Darkness Awakening

Darkness Awakening is a 1999 traditionally-animated dark adventure thriller film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation. It was directed by Toby Bluth from the screenplay by Jymn Magon. It follows the teenage girl (Kirsten Dunst) who has her dark secret and tries to find a truth about the meaning of it.

The film was released in the United States on September 24, 1999, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $247 million worldwide against its $40 million budget, making it a box office success for its MGM Animation division.

Plot
At age 10, a young girl named Kristina was living her student life. Suddenly, she discovers a shadowy figure and unexpectedly has a dark secret behind her.

Four years later, her parents warn her that she must try to find a truth about the meaning of her dark secret. She goes to school without letting other students know about her dark secret. She became friends with Rachel and Owen while working on her science project. After working on the projects, Kristina suddenly realizes her dark secret was coming behind her and leaves classes to let the secretary Billy know. He told her that if that's the case then she may stay home for a week.

Arriving home, Kristina became anxious as her parents arrived to see if she was okay. Louise scolded her for not taking advice. At night, Kristina began following her dark secret in her room as she saw the shadowy figure. She gets tricked being possessed by the shadow figure. This morning, Kristina warned her parents about it but Louise and Sean don't believe in Kristina's dark secret yet before she goes to school. She continues working on the projects until Rachel and Owen discover her true dark secret, causing the other students to be scared.

Kristina goes back to Billy for her issue. She shows her true dark secret to Billy which also scared him. He goes to his lab, trying to find ways to get rid of her dark secret with his manual. Kristina flees the school. Louise and Sean also discovered Kristina's dark secret as well when she arrived home again. After a struggle in her 2nd night, possessed Kristina finally reveals the true meaning of her dark secret and attempts to scare anyone with her shadowy figure. Louise and Sean call Billy to help get rid of Kristina's dark secret. Billy finally snaps Kristina out of her dark secret as her shadowy figure disappears. Kristina apologizes to her parents and Billy over the true meaning of her dark secret and she is accepted to school again.

Cast

 * Kirsten Dunst as Kristina, a teenage girl who has her dark secret behind her.
 * Joan Allen as Louise, Kristina's mother
 * Dom DeLuise as Billy, a secretary who seeks Kristina's dark secret
 * Alan Rickman as Sean, Kristina's father
 * Lacey Chabert as Rachel, one of Kristina's friends at school
 * Adam Wylie as Owen, one of Kristina's friends at school

Production
While working on MGM Animation's direct-to-video movie Babes in Toyland, Toby Bluth was also working on a theatrical movie for the studio about a girl trying to find a truth about her dark secret behind her. Kirsten Dunst has been attached in the lead role after the producers saw her vocal performance as young Anastasia in Fox Animation Studios' Anastasia (whom Toby Bluth's brother Don Bluth directed). Joan Allen, Dom DeLuise and Alan Rickman also joined the main voice cast in October 1998.

David Feiss, who worked on All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, returned to serve as directing animator as well as storyboard artist.

Release
The film was released theatrically on September 24, 1999, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, making it the third MGM Animation film released theatrically after All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 and The Hero of Toytown.

Video game
A video game based on the film was released on September 9, 1999 for the PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast.

Home media
Darkness Awakening was released on VHS and DVD on March 14, 2000, by MGM Home Entertainment. A 10th anniversary edition was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 22, 2009, by both MGM Home Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack was scored by John Powell, making it the third MGM Animation film without frequent composer Mark Watters after The Hero of Toytown and The Secret of NIMH 2: Timothy to the Rescue.

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 71%, based on 128 reviews. On Metacritic, holds a score of 58 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Box office
Darkness Awakening grossed $120.5 million in the United States and Canada and $126.5 million with a worldwide total of $247 million, making it the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film of 1999, as well as the the third highest-grossing animated film of the year behind Toy Story 2 and Tarzan. In the United States and Canada, the film opened alongside Double Jeopardy and grossed $28.3 million at its opening weekend, debuting number one.