Digimon: The Movie

Angela Anaconda short Angela Anaconda and her friends line up to watch Digimon: The Movie, but Nanette Manoir and her friends cut in line and Mrs. Brinks blocks her view of the screen. Angela imagines herself Digivolving into Angelamon to defeat Mrs. Brinks and Nanette, before the audience all realize they are in the wrong theater and leave. Eight Years Ago Tai and Kari Kamiya find a Digi-egg that appears from their computer, which hatches and Digivolves into Agumon. Agumon wanders into the night with Kari as Tai pursues them. The neighborhood watches as a Parrotmon hatches from a second Digi-egg in the sky. When Parrotmon attacks Tai and Kari, Agumon protects them by Digivolving to Greymon. When Greymon is knocked out, Tai reawakens him with Kari's whistle and he defeats Parrotmon, but, following the battle, they both disappear. Those who witnessed this would later become the DigiDestined, children chosen to protect the Digital and real worlds. Four Years Later An infected Digi-egg appears on the Internet and hatches into a Digimon who devours computer code, causing chaos to the world's computer systems. Tai and Izzy are warned by Gennai and a boy from Colorado named Willis, who tells them to find a way to slow the Digimon down. Their Digimon, Agumon and Tentomon, enter the Internet but are no match for the newly Digivolved Infermon. Tai tries to recruit backup, but can only reach Matt and T.K., whose Digimon are also defeated by Infermon's final form, Diaboromon. Diaboromon duplicates himself and infects the Pentagon's computers, launching nuclear missiles at Colorado and the DigiDestined's neighborhood which will impact in ten minutes. After WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon are defeated by the multitude of Diaboromon, Tai and Matt become digital and enter their computers. Through the collective power of everyone watching, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon are revived and DNA Digivolve into Omnimon. Omnimon destroys the Diaboromon copies and Izzy, realizing that emails being sent in from people around the world watching on their computers have been slowing their Digimon down, redirects them to the original Diaboromon to freeze him in place long enough for Omnimon to destroy him. The missiles are disabled, but the same virus that created Diaboromon tracks down Willis and corrupts his Digimon, Kokomon. Present Day While visiting Mimi Tachikawa in New York City, T.K. and Kari witness a battle between Willis, Terriermon, and a corrupted Kokomon who tells Willis to "go back". Willis returns home to Colorado, followed by T.K. and Kari, who informs Davis, Yolei and Cody to meet them there. Davis, Yolei and Cody hitchhike to Colorado, where they meet Willis and Terriermon on the way. Willis reveals his history with Diaboromon and that the same virus has infected Kokomon. Willis insists that he must confront Kokomon himself, but Terriermon and Davis offer him support and solidarity. In the final battle with Kokomon's Mega form, the DigiDestined are overpowered until Kari, T.K., Angemon and Angewomon intervene. Angewomon and Angemon release Golden Digi-Eggs to Davis and Willis, allowing Veemon and Terriermon to Golden Armor Digivolve to Magnamon and Rapidmon. Kokomon de-ages all the DigiDestined, and they realize that "go back" meant to go back in time to when the virus first attacked. The two Golden Digimon are swallowed by Kokomon and destroy the virus from within, killing Kokomon in the process. After bidding the DigiDestined farewell, Willis and Terriermon find Kokomon's Digi-egg on a beach. ==Voice cast==

Background Toei Animation had animation fairs every spring and summer with featurettes showcasing its current animated titles. The first Digimon short film was Digimon Adventure, directed by Mamoru Hosoda in his directorial debut and released on March 6, 1999, for the Toei Animation Spring 1999 Animation Fair. Its production preceded final decisions on the 1999 television series of the same name and was subject to several conditions imposed by the Digimon media franchise executives. The event alongside Yu-Gi-Oh! short and ''Dr. Slump : Arale's Surprise Burn'' grossed . The second short, Digimon Adventure: Our War Game! The event alongside One Piece : The Movie grossed . The film's ending theme song is by AiM. was released on July 8, 2000, for the Toei Animation Summer 2000 Animation Fair. It was directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi. The film was screened in two parts, with Ojamajo Doremi #: The Movie screening in between. Only four months separated the release of Our War Game! and this production based on the current season airing in Japan; Toei Animation rejected a script initially green-lighted, considered "too sappy, too depressing" and not enough "action-oriented, pop" by the Japanese studio, a dozen scripts were elaborated and presented in a hurry. The event grossed , the movie did not meet the expected reception of fans and critics. The film's ending theme song is by AiM. Pre-production Several animation critics speculated that Fox had wanted to replicate the success of the first two Pokémon films by releasing a feature film for Digimon as well. The only films produced for Digimon at that time were Digimon Adventure (1999), Digimon Adventure: Our War Game! Around Q2 1999, when production for the English dub of Digimon Adventure had concluded, writers Jeff Nimoy and Bob Buchholz were offered to write Digimon: The Movie while negotiating their contracts to return to write for the show's second season. Digimon Hurricane Landing!! / Transcendent Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals was heavily cut, including a subplot featuring the older DigiDestined being captured and de-aged by Wendigomon. One particular example of a cultural difference being removed was that, in Digimon Hurricane Landing!! / Transcendent Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals, the main characters hitchhiked across the United States. until it was changed to "Willis" in the final version. Prior to the release of Digimon: The Movie, the film led to a dispute between Saban Entertainment and the Screen Actors Guild. The Screen Actors Guild negotiated for actors contracted under them to be paid residuals over home video and subsequent television broadcasts, as they felt Digimon: The Movie was considered an original work due to the dialogue deviating from the original script. Angela Anaconda short The Angela Anaconda short at the beginning of the film was later re-released as an episode in the television series titled "Good Seats" on January 15, 2001, with all dialogue mentioning Digimon removed. ==Release and marketing==

Taco Bell promoted Digimon: The Movie the summer before the film's release via a summer partnership with the franchise from July 13, 2000, to September 9, 2000. Participating restaurants offered toys and other collectibles with purchase of their kids' meals. When the film debuted in domestic theaters, a limited edition "Digi-Battle" trading card was given out with every admission, with a total of 12 cards obtainable. On October 6, 2000, the Mall of America hosted the premiere of Digimon: The Movie. In July 2023, Discotek Media announced the acquisition of the rights of Digimon: The Movie for a Blu-ray release. In addition to Digimon: The Movie, the release also included newly produced English dubs for the original three short films used to create Digimon: The Movie. Most of the original actors reprised their roles. It was released on December 17, 2024, under the title Digimon: The Movies. ==Reception==

Box office Digimon: The Movie opened at #5 in the box office (being shown in 1,825 theaters) and earned $4,233,304 on the opening weekend. The movie also drew in $1,567,641 in the UK after its release on February 16, 2001 and $2,200,656 in Germany the same year. It earned a total of , making it a minor box office success compared to its budget of $5 million. The international success of Digimon: The Movie led Toshio Suzuki to contact Mamoru Hosoda to direct ''Howl's Moving Castle, though he later left the production due to creative differences. Digimon: The Movie'' is Hosoda's most successful film in the United States. Critical reception The film received generally negative reviews from critics. According to the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 24% of critics have given the movie a positive review based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 4/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Digimon is better than Pokemon, but it's still a predictable movie with mediocre animation." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 20 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Reviews from The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, At the 2000 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film won the award for "Worst Achievement in Animation". However; the magazine Animage conducted a list of the "Top 100" anime productions in January 2001, and Digimon: The Movie placed 88th on list. Legacy Despite the film's production struggles and negative critical reception, audience and fan response to the film has been more positive. Writing for IGN Southeast Asia, Dale Bashir highlights some aspects of the film's production value stating, "Now is Digimon: The Movie better than the three movies it was adapting from? No, not even in the slightest. That doesn't mean this movie cannot stand on its own merits, especially as a great case study into the art of dubbing and adapting foreign media into English." IGN deemed the soundtrack, "memorable", In January 2022, for the release of Belle, Mamoru Hosoda expressed that whenever he promotes a new project abroad, he now meets many people who grew up with Digimon and who talk about the movie. ==Soundtrack==

Music from the Motion Picture Digimon: The Movie is the original motion picture soundtrack for the film, Digimon: The Movie, released September 19, 2000 on Maverick Records on CD and compact cassette. The film score was composed by Udi Harpaz and Amotz Plessner, and was performed by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. The film's theme song is the "Digi Rap", a remix of the theme song from the English version of Digimon Adventure. The track is performed by Josh Debear under the name "M.C. Pea Pod" and Paul Gordon. ==See also==