Photo: Everett Collection
Let all Bad Piggies beware.
Everyone's favorite mobile app, which has singlehandedly been responsible for countless wasted hours across the vast sea of handheld devices, will soon be slingshot to the big screen as an "Angry Birds" movie has been announced for Summer 2016.
"Angry Birds," easily one of the most addictive (and perhaps evil) video games ever created, was developed by Finnish game developer Rovio Entertainment and first released on Apple iOS in December 2009 (has it really been three years?). Players launched wingless, furious birds at pigs stationed on and within various structures and playing fields, with the goal being to destroy as many pigs as possible.
It was strange, simple and a runaway hit, which prompted several spin-off variations (such as, most recently, "Angry Birds Star Wars"). As of October 2012, the games have been downloaded more than one billion times, with 20-30 million daily active players and around 200 million monthly active players.
That's a lot of Angry Birds. And now, they're coming for us, as they'll be flying off the screen and into our faces in 3D in less than four years.
The "Angry Birds" movie is being developed independently by Rovio Entertainment itself, which recently acquired Finnish animation studio Kombo to produce a series of "Angry Birds" animated shorts. The film will be produced by John Cohen, whose credits include "Despicable Me" and "Hop" (and who was apparently the man responsible for the idea of bringing Alvin, Simon and Theodore to the big screen with an "Alvin and the Chipmunks" movie) and executive produced by David Maisel, who used to be the chairman of Marvel Studios and has worked with Rovio in an advisory role since June 2011.
By keeping the production an "inside job" of sorts, Rovio will be able to choose the distribution channels for the film as well, potentially making it available to watch on smartphones and other mobile devices shortly after it hits theaters.
Which means there may be "Angry Birds" all over the place in the summer of '16. Plan and prepare accordingly.