Magina

Magina is a 2003 American animated musical fantasy romantic drama film produced by Universal Feature Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. It portrays a fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. The film was directed by Ash Brannon (who took over from Michael Wildshill in 2001) in his solo directorial debut and written by Irene Mecchi and Gary Hall from an original story by Wildshill, Brannon, Hall, Jim Anderson, and Amy McNeill. Featuring the voices of Jodi Benson, Elijah Wood, David Ogden Stiers, Alfre Woodard, Mandy Patinkin, Sean Connery, and Tony Jay, it tells the story of a mysterious, magical girl named Magina who falls in love with a young pilgrim named Olin, who is unaware that she is cursed under a witchcraft and being hunted down by other pilgrims for execution.

Development of Magina began in 1996 when Wildshill conceived the film's original concept during the production of Ama and the Mysterious Crystal, but production on Magina did not begin until 2000, set for a November 2002 release. The film's production was fraught with severe difficulties, particularly for its disastrous test screening which proved to be frightening to children. In 2001, when Wildshill stepped down as director to focus on other projects, Brannon was approached to direct the film and revise the story while also removing 13 minutes of footage from the initial cut, and as a result it was delayed to 2003. Some of the film's production team also visited Essex County for inspiration. The film was animated using traditional animation, with extensive use of computer-generated imagery. Its songs were written by Stephen Schwartz, with Randy Edelman composing the film's score.

Magina premiered at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on September 3, 2003, and was released in the United States on September 19, 2003. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its animation, score, and performances, but criticized its story and writing. Grossing only $78.1 million on an $80 million budget, Universal suffered a $130 million loss for the film, which nearly made its feature animation division file for bankruptcy and led it to abandon traditional animation for computer animation. It is considered to be one of the biggest box office bombs of all time, but is also considered to be a cult favorite.

Plot
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Voice cast

 * Jodi Benson as Magina, a young woman with magical powers who is accused of witchcraft and is locked in a fortress. William Jennings served as the supervising animator for Magina.
 * Taylor Momsen as a younger Magina.
 * Elijah Wood as Olin, a young pilgrim who helps Magina find a safe shelter to prevent from execution. Aaron Lohr provides Olin's singing voice. Alexander Bates and Bob Cokinn served as the supervising animators for Olin.
 * Tony Jay as an elderly Olin, the narrator.
 * David Ogden Stiers as Judge Warren, the ruthless and arrogant judge who accused and punished Magina for witchcraft and is on the hunt to execute her. Pete Candeland served as the supervising animator for Warren.
 * Alfre Woodard as Telea, Olin's caring mother. Chris Abazzi served as the supervising animator for Telea.
 * Mandy Patinkin as Eben, Olin's father. Nester Ormond served as the supervising animator for Eben.
 * Sean Connery as Reverend Williams, a minister who is known for his knowledge of witchcraft. Bill Aalen served as the supervising animator for Williams.
 * John Kassir as Flint, Magina's pet hedgehog whom the latter accompanies. Todd Wilderman served as the supervising animator for Flint.
 * Amy McNeill as Magina's Mother, the unnamed mother of Magina.
 * Spencer Breslin as Olin's Grandson, the unnamed grandson of Olin at the end of the film.
 * Ash Brannon as Thomas
 * Phil Morris as John

Additional voices

 * Jack Angel
 * Mike Bell
 * Bob Bergen
 * Rodger Bumpass
 * Debi Derryberry
 * Paul Eiding
 * Sherry Lynn
 * Cynthia Marion
 * Edie McClurg
 * Mickie McGowan
 * Laraine Newman
 * Phil Proctor
 * Jan Rabson
 * Evan Sabara
 * Jim Ward

Development
Michael Wildshill conceived the concept for Magina in 1996, envisioning a romantic "supernatural" story set in a Massachusetts town during the Salem witch trials inspired by Arthur Miller's The Crucible. As Ama and the Mysterious Crystal was nearing the end of production in 1997, Wildshill developed his concept into a forty-page film treatment and sent it to then-Universal Feature Animation president John Cohen, who wrote back with "Wow." By the summer of 1997, the project began development under the working title The Legend of Magina and was originally slated for release in 2000 with Wildshill directing and Cohen producing. Irene Mecchi, who had co-written the screenplay for Paint World, came on board to write an early draft of the script. Wildshill created the original design, sets, characters, and core storyline, but was never formally named director as he was focusing directing Mistress Masham's Repose after Ama. Therefore, in May 1998, Universal pushed its release date back to 2001 to accommodate Mistress Masham's Repose.

In 2000, when production on Mistress Masham's Repose was finished, Wildshill went back to The Legend of Magina as director and production went underway shortly. In October 2000, Universal scheduled a new release date of November 22, 2002 for the film, and announced Jim Anderson as a co-director with Wildshill and having given exclusive control of the story. Shortly before the release of Mistress Masham's Repose in December, Wildshill, Cohen and several other Universal animators including production designers Yarrow Cheney and Cynthia Marion and art director John France took a trip to Essex County, Massachusetts, where they explored Salem and Danvers (originally Salem Village) and learned more about the history of the Salem witch trials to help take inspiration for the film's elements. Following Cohen's departure from Universal to join 20th Century Fox Animation in early 2001, the studio turned to former Disney animator Chris Jenkins (who was finished working on Atlantis: The Lost Empire) to replace Cohen as the film's producer. In June 2001, the film's title was shorten as just Magina, with Gary Hall rewriting the original screenplay by Irene Mecchi.

Editing and revisions
In mid 2001, a test screening for the partially finished cut of Magina was held at a private theater in the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot where the feature animation studio was also located. Almost near the film's climax, it was proved to be too intense and frightening for the majority of younger children in the audience (most of whom burst into tears and quickly left the theater with their parents before it was even finished). After the test audience's negative reaction, Universal Feature Animation head of production Melissa Hester insisted that 13 minutes of footage be cut to attain a PG rating instead of a PG-13 rating, and Wildshill was so dissatisfied with how the film turned out with the test audience that he left during production to work on an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's story The Snow Queen and later Nippon.

Shortly after, Wildshill was replaced by Ash Brannon, a story artist on Gingo Movies' Going Francisco, to help revise the film, while co-director Jim Anderson left the film to work on other projects for Universal. In December 2001, Magina was pushed back from November 22, 2002, to July 2, 2003 (the scheduled release date for Universal's Computeropolis) so that the film could be reworked. Princess Arete, a 2001 anime film which Universal acquired the US distribution rights, was later given the slot of November 22, 2002. In February 2002, due to the delay, Universal laid off 59 employees of its feature animation department. In June 2002, the film's release date was moved forward two months later from July 2, 2003, to September 19, in order to avoid competition with DreamWorks Animation's Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.

The film was ultimately cut by thirteen minutes, with existing scenes rewritten and reanimated for continuity. Many of the cut scenes involved extended character interactions, but other trims involve violent and disturbing content, including Magina's ghostly witch form in the final act of the film.

Casting
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Animation
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Release
Magina ' s world premiere was on September 3, 2003, at Los Angeles' Kodak Theater. The film was theatrically released in the United States on September 19.

Marketing
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Video game
Magina games were released in August 2003 for PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, and PC.

Home media
Magina was released on VHS and DVD on January 27, 2004. During the first month of its home release, the film led in VHS sales and was third in combined VHS and DVD sales. Sales and rentals of the VHS and DVD combined would eventually accumulate $144 million in revenue by the end of 2004.

On September 13, 2011, the film was released on Blu-ray.

The film was released on 4K Blu-ray on December 15, 2020.

Box office
Magina grossed $12.9 million in North America and $65.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $78.1 million. On October 9, 2003, Universal announced that, due to the film underperforming at the box office, Universal Feature Animation would take a $130 million write-down, which nearly made the division file for bankruptcy.

Reasons for the film's financial failure included the September release date, an aggressive marketing campaign which cost over $100 million, competition with films such as Anything Else, Underworld, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and Lost in Translation, and disinterest in traditional animation in comparison to computer animation.

Critical reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Magina holds a 53% rating based on 119 reviews, with an average score of 6.1/10. Its consensus reads, "Magina shines as a darkly animated, beautifully sung love story based on the Salem witch trials, but an uninspired script makes all that grandeur wear out its welcome." On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 57 out of 100 based on 31 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

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

Trailers
To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.