Anastasia (1997)
- The original script for Anastasia was written over a decade before production finally began in 1997.
- During the filming of Anastasia, Meg Ryan improvised one of the most famous lines in the movie.
- Eagle-eyed viewers have noticed a hidden easter egg referencing Gary Goldman, Don Bluth's previous film in the background of the opening scene.
Anastasia is a 1997 American animated musical fantasy produced by Fox Animation Studios and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. Loosely based on the legend that Grand Duchess Anastasia survived the execution of the Russian royal family in 1918, the film follows Anya, voiced by Meg Ryan, a young amnesiac orphan in 1920s Russia who is recruited by two con men β Dimitri voiced by John Cusack and Vlad voiced by Kelsey Grammer β to impersonate the lost princess and collect a reward from Anastasia's grandmother, the Dowager Empress Marie voiced by Angela Lansbury, living in Paris. Unbeknownst to all three, Anya is actually the real Anastasia.
The film was Don Bluth's most commercially successful work and the most serious challenge to Disney's animation dominance since the studio's early 1990s renaissance. The songs by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, particularly "Once Upon a December" and "Journey to the Past," were Broadway-quality numbers. Anastasia earned $140 million worldwide on a $50 million budget.
