Ralph Breaks the Internet

Did You Know?

• Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance in the film, one of his final cameos before his death.
• The band Imagine Dragons, whose song 'Zero' is featured in a trailer and end credits, cameo as themselves.
• Fortnite Battle Royale briefly appears in the film, including the battle bus and the floss dance.

Plot

Six years after the first film, Ralph and Vanellope remain best friends, hanging out after work at Litwak's Arcade. Ralph is content, but Vanellope longs for excitement and is bored with Sugar Rush's predictability. To please her, Ralph sneaks into her game and creates a secret road. The next day, when Vanellope fights the player's control to test the track, the cabinet's steering wheel breaks.

Since the company that made Sugar Rush is out of business and a replacement wheel on eBay is expensive, Litwak decides to scrap the game and unplugs it, leaving its citizens homeless. The Surge Protector finds temporary refuge for the Sugar Rush citizens, and Felix and Calhoun adopt the racers. Remembering eBay, Ralph and Vanellope travel through Litwak's new Wi-Fi router to the Internet, where websites appear as buildings, avatars represent users, and programs are people.

They meet clickbait salesman J. P. Spamley, who offers them a job stealing a car from Shank in the game Slaughter Race. They steal the car, but Shank stops them and suggests making a viral video. She directs them to BuzzzTube's algorithm Yesss, who capitalizes on Ralph's video popularity. They make more videos to earn money.

Vanellope goes to Oh My Disney, where she befriends the Disney Princesses and has an epiphany about her un-fulfillment. Ralph earns enough money but overhears Vanellope telling Shank she wants to stay in Slaughter Race due to its novelty and unpredictability.

Cast

John C. Reilly provides the voice for Ralph, a huge but kind-hearted man who serves as the villain in the arcade game Fix-It Felix, Jr. Sarah Silverman voices Vanellope von Schweetz, a glitchy racer who is both the princess of Sugar Rush and Ralph's closest friend. Gal Gadot plays Shank, a skilled non-player character racer from the game Slaughter Race. Taraji P. Henson voices Yesss, an algorithm that decides which videos trend on BuzzzTube, a platform named after a blend of YouTube and BuzzFeed; her look was partly inspired by Cruella de Vil's sense of style.

Jack McBrayer voices Fix-It Felix, the repairman who is the hero of his own game and the husband of Sergeant Calhoun. Jane Lynch plays Sergeant Calhoun, the main character from Hero's Duty and Felix's wife. Alan Tudyk voices KnowsMore, a search engine with an overly pushy autofill feature; Tudyk also voiced King Candy in the earlier film. Alfred Molina voices Double Dan, a half-worm virus creator who lives in the dark web, and also voices his conjoined brother Little Dan.

Ed O'Neill voices Mr. Litwak, the arcade's owner. The first twelve Disney Princesses appear, joined by Anna and Elsa from Frozen; most of their original voice actresses returned, though Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora are voiced by Pamela Ribon, Jennifer Hale, and Kate Higgins, respectively. Several other characters make cameos with their usual voice actors, including Roger Craig Smith as Sonic the Hedgehog, Maurice LaMarche as Tapper, Brad Garrett as Eeyore, Corey Burton as Grumpy, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Vin Diesel as Groot, and Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear.

Production

In March 2013, Rich Moore said he and Disney had ideas about a sequel exploring online and console gaming. Moore stated that many crew and voice cast were open to the sequel, believing they had barely scratched the surface of the video game world. He planned to include Tron, which appears briefly in the film. Two working scripts were scrapped before the final one. In one version, Vanellope became self-absorbed by the internet, and Ralph partnered with Knowsmore to help her. In another, Ralph became an internet celebrity challenged by an anti-virus program named BEV. Head of story Josie Trinidad said neither captured the centerpiece of how Ralph and Vanellope react to the internet and realize they have separate paths.

Reception

It opened in theaters alongside Creed II and Robin Hood, with early projections of $67 to $77 million over the five-day Thanksgiving frame. The film took in $18.3 million on its first day, including a Tuesday preview record of $3.8 million. Its opening weekend grossed $55.7 million, totaling $84.5 million over five days, ranking first and achieving the second-best Thanksgiving debut ever after Frozen. The second weekend saw $25.8 million, a 54% drop but still the top spot. In the third weekend, it remained number one with $16.1 million. CinemaScore audiences rated it an A−, a step down from the first film's A, while PostTrak gave it four out of five stars.