Which company distributed The Angry Birds Movie?

Sony Pictures Releasing distributed The Angry Birds Movie.

The 2016 animated film was produced through a partnership involving Columbia Pictures and Rovio Animation, the studio associated with the Finnish company behind the original games. Sony’s role covered the movie’s theatrical distribution, making it the distributor rather than the animation studio or the game publisher.

The project was announced in December 2012 after the success of Angry Birds Toons helped demonstrate the franchise’s broader entertainment potential. Sony and Rovio also committed roughly €100 million to marketing and distribution, an unusually large campaign for a Finnish-produced film at the time.

A frequent confusion is mixing up distributor, production company, and home-media distributor. Sony Pictures Releasing handled the theatrical release, while Sony Pictures Imageworks provided animation services and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment later handled home-media distribution. The movie opened in Finland on May 13, 2016, and in the United States on May 20.