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The Croods (also known as Crood Awakening) is a 2013 American animated Adventure film comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation. The film was directed by Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco, both of whom also wrote the screenplay. The film stars the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, and Cloris Leachman. The film is set in a fictional prehistoric Pliocene era known as "The Croodaceous" where Grug, patriarch of the Croods, is threatened by the arrival of a genius named Guy, who comes up with revolutionary new inventions as they trek through a dangerous land in search of a new home.
The film premiered at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival on February 15, 2013, and was released in the United States on March 22, 2013. The Croods grossed $587 million on a budget of $135–175 million and was nominated for an Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film.
The film launched a franchise, consisting of a 2015 television series, Dawn of the Croods, a 2020 sequel, and a 2021 television series, .
An earthquake destroys the cave and surrounding lands, and the Croods flee into a jungle they discover below their home mountains. Encountering a "Macawnivore" (portmanteau of "macaw" and "carnivore"), a Smilodon whom Eep's grandmother dubs "Chunky", the family flees him, until he is scared off by "piranhakeets" (portmanteau of "piranha" and "parakeet") that devour a ground whale. Eep makes another horn and calls to Guy, who rescues them with his fire. After some confusion regarding the Croods' first contact with fire, Grug imprisons Guy in a log so he can guide them somewhere safe. To appease Grug, Guy suggests the Croods go to a mountain where there are caves, though in reality he and the other Croods doubt the wisdom of this.
During the journey, Guy is eventually trusted enough to be allowed out of the log. Grug attempts to steal a bird's egg for dinner, but catches a scorpion instead, and Guy teaches Eep how to lay a trap for the bird itself. Guy endears himself to most of the Croods by inventing rudimentary shoes for the family, and other "ideas" which help them along the way. He also talks about "Future", a land of light where curiosity is not to be feared. Grug becomes jealous of Guy, especially after noticing he and Eep are falling in love. His disastrous attempts to fight against change, and to come up with inventions and ideas of his own, distance him from his family and cause his wife Ugga to argue with him.
The family finds a cave. However, no one but Grug wants to go in, having learned to adapt to living outside. Angered, Grug attacks Guy, and the two fall over a cliff into a tar pit. Believing they are doomed, Guy reveals that he lost his own family to a tar flow. Touched by this tragic backstory, Grug decides to work together with Guy to escape. They make a puppet to attract Chunky, who mistakes them for a female cat and pulls them free.
A volcanic cataclysm begins, and Guy and the Croods flee until they are halted at the edge of a chasm where the continents are drifting apart. Grug feels the sun's warmth through the smoke, and realizes that there may be good land on the other side. Grug tosses the others over the chasm one by one, knowing he will be left behind. He shares his latest invention, a "hug" with Eep before throwing her over with the rest of the family. They land, unharmed, on fertile land on the opposite cliff, while Grug shelters alone in a cave.
Grug encounters Chunky, who reveals he is scared of the dark, and seeks comfort with Grug instead of attacking him. Hearing Eep blowing her horn to mourn him, Grug assumes they are calling for his help and comes up with a new idea. He uses tar, fire, a whale ribcage and the piranhakeets to create a makeshift airship in which he, Chunky, and other animals escape the final eruption and fly over the chasm to join the others.
Grug is welcomed lovingly back as the leader of the family, and Eep returns his hug. They all start a new life on a tropical mountainside that leads down to the seashore, where they can follow the sun every day and enjoy Guy and Grug's inventions.
DreamWorks got a copy of their script and liked it, and invited Cleese and DeMicco over to take a look at the company's ideas to see if they found something they would like to work with. They chose a basic story idea about two cavemen on the run, an inventor and a luddite, and wrote the first few drafts of the script. In January 2007, with the departure of Aardman, the rights for the film reverted to DreamWorks. Aardman, however, continued experimenting with the idea of a Stone Age-themed story which became Early Man, and was released in 2018.
In March 2007, Chris Sanders, writer and director of Disney's Lilo & Stitch, joined DreamWorks to direct the film, with intentions to significantly rewrite the script. In September 2008, it was reported that Sanders took over How to Train Your Dragon putting Crood Awakening on hold, and thus postponing its original schedule for a year to a then planned March 2012. The film's final title, The Croods, was revealed in May 2009, along with new co-director, DeMicco. In March 2011, the film got another delay, being pushed back a year to March 1, 2013, and finally to March 22.
In North America, the film earned $11.6 million on its opening day. On its opening weekend, the film topped the box office with $43.6 million from 4,046 locations, a vast improvement over the DreamWorks Animation's directly preceding release Rise of the Guardians, yet still below some of the studio's other original films, like Megamind and How to Train Your Dragon.
Outside North America, the film topped the box office during its first weekend with $62.4 million (including previews from the previous weekend). It opened at number one in 54 countries, with the biggest openings achieved in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta ($8.08 million), Russia and the CIS ($7.82 million), China ($6.34 million), and Mexico ($4.37 million).
In total grosses, the film's biggest market was China with $63.3 million, becoming the highest grossing original animated film, surpassing DreamWorks Animation's film Kung Fu Panda. In addition, the film earned $43.1 million in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta, $28.6 million in Russia and the CIS, $27.7 million in Mexico, and $23.8 million in Australia. Earning a total of $400 million, it is the highest grossing 2013 film distributed by 20th Century Fox.
Lisa Kennedy of The Denver Post gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "It captures the wonder (and more gently, the anxiety) of discovery time and time again. And the filmmakers have a hoot playing with the Croods' encounters with, as well as their misunderstandings of, all things new." Paul Asay of Plugged In gave the film a positive review, stating "The Croods is, first and foremost, Grug's story. And it's one I think an awful lot of fathers might relate to...I should say that there's very little to fear from this movie. The Croods, for all its slapstick violence, is a fun, mostly clean and utterly charming diversion - something made for kids but meant for their parents. It's funny. It's touching. It reminds us that being a parent is tough in any epoch, but always worth the effort."
Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "A visually dazzling animated adventure with a well chosen voice cast is hampered by lackluster humor and a meandering story." Tom Russo of The Boston Globe also gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "Had the movie figured out a way to stay the less clichéd course, it might have helped the DreamWorks oeuvre take steps toward Pixar's emotional resonance." Tirdad Derakhshani of The Philadelphia Inquirer also gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "The movie is well edited and lean, a fast paced, action filled bit of froth that manages to be diverting and surprisingly fun."
David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter called the film, "Further back on the evolutionary chain than the The Flintstones, and also lagging in the comedy stakes, this sweet Stone Age clan nonetheless will captivate the youngsters." Leslie Felperin of Variety found that, "The main problem with the film is that the script simply isn't very funny, and its various subplots never quite mesh satisfyingly together."
Laremy Legel of Film.com gave the film a B, saying " How to Train Your Dragon and Lilo & Stitch are completely indicative of the experience you'll have with The Croods, which is to say a supremely positive one." Keith Staskiewicz of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C+, and wrote in his review, "A handful of adrenalizing sequences of animated anarchy can't save this story from feeling overly primitive."
In August 2021, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison compared the plot of the film to the process of easing COVID-19 restrictions. His comments were mocked on social media, with Courtney Fry of Pedestrian.TV noting the film as an odd reference, describing it as a "film that nobody has even thought about for nearly a decade".
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| Best Animated Female | Eep (Emma Stone) | |
| Outstanding Achievement for Animated Effects in an Animated Production | Jeff Budsberg, Andre Le Blanc, Louis Flores, and Jason Mayer | |
| Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Feature Production | Jakob Jensen | |
| Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in a Feature Production | Carter Goodrich, Takao Noguchi, and Shane Prigmore | |
| Outstanding Achievement for Directing in a Feature Production | Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders | |
| Outstanding Achievement for Editorial in a Feature Production | Darren T. Holmes | |
| Outstanding Achievement for Music in a Feature Production | Alan Silvestri | |
| Outstanding Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production | Christophe Lautrette, Paul Duncan, and Dominique R. Louis | |
| Outstanding Achievement for Storyboarding in a Feature Production | Steven MacLeod | |
| Best Visual Effects | Markus Manninen and Matt Baer | |
| Outstanding Youth Blu-Ray/DVD | The Croods | |
| Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature | Line Andersen, Won Young Byun, Koji Morihiro, and Chris De St. Jeor for "Eep" | |
| Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature | Jonathan Harman, Violette Sacre-Shaik, Benjamin Venancie, and Philippe Brochu for "The Maze" | |
| Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature | Jeff Budsberg, Andre Le Blanc, Jason Mayer, and Michael Losure | |
A mobile game, titled The Croods, which is a village building game was developed and published by Rovio, the creator of Angry Birds. It was released on March 14, 2013, for the iOS and Android platforms.
On September 9, 2013, it had been confirmed that Cage, Stone, and Reynolds would reprise their roles in the sequel. On June 12, 2014, it was announced that the sequel would be released on November 3, 2017. On September 21, 2014, the film's release date was delayed to December 22, 2017. On May 21, 2015, Leslie Mann and Kat Dennings had joined the voice cast. Mann would lend her voice to Hope Betterman, an upscale mother of the rival family, while Dennings would voice her daughter, Dawn. It was also confirmed that Keener and Duke would also reprise their roles. On August 9, 2016, nearing NBCUniversal/Comcast's impending acquisition of DreamWorks Animation, 20th Century Fox removed the film from its release schedule. The film would be instead released by Universal Pictures sometime in 2018. On August 23, 2016, it was announced that The Lego Movie and Hotel Transylvania co-writers Kevin and Dan Hageman will rewrite the script.
On November 11, 2016, DreamWorks announced that production for the sequel was cancelled. According to reports, there had been doubts about proceeding with the project before Universal's acquisition of DreamWorks, and it was DreamWorks' decision to cancel the film. Following this, DeMicco, the co-director of the first film, left DreamWorks to work as director on Vivo for Sony Pictures Animation. On September 19, 2017, DreamWorks and Universal announced that the film was back in production with a release date of September 18, 2020. It was also confirmed that the original actors would reprise their roles. On October 18, 2017, it was announced that Joel Crawford will direct the film, replacing Sanders following his departure from DreamWorks to direct The Call of the Wild for 20th Century Fox (currently known as 20th Century Studios), with Mark Swift serving as producer. This marks as Crawford's directorial debut. On October 5, 2018, it was announced that Peter Dinklage had joined the cast to voice Phil Betterman. On April 12, 2019, the film's release date was delayed to December 23, 2020. On October 29, 2019, DreamWorks announced that Kelly Marie Tran had replaced Dennings as Dawn while Mann was still confirmed to be part of the cast.
Production continued remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic with on-site work at the DreamWorks lot suspended.
A second animated series, this time CGI-animated, was announced titled , which was released simultaneously on Peacock and Hulu on September 23, 2021. Tran reprises her role as Dawn from the sequel while LoCascio reprises his role as Thunk from the previous series. The new voice cast features, Amy Landecker as Ugga, Kiff VandenHeuvel as Grug, Ally Dixon as Eep, Artemis Pebdani as Gran, Darin Brooks as Guy, Matthew Waterson as Phil, and Amy Rosoff as Hope.
In May 2025, Meme referencing the movie emerged on social media. The most common version of the meme was of main character Grug saying "rhymes with Grug."
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