Big Hero 6

Big Hero 6 is a 2014 American 3D computer-animated superhero comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Loosely based on the superhero team of the same name by Marvel Comics, the film was the 54th Disney animated feature film. The film features the voices of Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter, Daniel Henney, T. J. Miller, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans, Jr., Genesis Rodriguez, Alan Tudyk, James Cromwell, and Maya Rudolph. Directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams, the film tells the story of Hiro Hamada, a young robotics prodigy who forms a superhero team to combat a masked villain.

Big Hero 6 is the first Disney animated film to feature Marvel Comics characters, whose parent company was acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2009. Walt Disney Animation Studios created new software technology to produce the film's animated visuals.

Big Hero 6 premiered at the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival on October 23, 2014, and was released in the United States on November 7, 2014, in Disney Digital 3D and RealD 3D. The film was met with both critical and commercial success, grossing over $657 million worldwide and becoming the second highest-grossing animated film of 2014. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Animated Movie. It also received nominations for the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature, the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film, and the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film. Big Hero 6 was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on February 24, 2015. A television series, which will continue the story of the film, will debut in 2017 on Disney XD.

Plot
Hiro Hamada is a 14-year-old robotics genius living in the futuristic city of San Fransokyo. After graduating from high school, he spends much of his free time participating in illegal robot fights. To redirect Hiro, his elder brother Tadashi takes him to the research lab at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, where Hiro meets Tadashi's friends, GoGo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred, as well as Baymax, the inflatable healthcare robot that Tadashi created. Hiro also meets Professor Robert Callaghan, the head of the university's robotics program. Amazed, Hiro decides to apply to the university. To enroll, he signs up for the school's science fair and presents his project: microbots, swarms of tiny robots that can link together in any arrangement imaginable using a neuro-cranial transmitter. Hiro declines an offer from Alistair Krei, CEO of Krei Tech, to market the microbots, and Callaghan accepts him into the school. When a fire breaks out among the exhibits, Tadashi rushes in to save Callaghan, but the building explodes moments later, apparently killing both Tadashi and Callaghan.

Weeks later, a depressed Hiro inadvertently reactivates Baymax, who follows Hiro's only remaining microbot to an abandoned warehouse. There, the two discover that someone has been mass-producing the microbots and are attacked by a man wearing a Kabuki mask who is controlling them. After they escape, Hiro equips Baymax with armor and a battle chip containing various karate moves and they track the masked man to the docks. GoGo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred arrive, responding to a call from Baymax, and the masked man chases the group. The six escape to Fred's mansion where they decide to form a high-tech superhero team to combat the villain.

The group tracks the masked man, who they suspect to be Krei, to an abandoned Krei Tech laboratory on an island which had been used for teleportation research until a test pilot was lost in an accident. The masked man attacks, but the group manages to knock off his mask, revealing the man to be Callaghan who had stolen Hiro's microbots to shield himself from the explosion on campus. Hiro realizes that Tadashi died without reason, while Callaghan refuses to take responsibility for Tadashi's death. This prompts an enraged Hiro to remove Baymax's healthcare chip, leaving only the battle chip, and to order him to kill Callaghan. Honey re-installs the healthcare chip at the last second, preventing Baymax from carrying out the kill order. Callaghan escapes, and Hiro leaves with Baymax, intent on avenging Tadashi. Back home, Hiro tries to remove the healthcare chip again, but Baymax stops him and states that vengeance is not what Tadashi would have wanted. To calm him down, Baymax shows Hiro videos of Tadashi running numerous tests during Baymax's development as a demonstration of Tadashi's benevolence and legacy. A remorseful Hiro apologizes to his friends, who reassure him they will catch Callaghan the right way.

Video footage from the accident reveals that the pilot was Callaghan's daughter Abigail and that Callaghan is seeking revenge on Krei. Callaghan interrupts Krei at a public event and attempts to destroy his headquarters using Krei's teleportation portal. After a lengthy battle, the team deprives Callaghan of his microbots and the mask, saving Krei, but the portal remains active. Baymax detects Abigail inside, alive but in hyper-sleep, and leaps into the portal with Hiro to rescue her. They find Abigail's pod, but on the way back out, Baymax is struck by debris, damaging his armor and disabling his thrusters. Knowing that the portal will collapse, Baymax uses his armor's rocket fist to propel Hiro and Abigail back through the portal, forcing them to leave him behind. Callaghan is arrested while Abigail is taken to the hospital. Sometime later, Hiro discovers Baymax's personality chip clenched in the rocket fist. He rebuilds Baymax's body and the six friends continue their exploits through the city, fulfilling Tadashi's dream of helping those in need.

During the end credits, a series of newspaper headlines reveals that the university has awarded Hiro a grant and dedicated a building in Tadashi's honor and that the team has continued protecting the city. In a post-credits scene, Fred discovers a hidden cache of superhero equipment in his family mansion. His father, a retired superhero, returns from vacation and says, "We have a lot to talk about."

Voice cast
More coming soon!
 * Ryan Potter as Hiro Hamada

Production
Coming soon!

Release
Big Hero 6 premiered on October 23, 2014 as the opening film at the Tokyo International Film Festival. The world premiere of Big Hero 6 in 3D took place at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival on October 31, 2014. It was theatrically released in the United States and Canada on November 7, 2014 with limited IMAX international showings. Theatrically, the film was accompanied by the Walt Disney Animation Studios short, Feast.

For the South Korean release of the film, it was retitled Big Hero, to avoid the impression of being a sequel, and edited to remove indications of the characters' Japanese origin. This is owing to the tense relations between Korea and Japan. For instance, the protagonist's name, Hiro Hamada, was changed to "Hero Armada," and Japanese-language signage onscreen was changed to English. Nonetheless, the film caused some online controversy in South Korea, because of small images resembling the Rising Sun Flag in the protagonist's room.

The film was released in China on February 28, 2015.

Home media
Big Hero 6 was released in the United States by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on Blu-ray and DVD on February 24, 2015. Writer Steven T. Seagle, who co-created the comic book Big Hero 6, criticized the Blu-ray featurette documenting the origins of the group, for not mentioning him or co-creator Duncan Rouleau. Seagle also criticized the book Art of Big Hero 6 for the same omission.

Box office
Big Hero 6 earned $222.5 million in North America and $435.3 million in other territories for a worldwide estimated total of $657.8 million. Calculating in all expenses, Deadline estimated that the film made a profit of $187.34 million. Worldwide, it is the second highest-grossing animated film of 2014 (behind Gabriel Garza 2), the third-highest-grossing non-Pixar animated film from Disney, and the 29th-highest-grossing animated film of all time. By grossing over $500 million worldwide, it became the fourth Disney release of 2014 to do so; the other titles being Guardians of the Galaxy, Maleficent, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Critical response
The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 89% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 197 reviews, with an average score of 7.3/10. The site's consensus states: "Agreeably entertaining and brilliantly animated, Big Hero 6 is briskly-paced, action-packed, and often touching." Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 from top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 74 based on 38 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."

Accolades
Coming soon!

Other media
A Japanese manga adaptation of Big Hero 6 (which is titled Baymax (ベイマックス Beimakkusu) in Japan), illustrated by Haruki Ueno, began serialization in Kodansha's Magazine Special from August 20, 2014. A prologue chapter was published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine on August 6, 2014. According to the film's official Japanese website, the manga revealed plot details in Japan before anywhere else in the world. The website also quoted the film's co-director Don Hall, to whom it referred as a manga fan, as saying that the film was Japanese-inspired. Yen Press publishes the series in English.

Video games

 * A video game based on the film titled Big Hero 6: Battle in the Bay was released on October 28, 2014 for the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DS. This game is set after the events of the film and is a side-scrollingbeat 'em up game. Four of the six members are playable (with Baymax and Honey Lemon being non-playable), and the Touch Screen can be used to launch Honey Lemon's grenades in the heat of battle.
 * Hiro and Baymax from the film are also available in Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes as playable Disney Originals characters in the Toy Box.
 * A mobile game based on the film titled Big Hero 6: Bot Fight was also released on November 3, 2014. It takes place a year after the events of the film, where the heroes discover and battle runaway robots via match-3 battles. It was later discontinued on February 3, 2016 due to the constraints of Disney Mobile's support team and the need to discontinue old games to release new ones.
 * A world based on Big Hero 6 will make its debut appearance in Kingdom Hearts III. The world will continue the story from the events at the end of the film, with the villains taking control of the original Baymax body left behind in the portal space, turning it into a monstrous Heartless that the second Baymax and Sora fight.

Toys
Vinyl toy company Funko released the first images of the toy figures via their Big Hero 6 Funko. The POP Vinyl series collection features Hiro Hamada, GoGo Tomago, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Fred, and a 6-inch Baymax.

Bandai released a number of action figures related to the film; these toys including a number of different Baymax figures. One is a soft plastic 10-inch version that includes a series of projected stills from the film on his stomach, which can be changed when the figure's arm is moved, and which emits accompanying sounds. Deluxe Flying Baymax, which retails for $39.99, depicts the armored version of the character and features lights and sounds that activate at the push of a button. Placing the Hiro figurine on his back changes the sounds into speech and when the figure is tilted, the sounds are those of flying. The Armor-Up Baymax (original retail cost $19.99) comes with 20 pieces of armor that can be assembled onto the robot by the owner. The other characters from the film, including the other members of team and Professor Callaghan (who is called Yokai) are issued in 4-inch action figures, each of which have eight points of articulation.

Legacy
Hiro Hamada is scheduled to play a minor role in Gingo Animation's 2018 movie Computeropolis: The Deep Web.

Projected film sequel
On February 18, 2015, the film's directors, Don Hall and Chris Williams, said a sequel was possible. Hall added, "Having said that, of course, we love these characters, and the thought of working with them again some day definitely has its appeal." In March 2015, Genesis Rodriguez told MTV that a sequel was being considered, saying, "...There's nothing definitive. There's talks of something happening. We just don't know what yet." In April 2015, Stan Lee mentioned a projected sequel as one of several that he understood were in Marvel's plans for upcoming films.

Television follow-up
In March 2016, Disney announced that a Big Hero 6 television series was in development and will premiere on Disney XD in 2017. The series takes place immediately after the events of the film, and is created by Kim Possible 's Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley, and executive produced by McCorkle, Schooley and Nick Filippi. The majority of the cast from the film will return to voice the characters, except for Wayans Jr. and Miller.