Angry Birds Movie Set For 2016, 'Despicable Me' Producer On-Board

Angry Birds Rio!

The Angry Birds movie has finally gotten the go-ahead from Sony for a July 2016 release, with the company announcing on Wednesday (May 15, 2013) that is has acquired the worldwide rights to the ubiquitous game franchise. The 3-D animated movie will be developed and financed by Rovio Entertainment, the hugely successful Finnish gaming company that created Angry Birds. Despicable Me producer John Cohen is also on-board.

Since making its debut in 2009, Angry Birds has been downloaded more than 1.7 billion times. There has also been movie tie-ins, including Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Star Wars, which topped the U.S. iPhone chart two hours after its release in November. A kids animated series Angry Birds Toons premiered in March.

Angry Birds Is Coming To A Cinema Screen Near You!

The danger for Rovio is that the plethora of Angry Birds products saturating the market could see it regarded as old-hat by the time the movie comes around. "There's definitely an opportunity to make that transition from game to movie," says Bruce Nash, box office analyst for the Numbers website. "The name recognition will get people to watch the trailer. Of course, if it just looks like it's 90 minutes of birds crashing into things, then there might be a problem."

The game is the first app to make the leap from mobile devices to movie theaters. Hollywood has an uneasy past with turning video games into movies - Max Payne? Super Mario Brothers?

Angry Birds Rio!