Equestria Girls (film)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''My Little Pony: Equestria Girls'', known simply as ''Equestria Girls'' or ''EQG'' (sometimes as ''Through the Mirror''), is a 2013
animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...
musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...
fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually Magic (paranormal), magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The Film genre, genre is considered a form of speculative fic ...
which is the first installment of
Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...
's toy line and media franchise of the same name, which is itself an
anthropomorphized Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...
spin-off of the 2010 relaunch of the
My Little Pony ''My Little Pony'' (''MLP'') is a toy line and media franchise developed by American toy company Hasbro. The first toys were developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger, and Steve D'Aguanno, and were produced in 1981. The ponies feature ...
franchise. The film was animated in
Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a mostly discontinuedAlthough it is discontinued by Adobe Inc., for the Chinese market it is developed by Zhongcheng and for the international enterprise market it is developed by Ha ...
, directed by
Jayson Thiessen Jayson Thiessen (born December 30, 1976) is a Canadian animator and voice actor, best known as the first supervising director of the animated television series '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic''. He also directed its spin-off films '' Eques ...
and written by
Meghan McCarthy Meghan McCarthy is an American screenwriter, lyricist, film and television producer, and creative executive best known as the showrunner of the animated television show '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic''. She is also known for her work on ...
, and was produced by
DHX Media WildBrain Ltd. is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest independent library of children's television programmin ...
's 2D animation studio in
Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
for
Hasbro Studios Allspark, formerly known as Hasbro Studios, LLC, was an American production and distribution company owned by toy and multimedia company Hasbro and based in Burbank, California that was in operation from 2009 to 2019. Originally just a televis ...
in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. It premiered at the
Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episodi ...
on June 15, 2013, followed by
limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
in the United States and Canada on June 16, 2013, with a home media release on August 6, 2013. It also commemorates the thirtieth anniversary of the launch of the original My Little Pony toy line. The film re-envisions the main characters of the parent franchise, normally ponies, as teenage humanoid characters in a high school setting. Set between the
third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...
and fourth seasons of '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' television series, the film's plot involves
Twilight Sparkle Princess Twilight Sparkle is a fictional character who appears in the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's ''My Little Pony'' toyline and media franchise, beginning with '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' (2010–2019), and later in the fra ...
pursuing her stolen crown into an alternate world where she transforms into a humanoid teenage girl. While learning how to behave locally, Twilight encounters the parallel universe counterparts of her pony friends, who help her in her search for her crown. The film's critical reception was mixed, with most criticism directed towards character design, writing, plot, and characterization. The film was followed by three sequels, '' Rainbow Rocks'' (2014), ''
Friendship Games The 1984 Friendship Games, or Friendship-84 (, ''Druzhba-84''), was an international multi-sport event held between 2 July and 16 September 1984 in the Soviet Union and eight other Eastern Bloc states which boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in ...
'' (2015) and '' Legend of Everfree'' (2016) – all of which were more positively received.


Plot

Twilight Sparkle Princess Twilight Sparkle is a fictional character who appears in the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's ''My Little Pony'' toyline and media franchise, beginning with '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' (2010–2019), and later in the fra ...
and her friends visit the Crystal Empire for her first royal summit following her coronation as a princess of Equestria.
Sunset Shimmer Sunset Shimmer is a fictional character who appears in the My Little Pony (2010 toyline), fourth incarnation of Hasbro's ''My Little Pony'' toyline and media franchise, beginning with ''My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (film), My Little Pony: Equ ...
, a former student of
Princess Celestia Princess Celestia is a fictional character who appears in the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's ''My Little Pony'' toyline and media franchise, beginning with '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' (2010–2019). She serves as the benevolent ru ...
, emerges from a mirror portal and steals Twilight's crown, which contains the Element of Magic. After a chase through the castle, Sunset goes through the portal with Twilight's crown. The other princesses explain that the portal leads to an
alternate world A parallel universe, also known as an alternate universe, world, or dimension, is a plot device in fiction which uses the notion of a hypothetical universe co-existing with another, typically to enable alternative narrative possibilities. The sum ...
; as the other Elements of Harmony are unusable without the crown, Twilight is tasked with retrieving it from the other world before the portal closes for thirty moons. Despite Celestia's insistence that Twilight must travel alone,
Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (Broderick book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter ...
follows her into the portal. Twilight and Spike emerge in the other world in the form of a humanoid teenager and a dog, respectively. Twilight investigates the nearby Canterlot High School and encounters its students and staff, several of whom resemble ponies in Equestria. Masquerading as a transfer student, Twilight defends the counterpart of her friend
Fluttershy Fluttershy is a fictional character who appears in the My Little Pony (2010 toyline), fourth incarnation of Hasbro's ''My Little Pony'' toyline and media franchise, beginning with ''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' (2010–2019). She is a c ...
from being bullied by Sunset. Twilight learns that Fluttershy has delivered the crown to Principal Celestia, mistaking it for a prop meant for the elected "princess" of the Fall Formal. Determining that no one would believe her claims of being a pony from another world, Twilight receives Celestia's permission to run for Fall Formal Princess against Sunset to recover the crown. While continuing to explore school life, Twilight discovers that the counterparts of Fluttershy and her other friends from Ponyville (
Pinkie Pie Pinkamena "Pinkie" Diane Pie is a fictional character who appears in the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's ''My Little Pony'' toyline and media franchise, beginning with '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' (2010–2019). She is a close friend ...
,
Applejack AppleJack was a command-line interface for Mac OS X that provided a simplified user interface for single user mode system repairs. It allowed for permission repair, disk repair, cache cleaning, validation of preference- and property list file ...
, Rarity and
Rainbow Dash Rainbow Dash is a fictional character who appears in the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's ''My Little Pony'' toyline and media franchise, beginning with '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' (2010–2019). She is a close friend of Twilight Spa ...
) – have separated of hostility. Sunset sends her cohorts Snips and Snails to record a humiliating video of Twilight behaving like a pony, which is posted online and viewed by the entire school. The counterparts of Twilight's friends come to her aid, only to argue among themselves, revealing the cause of their falling out to be a series of treacherous text messages and emails they supposedly sent each other. Through a theory of Twilight's, however, the five girls realize that Sunset sent these messages to deceive them. The five reconcile and help Twilight perform a public dance routine for her campaign, which improves Twilight's image. In another attempt to undermine Twilight, Sunset has the formal decorations in the school gym wrecked and uses edited photographs to frame Twilight. Although Sunset's ex-boyfriend Flash Sentry proves Twilight's innocence, the formal is postponed to the night after the portal to Equestria closes. Twilight and Spike reveal their true identities to the other girls, convincing them of the situation's urgency. Under Twilight's direction, they rally the other students and successfully repair the damage in time for its original schedule, earning Twilight the school's support. On the night of the formal, Twilight wins the election and the crown, but Sunset steals it back in a scuffle after kidnapping Spike and threatening to destroy the portal to Equestria. Upon donning the crown, Sunset transforms into a
demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...
and hypnotizes the other students, revealing her intent to conquer Equestria with the students as her army. When Sunset attacks Twilight and her friends, their friendship activates the crown's magic, giving them pony-like ears, wings, and tails. The six girls use magic to revert Sunset and their schoolmates to normal. Sunset, humbled by the power of the girls' friendship, tearfully apologizes for her actions. After celebrating at the formal and placing Sunset under her friends' care, Twilight and Spike return to Equestria with the crown as the portal closes, reuniting with their pony friends.


Cast

*
Tara Strong Tara Lyn Strong (; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian and American actress. She is known for her voice work in animation, websites, and video games. Strong's voice roles include animated series such as '' The Powerpuff Girls'', '' The Fair ...
as Princess Twilight Sparkle *
Ashleigh Ball Ashleigh Adele Ball (born March 31, 1983) is a Canadian voice actress and singer. She is known for voicing characters in several toyetic movies and television series, notably the ''Barbie'' film series, ''Bratz'', ''Johnny Test'', '' Care Bea ...
as
Applejack AppleJack was a command-line interface for Mac OS X that provided a simplified user interface for single user mode system repairs. It allowed for permission repair, disk repair, cache cleaning, validation of preference- and property list file ...
and
Rainbow Dash Rainbow Dash is a fictional character who appears in the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's ''My Little Pony'' toyline and media franchise, beginning with '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' (2010–2019). She is a close friend of Twilight Spa ...
*
Andrea Libman Andrea Libman is a Canadian actress. She is known for providing voice acting in various animated shows, such as voicing the characters of Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy in the Discovery Family series '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' and it ...
as
Pinkie Pie Pinkamena "Pinkie" Diane Pie is a fictional character who appears in the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's ''My Little Pony'' toyline and media franchise, beginning with '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' (2010–2019). She is a close friend ...
and
Fluttershy Fluttershy is a fictional character who appears in the My Little Pony (2010 toyline), fourth incarnation of Hasbro's ''My Little Pony'' toyline and media franchise, beginning with ''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' (2010–2019). She is a c ...
* Tabitha St. Germain as Rarity and Vice Principal Luna /
Princess Luna Princess Luna is a fictional character who appears in the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's ''My Little Pony'' toyline and media franchise, beginning with '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' (2010–2019). She serves as the co-ruler of Eques ...
*
Cathy Weseluck Cathy Weseluck is a Canadian actress and comedian who frequently works with Ocean Productions in Vancouver, British Columbia and is known for her roles as Near in ''Death Note'', Cybersix/Adrian Seidelman in '' Cybersix'', and Spike in Discovery ...
as
Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (Broderick book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter ...
*
Rebecca Shoichet Rebecca Shoichet ( ) is a Canadian voice actress who has voiced in English dubs of Japanese anime and other shows for Ocean Productions in Vancouver, having moved there from Victoria in 2000. She took over Saffron Henderson's role of Sota Hig ...
as
Sunset Shimmer Sunset Shimmer is a fictional character who appears in the My Little Pony (2010 toyline), fourth incarnation of Hasbro's ''My Little Pony'' toyline and media franchise, beginning with ''My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (film), My Little Pony: Equ ...
*
Lee Tockar Lee William Tockar (born February 11, 1969) is a Canadian voice actor and visual artist who works for several studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is also a writer of children's literature, a musician, sculptor, illustrator and col ...
as Snips *
Richard Ian Cox Richard Ian Cox (born October 3, 1973) is a Welsh-born Canadian actor. He is best known for his voice work for English-language dubs of anime, mainly for '' Inuyasha''. Cox gained prominence for playing the character of Henry Dailey's (played ...
as Snails *
Nicole Oliver Nicole Lyn Oliver (born February 22, 1970) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles as Princess Celestia and Cheerilee in ''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' and Zoe Trent in ''Littlest Pet Shop (2012 TV series), Littlest Pet S ...
as Principal Celestia /
Princess Celestia Princess Celestia is a fictional character who appears in the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's ''My Little Pony'' toyline and media franchise, beginning with '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' (2010–2019). She serves as the benevolent ru ...
and Cheerilee * Vincent Tong as Flash Sentry *
Britt McKillip Britt Analisa McKillip (born January 18, 1991) is a Canadian actress and singer. Her credits include the film '' Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular'' and its sequel '' Scary Godmother: The Revenge of Jimmy'', and her role as Reggie Lass i ...
as
Princess Cadance Princess Mi Amore Cadenza "Cadance" is a fictional character who appears in the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's ''My Little Pony'' toyline and media franchise, beginning with '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' (2010–2019). She first appe ...


Singers

*
Rebecca Shoichet Rebecca Shoichet ( ) is a Canadian voice actress who has voiced in English dubs of Japanese anime and other shows for Ocean Productions in Vancouver, having moved there from Victoria in 2000. She took over Saffron Henderson's role of Sota Hig ...
as Princess Twilight Sparkle *
Shannon Chan-Kent Shannon Chan-Kent (born September 23, 1988) is a Canadian voice and stage actress. She is known for her roles as Silver Spoon and Smolder and the singing voice of Pinkie Pie in ''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'', Misa Amane in the Englis ...
as
Pinkie Pie Pinkamena "Pinkie" Diane Pie is a fictional character who appears in the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's ''My Little Pony'' toyline and media franchise, beginning with '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' (2010–2019). She is a close friend ...
*
Kazumi Evans Kazumi Evans (born September 14, 1989) is a Canadian actress. She began her career as a contestant on the CBC's '' Triple Sensation''. As a voice actress, she has voiced Saffi on ''Bob the Builder ''Bob the Builder'' is a British anima ...
as Rarity


Production

To maintain continuity, Hasbro used the same writing staff as ''Friendship Is Magic'' television series, including the then-current story editor Meghan McCarthy, who considered the story to be "an extension of our mythology". McCarthy stated that with the ''Equestria Girls'' setting, "we might explore different aspects of relationships that in the pony world don't quite work the same as they do when you set it in a high school setting", thus making the work more appealing to older girls that are in high or junior high school. In writing the film's script, McCarthy went back to the self-titled two-part pilot episode of ''Friendship Is Magic'', where Twilight is sent to Ponyville for the first time and forced to meet new friends. She wanted to do the same with the film, in this case putting Twilight into a new world where she would again be forced to make new friends and succeed in her quest.


Music

Daniel Ingram stated in a Facebook post that he wrote six songs for the film in a more modern pop/girl group style that would fit the high school/urban setting. He also mentioned some of the crew members with whom he worked, including Trevor Hoffman for vocal arrangements and David Corman and Sam Ryan for production and that he collaborated with McCarthy on the lyrics. * "This Strange World" – Twilight Sparkle (voiceover) * "Equestria Girls (Cafeteria Song)" – Mane Six and students * "Time to Come Together" – Mane Six (voiceover) * "This Is Our Big Night" – Mane Six (voiceover) * "This Is Our Big Night (Reprise)" – Mane Six (voiceover) * "End Credits Song: A Friend for Life" – Jerrica Santos * "My Little Pony Friends" (Deleted Song) – Kaylee Johnston, AJ Woodworth, and Laura Hastings The song was written to serve as the end credits to the film, but was passed over in favor of "A Friend for Life". On August 14, 2014, the song was uploaded to Hasbro's YouTube channel. Composer William Anderson, who provided the score for the film, said that most of the background music remains consistent with the television show, though "with elements of thrash rock once in a while".


Release


Marketing

On May 12, 2013, a teaser trailer was first released on the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' website, followed by a full theatrical trailer on
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
's website on June 7, 2013.


Theatrical

''My Little Pony: Equestria Girls'' had its world premiere at the
Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episodi ...
grand opening celebration on June 15, 2013, as part of its Family Day. The event included appearances by several of the film's creative staff and voice actors. It was then presented under release through
Screenvision Screenvision Media is a cinema advertising and film distribution company in the United States. The Screenvision Media cinema advertising network includes over 15,000 screens, more than 2,400 theatre locations, and 335 universities in every sta ...
and Cineplex theaters across the United States and Canada respectively, starting on June 16, 2013. Due to a larger-than-expected number of theater-goers in the initial weeks, Screenvision added additional showings to take advantage of the interest. The screenings in the United States bore no classification from the
MPAA The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, the mini-major Amazon MGM Studios, as well as the video streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. F ...
(which is not mandatory), while the Canadian screenings had ratings from provincial film classification boards (usually G).


Re-releases

The film was re-released in select theaters across the United States on June 18 and 19, 2016 by distribution company
Kidtoon Films Kidtoon Films is a distributor of Children's film, children's animated films in the United States. The company is a subsidiary of The Bigger Picture, a Cineverse company. SD Entertainment previously owned it, which produced many of its earlier rel ...
. In the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, the film was released through
Showcase Cinemas Showcase Cinemas is a movie theater chain owned and operated by National Amusements. It operates in the United States, Brazil (under the UCI Cinemas brand), the United Kingdom, and Argentina. Operations Showcase operates a total of 16 theate ...
on August 10, 2013. In
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, it was released through
Village Cinemas Village Cinemas is an Australian-based multinational film exhibition brand that mainly shows blockbusters, mainstream, children and family films and some arthouse, foreign language and documentary films. Since 2003, its Australian sites bec ...
on August 24, 2013. In
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, it was released through
Event Cinemas Greater Union Organisation Pty Ltd, trading as Event Cinemas, Greater Union, Moonlight Cinema and Birch Carroll & Coyle (BCC Cinemas), is the largest movie exhibitor in Australia and New Zealand, with over 140 cinema complexes currently operati ...
for two weeks starting August 31, 2013.


Home media

The film was released on Region 1 DVD and
Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
by
Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...
on August 6, 2013. The Blu-ray release includes a behind-the-scenes documentary on: the film's production, karaoke songs, a "ponify yourself" video and a printable poster. Shout! Factory has signed with Hasbro to distribute the film internationally after its theatrical run. The Region 4 DVD was released by
Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, stylized as MADMAN, is an Australian film and television production, distribution, entertainment, and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising ...
on September 4, 2013. The Region 2 DVD and Blu-ray was supposed to be released by UK-based distributor Clear Vision in April 2014, but the distributor had since entered
administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...
. However, the same UK distributor did manage to release a Region 2 DVD for
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
and
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
between March and April 2014. The UK version DVD and Blu-ray was eventually released on July 28, 2014. Alongside ''Rainbow Rocks'' and ''Friendship Games'', this film was released in a box set on October 13, 2015 in Region 1.


Television

The film made its United States television premiere on the Hub Network (a joint venture between
Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1982, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Cha ...
and
Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...
; now known as
Discovery Family Discovery Family (known on-air as Discovery Family Channel and abbreviated as DFC) is an American Specialty channel, cable television channel co-owned by The Cartoon Network, Inc. and Hasbro Entertainment, which are divisions of Warner Bros. Di ...
as of late 2014) on September 1, 2013. On September 22, 2013, the film premiered on
YTV YTV or ytv may refer to: * YTV (Canadian TV channel), a Canadian youth television station owned by Corus Entertainment * YTV (Burmese TV network), a Burmese television channel owned by MY Multimedia Co., Ltd * YTV (Botswanan TV channel), a Botswana ...
in Canada. In the United Kingdom, the film premiered on
Pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...
on November 23, 2013.


Merchandise and other media

The film is a part of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls toy line and
media franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program, o ...
launched by Hasbro, which was briefly mentioned in the media earlier in February and March 2013 and formally announced in May 2013 with this film and other media strategy. It was to be a part of the 30th anniversary of the My Little Pony brand. Hasbro planned to produce related merchandise including: toys, apparel, publishing and accessories. The human-like toys were developed to appeal to girls in their teens as a means to extend the My Little Pony brand. In addition, LB Kids published a
novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book, or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent ...
of the film and
Gameloft Gameloft SE is a French video game company based in Paris, founded in December 1999 by Ubisoft co-founder Michel Guillemot. The company operates 18 development studios worldwide, and publishes games for mobile devices, video game consoles, and ...
included a themed mini-game in its ''My Little Pony'' mobile game. IDW published a backstory of the characters in the alternative universe (including Sunset Shimmer) in a stand-alone issue.


Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was released on September 23, 2014, via the ITunes Store. "This Strange World" is absent in the album. On October 2, 2014 (chart of October 11), the soundtrack placed #15, where the "My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks" soundtrack was two weeks ago on September 18.


Reception


Media sales

Upon release to home video, Shout! Factory reported that more than 100,000 units have been ordered at retail, the largest release that the company has seen in its ten-year history. As a result of the success, Hasbro has signed Shout to continue distribution of other out-of-print ''My Little Pony'' titles from earlier generations such as '' The Princess Promenade'', as well as newer animated ''Transformers'' shows.


Television viewership

''My Little Pony: Equestria Girls'' premiered on the Hub Network on September 1, 2013. The film was viewed by 553,000 viewers. It earned year-to-year delivery time gains among multiple demographics, most notably Girls 6-11 (+1056%). In the United Kingdom, 93,000 viewers watched the television broadcast on
Pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...
, the most for the week of November 18–24.


Critical response

There has been criticism over the
anthropomorphism Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
approach of the franchise overall (including this film). The ''
New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...
'' reported that, while some feared allowing their children to be influenced by the looks of humanized characters, others considered it reasonable with other current media with considerable body exposure. ''
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
'' Amanda Marcotte considered that the characters' change to human-like form was to popularize the film with the adult fanbase of ''Friendship Is Magic''. However, many of these adult fans expressed disappointment over the humanized characters, worrying that the approach "goes against everything that Pony was trying to prove".
Craig McCracken Craig McCracken (born March 31, 1971) is an American cartoonist, animator, director, writer, and producer known for creating Cartoon Network's ''The Powerpuff Girls'' and ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends'', Disney Channel and Disney XD's ''W ...
, speaking for his wife
Lauren Faust Lauren J. Faust (born July 25, 1974) is an American animator, writer, director, and producer. She is known for developing the animated series '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' and '' DC Super Hero Girls''. Faust has collaborated with her ...
, ''Friendship Is Magics creative showrunner for the first two seasons before stepping down, expressed concern that such approach would have gone against the way Faust wanted to take the television series. The film itself received mixed reviews from critics. Daniel Alvarez of the website ''Unleash the Fanboy'' gave the film 4 stars out of 5, stating that ''Equestria Girls'' was a "highly entertaining movie", though some elements, such as the brief romantic plot and Sunset's ultimate fate, were weaker than other parts of the film. Luke Thompson of
Topless Robot Village Voice Media or VVM is a newspaper company. It began in 1970 as a weekly alternative newspaper in Phoenix, Arizona. The company, founded by Michael Lacey (editor) and Jim Larkin (publisher), was then known as New Times Inc. (NTI) and the ...
was more critical of the film, as while not a viewer of ''Friendship Is Magic'', he believed "whatever clever concepts the show may have ..the movie does not do very much with" and considered the animation sub-standard for a TV-to-film adaptation. ''
Iowa State Daily The ''Iowa State Daily'' is an independent student newspaper serving Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, that is published in print and online. It was founded in 1890, and is largely funded by advertising revenues. The Iowa State University ...
'' described the film as one that was "probably just made to sell dolls and figurines", though still delivered a "great message for kids". Gwen Ihnat of ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' rated the film a "B−" and considered that the film "is only a few songs and one amazing demon battle scene better than most of ''Friendship Is Magic'' two-part episodes", while otherwise treading on clichéd ideas from both the ''Friendship Is Magic'' and from other teen high school works. Sherilyn Connelly of ''
SF Weekly ''SF Weekly'' is an online music publication and formerly alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in San Francisco, California. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper ha ...
'', though having enjoyed the film, felt it was too similar to the television series's pilot episodes in how the characters needed to be re-introduced for the film audience and that the "real disconnect" was the apparent reduction of age, from young adult in ''Friendship Is Magic'' to teenagers within the film. Connelly did, however, vote for the film as Best Animated Feature in the 2013 Village Voice Film Critics' Poll. Ed Liu of Toon Zone (now known as Anime Superhero) considered that the film "relies a bit too much on the familiar and the conventional", lacking ''Friendship Is Magic'' injection of "idiosyncratic character" into otherwise predictable plots, but otherwise praised the voice actors, music and some of the film's animation.


References


Further reading

* Guthrie, Dana.
My Little Pony reboot turns plastic horses into teenage girls
". ''
Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...
''. Monday, June 17, 2013.


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:My Little Pony - Equestria Girls My Little Pony: Equestria Girls 2013 films English-language Canadian films 2010s musical comedy films 2010s fantasy adventure films 2010s musical fantasy films 2010s American animated films 2010s children's animated films American flash animated films Animated films based on animated series American children's animated adventure films American children's animated fantasy films American children's animated musical films American fantasy adventure films Canadian animated feature films Canadian animated fantasy films Canadian children's fantasy films Canadian musical fantasy films Equestria Girls films Animated films about parallel universes Animated films about princesses Animated films about talking animals Film spinoffs Demons in film Allspark films American musical fantasy films Films about unicorns Films directed by Jayson Thiessen WildBrain films Magical girl films Portal fantasy 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian animated films English-language musical fantasy films English-language musical comedy films English-language fantasy adventure films 2013 musical films