About the Film
Fantasia 2000 is a 1999 American animated film by Walt Disney Feature Animation and Walt Disney Pictures, and released by Buena Vista Pictures. Produced by Roy E. Disney and Donald W. Ernst, it is the 38th Disney animated feature film and the sequel to Fantasia (1940). Like its predecessor, Fantasia 2000 consists of animated segments set to pieces of classical music. Celebrities including Steve Martin, Itzhak Perlman, Quincy Jones, Bette Midler, James Earl Jones, Penn & Teller, and Angela Lansbury introduce each segment in live action scenes directed by Don Hahn.
After numerous unsuccessful attempts to develop a Fantasia sequel, the Walt Disney Company revived the idea shortly after Michael Eisner became chief executive officer in 1984. The commercial success of the 1991 home video release of Fantasia convinced Eisner that there was enough public interest and funds for a sequel and he assigned Disney as executive producer. The music for six of the film's eight segments is performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Levine. The film includes The Sorcerer's Apprentice from the 1940 original. Each new segment was produced by combining traditional animation with computer-generated imagery.
Fantasia 2000 premiered on December 17, 1999, at Carnegie Hall in New York City as part of a concert tour that also visited London, Paris, Tokyo, and Pasadena, California. The film was released in 75 IMAX theaters worldwide from January 1 to April 30, 2000, marking the first animated feature-length film to be released in the format. Its general release in traditional theaters followed on June 16, 2000. Some critics praised the film while others singled out its uneven quality. Budgeted at about $80–$85 million, the film has earned $90.8 million in gross revenue worldwide.
Box Office
Fantasia 2000 first opened in IMAX theatres for a four-month run from January 1 to April 30, 2000, becoming the first animated feature-length film shown in the format, with a six channel digital surround sound. A temporary 622-seat theatre costing almost $4 million was built in four weeks for its Los Angeles run as Disney was unable to reach an agreement to show the film exclusively at the city's sole IMAX theatre at the California Science Center. After opening at 75 theaters worldwide, the film grossed over $2.2 million in 54 cinemas in North America in its opening weekend, averaging $41,481 per theater. It set new records for the highest gross for any IMAX engagement and surpassed the highest weekly total for any previously released IMAX film. Its three-day worldwide gross surpassed $3.8 million, setting further records at 18 venues worldwide. Fantasia 2000 grossed a worldwide total of $21.1 million in 30 days, and $64.5 millionat the end of its IMAX run.
Following its release in 1,313 regular theatres in the United States on June 16, 2000, the film grossed an additional $2.8 million in its opening weekend that ranked eleventh at the box office. This followed nearly half a year of release in the IMAX format, possibly blunting the amount earned in the weekends of wide release. Fantasia 2000 has earned a total worldwide gross of over $90.8 million since its release, with $60.7 million of that total from the U.S. market, and the rest through foreign box office sales. The film had cost around $90 million and was viewed by Eisner as Roy Disney's "folly".
Reviews and Success
Fantasia 2000 holds a "Certified Fresh" rating of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes. Its consensus reads: "It provides an entertaining experience for adults and children alike". On Metacritic, the film has a metascore of 59/100. Entertainment Weekly gave a "B-" rating; its reviewer, Bruce Fretts, called Symphony No. 5 "maddeningly abstract", Piano Concerto No. 2 "charmingly traditional", and thought Rhapsody in Blue fit well to the music, but Pomp and Circumstance "inexplicably inspires biblical kitsch". The review ends with a criticism of the inadequate quality of The Sorcerer's Apprentice on the IMAX screen. For Variety magazine, Todd McCarthy pointed out that while the original felt too long and formal, its "enjoyable follow-up is, at 75 minutes, simply too breezy and lightweight". He summarized the film "like a light buffet of tasty morsels rather than a full and satisfying meal".
In his December 1999 review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film a rating of three stars out of four. He described some of the animation, such as Firebird Suite, his favorite segment, as "powerful" though others, like the dance of the abstract triangles in Symphony No. 5, "a little pedestrian". He admired Rhapsody in Blue and its interlocking stories, pointing out its style was reminiscent of the Madeline picture books by Ludwig Bemelmans. He thought Pines of Rome presented itself well in the IMAX format and found the Piano Concerto No. 2 played "wonderfully as a self-contained film". He found The Sorcerer's Apprentice to be "not as visually sharp as the rest of the film". He nonetheless described the film on the whole as "splendid entertainment".