reads, "The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie, with its profound characters, blending of many different animation styles and meta worldbuilding, make it a far greater cinematic achievement than what most would expect." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 91 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 94%, with 83% saying they would definitely recommend the film. On IMDb, the film received a score of 9.1/10, making it the highest-rated animated film on the site.

Accolades[]

At the 98th Academy Awards, The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie was nominated for Best Picture, and won Best Animated Feature, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best International Feature Film, Best Original Score and Best Visual Effects; it holds the record for the highest Academy Award totals earned by an animated film. Its other nominations include three Annie Awards, three British Academy Film Awards (winning one), five Critics' Choice Movie Awards (winning one), and a Golden Globe Award (which it won). The National Board of Review and the American Film Institute named The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie one of the ten-best films of 2026; it also won the National Board of Review's Best Animated Film award.

Gallery[]

Main article: The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie/Gallery

Trivia[]

  • This is the first ever feature film of the series.
  • This is the first animated Gumball movie to hit theaters.
    • This is also the first ever Gumball movie in general to hit theaters.
  • This is Cartoon Network's eighth original movie to be released theatrically, after The Powerpuff Girls Movie, which was released in 2002, Regular Show: The Movie, which was released in 2015, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, which was released in 2018, Clarence's Big Break and A Foster's Movie: Imagination Desolation, which were both released in 2021, and and The CN Movie, which were both released in 2022.
  • The eighth Warner Bros. animated film to be released in August, after Twice Upon a Time, Rover Dangerfield, The Iron Giant, Osmosis Jones, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, The Ed, Edd n Eddy Movie and Class of 3000.
  • This is the first Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe animated film of 2020s to be produced in 1.85:1 and the first to be rated PG by the MPA. It is also the first The Amazing World of Gumball film to be produced in 1.85:1.
  • At 132 minutes this is the longest Cartoon Network feature film.
  • Originally, The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie was going to be a 80-minute direct-to-video release in the market. But as the story was being rewritten, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav saw the story and gave Studios Europe permission to make the film be a feature-length film.
  • Cartoon Network's thirty-eighth live-action theatrical film.

Transcripts[]

Main[]

To see the main transcript of the film, click here.

Trailers[]

To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.

Credits[]

Main article: The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie/Credits
The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie (2025)
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