The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (released in North America, Australia and New Zealand as The Pirates! Band of Misfits) is a 2012 British/American 3D stop-motion animated swashbuckler comedy film produced by Aardman Animations in partnership with Sony Pictures Animation. It was directed by Peter Lord. The film was distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing and was released on 28 March 2012 in the UK and on 27 April 2012 in the US. The Pirates! features the voices of Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, Imelda Staunton, David Tennant, Jeremy Piven, Salma Hayek, Lenny Henry and Brian Blessed.
The film is loosely based on The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists, the first book from Gideon Defoe's The Pirates! series. It follows The Pirate Captain and his crew of amateur pirates in their attempt to win the Pirate of the Year competition. The Pirates! is the fifth feature film by Aardman Animations, and its first stop-motion animated feature since Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in 2005, and Aardman's first stop-motion animated film released in 3D and shot in 2.35:1 widescreen.
The film received positive reviews and was a modest box office success, earning $123 million against the budget of $55 million. The film was nominated for the 2013 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.