<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $90 million </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $484.6 million </Td> </Tr> <P> Rio is a 2011 American 3D computer - animated adventure - comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and directed by Carlos Saldanha . The title refers to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, where the film is set . The film features the voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Jemaine Clement, Leslie Mann, George Lopez, and Jamie Foxx . It tells the story of Blu (Eisenberg), a male Spix's macaw who is taken to Rio de Janeiro to mate with a free - spirited female Spix's macaw, Jewel (Hathaway). The two eventually fall in love, and together they have to escape from being smuggled by Nigel (Clement), a cockatoo . The theme song, "Telling the World" was performed by Taio Cruz . </P> <P> Saldanha developed his first story concept of Rio in 1995, in which a penguin is washed up in Rio . Saldanha learned of the production of the films Happy Feet (2006) and Surf's Up (2007), and changed the concept to involve macaws and their environments in Rio . He proposed his idea to Chris Wedge in 2006, and the project was set up at Blue Sky . The main voice actors were approached in 2009 . During production, the crew visited Rio de Janeiro and also consulted with an expert on macaws at the Bronx Zoo to study their movements . </P>

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