Who directed the 2017 animated film The Emoji Movie?

Who directed the 2017 animated film The Emoji Movie? Tony Leondis directed The Emoji Movie.

Leondis directed the 2017 American computer-animated comedy and co-wrote its screenplay with Eric Siegel and Mike White. The story takes place in Textopolis, a fictional smartphone world where Gene, an emoji capable of multiple expressions, sets out to become a conventional single-expression emoji.

The project was inspired partly by Leondis’s affection for Toy Story. Sony fast-tracked the film after a bidding competition in 2015, and production was completed unusually quickly for a major animated feature. Tony Leondis is also known for directing Igor, released in 2008, and the 2006 animated short The Prince of Egypt: The Hunchback.

A common mix-up is attributing the film to a director associated with another major animated studio. Rich Moore directed Wreck-It Ralph and Zootopia, Chris Miller directed Shrek the Third, and Genndy Tartakovsky directed Hotel Transylvania. None directed The Emoji Movie. The film premiered in Los Angeles on July 23, 2017, before its U.S. theatrical release.