Anastasia (1997 film)
Anastasia is a 1997 American animated musical drama-adventure film produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. It was the first musical feature film to be released by Fox Animation Studios. The film features the voices of Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Hank Azaria, Bernadette Peters, and Angela Lansbury.
The idea for the film originated from 20th Century Fox's 1956 live-action film of the same name. The plot is loosely based on an urban legend which claimed that the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, the youngest daughter of Nicholas II–the last Emperor of Russia–in fact survived the execution of her family, and thus takes various liberties with historical fact.
Anastasia premiered on November 14, 1997 in New York City, and was released on November 21, 1997 in the United States and, despite the objections of some historians to its fantastical retelling of the life of the Grand Duchess, enjoyed a positive reception from many critics. The budget of the film was $53,000,000 and globally it grossed $139,804,348, making Anastasia a box office success. The film also received nominations for several awards, including two Oscars for Best Original Song ("Journey to the Past") and Best Original Musical or Comedy Score. It is the most successful film from Don Bluth and Fox Animation Studios to date.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released a direct-to-video prequel called Bartok the Magnificent in 1999. The film features the adventures of Bartok, Rasputin's bat crony, before he became the henchman of the power-mad sorcerer. Fox Interactive published a PC game based on the film titled Anastasia: Adventures with Pooka and Bartok in 1997.
The live entertainment company Stage Entertainment acquired the rights to produce a stage adaptation of Anastasia in 2012. The adaptation, currently in development for a future European premiere, will feature five songs from the original film as well as fifteen new stage-only songs. A 29-hour reading of the adaptation featuring Kelli Barrett as Anastasia, Angela Lansbury as the Dowager Empress, Aaron Tveit as Dimitri, and Patrick Page as Vladimir was held in Manhattan in late July 2012.