Thomas and the Magic Railroad

Thomas and the Magic Railroad is a 2000 fantasy adventure film written and directed by Britt Allcroft and produced by Allcroft and Phil Fehrle. The film stars Alec Baldwin as Mr. Conductor, Peter Fonda, Mara Wilson, Didi Conn, Russell Means, Cody McMains, Michael E. Rodgers, and the voices of Eddie Glen and Neil Crone. The film is based on the British children's book series The Railway Series by the Reverend W. Awdry, its televised adaptation Thomas & Friends, and the American television series Shining Time Station by Allcroft and Rick Siggelkow. The film tells the story of Lily Stone (Wilson), the granddaughter of the caretaker (Fonda) of an enchanted steam engine who is lacking an appropriate supply of coal, and Mr. Conductor (Baldwin) of Shining Time Station, whose provisions of magical gold dust are at a critical low. To ameliorate these problems, Lily and Mr. Conductor enlist the help of Thomas (Glen), who confronts the ruthless, steam engine-hating Diesel 10 (Crone) along the way.
Plans for an original Thomas & Friends film started with Paramount Pictures, but were not carried through. Shortly afterward, Destination Films began funding the project and production started in 1998. Filming took place at the Strasburg Rail Road, in Pennsylvania, in Toronto, Canada, and on the Isle of Man. The film underwent numerous alterations in post-production following test screenings, including the removal of Doug Lennox's character P.T. Boomer — who was originally intended to be the story's primary antagonist — and the recasting of several voice actors.
Thomas and the Magic Railroad had its world premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2000. It received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics upon release, mainly from the UK, with criticism of the acting, plot, special effects, and lack of fidelity to its source material. The film was a box office bomb, grossing $19.7 million worldwide against a production budget of $19 million; Allcroft resigned from her company in September 2000 due to the film's poor performance. HiT Entertainment acquired the company two years later, including the television rights to Thomas. As of October 2020, a second live-action/animated Thomas & Friends film is in development at Mattel, with Marc Forster serving as director.
Category:Films
Category:2000 Films