2001 animated Disney film
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
is a 2001 American animated
science fiction
action
-
adventure film
produced by
Walt Disney Feature Animation
and released by
Walt Disney Pictures
. It was directed by
Gary Trousdale
and
Kirk Wise
and produced by
Don Hahn
, from a screenplay by
Tab Murphy
, and a story by Murphy, Wise, Trousdale,
Joss Whedon
, and the writing team of
Bryce Zabel
and Jackie Zabel. The film features an ensemble voice cast that includes
Michael J. Fox
,
Cree Summer
,
James Garner
,
Leonard Nimoy
,
Don Novello
,
Phil Morris
,
Claudia Christian
,
Jacqueline Obradors
,
Jim Varney
,
Florence Stanley
,
John Mahoney
,
David Ogden Stiers
, and
Corey Burton
. The film is set in 1914 and tells the story of young linguist Milo Thatch, who gains possession of a sacred book, which he believes will guide him and a crew of mercenaries to the lost city of
Atlantis
.
Development of the film began after production had finished on
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
(1996). Instead of another
musical
, directors Trousdale and Wise, producer Hahn, and screenwriter Murphy decided to do an adventure film inspired by the works of
Jules Verne
.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
was notable for adopting the distinctive visual style of
comic book artist
Mike Mignola
, one of the film's
production designers
. The film made greater use of
computer-generated imagery
(CGI) than any of Disney's previous
traditionally animated
features and remains one of the few to have been shot in
anamorphic format
.
Linguist
Marc Okrand
constructed
an
Atlantean language
specifically for use in the film.
James Newton Howard
provided the film's musical score. The film was released at a time when audience interest in animated films was shifting away from hand-drawn animation toward films with full CGI.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
premiered at the
El Capitan Theatre
in
Hollywood, Los Angeles
, on June 3, 2001, and went into its general release on June 15. The film received mixed reviews from critics. Budgeted at around
$90?120 million
,
Atlantis
grossed over
$186 million
worldwide,
$84 million
of which was earned in North America; its lackluster box office response was identified as a result of being released in competition with
Shrek
and
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
. As a result of the film's underperformance, Disney cancelled a planned
spin-off
animated television series
Team Atlantis
, an underwater
Disneyland
attraction, and a volcanic
Magic Kingdom
attraction based on it.
Atlantis
was nominated for several awards, including seven
Annie Awards
, and won Best Sound Editing at the 2002
Golden Reel Awards
. The film was released on VHS and DVD on January 29, 2002, and on
Blu-ray
on June 11, 2013. Despite its initial reception, re-evaluation in later years has resulted in
Atlantis
gaining a
cult following
[5]
and reappraisal from critics as a mistreated classic, due in part to Mignola's unique artistic influence.
[6]
[7]
A
direct-to-video
sequel,
Atlantis: Milo's Return
, was released in 2003.
Plot
[
edit
]
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 Tiberius Rourke. The crew includes Lieutenant Helga Sinclair, Rourke's second-in-command and lieutenant; Vinny Santorini, a demolitions expert; Mole Moliere, 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 arrives 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. However, Rouke and the crew capture him and Kida so they could find and steal the Heart to sell it to the highest bidder, which would also kill the inhabitants of Atlantis as they relied on the Heart for millennia.
When the king refuses to reveal the Heart's location, Rourke severely wounds him. Rourke's crew eventually finds the Heart. Under the crystal's trance, Kida merges with the crystal. Rourke locks the crystal in a crate and prepares to leave. Milo convinces Vinny, Audrey, Moliere, Packard, Sweet, and Cookie to turn on Rourke, unwilling to be responsible for the Atlanteans' extinction. Rourke, Helga, and the soldiers head for the surface with Kida and destroy the bridge, trapping the others behind. The King gives Milo his own crystal, explaining that Heart selects a royal host when the city is in danger, and because of its immense power, he tried to weaponize it, which causes Atlantis to sink. He begs Milo to save Atlantis and Kida, who will be lost to the Heart forever if not separated from it soon before he dies.
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
airship
, which contains the crate. As revenge, Helga shoots and damages the airship. While the airship burns, Milo slashes Rourke with a crystal-charged shard of glass, turning Rourke into a crystal monster; Rourke is then shattered by the ship's propellers, causing it to crash-lands and awaken the dormant volcano. Milo and the rest flee back to Atlantis with Kida, who, still merged with the Heart, rises into the sky and awakens ancient Stone Guardians, who create a dome to protect Atlantis from the lava flow. Once the danger is neutralized, the Heart returns Kida, alive, to Milo.
Milo decides to stay in Atlantis with Kida, whom he has fallen in love with, while 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
[
edit
]
- 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
.
- Phil Morris
as Dr. Joshua Strongbear Sweet, a
medic
of
African American
and
Native American
descent.
- Claudia Christian
as Lieutenant Helga Katrina Sinclair, Rourke's
German
-born second-in-command and lieutenant.
- Jacqueline Obradors
as Audrey Rocio Ramirez, a
Puerto Rican
mechanic
and 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" Moliere, 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
[
edit
]
Development
[
edit
]
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.
[15]
"From the get-go, we were committed to designing it top to bottom. Let's get the architectural style, clothing, heritage, customs, how they would sleep, and how they would speak. So we brought people on board who would help us develop those ideas."
[16]
Art director David Goetz stated, "We looked at
Mayan architecture
, styles of ancient, unusual architecture from around the world, and the directors really liked the look of Southeast Asian architecture."
[17]
The team later took ideas from other architectural forms, including
Cambodian
,
Indian
, and
Tibetan
works.
[18]
Hahn added, "If you take and deconstruct architecture from around the world into one architectural vocabulary, that's what our Atlantis looks like."
[19]
The overall design and
circular
layout of Atlantis were also based on the writings of
Plato
,
[18]
and his quote "in a single day and night of misfortune, the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of the sea"
[20]
was influential from the beginning of production.
[9]
The crew wore
T-shirts
which read "ATLANTIS?Fewer songs, more explosions" due to the film's plan as an
action-adventure
(unlike previous Disney animated features, which were
musicals
).
[21]
Language
[
edit
]
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
[
edit
]
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 Moliere 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
prologue
. The original version featured a
Viking
war party using
The Shepherd's Journal
to find Atlantis and being swiftly dispatched by the Leviathan. Near the end of production, story supervisor John Sanford told the directors that he felt this prologue did not give viewers enough emotional involvement with the Atlanteans. Despite knowing that the Viking prologue was finished and it would cost additional time and money to alter the scene, the directors agreed with Sanford. Trousdale went home and completed the
storyboards
later that evening after visiting a strip club where he boarded the new sequence on a napkin.
[34]
The opening was replaced by a sequence depicting the destruction of Atlantis, which introduced the film from the perspective of the Atlanteans and Princess Kida.
[35]
The Viking prologue is included as an extra feature on the
DVD release
.
[36]
Casting
[
edit
]
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" Moliere 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
[
edit
]
At the peak of its production, 350 animators, artists and technicians were working on
Atlantis
[50]
at all three Disney animation studios:
Walt Disney Feature Animation
(
Burbank, California
),
Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida
(
Orlando
), and
Disney Animation France
(Paris).
[51]
The film was one of the few Disney animated features produced and shot in
35mm
anamorphic format
. The directors felt that a widescreen image was crucial, as a nostalgic reference to old action-adventure films presented in the
CinemaScope
format (2.39:1), noting
Raiders of the Lost Ark
as an inspiration.
[52]
Because switching to the format would require animation desks and equipment designed for widescreen to be purchased, Disney executives were at first reluctant about the idea.
[16]
The production team found a simple solution by drawing within a smaller frame on the same paper and equipment used for standard
aspect ratio
(1.66:1) Disney-animated films.
[52]
Layout supervisor Ed Ghertner wrote a guide to the widescreen format for use by the layout artists and mentioned that one advantage of widescreen was that he could keep characters in scenes longer because of additional space to walk within the frame.
[53]
Wise drew further inspiration for the format from filmmakers
David Lean
and
Akira Kurosawa
.
[16]
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.
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
computer-generated imagery
(CGI) than any other Disney traditionally animated feature. To increase productivity, the directors had the digital artists work with the
traditional animators
throughout the production. Several important scenes required heavy use of digital animation: the Leviathan, the
Ulysses
submarine and sub-pods, the Heart of Atlantis, and the Stone Giants.
[60]
During production, after Matt Codd and Jim Martin designed the
Ulysses
on paper, Greg Aronowitz was hired to build a scale model of the submarine, to be used as a reference for drawing the 3D
Ulysses
.
[59]
The final film included 362 digital-effects shots, and computer programs were used to seamlessly join the 2D and 3D artwork.
[61]
One scene that took advantage of this was the "sub-drop" scene, where the 3D
Ulysses
was dropped from its docking bay into the water. As the camera floated toward it, a 2D Milo was drawn to appear inside, tracking the camera. The crew noted that it was challenging to keep the audience from noticing the difference between the 2D and 3D drawings when they were merged.
[62]
The digital production also gave the directors a unique "
virtual camera
" for complicated shots within the film. With the ability to operate in the z-plane, this camera moved through a digital
wire-frame set
; the background and details were later hand-drawn over the wireframes. This was used in the opening flight scene through Atlantis and the submarine chase through the undersea cavern with the Leviathan in pursuit.
[63]
Music and sound
[
edit
]
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
[
edit
]
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
[
edit
]
Atlantis
was among Disney's first major attempts to utilize
internet marketing
. The film was promoted through
Kellogg's
, which created a website with mini-games and a movie-based video game give-away for UPC labels from specially marked packages of
Atlantis
breakfast cereal.
[50]
The film was one of Disney's first marketing attempts through
mobile network operators
, and allowed users to download games based on the film.
[69]
McDonald's
(which had an exclusive licensing agreement on all Disney releases) promoted the film with
Happy Meal
toys, food packaging and in-store decor. The McDonald's advertising campaign involved television, radio, and print advertisements beginning on the film's release date.
[70]
Frito-Lay
offered free admission tickets for the film on specially marked snack packages.
[71]
Home media
[
edit
]
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
[
edit
]
Box office
[
edit
]
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
[
edit
]
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
[
edit
]
Several critics and scholars have noted that
Atlantis
plays strongly on themes of
anti-capitalism
and
anti-imperialism
. M. Keith Booker, academic and author of studies about the implicit messages conveyed by media, views the character of Rourke as being motivated by "capitalist greed" when he pursues "his own financial gain" in spite of the knowledge that "his theft [of the crystal] will lead to the destruction of [Atlantis]".
[95]
Religion journalist Mark Pinsky, in his exploration of moral and spiritual themes in popular Disney films, says that "it is impossible to read the movie ... any other way" than as "a devastating, unrelenting attack on capitalism and
American imperialism
".
[96]
Max Messier of
FilmCritic.com
observes, "Disney even manages to lambast the capitalist lifestyle of the adventurers intent on uncovering the lost city. Damn the imperialists!"
[97]
According to Booker, the film also "delivers a rather
segregationist
moral" by concluding with the discovery of the Atlanteans kept secret from other surface-dwellers in order to maintain a separation between the two highly divergent cultures.
[98]
Others saw
Atlantis
as an interesting look at
utopian
philosophy of the sort found in classic works of science fiction by
H. G. Wells
and Jules Verne.
[99]
Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water
controversy
[
edit
]
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
newsgroup
in May 2001, "Never heard of
Nadia
till it was mentioned in this [newsgroup]. Long after we'd finished production, I might add." He claimed both
Atlantis
and
Nadia
were inspired, in part, by the 1870 Jules Verne novel
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
.
[102]
However, speaking about the clarification, Lee Zion from
Anime News Network
wrote, "There are too many similarities
not
connected with
20,000 Leagues
for the whole thing to be coincidence."
[103]
As such, the whole affair ultimately entered popular culture as a convincing case of plagiarism.
[104]
[105]
[106]
In 2018, Reuben Baron from
Comic Book Resources
added to Zion's comment stating, "Verne didn't specifically imagine magic crystal-based technology, something featured in both the Disney movie and the too similar anime. The Verne inspiration also doesn't explain the designs being suspiciously similar to
Nadia'
s."
[106]
Critics also saw parallels with the 1986 film
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
from
Hayao Miyazaki
and
Studio Ghibli
(which also featured magic crystals, and
Atlantis
directors Trousdale and Wise both acknowledged Miyazaki's works as a major influence on their own work)
[100]
and with the 1994 film
Stargate
as Milo's characteristics were said to resemble those of
Daniel Jackson
, the protagonist of
Stargate
and its spinoff television series
Stargate SG-1
? which coincidentally launched its own spinoff, titled
Stargate Atlantis
; the plot of the 1994 film is also paralleled involving a group visiting an unknown world, a fictional language made for the other world's people, the main protagonist having apparent knowledge of the people's culture, falling in love with one of the female locals and electing to stay behind when the others return home.
[107]
Accolades
[
edit
]
Related works
[
edit
]
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
was meant to inspire an
animated television series
entitled
Team Atlantis
, which would have presented the further adventures of its characters. The series would have been akin to an animated
steampunk
version of
The X-Files
and feature a
crossover
with
Gargoyles
. However, because of the film's underperformance at the box office, the series was not produced.
[115]
On May 20, 2003, Disney released a
direct-to-video
sequel titled
Atlantis: Milo's Return
, consisting of three episodes planned for the aborted series.
[116]
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
[
edit
]
The
soundtrack
to
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
was released on May 22, 2001. It consists primarily of James Newton Howard's score and includes "
Where the Dream Takes You
", written by Howard and
Diane Warren
and performed by
Mya
. It was also available in a limited edition of 20,000 numbered copies with a unique
3D album cover
insert depicting the Leviathan from the film. A rare promotional edition (featuring 73 minutes of material, compared to the 53 minutes on standard commercial editions) was intended only for
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
voters but was
bootlegged
and distributed with fan-created artwork.
[119]
The Japanese release has "Crystal Vine", written by
DREAMS COME TRUE
play during the end credits.
[120]
[121]
Video games
[
edit
]
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
.
[122]
[123]
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.
[124]
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
action-adventure game
developed by
Eurocom Entertainment Software
and published by
Sony Computer Entertainment
for the
PlayStation
console. The player controls Milo, Audrey, Moliere, Kida, and Vinny as they traverse Atlantis, unlocking its secrets. Some features in the game unlock others (such as a movie) by finding items hidden throughout the game.
[125]
THQ
released
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
for the
Game Boy Advance
and
Game Boy Color
. On Game Boy Color, it is a
platform game
developed by Eurocom Entertainment Software in which the player controls Milo, Audrey, Moliere, and Vinny on a quest to discover Atlantis. On Game Boy Advance, it is a platform game developed by
3d6 Games
that hinges on searching and collecting crystals.
[126]
[127]
[128]
Legacy
[
edit
]
On June 15, 2021, Disney posted on
Twitter
: "20 years ago today, Milo Thatch journeyed to Atlantis. Happy anniversary to this epic 2001 adventure!"
[129]
A limited commemorative pin was also released by the company for the anniversary.
[130]
Cast and crew of the movie also celebrated its anniversary by partaking in a 5-hour
livestream
on YouTube which had been organized by fans of the film through several platforms as an event and was planned the year before in advance.
[131]
A year later the cast and crew reunited again on another livestream as part of
The Tammy Tuckey Show
who had also hosted the previous year's stream.
[132]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"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
- ^
Plato c. 360 BCE
,
Timaeus
, Sections 25c?d
Archived
March 17, 2013, at the
Wayback Machine
. "But at a later time there occurred portentous earthquakes and floods, and one grievous day and night befell them, when the whole body of your warriors was swallowed up by the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner was swallowed up by the sea and vanished."
- ^
Supplemental Features: History: The Journey Begins
at 5:28?5:40
- ^
Supplemental Features: History: Creating Mythology
at 5:20?5:47
- ^
Kurtti 2001, p. 40.
- ^
a
b
Wloszczyna, Susan (May 24, 2001).
"New Movie Trek for Wordsmith"
.
USA Today
.
Archived
from the original on May 14, 2009
. Retrieved
July 4,
2011
.
- ^
Kurtti 2001, p. 82.
- ^
Lavery 2011, p. 91.
- ^
West, Rick (June 14, 2001).
"An Interview Tab Murphy?
Atlantis
Screenwriter"
.
Theme Park Adventure Magazine
. LaughingPlace.com.
Archived
from the original on January 16, 2014
. Retrieved
September 1,
2011
.
- ^
Supplemental Features: History: Creating Mythology
at 5:58?6:18
- ^
Supplemental Features: Story and Editorial: Finding the Story
at 3:58?7:40
- ^
Kurtti 2001, p. 50.
- ^
Supplemental Features: Story and Editorial: Finding the Story
at 2:55?3:24
- ^
Messier, Max (June 12, 2001).
"The Disney Industrial Complex and
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
"
.
FilmCritic.com
.
AMC
. Archived from
the original
on March 10, 2006
. Retrieved
September 1,
2011
.
- ^
Audio Commentary
at 17:12?18.00
- ^
Gary Trousdale on pitching Atlantis to Disney, crafting the story and art style with Mike Mignola
, retrieved
February 15,
2023
- ^
Supplemental Features: Story and Editorial: Finding the Story
at 7:40?10:25
- ^
Supplemental Features: Story and Editorial: Four Deleted Scenes?"The Viking Prologue"
- ^
Supplemental Features: Animation Production: The Voices of Atlantis
at 0:20?0:56
- ^
"Movie Preview:
Atlantis
(2001)"
.
Entertainment Weekly
. May 14, 2001.
Archived
from the original on January 16, 2014
. Retrieved
December 10,
2021
.
- ^
Supplemental Features: Animation Production: The Voices of Atlantis
at 2:32?2:50
- ^
Supplemental Features: Animation Production: The Voices of Atlantis
at 3:50?4:31
- ^
Supplemental Features: Animation Production: The Voices of Atlantis
at 10:45?11:31
- ^
Supplemental Features: Animation Production: The Voices of Atlantis
at 4:55?5:07
- ^
Supplemental Features: Animation Production: The Voices of Atlantis
at 8:20?9:13
- ^
Supplemental Features: Animation Production: The Voices of Atlantis
at 10:18?10:39
- ^
Supplemental Features: Animation Production: The Voices of Atlantis
at 5:59?6:07
- ^
Supplemental Features: Animation Production: The Voices of Atlantis
at 9:38?9:51
- ^
Supplemental Features: Animation Production: The Voices of Atlantis
at 6:55?7:10
- ^
Supplemental Features: Animation Production: The Voices of Atlantis
at 7:18?7:47
- ^
Supplemental Features: Animation Production: The Voices of Atlantis
at 3:00?3:43
- ^
a
b
Raugust 2004, n.p.
- ^
Moore, Roger (June 15, 2001).
"The Art of
Atlantis
Doesn't Just Imitate Life, It Goes It One Better"
.
Orlando Sentinel
.
Archived
from the original on January 16, 2014
. Retrieved
August 9,
2011
.
- ^
a
b
Supplemental Features: Animation Production: Setting the Scene
at 1:10?2:28
- ^
Supplemental Features: Animation Production: Setting the Scene
at 2:30?3:17
- ^
Supplemental Features: Art Direction: Designing Atlantis
at 0:50?4:33
- ^
Kurtti 2001, ap. 27.
- ^
a
b
Horvath, Stu (July 6, 2008).
"Mike Mignola,
Hellboy
Creator, Didn't See Character's Success Coming"
.
New York Daily News
.
Archived
from the original on June 12, 2012
. Retrieved
August 29,
2011
.
- ^
Harris, Scott (November 29, 2010).
"Disney's 50 Finest: In Order of Awesome"
.
MTV Networks
. Archived from
the original
on January 1, 2011
. Retrieved
January 12,
2012
.
On the other hand, the movie does feature a great cast, including Michael J. Fox and James Garner, along with animation by legendary comic book artist and
Hellboy
creator Mike Mignola. Because of this last factor,
Atlantis
has become a bit of a cult favorite in some circles ...
- ^
Supplemental Features: Animation Production: Setting the Scene
at 9:44?11:26
- ^
a
b
Tracy, Joe (June 20, 2001).
"An Inside Look at
Destination: Atlantis
"
.
Digital Media FX Magazine
.
Archived
from the original on January 17, 2014
. Retrieved
September 27,
2011
.
- ^
Supplemental Features: Digital Production
at 0:09?4:45
- ^
a
b
c
Wloszczyna, Susan (June 14, 2001).
"Disney Domain Is Under Siege"
.
USA Today
.
Archived
from the original on August 10, 2001
. Retrieved
July 4,
2011
.
- ^
Supplemental Features: Digital Production
at 8:15?9:33
- ^
Supplemental Features: Digital Production
at 5:00?6:20
- ^
Supplemental Features: Music and Sound
at 5:00?8:45
- ^
Audio Commentary
at 1:50?2:10
- ^
Supplemental Features: Music and Sound
at 0:05?4:48
- ^
"World Premiere of Walt Disney Pictures' ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE ? Update"
.
Yahoo!
. June 1, 2001. Archived from
the original
on June 15, 2001
. Retrieved
September 22,
2011
.
- ^
Moseley, Doobie (June 15, 2001).
"
Destination: Atlantis
at the El Capitan"
. LaughingPlace.com.
Archived
from the original on October 12, 2013
. Retrieved
September 1,
2011
.
- ^
Steinbock, Dan (2007).
The Mobile Revolution: The Making of Mobile Services Worldwide
.
Kogan Page
. pp. 158, 304.
ISBN
978-0-7494-4850-9
.
- ^
"McDonald's Dives into Disney's
Atlantis
"
.
QSR Magazine
. Journalistic, Inc. June 11, 2001.
Archived
from the original on October 12, 2013
. Retrieved
September 1,
2011
.
- ^
Teninge, Annick (June 21, 2001).
"Cheetos Lovers Get Tickets To Atlantis"
.
Animation World Network
.
Archived
from the original on October 12, 2013
. Retrieved
April 23,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
c
"
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
"
.
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
. Archived from
the original
on June 24, 2011
. Retrieved
August 8,
2011
.
- ^
McCourt, Judith (February 28, 2002).
"DVD Sales Explode in January as VHS Wanes"
.
Home Media Magazine
. Archived from
the original
on December 19, 2013
. Retrieved
August 29,
2011
.
- ^
Vancheri; Weiskind 2003 p. D?2
"Consider what happened with
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
. It earned $84 million at the box office and rebounded with another $157 million in DVD and VHS rentals and sales, according to
Video Business
."
- ^
Rankins, Michael (May 8, 2002).
"
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
: Collector's Edition"
. DVD Verdict. Archived from
the original
on July 26, 2011
. Retrieved
August 8,
2011
.
- ^
Latchem, John (March 28, 2013).
"Next Wave of Disney Animated Blu-rays Coming Out June 11"
.
Home Media Magazine
. Archived from
the original
on September 14, 2013
. Retrieved
March 29,
2012
.
- ^
Jensen, Jeff (June 22, 2001).
"High Toon"
.
Entertainment Weekly
.
Archived
from the original on December 24, 2013
. Retrieved
December 10,
2021
.
- ^
"
'Lara Croft' easily tops US box office"
.
United Press International
. June 17, 2001.
Archived
from the original on February 26, 2022
. Retrieved
February 28,
2022
.
- ^
Reese, Lori (June 25, 2001).
"
The Fast and the Furious
beats
Dolittle 2
"
.
Entertainment Weekly
. Retrieved
November 25,
2022
.
- ^
"
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
International Box-Office"
.
Box Office Mojo
. Amazon.
Archived
from the original on April 4, 2014
. Retrieved
July 6,
2011
.
- ^
Wloszczyna, Susan (October 31, 2001).
"
'Toons Get Their Very Own Oscar Category"
.
USA Today
.
Archived
from the original on May 27, 2008
. Retrieved
December 10,
2021
.
- ^
"
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
.
Fandango
.
Archived
from the original on June 8, 2020
. Retrieved
October 5,
2021
.
- ^
"
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
"
.
Metacritic
.
CBS Interactive
.
Archived
from the original on April 24, 2014
. Retrieved
July 3,
2011
.
- ^
Manfredi, Lucas (November 24, 2022).
"
Strange World
CinemaScore Might Be the Lowest Ever For a Walt Disney Animation Studio Film"
.
TheWrap
.
Archived
from the original on November 25, 2022
. Retrieved
December 10,
2022
.
- ^
Ebert, Roger (June 15, 2001).
"
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
"
.
RogerEbert.com
.
Archived
from the original on June 5, 2011
. Retrieved
December 10,
2021
.
- ^
Mitchell, Elvis (June 8, 2001).
"FILM REVIEW; Under the Sea, Damp Hakuna Matata"
.
The New York Times
.
Archived
from the original on July 24, 2021
. Retrieved
December 10,
2021
.
- ^
Berardinelli, James (June 2001).
"
Atlantis
Review"
. ReelViews.net.
Archived
from the original on July 11, 2019
. Retrieved
July 4,
2010
.
- ^
Morris, Wesley (June 15, 2001).
"
Atlantis
Is a Find, Disney Emphasizes Adventure over Cuteness, Romance and Song"
.
San Francisco Chronicle
.
Archived
from the original on February 10, 2011
. Retrieved
December 10,
2021
.
- ^
Gleiberman, Owen (June 6, 2001).
"
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
"
.
Entertainment Weekly
.
Archived
from the original on May 27, 2008
. Retrieved
December 10,
2021
.
- ^
Turan, Kenneth (July 8, 2001).
"
'Atlantis' Seems Like Old Times"
.
Los Angeles Times
.
Archived
from the original on December 2, 2013
. Retrieved
December 10,
2021
.
- ^
McCarthy, Todd (June 7, 2001).
"
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
"
.
Variety
.
Archived
from the original on November 8, 2012
. Retrieved
December 10,
2021
.
- ^
Zacharek, Stephanie (June 15, 2001).
"
Atlantis
?Disney's finally made a cartoon for grown-ups. What was wrong with the old ones they made for kids?"
.
Salon
.
Archived
from the original on January 7, 2014
. Retrieved
December 10,
2021
.
- ^
Kempley, Rita (June 15, 2001).
"
'Atlantis': That Sinking Feeling"
.
The Washington Post
.
Archived
from the original on May 18, 2015
. Retrieved
March 25,
2012
.
- ^
"All hail Kida of Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Disney's forgotten queen of color"
. July 16, 2018.
Archived
from the original on April 21, 2021
. Retrieved
April 22,
2021
.
- ^
Booker 2009, p. 68.
- ^
Pinsky 2004, p. 202.
- ^
Messier, Max (June 12, 2001).
"
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
"
.
FilmCritic.com
.
AMC Networks
. Archived from
the original
on February 6, 2012
. Retrieved
July 15,
2012
.
- ^
Booker 2009, p. 69.
- ^
Montalbano 2010, p. 183.
- ^
a
b
Zion, Lee (May 15, 2001).
"Probing the
Atlantis
Mystery"
.
Anime News Network
.
Archived
from the original on June 29, 2011
. Retrieved
July 15,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
Yasuhiro, Takeda (March 25, 2019).
"The Notenki Memoirs: Studio Gainax And The Men Who Created
Evangelion
"
.
Gwern
.
Archived
from the original on November 21, 2019
. Retrieved
October 29,
2019
.
- ^
Patten 2004, p. 187.
- ^
Zion, Lee (July 19, 2001).
"
Nadia
vs.
Atlantis
, Revisited!"
.
Anime News Network
.
Archived
from the original on June 29, 2011
. Retrieved
July 15,
2012
.
- ^
Baron, Reuben (April 3, 2015).
"L10 Times Hollywood Ripped Off Anime (And 10 Times It Was Vice Versa): Hollywood: Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Nadia/Castle In The Sky)"
.
CBR
.
Archived
from the original on November 12, 2020
. Retrieved
December 10,
2021
.
- ^
Ashcraft, Brian (March 21, 2014).
"Some Say Frozen Ripped Off a Japanese Anime. Here's Why"
.
Kotaku
.
Archived
from the original on October 31, 2019
. Retrieved
October 29,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Baron, Reuben (July 17, 2018).
"10 Times Hollywood Ripped Off Anime (And 10 Times It Was Vice Versa)"
.
Comic Book Resources
.
Archived
from the original on November 12, 2020
. Retrieved
October 29,
2019
.
- ^
Sumner, Darren.
"Review:
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
"
. Gateworld. Archived from
the original
on July 23, 2011
. Retrieved
July 15,
2012
.
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.
- ^
"Legacy: 29th Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (2001)"
. International Animated Film Society. Archived from
the original
on July 27, 2011
. Retrieved
August 8,
2011
.
- ^
"2002 DVD Exclusive Winners"
.
Reed Business Information
. Archived from
the original
on September 13, 2004
. Retrieved
August 31,
2011
.
- ^
Benzuly, Sarah (June 1, 2002).
"
Black Hawk Down
Among MPSE Winners"
.
Mix
. Archived from
the original
on September 20, 2012
. Retrieved
August 30,
2011
.
- ^
"OFCS Awards for 2001 Nominees"
.
Online Film Critics Society
. Archived from
the original
on February 19, 2002
. Retrieved
August 31,
2011
.
- ^
"
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
"
.
Political Film Society
.
Archived
from the original on October 13, 2013
. Retrieved
August 30,
2011
.
- ^
"Belgian Film Fest to Host World Soundtrack Awards"
.
Billboard
. September 5, 2001.
Archived
from the original on July 12, 2014
. Retrieved
December 10,
2021
.
- ^
"Twenty-Third Annual Young Artist Awards 2002"
.
Young Artist Foundation
. Archived from
the original
on September 3, 2014
. Retrieved
August 30,
2011
.
- ^
"Exclusive: 'Atlantis: The Lost Empire' Co-Director Kirk Wise Reveals Details of Proposed Sequel"
.
Collider
. June 5, 2020.
- ^
Rankins, Michael (July 31, 2003).
"Atlantis: Milo's Return"
.
DVD Verdict
. Archived from
the original
on August 22, 2011
. Retrieved
August 8,
2011
.
- ^
Yoshino, Kimi (June 11, 2007).
"Disney Brings Submarine Ride Back from the Depths"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Archived from
the original
on November 5, 2012
. Retrieved
July 4,
2011
.
- ^
"Going Down in Flames: The Story of "Atlantis" Fire Mountain at the Magic Kingdom - WDW News Today"
.
wdwnt.com
. May 3, 2020.
- ^
"Filmtracks:
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
"
.
Filmtracks.com
. May 21, 2001.
Archived
from the original on July 10, 2014
. Retrieved
August 8,
2011
.
- ^
https://www.uta-net.com/song/20600/
- ^
Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack/Japanese Version) by James Newton Howard on Apple Music
, October 31, 2001
, retrieved
May 2,
2024
- ^
Adams, Dan (April 2, 2001).
"
Atlantis: The Lost Empire?Search for the Journal
(PC)"
.
IGN
.
Archived
from the original on February 19, 2014
. Retrieved
May 15,
2014
.
- ^
Adams, Dan (June 7, 2001).
"
Atlantis: The Lost Empire?Trial by Fire
(PC)"
.
IGN
.
Archived
from the original on February 19, 2014
. Retrieved
August 8,
2011
.
- ^
IGN Staff (April 27, 2001).
"CDs 'n' Cereal"
.
IGN
.
Archived
from the original on February 19, 2014
. Retrieved
May 15,
2014
.
- ^
Zdyrko, David (July 17, 2001).
"
Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire
(PlayStation)"
.
IGN
.
Archived
from the original on February 19, 2014
. Retrieved
May 15,
2014
.
- ^
"THQ Ships
Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire
for Game Boy Advance"
.
Business Wire
.
Berkshire Hathaway
. September 28, 2001. Archived from
the original
on December 16, 2001
. Retrieved
June 14,
2019
– via
Yahoo.com
.
- ^
"Atlantis: The Lost Empire"
.
GameSpy
. Archived from
the original
on November 10, 2005
. Retrieved
May 15,
2014
.
- ^
"Atlantis: The Lost Empire - Game Boy Color"
.
IGN
.
Archived
from the original on February 19, 2014
. Retrieved
May 15,
2014
.
- ^
"Disney on Twitter: "20 years ago today, Milo Thatch journeyed to Atlantis. Happy Anniversary to this epic 2001 adventure! #DisneyDecades / Twitter"
.
Twitter
.
Archived
from the original on July 24, 2021
. Retrieved
June 20,
2021
.
- ^
Payne·June 1, Owen; Read, 2021·1 Min (June 1, 2021).
"PHOTOS: New Limited Release "Loki" and "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" 20th Anniversary Pins Available at Walt Disney World"
.
WDW News Today
.
Archived
from the original on June 24, 2021
. Retrieved
June 20,
2021
.
{{
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
[
edit
]
Books
[
edit
]
- Booker, M. Keith (2009).
Disney, Pixar, and the Hidden Messages of Children's Films
.
Westport, CT
:
Praeger
.
ISBN
978-0-313-37672-6
.
Archived
from the original on May 13, 2016
. Retrieved
October 23,
2015
.
- Kurtti, Jeff (2001).
Atlantis: The Lost Empire?The Illustrated Script
.
Burbank, CA
:
Disney Press
.
ISBN
978-0-7868-5327-4
.
- Lavery, David; Burkhead, Cynthia, eds. (2011).
Joss Whedon: Conversations
.
Jackson, MS
:
University Press of Mississippi
.
ISBN
978-1-60473-923-7
.
Archived
from the original on June 24, 2016
. Retrieved
October 23,
2015
.
- Montalbano, Dave (2010).
The Adventures of Cinema Dave in the Florida Motion Picture World
.
Xlibris
.
ISBN
978-1-4500-2396-2
.
Archived
from the original on April 25, 2016
. Retrieved
October 23,
2015
.
- Patten, Fred
(2004).
"Simba?Kimba Redux? The
Nadia
Versus
Atlantis
Affair"
.
Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews
.
Berkeley, CA
:
Stone Bridge Press
. pp. 185?189.
ISBN
978-1-880656-92-1
.
Archived
from 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
.
Louisville, KY
:
Westminster John Knox Press
. pp. 194?202.
ISBN
978-0-664-22591-9
.
Archived
from the original on April 24, 2016
. Retrieved
October 23,
2015
.
- Plato
(1929) [c. 360 BCE]. "
Timaeus
".
Plato; in Twelve Volumes, with an English Translation?Vol. 9: Timaeus, Critias, Cleitophon, Menexenus, Epistles
. Robert Gregg Bury, trans.
Cambridge, MA
:
Harvard University Press
.
OCLC
24252251
.
Archived
from the original on March 8, 2021
. Retrieved
February 20,
2021
.
- Raugust, Karen (2004).
The Animation Business Handbook
. New York City, NY:
St. Martin's Press
.
ISBN
978-1-4299-6228-5
.
DVD media
[
edit
]
Periodicals
[
edit
]
- Vancheri, Barbara; Weiskind, Ron (July 17, 2003). "
Nemo
-like Stories Pulling Folks into Animated Movies".
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
. p. D?2.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Films
| |
---|
Music
| |
---|
Video games
| |
---|
Miscellaneous
| |
---|
|
|
---|
|
---|
Released
| |
---|
Upcoming
| |
---|
Cancelled
| |
---|
Associated
productions
| |
---|
|
|
|
|
Related topics
|
---|
History
| |
---|
Methods and
technologies
| |
---|
Documentaries
| |
---|
Miscellaneous
| |
---|
|
|
|
---|
Film directed
| |
---|
Film produced
| |
---|
|
---|
|
Television
| |
---|
Films
| |
---|
Comics
| |
---|
Web
| |
---|
Family
| |
---|
Related
| |
---|