Where to watch The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)

Trivia & production notes

• Mike Rianda came up with the story by combining his personal family experiences and childhood fascination with robots, returning to his hometown of Salinas, California to brainstorm the initial concept.
• The film was originally titled 'Control, Alt, ESCAPE!' based on a manifesto Rianda created, drawing inspiration from Dogme 95 films, Studio Ghibli designs, and 1960s photography.
• Hong Kong actor Louis Koo's company One Cool Films co-produced the film and financially backed it, marking a significant international collaboration for Sony Pictures Animation.
• The film went through two title changes: first to 'Connected' in February 2020, then back to 'The Mitchells vs. the Machines' after Netflix acquired distribution rights in January 2021 because neither Rianda nor Netflix executives liked the middle title.
• Jeff Rowe, who previously worked with Rianda on Gravity Falls, joined as co-director and writer on the project.
• Doug the Pug, a real dog famous on social media, provided the barks and sounds for the character Monchi rather than having a human voice actor, believed to be a first for an animated film.
• The character Monchi is based on Rianda's own childhood dog, Monchichi.
• Mark Mothersbaugh composed the score for the film, marking his sixth collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation across the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Hotel Transylvania series.
• The film's animation predominantly used 2D-style effects to create a traditionally-animated look, including hand-painted watercolor elements and squiggles for fur, reusing technology developed for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
• Alex Hirsch served as both a voice actor and creative consultant on the film while continuing his work as a writer and director.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article The Mitchells vs. the Machines, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.