Titan A.E.


Titan A.E. is a 2000 American animated post-apocalyptic science fiction action 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.
The film tells the story of a young man who receives a mission to save humanity and protect the giant spaceship Titan that can create a new planet, after a hostile alien species have destroyed the planet Earth. Along the way, he joins up with a ship's crew and their captain, who help him race against time and find the ship, before the aliens can destroy it.
Theatrically released on June 16, 2000, by 20th Century Fox in the United States as the third and final project produced by Fox Animation Studios, the film received mixed reviews from critics with praise for its visuals and animation but criticism for its characters and story. The film was also a box office failure, grossing only $36.8 million against a budget of $75–90 million, though it has since become a cult classic.

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 due to the potential of the project, 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 Vusstran 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. Ex-military officer Joseph Korso, a former friend and confidant of Sam, tracks down a jaded and cynical Cale, who works in the salvage yard of space station Tau 14. Korso reveals that a holographic map leading to the location of the Titan is encoded in Cale's ring, and invites Cale to join the crew of his spaceship Valkyrie as they seek the Titan. Accepting Korso's offer, Cale escapes Tau 14 with him as the Drej pursue them. On the Valkyrie, Cale befriends pilot Akima Kunimoto, and three alien crew members: first mate Preedex "Preed" Yoa, surly weapons officer Stith, and eccentric astronomer 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 that the Titan is hidden in the Ice Rings of Tigrin, a labyrinthine ice field in space. 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 a now-deceased Sam, explaining that the ship was designed to create planets. However, the ship's power cells were drained during the escape from Earth, 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 betrays Korso and reveals his own deal he made with the Drej, who just arrived and located the Titan. A fight ensues, and Korso kills Preed by snapping his neck. Cale and Korso fight, resulting in Korso falling over a railing.
As 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 and their mothership, killing them. The Titan creates a new world, and Cale and Akima embrace in the rain on the newly created planet as ships filled with human colonists arrive to start a new life on the planet.

Cast

  • Matt Damon as Cale Tucker, a yard-salvager who carries the map to Titan on his hand.
  • *Alex D. Linz as Young Cale Tucker
  • Bill Pullman as Captain Joseph Korso, former soldier and captain of the Valkyrie.
  • Drew Barrymore as Akima Kunimoto, pilot of the Valkyrie and Cale's love interest.
  • Nathan Lane as Preedex "Preed" Yoa, a fruit bat-like Akrennian and Korso's first mate.
  • John Leguizamo as Gune, an amphibian-like Grepoan and Korso's chief scientist.
  • Janeane Garofalo as Stith, a kangaroo-like Sogowan and munitions officer of the Valkyrie.
  • Ron Perlman as Professor Sam Tucker, Cale's father who helped develop Project Titan.
  • Tone Lōc as Tek, Sam Tucker's blind Vusstran 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 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

Titan A.E. was originally intended to be a live-action film tentatively titled Planet Ice, with Art Vitello hired to direct. By November 1997, the project had been revamped into an animated feature, with Matt Damon joining the voice cast, along with Bill Pullman, Drew Barrymore, Nathan Lane, Jim Breuer, Janeane Garofalo, Hank Azaria and Lena Olin. In the Final Cut, John Leguizamo joined the cast, and Azaria was busy filming Anastasia while Olin has schedule conflicts. In an interview with Variety, Chris Meledandri, then-president of Fox Family Films, stated: "The imagery would be too costly to realize in live action. It will distinguish this film, which has a cast not only of humans but also aliens. And the group of actors we've put together is about the finest assembled for an animated film."
By September 1997, Ben Edlund had written the first screenplay draft. John August came aboard the project in February 1998, and was hired to polish the dialogue but remained on the project for further rewrites. The film's visual effects were handled by the Blue Sky/VIFX visual effects studio, and millions had been spent on previsualization tests of the space environments and spacecraft. In February 1998, Vitello departed the project. During the summer of 1998, Bill Mechanic, then-chairman of 20th Century Fox, handed the script to Fox Animation Studios creative heads Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, who had finished directing Bartok the Magnificent. Mechanic had no in-development projects for Fox Animation Studios to work on and was faced with the choice of potentially laying off the animation staff unless they took another project.
Despite their inexperience with the science fiction genre, Bluth and Goldman took the script regardless. Bluth explained, "When we came to Fox, one of the things that we all talked about was that we shouldn't try to be a 'Disney wanna-be'. We wanted to make a picture that's edgier, still reaches the family and goes a little further and even brings in the teenagers." Joss Whedon, who had signed a multi-picture film and television deal with 20th Century Fox, was hired to finalize the script.
As directors, Bluth and Goldman were given a production budget of $55 million and 19 months to finish the film. Before their involvement, $30 million had been spent on pre-production. 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 previously worked on Anastasia and its direct-to-video spin-off Bartok the Magnificent. 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.
During production, 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 several independent studios. Several scenes were contracted to David Paul Dozoretz's POVDE group; the "Wake Angels" scene was animated by Reality Check Studios while the film's "Genesis" scene was animated by Blue Sky Studios, who would later go on to produce 20th Century Fox's Ice Age and Rio film franchises as well as Horton Hears a Who! and The Peanuts Movie and the CGI Animals in The Greatest Showman. 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.