60 Fun Facts About Onward

Ian and Barley Lightfoot, the brothers at the centre of Onward, are what kind of mythical creature?

Their world is full of other mythical folk who have all let magic lapse in favour of technology.

Which actor voices the shy younger brother, Ian Lightfoot?

He and his co-star recorded some sessions together and improvised lines, having already worked together on other films.

Who voices Barley, the older brother obsessed with role-playing games?

The two leads had shared the screen before as Star-Lord and Spider-Man in the Avengers films.

Which Seinfeld and Veep star voices the boys' widowed mother, Laurel?

Laurel gets her own heroic arc, ending up wielding a magic sword against a dragon.

Who voices Corey, the tavern owner who once inspired heroes on quests?

Corey has a mid-life crisis on screen, trashing her own tavern when she realises how tame her life has become.

What kind of mythical creature is Corey?

The manticore of legend has a lion's body, a human face and a scorpion's tail; Corey also has wings.

What is the name of the boys' late father?

He died shortly before Ian was born, so Ian has no memory of him at all.

Laurel's boyfriend, police officer Colt Bronco, is what kind of creature?

The brothers can't stand him, which makes his relentless pursuit during the quest even more awkward.

On which birthday does Ian receive the magical gift his father left behind?

The gift includes a staff, a rare gem and a letter, and Laurel had been holding on to it for years.

The rare gem the father left behind is what kind of gem?

It disintegrates during Ian's first botched attempt at the spell, which is why the brothers have to hunt for another.

The father's letter describes what kind of spell?

It only brings him back for a single day, and it must be recast before sunset once the first attempt goes wrong.

For how long would the spell bring the boys' father back?

The whole quest is a race against the sunset, which gives the film its ticking clock.

When Ian's first attempt at the spell is interrupted, which part of their father appears?

The brothers dress up the pair of walking legs in a hoodie and sunglasses so they can take him along on the quest.

What is the name of Barley's beloved van?

It is decorated with a unicorn mural, which later prompted a real-life copyright lawsuit against Pixar.

Corey's tavern, once a gathering place for would-be adventurers, has become what?

Its mascot costumes and karaoke stage are a long way from the days when it handed out quest maps.

After the tavern fire destroys the map, what is the only surviving clue to the gem's location?

The clue is a puzzle aimed at kids, which suits the film's joke that magic has been turned into a theme-restaurant gimmick.

The surviving clue after the tavern fire points the brothers to which nearby mountain?

It turns out to be a series of raven statues leading down into a trap-filled cave, not the mountain itself.

Laurel and Corey steal Corey's curse-slaying sword from what kind of business?

The shop is run by Grecklin, voiced by Tracey Ullman.

What is the name of the biker gang the brothers tangle with on the road?

Their leader Dewdrop is voiced by Grey Griffin, and they end up having to remember how to fly.

During the police chase, Barley sacrifices his van to trigger what?

He sends the van careening into the rocks to block the road, one of the film's tear-jerker moments.

Barley eventually finds the second gem concealed in what?

Removing it triggers the curse Corey had warned about.

The curse assembles a dragon-shaped golem out of pieces of what?

The brothers had earlier emerged from the cave right back in town, convinced their whole quest had been a waste.

What makes Ian realise that Barley has been a father figure to him all along?

He works through the list of things he wanted to do with a father and finds his brother had done every one of them.

Who directed Onward?

He based the story on his own family, having lost his father in a car accident when he was a baby.

Before Onward, the film's director had made which earlier Pixar feature?

He was encouraged to develop more personal stories after finishing that prequel in 2013.

The director was inspired to write the story after a relative found what?

He listened to it with his brother and mother; only a couple of words from their father could be made out.

The only words the director could hear his father say on the recording were "Hi" and what?

He described hearing those two words as "magical", and the film ends on the same note of a brief hello and farewell.

How old was the director when his own father died?

His older brother was three at the time, mirroring the age gap between Ian and Barley.

At which event was the film first announced, in July 2017?

The title itself was not revealed until December 2018, alongside the four lead voice actors.

According to its director, how long did Onward spend in development?

He deliberately kept his brother in the dark about the project because animated films take so long to make.

Which Pixar producer, who also produced the director's previous film, produced Onward?

She is married to fellow Pixar producer Darla K. Anderson, and the couple have a rule against working on the same films.

Which two writers were hired in 2019 to rewrite the screenplay with the director?

All three share the writing credit on the finished film.

Which composing duo wrote the film's score?

The brothers said they were asked for a "'70s prog-rock-wizard combination" and put a band together to deliver it.

The composers had previously scored which Pixar film?

They knew nothing about the story before their pitch meeting and said the hairs on their necks stood up as it was described.

Part of the score was recorded at which famous London studio?

It was only the second Pixar score recorded there, after Brave.

Who performs the end-credits song "Carried Me With You"?

She co-wrote it with her longtime bandmates, twins Phil and Tim Hanseroth.

Onward had its world premiere at which film festival in February 2020?

The festival screening came just two weeks before its US opening and days before the pandemic shut cinemas.

On what date was Onward released in US theaters?

Its timing was disastrous: most American cinemas closed within two weeks of the opening.

Which short film played before Onward in theaters?

It starred Maggie Simpson and was the first Simpsons short made after Disney bought 20th Century Fox.

How soon after its US theatrical debut did Onward get a digital release?

It landed on Disney+ two weeks after that, well inside the usual 90-day theatrical window.

What was Onward's total worldwide box office gross?

That was well short of its budget, making it a rare Pixar money-loser in cinemas.

Onward's reported production budget was in which range?

It later found far greater success on video-on-demand than in cinemas.

In its second weekend, Onward's US box office fell by roughly what percentage?

It was the lowest second weekend ever for a Pixar film, on the lowest-grossing overall weekend since October 1998.

In its third weekend, Onward earned just $71,000 mostly from what kind of venue?

With mass closures, only 135 locations were still showing it.

What grade did audiences polled by CinemaScore give Onward?

Critics were also broadly positive, with an 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

According to Nielsen, where did Onward rank among the most-streamed films of 2020 in the US?

It clocked up 8.3 billion minutes of viewing on US television screens that year.

Onward lost the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature to which film?

The winner was another Pixar release, so the studio beat itself.

Onward was the last Pixar film released in theaters worldwide until which 2022 film?

Its immediate successors went straight to Disney+ in most markets during the pandemic.

Onward was banned in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia over a line spoken by which character?

The police officer briefly mentions her girlfriend's daughter, making her Pixar's first openly gay character.

Lena Waithe voices a police officer of what species?

Her line about her girlfriend's daughter was rewritten in several countries' dubs.

In the Russian dub, the officer's line about her girlfriend's daughter became whose daughter?

The Arabic dub shown in Bahrain, the UAE, Lebanon and Egypt used a different substitution, and Poland and Hungary made similar changes.

Ali Wong voices Officer Gore, a police officer of what species?

She joined the cast alongside Lena Waithe and Mel Rodriguez in December 2019.

Wilmer Valderrama voices Gaxton, who is what to the boys' late father?

Ian's chat with him at the start of the film shows how little he knows about his own dad.

Tracey Ullman voices Grecklin, who is what kind of creature?

Grecklin runs the shop where Laurel and Corey pick up the sword.

John Ratzenberger's role as Fennwick was his last Pixar feature until which 2024 film?

He had voiced a character in every Pixar feature film before Onward, starting with Hamm in Toy Story.

A deleted scene had Ian and a goat girl lured into a trance by three evil what?

The filmmakers cut it as too grim and dropped the goat girl to keep the focus on the two brothers.

A tattoo artist sued Pixar claiming Barley's van copied her mural-painted vehicle, known as what?

Pixar had rented her van for an event on its lot in 2018; the case was dismissed after her copyright was cancelled.

To design the film's magic, the animators studied which trio of earlier animated films?

The spells were first drawn by hand and only then turned into glowing computer-animated effects.

Onward's fantasy world is described as what kind of setting?

Unicorns root through rubbish bins and a dragon is kept as a pet, all in a world of freeways and fast food.

In October 2020 Onward topped the UK Official Film Chart, overtaking which four-week leader?

Disc sales made up 90% of its total that week, and it stayed at number one the following week too.