El Capitan Theatre Celebrates the 10th Anniversary of Disney's FANTASIA 2000

Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre celebrates the 10th anniversary of Walt Disney Pictures' "Fantasia 2000" with a special limited engagement of the film from February 17 to 27. The music for "Fantasia 2000" was conducted by James Levine, and performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Accompanying "Fantasia 2000" will be the short animated subject "Destino," a collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali, which was begun in 1945, and finally realized in 2004. The late Roy Edward Disney was the head of Disney Animation, and was executive producer of both "Fantasia 2000" and "Destino."

"Fantasia 2000" enabled Roy Disney to further Walt Disney's dream of "Fantasia" as a continuing project of The Walt Disney Company and to showcase a new generation of Disney animators. As in the original ‘Fantasia,' some of the most famous works of classical music have been interpreted by the Disney artists - including Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance," and Igor Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite." These new sequences are joined by Paul Dukas' "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" from the original 1940 film.

Opening night, February 17, will include a special filmmaker's panel at 7:00 pm; the participants are to be announced.

Tickets can be purchased, and the schedule for "Fantasia 2000" can be found by visiting the El Capitan box office, online at www.elcapitantickets.com, or by calling 1-800-DISNEY6. Group rate tickets are available for parties of 20 or more by calling 1-818-845-3110.

At the time of the release of the original "Fantasia" in 1940, Walt Disney said, "It is our intention to make a new version of ‘Fantasia' every year. Its pattern is very flexible and fun to work with - not really a concert, not vaudeville or a revue, but a grand mixture of comedy, fantasy, ballet, drama, impressionism, color, sound, and epic fury." The immeasurable impact that "Fantasia" has had on audiences and creators is still resounding today; as it did in 1993 when Roy Disney embarked on fulfilling his uncle's original vision of the film.

Roy Edward Disney, son of Disney Studios co-founder Roy O. Disney, and nephew of Walt Disney, was associated with the Walt Disney Company over a 56-year period. As head of Disney Animation, Roy Disney helped guide the Studio to a new Golden Age of animation with an unprecedented string of artistic and box office successes that included "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin," and "The Lion King."

"Fantasia 2000" furthered the bounds of animation and took great advantage of the latest technological breakthroughs, which have been reflected in all of the company's animated films that followed. Roy Disney said of "Fantasia 2000," "The artists have always expressed an affinity for ‘Fantasia.' After all, its union of music with moving images is the purest form of their art and the film was designed as an impression of the boundless possibilities inherent in their craft."

"Destino," a collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali, was begun in 1946. Decades later Roy Disney took up the idea of realizing it, and it was completed in 2003, with a story by Dali, and longtime Disney designer and artist John Hench. Filled with images - including ballerinas, baseball players, bicycles and bugs, Dali and Hench had only finished 18 seconds of it. "Destino" had its premiere at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France on June 2, 2003, and theatrically in Los Angeles and New York on December 19, 2003, and was widely seen as part of the exhibitions about Salvador Dali and Film at the Los Angels County Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Modern in London, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, and the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.

A Walt Disney Pictures presentation, "Fantasia 2000" is executive produced by Roy Edward Disney, with Hendel Butoy serving as supervising director. Donald Ernst served as producer and Don Hahn directed the film's live-action introductions. Supervising the direction of the film's other animated segments are Eric Goldberg, Pixote Hunt, Francis Glebas and Gaëtan & Paul Brizzi. David Bossert served as artistic coordinator and visual effects supervisor for the film's seven new animated pieces.

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