Tom & Jerry Trivia | 40 facts about the new movie

Tom and Jerry, our favorite animated characters, came back to the big screen with a new live-action computer-animated movie this year.

Let’s find out more about the movie!

1. Tom & Jerry is a 2021 American live-action/computer-animated slapstick comedy film.
2. It is obviouslt based on the titular cartoon characters of the same name created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
3. The movie is produced by the Warner Animation Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
4. It is the second theatrical film based on the characters following 1992’s Tom and Jerry: The Movie.
5. The film follows Tom being hired by a young employee named Kayla to exterminate Jerry, a mouse who takes refuge in New York City’s fanciest hotel, before his presence threatens the hotel and its important wedding set to take place on the hotel grounds.
6. The film is directed by Tim Story and written by Kevin Costello.
7. It stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Michael Peña, Colin Jost, Rob Delaney, Pallavi Sharda, Jordan Bolger, Patsy Ferran, and Ken Jeong in live-action roles, with Nicky Jam, Bobby Cannavale, and Lil Rel Howery in voice roles.
8. The titular characters are voiced by William Hanna, Mel Blanc and June Foray via archival recordings, alongside Frank Welker, Kaiji Tang and André Sogliuzzo (though the characters are listed as themselves in the credits).
9. Originally announced as a live-action/computer-animated film in 2009, the film languished in development hell for several years.
10. Plans eventually shifted to producing an entirely animated film, in the same vein as the original theatrical shorts, in 2015. The film again became a live-action/animated hybrid in 2018, with animation produced by the Warner Animation Group, and filming beginning in 2019.
11. Tom & Jerry was theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on February 26, 2021, along with a one-month simultaneous streaming release on HBO Max.
12. The film has grossed over $132 million on a $79 million budget.
13. It received generally negative reviews, who criticized the human characters and screenplay, but credited the film for its sense of nostalgia.
14. Principal photography began in July 2019 at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in Hertfordshire, England.
15. The film was shot by cinematographer Alan Stewart, on the Sony VENICE cinema cameras and Panavision Primo 70 and Primo Artiste Lenses.
16. Animators were present during filming, allowing cast members to improvise while figures of the titular characters were handled by puppeteers.
17. Filming ended before the industry’s temporary shutdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
18. On July 22, 2020, it was announced that Tim Story’s recurring collaborator and composer Christopher Lennertz is set to compose the score of the film.
19. The album was released by WaterTower Music on February 12, having 30 tracks.
20. The film features archive recordings of William Hanna, who did all of the original screeches, yells, gasps, shrieks, howls, and screams for Tom and Jerry heard in the original cartoons from 1942 to 1957. It’s the same technique used previously in The Peanuts Movie(2015), where all the Snoopy’s screeches, yells, gasps, shrieks, howls, and screams were the made by Bill Melendez in the original cartoons from 1965 to 2000 (including movies, TV series and TV specials).
21. This is the first Tom and Jerry theatrical film to be made without the original creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera who died in 2001 and 2006, respectively.
22. The film is dedicated to veteran animator Gene Deitch (1924 – 2020), who worked on several “Tom & Jerry” features in his career.
23. When Jerry is in his bathtub he is reading a book or magazine titled Secret Squirrel. Secret Squirrel was Hanna-Barbera cartoon that ran from 1965-66 featuring a James Bond-esque adventures.
24. The film was originally announced back in 2009 and it was to show how Tom and Jerry meet and become rivals while getting left behind in Chicago. The film was stuck in development with unscheduled release years until it was back into works in October 2018.
25. It’s the first Tom & Jerry movie to be live-action and animated.
26. Terrence tells Kalya that the Royal Gate Hotel was built in 1930 which was the actual year where William Hanna started his animation career by working on the first Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes cartoons for Warner Brothers. Terrence also said the hotel moved to New York City in 1962 which was the year when the last couple of Tom and Jerry cartoons made by Gene Deitch were coming to an end.
27. All of the animal characters in the movie, including those in the background, are animated
28. Although this is the first Tom and Jerry feature film since Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1992) the characters themselves do not speak or sing in this film. Not counting Tom singing to Toodles the girl cat for real as he was actually lip syncing.
29. This is the first Warner Animation Group film to have the opening credits.
30. The film was released in 2021 which marks the 15th anniversary of Tom and Jerry Tales (2006).
31. The first film to have the 2021 Warner Animation Group logo.
32. This is Michael Peña’s second live action family film based on an animated cartoon after Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019) 2 years prior.
33. Warner Animation Group is the third animation studio to produce both animated films and live-action/animated hybrid films after Illumination Entertainment and Sony Pictures Animation.
34. The drone which Tom & Jerry use to chase Preeta is a modified DJI Spark (introduced Q2/2017 and discontinued Q3/2019).
35. With the participation of the Canadian Film or Video Production Services Tax Credit.
36. Studies show that cats and dogs who live in the same house for more than a couple weeks become socialized to get along; they usually become friends. So all this business about Butch and Tom hating each other for years and years seems unrealistic
37. No person or entity associated with this film received payment or anything of value or entered into any agreement, in connection with the depiction of tobacco products.
38. Tim Story, the director has a comeo. More specifically, he is the voice behind the Pigeon Announcer.
39. This is the first Tom and Jerry feature film to include a post credits scene.
40. This is also the first live action animated Warner Brothers film to do that since Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) 18 years prior.