Reception
Titan A.E. received a mixed critical response, though it did receive an Annie Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. The film is surprisingly a financial failure causing Fox Animation Studios to shut down. The film opened at #5, with only $9,376,845 for an average of only $3,430 from each of its 2,734 theaters. The film then lost 60% of its audience in its second weekend, dropping to #8, with a gross of just $3,735,300 for an average of just $1,346 from 2,775 theaters. The film ended up grossing a mere $36,754,634 worldwide ($22,753,426 in the United States and Canada, and $14,001,208 in international markets).
A reason commonly given for the financial failure of Titan A.E. is its poor marketing with a poorly-identified target audience. It combined post-apocalyptic situations with childlike supporting characters, and people were unsure, having seen trailers for the film, whether it was intended for an older sci-fi fan crowd, or whether it was pitched more at children. This confusion was further increased by the mixture of people used to write and direct the production. Don Bluth added to the confusion when he stated during an interview with HBO's First Look, "This is not one of those cute, little kid musicals; this film is nothing but action." The film received 51% positive reviews from critics according to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Notably, though, film critic Roger Ebert loved it, giving it 3.5/4 stars for its "rousing story", "largeness of spirit", and "lush galactic visuals are beautiful in the same way photos by the Hubble Space Telescope are beautiful." He cited the Ice Rings sequence as "a perfect example of what animation can do and live action cannot."
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