Titan A.E.

Titan A.E. is a 2000 American animated science fiction action-adventure film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, and starring 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 animation of the film combines traditional hand-drawn created animation with the extensive use of computer-generated imagery.

Titan A.E.
Two figures running, one firing a laser gun. They are silouhetted by a large explosion.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDon Bluth
Gary Goldman
Screenplay byBen Edlund
John August
Joss Whedon
Story byHans Bauer
Randall McCormick
Produced byDon Bluth
Gary Goldman
David Kirschner
Starring
Edited byBob Bender
Paul Martin Smith
Fiona Trayler
Music byGraeme Revell
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • June 16, 2000 (2000-06-16)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$75–90 million[2][3]
Box office$36.8 million[2]

The film tells the story of a young man who, after a hostile alien species destroys Earth, receives a mission to save humanity and protect the giant ship that can create a new planet. Along the way, he joins up with a ship's crew and their captain, who help him find the ship before the aliens can destroy it.

The third and final project produced by Fox Animation Studios, the film was theatrically released on June 16, 2000, by 20th Century Fox in the United States. The film received mixed reviews from critics with praise for its visuals, cast and animation, but criticism for its characters and story. It was unsuccessful at the box office.[2][4][5]

Plot

In 3028, a groundbreaking scientific project known as "The Titan Project" incurs the wrath of the Drej, a hostile race of aliens made of pure energy, who fear that it will allow humans to challenge them. Determined to wipe out humanity, the Drej initiate a massive attack on Earth, forcing the human race to evacuate the planet. During the evacuation, Professor Sam Tucker—head researcher on the Titan Project—leaves his young son Cale in the care of his alien friend Tek and flees Earth in the spaceship Titan. Before he leaves, he gives Cale a gold ring, promising him that there will be hope for humanity as long as he wears it. The Drej destroy Earth, and the surviving humans flee into space.

Fifteen years later, the remnants of humanity live on as refugees but face extinction without a home planet of their own. A jaded and cynical Cale works in the salvage yard of space station Tau 14. Ex-military officer Joseph Korso, a former friend and confidant of Cale's father, tracks Cale down and reveals that the location of the Titan is encoded in his ring, for which a holographic map appears in the palm of his hand. Korso invites Cale to join the crew of his spaceship Valkyrie as they seek the Titan. Accepting Korso's offer, Cale and Korso escape Tau 14 with the Drej in pursuit. On the Valkyrie, Cale befriends pilot Akima Kunimoto and three alien crew members: first mate Preed, weapons officer Stith, and scientist Gune.

Cale's map leads the crew of the Valkyrie to the planet Sesharrim, where an alien race called the Gaoul help them interpret the map, revealing that the Titan is hidden in the Andali Nebula. Drej fighters then attack the planet and abduct Cale and Akima in order to copy the map. Akima is rescued by the crew after being jettisoned by the Drej Queen, while Cale escapes the Drej mothership in a stolen fighter and makes his way back to the Valkyrie. The map changes to reveal the Titan is hidden in the Ice Rings of Tigrin, a labyrinth of star shaped ice.

While resupplying at human space station New Bangkok, Cale and Akima discover that Korso and Preed have made a deal to sell the Titan's location to the Drej. Cale and Akima manage to escape the Valkyrie and are left stranded on New Bangkok when Korso leaves for the Titan. Determined to beat Korso to the Titan, they fix up a dilapidated spaceship with help from the station's inhabitants.

Cale and Akima navigate the ice rings of Tigrin in a race against the Valkyrie and dock with the Titan. They discover DNA of various animals onboard and a pre-recorded message left by Cale's deceased father, explaining that the ship was designed to create planets. However, during the escape from Earth, the ship's power cells were drained and lack the energy necessary to create a planet. The Valkyrie arrives and Preed sets off a bomb in an attempt to kill Stith and Gune. Finding Cale and Akima, Preed reveals that he has betrayed Korso and made his own deal with the Drej. A fight ensues and Korso kills Preed by snapping his neck. Cale and Korso fight, resulting in Korso falling over the railing.

The Drej begin their attack on the Titan. Cale realizes that he may be able to recharge the Titan by using the Drej, as they are made of pure energy, but a circuit breaker stalls before he can complete the process. As Cale attempts to repair it, Akima, Stith and Gune fight off the Drej. Korso, who survived his fall, has a change of heart and sacrifices his life to repair the circuit breaker. Cale triggers the Titan's systems, which absorb the Drej, their Queen and their mothership, killing them. The Titan creates a new world using the elements surrounding it.

Cale and Akima embrace in the rain on the newly created planet, and as Stith and Gune bid their farewell from the Valkyrie, ships filled with human colonists arrive to start a new life.

Cast
  • Matt Damon as Cale Tucker, a yard-salvager who carries the map to Titan in his ring.
  • Bill Pullman as Captain Joseph Korso, former soldier and captain of the Valkyrie.
  • 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, pilot of the Valkyrie and Cale's love interest.
  • Ron Perlman as Professor Sam Tucker, Cale's father who helped develop Project Titan.
  • Tone Lōc as Tek, Sam Tucker's blind alien friend who raises Cale after Sam left.
  • Jim Breuer as the Cook, a cockroach-like alien who works in a cafeteria at Tau 14.
  • Christopher Scarabosio as the Drej Queen who fears the potential threat of humans and intends to destroy them.
  • Jim Cummings as Chowquin, Cale's overseer at the salvage yard.
  • Charles Rocket as Firrikash, an alien salvage yard worker who bullies Cale.
    • Charles Rocket also voices a Slave Trader Guard who surprises Preed with his intelligence.
  • Ken Hudson Campbell (credited as Ken Campbell) as Po, an alien salvage yard worker who bullies Cale.
  • Tsai Chin as Old Woman
  • Crystal Scales as Drifter Girl
  • David Lander as the Mayor of New Bangkok
  • Roger L. Jackson as the first alien

Production

Development

In development at 20th Century Fox since 1998, Titan A.E. was originally going to be a live-action film.[6] The script had been passed around to various writers such as Ben Edlund, Joss Whedon and Art Vitello.[7] 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 then gave the script to Fox Animation Studios creative heads Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, who were fresh from the success of their recent film Anastasia (1997). Mechanic had no scripts for Fox Animation Studios to work on and was faced with the choice of laying off the animation staff unless they took Titan A.E. Despite their inexperience with the science fiction genre, Bluth and Goldman took the script regardless.[8]

Fox Animation Studios was given a production budget of $75 million and 19 months to make the film. Unlike Bluth and Goldman's previous films, the animation in Titan A.E. is predominantly computer-generated while the 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 spin-off Bartok the Magnificent (1999).[9] Much 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.[6]

During production of Titan A.E., Fox Animation Studios 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.[10] 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)[11] while the film's "Genesis" scene was animated by Blue Sky Studios, who would later go on to making 20th Century Fox's Ice Age and Rio film franchises as well as Horton Hears a Who! (2008) and 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.[8]

Casting

In November 1997, Matt Damon joined the cast of the film along with Bill Pullman, Drew Barrymore, Nathan Lane, Jim Breuer, Janeane Garofalo and Lena Olin.[12] Later, John Leguizamo joined the cast.

Music

Soundtrack
Titan A.E.: Music from the Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by
various artists
ReleasedJune 6, 2000[13]
Genre
Length44:30
Label
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic

The soundtrack to Titan A.E. was released on audio cassette and CD by Capitol/EMI Records on June 6, 2000 and featured 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.[13]

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 film itself.[14]

Score
Titan A.E.: Limited Edition
Film score by
Graeme Revell
ReleasedOctober 23, 2014[15]
GenreSoundtrack
Length76:55
LabelLa-La Land Records
ProducerGraeme Revell
Don Bluth Music of Films chronology
Anastasia
(1997)		 Titan A.E.
(2000)

Titan A.E.'s score was composed and conducted by Graeme Revell. Although an official album containing the movie's underscore was not originally released alongside the film, it was eventually made available for the first time on October 23, 2014 by La-La Land Records as a limited edition CD of 1,500 copies. The soundtrack contains 32 tracks and music cues, most of what Revell composed for the film, and includes two bonus tracks: an orchestra-only version of "Creation" and an alternative version of "Prologue" with a different opening.[15]

Release

Digital screening

Titan A.E. became the first major motion picture to be screened in end-to-end digital cinema. On June 6, 2000, ten days before the film was released, at the SuperComm 2000 trade show, the film 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.[16]

Home media

Titan A.E. was released on VHS[17] and a THX certified "Special Edition" DVD on November 7, 2000[18] by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 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".[19][20] 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.[20] Chris Carle of IGN rated the DVD an 8 out of 10, calling the film "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".[21]

Reception

Box office

Titan A.E. earned $9,376,845 during its opening weekend with an average of $3,430 from 2,734 theaters, ranking in fifth place behind Shaft, Gone in 60 Seconds, 20th Century Fox's own Big Momma's House and Mission: Impossible 2.[2][22] The film then lost 60% of its audience in its second weekend, dropping to eighth place, 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).[2] The film's budget is estimated at between $75 million[2] and $90 million.[3] According to Chris Meledandri, the supervisor of the film, Titan A.E. lost $100 million for 20th Century Fox.[4]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 50% based on 103 reviews with an average rating of 5.70/10. The site's consensus reads: "Great visuals, but the story feels like a cut-and-paste job of other sci-fi movies".[24] On Metacritic the film has a score of 48 out of 100 based on 30 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[25] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[26]

Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4, praising it 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

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 (even receiving a mention at the end of the credits).[34] Development on both platforms had begun in March 1999 under the film's original title Planet Ice,[35] and an early playable version was showcased at the 2000 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.[34] 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 poor box office performance which was "only one of many different factors" that led to its cancellation.[36]

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 the official novelization of the film written by Steve and Dal Perry was released.[37] A Dark Horse Comics comic series focusing on the character Sam was also released in May 2000.[38]

  • 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".[39]
  • 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 also reveals where she learned her karate skills, her friendship with Stith and her reason to find the Titan.[37]
  • Titan A.E.: Sam's Story – a three-issue comic book series telling the story of Sam Tucker, his crew and their quest to hide the Titan.[38]

See also

References
  1. Paul F. Duke (June 27, 2000). "Fox tooning out, closing Phoenix arm". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on March 25, 2022. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  2. "Titan A.E." Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on November 26, 2002. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  3. W. Welkos, Robert (June 12, 2000). "Animated Clash of the 'Titan'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 1, 2021. cost about $90 million
  4. Palmeri, Christopher (September 19, 2013). "Despicable Me 2 Producer Knows How to Win the Box Office". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  5. Gabbi Shaw (February 27, 2017). "The biggest box office flop from the year you were born". Insider. Archived from the original on March 3, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  6. Lauria, Larry (June 1, 2000). "A Chat With Don Bluth And Gary Goldman (Part I)". Animation World Network. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  7. Backes, Evan (April 1, 2001). "Why Does It Take Ten Years!?!". Animation World Network. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  8. DON BLUTH at AnimationNation.com Special Event 2010. AnimationNation. May 21, 2014. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved December 18, 2015 – via YouTube.
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  10. Linder, Brian (June 27, 2000). "Fox Animation Studios Closes Its Doors". IGN. Archived from the original on July 25, 2023. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
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  13. "Titan A.E. - Original Soundtrack". AllMusic. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  14. Mendelson, Scott (February 16, 2016). "Terrific New 'Alice Through The Looking Glass' TV Spot Will Give You Pink Eye". Forbes. Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  15. "Titan A.E. - Graeme Revell - Limited Edition". La-La Land Records. Archived from the original on October 19, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
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  17. "Titan A.E. [VHS]". Amazon. Archived from the original on November 20, 2015. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  18. "Titan A.E. (2000)". Amazon. Archived from the original on July 25, 2023. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  19. "DVD Review - Titan A.E.: Special Edition - The Digital Bits". Archived from the original on 2021-11-05. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
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  21. Carle, Chris (November 15, 2000). "Titan A.E." IGN. Archived from the original on November 29, 2015. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
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  24. "Titan A.E. (2000)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on September 4, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  25. "Titan A.E. Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on August 11, 2018. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  26. "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-28. Retrieved 2021-09-04.
  27. Ebert, Roger (June 19, 2000). "Titan A.E. Movie Review & Film Summary (2000)". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on October 26, 2015. 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. Archived from the original on July 25, 2023. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
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  35. Gestalt (November 8, 2000). "Philip Oliver of Blitz Games". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on December 10, 2015. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
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  37. Chitwood, Scott (February 10, 2000). "Titan A.E. Prequel Novels and Novelization in Stores". IGN. Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
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