Strange Magic (film)

Strange Magic
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gary Rydstrom
Screenplay by	David Berenbaum Irene Mecchi Gary Rydstrom
Story by	George Lucas
Produced by	Mark S. Miller
Starring	Alan Cumming Evan Rachel Wood Elijah Kelley Meredith Anne Bull Kristin Chenoweth Maya Rudolph Sam Palladio Alfred Molina
Edited by	Chris Plummer
Music by	Marius de Vries
Production companies	Lucasfilm Ltd. Lucasfilm Animation Industrial Light & Magic Touchstone Pictures
Distributed by	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release date	January 23, 2015 (2015-01-23)
Running time	99 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$70–100 million[2]
Box office	$13.6 million[3]

Strange Magic is a 2015 American animated jukebox musical fantasy film directed by Gary Rydstrom and produced by Lucasfilm, with feature animation by Lucasfilm Animation and Industrial Light & Magic.^[4] The film's screenplay, by Rydstrom, David Berenbaum, and Irene Mecchi, is based on a story by George Lucas inspired by William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The film stars the voices of Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Elijah Kelley, Meredith Anne Bull, Kristin Chenoweth, Maya Rudolph, Sam Palladio and Alfred Molina. It follows the leader of the Dark Forest Bog King (Cumming) who hates the notion of love and ordered the destruction of all primroses, but he begins to change his mind upon meeting with a feisty fairy princess Marianne (Wood) whose heart was broken by a philandering fiancé Roland (Palladio) to find her sister Dawn (Bull). Meanwhile, Sunny (Kelley) makes his way to the Dark Forest to collect enough primrose petals for a potion of his own.

Lucas had been working on developing the project for 15 years before production began, who had long wanted to make a film for his three daughters, and described the film as Star Wars for a female audience.^[5] Production was already well underway. The musical score was composed by Marius de Vries, while the soundtrack consists of numerous pop songs spanning several decades.^[6] This was Lucas's first writing credit since the 1994 film Radioland Murders not to be associated with the Star Wars or Indiana Jones franchises.

Strange Magic was released in theaters in the United States on January 23, 2015 by Touchstone Pictures, making it the first Lucasfilm production to be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm on December 21, 2012.^[4] The film was panned by critics, who criticized its script, humor and songs but praised its animation, and was a box-office bomb, grossing $13.6 million worldwide and losing around $40–50 million. To date, it is the only Lucasfilm Animation production not to be part of the Star Wars franchise, and the most recent original project produced by Lucasfilm.