Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken 2023

Movie · 91 min · English · June 15, 2023

Directed by Kirk DeMiccoWritten by Pam Brady, Brian C. Brown, Elliott DiGuiseppi

Starring Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Annie Murphy, Colman Domingo, Blue Chapman

A 2023 American animated teen comedy film, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken was directed by Kirk DeMicco and written by Brian C. Brown, Elliott DiGuiseppi, and Pam Brady. The movie was produced by DreamWorks Animation and features voice acting from Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Annie Murphy, Colman Domingo, and Jane Fonda. It tells the story of Ruby Gillman (Condor), a timid kraken girl eager to belong at Oceanside High. After breaking her mother Collette’s rule by swimming with friends, she learns that she is a descendant of fierce krakens who have battled evil mermaids for centuries. She is also meant to take over the throne from her grandmother Fonda.

The film premiered worldwide at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 15, 2023 and was later released in the United States by Universal Pictures on June 30. Critics gave it mixed reviews, and it underperformed at the box office. It earned $46 million while costing $70 million, making it DreamWorks Animation’s second-lowest-grossing film ever (after Spirit Untamed in 2021). This also marks their second animated movie to lose money following Trolls World Tour, which was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.