Information

Strange World is a 2022 American animated science-fiction adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It was directed by Don Hall, co-directed and written by Qui Nguyen, and produced by Roy Conley. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Zabuki Young-White, Gabrielle Union and Lucy Liu. Strange World follows a legendary family of adventurers called the Clades (Gyllenhaal, Quaid, Young-White and Union), who must put their differences aside as they embark on a journey to a mysterious underground land inhabited by surreal lifeforms to survive. Pando is a miraculous plant that is the source of power for their society.

Hall conceived Strange World in 2017 while finishing co-directing Moana (2016). Strange World draws inspiration from pulp magazines, Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Fantastic Voyage (1966), Jurassic Park (1993) and King Kong (1933). In order to communicate non-verbally, several animators worked to create the movements of the Splat character. Although the film is predominantly CGI, the film includes 2D animation by Randy Haycock, additional 2D animation in certain scenes by Eric Goldberg and Mark Hahn. Henry Jackman provided the musical score. The film was noted for introducing Walt Disney Animation Studios’ first openly LGBTQ lead character, causing the film to be pulled for theatrical release in some territories.

Strange World premiered at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood on November 15, 2022, and was released theatrically in the United States on November 23. The film received generally positive reviews from critics but grossed only $73.6 million with estimated losses. $197 million for Disney, making it one of the biggest box-office bombs of all time. After its streaming release on Disney+, Strange World ranked as the top streaming film for 19 days.

Details

In Avalonia, a land surrounded by endless walls of mountains, adventurer Jaeger Kled and his teenage son explorer brave the wilderness to explore new worlds. While trying to cross the mountain, the explorer discovers a green plant that gives energy. He and the rest of the expedition team decide to return to Avalonia with the plant while Jaeger angrily continues his mission alone.

25 years later, the explorer has made a name for himself by introducing the miraculous plant known as Pando as Avalonia’s fuel source. He and his wife, Meridian Pando, are farmers, while their son, Ethan, has a crush on his friend Diazo, and hopes to become a farmer like him. One night, Callisto Mal, the president of Avalonia and one of Jaeger’s former expedition teammates, shows up on his airship, the Venture, informing the Clades that Pando is losing his power and asking the explorer to help him find the cause. He joins an expedition to travel to a huge sinkhole, where Panda’s roots were located. On the way down, Meridian tries to catch up on his crop-duster while Ethan and their dog ride away on the legendary venture. The Venture, attacked by a red wyvern-like creature, crash-lands in the underground world, where the Explorers and Legends are separated from the team. They are attacked by a creature called a “Reaper”, but are rescued by Jaeger, who has been living underground for all these years. He is trying to cross the mountain from below, but is blocked by an acidic ocean, and wishes to board the Venture to try to cross it.

Meanwhile, Ethan wanders away from the Venture to find the Seeker. He befriends an amorphous blue creature, naming it Splat, before reuniting with the Inquisitors, Legends, and Jaeger. They are attacked by more Reapers, but are rescued by Meridian and Callisto and return to the Venture. The Inquisitors insist on completing their mission, while Jaeger wants to continue traveling across the strange world. Ethan becomes frustrated with them and their opposing worldviews. After another wild encounter, the Seeker and Jaeger finally have a heart-to-heart and realize that they respect each other’s goals in life. They eventually find a cluster of Pandaro roots, which are being attacked by creatures from a strange world. When the explorer learns that Ethan wants to explore more of the strange world, he blames Jaeger’s influence on him. Ethan angrily jumps out of the Venture and into a Reaper. The explorers follow him in a small flying craft, but as they settle down, they realize they have passed through the mountains to the ocean, where they see the eyes of a giant turtle-like creature. The two realize that Avalonia is on the creature’s back and they are traveling through its body, meaning that the Reaper and all the other creatures are immune to it.

Seeing an infection attacking the Pando creature’s heart, they return to inform the expedition that Pando must be destroyed, but Callisto holds them back to prevent them from stopping their mission, while Jaeger angrily sets off to see for himself. After freeing the Legends and the Splat family, the Inquisitors and Ethan head to the heart of the creature to clear a path for the Reapers, while Meridian takes over the ship and convinces Callisto to help. Jaeger returns, and with his help, they break Pando, and the creatures appear and destroy it, reviving the heart and saving the land.

A year later, Ethan ties up with Diazo when they and their friends collect resources from the Strange World. Avalonia Pando has transitioned from energy to wind turbines. Jaeger revisits his ex-wife Penelope who remarried in his absence, and the Inquisitor and Jaeger’s relationship improves. The camera zooms away from Avalonia to reveal a giant turtle-like creature on an ocean-covered planet.

Cartoon Voice Cast

Jake Gyllenhaal as Sergeant Clyde, a 40-year-old man who is Jaeger’s son, Meridian’s husband, and Ethan’s father, as well as a farmer from the Pando energy source.
Dennis Quaid as Jaeger Clyde, the Inquisitor’s father and Ethan’s grandfather who is a larger-than-life Inquisitor.
Zabuki Young-White as Ethan Clyde, the explorer’s 16-year-old son who longs for adventure beyond his father’s farm and navigates a school crush on Diazo. A gay character, Ethan is Walt Disney Animation Studios’ first openly LGBTQ main character.
Gabrielle Union as Meridian Clade, Ethan’s mother and explorer’s wife who is a pilot and natural leader of the Venture.
Lucy Liu as Callisto Mal, President of Avalonia and leader of the strange world exploration who helps lead the Clydes on adventures in his airship called the Venture.
Karan Soni as Caspian, a naive member of the expedition in a strange world.
As Alan Tudyk:
Duffle, a pilot on an expedition to Strange World, who is killed by red wyvern-like creatures on the Venture. His role is a reference to Tudyk’s Firefly character Hoban “Wash” Washburn.
Newsreel narrator at the beginning of the film.
Radio host #1
Adelina Anthony as Captain Pulk, the expedition’s second-in-command on Strange World.
Abraham Benruby as Lonnie Redshirt, a member of Jaeger’s expedition crew before he disappeared. His last name refers to the Star Trek tendency for those who wear red shirts to die trivially.
Jonathan Mello as Diazo, Ethan’s love interest and eventual lover.
Nick Dodani as Kardez, one of Ethan’s friends.
Francesca Real as Azimuth, one of Ethan’s best friends.
Emily Kuroda as Ro
Reid Buck as Rory
Katie Lowes as Radio Host #2
Lanissa Frederick as Client #2
Dave Kohut as Client #3
Alice Kina Diehl as Client #4
Additional voice cast for Strange World include Terry Douglas, Liza del Mundo, Shondalia White, Melanie Minichino, Michael Ralph, Shane Sweet, Arthur Ortiz, and Matt Young King.

Non-speaking roles in the film include the legendary, three-legged dog of Clydes who resembles an Old English sheepdog; Splat, the blue creature of the strange world; other Avalonia animals; and Penelope Clade, Jaeger’s ex-wife and explorer’s mother who retired from adventuring and remarried to a man named Sheldon. In the end credits, Legends and Splat are listed as playing “themselves”.

Box Office

Strange World grossed $38 million in the United States and Canada and $35.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $73.6 million. After its weak opening weekend, Variety and Deadline Hollywood estimated that the film would lose studios $100-197 million.

In the United States and Canada, Strange World was released alongside Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and Devotion, as well as the wider expansions of The Fablemans and Bones and All, and was initially estimated to gross $30–40 million. 4,174 theaters in its five-day opening weekend. The film grossed $4.2 million on its first day (including $800,000 from Tuesday night previews), leading to less optimism that it will meet early box office estimates and could debut as low as $23 million. The film earned $11.9 million in its opening weekend ($18.6 million five-day total), debuting less than the initial re-adjustment. Overall, it placed second at the box office behind Disney’s own Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Several publications labeled the film a box office bomb, with The Hollywood Reporter calling it “the worst opening for a Disney animated Thanksgiving title in modern times” and Variety calling it a “disastrous result for Disney”. The poor box-office opening was attributed to bad reviews, an overall big budget, lack of movie theater attendance, anticipation of its streaming release on Disney+ due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rocky company politics, mediocre critical reviews, a vague and underwhelming premise, and other Disney Less marketing than animated films. So that Disney can focus on making its streamers for families, it creates consumer confusion. When Bob Iger returned as Disney CEO before the release, the distribution division, previously headed by Kareem Daniels, was quickly disbanded. Strange World ends its theatrical run in the US and Canada on February 2, 2023.

About

Directed by	Don Hall
Written by	Qui Nguyen
Produced by	Roy Conli
Starring	·         Jake Gyllenhaal ·         Dennis Quaid ·         Jaboukie Young-White ·         Gabrielle Union ·         Lucy Liu
Cinematography	Tracy Scott Beattie (layout) Brian Leach (lighting)
Edited by	Sarah K. Reimers
Music by	Henry Jackman
Production companies	·         Walt Disney Pictures ·         Walt Disney Animation Studios
Distributed by	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release dates	·         November 15, 2022 (El Capitan Theatre) ·         November 23, 2022 (United States)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$135–180 million
Box office	$73.6 million

ScreenShots