My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games

Plot

The students of Canterlot High School prepare for the Friendship Games, an academic and sporting competition regularly held between their school's team, the Wondercolts, and the undefeated Shadowbolts from Crystal Prep Academy. Sunset Shimmer, who has been observing her friends' magical ability to "pony up" (grow pony-like ears, tails, and wings) whenever they play musical instruments, becomes concerned when Rainbow Dash transforms during a pep rally, seemingly at random. Tasked with finding the cause of this development, Sunset attempts to contact Twilight Sparkle in Equestria for advice, but receives no response.

Meanwhile, Crystal Prep is attended by the counterpart of Twilight, a school outcast who has been investigating the magical activity surrounding Canterlot High. Twilight builds a locket-like device with which to detect and contain the magic for further study, hoping this will secure her application for Everton, a coveted independent study program. However, Abacus Cinch, her school principal, threatens to revoke the application so as to blackmail Twilight into participating in the Friendship Games and maintain Crystal Prep's victory record.

Upon Twilight's arrival at Canterlot High, her device detects Sunset and her friends' magic and leads Twilight to them; as she approaches, the device inadvertently drains Rarity's magic when she "ponies up" after making uniforms for her friends. Sunset, initially mistaking Twilight for her pony counterpart, quickly realizes the misunderstanding and considers consulting the pony Twilight in person. When Crystal Prep's Twilight follows her to the portal to Equestria, the device absorbs its magic and deactivates it. The device similarly affects Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy when they attempt to befriend Twilight during the games, briefly tearing open dimensional rifts to Equestria as a result each time.

Following Twilight's victory in the games' academic decathlon, the games continue with a "tricross relay", a relay race between archery, speed skating and motocross. Applejack transforms after advising a struggling Twilight in her stage of the race, causing the device to steal Applejack's magic and create a rift that temporarily brings monstrous plants through. Rainbow Dash "ponies up" to save the other competitors before losing her own magic, allowing Canterlot High to win the event to tie with Crystal Prep, but causing Cinch to accuse Canterlot High of cheating due to their perceived advantage through magic.

Before the final event, Cinch and the Shadowbolts pressure Twilight into releasing the accumulated magic within her device to harness it against the Wondercolts. The magic instead corrupts Twilight, turning her into a winged and horned monster, and she proceeds to obsessively open more rifts that threaten to destroy the parallel world. As the Wondercolts and Shadowbolts work together to save their classmates, Sunset notices her friends' magical auras and realizes that their magic manifests when they exhibit the same traits as the Elements of Harmony. Gathering their magic with the device, Sunset assumes an angelic form and closes the rifts. She then helps Twilight regain her senses alongside Spike, Twilight's dog, returning her to normal.

Both schools, including the repentant Shadowbolts, accost Cinch for manipulating Twilight. Refusing to relent, Cinch threatens to report the incident to the school board. When taunted that no one would believe her account of the magical incidents, however, she concedes to a tie that is celebrated by both teams. Twilight, reconsidering her Everton application, realizes she is happier at Canterlot High and transfers there, where Sunset and the other students welcome her as a new friend.

In a pre-credits scene, the Twilight from Equestria emerges from the reactivated portal with the counterparts of her friends gathered around it. She apologizes for her absence, explaining that she has just escaped from a time travel loop, before gawking at the sight of her own counterpart.

Cast

Production

A forest clearing, used both for the Friendship Is Magic episode "Bloom & Gloom" and for this film, was previewed in a background image shown online back in November 2014.

The third installment was first teased by Rainbow Rocks co-director, Ishi Rudell on December 12, 2014. Brony Donald "Dusty Katt" Rhoades asked wondering about Rudell's silence on Twitter, and Rudell replied that he was "too busy working on #3".

On January 29, 2015, Australian home media distributor Beyond Home Entertainment stated via Facebook that they had obtained distribution rights for seasons 4 and 5 of Friendship Is Magic, in addition to Rainbow Rocks and the "third Equestria Girls [film]". Further confirmation was given during Hasbro's investor presentation at the 2015 New York Toy Fair, along with other products in the Friendship Games lineup.

The concept designs for the film's ending credits were done by Katrina Hadley with Chris Lienonin and Jerremy Mah on the layouts.

Music

Like the previous two installments, the songs were composed by Daniel Ingram with lyric writing shared between Ingram and screenwriter Josh Haber; with the exception of "Friendship Games" and "ACADECA" which had lyrics by Ingram. Even though it wasn't listed in Discovery Family's televised broadcast of the film's ending credits, "What More Is Out There?" can be heard in the film. Although "Right There in Front of Me" can be seen in the credits, it does not appear in the film. Song production was done by Caleb Chan with vocal arrangements by Trevor Hoffman.

"Right There in Front of Me" plays over the closing credits on the film's DVD and Blu-ray versions. According to Rudell, the song "Dance Magic" is unrelated to the film.

One of the deleted scenes included in the Blu-ray and DVD set is an alternate version of the song "What More Is Out There?", featuring both Crystal Prep's Twilight Sparkle and Canterlot High's Sunset Shimmer. The song was originally intended as a duet for the two characters, but due to time constraints and the removal of a subplot, it was ultimately rewritten as a solo for Twilight.

Marketing

On July 1, 2015, the film's trailer was first released on USA Today website. Eight days later on July 9, 2015, a second trailer was showcased at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con. Friendship Games buttons were also given away at the convention.

Theatrical

The film received a theatrical debut exclusively at the Angelika Film Center in New York City on September 17, 2015. William Anderson, Ashleigh Ball, G.M. Berrow, Josh Haber, Daniel Ingram, Brian Lenard, Andrea Libman, Ishi Rudell, Rebecca Shoichet, Tara Strong, and Cathy Weseluck, including Sarah Michelle Gellar from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and comedian Jim Gaffigan, were among those in attendance. Also in attendance was The Real Housewives of New York star Kristen Taekman, Top Chef's Padma Lakshmi, America's Got Talent host Nick Cannon, former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber, fashion photographer Nigel Barker, Sons of Anarchy's Drea de Matteo, and fitness guru Tracy Anderson.

Friendship Games had a limited theatrical release in select Vue Cinemas theaters in the United Kingdom between October 24, and November 1, 2015. The film had a limited theatrical release at various Hoyts theaters in Australia between October 31, and November 10, 2015.

Television

In the United States, the film was premiered on Discovery Family (a joint venture between Discovery Communications and Hasbro) on September 26, 2015. On December 24 (Christmas Eve), 2015, the film made its debut in the United Kingdom on Pop.

Home media and streaming

In the United States and Canada, Shout! Factory released Friendship Games on DVD (Region 1), Blu-ray disc, digital download release, and in a box set alongside its two predecessors on October 13, 2015. DVD and Blu-ray special features consist of four storyboard animatic deleted scenes, audio commentary, sing-alongs, and five animated shorts. Primal Screen released a Region 2 DVD on November 2, 2015, and includes the five animated shorts and a recap of the first two Equestria Girls films.

On November 30, 2015, the My Little Pony Facebook page posted an advertisement promoting that the film will be added to Netflix on December 1, 2015. The version used on Netflix is the same as the one found on the DVD and Blu-ray versions of the film with the end credits song, "Right There in Front of Me", playing over the film's end credits.

Merchandise and other media

The film is a part of sport-themed Friendship Games lineup, a third installment in the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls toy line and media franchise, which was first displayed at London's 2015 Toy Fair in January, and mentioned with other supporting products, alongside this film, during Hasbro's investor presentation in February that year. LB Kids published a novelization of the film.

Animated shorts

A series of animated prequel shorts for Friendship Games, similar to those produced for Rainbow Rocks, was announced on February 13, 2015. On July 31, 2015, the My Little Pony Facebook page posted some instructions for playing in the "Friendship Games Fantasy League" and indicated that a new short would be released every Saturday during August 2015. Like the Rainbow Rocks shorts, these are also separate from the film. A total of five shorts were released; the first four of these, paired with a 10-minute preview of the film, aired on Discovery Family on August 29, 2015.

Apart from the shorts above, a Friendship Games "blooper reel" was posted on the official Equestria Girls website on May 3, 2016, containing fictional outtakes of various scenes from the film.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was released on September 17, 2015 on iTunes and on Amazon.com on September 18, 2015. The first three tracks, "Friendship Through the Ages", "My Past is Not Today" and "Life Is a Runway", were first released by Hasbro's YouTube channel on March 31, 2015; later re-uploaded on April 2, 2015.

Television viewership

When the film was premiered on Discovery Family on September 26, 2015, it was viewed by 436,000 viewers. According to the Nielsen household ratings, it was watched by approximately 0.12 percent of American households.

Critical response

The film was received favorably by critics. Daniel Alvarez of Unleash the Fanboy gave the film a score of 8 out of 10, calling it "another quality installment in the Equestria Girls series." He praised to the film's characters, calling Sunset Shimmer "a great focus", as well as the film's songs and "epic climax." However, he noted that several negatives "hold it back from being near perfect", such as Principal Cinch, whom he called "the worst antagonist." Geekscape's Adam Lemuz praised the film as "a great follow-up to Rainbow Rocks." He further complimented that "fans of the previous films will get a lot of enjoyment out of it as it delivers plenty of solid laughs and noteworthy songs." Ed Liu of Toon Zone called the film "solid addition to the Equestria Girls franchise", but felt it was "overly familiar" and "a little padded" when comparing it to the first film's story. He also praised Sunset Shimmer's development from "a vintage mean girl to a strong, assertive character in her own right", calling her character arc initiated from the first film "a wonderful long-form story". Mike Cahill of The Guardian gave the film two out of five stars, calling it "craven commercialism", but adding that "it's not unattractively designed, and its peppy collegiate spirit trumps the sappiness of Disney's Tinkerbell spin-offs".