The Emoji Movie trailer is literally a big 'Meh'

Sony Pictures will next year release an animated movie about emojis. Those over the age of 40 may known them as emotes, emoticons or just be confused by last one of those words.

It’s called ‘The Emoji Movie’ and today we got our first ‘Meh’-tastic look at it. That’s not to say ‘meh’ was our reaction to it, it’s just the name of Steven Wright’s Mel Meh, a meh emoji who “announces” the film with all the enthusiasm you’d expect given his name.

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Mel isn’t the star of the film, that’s TJ Miller’s Gene – an emoji cast as an outsider who teams up Hi-5 (James Corden) and Jailbreak (Ilana Glazer) on an adventure through a teenagers phone. On their way they’ll pass through popular apps such as Candy Crush Saga, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Spotify, Shazam and YouTube, among others.

If that sounds like ‘The Lego Movie’ meets ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ – that’s not a coincidence.

The film is being directed by Tony Leondis, who also directed 2008 animation ‘Igor’. Leonardis co-wrote the film’s screenplay with ‘School of Rock’s Eric Siegel and Mike White.

Here’s the official synopsis:

“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 (Ilana Glazer). 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’ is set for release on 13 October 2017.