A World First! "The Emoji Movie" Sets A Brand-New Guinness World Records™ Title To Celebrate World Emoji Day!

LONDON, July 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In anticipation of World Emoji Day, and the upcoming worldwide release of "The Emoji Movie," emoji fans around the world celebrated by setting the world's first Guinness World Records™ title for the Largest gathering of people dressed as emoji faces simultaneously across multiple venues.  Spanning three continents, the record saw emoji faces inspired by the film's characters turn up in Dubai, Moscow, London, Dublin, and Sao Paulo, as hundreds of fans dressed as the winningly expressive characters.  Additional countries showed enthusiastic support by echoing the effort, with their own emojis participating in similarly themed celebrations; it is estimated that more than 1,000 emojis not associated with the record were in the mix throughout Europe, Asia and South America.

The film, about an emoji that simply can't stick to just one expression, is due for release in cinemas in the U.S. on July 28.  Around the globe, Sony Pictures Animation's "The Emoji Movie" will roll out from late July through October this year.  It comes at a time when the familiar messaging characters that populate our smartphones are more in demand than ever: in fact, this marks the fourth annual celebration of World Emoji Day, which is getting bigger with each edition and will be formally observed on Monday, July 17.

The global record was simultaneously set by people dressed as the yellow emoji characters from the movie in Sao Paulo, Brazil (local time 11:00am); Dublin, Ireland (local time 3:00pm); Moscow, Russia (local time 5:00pm); Dubai, UAE (local time 6:00pm); and London, England (local time 3:00pm).  An adjudicator for Guinness World Records confirmed the new title for the Largest gathering of people dressed as emoji faces simultaneously across multiple venues. 

Commenting on the announcement, Josh Greenstein, President of Worldwide Marketing and Distribution for Sony Pictures Entertainment, said, "Achieving a Guinness World Records title is a testament to the enormous worldwide appeal of emojis.  It's great to see so many people getting excited for the worldwide release of 'The Emoji Movie.'"

Jack Brockbank, Guinness World Records Adjudicator, added, "We are incredibly impressed by the level of coordination and timing required to pull off this global record attempt – and it all happened simultaneously!  It's official—this is a fantastic achievement!"

Notes to Editors
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About The Emoji Movie
The Emoji Movie unlocks the never-before-seen secret world inside your smartphone. Hidden within the messaging app is Textopolis, a bustling city where all your favorite emojis live, hoping to be selected by the phone's user. In this world, each emoji has only one facial expression – except for Gene (T.J. Miller), an exuberant emoji who was born without a filter and is bursting with multiple expressions. Determined to become "normal" like the other emojis, Gene enlists the help of his handy best friend Hi-5 (James Corden) and the notorious code breaker emoji Jailbreak (Anna Faris). Together, they embark on an epic "app-venture" through the apps on the phone, each its own wild and fun world, to find the Code that will fix Gene. But when a greater danger threatens the phone, the fate of all emojis depends on these three unlikely friends who must save their world before it's deleted forever.

The Emoji Movie features the voices of T.J. Miller, James Corden, Anna Faris, Maya Rudolph, Steven Wright, Jennifer Coolidge, Jake T. Austin, Christina Aguilera, Sofia Vergara and Sir Patrick Stewart.  The film is directed by Tony Leondis, produced by Michelle Raimo Kouyate, and screenplay by Tony Leondis & Eric Siegel and Mike White from a story by Tony Leondis & Eric Siegel.  "emoji"™ is a trademark of emoji company GmbH used under license.

About Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition and distribution; television production, acquisition and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. For additional information, go to http://www.sonypictures.com.

About Sony Pictures Animation
Sony Pictures Animation produces a variety of animated and family entertainment for audiences around the world.  The studio is following its worldwide comedy hits—the record-breaking monster comedies Hotel Transylvania and Hotel Transylvania 2, the hybrid live action/animated blockbusters The Smurfs and The Smurfs 2, and the mouth-watering Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movies—with the fully animated reboot Smurfs: The Lost Village available on digital and Blu-ray now; a surprising and comic take at the secret world inside our phones with The Emoji Movie in July 2017; the inspirational The Star in November 2017; Hotel Transylvania 3 in July 2018; and an animated Spider-Man feature from the minds of directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord in December 2018.  The studio, in conjunction with Aardman Animations, has produced two critically acclaimed feature films:  the CG-animated family comedy Arthur Christmas; and the Academy Award® nominated stop-frame animated high-seas adventure, The Pirates! Band of Misfits.  In 2007, Surf's Up also received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Animated Feature Film; a sequel entitled Surf's Up 2: WaveMania is now available on digital and DVD.  The division, whose first feature film Open Season led to a very successful movie franchise including the brand new Open Season: Scared Silly now available on digital, DVD and Blu-ray, was founded in 2002.  Sony Pictures Animation is a division of the Sony Pictures Motion Pictures Group.

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SOURCE Sony Pictures Entertainment