The Writer

Dream Man is a 1997 animated made-for-television drama fantasy film directed by Garrett Fredrickson. Loosely inspired by the 1939 short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the film is about an average everyday worker at a magazine company (Kevin Bacon) who starts to become an escapist daydreaming about a fantasy world often encountering an eccentric but beautiful and saint-like woman (Jodi Benson), however, his encounters start to make him debate on whether or not he's really human.

Starring Kevin Bacon, Jodi Benson, Michael Madsen, Jon Lovitz, Christian Slater, Linda Larkin, among others, the film was produced by Nightstorm Productions and Universal Cartoon Studios while being animated at Tokyo Movie Shinsha and Madhouse. It was initially planned for a theatrical release on August 15, 1997 from Universal Pictures, however, production problems such as financial issues, certain recasts, and an animation studio hop from Tokyo Movie Shinsha to Madhouse caused Universal to pull the movie from it's initial theatrical release date and instead the movie ended up being released straight to television on NBC five days before it's initially scheduled release.

Despite the problematic media coverage, the film was a rating success for NBC and received positive reviews from critics, with much praise going to the worldbuilding, characterization, and voice acting, however, some critics also accused Universal of burying the film due to the movie being postponed a theatrical release. Despite that, it did however, see a theatrical release in Japan, Poland and France.

Home media releases

 * 1997 Universal Studios Home Video VHS
 * 2004 Universal Studios Home Entertainment DVD
 * 2008 Universal Studios Home Entertainment DVD (as a Double Pack with The Song of the Shattered Skies, reprint of 2004 DVD)
 * 2017 Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Blu-Ray