The Withers is a 2015 animated made-for-television musical film produced by Bloxy Animation Productions and distributed by Avast Television, based on the television series Robloxians. The film is directed by Angus Kennedy, written from a screenplay by George Mendoza, Frances Richardson, Thomas Alexander and Stevie Clark, based on a story by Gloria Newman and Alyssa Sanford and produced by Esther Spencer, Tommy O'Neill and Samantha Barnes. Taking place between the third season's episodes "The Girls" and "The Third Thanksgiving To Remember", the plot follows Reuben Willis, his friends, and ten other individuals headed out to a remote island with a village in the middle of the ocean, to discover the unknown creatures. However, the same creatures destroy plane, which send Willis to the island, where he befriends a Wither and soon, explore the island, while his friend tries to look for him. Meanwhile, David III, who wanted to reveal its dark secret to the world about the islands, plan on destroying it. It stars David Robinson, Alexander West, Thomas Tucker, Jennifer Washington, Harrison Patel and George Cox.
The film's development began in December 2013, initially as an animated special, following the popularity of two previous holiday-themed episodes. After talking with Avast Television and writing early drafts, the film was officially went into production a month later, in January 2014. When the animation special began production, it was intended to be a drama comedy, but Avast requested a full-length musical special, which was subsequently converted into a feature picture. Aaron Holland and Jake Morgan wrote the songs, while Calvin Hahn and Benson Mercer composed the music. Production began during the creation of the second and third seasons and lasted nearly two years, and was made on a $100+ thousand budget, larger than any budget for all of the episodes from the series, at that time.
Serving as a part of the third season, The Withers was originally broadcasted in the United States on Children's Avast Television on November 2, 2015, before being released for streaming services the following day on November 3. The film received generally positive reviews from television critics and audiences, with praise for its writing, character development and musical score.
Plot
On a trip to a unknown island, Myrnin Ot'Ryan, one of the male passengers, stands up and enters the kitchen area while wearing headphones to listen to music. However, an extremely loud boom is heard, shaking the entire plane. He returned, horrified to see something staring from the window. Before he could think, something crashed with the side of the plane, causing everyone to be tossed out. Myrnin O'Ryan clings to a pole, but the entire airplane explodes. Ryan started screaming as he watched everyone die and the last thing he notices is a creature staring at him, before dying.
Two days later, Willis and his pink sheep are walking together. Willis sees a newspaper station and decides to pick up a newspaper. To his surprise, he discovers from one of the articles that a plane crashed in the middle of the ocean, by a unknown creature/ Willis chooses to go meet Alex, Jake, and Douglas, who are all hanging out by a local river. Willis passed the newspaper to Douglas. To their surprise, Willis felt this would be a terrific trip and asked if they could all travel to the island, which they all immediately declined to do. Willis informed them that it was highly unlikely and that all he wanted to do was visit the island and do study for future projects. Eventually, the group decided to go to the island.
After leaving his Sheep to hang out at his friend's house, they get on the plane, with some hope. Willis then hoped that he would see the village again ("Hope I See Them Again"). As it approaches the island, the plane is unintentionally pushed down by the mystery mob and disintegrates in midair before landing on the shore. Upon waking up, Willis finds that he is surrounded by zombies. He was trying to get away when he reached a dead end with a steep cliff of rock in front of him. Before leaving, though, an unidentified entity attacked and murdered the undead. She uses her "Love" power to soothe Willis, who is initially terrified due to his severe shock. She is concerned after managing to get him admitted to a nearby hospital. Willis asked at the hospital where his pals were, but nobody knew. He sobs, but Amelia soothes him once more.