It has been almost two decades since Disney released Atlantis: The Lost Empire, the adventure epic that followed a group of explorers as they made their way to the mythical lost city of Atlantis. Many fans of the film believe that it is one of Disney's most underrated movies and are therefore ecstatic over rumors that a live-action remake is in the works.
As Disney's first animated sci-fi movie, it was notable for its story, design, and the talent that went into making it. While fans eagerly await news about the remake, here are 10 things that most of us probably didn't know about Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
"Fewer Songs, More Explosions"
If there is one thing that Disney movies are known for, it is their The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, wanted to shift Disney into a new direction that was reminiscent of their adventure movies of the past.
In order to really hit home how different they wanted this film to be, Trousdale had t-shirts made for the crew with the phrase "Fewer Songs, More Explosions" printed on them. True to the words on their shirts, the film had tons of explosions, which also made it one of Disney's deadliest movies in of body count.
Joss Whedon Was The First Writer Attached
Atlantis: The Lost Empire had a lot of influential names attached to the project and Joss Whedon was one of them. Whedon wrote the first treatment of the movie and had originally ed the project because he wanted to work on a musical. Therefore, he quickly left the film.
Whedon himself has said that his work on the film eventually had very little to do with the end product and his name on the credits was simply there as he was the first writer on it.
The Atlantean Language Was Created By Star Trek's Klingon Creator, Marc Okrand
As far as creating fictional languages go, linguist Marc Okrand is certainly one of the best. Therefore, it is no surprise that he worked on creating the Atlantean language.
Interestingly, Okrand may have also helped with Milo's appearance, as animator John Pomeroy sketched bits of Okrand on to Milo as he was the only linguist that he had ever met.
It Had A Unique Design
One of the things that made Atlantis: The Lost Empire stand apart from the other animated movies at the time was its unique design, which has often been praised as the most inventive parts of the movie. As one of the few Disney animated films to be shot in widescreen, it allowed the animators to depict more detail and action in a scene.
This was complemented by their use of CGI, which was the most used in any traditional animated Disney movie at the time. Notably, the style of the movie from its background to its characters was heavily influenced by the style of Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, which provided the film with the perfect design to turn it into an epic action-adventure.
It Could Have Been A Pirates Of The Caribbean Adventure
During the early stages of the movie, there were lots of ideas about what type of adventure it should be and one of the suggestions was live-action adaptation in the works already.
Although their idea was scrapped, the crew seemingly had a problem getting pirates off their minds, as the first image developed for the movie showed a pirate ship being attacked by a giant mechanical monster and Milo was, at one point, going to be the descendent of the legendary pirate, Blackbeard.
There Was A Whole Atlantean Ecosystem Designed
For fans of the film who have ever wondered how exactly Atlantis was able to survive under the water, background supervisor Lisa Keene created a full model of the Atlantean ecosystem.
It was based on the idea that the crystal was able to draw up water into the city from the ocean and the magma near the Earth's core would create steam that could water plants, and thereby create oxygen.
The Viking Prologue
Atlantis: The Lost Empire opens with the Queen of Atlantis sacrificing herself in order to save the city. Yet, this was not the original idea for the opening scene. Instead, the prologue of the movie was meant to follow a Viking ship that was attacked by a giant sea monster and all that remained of it was the Shepherd's Journal.
The scene was animated, colored, and cut into the movie, but it was eventually scrapped after the head of the story department, John Sandford, came up with a better idea to link Atlantis to the story and give it a little more heart.
There Could Have Been A Lot More Monsters
Initially, there were lots of ideas on the type of monsters the team would encounter before they reached Atlantis and it included among others, Squid Bats, Lava Whales, and a giant creature called the Land Beast. There were so many creatures that Mike Mignola even called it a "monster parade."
However, they quickly realized that not all those ideas could fit into the movie, and instead, the time was mostly spent on Milo bonding with the rest of the crew.
The Film Was Accused Of Ripping Off Nadia: The Secret Of Blue Water
There is no doubt that Atlantis: The Lost Empire was one of Disney's most unique movies, but at the time of its release, the film was accused of stealing a lot of its ideas from the Japanese anime, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water.
The similarities between the two are quite remarkable and include some of the plot, the look of a few characters, and the existence of the Blue Crystal. However, whether the movie actually copied the anime is heavily debated, as both drew heavily from the works of Jules Verne, while things like the crystal could have been influenced by the works of Edgar Cayce.
There Were Plans For A Theatrical Sequel
While many people loved Atlantis: The Lost Empire, it suffered from mixed reviews and a relatively average box office performance. This caused Disney to abandon any plans for developing it further. At the time, there was a TV series in the works called Team Atlantis. However, it was canceled, and the episodes were combined to form the direct-to-video sequel, Atlantis: Milo's Return.
Recently it was revealed that Wise, Trousdale, and Sandford had villain that would have been none other than Helga Sinclair.
