History Trivia / CaptainUnderpantsTheFirstEpicMovie

* NoBudget: The film had a budget of $38 million, which is generally pretty low for an animated movie. It's especially low for a major studio like Dreamworks, making it their second cheapest film after ''WesternAnimation/TheCurseOfTheWereRabbit''. This is lampshaded by George and Harold when they mention showing the film's final battle would make it go overbudget, so they present it in Flip-O-Rama instead. It's also why most of the cast from the book are AdaptedOut in favor of only five main speaking roles.

* ApprovalOfGod: Despite receiving an executive producer credit, Dav Pilkey was decidedly hands-off with the production and only gave direct approval of the first draft of the script. In his words, he wanted to "experience ''Captain Underpants'' as a fan" (not to mention he didn't want to call the shots in a medium he had no experience in). He would go on to give the movie [[http://i.imgur.com/PsE4sZn.png glowing praise]], particularly to Mr. Krupp's CharacterDevelopment.

* [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/CaptainUnderpantsTheFirstEpicMovie What Could Have Been]]
[[/index]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** A live-action movie was planned as early as 1997, right before the first book was published, and would have starred Creator/ChrisFarley. The project was scrapped after Farley died.
** According to director David Soren, in an early draft of the film there was going to be a small scene that confirms the {{Fanon}} theory that [[http://jackie-sugarskull.tumblr.com/post/170987514201/oh-my-god-david-soren-left-this-comment-on-an Edith is an Alien]].
** In an [[http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/captain-underpants-the-first-epic-movie/55231/david-soren-interview-captain-underpants-six-months-on interview]], David Soren mentioned that in an earlier draft of the film, there was going to be an homage to ''Film/{{Magnolia}}'' during the scene where [[spoiler:George and Harold are separated]], and it was going to have "all the main characters from Krupp, to Poopypants, to Melvin, to the gardener outside the school mowing the lawn, having a little refrain. They all sang about how they were feeling unsatisfied by their current situation, and lonely". Ultimately, the scene just didn't work with the flow of the film, and was cut.
** In one of the earliest drafts of the script, before David Soren took over as director, there was going to be a subplot about Harold starting to hang out with "the cool kids", causing a rift between him and George. Thankfully, the filmmakers quickly realized that this subplot ''did not work at all'' (mainly due to it being extremely out of character for George and Harold), and it was cut.
*** On Instagram, Ian Abando (one of the movies storyboard artists) posted [[https://www.instagram.com/p/BU-Y9BJF7B4/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= a 3-part]] [[https://www.instagram.com/p/BU-dNcvlglF/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= series of]] [[https://www.instagram.com/p/BU-eXm3F47R/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= storyboards]] regarding this deleted subplot. George sneaks into the Jerome Horwitz's first ever school dance, planning to pull a prank with water balloons, but sees Harold hanging out with the cool kids. He then overhears Harold say that while he's his best friend, he thinks he's "holding onto his youth". This angers him, and he retaliates by launching the water balloons he brought on the entire dance, the cool kids especially. After all is said and done, George walks out holding a boombox over his head playing Music/{{Queen}}'s "We Are the Champions". Harold, giving in to peer pressure, calls him out for pulling something so immature, which was most likely going to lead to a PlotMandatedFriendshipFailure.
---->'''Cool Girl:''' That was totally lame.\\
'''Kid 1:''' Totally.\\
'''Kid 2:''' Lamest thing ever.\\
'''Kid 3:''' What are you, in nursery school?\\
'''Harold:''' (''nervously looks at the crowd, then at George'') Yeah… what are you… a… ''baby''??\\
'''George:''' (''looks shocked and hurt for a moment, then angrily throws down the boombox'') ''You're'' the baby— (''gets right up in Harold's face'') —BABY!!!
** Early information about the movie had Dr. Diaper, the BigBad of the first book, as a secondary antagonist.
** Some old storyboards revealed that Edith's name was originally going to be "Doris".
** Instead of just separating them no matter what, Mr. Krupp was initially going to give the boys an "option B" in which they would have to slave after him, all the while Mr. Krupp taunted them with the Tattle Turtle. George and Harold of course took option B. This plot point was taken directly from the first book, but it was eventually scrapped.
** Mr. Krupp was originally going to meet up with the school board to approve George and Harold being separated. He tried to show them the video of George and Harold messing with Melvin's invention as proof of the havoc they wreck upon the school... [[MythologyGag only to reveal that Harold switched the video out with Purple Dragon Sing-A-Long Friends.]] While the filmmakers thought the scene was really funny, it was cut because they felt it didn't advance the plot in any way, plus it didn't make sense that Principal Krupp would need anyone to approve him switching two students classes.
*** Also, judging by the same animatic, it appears the Tattle Turtle was originally going to be in the shape of a teddy bear.

*** On Instagram, Ian Abando (one of the movies storyboard artists) posted [[https://www.instagram.com/p/BU-Y9BJF7B4/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= a 3-part]] [[https://www.instagram.com/p/BU-dNcvlglF/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= series of]] [[https://www.instagram.com/p/BU-eXm3F47R/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= storyboards]] regarding this deleted subplot. George sneaks into the Jerome Horowitz's first ever school dance, planning to pull a prank with water balloons, but sees Harold hanging out with the cool kids. He then overhears Harold say that while he's his best friend, he thinks he's "holding onto his youth". This angers him, and he retaliates by launching the water balloons he brought on the entire dance, the cool kids especially. After all is said and done, George walks out holding a boombox over his head playing Music/{{Queen}}'s "We Are the Champions". Harold, giving in to peer pressure, calls him out for pulling something so immature, which was most likely going to lead to a PlotMandatedFriendshipFailure.

'''Kid 1:''' Totally lame.\\

* AscendedFanon: Considering that WordOfGod revealed the [[SignificantBirthDate Significant Birth Dates]] that some of the characters have (i.e. both Mr. Krupp and Professor Poopypants’ birthdays being AprilFoolsDay, and Melvin’s being Christmas), a fan on Tumblr came up with the headcanon that [[CanonForeigner Edith the Lunch Lady]]’s birthday should be February 14; Valentine’s Day. So imagine that fan’s surprise when [[http://jackie-sugarskull.tumblr.com/post/169306260136/jackie-sugarskull-since-a-few-of-the-cu Dav Pilkey himself actually made it canon]]!

** In an [[http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/captain-underpants-the-first-epic-movie/55231/david-soren-interview-captain-underpants-six-months-on interview]], David Soren mentioned that in an earlier draft of the film, there was going to be an homage to ''Film/{{Magnolia}}'' during the scene where [[spoiler:George and Harold are separated]], and it was going to have “all the main characters from Krupp, to Poopypants, to Melvin, to the gardener outside the school mowing the lawn, having a little refrain. They all sang about how they were feeling unsatisfied by their current situation, and lonely”. Ultimately, the scene just didn’t work with the flow of the film, and was cut.
** In one of the earliest drafts of the script, before David Soren took over as director, there was going to be a subplot about Harold starting to hang out with “the cool kids”, causing a rift between him and George. Thankfully, the filmmakers quickly realized that this subplot ''did not work at all'' (mainly due to it being extremely out of character for George and Harold), and it was cut.

** Some old storyboards revealed that Edith’s name was originally going to be “Doris”.

* PlayingAgainstType: ''Creator/KristenSchaal'', who is known for voicing {{GenkiGirl}}s like [[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls Mabel]] and [[WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers Louise]], voices ShrinkingViolet Edith.

* CastingGag: In the Mexican Spanish dub, the titular hero is voiced by Arturo Mercado Jr., who previously voiced a bald ''villain'', [[Webcomic/OnePunchMan Hammerhead]], who also ends up naked. This time, ''he's'' the hero.

* FandomNod: In the Flip-O-Rama segment, Harold accidentally rips the paper after flipping the pages too quickly. This was based off this same thing happening to many readers.

* MilestoneCelebration: The film is being released 20 years after the first book was published.

* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: The film has been here since 2012--the release date has been relocated a couple of times, Rob Letterman stepping down as director with [[WesternAnimation/{{Turbo}} David Soren]] replacing him, and [=DreamWorks=]' issues in the last few years probably haven't helped. Thankfully, it seems like they finally got the ball rolling because the first trailer came out on March 22nd, 2017. Letterman still serves as executive producer though. The film was finally released on June 2, 2017.

* StillbornFranchise: Downplayed; while there doesn't seem to be another epic (i.e. theatrical) movie coming, it did manage to spawn a well-received Netflix series.

** None of the cast returned for ''The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants''; George and Harold will be voiced by [[ChildrenVoicingChildren actual child actors]].

* ActorSharedBackground: George, who is an African-American, is voiced by Creator/KevinHart, who is also an African-American.

* BillingDisplacement: Thomas Middlemitch is credited fourth despite fellow lead actor Kevin Hart being credited first. This is extra strange not only due to crediting Middlemitch strangely late for a main protagonist, but also because he is not billed directly next to the other protagonist.

* StillbornFranchise: Downplayed; while there doesn't seem to be another epic (i.e. theatrical) movie coming, it did manage to spawn a well-recieved Netflix series.

* BillingDisplacement: Thomas Middlemitch is credited fourth despite fellow leas actor Kevin Hart being credited first. This is extra strange not only due to crediting Middlemitch strangely late for a main protagonist, but also because he is not billed directly next to the other protagonist.

* StillborneFranchise: Downplayed; while there doesn't seem to be another epic (i.e. theatrical) movie coming, it did manage to spawn a well-recieved Netflix series.