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Antz is a 1998 American animated adventure comedy film directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson, and written by Todd Alcott, Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz. Produced by DreamWorks Animation and PDI, the film features an Ensemble cast, including Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Christopher Walken, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bancroft, Danny Glover and Gene Hackman. Some of the main characters share facial similarities with the actors who voice them. The film involves an anxious worker ant, Z, who falls in love with Princess Bala. When the arrogant General Mandible attempts to seize control of the ant colony, Z must combine his desire for purpose with his inner strength to save everyone.
Development began in 1988 when Walt Disney Feature Animation pitched a film called Army Ants, about a pacifist worker ant teaching lessons of independent thinking to his militaristic colony. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Katzenberg had left the company in a feud with CEO Michael Eisner over the vacant president position after the death of Frank Wells. Katzenberg would later go on to help co-found DreamWorks with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, and the three planned to rival Disney with the company's new animation division. Production began in May 1996. DreamWorks had contracted Pacific Data Images (PDI) to begin working on computer-animated films to rival Pixar's features. During its production, a controversial public feud erupted between Katzenberg of DreamWorks and Steve Jobs and John Lasseter of Pixar, due to the production of their similar film A Bug's Life, which was released a month later. The feud worsened when Disney refused to avoid competition with DreamWorks' intended first animated release, The Prince of Egypt. Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell composed the music for the film.
Antz premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 19, 1998, and was released theatrically in the United States on October 2 by DreamWorks Distribution. It grossed $172 million on a budget of $42–105 million and received positive reviews from critics, who praised the voice cast, animation, humor, and its appeal towards adults.
One night at a bar, Z hears about the legendary insect paradise "Insectopia" from a retired scout suffering from PTSD. Bala later visits the bar and shares a dance with Z, who becomes smitten with her. Wanting to see Bala again, Z comes up with a clever plan and convinces his soldier ant best friend Weaver to exchange places with him for the army's royal inspection. The next day, Z joins the army corps where he befriends staff sergeant Barbatus. Meanwhile, Weaver joins the digging crew, striking up a relationship with Z's co-worker Azteca. Z is sent out with a platoon into battle where the ants are overwhelmed by the termites and all except Z are killed. After the carnage, Z finds a bodiless Barbatus on the battlefield who tells him to think for himself instead of blindly following orders before dying.
Z returns home where he is mistakenly hailed as a war hero and is granted an audience with the Queen. Bala recognizes Z as a worker and Mandible orders him arrested. This prompts Z to panic and pretend to take Bala hostage as he escapes the anthill with her. The ' attempt to recover Bala fails when they are incinerated by a human child with a magnifying glass. Z's act of individuality inspires the workers and some soldier ants, halting productivity, but Mandible regains their loyalty by portraying Z as a self-centered war criminal, promoting the glory of conformity and promising the workers rewards for completing the Mega Tunnel. However, Mandible's second-in-command, a flying ant named Cutter, begins to doubt Mandible's constant reassurances that he is acting for the good of the colony.
After an encounter with a praying mantis, Bala agrees to join Z to go in search of Insectopia. They initially mistake a human picnic for it, but are told otherwise by Muffy and Chip, a middle class couple of wasps. They are suddenly attacked by a human wielding a fly swatter, which kills Muffy, and Bala gets stuck on a piece of gum beneath the human's shoe. Z attempts to rescue her, but gets stuck as well. The human flicks them off the shoe, and they land in Insectopia, revealed to be a trash can overfilled with decaying food.
After interrogating Weaver, Mandible learns that Z is searching for Insectopia and sends Cutter to find it. That night, Cutter arrives at Insectopia and forcibly flies Bala back to the colony. Seeing Z's desperation at Bala's abduction, a drunken Chip, mourning Muffy's death, flies Z back to the colony. Z rescues Bala and together they discover that the Mega Tunnel will flood upon completion and that Mandible intends to drown the Queen, along with the workers, and restart the colony with Bala as his queen.
Bala goes to save the Queen while Z attempts to stop work on the tunnel, but it begins to flood. Z and Bala unify the queen and workers into building a ladder towards the surface as the water rises. Meanwhile, Mandible gathers the soldiers on the surface and gloats about creating a new, stronger colony. When the worker ants break through the surface, Cutter betrays Mandible and helps them. An enraged Mandible tries to attack Cutter, but Z intervenes and he and Mandible fall into the flooded tunnel. Mandible dies striking a root and Z nearly drowns, but is rescued by Cutter and resuscitated by Bala.
Z is praised for his heroism, and he and Bala become a couple. The colony is finally free with no rules and Z is finally content with his place in the world.
The cast features several actors from films Allen wrote, starred in and directed, including Stone ( Stardust Memories), Stallone ( Bananas), Hackman ( Another Woman), and Walken ( Annie Hall). Aykroyd later co-starred in Allen's The Curse of the Jade Scorpion.
Production began in May 1996, after production had already commenced on The Prince of Egypt. DreamWorks had contracted Pacific Data Images (PDI) in Palo Alto, California to begin working on computer-animated films to rival Pixar's features. Woody Allen was cast in the lead role of Z. According to Allen, his decision to be in the film was made as a favor to Jeffrey Katzenberg. Allen made some uncredited rewrites to the script, to make the dialogue better fit his style of comedic timing. An altered line from one of his early directed films, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) was included – "I was going to include you in my most erotic fantasies..." Sarah Jessica Parker was originally cast as Princess Bala and even recorded some lines, until she was fired and replaced by Sharon Stone.
Lasseter and Jobs believed that the idea was stolen by Katzenberg. Katzenberg had stayed in touch with Lasseter after the acrimonious Disney split, often calling to check up. In October 1995, when Lasseter was overseeing postproduction work on Toy Story at the Universal Studios Lot's Technicolor facility in Universal City, where DreamWorks was also located, he called Katzenberg and dropped by with Andrew Stanton. When Katzenberg asked what they were doing next, Lasseter described what would become A Bug's Life in detail. Lasseter respected Katzenberg's judgment and felt comfortable using him as a sounding board for creative ideas.Price, p. 169 Lasseter had high hopes for Toy Story, and he was telling friends throughout the tight-knit computer-animation business to get cracking on their own films. He told various friends, "If this hits, it's going to be like space movies after Star Wars" for computer animation companies. Lasseter later recalled, "I should have been wary. Jeffrey kept asking questions about when it would be released."
When the trades indicated production on Antz, Lasseter, feeling betrayed, called Katzenberg and asked him if it was true, who in turn asked him where he had heard the rumor. Lasseter asked again, and Katzenberg admitted it was true. Lasseter raised his voice and would not believe Katzenberg's story that a development director had pitched him the idea long ago. Katzenberg claimed Antz came from a 1991 story pitch by Tim Johnson that was related to Katzenberg in October 1994. Another source gives Nina Jacobson, one of Katzenberg's executives, as the person responsible for the Antz pitch. Lasseter, who normally did not use profane language, cursed at Katzenberg and hung up the phone. Lasseter recalled that Katzenberg began explaining that Disney was "out to get him" and Lasseter felt that he was cannon fodder in Katzenberg's fight with Disney. For his part, Katzenberg believed he was the victim of a conspiracy: Eisner had decided not to pay him his contract-required bonus, convincing Disney's board not to give him anything. Katzenberg was further angered by the fact that Eisner scheduled Bugs to open the same week as The Prince of Egypt, which was then intended to be DreamWorks' first animated release. Lasseter relayed the news to Pixar employees but kept morale high. Privately, Lasseter told other Pixar executives that he and Stanton felt let down by Katzenberg.
David Price writes in his 2008 book The Pixar Touch that a rumor, "never confirmed", was that Katzenberg had given PDI "rich financial incentives to induce them to whatever it would take to have Antz ready first, despite Pixar's head start". Jobs furiously called Katzenberg to explain that there was nothing he could do to convince Disney to change the date. Katzenberg said to him that Jobs himself had taught him how to conduct similar business long ago, explaining that Jobs had come to Pixar's rescue from near bankruptcy by making the deal for Toy Story with Disney.Price, p. 163 He told Jobs that he had enough power with Disney to convince them to change specific plans on their films. Lasseter also claimed Katzenberg had phoned him with a final proposition to delay Antz if Disney and Pixar changed the date of A Bug's Life, but Katzenberg denied this.Price, p. 172 Jobs believed it was "a blatant extortion attempt".
The final product of both films are generally perceived to contrast one another in tone and certain plot points. Antz in the end seemed to be more geared towards older audiences, featuring moderate violence, mild sexual innuendoes, and profanity, as well as social and political satire. A Bug's Life was more family-friendly and lighthearted in tone and story. The two films especially differ in their artistic look: Antz played off more realistic aspects of ants and how they relate to other bugs, like termites and wasps, while A Bug's Life offered a more fanciful look at insects to better suit its story. PopMatters journalist J.C. Maçek III compared the two films and wrote, "The feud deepened with both teams making accusations and excuses and a release date war ensued. While Antz beat A Bug's Life to the big screen by two months, the latter film significantly out grossed its predecessor. Rip off or not, Antz's critical response has proven to be almost exactly as positive as what A Bug's Life has enjoyed."
Initially, Jeffrey Katzenberg wanted Hans Zimmer to compose the music, but he was too busy with DreamWorks' The Prince of Egypt among other projects. Instead, Zimmer suggested two composers from his studio — either Harry Gregson-Williams or John Powell — both of whom had already collaborated on Egypt. The previous year, Zimmer had also composed the background score for The Peacemaker, which was the first film released by DreamWorks Pictures.
In February 2006, Paramount Pictures acquired the rights to all live-action films DreamWorks had released between 1997 and 2005, following Viacom's $1.6 billion acquisition of the company's live-action film assets and television assets. Additionally, Paramount signed a six-year distribution agreement for past and future DreamWorks Animation films, with DreamWorks Animation having spun off into a separate company from the live-action division in 2004. Paramount Home Entertainment controlled the home media rights for the film during this time, but did not create any new releases for it, despite releasing other DreamWorks Animation films on home video.
On December 31, 2012, DreamWorks Animation's distribution agreement with Paramount officially ended, and in July 2014, DreamWorks Animation announced they had reacquired the distribution rights to all of their films from Paramount, transferring these rights to their new distribution partner 20th Century Fox. On April 28, 2016, DreamWorks Animation was purchased by Comcast-owned
/ref> The film was released on Blu-ray on October 16, 2018, by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, for the film's 20th anniversary.
According to DreamWorks, the film's budget was about $42 million, while the numbers $60 million and $105 million were also reported. 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 that amount, and that the budget did not include start-up costs of PDI.
Roger Ebert praised the film, writing that it is "sharp and funny". The variety of themes, interesting visuals, and voice acting were each aspects of the film that were praised. Ebert's partner, Gene Siskel, greatly enjoyed the film and preferred it over A Bug's Life. He wrote the film "boasts a smart and funny script that will appeal even more to adults than children." Siskel later ranked it as number 7 on his list of the 10 best films of 1998. Todd McCarthy of Variety praised the voice acting, the script, and the animation in his review. McCarthy summarized: "On its own terms, Antz is fresh and inventive, visually stimulating and extremely well-served by a starry cast largely new to the animation field."
Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly called Antz a "sophisticated, funny, and joyously subversive animated bug epic that, for all its snazzy computer animation that can claim the 1955 cartoon version of George Orwell's Animal Farm as a first cousin." James Berardinelli of ReelViews wrote Antz "is a very good movie, no matter how you look at it. Visually, it's more impressive than Disney's Toy Story, the pioneer in this burgeoning genre. On a script level, it was developed as much with a mature audience in mind as with the usual pre-pubescent crowd." Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post called the script "cleverly written" and was "an old-fashioned yarn about the triumph of individuality over conformity that taps into the universal desire to root for the underdog. As directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson, however, Antz actually accomplishes what many live-action narratives fail to do: It makes you care about its speck-sized characters."
Janet Maslin for The New York Times however found the story to be "overplotted in bizarrely grandiose ways", but felt the film worked best by "just showing off its prodigious voice talent ... and playing lightheartedly with the curious possibilities of a buggy world." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times complimented the visuals, but was unimpressed with the script calling it "too predictable to make an impact even in such a short space." Overall, he opined: "When everything is added up, Antz is more weird than funny, a film that has the potential to make both parents and young children uncomfortable." Rita Kempley of The Washington Post negatively compared Antz to previous Disney animated films as she disliked the adult innuendos, the script, and the use of product placement. She wrote in summary: "For whatever ill-conceived reasons, the material is obviously tilted toward grown-ups. But it's hard to believe that adults will be drawn to a cartoon about an ant no matter how remarkable his accomplishments."
| AFI's 10 Top 10 | Animated | Antz | |
| 1999 ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards | Top Box Office Films | Harry Gregson-Williams, John Powell | |
| 27th Annie Awards | Outstanding Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production | Eric Darnell, Tim Johnson | |
| Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production | Harry Gregson-Williams, John Powell | ||
| Outstanding Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production | John Bell | ||
| Outstanding Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production | Todd Alcott, Chris Weitz & Paul Weitz | ||
| 52nd British Academy Film Awards | The Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects | Philippe Gluckman, John Bell, Kendal Cronkhite, Ken Bielenberg | |
| 1999 Golden Reel Awards | Best Sound Editing in Animated Feature Film — Music Editing | Adam Milo Smalley, Brian Richards | |
| Best Sound Editing in Animated Feature Film — Sound Editing | Antz | ||
| Golden Satellite Awards 1998 | Satellite Award for Best Animated or Mixed Media Feature | Brad Lewis, Aron Warner, Patty Wooton |
| Infogrames |
| Light and Shadow Production / Club Acclaim / Electronic Arts |
| Light and Shadow Production |
| Light and Shadow Production |
| Empire Interactive |
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