The Writer

The Writer is a 1997 animated fantasy comedy-drama action film directed by Garrett Fredrickson and written by John Patrick Shanley. Starring the voices of Chevy Chase, Sheena Easton, Michael Ironside, Jon Lovitz, Alicia Silverstone, Dom DeLuise and Tim Conway, the film is about a struggling writer named Truman Mullins who has an unfinished fantasy story he hasn't been motivated to complete due to various things going on in his life; then, one of the characters from his story, a princess, ends up in the real world. Other characters from the story also start appearing in the real world, unfortunately including its villain, a raven-like monster known as Reckor. Now, Truman has to figure out how to send the characters back into the story's world and defeat the raven before it wreaks havoc on the earth.

The film was produced by Nightstorm Productions and animated by Oriental Light & Magic, Inc. It was originally going to be released by 20th Century Fox, but due to creative differences and LA's Biggest Con underperforming at the box office, Fox backed out of the project and sold the domestic distribution rights to DreamWorks Pictures and the international distribution rights to Paramount Pictures, making it the first animated film to be released by the former company. It was eventually released on October 17, 1997 by DreamWorks Pictures, where it grossed $165 million against a budget of $40 million and generally positive reviews from critics, with much praise going to the story, characterization and voice acting.

Plot
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Release
The Writer was originally going to be released by 20th Century Fox, but due to creative differences and LA's Biggest Con bombing at the box office, they backed out of distribution. DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures would both purchase the distribution rights from Fox and released the film in theaters on October 17, 1997. It was originally planned for a November 21, 1997 release, but the release was moved up to avoid competition with Anastasia and to avoid furthering the feud between DreamWorks and Disney due to the re-release of The Little Mermaid being the week after.

On November 26, 2004, the film was given a limited theatrical rerelease through DreamWorks Animation under the title of The Writer: The Complete Story. It was an extended cut of the film which increased it's runtime from 89 minutes to 103 minutes, along with various other minor changes. It was later released on DVD in 2005 and was included on the Blu-ray release.

Marketing
The Writer was Garrett Fredrickson's first film to have a fast-food tie in, specifically with Burger King. Fredrickson had long been critical of these sorts of tie ins, but he decided to give in for this film. Other tie in deals for the film included deals with American Online, Shell Oil, NBC, TOMY, and Dole Food Company.

Home media
The Writer was released on VHS and DVD by DreamWorks Home Entertainment on October 20, 1998. Supplements on the DVD include production notes, cast and crew biographies and the movie's trailer. The Complete Story edition was released on June 14, 2005, with additional bonus features such as new interviews and alternate production notes.

In 2013, DreamWorks Animation reacquired the distribution rights to most of their pre-2013 films from Paramount Pictures, who held the rights to them alongside the live action library. The Writer, however, was retained by Paramount due to them already having the international distribution rights. Paramount Home Media Distribution released the film on Blu-ray for the film's twentieth anniversary on October 17, 2017, with both the theatrical and Complete Story cuts being included.