Delgo (film)

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Delgo
Promotional movie poster for the film
Directed by	Marc F. Adler Jason Maurer
Produced by	Marc F. Adler
Written by	Marc F. Adler Scott Biear Patrick J. Cowan Carl Dream Jennifer A. Jones
Narrated by	Sally Kellerman
Starring	Freddie Prinze, Jr. Jennifer Love Hewitt Anne Bancroft Chris Kattan Val Kilmer Malcolm McDowell Louis Gossett, Jr. Michael Clarke Duncan Eric Idle Kelly Ripa Burt Reynolds
Music by	Geoff Zanelli
Cinematography	Herb Kossover
Distributed by	Fathom Studios 20th Century Fox (DVD)
Release date(s)	December 12, 2008
Running time	95 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$40,000,000[1]
Gross revenue	$694,782[2]

Delgo is a 2008 computer-animated fantasy film. The film was produced by Fathom Studios, a division of Macquarium Intelligent Communications,^[3] which began development of the project in 1999.

Despite the film's festival appeal, winning the coveted Best Feature award at Anima Mundi^[4], the film's box office was one of the lowest grossing wide releases in recent history^[5]. Delgo grossed just $694,782 in theatres against an estimated budget of $40 million, according to box office tracking site boxofficemojo.com. The film was released independently with a large screen count (over 2000 screens) and a small marketing budget. The lack of marketing and poor timing of the release are both cited as reasons for the disastrous theatrical run. Twentieth Century Fox acquired the film rights for international and DVD distribution^[6] and Cartoon Network purchased the U.S. television rights. Delgo was Anne Bancroft's final film and it is dedicated to her.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast and characters 3 Production 4 Distribution 5 Awards 6 Reception 7 Impact 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Plot

After having left their own world due to a loss of natural resources, the Nohrin settle on Jhamora with the permission of the Lokni. But some of the Nohrin, led by would-be conqueror Sedessa (voiced by Anne Bancroft), believe in the superiority of their own race and try to take land away form the Lokni. Delgo's parents are killed in the resulting conflict. Nohrin King Zahn (voiced by Louis Gossett, Jr.) is horrified by the war and admonishes Sedessa, who then poisons the Queen and almost kills Zahn as well. She is subsequently banished, and her wings are clipped off. Delgo (voiced by Freddie Prinze Jr.) meanwhile, is raised by Elder Marley, who tries to teach him how to use the power of the stones. Once Delgo grows up, however, he gives in to his desire for revenge against the Nohrin as a whole. But then he meets Kyla and develops a tentative friendship with her. When she is kidnapped by General Raius, who is actually working for Sedessa, Delgo and his friend Filo are blamed and arrested.

In the Nohrin Prison, Delgo meets General Bogardus, who was forced to illegally gamble with his weapons by Raius, because Bogardus opposed an all out war with the Lokni. Delgo, Filo, and Bogardus escape into some underground caverns and eventually reach Sedessa's stronghold and rescue Princess Kyla (voiced by Jennifer Love Hewitt). Together they hurry back to try to stop the war from taking place. They are too late, for the war has already begun. Bogardus meanwhile fights and defeats Raius, but is soon after mortally injured. Just as Bogardus dies, Delgo realizes that he was the Nohrin soldier who spared his life many years ago during the first war between the Nohrin and the Lokni. Meanwhile, Sedessa's army of monsters join in the battle. Kyla convinces the Nohrin generals to direct their troops to stop fighting the Lokni and instead pick them up and fly them away from the battlefield. Filo then directs an entire stampede of large animals onto the battlefield, sending Sedessa's minions fleeing for their lives. Delgo goes off to face Sedessa and find King Zahn, whom she has taken prisoner. He finally manages to master the stone magic, and defeats Sedessa. He also puts the past behind him by saving her rather than letting her fall to her death. However, Sedessa then attacks Kyla, who has come to Delgo's aid. The two struggle and Sedessa finally falls, her artificial wings being of no use. Later, during the celebrations, Delgo and Kyla's friendship blossoms into romance when they finally kiss.

[edit] Cast and characters

• Freddie Prinze Jr. as Delgo
• Jennifer Love Hewitt as Kyla
• Anne Bancroft as Sedessa
• Chris Kattan as Filo
• Val Kilmer as Bogardus
• Malcolm McDowell as Raius
• Louis Gossett, Jr. as King Zahn
• Michael Clarke Duncan as Elder Marley
• Eric Idle as Spig
• Kelly Ripa as Kurrin
• Burt Reynolds as Delgo's Father
• Brad Abrell as Spog
• Sally Kellerman as the Narrator
• Mary Matilyn Mouser as Baby Delgo
• David Heyer as Talusi
• John Vernon as Judge Nohrin

[edit] Production

Fathom Studios began development on Delgo in 1999; animation work began in 2001.^[1] The movie was produced by Fathom in conjunction with Electric Eye Entertainment Corporation.^[7]

In a 2001 interview, Adler said that the film sets itself apart from other recent computer-animated films because it is not a comedy and also because it is "a very human story told in a non-human world".^[8] Maurer said that "the inspiration for the story really came from all of unrest we have in society today, prejudice, discrimination, hate crimes, violence - all of those terrible things. We wanted to tell a story where our heroes overcame these things personally and facilitated change among entire peoples."^[9]

During the movie's production, Fathom Studios created a viral marketing campaign. In 2001, they created a teaser stating, "From a Studio Nowhere Near Hollywood ... From People You've Never Heard of ... Comes a Myth for the New Millennium ... Delgo". The teaser was placed on five message boards and soon spread to many more.^{[citation needed]}

Next, they launched the Digital Dailies^[10] on the movie's official website, which allowed fans to follow the production as it happened. Animators would post their work daily on the message board system and fans could see the directors' and producers' input as well as subsequent changes to the scenes.^[11] Although, according to Adler, the original intent of the dailies was to allow the crew to "be able to offer commentary to other staff members who do not work the same hours", he also said that offering a learning experience to the public was an important reason for their creation. "By granting public access to our film as a work-in-process we are helping to educate students, burgeoning animators, and film enthusiasts about the procedures involved in the making of a computer animated movie."^[8] Adler said that the they were "contacted by professors from the many universities who use the Digital Dailies in their classrooms".^[12] The dailies "were receiving a half-million hits a month", and some of the crew members started to get offers from Hollywood studios (At one point Adler started hiding the identities of the crew with fancy aliases).^[13] Adler recruited main crew members locally from "Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia Tech and smaller digital outfits".^[13] Students from the drama department of North Atlanta High School acted out some of the scenes to create reference material for the animators.^[13]

Adler said that their team created eight main characters, at least twenty "secondary characters", "twenty-two creatures, thirty plants, and fifty-six sets", as well as numerous background characters.^[14] According to Warren Grubb, Fathom's head animation director, one of the challenges with modeling the background elements was that "We couldn't even use most of the off-the-shelf systems at the time in creating the background assets because they were based on Earthly vegetation."^[15]

The filmmakers put together kits with artwork and actual replicas of the stones used in the movie to send to the actors, rather than just an offer letter.^[16] Once the cast had signed on, the filmmakers had to travel to where the actors were with all their equipment rather than have the actors come to them to record their voices.^[16] Anne Bancroft, the voice of villain Sedessa, died in 2005, before production finished. On the film's end credits, the movie is dedicated to her. Additionally, John Vernon, the voice of Judge Nohrin, died in 2005, making this his final film.

[edit] Distribution

Distributor-for-hire^[1] Freestyle Releasing distributed the film in 2,160 screens in the United States.

Fox has non-theatrical rights for the world with the exception of U.S. television (not including PPV and VOD). Cartoon Network has basic cable rights.

The DVD was released in the U.S. on August 4, 2009. International DVD release is expected to be first quarter of 2010. The DVD extras include audio commentary from the directors, featurettes, six deleted scenes, and the short "Chroma Chameleon"^[6].

[edit] Awards

The film was accepted by numerous film festivals, including the three largest animation festivals in the world: SICAF (Korea), Annecy (France), and Anima Mundi (Brazil)^[17]. Delgo received the "Best Feature Film" award at 2008's Anima Mundi.^[18]

Delgo was given the honor of invited inclusion to the MPAA library.

[edit] Reception

Delgo is notable for producing the worst opening ever for a movie playing at over 2,000 theaters, earning $511,920 at 2,160 sites^[19]; according to Yahoo Movies this averages to approximately 2 viewers per screening. ^[20] Professional critics gave the film extremely negative reviews such as Rotten Tomatoes reported that 13% of critics gave positive reviews based on 39 reviews with an average score of 3.8/10.^[21] On Metacritic, based on a normalized rating from 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film an average score of 27% based on 10 reviews ^[22] panning the film for its fantasy clichés among other failings.

Critics from Newsday^[23], The Examiner^[24], and Campus Circle^[25] gave the film acclaim, citing a unique look and it was widely accepted by parents for its positive influences^[26]. Universally, Academy Award-winner Anne Bancroft was commended for her performance as the antagonist in what became her final role^[27]. Tom Keogh of The Seattle Times praised Anne Bancroft's "excellent voice work" and noted the film was a "busy but decent animated fable that feels like a Star Wars or Lord of the Rings spinoff"^[28].

Aside from the passing of Ms. Bancroft, the film had several other setbacks which delayed its release^[29]. MGM was originally expected to release the picture but an executive restructuring altered these plans. In addition, the president of Fathom Studio’s parent company, Kevin Foster, died of unexpected heart failure during production, causing attention to be drawn away from the film for almost a year^[30]. The film’s delays may have contributed to its box office disappointment.

[edit] Impact

According to the Wall Street Journal, "the failure of Delgo to attract audiences reflects a glut of films in the crowded holiday corridor and highlights the challenges facing films made and marketed outside the Hollywood system."^[31] The oversaturated market for films has made the opening weekends so competitive that over half of all independent labels folded in the last eighteen months – including subsidiaries of the major studios.

A partnership with Dell provided Fathom Studios with the hardware required to render Delgo^[32]. This is a general trend in the industry as Hewlett-Packard supplies DreamWorks Animation with their computers and Pixar has ties with Apple owing to Steve Jobs's former ownership of the company.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• List of animated feature films
• List of computer-animated films

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Delgo at the Internet Movie Database
• Delgo at Allmovie
• Delgo at Metacritic
• Delgo at Rotten Tomatoes
• Delgo at Box Office Mojo
• Walton, Marsha (2004-04-30). "Animated action: Not just for Hollywood anymore". Cable News Network (CNN). http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/04/30/delgo/. 
• Nunziata, Nick (2004-04-27). "Animating a success story". Cable News Network (CNN). http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Movies/04/27/delgo/.