Dusk and Dawn

This film is a winner of the Quixote Award for Best Film Of 2003!

Dusk and Dawn is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy fantasy 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 and a story by Phil Nibbelink. The film stars the voices of Josh Peck, Zooey Deschanel, Anthony Hopkins, Christine Baranski, and Dan Aykroyd. Set in a fantasy world where parts of a day are depicted as beings, 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 originally intended as a 2D animated film developed by Amblimation and later Universal Feature Animation, but eventually became a fully CGI film by DreamWorks Animation via Pacific Data Images following Antz and Shrek. Pre-production began in 1999, with Darrell selected as director and Cameron joining him the following year, replacing Nibbelink as the original director. Focus shifted from making an action-adventure drama film to a more comedy-oriented one, and several writers, such as Magon and Schulman, were brought on to bring out a wittier tone, while Geo G. was also brought on to design most of the film's characters, especially the titular duo.

Dusk and Dawn was released on December 19, 2003 in the United States. It recieved mostly positive reviews from critics, who commended its animation, script, characterizations, and voice acting, while the character designs were mostly criticized. It grossed $351 million over its $100 million budget, making it the second highest-grossing animated film of 2003 and the tenth highest-grossing film of the year overall. The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 76th Academy Awards, losing to Finding Nemo. It has since been expanded into a franchise with a sequel titled Dusk and Dawn 2: The Belt of Venus released on May 15, 2009, three short films, a television special titled Dusk and Dawn's Holiday, two television series, and a spin-off prequel film titled Dusk Before Dawn released on July 31, 2015. Another sequel, titled Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night, was released on March 2, 2018.

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. Dusk is a social outcast from the others in Twilight's palace due to frequently messing things up by accident. Though he is unconditionally supported by Twilight, Dusk dreams for more in life than the palace's bleak existence collecting stages. In Sun's palace, Dawn is dissatisfied with her life there and is fascinated by the outside world. She ignores the warnings of Sun and her loyal friend Light, who serves as her adviser, that contact of Sun and Twilight's sides is forbidden.

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 encounters Dusk. While hiding her from Twilight's tribe due to the fact that the people from Sun's palace are outlawed in Twilight's, Dusk gains Dawn's trust by keeping her safe in his house and feeding her some food. Realizing Dawn is not a threat, the two begin to bond and spend time with each other, as well as showing off their special abilities. However, Dusk later discovers that Dawn is desperate and worried about her home as she feels like she doesn't fit in Twilight's palace, making her an outcast just like Dusk. She convinces Dusk to make a deal to help her return, and the pair leave Dusk's home for Dawn's. Meanwhile, Sun instructs 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 reached 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 between 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 Sun 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

 * See also: List of Dusk and Dawn characters


 * 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
 * Keith David 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, which was set to have an action-oriented comedy-drama tone.

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, as Nibbelink left the project due to "creative difficulties". DreamWorks also opted for the movie to take a more comedy-oriented direction (albeit while still maintaining some dramatic elements), and brought writer Roger S. H. Schulman to help emphasize a funnier tone. By October 1999, the Los Angeles Times reported that the film was in its preliminary stages with Darnell directing. Darnell was originally directing the film alone, but in 2000, Cody Cameron, a part of additional story on Chicken Run, had joined him as co-director.

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, as well as an executive producer of Kit Mineko. 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 all 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 four films Antz, Kit Mineko, Chicken Run and Shrek, but Gregson-Williams left out the project due to scheduling conflicts, with Hans Zimmer replacing him. However, Gregson-Williams was only credited under "Special Thanks" in the film's end credits.

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
The first teaser trailer was released on December 20, 2002, and was attached to The Wild Thornberrys Movie. The film's second trailer was released on May 30, 2003, and was attached to Finding Nemo.

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 also 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. Other merchandise promoted for the film includes plush items, toys, activity sets, keepsakes and apparel.

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. The film was later released on Blu-ray on April 7, 2009, by Paramount Home Entertainment. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment subsequently re-released the film on Blu-ray on June 4, 2019.

Box office
Dusk and Dawn grossed $130.1 million in the United States and Canada and $221.1 million with a worldwide total of $351.2 million. On the film's opening day, the film grossed $9.8 million on its opening day and ended up grossing $30.1 million in its opening weekend.

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.

Sequels and spin-offs
A sequel, titled Dusk and Dawn 2: The Belt of Venus, was released on May 15, 2009. Directed by Tim Johnson, Aron Warner returned as producer, with William Davies and Michael J. Wilson as writers. Josh Peck, Zooey Deschanel, Anthony Hopkins, Christine Baranski, and Dan Aykroyd returned to voice their roles, with James Woods, Isla Fisher, Nicole Kidman, Jeff Garlin, and Bill Nighy joining the cast. In this film, Dusk and Dawn's new life turns upside down when an advanced Venus threatens their home, and they attempt to get rid of Venus but are forced to make peace with him.

A second sequel, titled Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night, was released on March 2, 2018. This film was directed by Simon J. Smith and co-directed by Alessandro Carloni and written by Eyal Podell and Jonathon E. Stewart. Many of the voice cast from the first two films returned for the third film, joined by Jake Johnson, Bobby Cannavale, Kate McKinnon, Matt Frewer, and James Corden. In this film, Dusk and Dawn accidentally switch colors of their appearances when several optical phenomena including the zodiacal light occur in their homes; the pair must work together to stop the zodiacal light so they can return to their normal forms before it is too late.

A spin-off prequel film titled Dusk Before Dawn was released on July 31, 2015, and centers around the life of Dusk before he had met Dawn. It was directed by Tom McGrath and written by Walt Dohrn and Darren Lemke. The voice cast has Josh Peck and Anthony Hopkins reprising their roles from both films, along with Sophia Bush, Morgan Freeman, Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth Paltrow joining the cast and Zooey Deschanel providing the film's narration as Dawn.

Other media
Beside the films, the Dusk and Dawn franchise also includes several video games, three short films titled Dawn's Nature, Before Dusk and Dawn of the Hallow, a television special titled Dusk and Dawn's Holiday. A television series based on the films also started airing on Nickelodeon on June 5, 2010 and ended on May 30, 2015. Another television series starring Dawn and set before the events of the first film, titled Dawn of Dawn, debuted on July 21, 2017, on Netflix, when the first five 22-minute episodes were released.

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.