- Title: USA: FILM PREMIERE OF LATEST WALT DISNEY CARTOON "ATLANTIS"
- Date: 2nd June 2001
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JUNE 2) (REUTERS -- ACCESS ALL) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRODUCER DON HAHN SAYING: "I think the great thing about the topic of Atlantis is you walk on the street and everybody knows about it, but nobody knows the story about it. And so as we researched it on the internet and different places we found all these really interesting st
- Embargoed: 17th June 2001 13:00
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- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA9NNCRXXTGM6ADJK92HMNR4K2B
- Story Text: Disney enters somewhat uncharted celluloid waters with its latest wide screen epic "Atlantis: The Lost Empire," a distillation of old fashioned animation and digital special effects featuring the voice of Michael J. Fox.
Set in the early 20th century (think Jules Verne), an explorer, Milo Thatcher (Fox), uses a mysterious map to lead a mission aboard a submarine (captained by James Garner) to find the lost city of Atlantis. Suddenly, they find themselves captured by a giant (robotic!) squid... and sure enough, they're taken to Atlantis! Complications arise as getting home becomes quite an obstacle, and division between the crew hinders them further.
The film features traditional animation combined with some computer graphics (CGI). This will be the first Disney movie produced in 70mm since 1985's Black Cauldron.
Also among those providing their voices for the film are Claudia Christian (Helga Sinclair), Mark Hamill, John Mahoney (Preston Whitmore), Leonard Nimoy, David Ogden Stiers (Fenton Harcourt), Jim Varney (Cookie), Phil Morris (Joshua Sweets), Don Novello (Vinnie Santorini), Florence Stanley (Wilhemina Packard), and Cree Summer (Princess Kida). Jim Varney, who died on February 10th, 2000, had already completed his voice work as Cookie.
Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise reprise their role of co-directors, a collaboration they had previously provided on "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," and "Beauty and the Beast."
Tab Murphy, cowriter of "Tarzan," and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," played a similar role for "Atlantis."
This story pays homage to the style of Jules Verne (and particularly, the novel 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea), but it combines that theme with the legend of Atlantis: The Lost Empire. It's based upon a story idea by Bryce and Jackie Zabel.
This film is quite a departure for Disney, as it is not a musical, but is a straight animated action movie like "The Iron Giant" or "Titan A.E." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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