Dusk and Dawn 2: The Belt of Venus

***Dusk and Dawn 2: The Belt of Venus*** is a 2009 American computer-animated comedy fantasy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The second installment in the *Dusk and Dawn* franchise and the sequel to 2003's *Dusk and Dawn*, it was directed by Tim Johnson with a screenplay written by William Davies and Michael J. Wilson from a story by the original directors Eric Darnell and Cody Cameron alongside Geo G. and Jonathan Groff. The film features Josh Peck, Zooey Deschanel, Anthony Hopkins, Christine Baranski, and Dan Aykroyd reprising their roles from the previous film, with newcomers James Woods, Isla Fisher, Nicole Kidman, Jeff Garlin, and Bill Nighy joining the cast. In the film, Dusk and Dawn's new lives turn upside down when an advanced Venus threatens their home, and they attempt to get rid of Venus but are forced to make peace with him.

Plans for a sequel began in January 2004, following the success of the first film. It was announced a few months later that the film was being directed by Cameron, who co-directed the first film with Darnell, while Geo remained as character designer and (still uncredited) producer via Glass Ball Productions. New ideas were also conceived along with some unused ideas from the first film, with Dawn being the main focus of the new story. The film since underwent many several changes, such as rewrites, directors, and release dates. Hans Zimmer returned to compose the film's score, albeit without co-composer John Powell.

*Dusk and Dawn 2: The Belt of Venus* premiered at the Mann Village Theatre, Westwood in Los Angeles on April 22, 2009, and was released in the United States on May 15, 2009, in 2D, RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, and 4DX. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, it was a box office success, grossing $414 million worldwide against a budget of $160 million, making it the fifth highest-grossing animated film of 2009. A sequel, titled *Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night*, was released on March 2, 2018.

## Plot

Sometime after Twilight and Sun's people made peace, they now live together in harmony. Dusk and Dawn have stayed best friends, hanging out after a celebration party in Sun's palace while Dawn plans on professing her love to Dusk. One day, the pair receive a message from a nearby land called the Belt of Venus that they are plotting to overtake both Dusk and Dawn's home, unless they want to make peace with them. Dusk and Dawn recruit the humanoid Keeper and his tribe to learn more about the Belt of Venus. A meeting in the tribe's home is disrupted when a bolt of lightning from the Belt of Venus hits Dusk and Dawn's home, forcing everyone to evacuate.

Dusk and Dawn enlist their friend Light alongside Twilight, Sun and Keeper to embark on an adventure to find the Belt of Venus. Meanwhile, Venus talks with Twilight's fellow periods Blue and Golden that Dusk, Dawn and their tribe evacuated their home. He confesses that Twilight was once his follower but he abandoned him for being disrespectful towards everyone in Twilight's palace. Blue and Golden find Dawn and convince her to visit the Belt of Venus, making her separate from Dusk and the rest of the group.

By the time Dawn eventually arrives at the Belt, Venus guides her through the rest of the Belt and joins her for dinner, but she did not accept it. Despite hearing this, Venus automatically takes Dawn to dinner. Suddenly, Venus' playful pets started to have a food fight with Dawn at dinner and they tried to help her leave the Belt and reunite her friends, but Venus and his guards imprison her. At the same time, Dusk and his group notice that Dawn has gone missing and they attempt to find her, but no avail, making Dusk depressed.

The next day, Venus lets Dawn free out of her cell and decides to spend more time on the Belt, much to the delight of the others. Dawn later discovers that Venus was not only Twilight's former follower, but he had also once met Sun ever since Dawn was young. Later, Dusk and his group finally find Dawn in the Belt of Venus, but somehow both of them get into an argument when not only Dusk can't find Dawn a long time but also can't decide whenever they can spend time on the Belt or not. Dawn refuses to believe what Dusk said and ends her friendship with him, causing him and the group to turn against Dawn.

After Dusk and Dawn reconcile, Venus traps both of them and reveals that he has actually been plotting to seize both Twilight and Sun's homes by wiping everyone out while pursing them to stay in the Belt of Venus. Dusk and Dawn refuse to believe that, and Venus gets outraged and injures Dusk. This in turn causes Dawn to attack him for hurting her friend. The duo begin to fight Venus, who calls his henchmen. Dusk, Dawn, Light, Twilight, Sun, Keeper, Blue, Golden and the others team up to defeat Venus's minions. Suddenly, Venus grabs Dawn but Sun rescues her own creation and they escape safely, leaving behind a furious Venus with the Belt destroyed, causing him to vanish completely.

Dusk and Dawn, along with the rest of their friends, return back home. While everyone celebrates the pair's bravery, Twilight and Sun credit them for saving their homes, and Dawn explains to Dusk that "someone manipulating you is not the right thing to do because it's what friends are always for," again resuming their relationship.

## Cast

*See also: List of Dusk and Dawn characters*
* Josh Peck as Dusk
	+ Harrison Fahn as a young Dusk
* Zooey Deschanel as Dawn
	+ Olivia Mattingly as a young Dawn
* Anthony Hopkins as Twilight
* Christine Baranski as Sun
* Dan Aykroyd as Light
* James Woods as Venus
* Isla Fisher as Blue
* Nicole Kidman as Golden
* Jeff Garlin as Morning
* Bill Nighy as Evening
* Eric Darnell as Keeper
* Christopher Knights as Elder Jo
* Erika Thomas as Elder Ji
* Gary Anthony Williams as Elder Ja
* Cody Cameron as Tio
* Conrad Vernon as Mark, Teacher Ted
* Chris Miller as Sparkle
* Anne Lockhart as Miss Night
* Kelly Cooney as Abigail
* Walt Dohrn as Mikey, Mr. Night, Scout #1
* David P. Smith as Alpenglow
* Steve Blum as Terminator
* Fred Tatasciore as Noon
* Ariel Winter as Little Girl
* André Sogliuzzo as Scout #2
* Jack Blessing as Sam
* David Soren as Josh
* Tom McGrath as Iceblink

### ADR Group

* Newell Alexander
* Rosemary Alexander
* Steve Alterman
* Mitch Carter
* June Christopher
* Robert Clotworthy
* David Cowgill
* Makenna Cowgill
* Wendy Cutler
* Holly Dorff
* Spencer Lacey Ganus
* Jackie Gonneau
* Nicholas Guest
* Bridget Hoffman
* Matthew Ford Holt
* Hope Levy
* Michelle Ruff
* Philece Sampler
* Georgia Simon
* Daisy Tormé
* Harry Van Gorkum
* Lisa Wilhoit

## Production

A sequel to *Dusk and Dawn* was announced by DreamWorks Animation in January 2004. Co-director Cody Cameron was set to direct the sequel with producer Aron Warner returning, while Michael J. Wilson was hired to write the script. Eric Darnell, the director of the first film, returned as executive producer only alongside Bill Damaschke as he was already directing *Madagascar* for 2005.

Geo G. returned for the sequel as character designer as had been done with the previous film though he was originally going to co-produce the film under his Glass Ball Productions company, but had since stepped down as producer and remained uncredited much akin to its predecessor. In April 2004, Geo that the sequel would be more of a "coming-of-age" movie that focuses more on Dawn as well as introducing new characters and locations into the universe first established in *Dusk and Dawn*. While he was not in a position to offer further details about the plot and characters, which remained unknown until a few years before the film's release, he expressed hope that it would be a more complex sequel. He also said he wanted to include some unused ideas from the first film as well as having more women in the sequel than men.

In the summer of 2004, DreamWorks scheduled *Shrek 3* for 2006, and *Dusk and Dawn 2* for May 2007. DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg also revealed that there would be more female characters featured in the film. In October 2004, Randy Cartwright, who was head of story on the first film, was announced as the film's director, replacing Cameron as director as he left DreamWorks to work at Sony Pictures Animation. Cameron later revealed in an interview that he was set to co-write the screenplay with Michael J. Wilson, stating "it did well, but I couldn't be able to continue it since I was moving to Sony." In July 2005, Katzenberg announced that the first draft of the script was completed. Subsequent rewrites were provided by Jonathan Groff and Terry Ward. By August 2006, Cartwright had been replaced by Tim Johnson, reportedly due to "creative differences". Aron Warner confirmed in March 2007 that William Davies was rewriting the script during production.

Like the other DreamWorks Animation films that began production in 2009 starting with *Monsters vs. Aliens*, *Dusk and Dawn 2* was produced in DreamWorks' stereoscopic 3-D technology of InTru 3D. IMAX 3D, RealD and 2D versions were released.

## Soundtrack

*Main article: Dusk and Dawn 2: The Belt of Venus/Soundtrack*
The film's soundtrack, featuring the original score by Hans Zimmer, was released on May 12, 2009 by Sony Classical. However, John Powell, who co-composed the first film with Zimmer, did not return for the sequel due to scheduling conflicts but later received a "Special Thanks" credit.

## Release

*Dusk and Dawn 2: The Belt of Venus* had its premiere at the Mann Village Theatre, Westwood in Los Angeles on April 22, 2009. It was released in the United States on May 15, 2009. The film was also released in IMAX 3D format.

Originally scheduled to be released in November 2006, *Dusk and Dawn 2* has had several additional release dates since it was first announced. It was delayed to November 2007, to avoid *Shrek the Third*, and then to November 2008, to avoid *Bee Movie*. The film was later delayed to March 27, 2009, with *Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa* taking its November 2008 slot, and was then pushed back for one final time to May 15, 2009, switching places with *Monsters vs. Aliens*.

### Marketing

The film's teaser trailer was released with *Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa* on November 7, 2008 and later the DVD/Blu-ray releases of *Kung Fu Panda* two days later. The first full-length trailer was attached to *Monsters vs. Aliens* on March 27, 2009. DreamWorks Animation partnered with several companies to promote the film, including McDonald's, HP, AT&T, Best Buy, Ziploc, and General Mills for about $100 million worth of advertising. A balloon themed after Dusk and Dawn debuted at the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. In May 2009, Kohl's began selling Dusk, Dawn, Light, Keeper, Blue, and Golden plush toys as a part of their Kohl's Cares merchandise program.

### Video game

*Main article: Dusk and Dawn 2: The Belt of Venus (video game)*
A video game based on the film was released by Activision on May 12, 2009 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, and Wii.

### Home media

*Dusk and Dawn 2: The Belt of Venus* was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 3, 2009, accompanied with an all-new short titled *Dusk Before Dawn*. In July 2014, the film's distribution rights were purchased by DreamWorks Animation from Paramount Pictures and transferred to 20th Century Fox before reverting to Universal Studios in 2018. As a result, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment subsequently re-released the film on Blu-ray on June 5, 2018 alongside *Dusk and Dawn*, *Blue & Golden*, and *Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night*.

## Reception

### Box office

*Dusk and Dawn 2: The Belt of Venus* grossed $102.5 million in North America and $312.2 million in other territories for its worldwide total of $414.7 million. In the United States and Canada, the film opened in 3,304 theatres and grossed $9.5 million in its opening day. It ended up grossing $39.5 million in its opening weekend, placing in third place behind *Angels & Demons* and *Star Trek*.

### Critical reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 56% based on 162 reviews. The critical consensus says, "*Dusk and Dawn 2* doesn't shine particularly as bright as the original, but for older fans and younger newcomers, its spectacular visuals and affectionate performances make it a welcoming return." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 48 out of 100 based on 34 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" of an A+ to F scale.

## Sequel and spin-off

*Main article: Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night*
*Main article: Blue & Golden*
A sequel, titled *Dusk and Dawn: A Zodiacal Night*, was released on March 2, 2018. This film was directed by Simon J. Smith and co-directed by Alessandro Carloni and written by Eyal Podell and Jonathon E. Stewart. Many of the voice cast from the first two films returned for the third film, joined by Jake Johnson, Bobby Cannavale, Kate McKinnon, Matt Frewer, and James Corden. In this film, Dusk and Dawn accidentally switch colors of their appearances when several optical phenomena including the zodiacal light occur in their homes; the pair must work together to stop the zodiacal light so they can return to their normal forms before it is too late.

A spin-off film titled *Blue & Golden* was released on July 31, 2015, and serves as an origin story for the characters Blue and Golden while the film is also set before, during and after the events of *Dusk and Dawn 2: The Belt of Venus*. It was directed by Tom McGrath and written by Walt Dohrn and Darren Lemke. The voice cast has Isla Fisher and Nicole Kidman reprising their roles from the second film, along with Sophia Bush, Morgan Freeman, Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth Paltrow joining the cast.

## Transcripts

### Main transcript

To see the transcript of the film, click here.

### Trailer transcripts

To see the transcripts for the trailers of the film, click here.

## Notes

1. ↑ In 2018, the film's distribution rights were transferred from Paramount Pictures to Universal Pictures.
2. ↑ As depicted in *Dusk and Dawn*.