Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a 2001 American animated science fiction adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Valhalla Motion Pictures. The film is the 41st feature film in the Disney Animated Canon, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, from a screenplay written by Tab Murphy and Joss Whedon, with a screen story by Murphy, Whedon, Wise, Trousdale, Bryce Zabel and Jackie Zabel, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Gale Anne Hurd and Don Hahn. It stars Michael J. Fox, Cree Summer, James Garner, John Mahoney, Don Novello, Phil Morris, Corey Burton, Jim Varney (in his final film role before his death), Florence Stanley, Claudia Christian, Jacqueline Obradors, with David Ogden Stiers, and Leonard Nimoy.
Set in 1914, the film tells the story of a young man named Milo James Thatch who gains possession of a sacred book, which he believes will guide him and a crew of adventurers to the lost city of Atlantis.
Development of the film began after production had finished on The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Instead of another musical, the production team decided to do an action-adventure film inspired by the works of Jules Verne. Atlantis was notable for adapting the distinctive visual style of comic book creator Mike Mignola. At the time of its release, the film had made greater use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) than any of Disney's previous animated features by Industrial Light & Magic; it remains one of the few to have been shot in anamorphic format. Linguist Marc Okrand created a language specifically for use in Atlantis, while James Newton Howard provided the score. The film was released at a time when audience interest in animated films was shifting away from hand-drawn animation toward films with full CGI.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on June 3, 2001, and went into general release on June 15. Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, Atlantis performed modestly at the box office. Budgeted at $100 million, the film grossed over $186 million worldwide, $84 million of which was earned in North America. This was likely due to the fact that it had to compete with The Fast and the Furious and Shrek (which involved former Disney worker Jeffrey Katzenberg). Due to the film's poorer-than-expected box-office performance, Disney quietly canceled both a spin-off television series and an underwater attraction at its Disneyland theme park. Some critics praised it as a unique departure from typical Disney animated features, while others disliked it due to the unclear target audience and absence of songs. Atlantis was nominated for a number of awards, including seven Annie Awards, and won Best Sound Editing at the 2002 Golden Reel Awards. The film was released on VHS and DVD on January 29, 2002, with the Blu-ray released on June 11, 2013. Atlantis is considered to be a cult favorite, due in part to Mignola's unique artistic influence. A direct-to-video sequel, Atlantis: Milo's Return, was released in 2003.