Norway’s Spermageddon has some obvious similarities to Sausage Party, but the parallels between the two are only surface deep. Don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of Spermageddon just yet. It’s an adult-animated musical Sєx comedy, and even if that’s right in your specific niche of interests, if you’re neither Norwegian nor someone who does what I do for a living, you really wouldn’t have had a chance to hear about it. Directed by Tommy Wirkola and Rasmus A. Sivertsen, Spermageddon premiered in Norway on February 28, 2025.

An adult animated movie with a name like Spermageddon, you might already be guessing where this is going. The film follows two parallel stories. One is about a teenage couple, Lisa (Nasrin Khusrawi) and Jens (Christian Mikkelsen), who decide to have Sєx for the first time. The other story follows Simen (Aksel Hennie) and Cumilla (Mathilde Storm), two sperm living inside Jens, who go on an adventure to search for an egg to fertilize. With anthropomorphic characters and plenty of Sєx jokes, it’s no wonder it’s been compared to Sausage Party, but it’s a far cry from that movie.

Spermageddon And Sausage Party’s Similarities Are Surface Level

Both Films Have Similar Animation Styles And Comedic Sensibilities

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have made a lot of movies together, but Sausage Party stands out among their creations as a particularly raunchy, wild, and gross-out comedy. Featuring anthropomorphic food items that believe being eaten is the same as entering heaven, Sausage Party was as much an excuse for Goldberg and Rogen to juxtapose cartoonish animation with outrageous violence and Sєx as it was a chance for the filmmakers to discuss their thoughts on organized religion. Frankly, I think the vulgarity is the much more appealing part of the film.

As off the wall as Sausage Party was, the movie earned some rave reviews from critics, and now, it’s the reference for any animated film or TV show even slightly aimed at adults. Take Spermageddon, which looks like it could take place in the same universe as Sausage Party​​​​​. The animation style is very similar. It’s that purposefully comic look with disproportionate features that helps to take some of the discomfort out of the raunchy sequences, and both films are filled to the brim with gross-out jokes and humor that would be impossible in a live-action film.

That’s about where the similarities stop, however, because the films are wildly different in tone and scope. For one, Spermageddon is not out to push every single boundary of decency like Sausage Party, and the “inappropriate” jokes of Spermageddon are a result of the setting and the characters. It literally takes place in the Sєx organs of a teenage couple — there are necessarily going to be some Sєx jokes. Spermageddon is a bit more “biologically accurate,” for lack of a better phrase.

There are no fantastical elements in the Norwegian film, like there are in Sausage Party, where humans suddenly start seeing food come to life and go to war with them. Spermageddon is a bit closer to the underappreciated Osmosis Jones in that regard. While Sausage Party tries to grapple with some heady themes, Spermaggedon is much more a classic adventure.

Directors Tommy Wirkola And Rasmus A. Sivertsen Said Spermageddon Is An Epic Adventure Movie

Wirkola Couldn’t Believe He Was Even Allowed To Make The Movie

Another difference between Spermageddon and Sausage Party is the more rollicking adventure story told in Spermageddon. Simen and Cumilla are on a journey, one that takes them through dangerous body parts and past killer contraceptives. Is it a bit odd that we’re rooting for a teenager to get pregnant? Perhaps a bit, but it also makes it all the more interesting to see if our sperm heroes will succeed in their quest. It’s frankly a fairly incredible accomplishment that the film got made, and directors Tommy Wirkola and Rasmus A. Sivertsen agree (via Variety),

“When we finally got to make it, there were times when I was looking at the screen, thinking: ‘How the hell did we get this movie made?!'”

Part of what may have drawn producers to the project and got it greenlit is that Spermageddon is not just a vehicle for Sєx jokes; there’s a real adventure story tucked away between the body fluids and awkward encounters. Wirkola said (via Variety),

“This is both a road movie and an epic adventure, a most incredible journey, much like Lord of the Rings. But instead of Orcs and elves, our heroes have to do battle with sperm-killing creams and e.Coli trolls.”

There is an element of truth to Wirkola’s statement. I’m not going to say it’s an epic the size of The Lord of the Rings, but it’s certainly an adventure. It’s a little closer to The Goonies than J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary masterpiece, but I like the confidence, Wirkola. Simen and Cumilla do encounter a lot of danger on their way to the egg, and while their lives hang in the balance, it’s fairly low stakes for everyone else involved. This adventure style of story-telling does certainly set it apart from Sausage Party, which is more concerned with wild kills and innuendos.

Sєx-Positive Messaging Has Been Popular In Animation In Recent Years

Animation Is A Clever Way To Talk About Sєx In A More Universally Palatable Way

I would hesitate to call Sausage Party “Sєx-positive”. Though it has no issues with Sєx and Sєxuality in all its forms, it’s more interested in those ideas as a punch line than anything else. Spermageddon certainly uses Sєx as a punchline often, but there’s also some wisdom and thoughtfulness put into those jokes. Spermageddon doesn’t set out to teach you about appropriate safe Sєx, but it does it all the same, and for a certain age of viewer, it could actually prove pretty helpful, giving them a funny reminder about how to be intimate in a safe way.

It’s not the first adult animation to include some good lessons about bodily functions and maturity. In fact, it feels like animation has been the home of this kind of storytelling for a few years now. Big Mouth has plenty of gross moments, but those moments often serve as thoughtful insights into the ways everyone grows up, physically and Sєxually. Tucca and Bertie is another adult animation that explores growing up and relationship dynamics in a way not often seen on television.

Animation offers a clever way to talk about Sєx in a more in-depth and specific way than live-action ever would. What happens in these TV shows and movies would never make it past the censors if people were performing the acts, but animate everything, and suddenly it’s much less threatening. However, as something like Spermageddon, and to an extent Sausage Party, show, there can still be effective messaging from an animated cartoon.