Plot

A foster kid who lives with her mean foster mom sees her life change when business tycoon and New York City mayoral candidate Will Stacks makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in.

The 1977 Broadway musical returns to the big screen with this Overbrook Entertainment/Sony Pictures production surrounding a 10-year-old Harlem foster child ("Beasts of the Southern Wild"'s Quvenzhané Wallis) taken in by a calculating billionaire (Jamie Foxx) who's campaigning to be mayor. Abandoned by her biological parents as a baby, Annie spends every moment of every day attempting to avoid the wrath of her cruel foster mother Miss Colleen Hannigan (Cameron Diaz), but things start looking up for her when she has a very public encounter with Will Stacks (Foxx), a local cell-phone mogul with mayoral ambitions. Stacks' campaign isn't going too well until he meets Annie and invites her into his home at the suggestion of his trusted top assistant Grace (Rose Byrne) and his ambitious PR advisor Guy (Bobby Cannavale). Meanwhile, what was originally conceived as a PR stunt to win over skeptical voters becomes something much more personal when the jaded tycoon realizes his little friend is much more than a mere good-luck charm.

Annie is a young, happy foster kid who's also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they'd come back for her someday, it's been a hard-knock life ever since with her mean foster mom Miss Colleen Hannigan. But everything's about to change when hard-nosed tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks--advised by his brilliant VP Grace, and his shrewd and scheming campaign advisor, Guy--makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in. Stacks believes he's her guardian angel, but Annie's self-assured nature and bright, sun-will-come-out-tomorrow outlook on life just might mean it's the other way around.—Sony Pictures Entertainment

In this modern remake of the classic Broadway show "Annie", Annie is portrayed as an African-American tween hopelessly lost within the New York City foster-care system but smart, tough, and bright enough to survive the fast-paced New York City streets. Forced to stay with her mean foster mom, Miss Colleen Hannigan, Annie somehow manages to tough it out in Harlem until one day she accidentally and literally runs into wealthy billionaire and NYC mayoral candidate Will Stacks. Saving her from almost being hit by a car (while simultaneously being videotaped by an unknown passerby) Stacks and his political team decide to use the life-saving incident to boost his polls for the upcoming NYC election. Taking Annie into his penthouse home, Stacks begins to fall "head-over-heels" for the adorable little Annie. Meanwhile, Annie only has one hope and that is for her parents to someday return and rescue her from the foster care program.—DeAlan Wilson on ComedyE

In Harlem, Manhattan Island, N.Y.C, Annie Bennett (Quvenzhane Wallis) lives in foster care with several other girls under the care of Colleen Hannigan (Cameron Diaz), a bitter former singer of C+C Music Factory, who spends her days drinking or trying to find a husband. Colleen was a big singing star back in the 1990s but ended her career due to having gone insane after drinking alcohol.

Colleen gives various, grueling chores to the orphaned children in her care. She makes the girls clean the entire dorm in preparation for an upcoming city inspector's visit. The other foster girls include Pepper (Amanda Troya), Isabella (Eden Duncan-Smith), Tessie (Zoe Margaret Colletti) and Mia (Nicolette Pierini). Colleen gets $157 per week from the state to host each of the foster girls. Annie has a brilliant mind but is a slacker at school. She has a knack of converting any assignment into a musical performance piece. Lou (David Zayas) is the local bodega owner who is a friend of Annie and has a crush on Miss Hannigan.

Annie spends Fridays waiting outside Domoni's restaurant, believing her parents will come for her because a note written on a receipt from Domoni's says they would return. When a city inspector checks on Hannigan's treatment of the girls, Annie takes advantage of the situation; she manages to copy her social security number from his clipboard and heads off to get her information (she borrows $43.5 from Lou to pay the city hall for her data). Annie learns that there's nothing more about her than what she already knows.

Trying to save a Shiba Inu from bullies, Annie is nearly run over; however, she is saved by William Stacks (Jamie Foxx), a Germaphobe cell phone mogul running for mayor. Annie's rescue goes viral on the internet, boosting Stacks popularity by 5 points in the polls. Before the event, Stacks was 20 points behind in polls, and his billions of spending money was not working in his favor. Stacks says that a Telecom innovator he created a network that never dropped a call, and as mayor he promises to create an administration that never drops a citizen.

As per suggestion of Stacks' campaign manager Guy Danlily (Bobby Cannavale), Stacks invites Annie for a lunch meeting. Stacks' assistant Grace Farrell (Rose Byrne) brings Annie for lunch after Hannigan makes her write a check to cash for potential injuries to Annie during the incident with Stacks. At the meeting, Stacks and Annie joke about living together to boost his popularity and Guy actually likes that idea. Annie moves in with Stacks to boost his popularity further. Annie enjoys her new surroundings, befriending Grace. Mrs. Kovacevic (Stephanie Kurtzuba), the New York Family Services worker who becomes close with Annie's case. She approves the temporary change in guardianship for Annie from Hannigan to Stacks, after inspecting Stacks' palatial home.

As Annie embarks on a photo tour around the city, she gets more popular than Stacks. She is genuine and someone that can relate with, whereas Stacks is still very aloof, and cold. Annie also gets to adopt the stray dog from before, naming her Sandy. Annie now has 1.3 million followers on Twitter. Bonding with Annie, Stacks reveals that he had humble beginnings in Queens; he never really knew his father due to his work hours, but believed he could understand him if he worked just as hard. Annie also helps Grace and Stacks begin realizing that they like each other romantically.

Nash (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) is the tough but lovable bodyguard and driver for Will and a good friend of Annie. He takes Annie to the mobile control room of Stacks' network empire and shows her how the company can track every phone call and data transfer ever made on the network for the past 20 years.

Per Annie's request, Stacks takes her and her friends in Hannigan's foster care to see the premiere of MoonQuake Lake. Stacks is uninterested in the movie at first, but soon becomes a major fan, along with Grace. Per Annie and Grace's insistence, Stacks joins in the after-movie party. After returning her friend's home, Annie shows Grace her Friday routine of waiting to see if her parents will return; Grace sympathizes, agreeing to keep this a secret from Stacks.

At Hannigan's, the girls accidentally wake her; Hannigan snaps at them, saying rich people aren't nice, and will ditch anyone they don't like any more (recalling her own past). Slightly hungover, she laments about her situation of foster kids and her desire to reclaim stardom.

Annie is invited to a charity event, where she speaks about how grateful she is for all the opportunities she's been given. When Annie is asked to read a speech, she runs out, revealing that she doesn't know how to read (despite being 10 years old and going to school). Stacks decides to get her a special-ed teacher, but Guy decides that Annie will only hinder Stacks' campaign as his popularity isn't improving any more.

Teaming up with Hannigan, Guy plans to have impostors claim Annie as their daughter to boost Stacks popularity to the point where he wins; Guy will then share his payment with Hannigan. However, Guy doesn't care about Annie's well-being, planning to put her back into foster care after the election and cutting Miss Hannigan out of the deal.

By the time Hannigan has second thoughts, Annie has already been kidnapped by the impostors; Hannigan tells Stacks about the plan, getting Guy fired. Stacks, Grace, Hannigan and the girls board Stacks' helicopter; aided by the police, they chase the getaway car into the park. Annie, thinking Stacks arranged this (due to the kidnappers believing Stacks, not Guy, paid them), is upset and refuses to believe him when he tells her he didn't know about the scheme. Stacks, to prove his innocence, announces to the press that he quits the mayoral race; Annie then helps Grace and Stacks admit their love. All three dance and sing happily.

Later, Annie announces the opening of the "Stacks Literacy Centre", to help children like herself, who couldn't read. Everyone sings Annie's Tomorrow; with a straight face, Hannigan attempts to continue singing after the song is done, only to receive stares that cue her to stop.