Matt Damon Starred In An Animated Sci-Fi Movie That Killed Its Studio

Matt Damon has had some success in the sci-fi genre, including one movie where 900 billion was spent to bring him back home. But in the early 2000s, he starred in an animated space adventure that didn't do well at the box office. While it's considered a cult classic today, its impact on the studio that made it still remains one of the biggest disasters in animation history.

That animated film is "Titan A.E.," and it's set in the distant future where Earth has been obliterated by hostile aliens after a war. Before its destruction, scientists managed to launch the Titan — a highly advanced ship capable of terraforming planets. It's out there in space as humanity's last hope, but no one knows where it is. Cale Tucker (Damon) discovers he has the map to the Titan after coming across a ragtag crew looking for the ship and reluctantly joins them on this quest to find it before the aliens destroy it too.

The movie was released on June 16, 2000, and it was notable for its hybrid 2D/CGI animation, mature themes, soundtrack, and ensemble cast (Drew Barrymore and Bill Pullman starred as well). However, it only managed to gross $36.7 million against a $75 million budget. Then, on June 26, 10 days after the movie's release, Fox Animation Studios closed its doors for good. The box office performance was just the final nail in the coffin of a series of unfortunate events.

"Titan A.E." was never meant to be an animated feature film. It was supposed to be live action, but none of the writers or directors at 20th Century Fox could make the script work. Eventually, it was handed over to Don Bluth at Fox Animation Studios, a well-known animator and director who previously worked for Disney. He had already co-directed "Anastasia" for the studio in 1997, which was a financial success in a year that Disney released "Hercules." But with "Titan A.E." being a gritty, mature, and dark sci-fi film, Bluth was working outside his genre, which wasn't good for the movie.

Additionally, there was more drama behind the scenes. In 1999, Fox Animation Studios fired more than 300 of its staff as a cost-cutting measure to finish the film. But this hurt the movie because fewer people were working during the post-production, requiring the help of other studios, like Blue Sky Studios of "Ice Age" and "Rio," to help finish it. Marketing was also confusing, because the animation was meant to attract kids while the edgy humor, violence, and dystopian themes were aimed at teenagers and young adults. All of these demographics largely ignored it.

This was a movie that a struggling Fox Animation Studios needed to succeed, but the failure directly led to its closure. As for Matt Damon, he has starred in numerous other films since, including the Netflix crime drama that reunited him with his best friend, Ben Affleck.