They're on the Way to Rio: Angry Birds and Rovio

Rovio's Angry Birds game is on its way to "Rio," sort of. The company announced on Friday that it is partnering up with Twentieth Century Fox to create a version of the game centered on the upcoming animated movie “Rio,” which hits theaters on April 15.

The Angry Birds game will launch ahead of the movie, sometime in March. According to Rovio's blog post:

In Angry Birds Rio, the original Angry Birds are kidnapped and taken to the magical city of Rio, where they eventually escape their captors and set out to to save their friends, Blu and Jewel – two rare macaws and the stars of the upcoming Fox motion picture, Rio. Angry Birds Rio will pair the physics-based gameplay of the original game with unique twists based on the highly-anticipated film.

Angry Birds Rio will launch with 45 levels. More levels will be added later via app updates.

It's part of Rovio's strategy to make Angry Birds a franchise on the level of Mario Bros. Some have compared Angry Birds to Pacman, but Peter Vesterbacka, Rovio's "Mighty Eagle" said,

“What we’re doing is we’re building out the Angry Birds world. Pac-Man is only one game. Mario is a better benchmark.”

Rovio recently announced plans for an Angry Birds animated series. Late last year they even created a line of plush toys.


The game is a huge success in both the App Store, where it is perennially near the top of paid apps, and the Android Market, where it has become an AdMob success story. It's also on webOS, in the Mac App Store, and in the Intel App Store (for Windows PCs). Rovio plans to get it on all relevant platforms.

Watch a Rio trailer below, and an Angry Birds Rio trailer after that.