Original theatrical poster for '.

Anastasia is an animated feature created at Fox Animation Studios, produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, and released on November 21, 1997 by Twentieth Century Fox. A musical in the vein of then-popular Disney animated features, the film features songs by Stephen Flaherty and David Newman. A fairy-tale style adaptation of the legend of the Russian grand duchess Anastasia, the plot of the film imagines that Anastasia, daughter of the last Russian Tsar, survives the slaughter of the Imperial family, loses her memory, battles the ghost of the evil monk Rasputin and his sidekick Bartok, a singing white fruit bat, convinces her grandmother of her true identity, and falls in love with the kitchen boy (Dmitri) who helped her survive. The film is notable for being one of Bluth's most critically acclaimed works, and for being one of the few animated features produced in the widescreen CinemaScope process. Don Bluths Anastasia. ... Don Bluths Anastasia. ... Animation is the technique in which each frame of a film or movie is produced individually, whether generated as a computer graphic, or by photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model unit (see claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result with a... Fox Animation Studios was a short-lived traditional animation studio, a division of 20th Century Fox, headed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. ... Don Bluth (born September 13, 1937) is a former Disney animator who, along with fellow animators Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy, set out on his own in 1979 to start his own animation studio, Don Bluth Productions. ... Gary Goldman (born November 17, 1944 in Oakland, California) is American animator, director, and producer. ... November 21 is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Related articles FOX Television Network Fox Searchlight Pictures Fox Entertainment Group List of Hollywood movie studios List of movies Variant of current 20th Century Fox logo External links 20th Century Fox Movies official site Twentieth Century Fox is also the punning title of a song by The Doors on their... This is a list of animated feature films produced by Walt Disney Productions/The Walt Disney Company: Official canon The following is a list of the forty-four feature films officially part of the Walt Disney Feature Animation (WDFA) canon. ... Stephen Flaherty (born 1960) is an American composer of musical theatre in collaboration with Lynn Ahrens, and best known for the show Once On This Island, which was nominated for eight Tony Awards. ... There have been a number of prominent figures named David Newman, including: David Newman, American composer David Newman, American Visual Artist David Newman, Canadian politician This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna (1901-1918) Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia (Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, in Russian: Великая Княжна Анастасия Николаевна ) (June 18, 1901 - July 17, 1918) was the youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and Empress Alexandra. ... Tsar (Bulgarian цар, Russian царь,  listen; often spelled Czar or Tzar and sometimes Csar or Zar in English), was the title used for the autocratic rulers of the First and Second Bulgarian Empires since 913, in Serbia in the middle of the 14th century, and in Russia from 1547 to... Rasputin Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (Russian: Григо́рий Ефи́мович Распу́тин) (January 23, 1871 – December 16, 1916 (O.S.)) was a Russian mystic with an influence in the later days of Russias Romanov dynasty. ... A 32inch CRT widescreen television A widescreen image is a film image with a greater aspect ratio than the ordinary 35 millimeter frame. ... Cinemascope, or more strictly CinemaScope, was a widescreen movie format used from 1953 to 1967. ...

The idea for the film originates from Fox's 1956 live-action film version of Anastasia. Fox executives gave Bluth and Goldman the choice of creating either an animated adaptation of that film or of the musical My Fair Lady. 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Anastasia is a 1956 film which tells the true story of a young, confused woman in France after the Russian Revolution who, backed by the Russian emigre community, attempts to pass herself off as Anastasia Nicolaievna Romanova, the daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. ... The art of singing and dancing in a prepared fictional play has been a time-honored tradition ranging to the early days of civilization. ... The original poster for the Broadway production of the show designed by Al Hirschfeld My Fair Lady is a 1956 musical theater production with lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederic Loewe, adapted from George Bernard Shaws Pygmalion. ...

The movie features the voices of Meg Ryan as Anastasia, John Cusack as Dimitri, Kelsey Grammer as Vladimir, Christopher Lloyd as Rasputin, Hank Azaria as Bartok, Bernadette Peters as Sophie, Kirsten Dunst as the young Anastasia, Angela Lansbury as Dowager Empress Marie, Rick Jones as Tzar Nicholas II, Liz Callaway, and Andrea Martin. Meg Ryan Meg Ryan (nee Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra, November 19, 1961 in Fairfield, Connecticut) is an American actress who specializes in romantic comedies, but has worked in other film genres as well. ... Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna (1901-1918) Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia (Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, in Russian: Великая Княжна Анастасия Николаевна ) (June 18, 1901 - July 17, 1918) was the youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and Empress Alexandra. ... John Cusack as Ed in Identity John Paul Cusack (born June 28, 1966) is an American film actor, born in Evanston, Illinois. ... Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane on Frasier. ... Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) from the movie Back to the Future. ... Rasputin Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (Russian: Григо́рий Ефи́мович Распу́тин) (January 23, 1871 – December 16, 1916 (O.S.)) was a Russian mystic with an influence in the later days of Russias Romanov dynasty. ... Hank Albert Azaria (born April 25, 1964 in Queens, New York) is an American actor born to a Jewish family of Greek origins, who is best known for his voice work on the animated television show The Simpsons. ... Bernadette Peters Bernadette Peters is the stage name of Bernadette Lazarra (born February 28, 1948 in Ozone Park, Queens, New York), an actress and singer. ... Kirsten Dunst Kirsten Caroline Dunst (born April 30, 1982 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey) is an American actress of German and Swedish descent. ... Angela Lansbury (born October 16, British-born American actress and the granddaughter of politician George Lansbury. ... Princess Marie Sophie Frederikke Dagmar (November 26, 1847 - October 13, 1928) was born as the second daughter of Louise of Hesse and Christian of Glucksburg. ... Rick Jones is a common name, shared by several well-known people, including: Rick Jones (actor) Rick Jones (comics) Rick Jones (television presenter) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Tsar Nicholas II (18 May 1868 – 17 July 1918)1 was the last crowned Emperor of Russia. ... Andrea Martin (born January 15, 1947 in Portland, Maine) is an actress and comedienne. ...

Anastasia was nominated for two Academy Awards in the categories of Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score and Best Music, Original Song for "Journey to the Past". At the awards ceremony, "Journey to the Past" was performed by R&B singer Aaliyah, who recorded the pop single version of the song. 70th Academy Awards® Monday, March 23, 1998 at the Shrine Auditorium in Hollywood Host Show: Billy Crystal Crew Producer: Gil Cates Director: Louis J. Horvitz Duration 3 hours, 41 minutes The 70th Academy Awards® were noted for their high ratings and the 11 wins racked up by the Best Picture... From Rule Sixteen of the Special Rules for The Music Awards Original Score: An original score is a substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer. ... Academy Award for Best Song 1930s 1934 - The Continental from The Gay Divorcee 1935 Lullaby of Broadway from Gold Diggers of 1935 1936 The Way You Look Tonight from Swing Time 1937 Sweet Leilani from Waikiki Wedding 1938 - Thanks for the Memory from The Big Broadcast of 1938 1939 Over... Rhythm and blues (or R & B) is a musical marketing term introduced in the United States in the late 1940s by Billboard magazine. ... Aaliyah in 1998 Aaliyah Dana Haughton (January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001), professionally known simply as Aaliyah, was an African-American R&B singer. ...

Fictionalization of historic events

While it may seem uncourteous to cavil at inaccuracies in a fictional film in which a bat can sing, the movie did inspire some controversy as many history teachers quailed at the prospect of having to correct the misimpressions of a generation of students educated only by its tutelage, and several Orthodox Christians were offended due to the historical Anastasia's sainthood (declared formally the next year).

Some of the differences with actual history include:

• Though the body of two members of the Russian Imperial Family, including one of the daughters, have not been found, there is no evidence that any family members, including Anastasia, survived.

• In the film, a curse from Rasputin brings about the Russian Revolution. In actuality, it was Russia's dismal performance in World War I that caused the Revolution, and Rasputin was a religious pilgrim and friend to the royal family who gained the trust of the czarina Alexandra when he seemed to alleviate the symptoms of hemophilia that her son suffered from, although he was often drunk.

• The film depicts Anastasia as escaping from the Imperial Palace during the Revolution, when in fact she stayed with her family, living at first in Tsarskoe Selo and later in Tobolsk in Siberia until they were executed by the Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg more than a year after the Revolution.

• In the film, Anastasia is only a young child at the time of the Revolution, when in fact, she was nearly 16.

• The Dowager Empress did not live in Paris, either before or after the Revolution. She lived in Russia until 1920, when she evacuated the Crimea with White forces, and thereafter in her native Denmark.

• At the times the story takes place, St. Petersburg was known as Petrograd or Leningrad, not St. Petersburg, as it is called in the movie.

Bluth and Goldman, who did extensive historical research on the Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia and the Russian Revolution for the film, never intended for their film to be scrupulously analyzed for historical accuracy; their film is based upon the (fictional) legend of Anastasia having survived the slaughter of the family. A disclaimer can be found at the end of the credits for the film. It reads as follows: Rasputin Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (Russian: Григо́рий Ефи́мович Распу́тин) (January 23, 1871 – December 16, 1916 (O.S.)) was a Russian mystic with an influence in the later days of Russias Romanov dynasty. ... The phrase Russian Revolution can refer to three specific events in the history of Imperial Russia. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Tsarskoye Selo (Царское Село in Russian, may be translated as “Tsar’s Village”), a former residence of the royal families and visiting nobility 24 km south of St. ... Tobolsk (Тобо́льск; Tatar: Tubıl) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Siberia, Russia. ... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ... Photograph of snow-covered Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburgs Church on the Blood, built on the spot where the Tsar and his family were murdered. ... The Russian Civil War was fought between 1918 and 1920. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the delta of the river Neva at the east end of the Gulf of Finland... Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna (1901-1918) Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia (Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, in Russian: Великая Княжна Анастасия Николаевна ) (June 18, 1901 - July 17, 1918) was the youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and Empress Alexandra. ... The phrase Russian Revolution can refer to three specific events in the history of Imperial Russia. ... Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna (1901-1918) Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia (Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, in Russian: Великая Княжна Анастасия Николаевна ) (June 18, 1901 - July 17, 1918) was the youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and Empress Alexandra. ...

"While some of the characters and events depicted in this film were inspired by well-known historical figures and events, the portrayal of such characters and the depiction of such events are fictional. All other characters and incidents protrayed and names used were created for the purpose of fictitious dramatization and any similarity to the names, characters, and history of actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and unintentional."

External link

• Anastasia (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118617/) at the Internet Movie Database