Taglines: Every ant has his day.
Antz movie storyline. In an anthill with millions of inhabitants, Z 4195 is a worker ant. Feeling insignificant in a conformity system, he accidentally meets beautiful Princess Bala, who has a similar problem on the other end of the social scale. In order to meet her again, Z switches sides with his soldier friend Weaver – only to become a hero in the course of events.
By this he unwillingly crosses the sinister plans of ambitious General Mandible (Bala’s fiancé, by the way), who wants to divide the ant society into a superior, strong race (soldiers) and an inferior, to-be-eliminated race (the workers). But Z and Bala, both unaware of the dangerous situation, try to leave the oppressive system by heading for Insectopia, a place where food paves the streets.
Antz is a 1998 American computer-animated adventure comedy film directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson and written by Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz, and Todd Alcott. The film stars Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bancroft, and Gene Hackman. Some of the main characters share facial similarities with the actors who voice them. Antz is DreamWorks Pictures’ first animated film, and the second feature-length computer-animated film after Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story.
The film’s production resulted in a controversial public feud between DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steve Jobs and John Lasseter of Pixar, concerning the parallel productions of this film and Pixar’s A Bug’s Life. This only worsened when Disney refused to avoid competition with DreamWorks’ intended first animated release, The Prince of Egypt (1998). Antz premiered on September 19, 1998, at the Toronto International Film Festival, and was released theatrically in the United States on October 2, 1998.
The film topped the box office in its opening weekend, earning $17,195,160 for a $7,021 average from 2,449 theatres.[8] In its second weekend, the film held the top spot again, with a slippage of only 14% to $14.7 million for a $5,230 average and expanding to 2,813 sites. It held well also in its third weekend, slipping only 24% to $11.2 million and finishing in third place, for a $3,863 average from 2,903 theatres. The film’s widest release was 2,929 theatres, and closed on February 18, 1999. The film altogether picked up $90,757,863 domestically, but failed to outgross the competition with A Bug’s Life. The film picked up an additional $81 million overseas for a worldwide total of $171.8 million.
According to DreamWorks, the film’s budget was about $42 million, while the number $60 million was also reported at the time. According to Los Angeles Times, the first figure was doubted by the film industry, considering that other computer-animated films at the time cost twice of that amount, and that the budget did not include start-up costs of PDI.
Antz (1998)
Directed by: Eric Darnell, Tim Johnson
Starring: Woody Allen, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bancroft, Jane Curtin, Danny Glover, Gene Hackman, Jennifer Lopez, Paul Mazursky, Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, Christopher Walken
Screenplay by: Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz, Todd Alcott
Production Design by: John Bell
Cinematography by: Simon J. Smith
Film Editing by: Stan Webb
Art Direction by: Kendal Cronkhite
Music by: Harry Gregson-Williams, John Powell
MPAA Rating: PG for mild language and menacing action.
Distributed by: DreamWorks Pictures
Release Date: October 2, 1998
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