Cast * Interesting Facts


Directed by: Eric Darnell & Lawrence Guterman
Written by: Todd Alcott & Chris Weitz
Music by: John Powell

Released on: October 2, 1998
Running Time: 87 minutes

Budget: $60 million officially (but $105 million rumored!)
U.S. Opening Weekend: $17.195 million over 2,449 screens
Box-Office: $90.65 million in the U.S., $152.35 million worldwide
 
 

CAST

Z-4195... Woody Allen
Princess Bala... Sharon Stone
From left to right, top to bottom: Sylvester Stallone as Weaver, Woody Allen as Z-4195, Sharon Stone as Princess Bala, Jennifer Lopez as Azteca, Gene Hackman as General Mandible, Christopher Walken as Colonel Cutter, Danny Glover as Barbatus and Anne Bancroft as the QueenWeaver... Sylvester Stallone
Colonel Cutter... Christopher Walken
Chip... Dan Aykroyd
Queen... Anne Bancroft
Muffy... Jane Curtin
Barbatus... Danny Glover
General Mandible... Gene Hackman
Azteca... Jennifer Lopez
Grebs, Drunk Scout... John Mahoney
Psychologist... Paul Mazursky
and Jim Cummings
 
 

INTERESTING FACTS

Teaser released in June 1998  DreamWorks SKG shocked the industry in June 1998 when it made the surprise announcement that Antz was being moved from a March 1999 release to a October 2, 1998 release--nearly two months ahead of Disney's A Bug's Life.  Both films, which have a focus on ants, are fully 3D animated.  Antz was animated by PDI and is the company's first fully 3D animated film. PDI uses a special Crowd Animation System technology, developed in-house, to be able and show scenes that have over 60,000 ants on screen at one time! Antz is the adventure of one ant who wants to make something of his life--to be noted as an individual instead of another number.

  Steve Jobs and John Lasseter of Pixar Animation claimed DreamWorks stole A Bug's Life concept. They say SKG principal Jeffrey Katzenberg lifted the idea when he was second in command at Disney several years ago. "The bad guys rarely win," Jobs tells the Los Angeles Times. Nonsense, replied DreamWorks execs, claiming Disney was just sore because they lost the race to get their film into the theaters. "Steve Jobs should take a pill," DreamWorks marketing exec Terry Press told the Times. "He looks ridiculous." Press also told the Hollywood Reporter that if Katzenberg had had anything to do with A Bug's Life while employed at Disney, all such matters would have been taken care of during his contract buyout. DreamWorks also flatly denied reports--made in both Time and Newsweek this week--that it decided on the Disney-disadvantageous release date only after head mouse Michael Eisner refused to delay Bugs to accommodate Katzenberg's DreamWorks pet project Prince of Egypt.
 
Product placement!
Running for your life
Caught in a water drop
Facing a wasp
Z and the Princess

  Meryl Streep supposedly recorded a part that was either cut or replaced in the final version of the movie.

  DreamWorks animator Aaron Estrada made the following public comments on ANTZ: "As far as ANTZ goes, I thought it was pretty fun. I guess a lot of other people liked it too, because it had the biggest October opening of any film to date ($17.2 million). I'm happy that DreamWorks is making films for a wider audience."

  Jeffrey Katzenberg talked Woody Allen into lending his voice to the main character of Antz, convincing him it would be a lot of fun and only require one day in the studio.  Woody Allen later revealed he didn't keep a fond memory of the recording sessions, which dragged over a week -way more than he wanted to invest in the animated movie- and forced him to repeat the same lines over and over again until they were in the can -something he positively disliked.
 
 

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