Imagine is a 2002 American computer-animated fantasy action-comedy film produced by Tinseltown Animation and distributed by New Line Cinema. The film was directed by Rich Moore and Riley Miller (in their directorial debuts) and written by Miller, John Requa, and Gleen Ficarra from the story by Maia Wilson, Miller and Deanna Oliver, and stars the voices of Gregory Smith, Anne Hathaway, David Cross, Josh Peck, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jenna Elfman, Wayne Knight, Kurt Russell, Alex Borstein, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Stiller, and Isla Fisher. The film tells the story of a young boy Jaylen Miles, who stumbles upon the World of Imagination, where he teams up with a beautiful young girl named Lindsey, a well-known dog named Tyson and a stubborn small dragon-like creature named Teddy to turn his imagination into a reality and find his way home while dealing with a nefarious woman who planning to take over the World of Imagination.
Miller envisioned the idea in 1994, which was based on his childhood dream of himself discovering an fantasy world full with imagination. He then began developing the film as a lighthearted fantasy-comedy during the production of The Lost Density and wrote the original story with Wilson and Oliver to pitch it to Tinseltown, as the studio enter a twelve-year deal with New Line Cinema in 1997, with Requa and Ficarra writing the film's screenplay with Miller. Imagine was animated in-house at Tinseltown Animation's main headquarters in Los Angeles, making this the studio's first fully computer-animated feature film.
The film was released on September 6, 2002, in the United States. It received positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, grossing $258.2 million worldwide on its $75 million budget, making it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2002. Imagine was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but it lost to Spirted Away. It also received a nomination for Best Sound Mixing and Editing.
The film saw a 3D re-release in theaters on February 10, 2012 in honor of its 10th anniversary. The film's success helped spawn an expanded franchise, with four sequels—2006's Imagine Too, 2010's Imagine: Third Time, and 2018's Imagine: Forever & Ever — a holiday special, several short films, a theme park attraction, and two television spin-offs.
Plot[]
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Cast[]
- Gregory Smith as Jaylen Miles, a lonely teenager who alway imagined anything he wanted
- Anne Hathaway as Lindsey, a beautiful young teenage girl who lives in the World of Imagination.
- David Cross as Tyson, a lucky but smart dog.
- Josh Peck as Teddy, a happy-go-lucky small dragon-like creature.
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Marina Lady, a villainous, corrupt, and selfish woman who plots to destroy the World of Imagination.
- Jenna Elfman as Mrs. Imagine, a lovely and sometimes nicest lady who is the creator of the World of Imagination.
- Isla Fisher as Allisson Maker, a cheerful teenage girl who is Lindsey's best friend.
- Ben Stiller as Bennett, Tyson's best friend.
- Wayne Knight as Jace, one of Marina's henchmen. He is sympathetic, and is also ignorant and gullible.
- Kurt Russell as Dante, one of Marina's henchmen. He is the quicker-witted and most aggressive of the two.
- Jennifer Aniston as Priscilla Miles, Jaylen's mother.
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Additional voices[]
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Production[]
Development[]
Riley Miller came up with the concept for Imagine in 1994, during the production of The Cry of the Wolf. He envisioned a story where the main character enter a fantasy imagination world. Miller's original inspiration was from a childhood dream he had of himself finding a talking dog and led him to a unknown portal that "take him to this world".
Miller began work on the film with Maia Wilson and Animaniacs writer Deanna Oliver in early 1997, during the production of The Lost Density finished production. By June 1997, Miller had drafted a treatment with Cohen and Hall that bore some resemblance to the final film. Miller, Wilson, and Oliver pitched the story to Tinseltown Animation CEO Kristian Madson with some initial artwork in September that year. Miller and his story team left with some suggestions in hand and returned to pitch a refined version of the story in January 1998. The film was originally developed under the title of Sweet Imagination, but was changed as it was "pretty too weird". Other titles that had also been considered included Dreams Wonderland, Dreams & Imagine, Mystic Creative, and Dream Titans, among others.
In October 1998, the Los Angeles Times reported that Miller was working on a then-untitled project that would eventually become Imagine, although little else was known about the film at the time. By March 1999, New Line Cinema and Tinseltown revealed the film's title to be Imagine, which would be animated with fully computer-animation, rather than traditional hand-drawn animation that had been done with Tinseltown's previous films, mainly due to controversial public feud between DreamWorks and Pixar on their films Antz and A Bug's Life back in 1998.
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Writing[]
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Casting[]
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Animation[]
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Music[]
Main article: Imagine/Soundtrack
The film's original score was composed by John Powell. The soundtrack album was released on September 3, 2002 by New Line Records.
Release[]
- Main article: Imagine/Release dates
Imagine was originally set to be released worldwide in December 2001, but it was moved up a year later to avoid competition with Paramount/Nickelodeon's Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. The film was released in the United States on September 6, 2002. The film's official premiere took place in Los Angeles on August 26, 2002, with the cast and filmmakers as attendees. A montage of "outtakes" were made and included in the end credits of the film starting on May 10, 2002, which was done because Tinseltown hoped it would encourage people to view the film a second time. Warner Bros. Pictures re-released Imagine in 3D on February 10, 2012, for a two-week limited theatrical re-issue in RealD and IMAX to celebrate the film's 10th anniversary.
On November 16, 2021, it was reported that Warner Bros. and IMAX Corporation were in negotiations to re-release Imagine in IMAX for its 20th anniversary in 2022. On January 3, 2022, it was confirmed that the film will be re-released in IMAX on February 25, 2022.
Imagine was rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for "mild language, crude humor, some action and peril".
Marketing[]
The film's teaser trailer was released online in June 2001 and was attached into Epic MetroToons a month later. The teaser depicts the film's first two minutes, where Tyson showing the audience the world of Imagination. Another teaser trailer was released on November 2, 2001, and was attached to Monsters, Inc. and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The first full trailer was released on March 13, 2002 and was shown with Ice Age two days later. The final trailer was released on June 6, 2004, and was released theatrically in front of Scooby-Doo and Lilo & Stitch.
The film was backed by a large marketing campaign, with toys, books, games, clothes, and many other items becoming available throughout 2002. Burger King promoted the film with a set of 8 kids' meal toys featuring the characters from the film. Additional marketing partners for the film included General Mills, Krispy Kreme, Baskin-Robbins, Coca-Cola, Ad Council, Best Buy, Dodge, and Kodak.
Video game[]
A video game based on the film was released in North America on September 10, 2002, for PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance. It was published by EA Games and developed by EA Redwood Shores for the console versions and was ported by Griptonite Games for GBA. Upon release, the game received a mixed to positive reception.
Home media[]
Imagine was first released on a two-disc collector's edition DVD set on January 7, 2003 by New Line Home Entertainment. The DVD set included sneak preview of the Tinseltown animated feature The Flame and the Cold, deleted scenes, playable games, theatrical trailers and TV spots, a gallery of concept art, a 21-minute-long documentary of how the film was made, and a newly commissioned short film Tyson's Busy Day, which were made specifically for this home-video release, and Black and White, a short film that premiered alongside the feature film in its original theatrical release. It was the highest-selling DVD of 2002, with 18.12 million copies sold. Another single disc release was released July 26, 2005, and the next year a new 2-disc release with extra features on August 15, 2006. It was later released on Blu-ray in North America on September 23, 2008. It was later released on Blu-ray 3D on September 25, 2012, to honor the 10th anniversary of the franchise. An Ultra HD Blu-ray version was released on April 12, 2022, by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment for the film's 20th anniversary.
Reception[]
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Sequels and spin-offs[]
- Main article: Imagine (franchise)
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Transcripts[]
Main[]
To see the main transcript of the film, click here.
Trailers[]
To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.