Wreck-It Ralph (film)

"The story of a regular guy just looking for a little wreck-ognition."

- Tagline

Wreck-It Ralph is a 2012 American 3D computer-animated action comedy film created and produced at Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the 52nd animated feature in the Disney Animated Canon and was directed by Rich Moore, who is known for directing many episodes of ' and ', and the original screenplay was written by Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee. Disney Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter served as the executive producer. The film features the voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch.

The film tells the story of an arcade game villain, Wreck-It Ralph, who rebels against his role as a villain due to his dreams of becoming a hero. He befriends a young girl named Vanellope von Schweetz, and ultimately must eliminate a dire threat that could affect the entire arcade world. Wreck-It Ralph premiered at the El Capitan Theatre on October 29, 2012, and went into general release on November 2, 2012. The film earned $471 million in worldwide box office revenue, $189 million of which was earned in the United States and Canada. It was met with critical and commercial success, winning the Critic's Choice Award and the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature and receiving nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film and the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Wreck-It Ralph was released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 5, 2013. The theatrical release was accompanied by Disney's award-winning animated short film Paperman.

The film became wildly popular, a major milestone in the Disney Revival era. It became the most acclaimed non-musical Disney film since 1961's One Hundred and One Dalmatians. It also became a box office smash, paving the way for other big hits of the revival era. This was well established when public outrage became apparent when it didn't win the Oscar for best animated feature (losing to Pixar's Brave).

A theatrical sequel to the film was announced on June 30, 2016 for a scheduled 2018 release.

Plot
At night, when Litwak's Arcade closes, the various video game characters congregate in Game Central Station, through the power cables. In the game Fix-It Felix, Jr., the characters celebrate the game's titular hero, but shun its villain, Wreck-It Ralph. At a support group for video game villains, Ralph reveals he doesn't want to be a bad guy anymore. Returning to his own game, Ralph finds the other characters celebrating their game's anniversary and that he was not invited. Felix reluctantly invites Ralph to join them, but the others shun him, saying he'd have to win a medal, just as Felix does.

While visiting Tapper, Ralph meets Markowski, a soldier from the first-person shooter game Hero's Duty, who tells him the game's winner receives a medal. Ralph enters the game, and encounters Sergeant Calhoun, its no-nonsense leader. He goes through the game session, and is the one to end it.Meanwhile, Ralph's absence has not gone unnoticed, as a girl outside the game tells Mr. Litwak that Fix-It Felix, Jr. is malfunctioning, he puts an out of order sign onto the game's screen. Q*bert travels to Fix-It Felix, Jr., and tells him about the dark turn of events. This causes alarm for Felix, because if a game becomes broken, Litwak will have to unplug the game, leaving any characters in the game homeless. So, Felix sets out to find Ralph. After the arcade closes, Ralph climbs the game's central beacon, which happened to be filled with the eggs of Cy-Bugs (bug-like enemies), and collects the medal. However, he accidentally hatches a Cy-Bug that clings to him. During his panic to get the Cy-Bug larva off, he stumbles into a nearby escape pod that launches him out of the game.

Ralph crash-lands in Sugar Rush, a kart-racing game. As he searches for his medal, he meets Vanellope von Schweetz, a glitchy character who makes off with the medal, planning to use it to buy entry into an after-hours race. However, King Candy and the other racers refuse to let Vanellope participate, saying she's not really part of the game. The other racers pay her a visit while she is building her own cart and destroy it, disabling her from racing. Ralph witnesses this and scares the racers off. Ralph than berates her, but she insults him right back. This angers him to the point that he smashes a jaw-breaker in half. Because of his amazing strength, Vanellope gets an idea. She explains to Ralph that the medal can be won back if she gets first place in a race. She then offers to make a pact that if he can help her win, she'll give Ralph the medal back. Ralph reluctantly accepts her offer. After making said pact, they head off to the cart bakery, where the racers make their carts, and they build a cart together. However, a security guard notices the unauthorized activity, and the authorities are sent out, along with King Candy. After a long chase, they give King Candy's party the slip by hiding in Diet Cola Mountain, an incomplete extra race track. It is discovered that this is Vanellope's home. From there, Ralph teaches Vanellope how to drive her new cart.

Back in Hero's Duty, Felix meets Sergeant Calhoun, the tetartagonist of the film, who explains that the Cy-Bugs can control any game, and can then destroy everything in said game. As the two search for Ralph and the Cy-Bug in Sugar Rush, Felix explains that he is searching for Ralph, who had probably "gone Turbo". When Calhoun asked Felix about this term, he then explains that a long time ago, there was an old racing game called TurboTime starring a self-obsessed racer named Turbo. One day, a RoadBlasters arcade cabinet entered the arcade and gained more popularity than TurboTime. Out of jealousy,  Turbo interrupted the game. He traveled to the other game and crashed into the main player of the new racing game. By doing so, he crashed both games, which led to both of them being unplugged. As Felix and Calhoun progress, they fix the pod Ralph was in and fly off to search for the lone Cy-Bug. Felix later falls in love with Calhoun. However, Calhoun's past comes back to haunt her when Felix refers to her as a "dynamite gal", something that her fiancé, who was murdered by a Cy-Bug on their wedding day, would call her. Distraught, she forces Felix to leave her ship. A heartbroken Felix walks to King Candy's castle and meets Sour Bill, King Candy's assistant. He locks up Felix after he realizes he should have locked up Ralph. After a long search, Calhoun soon discovers the Cy-Bug has laid hundreds of eggs underground.

Before the race, King Candy finds Ralph in the absence of Vanellope and offers Ralph his medal, which King Candy has dug into the game's code to retrieve (through the use of the "Konami Code"). The only condition was that Vanellope couldn't race. When Ralph asks why King Candy and the other racers hate her so much, he explains he really doesn't. Vanellope is a glitch, and so, this would cause her to act abnormally (such as teleporting and jumping around, sometimes through objects). If she won the race, she would become an official part of the racing roster. He goes on to explain that her glitching would give gamers the impression that the game was broken, and the game would be unplugged. While everyone else could be evacuated from the game, Vanellope could not leave, as she is a glitch. As a result, she would die along with the program. So King Candy leaves Ralph with that, and exits. When Vanellope returns and give Ralph a medal that say "You're my hero", he explains to Vanellope that she cannot race for her own good. But she notices that Ralph has the Medal of Heroes and doesn't believe him, threatening to race on her own. Ralph stops her and hangs her by her jacket on a nearby lollipop tree. He then reluctantly proceeds to destroy her kart into pieces. Vanellope tries to stop Ralph, but it was no use. She falls off, says "You really are a bad guy!" and runs away, sobbing.

Ralph goes back to Fix-It Felix, Jr., and sees that the entire game is deserted, save for one lone citizen, Gene. Gene explains that the game was set to be unplugged in the morning, and that everyone has evacuated, and that he has stayed behind to enjoy one last martini. Gene did say that he will not dishonor his bets, and gives Ralph the key to the penthouse since he acquired a medal as agreed. Ralph did not realize the extent of this, saying he was sick of being alone in the dump, to which Gene retorts that is over, for "now you can be alone in the penthouse". Alone, Ralph goes to the balcony and throws his medal at the screen that sits above the game. This causes the poster that previously covered the screen to un-stick and start to fall off, revealing the side of the Sugar Rush arcade cabinet in front of Ralph's game. He discovers that Vanellope is on the cabinet and wonders why she is on the machine's artwork if she is a glitch. Ralph suspects something foul at play and returns to Sugar Rush.

He comes across Sour Bill and places him in his mouth as a form of torture until he confesses. Sour Bill explains that King Candy changed Vanellope's code on purpose. When Ralph asks about his motives, Sour Bill says he doesn't know why, and in fact, no one knows why. He explains it is like this because King Candy locked up all the characters' memories and says that if Vanellope crosses the finish line, the game will reset and she won't be a glitch. Upon locating Felix, Ralph begs Felix to fix the wrecked kart so Vanellope can race. He agrees to do so after discovering how hard of a life Ralph has had. After also freeing and making amends with Vanellope, they start the race, and as the race proceeds, the hatched Cy-Bugs attack Sugar Rush. Felix, Calhoun, and Ralph then battle them. Vanellope catches up to King Candy mid-race, but Candy tries to ram Vanellope off the track. When Vanellope tries to escape, King Candy instantly gets impatient and viciously attacks her with his cane. Vanellope's glitching interferes with King Candy's code, and reveals that King Candy is actually Turbo in disguise, having somehow escaped his game before it was unplugged. Turbo rams his car into Vanellope's, causing her to be dragged in front of the car while approaching a walled fork in the road. Vanellope finally takes control of her glitching to escape from Turbo, and drives away, yelling at her victory. An enraged Turbo tries to pursue, but suddenly, a Cy-bug appears on the track and devours him alive.

The group attempts to flee the doomed game, but Vanellope cannot pass through the exit due to her status as a glitch. Calhoun says the game can't be saved because there is no beacon in the game; the beacon in Hero's Duty attracts and kills the Cy-Bugs. Ralph, in a last-ditch effort, heads to Diet Cola Mountain, where he plans on collapsing its Mentos stalactites into the cola at the bottom, causing an eruption that would attract the bugs. While on top of the mountain, he pounds the mentos into the diet cola below from the top. However, before he can finish, Turbo, fused with the Cy-Bug that devoured him, arrives and stops him. Turbo declares that he has become "the most powerful virus in the arcade" and plans to take over all the other games using his new powers, but not before getting revenge on Ralph. Ralph and Turbo battle, but Turbo quickly overpowers Ralph, carrying him above the mountain and sadistically forcing him to watch Cy-Bugs close in on Vanellope. Ralph breaks free and dives toward the mountain, hoping his impact will start the eruption. Seeing Ralph dive towards the mountain, Vanellope in turn uses her glitching abilities with the goal of catching Ralph. Ralph breaks through the roof of the mountain, but before he is killed in the eruption, Vanellope catches him in Crumbelina's cart. The eruption shines a bright light, which in turn draws most the Cy-Bugs, to their destruction. Turbo, being more powerful then the others, is able to resist for a short time, but his Cy-Bug programming overwhelms him and he flies into the lava as well, killing him. Because video game characters who die outside their own game are unable to regenerate ever, this means that the Cy-Bugs and Turbo die permanently.

After Turbo and the Cy-Bugs are defeated, Felix restores the finish line, and Vanellope crosses it, restoring her memory as the game's lead character, and restoring the ruins of Sugar Rush. The gamers favor her as a character, despite her glitches (it's likely her ability to teleport short distances is perceived by gamers as a special power, rather than a glitch), Turbo had been destroyed forever (Sour Bill, Wynchel and Duncan and the Sugar Rush Racers, never again heard about him).

Felix and Ralph return to Fix-It Felix, Jr. in time to show Litwak the game works, and they also give Q*bert and Co. a new opportunity to work with Ralph and crew in a "bonus level," sparing it and also giving its characters a new respect for Ralph's work as the villain. Felix later marries Calhoun, with Ralph being the best man and Vanellope as the maid of honor.

Original Characters / Voiced Cameos

 * John C. Reilly as Wreck-It Ralph, the villain of Fix-It Felix, Jr and the movie's protagonist.
 * Sarah Silverman as Vanellope von Schweetz, a racer/glitch who turns out to be the true ruler of Sugar Rush. She is the movie's deuteragonist.
 * Jack McBrayer as Fix-It Felix, Jr., the hero of Fix-It Felix, Jr and the movie's tritagonist.
 * Jane Lynch as Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun, the lead character of Hero's Duty and the movie's secondary tritagonist.
 * Alan Tudyk as King Candy/Turbo, the "ruler" of Sugar Rush and the film's main antagonist. King Candy is actually Turbo, the racer of TurboTime; he was once very popular until a new racing game, RoadBlasters, was plugged in, and stole his fame. Consumed by jealously, he left TurboTime and tried to take over RoadBlasters, but this resulted in both the games getting unplugged. Some time after the incident, Turbo takes over Sugar Rush, and disguises himself as King Candy.
 * Rich Moore (The film's director) as Sour Bill, King Candy's henchman, and Zangief from Street Fighter.
 * Mindy Kaling as Taffyta Muttonfudge, an accomplished racer in Sugar Rush and bullies Vanellope.
 * Raymond S. Persi as Gene, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr., and Cyril from House of the Dead (Refered to as Zombie) who attends the Bad-Anon support group.
 * Adam Carolla as Wynchel and Horatio Sanz as Duncan, two doughnuts who are members of the Sugar Rush police station.
 * Joe Lo Truglio as Markowski, the drunk soldier from Hero's Duty.
 * Ed O'Neill as Mr. Litwak, owner of Litwak's Family Fun Center & Arcade.
 * He is one of the two main human characters of the film.
 * Dennis Haysbert as General Hologram, a general in Hero's Duty.
 * Edie McClurg as Mary, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr.
 * Jess Harnell as Don, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr.
 * Rachael Harris as Deanna, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr.
 * Skylar Astin as Roy, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr.
 * Stefanie Scott as Moppet Girl, a young arcade enthusiast.
 * She is one of the two main human characters of the film.
 * John DiMaggio as Beard Papa, Sugar Rush security.
 * Katie Lowes as Candlehead, a racer in Sugar Rush who works closely with Taffyta and Rancis.
 * Jamie Elman as Rancis Fluggerbutter, a racer in Sugar Rush who works closely with Taffyta and Candlehead.
 * Josie Trinidad as Jubileena Bing-Bing, a racer in Sugar Rush.
 * Cymbre Walk as Crumbelina DiCaramello, a racer in Sugar Rush.
 * Brandon Scott as Kohut, a soldier in Hero's Duty.
 * Tim Mertens (The film's editor) as Dr. Brad Scott, a scientist and Sgt. Calhoun's fiancé in Hero's Duty, who was eaten by Cy-Bugs.
 * Nick Grimshaw voices Brad in the UK release (but not in the UK home release).
 * Phil Johnston (One of the film's writers) as Surge Protector, Game Central Station security.
 * Martin Jarvis as Satan ("Satine"), a demon who attends the Bad-Anon support group.
 * Kyle Hebert as Ryu from Street Fighter.
 * Maurice LaMarche as Root Beer Tapper, the bartender from Tapper.
 * Reuben Langdon as Ken Masters from Street Fighter.
 * Jamie Sparer Roberts as Yuni Verse from Dance Dance Revolution, she is featured in the opening where she tells all the video game characters that the coast is clear after Litwak's Arcade closes for the night.
 * Kevin Deters as Clyde from .
 * Gerald C. Rivers as M. Bison from Street Fighter.
 * Brian Kesinger as Kano (Referred as Cyborg in the main credits) from Mortal Kombat who attends the Bad-Anon support group.
 * Roger Craig Smith as Sonic the Hedgehog from Sonic the Hedgehog.

Cameos
In addition to the spoken roles, Wreck-It Ralph contains a number of other video-game references, including characters and visual gags. At the meeting of video-game villains, the above characters include, in addition to any mentioned above: Bowser from the Mario series, Dr. Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog, and Neff from Altered Beast. Characters from Q*bert, including Q*bert, Coily, Slick, Sam and Ugg, are shown as "homeless" characters and later taken in by Ralph and Felix into their game. Scenes in Game Central Station and Tapper's bar include Chun-Li, Cammy and Blanka from Street Fighter, Pac-Man, Blinky, Pinky and Inky from Pac-Man, the Paperboy from Paperboy, the two paddles and the ball from Pong, Dig Dug, a Pooka, and a Fygar from Dig Dug, The Qix from Qix, and Frogger from Frogger. Additionally, Mario and Lara Croft are mentioned in dialogue.

Additional references are based on sight gags. The "Cyborg" credited in the credits is based on Kano from Mortal Kombat, and performs his famous "heartrip" fatality on a zombie. The residents of Niceland and the bartender from Tapper are animated using a jerky motion that spoofs the limited animation cycles of the sprites of many eight- and sixteen-bit arcade games. King Candy uses the Konami Code on an Nintendo Entertainment System controller to access the programming of Sugar Rush. Throughout Game Central Station is graffiti that includes "Aerith lives," (referencing the character of Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII), "All your base are belong to us," (an engrish phrase popularized from the game Zero Wing), "Sheng Long Was Here," (referencing an April Fool's joke around a made-up character Sheng Long from Street Fighter), and "Jenkins" (a nod to the popular Leeroy Jenkins meme from World of Warcraft). There is also a reference to the Metal Gear series when Ralph is searching for something in a box and finds the "Exclamation point" (with corresponding sound effect from the game), and a mushroom from Super Mario Bros. Mr. Litwak wears a black and white striped referee's shirt, a nod to the iconic outfit of Twin Galaxies founder Walter Day. One of the songs in the credits is an original work from Buckner and Garcia, previously famous for writing video game-themed songs in the 1980's. The Disney closing logo variation appears in a glitched state, a reference to the kill screen from many early arcade games such as Pac-Man.

Below are the cameos seen in the film: A character modeled after disc jockey Skrillex made an appearance in Fix-It Felix, Jr. Also, additional references are based on sight gags. King Candy uses the Konami code to access the programming of Sugar Rush.
 * Bowser, Princess Daisy, Rosalina and a Super Mushroom from Super Mario Bros.
 * Tails (picture on a wall in the Tapper bar), Eggman, and Sonic the Hedgehog from Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Q*bert, Coily, Slick, Sam, and Ugg from Q*bert
 * Chun-Li, Ken (Reuben Langdon), Ryu, Zangief (Rich Moore) who relates to Ralph in the Bad-Anon support group, M. Bison (Gerald C. Rivers), Cammy, and Blanka (in the credits) from Street Fighter
 * Knight and Ostrich from Joust
 * Kano and Noob from Mortal Kombat
 * A Bartender from Tapper
 * Neff from Altered Beast
 * Zombie (Raymond S. Persi; based on Cyril from The House of the Dead)
 * Dig Dug, a Pooka, Taizo Hori, and Fygar from Dig Dug
 * Pac-Man, Clyde Ghost Monster (Kevin Deters), Inky Ghost Monster, Blinky Ghost Monster, and Pinky Ghost Monster from Pac-Man
 * Paddle 1 and Paddle 2 from Pong
 * Yuni from Dance Dance Revolution
 * The Qix from Qix
 * AiAi from Super Monkey Ball
 * A racer from RoadBlasters
 * An alien from Space Invaders (picture on a wall in the Tapper bar)
 * Ms. Pac-Man from Ms. Pac-Man
 * Vladimir from Tangled
 * Mickey Mouse (Hidden Mickey) (on a "Double U Dee's" (WD's) billboard)
 * Frogger and Glenn the Turtle from Frogger
 * The Exclamation Point from Metal Gear
 * Peter Pepper from BurgerTime.
 * Saitine, possibly inspired by Satan's Hollow
 * Sorceress, possibly inspired by Mishaela from Shining Force

Production
The concept of Wreck-It Ralph was first developed at Disney in the late 1980s, under the working title High Score. Since then, it was redeveloped and reconsidered several times: In the late 1990s, it took on the working title Joe Jump, then in the mid-2000s as Reboot Ralph. In 2011, the project later became Wreck-It Ralph after the releases of Universal/Illumination's Despicable Me, and DreamWorks' Megamind.

John Lasseter, the head of Walt Disney Animation Studios and executive producer of the film, describes Wreck-It Ralph as "an 8-bit video game bad guy who travels the length of the arcade to prove that he's a good guy". In a manner similar to Disney's 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit and all 3 Toy Story films, Wreck-It Ralph features cameo appearances by a number of licensed video game characters. For example, one scene from the film's first theatrical trailer shows Ralph attending a support group for the arcade's various villain characters, including Clyde the orange ghost from Pac-Man, Doctor Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog and Bowser from Super Mario Bros. Rich Moore, the film's director, had determined that for a film about a video game world to feel authentic, "it had to have real characters from real games in it".

Before production, the existing characters were added to the story either in places they would make sense to appear, or as cameos from a list of characters suggested by the film's creative team, without consideration if they would legally be able to use the characters. The company then sought out the copyright holders' permissions to use the characters, as well as working with these companies to assure their characters were being represented authentically. In the case of Nintendo, the writers has early on envisioned the Bad-anon meeting with Bowser as a major character within the scene; according to Moore, Nintendo was very positive towards this use, stating in Moore's own words, "If there is a group that is dedicated to helping the bad guy characters in video games then Bowser must be in that group!" Nintendo had asked that the producers try to devise a scene that would be similarly appropriate for Mario for his inclusion in the film. Despite knowing they would be able to use the character, the producers could not find an appropriate scene that would let Mario be a significant character or take away the spotlight on the main story, and opted to not include the character. Moore debunked a rumor that Mario and his brother character Luigi were not included due to Nintendo requesting too high a licensing fee, stating that the rumor grew out of a joke John C. Reilly made at Comic-Con. Dr. Wily from Mega Man was going to appear, but was cut from the final version of the film. Overall, there are about 188 individual character models in the movie as a result of these cameo inclusions.

Moore aimed to add licensed characters in a similar manner as cultural references in Looney Tunes shorts, but considered "having the right balance so a portion of the audience didn't feel they were being neglected or talked down to". However, Moore avoided creating the movie around existing characters, feeling that "there's so much mythology and baggage attached to pre-existing titles that I feel someone would be disappointed", and considered this to be a reason why movies based on video game franchises typically fail. Instead, for Ralph, the development of new characters representative of the 8-bit video game was "almost like virgin snow", giving them the freedom to take these characters in new directions.

The film introduced Disney's new bidirectional reflectance distribution functions, with more realistic reflections on surfaces, and new virtual cinematography Camera Capture system which makes it possible to go through the scenes in real-time. To research the Sugar Rush segment of the film, the visual development group traveled to trade fair ISM Cologne, a See's Candy factory, and other manufacturing facilities. The group also brought in food photographers, to demonstrate techniques to make food appear appealing. Special effects, including from "smoke or dust", looks distinct in each of the segments.

Official Press Release
Walt Disney Animation Studios and Emmy®-winning director Rich Moore (TV's The Simpsons, Futurama) take moviegoers on a hilarious, arcade-game-hopping journey in Wreck-It Ralph. Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Step Brothers) is tired of being overshadowed by Fix-It Felix (voice of Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock), the "good guy" star of their game who always gets to save the day. But after decades doing the same thing and seeing all the glory go to Felix, Ralph decides he's tired of playing the role of a bad guy. He takes matters into his own massive hands and sets off on a game-hopping journey across the arcade through every generation of video games to prove he's got what it takes to be a hero.

On his quest, he meets the tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun (voice of Jane Lynch, TV's Glee) from the first-person action game Hero's Duty. But it's the feisty misfit Vanellope von Schweetz (voice of Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program) from the candy-coated cart racing game Sugar Rush, whose world is threatened when Ralph accidentally unleashes a deadly enemy that threatens the entire arcade. Will Ralph realize his dream and save the day before it's too late? Wreck-It Ralph crashes onto the big screen on November 2, 2012, in Disney Digital 3D™ in select theaters.

Release
The film was originally scheduled for a release on March 22, 2013, but it was later changed to November 2, 2012 due to it being ahead of schedule, with DreamWorks Animation SKG's The Croods taking its place. The theatrical release was accompanied by Disney's Oscar-winning, animated short film Paperman.

The first trailer for Wreck-It Ralph was released on June 6, 2012, debuting with Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Rock of Ages. This was also coincident with the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo for which for which Disney constructed a mock aged arcade cabinet for the fictional Fix-It Felix, Jr. game on display on the show floor. Disney also released a browser-based Flash-based version of the Fix-It Felix Jr. game as well as ios and Android versions, with plans for online versions of Sugar Rush and Hero's Duty to follow. A second trailer for the film was released on September 12, 2012, coinciding with the 3D re-release of Finding Nemo. It then had Its World Premiere on October 29, 2012 and was released on November 2, 2012. To promote the Blu-ray/DVD release of Wreck-It Ralph, director Rich Moore produced a short film titled Garlan Hulse: Where Potential Lives. Set within the movie's universe, the mockumentary film was designed as a parody of The King of Kong.

Home Video
Wreck-It Ralph was released on Blu-ray (2D and 3D) and DVD in North America on March 5, 2013 from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The film was made available for digital download in selected regions on February 12, 2013. Wreck-It Ralph debuted at #1 in Blu-ray and DVD sales in the United States.

The included bonus content depends on which movie version is chosen, and is categorized as follows:

Types of release: All four releases include:
 * HD Digital
 * SD Digital
 * 4-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy)
 * 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray +DVD)
 * Single Disc DVD
 * Bit by Bit: The short takes viewers into Game Central Station with the artists who brought Sugar Rush, Hero's Duty and Fix It Felix Jr. to life.
 * Alternate & Deleted Scenes – Four separate scenes are highlighted with an introduction and optional audio commentary from director Rich Moore.
 * Video Game Commercials – Viewers can check out the commercials created for the video games featured in the film.
 * Paperman (Also on the Single Disc DVD)

Only both Blu-ray releases include exclusive bonus material:
 * Disney Intermission: The Gamer's Guide to Wreck-It-Ralph – When the film is paused, host Chris Hardwick appears on screen to guide viewers through cameos, references, and hidden details with explanations of the film.

Reception
Wreck-It Ralph received very positive reviews from critics. The film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 87% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 177 reviews, with an average score of 7.5/10. The site's consensus reads: "Equally entertaining for both kids and parents old enough to catch the references, Wreck-It Ralph is a clever, colorful adventure built on familiar themes and joyful nostalgia." The film was liked by 89% of the audience from 100,074 people, with an average rating of 4.2/5 users. On Metacritic, based on 34 reviews, the film has an average of 73/100. On IMDB, the film has a 7.9/10 rating with 82,989 users. The film earned an "A" from audiences polled by CinemaScore.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and wrote, "More than in most animated films, the art design and color palette of Wreck-It Ralph permit unlimited sets, costumes and rules, giving the movie tireless originality and different behavior in every different cyber world." A.O. Scott of the The New York Times gave the film 5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "The movie invites a measure of cynicism - which it proceeds to obliterate with a 93-minute blast of color, noise, ingenuity and fun."

Peter Debruge of Variety acclaimed the film, stating, "With plenty to appeal to boys and girls, old and young, Walt Disney Animation Studios has a high-scoring hit on its hands in this brilliantly conceived, gorgeously executed toon, earning bonus points for backing nostalgia with genuine emotion." Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times said, "The movie's subversive sensibility and old-school/new-school feel are a total kick," while Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter writing "With a mix of retro eye-candy for grown-ups and a thrilling, approachable storyline for the tykes, the film casts a wide and beguiling net." Conversely, Christopher Orr of The Atlantic found it "overplotted and underdeveloped."

Box Office
Wreck-It Ralph has grossed $189,422,889 in North America, and $281,800,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $471,222,889. It is the fourteenth highest-grossing film of 2012, the fourth highest-grossing 2012 animated film, and the seventh highest-grossing film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios (behind Frozen, The Lion King, Zootopia, Big Hero 6, Tangled and Aladdin ).

In North America, the film debuted with $13.5 million, an above-average opening day gross for an animated film released in November such as Megamind ($12.5 million) and Bee Movie ($10.2 million), and other Disney Animation films such as Tangled ($11.9 million on Wed.), Chicken Little ($10.6 million), and Bolt ($7 million). During its opening weekend, the film topped the box office with $49.04 million, marking the largest debut for Walt Disney Animation Studios, ahead of both Flight and The Man with the Iron Fists, making it the highest-grossing debut for a Walt Disney Animation Studios production, nipping past Tangled 's opening ($48.8 million).

Outside North America, Wreck-It Ralph earned $12 million on its opening weekend from six markets. Among all markets, its three largest openings were recorded in the UK, Ireland and Malta ($7.15 million), Brazil ($5.32 million with weekday previews), and Russia and the CIS ($5.27 million).

Video Games
In addition to the Flash version of the Fix-It Felix, Jr. game, Disney released a tie-in side-scrolling platform game called Wreck-It Ralph for the Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo DS. The arcade style side-scrolling game was produced in collaboration between Disney Interactive and Activision and serves as a "story extension" to the film. Taking place following the events of the film, players may play as Wreck-It Ralph or Fix-It Felix (Sergeant Calhoun and Vanellope are off screen and they tell the players if you lose a life or win a level), causing damage as Ralph as well as repairing as Felix where necessary following another Cy-Bug incident. Game levels are based on the locations in the film like the Fix-It Felix, Jr., Hero's Duty and Sugar Rush games as well as Game Central Station. It was released in conjunction with the film's release, in November 2012.

In October 2012, Disney released fully playable browser-based versions of the Hero's Duty and Sugar Rush games on the new official film site. A game was also released as an app for the iPhone, iPod, and iPad, as well as for Android systems. Ralph also appears in Sega's Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed as a playable guest character. Ralph and Vanellope also appear as playable characters in Disney INFINITY.

Fix-It Felix Jr.
The arcade game Fix-It Felix Jr. is based off popular video games from the arcade golden age of the 1980s, most notably the Nintendo platformer Donkey Kong, where the roles of Mario and Donkey Kong parallel that of Felix and Ralph, respectively. On June 7, 2012, Disney released the actual game online accessed through the official Wreck-It Ralph website and 2 days later, is seen on the main games page. An app was later released in September, but has since been removed from the App Store.

Cameos
The concept of the film revealed that various video game characters, most notably villains from famous franchises, would appear in the film or at least were currently being considered. The villains in particular appear at Bad-Anon (in the opening) to share their feelings of being the bad guy in their select games. Some of these notably worthy villains include Bowser from Super Mario Bros., Zangief from Street Fighter II, Clyde from Pac-Man (who plays as Bad-Anon's leader), and Dr. Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sequel
In a GamerHubVideos interview posted onto YouTube on October 25, 2012, director Rich Moore says that he and Disney have ideas about a sequel that would bring the characters up to date and explore online gaming and home gaming. In an interview with Moviehole, Sarah Silverman confirmed the sequel, although John C. Reilly was less definite, saying they had talks about the sequel and that he "bets" they will be doing one. Moore also plans to return as a director, and intends to include Mario in the sequel: "We'll really come up with something good for Mario to do [in the next film]", says Moore. "To be able to present him in the sequel, would be great." He also intends to include Tron in the sequel: "...Of course, with a sequel, I'm hoping that we can find a way to see Tron himself in that movie." Moore stated that many of the crew and voice cast are open to the sequel, believing that they have "barely scratched the surface" of the video game world they envisioned. In a 2014 interview, the film's composer Henry Jackman said that a story for the sequel is being written: "I can't tell you more, not because I'm being coy, but I believe that it is officially on the cards. I don't know any more other than a story is indeed being written."

On July 12, 2015, John C. Reilly confirmed the sequel and announced that he is signed on to reprise his role as Ralph. In an interview with IGN for D23 Expo 2015 on the topic of Wreck-It Ralph 2, Rich Moore stated that "We're still thinking about doing a next one, and if were to do one, I think we should really dig down deep into the characters that these fans were really clamoring for". He also stated that "We're going to expand the world if we were to do a second one. I think it would be really cool to expand the world and go outside that arcade universe that the first one did such a good job of celebrating. If there were to be a second, we want to go beyond that as we've kind of felt that world and paid great service to those games, but, if there were to be a second one, we would definitely be looking into those more contemporary characters that the fans were like where's so and so". Despite the cancellation of Tron 3, Rich Moore stated that Tron will still appear for the sequel. In a 2014 interview, the film's composer Henry Jackman said that a story for the sequel is being written.

Trivia

 * This is the sixth non-musical film in the Disney animated canon, following The Black Cauldron, The Rescuers Down Under, Dinosaur, Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet, and followed by Big Hero 6 and Zootopia.
 * Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. (Mario and Luigi) were intended to have cameo appearances in this film.
 * Since the producers of the movie were unable to put Luigi into the plot, and they didn't want to make him a cameo, he was not included.
 * Mario is mentioned by Felix during the party scene as being "fashionably late as usual".
 * It has been promised by the director that they will actually appear for Wreck-It Ralph 2.
 * The Royal Raceway track is also the name of a race track in the 1997 Nintendo 64 game Mario Kart 64.
 * Only this one is comprised of candies and sweet foods instead of just a regular landscape and Princess Peach's castle.
 * The DVD/Blu-Ray main menu are both the Fix-It Felix, Jr. game in its attract mode.
 * The high score is 110,212 — an unpunctuated short American format rendition of the movie's US release date.
 * This film's composer is Henry Jackman, who previously composed Winnie the Pooh, and later composed the 2013 DreamWorks animated film, Turbo, which features the main protagonist, Theo named himself as Turbo, which is also the name of this film's main antagonist (disguised as King Candy).
 * Thomas Newman, who composed the score to Pixar's Finding Nemo, was originally picked to create the score to this film, but since he was too busy working on the score to Skyfall, Henry Jackman stepped in to fill in his role.
 * Touchstone Pictures' Who Framed Roger Rabbit had cartoon character cameos, Pixar's Toy Story had toy cameos, DreamWorks' Shrek had fairy tale character cameos (even if they were not based off Disney), and Wreck-It Ralph had video game character cameos. The latter also included other Disney character cameos, like Maximus (from Tangled) and Lefty and Tiny (from Meet the Robinsons).
 * An homage to Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet can be seen on a sign (saying "Parting is such sweet sorrow") once Ralph and Felix leave Sugar Rush towards the ending.
 * This is the first Walt Disney Animation Studios feature to completely have the aspect ratio of 2.35:1 [CinemaScope]. This ratio is later used in the next film Frozen, then Big Hero 6, Zootopia and so on.
 * The last traditionally-animated Disney feature to use this format was Brother Bear (The rest of that film; The first twenty-four minutes were in 1.85:1 [Matted]).
 * In Big Hero 6, a toy version of Ralph can be seen in Hiro's room on his computer desk.
 * Skrillex makes a cameo in Fix-it Felix's penthouse, during the 30th anniversary party.
 * This film has a wide variety of 70 distinct settings while the usual Disney film has around 10 to 25.
 * The film opens with a 8-bit Walt Disney Animation Studios logo.
 * Wreck-It Ralph has 188 unique, individual characters, three times more than any other Disney film in history. Disney films normally have between 40 and 60.
 * In this film, the color acid green is associated with evil.
 * During production, the animators and director would watch dailies 3-5 hours per day and animators were expected to turn in about 80 frames per week.
 * The animation team spent many hours visiting different locations in an attempt to provide a more realistic basis for the environments found in the movie. These locations included a visit to Cologne, Germany, where they visited a bakery, candy factories and the World Confectionery Convention. Ideas were collected from these, which inspired the Sugar Rush, candy-themed racing game and the surrounding environment. Another trip featured a stop at the Ford manufacturing plant in Detroit, Michigan to see the entire assembly on how trucks are made, which would assist in creating a scene where a Sugar Rush character, Vanellope, builds a car.
 * Wreck-It Ralph features more than 180 different characters in the movie. These consist of characters from Disney, Nintendo and classic arcade companies such as Taito. While Disney has a total character base of around 60, most of the characters that made cameo appearance were from Nintendo's archive. These included Street Fighter characters such as M. Bison, Ryu, Ken and Zangief. Characters from arcade companies other than Nintendo include Pac-man, Pooka and Fygar (characters from Dig-Dug), Clyde (the orange Pac-Man ghost), Sonic and Dr. Eggman, Bowser, Neff, Q-bert, Yuni, and plenty more.
 * Disney recruited professional football players who provided the models for the muscular guys in Hero's Duty. These models imparted reference points as to how real-life soldiers would move. In addition, the team visited Edwards Air Force Base in California to provide the battleground on which the game was based.
 * The production team were urged to spend many hours of playing video games on different platforms using different controllers and joysticks, which would assist in the look and feel of the in-game environments. In addition, the team also visited many of the game development HQs to get a first-hand glimpse at the process behind creating these games. The movie highlighted many of the video game rules for each of the games they were based upon, and is something that is featured throughout the movie itself.
 * The song "When Can I See You Again" by Owl City was featured in the Paint the Night parade at Disneyland for 60th anniversary.
 * Sugar Rush 's buildings are inspired by Antoni Gaudí's architecture. Visual development artist, Lorelay Bove thought his buildings looked like candy houses when she was growing up in Spain.
 * In Japan, the film is called "シュガーラッシュ" (Shugārasshu), which translates to Sugar Rush. This would make sense, seeing how a majority of the movie takes place in Sugar Rush, and the "kawaii" (Japanese for "cute") style of the game, as part of Japanese culture is cuteness.