Disney today unleashes its latest animated feature in theaters nationwide, hoping to snatch family audiences away from DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. While Bolt is sure to draw a crowd, especially for 3-D showings, young girls will be lining up to see the vampire thriller Twilight, which has sold out more than 2,000 midnight shows and is sure to have a huge weekend. Bolt may end up settling for a second-place debut, but is likely to earn more than Twilight over the long haul.
Directed by Chris Williams and Byron Howard, Bolt tells the story of a canine TV star (voiced by John Travolta) that is inadvertently shipped from Hollywood to New York City. During his cross-country journey home to his owner, Penny (Miley Cyrus), he makes the surprising discovery that his TV super powers don’t work in the real world. He his joined in his adventure by a jaded, abandoned housecat named Mittens (Susie Essman) and a TV-obsessed hamster in a plastic ball named Rhino.
The Mouse House has high hopes for the 3-D Bolt, which marks the beginning of a new era for Walt Disney Feature Animation. While John Lasseter has contributed to Meet the Robinsons and Tinkerbell, Bolt is the first film he has overseen from beginning to end since taking over. The reviews for the feature have been quite good’not as stellar as say, a Pixar movie’but critics have been embracing its visuals, the solid 3-D technology and its gentle humor. It’s getting an 84% rating on rottentomatoes.com, which compiles reviews from critics all over the country. (WALL’E rates a 96%.)
Twilight will benefit greatly from a built-in audience. The movie is based on the popular young adult book by Stephenie Meyer and revolves around a love affair between a young girl and a vampire who comes to her high school. Of course, some bad vamps cause trouble for the young couple in this latest attempt to launch a film franchise with literary roots. The vampire pic’s visual effects were provided by CIS Vancouver, Lola VFX, Gentle Giant Studios, Amalgamated Pixels and Rez-Illusion.
