Oceanic

Oceanic was a planned animated musical film produced by Universal Feature Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. Based on a pitch by producer John Cohen, Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi were set to direct it before Brad Silberling (Casper) took over, and it was initially scheduled to be the second feature film produced by Universal Feature Animation, following the release of Ama and the Mysterious Crystal in December 1997. In June 1996, Universal announced that the project had been cancelled in favor of Paint World. However, it was later reworked into a short film called The Sounds of the Ocean years later.

Plot
The story was set in Atlantic Ocean, in which a young fisherman befriends a humanoid sea creature.

Development
The film was officially announced on October 13, 1994 by Universal Feature Animation alongside Legend of the Magic Crystal and Mistress Masham's Repose. The film was set to be a musical, with songs written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, who would later write the music for the 1997 Fox Animation Studios film Anastasia. French twin brothers Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi were announced as the directors of the film.

In June 1995, the Brizzis left the project and Casper director Brad Silberling was announced to be the new director of the film, which would have mark his first project to be fully animated. In January 1996, Universal announced that the release date had been pushed up to July 1999, from its previous release date of June 1998.

Trivia

 * Oceanic was originally rumored to be released in 1997 as Universal Animation's first feature film. However, in 1995, Universal announced that Ama and the Mysterious Crystal would be their first animated feature for release on November 26, 1997 instead, and Oceanic would launch on June 5, 1998, thus making Universal Animation's second film. The film would be delayed again for a 1999 release, after Maze of the Castle took the previous June 5, 1998 release, until eventually being pulled from Universal's film slate and replaced by Paint World.

Gallery
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