Big Hero 6 (film)

Big Hero 6 is a 2014 American computer animated comedy-superhero film created and produced at Walt Disney Animation Studios and based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name by Man of Action. The film is directed by Don Hall (co-director of Winnie the Pooh) and Chris Williams (co-director of Bolt).

It is the 54th film in the Disney Animated Canon and the sixth film in the Disney Revival era.

Big Hero 6 was the first Disney animated feature film to star characters from Marvel Entertainment, which The Walt Disney Company acquired in 2009 and gave special thanks to that company.

The film was released on November 7, 2014 in the US, Canada and India by Disney.

The film received positive reviews from audiences and critics, and was a box office and commercial success, grossing $657 million worldwide. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Animated Feature and a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

Big Hero 6 was theatrically accompanied by the short film Feast.

Synopsis
From Walt Disney Animation Studios, the team behind Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph, comes Big Hero 6, an action-packed comedy-adventure about the special bond that develops between Baymax (Scott Adsit), an adorable, plus-sized inflatable robot, and prodigy Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter). When a devastating event befalls the city of San Fransokyo and catapults Hiro into the midst of danger, he turns to Baymax and his close friends adrenaline junkie Go Go Tomago (Jamie Chung), neatnik Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr.), chemistry whiz Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez) and fanboy Fred (T.J. Miller). Determined to uncover the mystery, Hiro transforms his friends into a team of high-tech heroes called Big Hero 6.

Plot
The film is set in a fictional futuristic hybrid metropolis called San Fransokyo (a portmanteau of San Francisco and Tokyo).

Hiro Hamada is a young genius and robotics expert who spends his time participating in back alley robot fights. His older brother Tadashi, worried that Hiro is wasting his potential, takes Hiro to the robotics lab at his school--the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. There, Hiro meets Tadashi's closest friends: Go Go Tomago, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Fred as well as Baymax, a sweet and hilarious personal healthcare robot that Tadashi created. Hiro also meets Professor Robert Callaghan, the head of the robotics program.

Amazed by the students' projects, Hiro decides to enroll in the school. With help from Tadashi and his friends, Hiro designs his own robotics project in order to gain a personal invitation via an annual exhibition. His invention, Microbots, a type of nanorobotics which he can control telepathically through a neural-cranial transmitter, impresses Callaghan, who offers Hiro an invitation to the school. His project also impresses Alistair Krei, owner of the prestigious robotics company Krei Tech. Krei offers to buy Hiro's microbots, but Callaghan successfully convinces Hiro not to make the deal.

As they leave to celebrate Hiro's success, a fire suddenly breaks out in the exhibition hall. Tadashi rushes in to rescue Callaghan, who is still inside, but the building explodes and kills Tadashi and apparently Callaghan (off-screen). As a result of losing his brother and best friend, Hiro shuts himself away in his room and isolates himself from others for two weeks.

One day, Hiro accidentally activates Baymax, who responded to Hiro's cry of pain. As Hiro attempts to deactivate Baymax, he discovers a single microbot that was left in his jacket. Hiro believes its movement is due to a malfunction, but Baymax believes it is trying to go somewhere. After Hiro gives a sarcastic response, the adorably naive Baymax follows the microbot to an abandoned warehouse just as Hiro catches up. There, they discover that someone has been mass producing Hiro's microbots before they are attacked by a cloaked man wearing a kabuki mask and controlling the microbots telepathically. They barely escape alive. Deducing that the masked man started the fire that killed Tadashi in order to steal the Microbots, Hiro decides to catch him and upgrades Baymax with battle armor and various fighting moves. Following their single microbot again, they find the masked man at the harbor and attempt to pull a surprise attack, but are unable to when Go Go, Wasabi, Honey and Fred arrive in a car (because Baymax had contacted them earlier, thinking that a great way to help Hiro was to contact his friends). The masked man attacks them as they flee in the car. They land in the water and nearly drown, but Baymax floats them up to safety. Wet and freezing, Fred suggests that they rest in an enormous mansion that he reveals to be his home. After realizing that Baymax had scanned the masked man, Hiro decides to upgrade Baymax further so he can scan the entire city to find him. Hiro also upgrades his friends and provides them with supersuits of their own.

When scanning the entire city, Baymax locates the masked man on a quarantined Akuma Island off-shore from the city. There, the group discovers a former Krei Tech lab that was experimenting with teleportation technology. The test went awry when one of the portals became unstable and the human test pilot got lost and presumed died. Because of this, they suspect that Krei is the masked man. The masked man unexpectedly reappears and attacks them. They attempt to steal his mask, where they deduce the transmitter is located. Despite some difficulties, Hiro succeeds in knocking off the mask and the mysterious man is revealed to be Professor Callaghan, who explains that he survived by using Hiro's microbots to shield himself from the blaze. Upon realizing that Tadashi died for nothing, Hiro becomes enraged; he angrily removes Baymax's healthcare chip and orders him to kill Callaghan. With only the battle chip left, Baymax becomes a mindless killing machine and goes on a rampage in an attempt to kill Callaghan, who is powerless without the microbots. Go Go, Fred, Wasabi and Honey are able to stop Baymax and reinsert his chip, but in the process, Callaghan retrieves his mask and escapes. Angry at the four for preventing him from getting revenge, Hiro leaves with Baymax. Once home, Hiro attempts to remove Baymax's healthcare chip again, but Baymax objects to this, not wanting to become a mindless killing machine again, and asks him if killing Callaghan will make him feel better. To comfort him, Baymax then shows several video recordings of Tadashi during Baymax's development. A remorseful Hiro realizes that killing Callaghan is not what Tadashi would have wanted and he makes amends with his friends.

After examining more footage of the teleporter test, they discover that the test pilot was none other than Callaghan's daughter Abigail and realize that Callaghan is seeking revenge on Krei, whom he blames for her demise. Using the microbots, Callaghan repairs the portal device so it will become unstable and destroy everything Krei loves: his business. The heroes arrive and Hiro attempts to reason with Callaghan, stating that revenge is a hollow victory. Though Callaghan hesitates for a few moments upon hearing this, he ultimately gives in to his anger and hatred and proceeds with his plan. The heroes battle him, and eventually manage to neutralize the microbots and take the transmitter from him. However, the portal remains active and is becoming increasingly unstable.

As everyone prepares to leave, Baymax detects female life signs from within the portal. Realizing that it must be Abigail, they rush in to save her. However, on their way out, Baymax's armor is damaged by debris and the only way to save Hiro and Abigail is to send them through with his rocket fist. Hiro refuses to leave Baymax behind, but Baymax convinces him that it is the only option. Baymax asks Hiro if he is satisfied with his care, to which Hiro sadly says yes and Baymax deactivates. Hiro and Abigail make it back through the portal and Callaghan is arrested.

Later, as Hiro settles into Tadashi's old lab, he discovers Baymax's healthcare chip (which contains his entire personality and memories as well) within the rocket hand. He successfully rebuilds Baymax's body and reactivates him and they happily reunite. The six friends then continue their exploits through the city, helping those in need as the Big Hero 6.

In a post-credit's scene, Fred, back at his mansion, talks to a photo of his father, telling him he'd be proud of him. Fred accidentally opens a secret door and, upon entering, finds weapons, armor and superhero gear. His father (voiced by Stan Lee) arrives and states that they have a lot to talk about before the two embrace.

Voice cast

 * Ryan Potter as Hiro Hamada, a 14-year-old robotics prodigy.
 * Scott Adsit as Baymax, an adorably precious inflatable robot built by Tadashi as a Medical Assistant.
 * Jamie Chung as Go Go Tomago, a tough, athletic student.
 * Damon Wayans, Jr. as Wasabi, a smart, slightly neurotic youth.
 * Genesis Rodriguez as Honey Lemon, a chemistry enthusiast at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.
 * T.J. Miller as Fred, a geeky comic-book and superhero fanatic who also plays the mascot at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.
 * Maya Rudolph as Aunt Cass Hamada, Hiro and Tadashi's aunt and guardian.
 * James Cromwell as Professor Robert Callaghan/Yokai, the head of a robotics program at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.
 * Alan Tudyk as Alistair Krei, a pioneer entrepreneur.
 * Daniel Henney as Tadashi Hamada, Hiro's older brother and Baymax's creator.
 * Stan Lee as Fred's Father, Fred's dad who has been gone a few weeks.
 * Daniel Gerson as Sergeant Gerson, a policeman working at the San Fransokyo Police Station.
 * Paul Briggs as Mr. Yama, a bot fighter who is arrested by doing so.
 * Katie Lowes as Abigail Callaghan, the daughter of Professor Callaghan and a test pilot for Krei Tech.

Production
After Disney's acquisition of Marvel Entertainment in 2009, President/CEO Bob Iger encouraged the company's divisions to explore Marvel's properties for adaptation concepts. In 2011, while Don Hall was co-directing Winnie the Pooh with Stephen Anderson, he chose Big Hero 6 from Marvel's library and later pitched the concept to executive producer John Lasseter, as a possible production for Walt Disney Animation Studios. In June 2012, Disney confirmed that Walt Disney Animation Studios was adapting Marvel Comics' series and that the film was commissioned into early stages of development.

It has been confirmed that Big Hero 6 will be a stand-alone film and have no relationship with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film is based on an obscure 1998 series written by Steven T. Seagle & Duncan Roulea. Although Big Hero 6 will be produced solely by Walt Disney Animation Studios, several members of Marvel's creative team will be involved in the film's production including Marvel's Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada. Regarding the film's story, Quesada stated, "The relationship between Hiro and his robot has a very Disney flavor to it...but it's combined with these Marvel heroic arcs". In terms of the film's animation style and settings, the film will combine Eastern Asian culture (predominantly Japanese) with Western culture.

On December 31, 2013, it was reported that Chris Williams (Co-director of Bolt) had joined Hall as the new director, while Roy Conli, p.g.a. had replaced Kristina Reed as producer.

On January 27, 2014, Disney had announced that Warner Loughlin, an acting coach for Amy Adams, Ryan Reynolds, Zooey Deschanel and others, had joined the project. It was reported that she will help the project by providing breathtaking emotions and quality acting for the characters of Big Hero 6.

Production on the film was completed on August 11, 2014.

Release
Big Hero 6 was released theatrically on November 7, 2014 in the US, Canada India, Vietnam and Indonesia, the 26th of December, 2014 in Australia and New Zealand, and will be releasing January 30, 2015 in the UK and Ireland. The film was accompanied by the Walt Disney Animation Studios short Feast. It premiered on October 23, 2014 as the opening film at the Tokyo International Film Festival and the world premiere of the film in 3D took place at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival on October 31, 2014. The film's premiere in US was at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on November 5, 2014. The teaser trailer was released on May 22, 2014 while the first full trailer arrived on July 15th, 2014.

Home media
Big Hero 6 was released by Disney on Digital HD on February 3, 2015, and was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on February 24, 2015.

Reception
Big Hero 6 earned $222,527,828 in North America, and an estimated $435,300,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $657,818,612.

Trivia

 * This is only the seventh non-musical animated film in the Disney animated canon, following The Black Cauldron, The Rescuers Down Under, Dinosaur, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Treasure Planet, and Wreck-It Ralph. It is also the highest grossing non-musical animated feature by Walt Disney Animation Studios. An upcoming one is Zootopia.
 * Big Hero 6 has become the thirteenth highest grossing Disney movie, and the fourth highest that is not a Pixar movie, only following Zootopia, The Lion King and Frozen.
 * Big Hero 6 won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2015. It is the second Disney animated film, that wasn't made by Pixar, to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature after the previous year's winner, Frozen.
 * Big Hero 6 is the first Walt Disney Animation feature film to be inspired by a comic book series (of the same name) as opposed to a traditional fairy-tale, fictional book or an entirely original concept.
 * The film mainly draws from Big Hero 6 's mini-series, where Wasabi and Fred first appeared, replacing Silver Samurai and others.
 * Although it is based on a Marvel comic of the same name, there are many changes, including character names, the setting, the ethnicities of characters, the backstories, and several plot points:
 * Several characters don't appear in the film due to copyright issues.
 * The character originally known as Wasabi No-Ginger has his last name officially dropped from the film, and is simply referred to as Wasabi. Many official Disney merchandise and sites, however, still refer to him as "Wasabi No-Ginger".
 * Although based on a Marvel property, Big Hero 6 is not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even though Marvel helped with the film.
 * This is the first Disney animated feature to show the studio logos in the beginning, and the main title, the full closing credits sequence and the studio logos at the end. First along with the short, Day & Night, and second, The Lego Movie.
 * At the beginning, the logo combo was similar to the previous film Frozen, but the logo's music is heard instead of the opening song (That plays over it.)
 * At the end, the logo combo was the same as Frozen.
 * James Cromwell and Alan Tudyk previously co-starred in the 2004 film I, Robot.
 * This is the first Walt Disney Animation Studios feature to have the "Created and Produced at Walt Disney Animation Studios, Burbank, California" credit at the end.
 * Pixar Animation Studios does the same thing in movies (Beginning with Monsters, Inc.), except is says "Created and Produced at Pixar Animation Studios, Emeryville, California."
 * This is the first Walt Disney Animation Studios feature to have Disney's Hyperion Rendering.
 * The last feature to use old rendering was the previous feature Frozen.
 * According to Big Hero 6 's character design supervisor, Jin Kim, one of the main goals of this movie was to introduce multiracial characters to allow everyone to feel some familiarities about their own culture and introduce the world's racial diversity.
 * Hiro Hamada and Tadashi Hamada are Japanese-American.
 * Go Go Tomago is Korean.
 * Honey Lemon is Latina.
 * Wasabi is African-American.
 * Fred is Caucasian.
 * Kim revealed that the lead characters, although they were later given Japanese names, were originally envisioned as Koreans during development with the chief character designer, Shiyoon Kim.
 * BBC Radio 1 presenters and Youtubers Dan Howell (danisnotonfire) and Phil Lester (AmazingPhil) were given the roles of Male Technician 1 and 2 in the UK Cinema version of the movie. However that version didn't end up in the UK home release, as it is based off of the original US version, not the PAL release.
 * Big Hero 6 is Disney's seventh CGI animated feature, and the thirteenth animated feature that isn't a musical.
 * Big Hero 6 is the first superhero movie to be released by WDAS.
 * At the beginning of this film, robot-fighting may have been inspired by cockfights, a traditional medieval blood sport that is illegal in the United States.
 * This is the second Disney film to contain a blood sport, the first being White Fang.

Cameos

 * When Hiro is talking with his aunt, there is a painting of Mochi wearing a Stitch costume behind him.
 * In Fred's mansion, there is a Stitch pillow as well as one with Splodyhead on his bed in the background.
 * There is a Wreck-It Ralph toy on Hiro's bedroom desk.
 * Hans is seen on a wanted poster at the police department and as a statue in Fred's mansion.
 * There is a picture of Bolt as well as one of Esther in the desk at the police department.
 * If you look closely, the statue Baymax destroys with his rocket fist, it closely resembles Hans.
 * An Arendelle ship can be seen at the bay of San Fransokyo during Baymax and Hiro's flight sequence.
 * A statue of Olaf is also spotted in the middle of the city.
 * In the UK version of Big Hero 6 (but not in the UK home release), two British YouTube stars Dan Howell and Phil Lester have two voice cameos as Technician 1 and 2.
 * Stan Lee makes another cameo in a Marvel film, this time as Fred's father.
 * Honey Lemon's phone case has Nick Wilde on it.
 * In the Korean version of the film, there is a picture of Elsa the Snow Queen's head silhouette on the wall of Hiro's house.
 * Baby Cybugs from Wreck-It-Ralph can be seen on the shelves of both Hiro and Fred's room, as well as Heroes Duty soldiers.