The Simpsons Movie

The Simpsons Movie is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the animated television series The Simpsons created by Matt Groening. The film was directed by David Silverman and stars Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, Joe Mantegna, and other recurring actors reprising their roles from the series, with Albert Brooks and Tom Hanks joining for the film. The plot follows the Simpson family as they grapple with the fallout of Homer Simpson's reckless actions, which lead to Springfield being imprisoned under a massive glass dome by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the family's eviction from the town, and a strain on their relationship with him.

Although previous attempts to create a Simpsons film had been made, they failed due to the lack of a final screenplay. In 2001, after the voice cast agreed to do the film, series producers Groening, James L. Brooks, Al Jean, Mike Scully and Richard Sakai began development on the film: a writing team of Brooks, Groening, Jean, Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, George Meyer, David Mirkin, Mike Reiss, Matt Selman, John Swartzwelder, and Jon Vitti was assembled. They conceived numerous plot ideas, with one of Groening's ultimately being adapted. The screenplay was rewritten over a hundred times, which continued after work on the film's animation began in 2006. Consequently, hours of finished material was cut from the final release, including cameo roles from Erin Brockovich, Minnie Driver, Isla Fisher, Edward Norton, and Kelsey Grammer, who would have reprised his role as Sideshow Bob. Green Day and Tom Hanks voice their own animated counterparts in the film's final cut. Hans Zimmer composed the score for the film, while Green Day performed a rock version of the series' theme.

The Simpsons Movie premiered in Springfield, Vermont on July 21, 2007, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 27, by 20th Century Fox. The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised its story, writing, humor, and animation, and was a commercial success, grossing $536.4 million worldwide against a production budget of $75 million, becoming the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2007, as well as at the time the second-highest-grossing traditionally animated film and the highest-grossing film based on an animated television series, two records later overtaken by Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle in 2025. The film was nominated for numerous awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film at the 65th Golden Globe Awards. A sequel is scheduled for release on September 3, 2027.

After finishing a concert at Lake Springfield, Green Day tries to engage the audience in a discussion about the environment, but they refuse to listen and throw garbage at the band. The pollution in the lake erodes the band's barge, causing them to drown. During their memorial, Grampa Simpson has a spiritual experience and prophesies that a disaster will befall Springfield (which involves a "twisted tail", "a thousand eyes", the people being "trapped forever", and ending it with an ominous warning of "eepah"), which only Marge takes seriously. Concerned about the terrible state of the environment, Lisa and her new boyfriend Colin hold a seminar and convince the town to clean up the lake. Meanwhile, Homer adopts a pig he names "Plopper" to save him from being slaughtered by Krusty the Clown at Krusty Burger. When Homer brings the pig back home, Marge identifies the pig as a part of the prophecy and warns Homer to get rid of him, but Homer refuses. Homer's fawning over Plopper makes Bart, now fed up with Homer's carelessness, look to Ned Flanders as a father figure.

Marge orders Homer to dispose of an overflowing silo full of Plopper's feces (and some of Homer's own, as well). Rather than disposing of it safely, he becomes distracted after hearing that Lard Lad is giving away free donuts and hastily dumps the silo in the lake, critically polluting it. After a squirrel falls into the lake and becomes mutated (bearing the "thousand eyes" Grandpa mentioned in the process), Russ Cargill, head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), informs President Arnold Schwarzenegger of Springfield's pollution crisis and presents him with five solutions. Schwarzenegger randomly picks the third option – sealing Springfield off from the rest of the world under a giant glass dome, trapping everyone and completing the prophecy.

Being trapped under the dome causes mass hysteria in Springfield and when Homer's silo is discovered on the news, hundreds of townspeople arrive at the Simpsons' house in an attempt to lynch the family. They escape through a sinkhole, which destroys the house. The family is furious at Homer for his blundering, but he convinces them to follow him to Alaska, where he had always planned to go if something like the incident happened. Homer wins a truck by riding a motorcycle around a globe of death and the family restarts their lives in a remote Alaskan cabin.

As Springfield begins exhausting its supplies, the townspeople eventually attack the dome and the city descends into chaos. Cargill, mad with the power he has over Springfield and outraged by their defiance, tricks Schwarzenegger into ordering the town's demolition. The Simpsons see Tom Hanks on television advertising a "new Grand Canyon" on the site of Springfield. Realizing that their hometown is in danger, the family vow to save it sans Homer, who refuses to assist and storms out. When he returns the next morning, he finds his family has left to save Springfield, with Marge taping a message over their wedding video to explain this to him. A distraught Homer is recovered by an Inuk shaman, who helps him come to an epiphany about his selfishness; he decides to save the town and his family. Meanwhile, Marge and the kids are captured by the EPA in Seattle and placed back inside the dome.

The EPA lowers a time bomb suspended by a rope through a hole at the top of the dome. While the townspeople attempt climbing the rope to escape, Homer returns to Springfield and descends the rope, knocking the escaping townspeople and the bomb off, inadvertently shortening its countdown and further provoking the town's ire. Refusing to give up, Homer reconciles with Bart and they use a motorcycle to travel up the side of the dome with the bomb. Bart throws the bomb through the hole seconds before it detonates, shattering the dome and freeing the town. Cargill attempts to murder Homer for foiling his plan, but Maggie knocks him out by dropping a rock on his head. The dome's destruction prompts the townspeople to forgive and praise Homer as a hero.