USA: AMERICAN PREMIERE OF 20TH CENTURY FOX'S ANIMATION MOVIE TITAN AE SPECIFICALLY DIRECTED FOR THE TEENAGE MARKET

Record ID: 389531

  • Title: USA: AMERICAN PREMIERE OF 20TH CENTURY FOX'S ANIMATION MOVIE TITAN AE SPECIFICALLY DIRECTED FOR THE TEENAGE MARKET
  • Date: 3rd June 2000
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JUNE 3, 2000) (REUTERS) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) DIRECTOR GARY GOLDMAN SAYING Animation, if you want to look it up in a dictionary, it means to bring to life. It doesn't mean move little designs around and just move them. It means to bring to life and that means you have to deal with the heart, you have to deal with the brain, you h
  • Embargoed: 18th June 2000 13:00
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  • Location: USA, United States, USA, United States
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVARUXSJ8ZKLALXMTKBSZLGXSW4
  • Story Text: In its continuing effort to unseat Disney as the reigning king of big screen animation, 20th Century Fox is attempting what no other animation studio has done before: attract a teenage audience into theaters. The result is called "Titan A.E." and it celebrated its World Premiere on Tuesday, June 13 in Los Angeles.
    In a summer already packed with animated fare from other studios, Fox hopes to attract the all-important teenage market with "Titan A.E.'s" combination of a sci-fi story, cutting edge animation effects, a youth-oriented soundtrack and the voice talents of popular actors such as Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore and Bill Pullman.
    According to veteran animation director/producers Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, this is the first time animation has been used to tell a story in the science fiction genre. They both hope its appeal goes far beyond the family market typically served by animated films.
    The story takes place in the year 3028, years after avicious alien race called the Drej have destroyed Earth and driven human beings into the far corners of the Universe.
    Voiced by Matt Damon, the hero is Cale, a refugee and reluctant savior who literally holds the key to the future of mankind in the palm of his hand. It falls to him and a ragtag band of mercenaries to locate a magnificent ship called the Titan which has the power to re-create planet Earth and give the wandering human race a new home.
    Drew Barrymore voices Akima, a beautiful and highly skilled pilot, while Pullman plays the charismatic and mysterious captain Korso. Also in the voice cast are Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo and John Leguizamo.
    Since leaving the Walt Disney Company in 1979, Bluth and Goldman have been responsible for some of the most successful animated films outside of Disney, including "An American Tail," "The Land Before Time" and, most recently, "Anastasia,"
    which was the first high profile animated project for Fox back in 1997.
    Bluth and Goldman currently work for Fox at the company's multi-million dollar state-of-the-art animation facility based in Phoenix, Arizona.
    Also on their team is visual effects supervisor David Dozoretz, who most recently worked with George Lucas on "The Phantom Menace." His team was responsible for one of the hallmarks of "Titan A.E.," the marriage of traditional 2-dimensional hand-drawn animation with 3-dimensional computer generated imagery.
    Throughout the film, Dozoretz and his team combined the technologies as in sequences where 2 dimensional characters are using 3 dimensional vehicles to travel through 3 dimensional landscapes.
    In addition to the visual elements of the project, the filmmakers also hope to lure the teenage crowd with a techo-driven, pop soundtrack assembled by music supervisor Glen Ballard. Ballard is a five time Grammy-winning music producer best known for his work with such artists as No Doubt and Alanis Morissette.
    For "Titan A.E.," Ballard coordinated new music from such groups as Lit, Electrasy, Jamiroquai and Luscious Jackson.
    Unlike many youth-oriented films, Ballard did not simply drop in songs in order to fill up a hit soundtrack, but instead made them an integral part of the storyline.
    Fox's experiment in widening the animation audience gets underway on Friday, June 16, when "Titan A.E." is released in theaters throughout the United States.
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