{ "id": "epczrs5p7e", "slug": "smallfoot", "title": "Smallfoot", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "label": "Animated and short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject", "label": "Animated films by source material and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject.films-based-on-folklore-and-religion", "label": "Films based on folklore and religion", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject.films-based-on-folklore-and-religion" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject", "label": "United States · 2001 to 2020: Animated films by source material and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2001", "label": "United States · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "label": "Animated and short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject", "label": "Animated films by source material and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Smallfoot is a 2018 American computer-animated musical comedy from Warner Animation Group in which a young yeti named Migo discovers a human, reversing the Bigfoot legend.", "snippet": "Smallfoot is a 2018 American computer-animated musical comedy from Warner Animation Group in which a young yeti named Migo discovers a human, reversing the Bigfoot legend.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject.films-based-on-folklore-and-religion", "markdown": "# Smallfoot\n\n**Smallfoot** is a 2018 American computer-animated musical comedy from Warner Animation Group in which a young yeti named Migo discovers a human, a creature his mountain community insists is a myth. The film reverses the Bigfoot legend: the yetis are the ones who disbelieve in the \"smallfoot\" below the clouds. It was directed by Karey Kirkpatrick, runs 96 minutes, and opened in the United States on September 28, 2018.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smallfoot) • [2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Smallfoot-%282018%29)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | September 28, 2018 (wide, US); 96 minutes; rated PG for some action, rude humor, and thematic elements[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Smallfoot-%282018%29) |\n| Director / writers | Karey Kirkpatrick (director, co-screenwriter with Clare Sera); co-director Jason Reisig[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smallfoot) • [3](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/smallfoot-movie-review-channing-tatum-james-corden-watch-release-date-trailer-when-a8578771.html) |\n| Origin | Based on the pitch book \"Yeti Tracks\" by Sergio Pablos, the Spanish animator behind the Despicable Me idea; conceived as \"Bigfoot in reverse\"[4](https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/10/11/qa-with-karey-kirkpatrick-director-of-smallfoot/) • [5](https://www.rotoscopers.com/2018/10/10/interview-with-smallfoot-director-and-lyricists-karey-and-wayne-kirkpatrick/) |\n| Principal cast | Channing Tatum (Migo), James Corden (Percy), Zendaya (Meechee), Common (Stonekeeper), LeBron James (Gwangi), Danny DeVito (Dorgle)[6](https://www.fandango.com/smallfoot-207639/movie-overview) |\n| Box office | $83,240,103 domestic; $217,940,103 worldwide, against an $80,000,000 production budget; opening weekend $23,045,635 in 4,131 theaters[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Smallfoot-%282018%29) |\n| Critical reception | 76% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (129 reviews); Metascore 60 on Metacritic (25 reviews)[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smallfoot) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/smallfoot/) |\n| Animation | Sony Pictures Imageworks, with a new hair shader for the yetis and a purpose-built snow simulation tool called Katyusha[8](https://www.imageworks.com/our-craft/feature-animation/movies/smallfoot) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Premise\n\nMigo is a friendly yeti living in a village high in the [Himalayas](https://www.edgepedia.org/himalayas), where laws and beliefs are carved into sacred stone tablets and the first article of faith is that the smallfoot does not exist. When he encounters a human, the community refuses to believe him and he faces banishment; to prove his claim, he journeys below the clouds.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smallfoot) • [9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/oct/11/smallfoot-review-animation-yeti-channing-tatum-james-corden) The human he meets is Percy Patterson, a British TV naturalist whose wildlife show has dwindling ratings and who wants to capture a yeti on camera to revive his career.[3](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/smallfoot-movie-review-channing-tatum-james-corden-watch-release-date-trailer-when-a8578771.html)\n\nThe reversal is the film's central device. The yetis dismiss humans as wild superstition, and the film's message concerns empathy, questioning received belief, and looking at the world through another's eyes.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/oct/11/smallfoot-review-animation-yeti-channing-tatum-james-corden) Migo joins a group of dissenters, the Smallfoot Evidentiary Society, set up by Meechee, the chief's rebellious daughter.[3](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/smallfoot-movie-review-channing-tatum-james-corden-watch-release-date-trailer-when-a8578771.html) The Guardian's review notes that the yetis' creation myths were invented centuries ago to protect the village from humans who had hunted them to near-extinction.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/oct/11/smallfoot-review-animation-yeti-channing-tatum-james-corden)\n\n## Development\n\nThe idea came from [Sergio Pablos](https://www.edgepedia.org/sergio-pablos), a Spanish animator and storyteller known for originating the [Despicable Me](https://www.edgepedia.org/despicable-me) concept. He wrote a pitch book called \"Yeti Tracks\" and pitched the project to Warner Bros. through producers John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, the writing and directing duo behind Crazy Stupid Love and [Bad Santa](https://www.edgepedia.org/bad-santa), who began developing it with Pablos roughly six years before release; early plans to animate the film in Spain at Pablos's studio were set aside.[5](https://www.rotoscopers.com/2018/10/10/interview-with-smallfoot-director-and-lyricists-karey-and-wayne-kirkpatrick/) • [10](https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/truth-karey-kirkpatrick-clare-sera-discuss-smallfoot-starring-channing-tatum-james-corden/)\n\n**Kirkpatrick's path to the director's chair.** Karey Kirkpatrick, whose earlier credits include [James and the Giant Peach](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-and-the-giant-peach) and [Chicken Run](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicken-run), joined in July 2016 as a screenwriter and, after further changes, was asked to direct.[5](https://www.rotoscopers.com/2018/10/10/interview-with-smallfoot-director-and-lyricists-karey-and-wayne-kirkpatrick/) • [4](https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/10/11/qa-with-karey-kirkpatrick-director-of-smallfoot/) In January 2017 the studio asked whether the film could be a musical; Kirkpatrick brought in his brother Wayne Kirkpatrick as lyricist, and the two wrote the songs while the film was still in storyboards, starting with an opening number and the song \"Wonderful Life\".[5](https://www.rotoscopers.com/2018/10/10/interview-with-smallfoot-director-and-lyricists-karey-and-wayne-kirkpatrick/) Kirkpatrick said the story grew more relevant as it was written, given what he described as the era's search for truth.[10](https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/truth-karey-kirkpatrick-clare-sera-discuss-smallfoot-starring-channing-tatum-james-corden/)\n\n## Animation and production design\n\n[Sony Pictures Imageworks](https://www.edgepedia.org/sony-pictures-imageworks) handled the animation, working with Warner Animation Group under VFX supervisor Karl Herbst and animation supervisor Kevin Webb. The yetis stand much taller than the human characters, and to heighten the difference the studio developed a new hair shader that renders individual hairs, along with an updated hair dynamics pipeline for the density of furry characters in each shot.[8](https://www.imageworks.com/our-craft/feature-animation/movies/smallfoot) Meechee's multi-layered braids were posed and simulated individually, and her long body hair was treated as a dress of two layered cloth panels that animators could control.[8](https://www.imageworks.com/our-craft/feature-animation/movies/smallfoot)\n\n**Snow and the human city.** Much of the film takes place in a winter environment, so the filmmakers chose falling snow, rather than characters' icy breath, to convey cold. For interactions such as sliding or tunneling through snow, Imageworks built a tool called Katyusha, combining rigid-body destruction with fluid simulations and rendering the results as volumetrics.[8](https://www.imageworks.com/our-craft/feature-animation/movies/smallfoot) The night-time human city, shown under fresh snowfall, required more than 30,000 lights, including neon signs, backlit windows, street lights, and billboard spotlights, built from component parts ranging from doorknobs to rooftops.[8](https://www.imageworks.com/our-craft/feature-animation/movies/smallfoot) Kirkpatrick has said the yeti village was conceived with the yetis about a thousand years behind humans on the evolutionary scale.[4](https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/10/11/qa-with-karey-kirkpatrick-director-of-smallfoot/)\n\n## Reception and box office\n\nThe film opened second at the North American box office with $23,045,635 from 4,131 theaters and ran for 16 weekends domestically, finishing at $83,240,103 in the United States and Canada and $217,940,103 worldwide, about 2.7 times its $80,000,000 production budget.[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Smallfoot-%282018%29) A Warner Home Video release followed on December 4, 2018.[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Smallfoot-%282018%29)\n\nCritics were mixed to positive. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds 76% among 129 reviews, with a critics consensus that it offers \"a colorful distraction\" for younger viewers whose message might resonate with older audiences; the audience Popcornmeter stands at 62%.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smallfoot) Metacritic assigned a Metascore of 60 from 25 reviews, in the \"mixed or average\" band.[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/smallfoot/) Reviewers repeatedly singled out the premise. According to the Los Angeles Times, the film follows a familiar and easily guessed formula, but it distinguishes itself through how willingly it explores themes of challenging unquestioned belief.[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/smallfoot/) The Chicago Reader compared its energy and subversive humor to the golden age of [Looney Tunes](https://www.edgepedia.org/looney-tunes) while placing it below the best of Pixar and Disney.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smallfoot) Common criticisms targeted the songs and pacing: [The Observer](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-observer) called the songs a bum note while crediting the film with raising questions about dogma and fake news,[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smallfoot) and The Independent found the musical interludes the hardest to take but praised Migo as likeable and intrepid.[3](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/smallfoot-movie-review-channing-tatum-james-corden-watch-release-date-trailer-when-a8578771.html)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Smallfoot, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smallfoot)\n2. [Smallfoot (2018), Box Office and Financial Information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Smallfoot-%282018%29)\n3. [Smallfoot review: Passable half-term viewing for family audiences, The Independent (2018)](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/smallfoot-movie-review-channing-tatum-james-corden-watch-release-date-trailer-when-a8578771.html)\n4. [Q&A with Karey Kirkpatrick, Director of Smallfoot, No More Workhorse (2018)](https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/10/11/qa-with-karey-kirkpatrick-director-of-smallfoot/)\n5. [Interview with 'Smallfoot' Director and Lyricists, Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick, Rotoscopers (2018)](https://www.rotoscopers.com/2018/10/10/interview-with-smallfoot-director-and-lyricists-karey-and-wayne-kirkpatrick/)\n6. [Smallfoot Movie Tickets & Showtimes, Fandango](https://www.fandango.com/smallfoot-207639/movie-overview)\n7. [Smallfoot Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/smallfoot/)\n8. [Smallfoot, Sony Pictures Imageworks](https://www.imageworks.com/our-craft/feature-animation/movies/smallfoot)\n9. [Smallfoot review, The Guardian (2018)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/oct/11/smallfoot-review-animation-yeti-channing-tatum-james-corden)\n10. [\"What Is Truth?\" Screenwriters Karey Kirkpatrick & Clare Sera Discuss 'Smallfoot', Creative Screenwriting (2018)](https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/truth-karey-kirkpatrick-clare-sera-discuss-smallfoot-starring-channing-tatum-james-corden/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Animated and short films › Animated films by source material and subject › Films based on folklore and religion*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/smallfoot", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/smallfoot.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Smallfoot\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/smallfoot. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Smallfoot](https://www.edgepedia.org/smallfoot)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/smallfoot](https://www.edgepedia.org/smallfoot). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Smallfoot\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/smallfoot. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Smallfoot is a 2018 American computer-animated musical comedy from Warner Animation Group in which a young yeti named Migo discovers a human, reversing the Bigfoot legend." }