Delgo (film)

Delgo
Theatrical release poster
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 Louis Gossett Jr. Val Kilmer Malcolm McDowell
Music by	Geoff Zanelli
Cinematography	Herb Kossover
Studio	Electric Eye Entertainment Corporation Freestyle Releasing
Distributed by	Fathom Studios
Release date(s)	December 12, 2008 (2008-12-12)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$40,000,000[1]
Box office	$915,840[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 winning the 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 $915,840 in theatres against an estimated budget of $40,000,000, according to box office tracking site The Numbers. The film was released independently with a large screen count (over 2,000 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.^{[citation needed]} 20th 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.

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 (Anne Bancroft), believe in the superiority of their own race and try to take land away form the Lokni. Delgo (Freddie Prinze Jr.)'s parents are killed in the resulting conflict. Nohrin King Zahn (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, meanwhile, is raised by Elder Marley (Michael Clarke Duncan), 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 Princess Kyla (Jennifer Love Hewitt) of the Nohrin and develops a tentative friendship with her. When she is kidnapped by General Raius (Malcolm McDowell), who is actually working for Sedessa, Delgo and his friend Filo (Chris Kattan) are blamed and arrested.

In the Nohrin Prison, Delgo meets General Bogardus (Val Kilmer), 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 Kyla. 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, it turns out Raius wasn't dead, and he makes one last attempt to end Delgo. He is subdued by a Nohrin, but not before he throws his spear at Delgo. Then, out of nowhere, the spear breaks in mid-air. Everyone turns to look at Filo, who has finally mastered his slingshot. Later, Delgo and Kyla's friendship blossoms into romance when they finally kiss.

Cast

• Sally Kellerman as the Narrator
• Freddie Prinze Jr. as Delgo
• Jennifer Love Hewitt as Princess Kyla
• Anne Bancroft as Sedessa
• Chris Kattan as Filo
• Val Kilmer as General Bogardus
• Malcolm McDowell as General 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
• Mary Matilyn Mouser as Baby Delgo
• David Heyer as Talusi
• John Vernon as Judge Nohrin

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, Marc 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 production, Fathom Studios created a viral marketing campaign. In 2001, seven years in advance of the film's eventual release date, 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 film 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 film is dedicated to her. Additionally, John Vernon, the voice of Judge Nohrin, died in 2005, making this his final film.

The directors acknowledge the influence of artist Roger Dean, specifically his album covers for Yes and Asia, on their backgrounds.^[17]

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. A Blu-ray was released on October 5, 2010. The DVD extras include audio commentary from the directors, featurettes, six deleted scenes, and the short "Chroma Chameleon".^[6]

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).^[18] Delgo received the "Best Feature Film" award at 2008's Anima Mundi.^[19]

Reception

Box office

Delgo is notable for producing the worst opening ever for a film playing in over 2,000 theaters, earning $511,920 at 2,160 sites;^[20] according to Yahoo! Movies, this averages to approximately 2 viewers per screening.^[21] Delgo also holds the record for being the lowest-grossing computer-animated film of all time with just over $915,000 made worldwide. This record used to be held by the 2006 film Doogal ($7.2 million) and the 2009 film Battle For Terra ($6 million).

Critical response

Reviews of the film have been largely negative. Rotten Tomatoes reports that only 12% of critics gave positive reviews based on 39 reviews, with an average score of 3.8/10, with the site's consensus stating that "Delgo features a blend of plot elements from earlier (and superior) fantasy films, with weaker animation and dull characters."^[22] Metacritic, based on a normalized rating from 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film an average score of 27 out of 100, indicating "genrally unfavorable", based on 10 reviews ^[23] panning the film for its fantasy clichés among other failings. Leonard Maltin's bestselling publication "TV Movies" gives the film a BOMB rating, calling it "a complete misfire."

Critics from Newsday^[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 film 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]

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.

See also

• List of animated feature films
• List of computer-animated films
• List of biggest box office bombs

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Thielman, Sam (2008-10-24). "Fathom drawn to animated 'Delgo'". Variety (Reed Business Information). http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117994608.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved 2008-11-19. 
2. ^ "Movie Delgo - Box Office Data". The Numbers. http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2008/DELGO.php. Retrieved 12 August 2011. 
3. ^ Dunkley, Cathy (2004-06-15). "'Delgo' gets Creatives rep". Variety (Reed Business Information). http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117906536.html?categoryid=1236&cs=1. Retrieved 2008-11-19. 
4. ^ "Delgo Comes To You In Theaters". Hot Moms Club. http://www.hotmomsclub.com/articles/17704. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ "Worst Opening at the Box Office for All Wide Releases". Box Office Mojo. 2008-12-15. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/weekends/worstopenings.htm?page=WRSTOPN&sort=opening&order=ASC&p=.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-17. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "Delgo Fluttering to DVD via MGM and Fox". Digital Chumps. 2009-07-22. http://www.digitalchumps.com/movie-news/91-officialmovienews/3404-delgo-fluttering-to-dvd-via-mgm-and-fox.html. 
7. ^ Koehler, Robert (2007-02-05). "Delgo". Variety. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939196.html?categoryid=31&cs=1. Retrieved 2008-12-11. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Tracy, Joe (2001). "dFX Interview: Marc Adler (About Delgo)". Digital Media FX. http://www.digitalmediafx.com/Interviews/marc-adler.html. Retrieved 2008-12-22. 
9. ^ Tracy, Joe (2001). "dFX Interview: Jason F. Maurer". Digital Media FX. http://www.digitalmediafx.com/Interviews/jason-maurer.html. Retrieved 2008-12-22. 
10. ^ Delgo.com: Digital Dailies
11. ^ Ain't It Cool News
12. ^ "fathom studios delgo". El Portal del 3D y la Animación. 2002. http://www.3dyanimacion.com/entrevistas/entrevistas.cfm?link=delgoen. Retrieved 2008-12-22. 
13. ^ ^{a b c} Ruhe, Pierre (2008-12-11). "Atlanta talent creates animated epic ‘Delgo’". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. http://www.accessatlanta.com/movies/content/movies/stories//2008/12/11/atlanta_animated_delgo.html. Retrieved 2008-12-22. 
14. ^ Hénault, Jean-Eric. "DELGO: Proof digital dreams can become reality". CG Channel. http://www.cgchannel.com/news/showfeature.jsp?newsid=1386&pid=3. Retrieved 2008-12-22. ^{[dead link]}
15. ^ Godman, Martin (2008-12-04). "Delgo and the Independent Spirit (Page 2)". Animation World Magazine. AWN. http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&category2=&article_no=3846&page=2. Retrieved 2008-12-22. 
16. ^ ^{a b} Fritz, Steve (2008-12-11). "Animated Shorts: The Story of Delgo". http://www.newsarama.com/film/120811-AniShorts-Delgo.html. Retrieved 2008-12-22. 
17. ^ DVD commentary track.
18. ^ "Delgo named best feature film at Anima Mundi". The Big Cartoon Forum. 2008-07-27. http://forum.bcdb.com/forum/Delgo_named_best_feature_film_at_Anima_Mundi_P90416. 
19. ^ Godman, Martin (2008-12-04). "Delgo and the Independent Spirit (Page 1)". Animation World Magazine. AWN. http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&category2=&article_no=3846&page=1. Retrieved 2008-12-22. 
20. ^ "'The Day the Earth" Stalls". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2522&p=.htm. 
21. ^ "Animated 'Delgo' Has Worst Wide Release Opening Ever". Yahoo! Movies. 2008-12-15. http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/delgo-worst-opening-ever.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-15. ^{[dead link]}
22. ^ "Delgo Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/delgo/. Retrieved 2009-10-22. 
23. ^ "Delgo (2008):Reviews". http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/delgo. Retrieved 2009-10-22. 
24. ^ "Delgo Review". http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/movies/mobile/6159789.html. 
25. ^ Koslow, Jessica (2008-12-10). "film notes - reviews: Delgo". Campus Circle.
26. ^ "Movie Reviews: Delgo". http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/movies/a0004398.cfm. 
27. ^ "IMDB". http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000843/. 
28. ^ Keogh, Tom (2008-12-11). "Delgo": animated fable falls short of mythic status". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/2008496883_mr12delgo.html. Retrieved 2008-12-17. 
29. ^ "Animated Shorts: Starting a New Animation Studio". Newsarama. 2008-12-16. http://www.newsarama.com/film/120816-Ani-Shorts-Delgo2.html. Retrieved 2008-12-17. 
30. ^ "Atlanta's Delgo dawns after years in the making". Creative Loafing. 2008-12-10. http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/atlanta_s_delgo_dawns_after_years_in_the_making/Content?oid=637100. 
31. ^ Schuker, Lauren A. E. (2008-12-19). "Kids' Animated Film 'Delgo' Opens Poorly". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122956947512017319.html. Retrieved 2009-01-24. 
32. ^ "Delgo Goes Dell". Dell. 2008-04-15. http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/casestudies/854_2008_Fathom%20Studios_89997315_v1.pdf. 

External links

• Official website
• Delgo at the Internet Movie Database
• Delgo at AllRovi
• Delgo at Box Office Mojo
• Delgo at Rotten Tomatoes
• Delgo at Metacritic