Crystal (2009 film)

*Crystal* is a 2009 American 3D computer-animated musical romantic fantasy film produced by Fox Animation Studios. The fourth feature film in the Fox Animated Features canon, it was written and directed by Tim Minchin and co-directed by Phil Anderson, and written by Phillip Melton, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, and David Lindsay-Abaire from a story by Conrad Vernon and Drew Cohen. The film stars the voices of Selena Gomez, Jesse Eisenberg, Christine Baranski, Jonah Hill, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jeff Garcia, Wallace Shawn, Sam Elliott, John Cleese, Emily Blunt, Whoopi Goldberg, and Dakota Fanning. *Crystal* was the first Fox animated film to be presented in 3D. The film was first released in North America on March 6, 2009, and was a critical and commercial success, earning acclaim from film critics and audiences and earning $505 million worldwide. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score at the 82nd Academy Awards, but lost to *Up*, respectively.

A sequel, *Crystal: Coming of Darkness*, was released on October 7, 2016, with Tim Minchin writing and directing by himself. Much like its predecessor, the sequel was also universally acclaimed and became a box office success. A second and final sequel, *Crystal: The Rise of Darkness*, was released on May 17, 2019. The film's success has also inspired other merchandise, including a video game and a television series.

## Music

The official soundtrack for the film was released on March 3, 2009 by Varèse Sarabande. The songs were written by Alan Menken and Marc Shaiman, while the score was written by Menken.

## Release

*Crystal* had its United States premiere on February 27, 2009, at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It was theatrically released on March 6, 2009, in the United States. The film was digitally re-mastered into IMAX 3D, and released to 170 North American IMAX theatres, and approximately 60 IMAX theatres outside North America.

### Marketing

* The film's original teaser trailer debuted with the film *Horton Hears a Who!* on March 14, 2008, then online on April 20, 2008.

* The film's official trailer was released on June 26, 2008, and was shown before *WALL-E,**Swapped*, *Meet Dave*, *Space Chimps*, *Wild Forest*, *Star Wars: The Clone Wars,* and *FusionMania*.
* The second theatrical trailer was released on November 7, 2008, and was shown before *Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa*, *Bolt*, *Twist City*, *The Tale of Despereaux, Hotel for Dogs*, and *Coraline.*

### Home media

*Crystal* was released on single-disc DVD, two-disc 3-D DVD pack and Blu-ray/DVD combo pack in Canada and the United States on Friday, November 6, 2009. The 3-D version comes with four sets of 3-D glasses—specifically the TrioScopics 3D green-magenta anaglyph image. *Crystal* was released in the United Kingdom on DVD and Blu-ray on December 8, 2009. As of July 26, 2011, units sold for the 3-D DVD stand at more than 6.7 million copies and has grossed $143,443,566. A two-disc Blu-ray 3D set which includes a stereoscopic 3D on the first disc and an anaglyph 3D image was released on May 24, 2011.

## Reception

### Critical response

*Crystal* received critical acclaim upon its release. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 88% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 167 reviews from professional critics, with an overall rating average of 7.1/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Boasting dazzling animation, a script with surprising dramatic depth, and thrilling 3-D sequences, Fox Animation's *Crystal* will perhaps find you off guard." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average rating of 74 based on 33 reviews from critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend revealed the average grade cinemagoers gave Crystal was A- on an A+ to F scale.