Fantasia 2000
Encyclopedia
Fantasia 2000 is a 1999 American animated film
produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures
. It was the 38th feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and a sequel to 1940's Fantasia
. As with its predecessor the film consists of animated segments set to pieces of classical music, with The Sorcerer's Apprentice being the only segment that is featured in both films. The soundtrack was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
with conductor James Levine
. A group of celebrities introduce each segment in live-action scenes including Steve Martin
, Bette Midler
, Penn & Teller
, James Earl Jones
, Quincy Jones
and Angela Lansbury
.
Roy E. Disney
first thought of a sequel to Fantasia in 1974, only to pitch the film to Disney chairman Michael Eisner
ten years later. Production began in 1990, and the film is noted for using a combination of computer-generated imagery
ontop of hand-drawn animation. Peter Schickele
worked with Levine on the musical arrangement of each musical piece.
Fantasia 2000 premiered at Carnegie Hall
on December 17, 1999 as part of a five-city concert tour, with performances in London
, Paris
, Tokyo
and Pasadena, California
. An exclusive release in IMAX
theatres followed from January 1 to April 30, 2000, becoming the first animated feature-length film issued in the format. Fantasia 2000 was opened wide in the United States on June 16, 2000 and has earned $90.8 million in gross revenue worldwide.
chamber with musical Fantasia
of the galaxy
.
had planned to have Fantasia on a continual release with segments being replaced by new ones, so audiences would never see the same film twice. The film's initial failure in revenue, the loss of the European market due to the Second World War, and its mixed critical reaction this abandonment. Following Walt's death in 1966, his nephew Roy E. Disney
thought of an update for Fantasia in 1974 and pitched the idea to Disney chairman Michael Eisner
ten years later. A project for a sequel titled Musicana came about in the late 1970s that was to explore the world's cultures through their musical compositions, but the idea was shelved in the early 1980s.
Fantasia 2000 entered production in 1990. In September 1991, conductor James Levine
attended a meeting with Roy Disney, Thomas Schumacher
and Peter Gelb
, and was asked to conduct several pieces for a continuation of Fantasia initially named Fantasia/Continued. The music selections were collectively decided by Disney, Levine and production staff. Most were decisions driven by the musical preferences of the team, to which Disney chose Pines of Rome. Other pieces were discovered long after the story ideas were set, such as The Steadfast Tin Soldier, where the visuals were based on artwork done for Fantasia. The Shostakovich piece however, was presented to the team by an animator late into its production schedule. Composer André Previn
reports in his book No Minor Chords that he was approached by Disney to work on a sequel, but declined after he learned that the soundtrack was, at that point, conceived of as an orchestration of songs by The Beatles
.
The film was originally scheduled for a mid-1990s release with a change of name to Fantasia 1999 before being changed accordingly when the release date moved into 2000. Three segments from Fantasia were intended to remain in Fantasia 2000, but only The Sorcerer's Apprentice made it into the final release. The late addition of Rhapsody in Blue replaced Dance of the Hours a year before its release and Nutcracker Suite was also included until a few months before its theatrical run. After much of the publicity material had already been produced, plus a number of test screenings, it was removed to shorten the running time.
Rhapsody in Blue was a work already in progress by director Eric Goldberg
(lead animator for the Genie in Aladdin, also inspired by Al Hirschfeld
's art), when Disney approached him to complete the piece for the film. This decision was ideal given the head start on the work and so that the film could include a work from an American composer. The little girl in the hotel in the segment is based on the Eloise
character created by Kay Thompson
and the red-haired man is based on John Culhane, the author for the "making of" books for both Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. Taking on Rhapsody in Blue also allowed Disney to keep the animators assigned to their feature Kingdom of the Sun (later released as The Emperor's New Groove
) busy while Kingdom went through an extensive rewrite. Some press articles written after the completion of Groove reversed the roles, saying that Goldberg first approached Disney for Rhapsody for Fantasia 2000 and was initially rejected, and later the producers came back to him as a result of the need to find something to do with the animation staff while the Kingdom rewrite was going on.
The idea of The Carnival of the Animals came from Joe Grant
, who liked the ostriches in the Dance of the Hours segment from Fantasia. He pitched the idea to have ostriches with a yo-yo set to the music, only to have the animals changed to flamingos. Goldberg got his research from his past co-directing partner Mike Gabriel
, who would play with a yo-yo as he took a break from work on Pocahontas
. A number of real tricks are demonstrated, including the "Walk the Dog", "Rock the Cradle" and the "UFO".
The story of The Firebird is considered an exercise in the theme of life-death-rebirth deities
, as well as a stylized interpretation of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens
and the subsequent return of wildlife to the devastated region. Disney wished for a segment that was "emotionally eqivalent" to the Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria scene in the original Fantasia. The horns on the elk in The Firebird were CGI-rendered on top of hand-drawn animation.
One significant difference in the musical styles between the films is that in Fantasia 2000 the piano
features prominently in more than half of the selections, while the original Fantasia did not feature one.
Fantasia 2000 features many technical innovations that would later be utilized in the Disney studio's other animation works, particularly in the use of computers. Both Pines of Rome and The Steadfast Tin Soldier were primarily CGI pieces, completed before Pixar
's landmark film Toy Story
was released.
Disney felt the need to include live-action interstitial scenes, as seen in the first Fantasia, to have the audience cleanse their "emotional palate", as well as providing some information about a segment coming up. The scenes were directed by Disney animation producer Don Hahn
. Instead of using a single narrator like Fantasia did, people from different areas of the art world introduce each segment in Fantasia 2000. Actor Steve Martin
briefly discusses the history of Fantasia as a continuing concept and is immediately followed by violinist Itzhak Perlman
(though Steve wanted the camera back on him for his own violin performance, breaking the fourth wall even after the film had ended), who introduces Pines of Rome. Quincy Jones
leads into the Gershwin number, and Bette Midler
gives an introduction to the Shostakovich concerto (first mentioning some of the Disney studio's cancelled Fantasia segment projects, including Destino
), both featuring on screen the piano players for the respective pieces. James Earl Jones
introduces Carnival of the Animals with director Eric Goldberg, and, appropriately enough, magicians Penn & Teller
make an appearance before The Sorcerer's Apprentice. When this piece concludes with Mickey Mouse's conversation with conductor Leopold Stokowski
from the original Fantasia (with Mickey's lines from the original redubbed by his then voice actor, Wayne Allwine
), Mickey then moves on to chat with Levine before the latter introduces Pomp and Circumstance. The final sequence of The Firebird is introduced by Angela Lansbury
.
concert hall in Chicago, with performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra being recoded at Air Studios in London.
on February 9, 1999, where The Carnival of the Animals was also screened. The film premiered at Carnegie Hall
in New York City for three nights as part of a five-city concert tour on December 17. Each segment was shown on a screen above the stage, minus the live-action introductions, while the soundtrack was performed live by the 120-piece Philharmonia Orchestra
conducted by Levine, who used a score and video auto-cue to time the music to the animation. Performances followed at the Royal Albert Hall
in London
on December 21; the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
in Paris
on December 22; the Orchard Hall
in Tokyo
on December 27; and the Pasadena Civic Auditorium
in Pasadena, Florida on December 31, where Derrick Inouye conducted.
Fantasia 2000 was first screened in 75 IMAX
cinemas worldwide from January 1 to April 30, 2000, becoming the first animated feature-length film to be exhibited in the format. A temporary venue was constructed for its run in Los Angeles at a near cost of $4 million, as Disney was unable to reach an agreement with the operators of the single IMAX cinema in the city. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $2,239,941 in 54 cinemas in the United States and Canada
for an average of $41,481 per theater. It set new records as the highest gross for any IMAX engagement and surpassed the highest weekly total for any previous IMAX film. Its three-day worldwide gross reached $3,874,000, and records were set at 18 international venues that showed the film. Fantasia 2000 grossed a worldwide total of over $21 million in 30 days, and $64.5 million at the end of its four-month IMAX engagement. Following its release in 1,313 regular theatres in the US on June 16, 2000, the film grossed $2.8 million in its opening weekend that ranked eleventh at the box office
. Fantasia 2000 has grossed a total of over $90.8 million worldwide.
, a website that aggregates film reviews
. Its overall consensus — "Though Fantasia may be flawed in parts, overall it provides an entertaining experience for adults and children alike". 83% of critics gave the film a positive review based on a sample of 81 reviews, with an average score of 7.1 out of 10. Among the website's "top critics", it has an 83% positive rating from six reviews. Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
describes some of the animation as "powerful" though others "a little pedestrian", but noted the film was "splendid entertainment" and rated it three stars out of four.
and DVD
. A three-disc DVD set named The Fantasia Anthology issued in the same month presented Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 with Dolby Digital
5.1 surround sound
. A variety of bonus features were included in the bonus disc, The Fantasia Legacy. On November 30, the film's soundtrack was released on CD, with Levine conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra for Rhapsody in Blue and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the remaining tracks. Roy Disney precedes the 2000 VHS and DVD releases with a special introduction made for those releases highlighting key Disney productions Steamboat Willie
(the first time Walt used synchronised sound), Flowers and Trees
(a Silly Symphony and first color cartoon), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(first Walt Disney Classic film), Fantasia (Fantasound process) and CGI-involved films The Great Mouse Detective
(Big Ben's gears were computer-generated and combined with the hand-drawn character cels) Beauty and the Beast
(ballroom scene), Toy Story 2
(Pixar production) and Dinosaur
(first completely CGI Disney Classic film).
Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 were reissued in November 2010 as a two-disc DVD set and a four-disc DVD and Blu-ray combo that boasts 1080p
high-definition video
and 7.1 surround sound DTS-HD Master Audio
. Fantasia 2000 was withdrawn from release and returned to the "Disney Vault
" moratorium
on April 30, 2011. The 2010 edition is dedicated to Roy Disney, who died a year prior to its release. The Blu-ray also contains Destino as a bonus feature.
with conductor James Levine
, except where noted.
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
. It was the 38th feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and a sequel to 1940's Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
. As with its predecessor the film consists of animated segments set to pieces of classical music, with The Sorcerer's Apprentice being the only segment that is featured in both films. The soundtrack was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
with conductor James Levine
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and as of May 2011 he has...
. A group of celebrities introduce each segment in live-action scenes including Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
, Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
, Penn & Teller
Penn & Teller
Penn & Teller are Las Vegas headliners whose act is an amalgam of illusion and comedy. Penn Jillette is a raconteur; Teller generally uses mime while performing, although his voice can occasionally be heard during their performance...
, James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
, Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
and Angela Lansbury
Angela Lansbury
Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
.
Roy E. Disney
Roy E. Disney
Roy Edward Disney, KCSG was a longtime senior executive for The Walt Disney Company, which his father Roy Oliver Disney and his uncle Walt Disney founded. At the time of his death he was a shareholder , and served as a consultant for the company and Director Emeritus for the Board of Directors...
first thought of a sequel to Fantasia in 1974, only to pitch the film to Disney chairman Michael Eisner
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner is an American businessman. He was the chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until 2005.-Early life:...
ten years later. Production began in 1990, and the film is noted for using a combination of computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
ontop of hand-drawn animation. Peter Schickele
Peter Schickele
Johann Peter Schickele is an American composer, musical educator, and parodist. He is best known for his comedy music albums featuring his music that he presents as music written by the fictional composer P. D. Q...
worked with Levine on the musical arrangement of each musical piece.
Fantasia 2000 premiered at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
on December 17, 1999 as part of a five-city concert tour, with performances in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
and Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
. An exclusive release in IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
theatres followed from January 1 to April 30, 2000, becoming the first animated feature-length film issued in the format. Fantasia 2000 was opened wide in the United States on June 16, 2000 and has earned $90.8 million in gross revenue worldwide.
Story
The film opens in the spaceSpace
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
chamber with musical Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
of the galaxy
Galaxy
A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...
.
Program
The segments in the order of appearance:- Symphony No. 5 in C minor-I. Allegro con brioSymphony No. 5 (Beethoven)The Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1804–08. This symphony is one of the most popular and best-known compositions in all of classical music, and one of the most often played symphonies. It comprises four movements: an opening sonata, an andante, and a fast...
by Ludwig van BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
. Abstract patterns and shapes resembling butterflies and bats explore a world of light and darkness which are ultimately conquered by light. - Pines of Rome by Ottorino RespighiOttorino RespighiOttorino Respighi was an Italian composer, musicologist and conductor. He is best known for his orchestral "Roman trilogy": Fountains of Rome ; Pines of Rome ; and Roman Festivals...
. A family of humpback whaleHumpback WhaleThe humpback whale is a species of baleen whale. One of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from and weigh approximately . The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with unusually long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is an acrobatic animal, often breaching and slapping the...
s are able to fly due to a supernovaSupernovaA supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
. The calf is separated from his parents when he becomes trapped in an iceberg, but finds his way out with his mother's help. The final section, the Via AppiaAppian WayThe Appian Way was one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, Apulia, in southeast Italy...
, gives the impression of the larger pod of adults in migration. - Rhapsody in BlueRhapsody in BlueRhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects....
by George GershwinGeorge GershwinGeorge Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
. An episode of New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in the 1930s in the style of Al HirschfeldAl HirschfeldAlbert "Al" Hirschfeld was an American caricaturist best known for his simple black and white portraits of celebrities and Broadway stars.-Personal life:Born in St...
's known cartoons of the time, depicting a day in the lives of several people within the DepressionGreat DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
-era bustling metropolis. Featured is an animated cameo appearance of Gershwin himself at the piano. - Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major-I. AllegroPiano Concerto No. 2 (Shostakovich)Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102, by Dmitri Shostakovich was composed in 1957 for his son Maxim's 19th birthday. Maxim premiered the piece during his graduation at the Moscow Conservatory...
by Dmitri ShostakovichDmitri ShostakovichDmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
. Based on The Steadfast Tin SoldierThe Steadfast Tin Soldier"The Steadfast Tin Soldier" is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a tin soldier's love for a paper ballerina. After several adventures, the tin soldier perishes in a fire with the ballerina. The tale was first published in Copenhagen by C.A...
by Hans Christian AndersenHans Christian AndersenHans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...
, the concerto was written as a gift by Shostakovich to his musically gifted young son, and the percussive rhythms also suit a story about a soldier. In contrast to the original story, the ending is a happy one. - The Carnival of the Animals, FinaleThe Carnival of the AnimalsLe carnaval des animaux is a musical suite of fourteen movements by the French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The orchestral work has a duration between 22 and 30 minutes.-History:...
by Camille Saint-SaënsCamille Saint-SaënsCharles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
. A flock of flamingoFlamingoFlamingos or flamingoes are gregarious wading birds in the genus Phoenicopterus , the only genus in the family Phoenicopteridae...
s try to force a slapstick member who enjoys playing with a yo-yoYo-yoThe yo-yo in its simplest form is an object consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a length of twine looped around the axle, similar to a slender spool...
to engage in their "dull" routines. - The Sorcerer's ApprenticeThe Sorcerer's Apprentice (Dukas)For the 2010 film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, see The Sorcerer's Apprentice .The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a symphonic poem by the French composer Paul Dukas, written in 1896-97. Subtitled "Scherzo after a ballad by Goethe," the piece was inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1797 poem of the...
by Paul DukasPaul DukasPaul Abraham Dukas was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man, of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical, and he abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions...
. Based on Goethe's 1797 poem Der Zauberlehrling, the segment is the only one retained from 1940's FantasiaFantasia (film)Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
. Mickey MouseMickey MouseMickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
as the apprentice of sorcerer Yen Sid who attempts some of his master's magic tricks before knowing how to control them. - Pomp and Circumstance – Marches 1, 2, 3 and 4Pomp and Circumstance MarchesThe "Pomp and Circumstance Marches" , Op. 39 are a series of marches for orchestra composed by Sir Edward Elgar....
by Edward ElgarEdward ElgarSir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
. Based on the story of Noah's ArkNoah's ArkNoah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
from the Book of Genesis starring Donald DuckDonald DuckDonald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
as first mate to NoahNoahNoah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...
and Daisy DuckDaisy DuckDaisy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1940 by Walt Disney Productions as the girlfriend of Donald Duck. Like Donald, Daisy is an anthropomorphic white duck, but has large eyelashes and ruffled tail feathers to suggest a skirt. She is often seen wearing a hair bow, blouse, and shoes...
as Donald's assistant. Donald musters the animals to the Ark and misses, loses and reunites with Daisy in the process. - Firebird Suite – 1919 VersionThe FirebirdThe Firebird is a 1910 ballet created by the composer Igor Stravinsky and choreographer Michel Fokine. The ballet is based on Russian folk tales of the magical glowing bird of the same name that is both a blessing and a curse to its captor....
by Igor StravinskyIgor StravinskyIgor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
. The story of the spring spriteSprite (creature)The term sprite is a broad term referring to a number of preternatural legendary creatures. The term is generally used in reference to elf-like creatures, including fairies, and similar beings , but can also signify various spiritual beings, including ghosts. In Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books,...
and her companion, the elkElkThe Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
, who accidentally awakes the Firebird, a fiery spirit of destruction in a nearby volcano. The Firebird proceeds in destroying the forest, and seemingly the sprite. The Sprite survives, and the Elk encourages her to restore the forest to its former state.
Development
Walt DisneyWalt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
had planned to have Fantasia on a continual release with segments being replaced by new ones, so audiences would never see the same film twice. The film's initial failure in revenue, the loss of the European market due to the Second World War, and its mixed critical reaction this abandonment. Following Walt's death in 1966, his nephew Roy E. Disney
Roy E. Disney
Roy Edward Disney, KCSG was a longtime senior executive for The Walt Disney Company, which his father Roy Oliver Disney and his uncle Walt Disney founded. At the time of his death he was a shareholder , and served as a consultant for the company and Director Emeritus for the Board of Directors...
thought of an update for Fantasia in 1974 and pitched the idea to Disney chairman Michael Eisner
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner is an American businessman. He was the chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until 2005.-Early life:...
ten years later. A project for a sequel titled Musicana came about in the late 1970s that was to explore the world's cultures through their musical compositions, but the idea was shelved in the early 1980s.
Fantasia 2000 entered production in 1990. In September 1991, conductor James Levine
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and as of May 2011 he has...
attended a meeting with Roy Disney, Thomas Schumacher
Thomas Schumacher
Thomas Schumacher is a theatrical producer, currently president of Disney Theatrical Group, the theatrical production arm of The Walt Disney Company.-Biography:...
and Peter Gelb
Peter Gelb
Peter Gelb is an American arts administrator. He is currently General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.-Early life:...
, and was asked to conduct several pieces for a continuation of Fantasia initially named Fantasia/Continued. The music selections were collectively decided by Disney, Levine and production staff. Most were decisions driven by the musical preferences of the team, to which Disney chose Pines of Rome. Other pieces were discovered long after the story ideas were set, such as The Steadfast Tin Soldier, where the visuals were based on artwork done for Fantasia. The Shostakovich piece however, was presented to the team by an animator late into its production schedule. Composer André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
reports in his book No Minor Chords that he was approached by Disney to work on a sequel, but declined after he learned that the soundtrack was, at that point, conceived of as an orchestration of songs by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
.
The film was originally scheduled for a mid-1990s release with a change of name to Fantasia 1999 before being changed accordingly when the release date moved into 2000. Three segments from Fantasia were intended to remain in Fantasia 2000, but only The Sorcerer's Apprentice made it into the final release. The late addition of Rhapsody in Blue replaced Dance of the Hours a year before its release and Nutcracker Suite was also included until a few months before its theatrical run. After much of the publicity material had already been produced, plus a number of test screenings, it was removed to shorten the running time.
Design and animation
Director Pixote Hunt decided on the concept to "Symphony No. 5" with a conflict between the "good" multi-colored shapes and the "evil" dark shapes and how it resolves itself. Staff members visited a zoo, a butterfly farm and watched slow motion footage of bats to observe animal behaviors and incorporate them into the shapes. Pastels were used on top of computer animation, with each hand-drawn piece being scanned into a computer system and digitally manipulated.Rhapsody in Blue was a work already in progress by director Eric Goldberg
Eric Goldberg (film director)
Eric Goldberg is an American animator and film director. He is best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He's also well known as the creator of Disney character Genie in Aladdin...
(lead animator for the Genie in Aladdin, also inspired by Al Hirschfeld
Al Hirschfeld
Albert "Al" Hirschfeld was an American caricaturist best known for his simple black and white portraits of celebrities and Broadway stars.-Personal life:Born in St...
's art), when Disney approached him to complete the piece for the film. This decision was ideal given the head start on the work and so that the film could include a work from an American composer. The little girl in the hotel in the segment is based on the Eloise
Eloise (books)
Eloise is the name of the protagonist in a series of children's books written by Kay Thompson and illustrated by Hilary Knight.Eloise is a six-year-old girl who lives in the "room on the tippy-top floor" of the Plaza Hotel in New York with her Nanny, her pug dog Weenie, and her turtle Skipperdee. A...
character created by Kay Thompson
Kay Thompson
Kay Thompson was an American author, composer, musician, actress and singer. She is best known as the creator of the Eloise children's books.-Background:Catherine Louise Fink was born in St...
and the red-haired man is based on John Culhane, the author for the "making of" books for both Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. Taking on Rhapsody in Blue also allowed Disney to keep the animators assigned to their feature Kingdom of the Sun (later released as The Emperor's New Groove
The Emperor's New Groove
The Emperor's New Groove is a 2000 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures through Buena Vista Distribution on December 15, 2000. It is the 40th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics...
) busy while Kingdom went through an extensive rewrite. Some press articles written after the completion of Groove reversed the roles, saying that Goldberg first approached Disney for Rhapsody for Fantasia 2000 and was initially rejected, and later the producers came back to him as a result of the need to find something to do with the animation staff while the Kingdom rewrite was going on.
The idea of The Carnival of the Animals came from Joe Grant
Joe Grant
Joe Grant was a Disney artist and writer.Born in New York City, New York, he worked for The Walt Disney Company as a character designer and story artist beginning in 1933 on the Mickey Mouse short, "Mickey's Gala Premiere". He was a Disney legend. He created the Queen in Snow White and the Seven...
, who liked the ostriches in the Dance of the Hours segment from Fantasia. He pitched the idea to have ostriches with a yo-yo set to the music, only to have the animals changed to flamingos. Goldberg got his research from his past co-directing partner Mike Gabriel
Mike Gabriel
Mike Gabriel is an American animator and film director, best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios and as co-director of the Disney films The Rescuers Down Under and Pocahontas ....
, who would play with a yo-yo as he took a break from work on Pocahontas
Pocahontas (1995 film)
Pocahontas is the 33rd animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and was originally released to selected theaters on June 16, 1995 by Walt Disney Pictures...
. A number of real tricks are demonstrated, including the "Walk the Dog", "Rock the Cradle" and the "UFO".
The story of The Firebird is considered an exercise in the theme of life-death-rebirth deities
Life-death-rebirth deity
A dying god, also known as a dying-and-rising or resurrection deity, is a god who dies and is resurrected or reborn, in either a literal or symbolic sense. Male examples include the ancient Near Eastern and Greek deities Baal, Melqart, Adonis, Eshmun, Attis Tammuz, Asclepius, Orpheus, as well as...
, as well as a stylized interpretation of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens
Mount St. Helens
Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is south of Seattle, Washington and northeast of Portland, Oregon. Mount St. Helens takes its English name from the British diplomat Lord St Helens, a...
and the subsequent return of wildlife to the devastated region. Disney wished for a segment that was "emotionally eqivalent" to the Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria scene in the original Fantasia. The horns on the elk in The Firebird were CGI-rendered on top of hand-drawn animation.
One significant difference in the musical styles between the films is that in Fantasia 2000 the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
features prominently in more than half of the selections, while the original Fantasia did not feature one.
Fantasia 2000 features many technical innovations that would later be utilized in the Disney studio's other animation works, particularly in the use of computers. Both Pines of Rome and The Steadfast Tin Soldier were primarily CGI pieces, completed before Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
's landmark film Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
was released.
Disney felt the need to include live-action interstitial scenes, as seen in the first Fantasia, to have the audience cleanse their "emotional palate", as well as providing some information about a segment coming up. The scenes were directed by Disney animation producer Don Hahn
Don Hahn
Don Hahn is an American film producer who has produced some of the most successful Walt Disney animated films of the past 20 years. He currently owns his own film production company called Stone Circle Pictures.-Early life:...
. Instead of using a single narrator like Fantasia did, people from different areas of the art world introduce each segment in Fantasia 2000. Actor Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
briefly discusses the history of Fantasia as a continuing concept and is immediately followed by violinist Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli-born violinist, conductor, and instructor of master classes. He is regarded as one of the pre-eminent violinists of the 20th and early-21st centuries.-Early life:...
(though Steve wanted the camera back on him for his own violin performance, breaking the fourth wall even after the film had ended), who introduces Pines of Rome. Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
leads into the Gershwin number, and Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
gives an introduction to the Shostakovich concerto (first mentioning some of the Disney studio's cancelled Fantasia segment projects, including Destino
Destino
Destino is an animated short film released in 2003 by The Walt Disney Company. Destino is unique in that its production originally began in 1945, 58 years before its eventual completion...
), both featuring on screen the piano players for the respective pieces. James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
introduces Carnival of the Animals with director Eric Goldberg, and, appropriately enough, magicians Penn & Teller
Penn & Teller
Penn & Teller are Las Vegas headliners whose act is an amalgam of illusion and comedy. Penn Jillette is a raconteur; Teller generally uses mime while performing, although his voice can occasionally be heard during their performance...
make an appearance before The Sorcerer's Apprentice. When this piece concludes with Mickey Mouse's conversation with conductor Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
from the original Fantasia (with Mickey's lines from the original redubbed by his then voice actor, Wayne Allwine
Wayne Allwine
Wayne Anthony Allwine was an American voice actor, a sound effects editor and foley artist for The Walt Disney Company. He was born in Glendale, California. He was the voice of Mickey Mouse for 32 years, narrowly the longest to date, and was married to voice actress Russi Taylor.Allwine was the...
), Mickey then moves on to chat with Levine before the latter introduces Pomp and Circumstance. The final sequence of The Firebird is introduced by Angela Lansbury
Angela Lansbury
Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
.
Soundtrack
Most of the film's soundtrack was digitally recorded at the Medinah TempleMedinah Temple
Built by the Shriners architects Huehl and Schmidt in 1912, the Medinah Temple is a colorful Islamic-looking building replete with pointed domes and an example of Moorish Revival architecture. It is located on the Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois at 600 N...
concert hall in Chicago, with performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra being recoded at Air Studios in London.
World tour and theatrical run
Disney officially announced Fantasia 2000 at a conference in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on February 9, 1999, where The Carnival of the Animals was also screened. The film premiered at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in New York City for three nights as part of a five-city concert tour on December 17. Each segment was shown on a screen above the stage, minus the live-action introductions, while the soundtrack was performed live by the 120-piece Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
conducted by Levine, who used a score and video auto-cue to time the music to the animation. Performances followed at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on December 21; the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées is a theatre at 15 avenue Montaigne. Despite its name, the theatre is not on the Champs-Élysées but nearby in another part of the 8th arrondissement of Paris....
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
on December 22; the Orchard Hall
Bunkamura
The Bunkamura is a concert hall, theater and museum located in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, operated by Tokyu Group.- Venues :The four main venues are:*Orchard Hall: 2,150 seats*Theatre Cocoon: 747 seats*The Museum - Changing art exhibits...
in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
on December 27; and the Pasadena Civic Auditorium
Pasadena Conference Center
The Pasadena Conference Center is a convention center in Pasadena, California, near Los Angeles, owned by the City of Pasadena. It consists of three buildings.-Pasadena Civic Auditorium:...
in Pasadena, Florida on December 31, where Derrick Inouye conducted.
Fantasia 2000 was first screened in 75 IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
cinemas worldwide from January 1 to April 30, 2000, becoming the first animated feature-length film to be exhibited in the format. A temporary venue was constructed for its run in Los Angeles at a near cost of $4 million, as Disney was unable to reach an agreement with the operators of the single IMAX cinema in the city. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $2,239,941 in 54 cinemas in the United States and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
for an average of $41,481 per theater. It set new records as the highest gross for any IMAX engagement and surpassed the highest weekly total for any previous IMAX film. Its three-day worldwide gross reached $3,874,000, and records were set at 18 international venues that showed the film. Fantasia 2000 grossed a worldwide total of over $21 million in 30 days, and $64.5 million at the end of its four-month IMAX engagement. Following its release in 1,313 regular theatres in the US on June 16, 2000, the film grossed $2.8 million in its opening weekend that ranked eleventh at the box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
. Fantasia 2000 has grossed a total of over $90.8 million worldwide.
Critical reception
Fantasia 2000 holds a "fresh" rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, a website that aggregates film reviews
Review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services . This system stores the reviews and then uses them for purposes such as: creating a website for users to view the reviews, selling information to third parties about consumer tendencies and creating databases for...
. Its overall consensus — "Though Fantasia may be flawed in parts, overall it provides an entertaining experience for adults and children alike". 83% of critics gave the film a positive review based on a sample of 81 reviews, with an average score of 7.1 out of 10. Among the website's "top critics", it has an 83% positive rating from six reviews. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
describes some of the animation as "powerful" though others "a little pedestrian", but noted the film was "splendid entertainment" and rated it three stars out of four.
Home media
In November 2000, the film was released on VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
. A three-disc DVD set named The Fantasia Anthology issued in the same month presented Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 with Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
5.1 surround sound
5.1 surround sound
5.1 is the common name for six channel surround sound multichannel audio systems. 5.1 is now the most commonly used layout in both commercial cinemas and home theaters. It uses five full bandwidth channels and one low frequency enhancement channel . Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, DTS, and...
. A variety of bonus features were included in the bonus disc, The Fantasia Legacy. On November 30, the film's soundtrack was released on CD, with Levine conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra for Rhapsody in Blue and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the remaining tracks. Roy Disney precedes the 2000 VHS and DVD releases with a special introduction made for those releases highlighting key Disney productions Steamboat Willie
Steamboat Willie
Steamboat Willie is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black-and-white by The Walt Disney Studio and released by Celebrity Productions. The cartoon is considered the debut of Mickey Mouse, and as his girlfriend Minnie, but the characters...
(the first time Walt used synchronised sound), Flowers and Trees
Flowers and Trees
Flowers and Trees is a 1932 Silly Symphonies cartoon produced by Walt Disney, directed by Burt Gillett, and released to theatres by United Artists on July 30, 1932...
(a Silly Symphony and first color cartoon), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated film based on Snow White, a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. It was the first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full...
(first Walt Disney Classic film), Fantasia (Fantasound process) and CGI-involved films The Great Mouse Detective
The Great Mouse Detective
The Great Mouse Detective is a 1986 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, originally released to movie theaters on July 2, 1986 by Walt Disney Pictures...
(Big Ben's gears were computer-generated and combined with the hand-drawn character cels) Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)
Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirtieth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the third film of the Disney Renaissance period...
(ballroom scene), Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2 is a 1999 American computer animated film directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Lee Unkrich and Ash Brannon. It is the sequel to the 1995 film Toy Story, released by Walt Disney Pictures and the third film to be produced by Pixar...
(Pixar production) and Dinosaur
Dinosaur (film)
Dinosaur is a 2000 American computer-animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures on May 19, 2000, and is the 39th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...
(first completely CGI Disney Classic film).
Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 were reissued in November 2010 as a two-disc DVD set and a four-disc DVD and Blu-ray combo that boasts 1080p
1080p
1080p is the shorthand identification for a set of HDTV high-definition video modes that are characterized by 1080 horizontal lines of resolution and progressive scan, meaning the image is not interlaced as is the case with the 1080i display standard....
high-definition video
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
and 7.1 surround sound DTS-HD Master Audio
DTS-HD Master Audio
DTS-HD Master Audio is a lossless audio codec created by Digital Theater System. It was previously known as DTS++. It is an extension of DTS which, when played back on devices which do not support the Master Audio or High Resolution extension, degrades to a "core" track which is lossy. DTS-HD...
. Fantasia 2000 was withdrawn from release and returned to the "Disney Vault
Disney Vault
The "Disney Vault" is the term used by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment for its policy of putting home video releases of Walt Disney Animation Studios's animated features on moratorium...
" moratorium
Moratorium (entertainment)
A moratorium in the home entertainment business refers to the practice of suspending the sales of DVD movies or DVD boxed sets after a certain period of time...
on April 30, 2011. The 2010 edition is dedicated to Roy Disney, who died a year prior to its release. The Blu-ray also contains Destino as a bonus feature.
Credits
Note: All segments performed by the Chicago Symphony OrchestraChicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
with conductor James Levine
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and as of May 2011 he has...
, except where noted.
| Segment | Personnel |
|---|---|
| Live-action scenes | |
| Symphony No. 5 | |
| Pines of Rome | |
| Rhapsody in Blue | |
| Piano Concerto No. 2 | |
| The Carnival of the Animals (Le Carnival des Animaux), Finale | |
| The Sorcerer's Apprentice | |
| Pomp and Circumstance, Marches #1, 2, 3, & 4 | |
| Firebird Suite – 1919 Version | |