The Nightingale (2008)

The Nightingale is a 2008 American animated epic fantasy musical film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The story takes place in Ancient China, and was based on the tale by Hans Christian Andersen. The Nightingale was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and has a screenplay credited to Irene Mecchi, and Linda Woolverton. Both Allers & Minkoff were also the directors of "The Lion King" back in 1994. It's original songs were written by composer Alan Menken and original scores were written by Hans Zimmer. The film features an ensemble voice cast that includes Wenwen Han, Asa Butterfield, B.D Wong & Li Bingbing, Jackie Chan, Chow-Yun Fat, etc.

It tells the story about a young 10 year old girl named Chun Xiu. She is given about the news about the Emperor's orders for his serveants for a quest. The Emperor of China learns that one of the most beautiful things in his empire is the song of the nightingale. When he orders some of his most loyal serveants for the nightingale to be brought to him, Chun Xiu, (the one of the only inhabitants in China, at court who knows of its whereabouts) leads the court to a journey in the search of the nightingale. Along the way, she meets a Kung-Fu skilled boy named Ping-Han. He helps her and the serveants's quest to find the Nightingale. But danger lurks when one certain powerful magician Guozhi, whose's goal to conquer China, wants the nightingale for himself...and making sure that no one, (not even Chun Xiu) stands in his way.

The Nightingale is the second full length Disney animated feature, to have the time set in China (the first one being "Mulan", back in 1998, ten years before "The Nightingale". Chun Xiu, also was the second Asian Main Disney Heroine, after Mulan.

Critical reception

The Nightingale was released on October 3, 2008, to a positive reaction from critics, who praised the film for its music, story, characters and animation. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 100%

Box office

It managed to gross $4.891 billion worldwide, $1.161 billion of which was earned in the United States and Canada and $3.730 billion of which was earned in overseas-territories ( A huge amount that came from China). It managed to top Warner Bros's "The Dark Knight" as the highest grossing film of 2008. At the time before the start of the 2010's, The Nightingale became the highest grossing movie ever, beating the previous 2D Disney-animated film The Tinderbox, until it was pushed down to 2nd highest worldwide in 2014, when it was outgrossed by The Six Swans. It was the first film in history to cross $4 billion worldwide.

It also became the second film to gross over $900M+ domestically, after "The Tinderbox" the year before, and the first ever film in history to hit $1 billion+ domestically. It eventually made $1.161 billion in the U.S.

It is currently the highest grossing Disney animated film based on a Hans Christian Andersen tale, and also currently the 3rd highest grossing animated film worldwide, behind Disney's own "The Six Swans" in 2014 & "Harvey & Sophia" in 2016. It also broke the October opening weekend record with $278M, and kept the overall opening record until 3 years later when it was broken by Disney's own "Red Riding Hood" in 2011 with a $283M opening in December.

Domestic-wise, The Nightingale is currently the fifth highest grossing animated film, behind The Six Swans, Harvey & Sophia, Hansel & Gretel & Red Riding Hood, which all of the films made over $1B+ in USA.

Accolades

The Nightingale was nominated for Best Picture, Best Animated Feature, Best Director, Best Original Song & Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing & Best Sound Mixing. It won most Oscars (including Best Picture). This marks the third animated film to do so and the first time ever that two animated films to win Best Picture in a row, following The Tinderbox the year before.

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