Annie is a 2014 American musical comedy drama film directed by Will Gluck, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Aline Brosh McKenna.

The revival film stars Quvenzhané Wallis in the title role, alongside Jamie Foxx, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, David Zayas, and Cameron Diaz.

[6][7][8] The film received generally negative reviews; the Rotten Tomatoes consensus states that it "smothers its likable cast under clichés, cloying cuteness, and a distasteful materialism".

Annie received two Golden Globe Award nominations in the categories of Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical (for Wallis) and Best Original Song.

In Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, 10-year-old foster child Annie Bennett lives in a foster home alongside four other girls - Pepper Ulster, Isabella Sullivan, Tessie Marcus, and Mia Putnam - with Colleen Hannigan, a former singer who spends her days drinking, trying to get a boyfriend, and giving various grueling chores to the children in her care.

With Miss Hannigan's help, Guy plans to have a pair of impostors to claim that Annie is their daughter to boost Stacks' popularity to the point where he wins the election.

[citation needed] Dorian Missick and Tracie Thoms portray Annie's fake parents who were hired by Guy and evoke the traits of Rooster Hannigan and Lily St.

[25] By February 2013, Beasts of the Southern Wild star and Oscar nominee Quvenzhané Wallis had replaced Smith in the lead role,[26] and the film was given a Christmas 2014 release date.

[32] In September, the rest of the cast was announced: Amanda Troya, Nicolette Pierini, Eden Duncan-Smith, and Zoe Colletti as Annie's foster sisters.

While "rooted in the same story" according to Gluck, this adaptation is a contemporary take on the 1977 Broadway musical and contains many differences from the original:[9] The setting was changed from the 1930s — the era of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency and the Great Depression — to present-day New York City.

[38] On November 27, 2014, Annie was one of several films leaked by the "Guardians of Peace", a group that the FBI believes has ties to North Korea,[39] following its breach of Columbia's parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The chief analyst at BoxOffice.com felt that despite this, the leak was unlikely to affect Annie's box office performance as the demographic who pirates movies isn't the target audience for the film.

In the first weekend, the film made $15.9 million and ranked third in the North American box office behind other new releases The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.

The site's critical consensus reads, "The new-look Annie hints at a progressive take on a well-worn story, but smothers its likable cast under clichés, cloying cuteness, and a distasteful materialism.

"[47] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave Annie one-and-a-half stars, describing the adaptation as being "wobbly" and "unsatisfying", criticizing the commercialized nature of the plot changes, concluding that it was "finesse-free and perilously low on the simple performance pleasures we look for in any musical, of any period.

"[11] Ben Sachs of the Chicago Reader gave the film three out of four stars, praising the "surprising amount of bite: the filmmakers openly acknowledge the similarities between the Great Depression and the present, and the populist message, however overstated, always registers as sincere."

Sachs also praised director Will Gluck for "striking a buoyant tone that feels closer to classic Hollywood musicals than contemporary kiddie fare.

Entertainment Weekly described its soundtrack as an auto-tuned "disaster," noting that "you won't ever hear a worse rendition of 'Easy Street' than the one performed by Diaz and Cannivale — I promise.

"[10] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter says "all but a handful of the existing songs have been shredded, often retaining just a signature line or two and drowning it in desperately hip polyrhythmic sounds, aurally assaultive arrangements and inane new lyrics.

[51] Matt Zoller Seitz called Wallis "the first Annie to bring something both culturally and personally new to this role," and praised the rest of the cast too, including Foxx and Byrne.

[50] Cameron Diaz's performance received polarized reviews, with critics praising her effort, but ultimately calling it too "vampy,"[50] as well as "strident and obnoxious.