They originated in Japan, but now they’re hitting the big screen in America.

The Emoji Movie stars T.J. Miller, Anna Faris, and Patrick Stewart as anthropomorphic emojis who live in Textopolis, the city found inside Alex the Human’s smartphone.

Gene, played by Miller, is a multi-expressional emoji surrounded by emoji with only emotion. Seeking equality, he embarks on a quest to become like his peers. Along with Hi-5, voiced by James Corden, and Jailbreak, voiced by Anna Faris, Gene attempts to escape the confines of Alex’s phone to find the real world.

The emoji, considered an ideogram, that is, a symbol that represents a topic or emotion, originated in Japan.  Early cell phones had a limited texting capability.  Early emoji took cues from weather, Chinese characters and manga, Japanese comic books, that often relied on a set of stock graphic cues to represent emotions, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Emoji Movie explores themes of accepting yourself and not having to fit into the status quo.

Writer/director Tony Leondis has previously worked on other animated films, such as Igor (2008), Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch has a Glitch (2005), and The Prince of Egypt (1998). This is his fourth writing credit and fifth directorial effort.

Sony Pictures Animation has previously created animated franchises such as Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009-2013) and Open Season (2006-2010).

Emojis were created in the late 1990s by Japanese graphic designers. They convey simple messages in the form of small images, such as cartoon faces and objects. Their popularity has jumped since in the 21st century, mainly from their standardization in most smartphone keyboards.

Leading up to its release, The Emoji Movie received a mostly negative reception from prospective fans. The first trailer, released on May 16th, 2017, garnered over 50,000 dislikes as compared to only 11,000 likes. Rotten Tomatoes polls show that only 45% of 452 voters are interested in seeing the film. No full reviews are available at press time.

The Emoji Movie will be released worldwide on July 28th, 2017.

The Emoji Movie is set to be released on July 28th, and stars TJ Miller, Anna Faris, and Patrick Stewart.