Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Atlantis: The Lost Empire | |
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Directed by | |
Screenplay by | Tab Murphy |
Story by |
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Produced by | Don Hahn |
Starring | |
Edited by | Ellen Keneshea |
Music by | James Newton Howard |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution |
Release dates |
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Running time | 96 minutes[2] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $90–120 million[2][3][4] |
Box office | $186.1 million[4] |
Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a 2001 American animated
Development of the film began after production had finished on
Atlantis: The Lost Empire premiered at the
Plot
In 6,800 BC, a giant explosion sends a megatsunami toward the city of Atlantis. Leaving behind her husband, the King, and their young daughter, Princess Kida, the Queen of Atlantis merges with a floating crystal, creating a protective dome over the city's innermost district as the tsunami sinks the continent and city beneath the waves.
In 1914, archaeologist Milo Thatch fully believes in the existence of Atlantis and is determined to have the Smithsonian Institution fund an expedition to discover it. One day, he meets eccentric millionaire Preston B. Whitmore, an old friend of Milo's late grandfather, Thaddeus. Whitmore reveals that he made a bet with Thaddeus to fund an expedition to Atlantis. Whitmore persuades Milo to join the expedition and gives him the Shepherd's Journal, a book describing the history and path to Atlantis. The expedition is headed by Commander Lyle Rourke. The crew includes Lieutenant Helga Sinclair, Rourke's German-born second-in-command and lieutenant (who had introduced Milo to Whitmore); Vinny Santorini, a demolitions expert; Mole Molière, a geologist; Dr. Joshua Sweet, a medical officer; Audrey Ramirez, a mechanic; Mrs. Wilhelmina Packard, a radio operator; Cookie Farnsworth, a mess cook; and dozens of soldiers and sailors. Their submarine, the Ulysses, is attacked and destroyed by a mechanical leviathan guarding the entrance to Atlantis. Following the journal, the crew travels through a dormant volcano and eventually arrive at Atlantis, where they are greeted by Kida, who appears to be a young adult.
Disregarding her father's wishes, Kida enlists Milo to help Atlantis recover its history, as its culture and knowledge have been decaying for centuries. Milo learns that a huge crystal, the Heart of Atlantis, gives the people longevity, and once powered their machines via smaller crystals they wear. He also discovers that Rourke plans to steal the Heart and sell it; Rourke does not care that his theft of the Heart would kill the inhabitants of Atlantis. When the king refuses to reveal the Heart's location, Rourke wounds him. Rourke eventually finds the Heart himself; Kida merges with the crystal. Rourke locks the crystal in a crate and prepares to leave. Milo convinces Vinny, Audrey, Molière, Packard, Sweet, and Cookie to turn on Rourke, unwilling to be responsible for the Atlanteans' extinction. Rourke, Helga, and the soldiers start for the surface with Kida and destroy the bridge to trap the others behind. The dying King gives Milo his own crystal, explaining that he tried weaponizing the Heart, which caused the prior explosion and the Queen's fate. He says the Heart selects a royal host when the city is in danger, and begs Milo to save Atlantis and Kida, who will be lost to the Heart forever if not separated from it soon.
Milo and his friends rally the Atlanteans to reactivate their flying machines and pursue the mercenaries; they defeat Rourke's soldiers. Rourke and Helga try escaping with the crystal; however, Rourke betrays Helga and throws her off his
Milo decides to stay in Atlantis with Kida, whom he has fallen in love with. The crew returns to the surface, each gifted with a small Atlantean crystal and a portion of treasure. While reviewing photographs of the adventure taken by Mrs. Packard, Whitmore agrees to the crew's swear to secrecy to preserve Atlantis' safety. Whitmore also receives his own Atlantean crystal enclosed in a note from Milo. Meanwhile, back at Atlantis, Milo and Kida (who becomes the new Queen) orbited a carved stone effigy of Kida's late father, along with those of other past Kings, around the Heart of Atlantis as it once again hovers above the newly restored city.
Voice cast
- Michael J. Fox as Milo James Thatch, a linguist and cartographer at the Smithsonian who was recruited to decipher The Shepherd's Journal while directing an expedition to Atlantis.
- James Garner as Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke, the leader of the band of mercenaries for the Atlantean expedition.
- Cree Summer as Kidagakash "Kida" Nedakh, the Princess of Atlantis and Milo's love interest.
- Natalie Strom provided dialogue for Kida as a young child.
- Summer also voiced the unnamed Queen of Atlantis, Kida's mother and Kashekim's wife who was "chosen" by the Crystal during the sinking of the city.
- Don Novello as Vincenzo "Vinny" Santorini, an Italian demolitions expert.
- African American and Native Americandescent.
- Claudia Christian as Lieutenant Helga Katrina Sinclair, Rourke's German-born second-in-command and lieutenant.
- Puerto Rican mechanicand the youngest member of the expedition.
- Florence Stanley as Wilhelmina Bertha Packard: an elderly, sarcastic, chain-smoking radio operator.
- John Mahoney as Preston B. Whitmore, an eccentric millionaire who funds the expedition to Atlantis. Lloyd Bridges was originally cast and recorded as Whitmore, but he died before completing the film. Mahoney's zest and vigor led to Whitmore's personality being reworked for the film.[8]
- Jim Varney as Jebidiah Allardyce "Cookie" Farnsworth, a Western-style chuckwagon chef. Varney died of lung cancer in February 2000, before the production ended, and the film was dedicated to his memory. Steven Barr recorded supplemental dialogue for Cookie.
- Corey Burton as Gaetan "Mole" Molière, a French geologist who acts like a mole.
- Leonard Nimoy as Kashekim Nedakh, the King of Atlantis and Kida's father.
- David Ogden Stiers as Fenton Q. Harcourt, a board member of the Smithsonian Institution who dismisses Milo's belief in the existence of Atlantis. Stiers had previously voice-acted for Disney in Beauty and the Beast as Cogsworth, Pocahontas as Governor Ratcliffe and Wiggins, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame as the Archdeacon and would do so again in Lilo & Stitch as Jumba.
Production
Development
The idea for Atlantis: The Lost Empire was conceived in October 1996 when Don Hahn, Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, and Tab Murphy lunched at a Mexican restaurant in Burbank, California. Having recently completed The Hunchback of Notre Dame,[9] the producer and directors wanted to keep the Hunchback crew together for another film with an "Adventureland" setting rather than a "Fantasyland" setting.[10] Drawing inspiration from Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), they set out to make a film which would fully explore Atlantis (compared to the brief visit depicted in Verne's novel).[11] While primarily utilizing the Internet to research the mythology of Atlantis,[12] the filmmakers became interested in the clairvoyant readings of Edgar Cayce and decided to incorporate some of his ideas—notably that of a mother-crystal which provides power, healing, and longevity to the Atlanteans—into the story.[13] They also visited museums and old army installations to study the technology of the early 20th century (the film's time period), and traveled underground in New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns to view the subterranean trails which would serve as a model for the approach to Atlantis in the film.[14]
The filmmakers wanted to avoid the common depiction of Atlantis as "crumbled Greek columns underwater", said Wise.
Language
Marc Okrand, who developed the Klingon language for the Star Trek television and theatrical productions, was hired to devise the Atlantean language for Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Guided by the directors' initial concept for it to be a "mother-language", Okrand employed an Indo-European word stock with its own grammatical structure. He would change the words if they began to sound too much like an actual, spoken language.[16] John Emerson designed the written component, making hundreds of random sketches of individual letters from among which the directors chose the best to represent the Atlantean alphabet.[22][23] The written language was boustrophedon: designed to be read left-to-right on the first line, then right-to-left on the second, continuing in a zigzag pattern to simulate the flow of water.[24]
The Atlantean [A] is a shape developed by John Emerson. It is a miniature map of the city of Atlantis (i.e., the outside of the swirl is the cave, the inside shape is the silhouette of the city, and the dot is the location of the crystal). It's a treasure map.
— Kirk Wise, director[25]
Writing
Joss Whedon was the first writer to be involved with the film but soon left to work on other Disney projects. According to him, he "had not a shred" in the movie.[26] Tab Murphy completed the screenplay, stating that the time from initially discussing the story to producing a script that satisfied the film crew was "about three to four months".[27] The initial draft was 155 pages, much longer than a typical Disney film script (which usually runs 90 pages). When the first two acts were timed at 120 minutes, the directors cut characters and sequences and focused more on Milo. Murphy said that he created the centuries-old Shepherd's Journal because he needed a map for the characters to follow throughout their journey.[28] A revised version of the script eliminated the trials encountered by the explorers as they navigated the caves to Atlantis. This gave the film a faster pace because Atlantis is discovered earlier in the story.[29]
The directors often described the Atlanteans using Egypt as an example. When Napoleon wandered into Egypt, the people had lost track of their once-great civilization. They were surrounded by artifacts of their former greatness but somehow unaware of what they meant.
—Don Hahn, producer[30]
The character of Milo J. Thatch was originally supposed to be a descendant of Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard the pirate. The directors later related him to an explorer so he would discover his inner talent for exploration.[31] The character of Molière was originally intended to be "professorial" but Chris Ure, a story artist, changed the concept to that of a "horrible little burrowing creature with a wacky coat and strange headgear with extending eyeballs", said Wise.[32][33] Don Hahn pointed out that the absence of songs presented a challenge for a team accustomed to animating musicals, as action scenes alone would have to carry the film. Kirk Wise said it gave the team an opportunity for more on-screen character development: "We had more screen time available to do a scene like where Milo and the explorers are camping out and learning about one another's histories. An entire sequence is devoted to having dinner and going to bed. That is not typically something we would have the luxury of doing."[16]
Hahn stated that the first animated sequence completed during production was the film's
Casting
Kirk Wise, one of the directors, said that they chose Michael J. Fox for the role of Milo because they felt he gave his characters his own personality and made them more believable on screen. Fox said that voice acting was much easier than his past experience with live action because he did not have to worry about what he looked like in front of a camera while delivering his lines.[37] The directors mentioned that Fox was also offered a role for Titan A.E.; he allowed his son to choose which film he would work on, and he chose Atlantis.[38] Viewers have noted similarities between Milo and the film's language consultant, Marc Okrand, who developed the Atlantean language used in the film. Okrand stated that Milo's supervising animator, John Pomeroy, sketched him, claiming not to know how a linguist looked or acted.[24] Kida's supervising animator, Randy Haycock, stated that her actress, Cree Summer, was very "intimidating" when he first met her; this influenced how he wanted Kida to look and act on screen when she meets Milo.[39] Wise chose James Garner for the role of Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke because of his previous experience with action films, especially war and Western films, and said the role "fits him like a glove". When asked if he would be interested in the role, Garner replied: "I'd do it in a heartbeat."[40] Producer Don Hahn was saddened that Jim Varney, the voice of Jebidiah Allardyce "Cookie" Farnsworth, never saw the finished film before he died of lung cancer in February 2000, but mentioned that he was shown clips of his character's performance during his site sessions and said, "He loved it." Shawn Keller, supervising animator for Cookie, stated, "It was kind of a sad fact that [Varney] knew that he was not going to be able to see this film before he passed away. He did a bang-up job doing the voice work, knowing the fact that he was never gonna see his last performance." Steven Barr recorded supplemental dialogue for Cookie.[41]
John Mahoney, who voiced Preston Whitmore, stated that doing voice work was "freeing" and allowed him to be "big" and "outrageous" with his character.[42] Dr. Joshua Sweet's supervising animator, Ron Husband, indicated that one of the challenges was animating Sweet in sync with Phil Morris' rapid line delivery while keeping him believable. Morris stated that this character was extreme, with "no middle ground"; he mentioned, "When he was happy, he was really happy, and when he's solemn, he's real solemn."[43] Claudia Christian described her character, Lieutenant Helga Katrina Sinclair, as "sensual" and "striking", and was relieved when she finally saw what her character looked like, joking, "I'd hate to, you know, go through all this and find out my character is a toad."[44] Jacqueline Obradors said her character, Audrey Rocio Ramirez, made her "feel like a little kid again" and she always hoped her sessions would last longer.[45] Florence Stanley felt that her character, Wilhelmina Bertha Packard, was very "cynical" and "secure": "She does her job, and when she is not busy, she does anything she wants."[46] Corey Burton mentioned that finding his performance as Gaetan "Mole" Molière was by allowing the character to "leap out" of him while making funny voices. To get into character during his recording sessions, he stated that he would "throw myself into the scene and feel like I'm in this make-believe world".[47] Kirk Wise and Russ Edmonds, supervising animator for Vincenzo "Vinny" Santorini, noted Vinny's actor Don Novello's unique ability to improvise dialogue while voicing the role. Edmonds recalled, "[Novello] would look at the sheet, and he would read the line that was written once, and he would never read it again! And we never used a written line, it was improvs, the whole movie."[48] * Michael Cedeno, supervising animator for King Kashekim Nedakh, was astounded at Leonard Nimoy's voice talent in the role, stating that he had "so much rich character" in his performance. As he spoke his lines, Cedeno said the crew would sit there and watch Nimoy in astonishment.[49]
Animation
At the peak of its production, 350 animators, artists and technicians were working on Atlantis
The film's visual style was strongly based upon that of Mike Mignola, the comic book artist behind Hellboy. Mignola was one of four production designers (along with Matt Codd, Jim Martin, and Ricardo Delgado) hired by the Disney studio for the film. Accordingly, he provided style guides, preliminary character, and background designs, and story ideas.[54] "Mignola's graphic, the angular style was a key influence on the 'look' of the characters," stated Wise.[55] Mignola was surprised when first contacted by the studio to work on Atlantis.[56] His artistic influence on the film would later contribute to a cult following.[57]
I remember watching a rough cut of the film and these characters have these big, square, weird hands. I said to the guy next to me, "Those are cool hands." And he says to me, "Yeah, they're your hands. We had a whole meeting about how to do your hands." It was so weird I couldn't wrap my brain around it.
— Mike Mignola[56]
The final pull-out scene of the movie, immediately before the end-title card, was described by the directors as the most difficult scene in the history of Disney animation. They said that the pullout attempt on their prior film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, "struggled" and "lacked depth"; however, after making advances in the process of multiplaning, they tried the technique again in Atlantis. The scene begins with one 16-inch (40.6 cm) piece of paper showing a close-up of Milo and Kida. As the camera pulls away from them to reveal the newly restored Atlantis, it reaches the equivalent of an 18,000-inch (46,000 cm) piece of paper composed of many individual pieces of paper (24 inches [61 cm] or smaller). Each piece was carefully drawn and combined with animated vehicles simultaneously flying across the scene to make the viewer see a complete, integrated image.[58]
At the time of its release, Atlantis: The Lost Empire was notable for using more
Music and sound
Since the film would not feature any songs, the directors hired James Newton Howard to compose the score after the directors heard his music on Dinosaur. Approaching it as a live-action film, Howard decided to have different musical themes for the cultures of the surface world and Atlantis. In the case of Atlantis, Howard chose an Indonesian orchestral sound incorporating chimes, bells, and gongs. The directors told Howard that the film would have a number of key scenes without dialogue; the score would need to convey emotionally what the viewer was seeing on screen.[64]
Gary Rydstrom and his team at Skywalker Sound were hired for the film's sound production.[65] Like Howard, Rydstrom employed different sounds for the two cultures. Focusing on the machine and mechanical sounds of the early industrial era for the explorers, he felt that the Atlanteans should have a "more organic" sound utilizing ceramics and pottery. The sound made by the Atlantean flying-fish vehicles posed a particular challenge. Rydstrom revealed that he was sitting at the side of a highway recording one day when a semi-truck drove by at high speed. When the recording was sped up on his computer, he felt it sounded very organic, and decided to use it in the film. Rydstrom created the harmonic chiming of the Heart of Atlantis by rubbing his finger along the edge of a champagne flute, and the sound of sub-pods moving through the water with a water pick.[66]
Release
Atlantis: The Lost Empire had its world premiere at Disney's El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on June 3, 2001[67] and a limited release in New York City and Los Angeles on June 8; a wider release followed on June 15.[4][61] At the premiere, Destination: Atlantis was on display, featuring behind-the-scenes props from the film and information on the legend of Atlantis with video games, displays, laser tag, and other attractions. The Aquarium of the Pacific also loaned a variety of fish for display within the attraction.[68]
Promotion
Atlantis was among Disney's first major attempts to utilize
Home media
Atlantis: The Lost Empire was released on VHS and DVD on January 29, 2002.[72] During the first month of its home release, the film led in VHS sales and was third in VHS and DVD sales combined.[73] Sales and rentals of the VHS and DVD combined would eventually accumulate $157 million in revenue by mid-2003.[74] Both a single-disc DVD edition and a two-disc collector's edition (with bonus features) were released. The single-disc DVD gave the viewer the option of viewing the film either in its original theatrical 2.39:1 aspect ratio or a modified 1.33:1 ratio (utilizing pan and scan). Bonus features available on the DVD version included audio and visual commentary from the film team, a virtual tour of the CGI models, an Atlantean-language tutorial, an encyclopedia on the myth of Atlantis, and the deleted Viking prologue scene.[72] The two-disc collector's edition DVD contained all the single-disc features and a disc with supplemental material detailing all aspects of the film's production. The collector's-edition film could only be viewed in its original theatrical ratio, and also featured an optional DTS 5.1 track. Both DVD versions, however, contained a Dolby Digital 5.1 track and were THX certified.[72][75] Disney digitally remastered and released Atlantis on Blu-ray on June 11, 2013, bundled with its sequel Atlantis: Milo's Return.[76]
Reception
Box office
Before the film's release, reporters speculated that it would have a difficult run due to competition from Shrek and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Regarding the market's shift from traditional animation and competition with CGI films, Kirk Wise said, "Any traditional animator, including myself, can't help but feel a twinge. I think it always comes down to story and character, and one form won't replace the other. Just like photography didn't replace painting. But maybe I'm blind to it."[61] Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly noted that CGI films (such as Shrek) were more likely to attract the teenage demographic typically not interested in animation, and called Atlantis a "marketing and creative gamble".[77]
With a budget of $100 million,[3] the film opened at #2 on its debut weekend, behind Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, earning $20.3 million in 3,011 theaters.[78] During its second weekend, it would drop into fourth place behind the latter film, Dr. Dolittle 2 and The Fast and the Furious, making $13.2 million.[79] The film's international release began September 20 in Australia and other markets followed suit.[80] During its 25-week theatrical run, Atlantis: The Lost Empire grossed over $186 million worldwide ($84 million from the United States and Canada).[4] Responding to its disappointing box-office performance, Thomas Schumacher, then-president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, said, "It seemed like a good idea at the time to not do a sweet fairy tale, but we missed."[81]
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 49% of 144 professional critics have given Atlantis: The Lost Empire a positive review; the average rating is 5.5/10. The site's consensus is: "Atlantis provides a fast-paced spectacle, but stints on such things as character development and a coherent plot".[82] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 52 out of 100 based on 29 reviews from mainstream critics; this was considered "mixed or average reviews".[83] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[84]
While critics had mixed reactions to the film in general, some praised it for its visuals, action-adventure elements, and attempt to appeal to an older audience. Roger Ebert gave Atlantis three-and-a-half stars out of four. He praised the animation's "clean bright visual look" and the "classic energy of the comic book style", crediting this to the work of Mike Mignola. Ebert gave particular praise to the story and the final battle scene and wrote, "The story of Atlantis is rousing in an old pulp science fiction sort of way, but the climactic scene transcends the rest, and stands by itself as one of the great animated action sequences."[85] In The New York Times, Elvis Mitchell gave high praise to the film, calling it "a monumental treat", and stated, "Atlantis is also one of the most eye-catching Disney cartoons since Uncle Walt institutionalized the four-fingered glove."[86] Internet film critic James Berardinelli wrote a positive review of the film, giving it three out of four stars. He wrote, "On the whole, Atlantis offers 90 minutes of solid entertainment, once again proving that while Disney may be clueless when it comes to producing good live-action movies, they are exactly the opposite when it comes to their animated division."[87] Wesley Morris of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote positively of the film's approach for an older audience: "But just beneath the surface, Atlantis brims with adult possibility."[88]
Other critics felt that the film was mediocre in regards to its story and characters, and that it failed to deliver as a non-musical to Disney's traditional audience. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C+ rating, writing that the film had "gee-whiz formulaic character" and was "the essence of craft without dream".[89] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said the storyline and characterizations were "old-fashioned" and the film had the retrograde look of a Saturday-morning cartoon, but these deficiencies were offset by its "brisk action" and frantic pace.[90] Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "Disney pushes into all-talking, no-singing, no-dancing and, in the end, no-fun animated territory."[91] Stephanie Zacharek of Salon wrote of Disney's attempt to make the film for an adult audience, "The big problem with Disney's latest animated feature, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, is that it doesn't seem geared to kids at all: It's so adult that it's massively boring."[92] Rita Kempley of The Washington Post panned the film, calling it a "new-fashioned but old-fangled hash" and wrote, "Ironically Disney had hoped to update its image with this mildly diverting adventure, yet the picture hasn't really broken away from the tried-and-true format spoofed in the far superior Shrek."[93]
In 2015, Katharine Trendacosta at io9 reviewed the film and called it a "Beautiful Gem of a Movie That Deserved Better Than It Got" and said that the film deserves more love than it ended up getting.[6] Lindsay Teal considers "Atlantis" to be "a lost Disney classic". Describing the film as highly entertaining, she praises the writing and characterisation – in particular, Sweet, Helga and Kida.[7] In particular, much praise has been given to the character of Kida.[94] Summer has regarded the character of Kida as one of her favourite roles and even considers the character among the official Disney Princess line-up.
Themes and interpretations
Several critics and scholars have noted that Atlantis plays strongly on themes of
Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water controversy
When the film was released, some viewers noticed that Atlantis: The Lost Empire was similar to the 1990-91 anime Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, particularly in its character design, setting, and story.[100] The similarities, as noted by viewers in both Japan and America, were strong enough for its production company Gainax to be called to sue for plagiarism. According to Gainax member Yasuhiro Takeda, they only refrained from doing so because the decision belonged to parent companies NHK and Toho.[101] Another Gainax worker, Hiroyuki Yamaga, was quoted in an interview in 2000 as saying: "We actually tried to get NHK to pick a fight with Disney, but even the National Television Network of Japan didn't dare to mess with Disney and their lawyers. [...] We actually did say that but we wouldn't actually take them to court. We would be so terrified about what they would do to them in return that we wouldn't dare."[101]
Although Disney never responded formally to those claims, co-director Kirk Wise posted on a Disney animation
Critics also saw parallels with the 1986 film
Accolades
Award | Category | Name | Result |
---|---|---|---|
29th Annie Awards[108] | Individual Achievement in Directing | Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise | Nominated |
Individual Achievement in Storyboarding | Chris Ure | Nominated | |
Individual Achievement in Production Design | David Goetz | Nominated | |
Individual Achievement in Effects Animation | Marlon West | Nominated | |
Individual Achievement in Voice Acting – Female | Florence Stanley | Nominated | |
Individual Achievement in Voice Acting – Male | Leonard Nimoy | Nominated | |
Individual Achievement for Music Score | James Newton Howard | Nominated | |
2002 DVD Exclusive Awards[109] | Original Retrospective Documentary | Michael Pellerin | Nominated |
2002 Golden Reel Award[110] | Best Sound Editing – Animated Feature Film | Gary Rydstrom, Michael Silvers, Mary Helen Leasman, John K. Carr, Shannon Mills, Ken Fischer, David C. Hughes, and Susan Sanford | Won |
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2001[111] | Best Animated Feature | Nominated | |
2002 Political Film Society[112] | Democracy | Nominated | |
Human Rights | Nominated | ||
Peace | Nominated | ||
World Soundtrack Awards[113] |
Best Original Song for Film | Diane Warren and James Newton Howard | Nominated |
Young Artist Awards[114] | Best Feature Family Film – Drama | Walt Disney Feature Animation | Nominated |
Related works
Atlantis: The Lost Empire was meant to inspire an
Disneyland planned to revive its Submarine Voyage ride with an Atlantis: The Lost Empire theme with elements from the movie. These plans were canceled and the attraction was re-opened in 2007 as the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, its theme based on the 2003 Pixar film Finding Nemo, which was far more successful commercially and critically.[117] In addition, after the Submarine Voyage's Magic Kingdom counterpart, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage, closed down in 1994, four years before Disneyland's, there were proposals of a new attraction that would take its place, with one of them a volcano attraction inspired by that film's Vulcania location, being approved for the Magic Kingdom's Adventureland area. Around 1999, during development of Atlantis: The Lost Empire, it was decided that it would be themed to the movie, with it taking place in 1916, two years after the film's events. The ride would have focused on Preston Whitmore, a character from the film, seeking to make Atlantis existence public and offer expeditions to visitors in newly developed vehicles. However, due to mishaps, the vehicles would be forced to make a detour through the lava-filled caverns of the volcano. The attraction would have used a unique hybrid ride system, in which it would start as a standard coaster before the trains hook up to a suspended track midway through to fly through the caverns. The attraction would have been accessed by a new canyon path in between Pirates of the Caribbean and a re-routed Jungle Cruise that would have led to a Whitmore Enterprises base camp at the edge of the Walt Disney World Railroad path, with the mountain itself being built outside the berm. However, like the previous Submarine Voyage retheme, the ride was cancelled due to the film's disappointment in the box office.[118]
Soundtrack
The
Video games
There are several video games based on the film. Atlantis: The Lost Empire – Search for the Journal and Atlantis: The Lost Empire – Trial by Fire were developed by Zombie Studios and published by Disney Interactive.[120][121] Both games were released exclusively for Microsoft Windows computers. Disney distributed over 12 million discs with a demo version of Search for the Journal in Kellogg's cereal boxes and other promotional venues.[122]Atlantis: The Lost Empire – The Lost Games was released by Disney Interactive for children ages 5 and up, and was compatible with both Windows and Classic Mac OS computers.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire is an
Legacy
On June 15, 2021, Disney posted on
See also
- Atlantis in popular culture
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
- Indiana Jones
- List of underwater science fiction works
- Kimba the White Lion and The Lion King controversy, a similar plagiarism controversy
- The Road to El Dorado, another animated film which has gained a cult following
References
- ^ "Atlantis: The Lost Empire". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on May 12, 2019. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
- ^ a b "Atlantis: The Lost Empire". The-Numbers. Nash Information Services. Archived from the original on December 20, 2013. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
- ^ a b Lyman, Rick; Fabrikant, Geraldine (May 21, 2001). "Suddenly, High Stakes for Disney's Film and TV Businesses". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 28, 2014. Retrieved July 4, 2011.
Besides, Disney executives maintain that they have made it easier for their animated features to break even by a cost-cutting campaign that made Atlantis, which cost $100 million, about 35 percent cheaper to produce than the studio's other recent animated efforts.
- ^ a b c d "Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
- ^ Phillips, Nina (January 11, 2023). "Animated Cult Classics Worth Checking Out". MovieWeb. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
- ^ a b Trendacosta, Katharine (August 28, 2015). "Atlantis: The Lost Empire Is a Beautiful Gem of a Movie That Deserved Better Than It Got". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on April 21, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
- ^ a b "'Atlantis': The Lost Disney Classic". insidethemagic.net. April 22, 2021. Archived from the original on April 21, 2021. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- ^ Kurtti 2001, p. 15.
- ^ a b Kurtti 2001, p. 9.
- ^ Supplemental Features: History: The Journey Begins at 0:08–3:05
- ^ Supplemental Features: Story and Editorial: Finding the Story at 3:24–3:57
- ^ Supplemental Features: History: Creating Mythology at 0:30–1:10
- ^ Supplemental Features: History: Creating Mythology at 3:48–4:20
- ^ Supplemental Features: Art Direction: Designing Atlantis at 5:42–9:18
- ^ Supplemental Features: Art Direction: Designing Atlantis at 9:30–9:33
- ^ a b c d e Henn, Peter (June 1, 2001). "Finding Atlantis". Film Journal International. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2011.
- ^ Supplemental Features: Art Direction: Designing Atlantis at 9:50–10:02
- ^ a b Kurtti 2001, p. 55.
- ^ Supplemental Features: Art Direction: Designing Atlantis at 10:37–10:44
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In 1994, Dr. Daniel Jackson decoded an ancient language and unlocked the secrets of the Stargate, sending him and a military unit across the universe to a lost colony of humans. And in 2001, he did it again – decoding the ancient Atlantean language to launch a quest to find the lost continent of Atlantis.
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{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Atlantis: The Lost Empire's 20th Anniversary Fan Celebration (6/15/21), archived from the original on June 24, 2021, retrieved June 20, 2021
- ^ ""ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE" 20th Anniversary - Cast & Crew Interview - the Tammy Tuckey Show". YouTube.
Bibliography
Books
- Booker, M. Keith (2009). Disney, Pixar, and the Hidden Messages of Children's Films. ISBN 978-0-313-37672-6. Archivedfrom the original on May 13, 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- Kurtti, Jeff (2001). Atlantis: The Lost Empire—The Illustrated Script. ISBN 978-0-7868-5327-4.
- Lavery, David; Burkhead, Cynthia, eds. (2011). Joss Whedon: Conversations. ISBN 978-1-60473-923-7. Archivedfrom the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- Montalbano, Dave (2010). The Adventures of Cinema Dave in the Florida Motion Picture World. ISBN 978-1-4500-2396-2. Archivedfrom the original on April 25, 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- ISBN 978-1-880656-92-1. Archivedfrom the original on April 29, 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- Pinsky, Mark I. (2004). "Chapter 31: Atlantis (2001): Adventure Capitalism". The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust. ISBN 978-0-664-22591-9. Archivedfrom the original on April 24, 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
- Raugust, Karen (2004). The Animation Business Handbook. New York City, NY: ISBN 978-1-4299-6228-5.
DVD media
- UPC 786936163872.
- Various cast and crew members (January 29, 2002). Atlantis: The Lost Empire—Supplemental Features (DVD). Disc 2 of 2 (Collector's ed.). Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. UPC 786936163872.
Periodicals
- Vancheri, Barbara; Weiskind, Ron (July 17, 2003). "Nemo-like Stories Pulling Folks into Animated Movies". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. D–2.
External links
- Official website
- The first draft of the script by Tab Murphy
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire at IMDb
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire at AllMovie
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire at the TCM Movie Database
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire at Box Office Mojo
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire at Rotten Tomatoes
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire at Metacritic