Titan A.E.

Titan A.E.
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Don Bluth
Gary Goldman
Produced by Don Bluth
Gary Goldman
David Kirschner
Screenplay by Ben Edlund
John August
Joss Whedon
Story by Hans Bauer
Randall McCormick
Starring
Music by Graeme Revell
Edited by Bob Bender
Paul Martin Smith
Fiona Trayler
Production
company
Fox Animation Studios
David Kirschner Productions
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • June 16, 2000 (2000-06-16)
Running time
 94 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $75–90 million
Box office $36.8 million

Titan A.E. is a 2000 American animated post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman and starring the voices of Matt Damon, Bill Pullman, John Leguizamo, Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo and Drew Barrymore. Its title refers to the spacecraft central to the plot, with A.E. meaning "After Earth". The film's animation technique combines traditional hand-drawn animation and extensive use of computer generated imagery. Its working title was Planet Ice. It was theatrically released on June 16, 2000, by 20th Century Fox and was the final film for Fox Animation Studios. The film grossed $36.8 million[1] on a $75–90 million budget, losing the studio somewhere between $50 to 100 million.[2][3]

Plot

In 3028, humanity has mastered deep space travel and interacted with several alien species. A human invention called "Project Titan" alarms the Drej, a pure energy-based alien species. As the Drej start to attack Earth, Professor Sam Tucker, the lead researcher for "Project Titan", sends his son Cale on one of the evacuation ships with his alien friend Tek while Tucker and other members of his team fly the Titan spacecraft into hyperspace. The Drej mother ship arrives and fires a directed-energy weapon into the planet that completely destroys Earth, while debris from the explosion also destroys the Moon. The surviving humans become nomads, generally ridiculed by other alien species.

Fifteen years later, Cale works at the salvage yard in an asteroid belt called Tau 14. He is tracked down by Joseph Korso, captain of the spaceship Valkyrie. Korso reveals that Tucker encoded a map to the Titan in the ring he gave Cale. Tek tells Cale that humanity depends on finding the Titan. When the Drej attack the salvage yard, Cale escapes aboard the Valkyrie with Korso and his crew: Akima, a human female pilot, along with Preed, Gune, and Stith, aliens of various species.

On the planet Sesharrim, the Gaoul interpret the map, and discover the Titan hidden in the Andali Nebula. Drej fighters arrive, capturing Cale and Akima. The Drej eventually discard Akima and extract the Titan's map from Cale. Korso's crew rescues Akima, while Cale eventually escapes in a Drej ship, and rejoins the group. Cale's map has changed and now shows the Titan's final location.

While resupplying at a human space station called New Bangkok, Cale and Akima discover that Korso and Preed are planning to betray the Titan to the Drej. Cale and Akima manage to escape the Valkyrie, but they are stranded on New Bangkok when Korso and the rest of the crew set off for the Titan. With the help of New Bangkok's colonists, Cale and Akima salvage a small spaceship named Phoenix and race to find the Titan before Korso does.

Cale and Akima navigate through the ice field in the Andali Nebula and dock with the Titan before the Valkyrie arrives. They discover DNA samples of Earth animals, and a pre-recorded holographic message left by Professor Tucker who explains that the Titan was designed to create an Earth-like planet. However, due to its escape from Earth before its destruction, its power cells lack the energy necessary for the process. The message is interrupted by the arrival of Korso and Preed. Preed reveals himself to be a mercenary for the Drej and betrays Korso while holding him, Cale, and Akima at gunpoint. Preed attempts to kill all three of them for the Drej, but he is killed by Korso.

Moments later, the Drej attack the Titan. While the remaining crew of the Valkyrie distracts them, Cale - given the fact that Drej are, essentially, beings of pure energy - modifies the Titan to absorb them, thus re-energizing the ship. Korso redeems himself by sacrificing himself to help Cale complete the repairs after he is mortally wounded while stalling the Drej. The Titan absorbs the Drej mothership along with everyone aboard, and uses their gained power, along with the ice field, to generate a new habitable planet.

While on the newly formed planet, Cale and Akima witness the weather of the new planet as it begins to rain. Stith and Gune leave on the Valkyrie as human colony ships approach the planet to start life anew.

Cast

  • Matt Damon as Cale Tucker, a male yard-salvager who carries the map to Titan in his ring.
  • Bill Pullman as Capt. Joseph Korso, the captain of the Valkyrie and old colleague of Sam Tucker.
  • John Leguizamo as Gune, an amphibian-like Grepoan and Korso's chief scientist.
  • Nathan Lane as Preedex "Preed" Yoa, a fruit bat-like Akrennian and Korso's first mate.
  • Janeane Garofalo as Stith, a kangaroo-like Sogowan and munitions officer of the Valkyrie.
  • Drew Barrymore as Akima Kunimoto, the pilot of the Valkyrie and Cale's love interest.
  • Ron Perlman as Professor Sam Tucker, Cale's father and a researcher who helped to develop Project Titan.
  • Tone Lōc as Tek, Sam Tucker's alien friend who raises Cale while Sam is away. At some point during the fifteen years between the destruction of Earth and the events of the film, he has become blind. After the Drej's attack on Tau 14, Tek sends Cale to join Korso in the search for the Titan.
  • Jim Breuer as the Cook, an anthropomorphic cockroach at Tau 14 who disdains Cale and is killed during the Drej's attack.
  • Christopher Scarabosio as the Drej Queen, the female ruler of the Drej who fear the potential of the human species and plan to destroy them.
  • Jim Cummings as Chowquin, Cale's overseer at Tau 14's salvage yard.
  • Charles Rocket as Firrikash, an alien salvage yard worker at Tau 14 who bullies Cale.
    • Charles Rocket also voices a Slave Trader Guard, an alien who surprises Preed with his unexpected intelligence.
  • Ken Hudson Campbell (credited as Ken Campbell) as Po, an alien salvage yard worker at Tau 14 who bullies Cale.
  • Tsai Chin as an Old Woman
  • Crystal Scales as a Drifter Girl
  • David Lander as the Mayor of New Bangkok
  • Roger L. Jackson as the First alien.

Production

Development

The story of Titan A.E. had been in development at 20th Century Fox since 1998 and was originally intended to be a live-action science fiction film.[4] The script had been passed around to various writers, such as Ben Edlund and Joss Whedon, and had been given to Art Vitello.[5] After $30 million had been spent in the film's early development with no progress, Art Vitello was sacked. Then-chairman of 20th Century Fox Bill Mechanic gave the script to Fox Animation producers Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, who were fresh from the success of their recent film Anastasia (1997). Mechanic had no scripts for Fox Animation to work on, and was faced with the choice of laying off the animation staff unless they took Titan A.E. Bluth and Goldman, who were inexperienced with science fiction, took the script regardless.[6]

Fox Animation Studios were given a budget of $75 million dollars and 19 months to produce the film. Unlike Bluth and Goldman's previous films, the animation in Titan A.E. is predominantly computer-generated, while main characters and several backgrounds were traditionally animated. Many of the scenes were enacted by the animation staff using handbuilt props before being captured by a computer. Many scenes and backgrounds were painted by concept artist Paul Cheng, who had worked on Anastasia and its direct-to-video spinoff Bartok the Magnificent (1999).[7] Like Anastasia, the storytelling and tone in Titan A.E. is much darker and edgier than Bluth and Goldman's previous films, with the film being regularly compared to Japanese anime. Although Bluth and Goldman denied any influence by anime, they have acknowledged the comparison.[4]

During the production of Titan A.E., Fox Animation suffered a number of cutbacks which ultimately led to its closure in 2000. Over 300 animation staff were laid off from the studio in 1999, and as a result, much of the film's animation was outsourced to a number of independent companies.[8] Several scenes were contracted to David Paul Dozoretz's POVDE group, the "Wake Angels" scene was animated by Reality Check Studios (their first feature film work),[9] while the film's "genesis" scene was animated by Blue Sky Studios, who would later go on to animating 20th Century Fox's Ice Age and Rio film franchises as well as The Peanuts Movie (2015). Under pressure from executives, Bill Mechanic was dismissed from 20th Century Fox prior to Titan A.E.'s release, eventuating in the closure of Fox Animation Studios on June 26, 2000, ten days after the film's release. All these events stunted the film's promotion and distribution.[6]

Casting

On November 24, 1997, Matt Damon joined the cast of the film along with Bill Pullman, Drew Barrymore, Hank Azaria, Nathan Lane, Jim Breuer, Janeane Garofalo and Lena Olin joined the cast of the film.[10] Later, John Leguizamo joined the cast. Azaria was cast as "Ship's Navigator" but was cut from the film.

Soundtracks

Album

Titan A.E.: Music from the Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
Released June 6, 2000[11]
Genre Soundtrack, rock, rap rock, alternative rap
Length 44:30
Label Capitol/EMI Records
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic

The soundtrack for Titan A.E. was released on audio cassette and CD by Capitol/EMI Records on June 6, 2000 and features 11 tracks by various contemporary rock bands, including Lit, Powerman 5000, Electrasy, Fun Lovin' Criminals, The Urge, Texas, Bliss 66, Jamiroquai, Splashdown, The Wailing Souls, and Luscious Jackson.[11]

No.TitleArtistLength
1."Over My Head"Lit3:39
2."The End Is Over"Powerman 50003:10
3."Cosmic Castaway"Electrasy3:30
4."Everything Under the Stars"Fun Lovin' Criminals4:04
5."It's My Turn to Fly"The Urge3:44
6."Like Lovers (Holding On)"Texas4:36
7."Not Quite Paradise"Bliss 663:59
8."Everybody's Going to the Moon"Jamiroquai5:24
9."Karma Slave"Splashdown3:26
10."Renegade Survivor"The Wailing Souls4:07
11."Down to Earth"Luscious Jackson4:51

Creed's song "Higher" was played in many of the theatrical trailers for Titan A.E., but the song did not appear either on the soundtrack or in the movie itself.[12]

Score

Titan A.E.: Limited Edition
Film score by Graeme Revell
Released October 23, 2014[13]
Genre Soundtrack
Length 76:55
Label La-La Land Records
Producer Graeme Revell
Don Bluth Music of Films chronology
Anastasia
(1997) Anastasia1997		 Titan A.E.
(2000) Titan A.E.2000

The background music for Titan A.E. was composed by Graeme Revell, although an official album containing the film's underscore was originally not released alongside the film. On October 23, 2014, the movie's score was made available for the first time by La-La Land Records, released as limited edition CD of 1,500 copies, containing most of what Revell wrote for the feature. It contains 32 tracks and music cues, including two bonus tracks: an orchestra-only version of "Creation", and an alternative version of "Prologue" with a different opening.[13]

Release

Digital screening

Titan A.E. became the first major motion picture screened in end-to-end digital cinema. On June 6, 2000, ten days before the movie was released, at the SuperComm 2000 trade show, the movie was projected simultaneously at the trade show in Atlanta, Georgia as well as a screen in Los Angeles, California. It was sent to both screens from the 20th Century Fox production facilities in Los Angeles via a VPN.[14]

Home media

Titan A.E. was released on VHS[15] and "Special Edition" DVD on November 7, 2000[16] by 20th Century Fox, which contains extras such as a commentary track by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, a "Quest for Titan" featurette, deleted scenes, web links, and a music video for Lit's "Over My Head".[17] The region 1 North American version also comes with an exclusive DTS English audio track in addition to Dolby Digital 5.1 featured in most international releases.[17] Chris Carle of IGN rated the DVD an 8 out of 10, calling the movie "thrilling... with some obvious plot and character flaws" but called the video itself "a fully-packed disc which looks and sounds great" and "for animation and sci-fi fans, it's a must-have."[18] As of 2017, the film has never been released on Blu-ray.[19]

Cancelled video game

A video game adaptation by Blitz Games was planned to be released for the PlayStation and PC in Fall 2000 in North America, following the film's Summer release.[20] Development on both platforms had begun in March 1999 under the film's original title Planet Ice,[21] and an early playable version was showcased at the 2000 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.[20] In July 2000, a spokesman from the game's publisher, Fox Interactive, announced that development on the title had been halted largely due to the film's failed box office, which was "only one of many different factors" that led to its cancellation.[22]

Reception

Box office

The film opened at #5, with $9,376,845 for an average of $3,430 from 2,734 theaters.[1] The film then lost 60% of its audience in its second weekend, dropping to #8, with a gross of $3,735,300 for an average of $1,346 from 2,775 theaters.[23] The film ended up grossing only $36,754,634 worldwide ($22,753,426 in the United States and Canada, and $14,001,208 in international markets).[1] The film's budget is estimated at between $75 million[1] and $90 million.[24] According to Chris Meledandri, the supervisor of the film, Titan A.E. lost $100 million for 20th Century Fox.[2]

Critical response

Titan A.E. received a mixed response from critics, with a 48 out of 100 score from Metacritic based on 30 reviews,[25] and 51% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes based on 100 reviews with the consensus "Great visuals, but the story feels like a cut-and-paste job of other sci-fi movies."[26] Film critic Roger Ebert enjoyed it, giving it 3.5/4 stars for its "rousing story", "largeness of spirit", and "lush galactic visuals [which] are beautiful in the same way photos by the Hubble Space Telescope are beautiful". He cited the Ice Rings sequence as "a perfect examine [sic] of what animation can do and live action cannot".[27]

Accolades

Titan A.E. won a Golden Reel Award for "Best Sound Editing for an Animated Feature",[28] and was nominated by the same organization for "Best Sound Editing for Music in Animation", and a Satellite Award for "Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media", losing both to Chicken Run.[29][30] The film was also nominated for three Annie Awards, including "Outstanding Achievement in An Animated Theatrical Feature", "Effects Animation", and "Production Design" which it lost to Toy Story 2 and Fantasia 2000, respectively,[31] and was nominated for Best Science Fiction Film at 27th Saturn Awards, but lost to X-Men, another film from 20th Century Fox.[32] Drew Barrymore was nominated for "Best Voice-Over Performance" by the Online Film & Television Association for her role as Akima but was beaten by Eartha Kitt from The Emperor's New Groove.[33]

AwardNominationNomineeResult
Annie AwardOutstanding Individual Achievement for Effects AnimationJulian Hynes (visual effects)Nominated
Outstanding Individual Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Feature ProductionPhilip A. Cruden (production design)
Outstanding Achievement in An Animated Theatrical FeatureTitan A.E.
Golden Reel AwardBest Sound Editing - Animated FeatureChristopher Boyes, et al. (editors)Won
Best Sound Editing - Music - AnimationJoshua Winget (scoring/music editor)Nominated
OFTA Film AwardBest Voice-Over PerformanceDrew Barrymore (Akima)Nominated
Satellite AwardBest Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed MediaTitan A.E.Nominated
Saturn AwardBest Science Fiction FilmTitan A.E.Nominated

Prequel novels

To tie in with the film, two prequel novels written by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta were released on February 10, 2000, by Ace Books, the same day as the official novelization of the movie written by Steve and Dal Perry.[34] A comic series focusing on the character Sam was also released in May 2000.[35]

  • Titan A.E.: Cale's Story - The adventures of Cale, ending with the beginning of the film. The book chronicles Cale growing up on Vusstra (Tek's home planet) for ten years and having to move to a different place every time the Drej attack. It also reveals how Cale became resentful of his father's disappearance and how he came to despise "drifter colonies".[36]
  • Titan A.E.: Akima's Story - The adventures of Akima, ending with the beginning of the film. The book chronicles Akima's life aboard drifter colonies and reveals whence Akima learned her karate skills, her friendship with Stith, and her reason to find the Titan.[34]
  • Titan A.E.: Sam's Story - A three-issue Dark Horse Comics series telling the story of Sam Tucker and his crew, and their quest to hide the Titan.[35]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Titan A.E." Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Palmeri, Christopher (September 19, 2013). "Despicable Me 2 Producer Knows How to Win the Box Office". Bloomberg. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  3. ↑ Gabbi Shaw (February 27, 2017). "The biggest box office flop from the year you were born". Insider. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  4. 1 2 Lauria, Larry (June 1, 2000). "A Chat With Don Bluth And Gary Goldman (Part I)". Animation World Network. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  5. ↑ Backes, Evan (April 1, 2001). "Why Does It Take Ten Years!?!". Animation World Network. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  6. 1 2 "DON BLUTH at AnimationNation.com Special Event 2010". AnimationNation. May 21, 2014. Retrieved December 18, 2015 – via YouTube.
  7. ↑ "Paul Cheng - Titan A.E." Paul Cheng.com. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  8. ↑ Linder, Brian (June 27, 2000). "Fox Animation Studios Closes Its Doors". IGN. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Reality Check Studios Tapped for Tricky Titan AE Sequence".
  10. ↑ Fleming, Michael (November 24, 1997). "Fox's 'Ice' taps hot stars". Variety. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  11. 1 2 "Titan A.E. - Original Soundtrack". AllMusic. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  12. ↑ Mendelson, Scott (February 16, 2016). "Terrific New 'Alice Through The Looking Glass' TV Spot Will Give You Pink Eye". Forbes. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  13. 1 2 "Titan A.E. - Graeme Revell - Limited Edition". La-La Land Records. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Digital Cinema Delivered in Internet Style" (PDF). Cisco Systems. 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 28, 2007. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Titan A.E. [VHS]". Amazon. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Titan A.E. (2000)". Amazon. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  17. 1 2 "Titan A.E. (2000)". DVDCompare. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  18. ↑ Carle, Chris (November 15, 2000). "Titan A.E." IGN. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  19. ↑ "Titan A.E. (2000)".
  20. 1 2 Perry, Douglas C. (June 22, 2000). "Titan A.E." IGN. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  21. ↑ Gestalt (November 8, 2000). "Philip Oliver of Blitz Games". Eurogamer. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Titan A.E. Canned". IGN. July 26, 2000. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  23. ↑ "Titan A.E. - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  24. ↑ W. Welkos, Robert (June 12, 2000). "Animated Clash of the 'Titan'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  25. ↑ "Titan A.E. Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  26. ↑ "Titan A.E. (2000)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  27. ↑ Ebert, Roger (June 19, 2000). "Titan A.E. Movie Review & Film Summary (2000)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  28. ↑ "MPSE: Golden Reel Feature Film WINNERS! - 48th Annual Awards - for year of 2000". Motion Picture Sound Editors. Archived from the original on December 10, 2001. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  29. ↑ "MPSE: Golden Reel Feature Film nominations - 48th Annual Awards - for year of 2000". Motion Picture Sound Editors. Archived from the original on May 14, 2003. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  30. ↑ "Satellite Awards (2001)". IMDb. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  31. ↑ "28th Annual Annie". Annie Awards. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  32. ↑ "X-Men Leads Sci-fi Awards Pack". ABC News. April 4, 2001. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  33. ↑ "Online Film & Television Association (2001)". IMDb. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  34. 1 2 Chitwood, Scott (February 10, 2000). "Titan A.E. Prequel Novels and Novelization in Stores". IGN. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  35. 1 2 Chitwood, Scott (May 22, 2000). "A Look at the Titan A.E. Prequel Comic". IGN. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  36. ↑ Chitwood, Scott (February 10, 2000). "A Quick Review of Cale's Story". IGN. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
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