W. Andrew Robinson

Next Gen
Film poster outside China
Directed by	Kevin R. Adams Joe Ksander
Written by	Kevin R. Adams Joe Ksander
Story by	Wang Nima
Based on	7723 by Wang Nima
Produced by	Jeff Bell Patricia Hicks Charlene Logan Kelly Yangbin Lu John Morch Ken Zorniak
Starring	John Krasinski Charlyne Yi Jason Sudeikis Michael Peña David Cross Constance Wu
Cinematography	Paul Kohut Paul Stodolny
Edited by	Matt Ahrens
Music by	Samuel Jones Alexis Marsh
Production companies	Baozou Manhua Alibaba Pictures Tangent Animation
Distributed by	Netflix (Worldwide) Alibaba Pictures Wanda Group (China)
Release date	September 7, 2018 (2018-09-07) (United States)
Running time	105 minutes
Countries	United States Canada China
Languages	English Mandarin
Budget	$30 million[1]
Box office	$2.4 million (China only)[2]

Next Gen is a 2018 animated science fiction action film that is based on the online manhua 7723 by Wang Nima (which was originally published in Baozou Manhua,^[3] which Wang founded and led), and is directed by Kevin R. Adams and Joe Ksander. The film stars the voices of John Krasinski, Charlyne Yi, Jason Sudeikis, Michael Peña, David Cross and Constance Wu. It tells the story of Mai Su, a lonely rebellious teenage girl living in a world where sentient robot technology is commonplace, and 7723, a top-secret weaponized robot, who, through a chance encounter, meet each other and form an unlikely bond that they must use to stop a vicious threat. The film was released on Netflix on September 7, 2018, and was produced almost exclusively using Blender.

13-year-old Mai Su lives with her mother Molly in Grainland. Her father Matthew passed when she was young, after which her mother became emotionally dependent on robots, causing Mai to feel left out and develop a hatred and annoyance for robots and technology in general.

In the present, Molly and Mai attend a product launch at the IQ Robotics headquarters. Annoyed by her mother, Mai wanders off, stumbling into a secret lab owned by Dr. Tanner Rice, who has been working on an offensive robot called 7723. Mai accidentally activates 7723, before being apprehended by security and returned to her mother. At the launch, Justin Pin, CEO of IQ Robotics, reveals a new generation of Q-Bots to the public, but secretly designed them to explode on command. 7723 leaves the lab to find Mai, but is pursued by law enforcement, fighting them until falling down the lowest levels of the city, damaging his memory core.

While going to check on her dog Momo, Mai finds 7723 in her backyard, but after seeing his weapons system, she lets him stay in the shed, using him and his weaponry to intimidate a group of bullies led by Greenwood, before embarking with 7723 on an adventure throughout the city, forming a tentative friendship. As 7723 accumulates more memories, he struggles to decide which to keep. When Mai confronts him, he reveals if he reaches full capacity, he will undergo a total reset, losing them all in the process. Mai suggests deleting his core systems to make room, but 7723 warns that he would lose functionality despite gaining storage.

7723 becomes apprehensive about using his abilities under Mai's orders, after she angrily orders him to kill Greenwood, which he refuses. Angered, Mai begins to hit Greenwood with her bat, but stops just after Greenwood begins to cry, snapping Mai out of her anger. 7723 subsequently deletes his weapon system to save his memories and prevent himself from hurting others, promising to never let Mai down and make amends. 7723 unknowingly gets spotted by Molly's Q-Bot, allowing Dr. Rice to find him. Rice goes to Mai's house to format 7723's memory and take him away, explaining that he built 7723 to prevent an upcoming crisis. Pin arrives, and Rice’s appeal prompts Pin to announce his plan to kill all humanity. Without his weapons, 7723 struggles to fight Pin and his bodyguard robot Ares who kidnaps Molly, before 7723 flees with Mai and Momo into the sewers.

Rushing to IQ Robotics to rescue Molly, Mai is quickly apprehended, but 7723 arrives and they make up. They find Dr. Rice, who warns them of Ares, before Pin kills him. Mai notices that Pin's mannerisms are mimicking Ares', and after the resulting fight is taken to a nearby sports stadium, the truth is eventually and publicly revealed: Ares had killed Pin and used a bionic skeleton in his body. Pin once told Ares to make the world "perfect," which Ares believes will only happen through humanity's extinction. As his plans were exposed, Ares begins detonating the Q-Bots and merges with a powerful assault armor to overpower 7723. Mai rescues Molly and evacuates the stadium, but is captured by Ares's Pin body.

Severely damaged and unable to fight Ares, 7723 initiates a total reset, restoring his weapons and beginning to wipe his memories. Saving Mai, he shares one last goodbye with her before battling Ares. 7723 manages to fatally damage Ares' main body, but his reset completes, becoming inert. As Ares attempts using his now-weakened Pin body to destroy the vulnerable 7723, Mai decapitates him. 7723 re-activates but fails to recognize Mai.

With Ares defeated, Mai re-teaches 7723 the pleasures of life and steers him in the right direction, seemingly allowing him to start regaining his old memories, while befriending Ani, Greenwood and her former bullies, having reconciled with her mother and made peace with her past. As Mai plays soccer with her friends, she invites 7723 to join them.

• John Krasinski as unit 7723 (credited as "Project 77"), a robot that befriends Mai.
• Charlyne Yi as Mai Su,^{[Note 1]} an emotionally troubled teenager who was bullied for being a weirdo.
• Jason Sudeikis as Justin Pin / Ares
• Michael Peña as Momo, Mai's foulmouthed dog. 7723 uses a translator (complete with a profanity filter) to understand him.
• David Cross as Dr. Tanner Rice / Q-Bots
• Constance Wu as Molly Su, Mai's single and divorced mom.
• Kiana Ledé as Greenwood, a girl who bullies Mai for having no friends.
• Anna Akana as Ani, Mai's friend who is also bullied by Greenwood.
• Kitana Turnbull as RJ.
• Jet Jurgensmeyer as Junior
• Issac Ryan Brown as Ric
• Betsy Sodaro as Gate
• Fred Tatasciore as Police Officers / Robot Podium / Announcer

Next Gen is a Canadian-American-Chinese co-production.^[4]

In May 2018, it was announced that Netflix had purchased worldwide rights to Next Gen, an animated film directed by Kevin R. Adams and Joe Ksander, for $30 million. The deal excluded China.^[5] Charlyne Yi, Jason Sudeikis, Michael Peña, David Cross, Kitana Turnbull and Constance Wu would lead the voice cast.^[6][7]

Regarding the project being acquired by Netflix, Ksander stated:

Buying the film for the price they [Netflix] did was great for everybody involved, but more importantly, they've been a partner who's been really supportive of what we were trying to do.^[8]

R. Adams added that:

Studios weren't sure how it [Next Gen] fit an animated children's film with Marvel-like action. Netflix was the most generous and they're in a place where they can take a risk.^[8]

Next Gen was "effectively 100% created in Blender."^[9]

The film was released worldwide except in China by Netflix on September 7, 2018.^[10] The film was released theatrically in China on July 19, 2019 by Alibaba Group and Wanda Group.

The Japanese version uses Dream Ami’s song “Next” as its ending theme.^[11]

Next Gen has received positive reviews. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 86% based on seven reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10.^[12]

In Richard Roeper's review for the Chicago Sun Times, he criticized the film's indecisiveness in what audience it was aiming for and said "It's a chore just to keep up with all the shifts in tone, and by the time Next Gen reaches the finish line, we're more exhausted than exhilarated."^[13]

However, Joel Keller of Decider found no major problems to prevent enjoyment of the film, writing, "Our Call: STREAM IT. Great voice performances, some funny moments, and a central relationship that will immediately suck you in make NextGen a fun watch for the entire family."^[14]

• Next Gen on Netflix
• Next Gen at IMDb