Tuesday, June 3, 2008

June 03: The Adventure in Animation Continues ...

On this day in 2001, Disney's animated feature Atlantis: The Lost Empire had its premiere in Hollywood at Disney's El Capitan Theatre. (The film was later generally released on June 15.)
An animated sci-fi mixed action movie, Atlantis was written by Tab Murphy, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise (both known for their work on Beauty and the Beast), and produced by Don Hahn (who had began his career working for Disney Legend Wolfgang Reitherman).
Set in the year 1914, the film tells the story of an expedition crew and their search for the lost city of Atlantis. The voice cast featured such stars as Michael J. Fox (as Milo - the main character), James Garner, Corey Burton, Don Novello, Leonard Nimoy, David Ogden Stiers, and Jim Varney. Sadly Varney (also the voice of Slinky Dog in Toy Story and Toy Story 2) passed away during production. Several of his lines had to be done by a sound-alike.
Atlantis did moderately well at the box office (making about $85 million) and was nominated for 6 Annie Awards.
Atlantis is notable as one of the few animated features to be shot in the anamorphic widescreen process (a video technique that utilizes rectangular pixels to store a widescreen picture into standard 4:3 aspect ratio).

Click HERE for more June 03 Disney history.

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