Dusk and Dawn

Dusk and Dawn is a 2003 American computer-animated fantasy comedy-drama film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. It was directed by Eric Darnell and Cody Cameron from a screenplay written by Jymn Magon, Roger S. H. Schulman and Ralph Zondag based on an original story by Phil Nibbelink, and stars the voices of Josh Peck, Zooey Deschanel, Anthony Hopkins, Christine Baranski, and Dan Aykroyd. The film follows two individuals, a boy named Dusk (Peck) and a girl named Dawn (Deschanel), who encounter each other for the first time and discover their abilities to the world but must save Dawn's home from a dangerous threat.

Dusk and Dawn was released into theaters on December 19, 2003 in the United States. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and grossed $221.5 million over a $100 million budget, making it a box office success. The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 76th Academy Awards (losing to Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo), and, through home video releases and television syndication, gathered a cult following. A sequel, set to be written and directed by Cameron, was planned but was sadly cancelled.

Plot
In a world where parts of a day are depicted as beings, Twilight creates his darker stage Dusk in order to collect times and stages for Twilight so that he can grain his energy after sunset. Elsewhere, Sun creates Dawn, the first appearance of light in the sky before sunrise.

One day, a battle ensues at Sun's palace where a couple of Twilight's tribe breaks in to imprison their rivals Sun and her people except Dawn who is separated from everyone else and crashes onto Twilight's palace, where she meets Dusk, and the two begin to connect and spend time with each other, as well as showing off their special abilities. However, Dawn later becomes desperate and worried about her home, so she convinces Dusk to make a deal to help her return. The pair leave Dusk's home for Dawn's. Meanwhile, Sun instructs her loyal friend Light to find and rescue Dawn from Twilight's side upon learning of her predicament.

Dusk and Dawn stumble upon a tribe of humanoid creatures including the leader Keeper who reveal that they know the way to Dawn's home, leading them across a bridge to the palace. However, things go wrong as when the pair almost reach the end, the bridge snaps, causing them to fall into a river where they are thrown off a waterfall. Exhausted, Dusk decides to give up but Dawn realizes that she and Dusk are almost near her home. On the way, Light arrives and becomes thrilled when he eventually finds the pair, whom he helps them reach the palace.

The pair enter the entrance of Sun's palace where they find a book about the history of parts of a day, containing "the dusk till dawn" moral which acknowledges the relationship of the two. But learning of their appearances, Dawn realizes she is home and bids farewell to Dusk while Light takes her back. However, Twilight's army captures Dawn and Light, but Dawn interferes long enough for Light to escape and ends up being captured instead. Twilight's army takes Dawn to the main room where Sun and her tribe were imprisoned. There, she discovers Twilight, who reveals that he is planning to capture all the lights around the world, making it all dark and night forever.

Meanwhile, Light comes back to Dusk and tells him that Dawn has been captured. The two manage to rescue Dawn, Sun and their other people with the help of Keeper and his tribe and return to the palace where they defeat Twilight's army and free the imprisoned people including Dawn and Dusk before Twilight confronts them. When Dusk refuses Twilight's orders to transform Sun's people, citing Dawn's teachings, Twilight uses power to control Sun's people while making them transform into their night forms to attack Dusk. However, the sun rises which causes the possessed people to turn back to normal. Dawn confronts Twilight and his tribe that she and her people are harmless, making Twilight's army isolate him for tricking them. With Dusk encouraging him to have a change of heart, Twilight eventually apologizes to Sun's people for his misdeed; both sides make peace and become close allies rather than rivals. Dusk is praised for his heroism and lives happily ever after with Dawn, resuming their relationship.

Cast

 * Josh Peck as Dusk, a teenage boy who is a representation of the darkest stage of Twilight.
 * Zooey Deschanel as Dawn, a teenage girl who is a representation of the first appearance of light in the sky before sunrise.
 * Anthony Hopkins as Twilight, the creator of Dusk.
 * Christine Baranski as Sun, the creator of Dawn.
 * Dan Aykroyd as Light, a midget who is a close friend of Sun and Dawn.
 * Eric Darnell as Keeper, Judge, Tick-Tock Guy
 * Christopher Knights as Elder Jo
 * Erika Thomas as Elder Ji
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Elder Ja
 * Cody Cameron as Tio
 * Conrad Vernon as Mark, Guard #1, Billy, Teacher Ted
 * Chris Miller as Sparkle, Guard #2
 * Anne Lockhart as Miss Night
 * David P. Smith and Aron Warner as Photogs
 * Justin Shenkarow as Teen
 * Nika Futterman as Shelly
 * Donald Fullilove as Harry
 * Guillaume Aretos as Grooming Critter

ADR Group

 * Newell Alexander
 * Tom Amundsen
 * Steve Bulen
 * Kate Carlin
 * Mitch Carter
 * Robert Clotworthy
 * David Cowgill
 * Holly Dorff
 * Moosie Drier
 * Chad Einbinder
 * Iake Eissinmann
 * Rylee Fansler
 * Donald Fullilove
 * Elisa Gabrielli
 * Nicholas Guest
 * Wendy Hoffmann
 * Sherry Hursey
 * Marabina Jaimes
 * Edie Mirman
 * Paul Pape
 * Devika Parikh
 * Peter Renaday
 * Philece Sampler
 * Justin Shenkarow
 * Marcelo Tubert

Development
Dusk and Dawn was initially set up in the mid-1990s at Universal Pictures via Amblimation and later Universal Feature Animation, based on a pitch by former Disney animator Phil Nibbelink who interested in a "boy meets girl" story about a representation of dusk till dawn. Nibbelink was also attached to direct the project.

In early 1999, Universal put the film in turnaround, to which DreamWorks Animation picked up the project when Nibbelink was approached by studio co-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg. Nibbelink was still directing the project, but was later replaced by Eric Darnell and Cody Cameron, as Nibbelink left the project due to "creative difficulties". By October 1999, the Los Angeles Times reported that the film was in its preliminary stages with Darnell and Cameron directing.

Casting
Haley Joel Osment initially auditioned for the lead role of Dusk but later turned it down, feeling it was too similar to his role as Deon Splatt in Universal's 1999 film Paint World. As a result, Osment departed from Dusk and Dawn in 2000 and was replaced by Josh Peck. Christine Baranski was hired to voice Sun after having tried for the voice role of Eris in DreamWorks' other animated film Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas which was later replaced by Michelle Pfeiffer.

Animation and design
Originally intended as a hand-drawn traditional animated feature produced in DreamWorks' Glendale animation department, Dusk and Dawn was later converted into a CGI animated feature at Pacific Data Images (PDI) in Redwood City, who began production on the film in 2000 while production of Shrek was almost finished at the time. According to producer Aron Warner, the discussion to move the project to CGI sounded better and more fitting than using traditional animation for the film's themes and elements. Like its previous films Antz and Shrek, PDI used its own proprietary software (like its own Fluid Animation System) for its animated movies including Dusk and Dawn. The studio also utilized Maya for the animation process, as well as for the hair of the titular protagonists.

Many of the character designs were supplied by Geo G., the creator of Gabriel Garza, Niz Chicoloco, and Zina Supermoon. Other character designers include Raman Hui, Craig Kellman, Carlos Grangel, Nico Marlet, Carey Yost, Andy Bialk and Chris Battle. Additionally, Geo served as an uncredited co-director of the film.

Music
The film's score was composed by Hans Zimmer and John Powell, who previously scored DreamWorks' The Road to El Dorado (2000). Originally, Harry Gregson-Williams was set to co-compose the score with Powell, as had been done with DreamWorks' previous three films Antz, Chicken Run and Shrek; however, Gregson-Williams left out the project due to scheduling conflicts, with Hans Zimmer replacing him. A soundtrack for the film was released by DreamWorks Records on December 16, 2003.

Release
Dusk and Dawn was originally slated for release on November 7, 2003 before being pushed back to December 19 in order to avoid competition with Disney's Brother Bear and New Line Cinema's Elf.

Marketing
Upon its release, Burger King had a promotional tie-in with five toys including Dusk, Dawn, Twilight, Sun and Light with a paid Kids' Meal order. A video game based on the film was released in December 2003 for PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, N-Gage, PC and mobile phones.

Gingo promoted the film with several promotional spots, alongside the sweepstakes for the film's merchandise, which appeared on Gingo.com but later expired on December 25, 2003.

Home media
Dusk and Dawn was released by DreamWorks Home Entertainment on VHS and DVD on April 13, 2004. It was also released on Game Boy Advance Video in October 2005. The home media release accompanied with a DVD exclusive animated short film Dawn's Nature. The DVD release also contains an audio commentary on the film, games, how-to-draw featurettes, and more. In July 2014, the film's distribution rights were purchased by DreamWorks Animation from Paramount Pictures (owners of the pre-2005 DreamWorks Pictures library) and transferred to 20th Century Fox before reverting to Universal Studios in 2018; Universal Pictures Home Entertainment subsequently released the film on Blu-ray Disc on June 4, 2019.

Box office
Dusk and Dawn grossed $130.1 million in the United States and Canada and $91.4 million with a worldwide total of $221.5 million.

Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 79% based on 143 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The critical consensus reads: "While far from complex, Dusk and Dawn withholds all the power needed to deliver 96 minutes of sweetly immersive family-friendly light." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.

Future
After the release of Dusk and Dawn, DreamWorks began to consider producing a sequel. In February 2004, a sequel was reported in development for a late 2006 release, which was later changed to 2007. In June 2004, it was reported that Michael J. Wilson was hired to write the script for the sequel, titled Dusk and Dawn 2: The Belt of Venus. It would have followed Dusk and Dawn's new life being turned upside down when the Belt of Venus overtakes their home, and they attempt to get rid of the Belt of Venus unless they want to make peace with him.

By December 2004, DreamWorks announced that the sequel was set for release on November 2007, which, by April 2005, was later delayed to late 2008. In September, the film's release was delayed again, this time to a later, unknown date as Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa took over its late 2008 release date. In 2006, however, the film was ultimately cancelled due to story and script issues as well when DreamWorks Animation signed its distribution deal with Paramount Pictures. In June 2012, director Eric Darnell said he would do a sequel if he could create a good story for it. In 2013, the 10th anniversary of the release of the film, co-director Cody Cameron revealed in an interview that he was set to write and direct in early 2004 but it did not happen when he left DreamWorks to work at Sony Pictures Animation, stating, "it did well, but I couldn't be able to continue it since I was moving to Sony, so the movie was never made."

In December 2014, Geo G., the film's character designer, stated that, if DreamWorks asked him to, he would be more than happy to bring Dusk and Dawn back, alongside Niz Chicoloco. On June 15, 2016, nearing NBCUniversal's acquisition of DreamWorks Animation, NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke discussed plans to revive other DreamWorks films, including Dusk and Dawn. In July 2016, it was reported that DreamWorks was in talks with Universal Animation Studios CEO Michael Wildshill about a possible way of bringing Dusk and Dawn, Niz Chicoloco and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas back. In November 2019, it was reported that a new Dusk and Dawn film was in the works, with Universal Pictures considering either a computer-animated sequel or live-action remake. In May 2020, Josh Peck expressed interest on reprising his role as Dusk if a sequel ever materializes.

Main transcript
To see the transcript of the film, click here.

Trailer transcripts
To see the transcripts for the trailers of the film, click here.