# Fantasia 2000
**Fantasia 2000** is a 1999 American animated anthology film from Walt Disney Feature Animation that pairs classical music with animated sequences, continuing the format of the 1940 film *[Fantasia](https://www.edgepedia.org/fantasia-1940-film)*. It combines seven new segments with a digitally restored reprise of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" from the original, and it was the first feature-length studio film produced for IMAX; the 89-minute documentary *Rolling Stones: At the Max* had preceded it in 1991.[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/) • [2](https://www.awn.com/animationworld/fantasia-2000-millennium-magic-new-generation) • [17](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58761-AT-THEMAX)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | Premiered at Carnegie Hall, New York, December 17, 1999; IMAX theaters worldwide January 1, 2000 for a four-month exclusive run; general release June 16, 2000[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/) |
| Format first | First feature-length studio film produced for IMAX, following the 1991 89-minute documentary, Rolling Stones: At the Max[2](https://www.awn.com/animationworld/fantasia-2000-millennium-magic-new-generation) • [17](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58761-AT-THEMAX) |
| Content | Seven new segments set to classical works, plus "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" from the 1940 *Fantasia*[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/) |
| Music | Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Levine[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/) |
| Box office | $90 million worldwide on an $85 million budget, including $64.5 million from the IMAX engagement[3](https://midwestfilmjournal.com/2020/06/29/class-of-2000-fantasia-2000/amp/) |
| Reception | 80% Tomatometer from 84 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes; Metascore 59 from 27 critics[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fantasia_2000) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/fantasia-2000/) |
| Runtime | 74 minutes[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/) |
## Spoilers
### The segments
The film follows the original's pattern of assigning different animators to different pieces of classical music.[8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-31-ca-49189-story.html) The seven new segments are:[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/)
- **Beethoven, Symphony No. 5**: abstract visions of color, shape, and light, directed by Pixote Hunt with a pastel palette in a good-versus-evil scenario.[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/) • [2](https://www.awn.com/animationworld/fantasia-2000-millennium-magic-new-generation)
- **Respighi, Pines of Rome**: a pod of whales that can fly, combining computer-generated imagery of the whales and water with traditional background painting; director Hendel Butoy said the team wrote its own computer code for the effects.[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/) • [2](https://www.awn.com/animationworld/fantasia-2000-millennium-magic-new-generation)
- **Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue**: a stylized look at life in Manhattan during the [Jazz Age](https://www.edgepedia.org/jazz-age).[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/)
- **Shostakovich, Piano Concerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102**: the [Hans Christian Andersen](https://www.edgepedia.org/hans-christian-andersen) fable of [The Steadfast Tin Soldier](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-steadfast-tin-soldier).[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/)
- **Saint-Saëns, Carnival of the Animals, Finale**: what happens when a yo-yo is given to a flock of flamingos.[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/)
- **Elgar, Pomp and Circumstance, Marches 1, 2, 3, and 4**: Donald Duck as an assistant on Noah's ark.[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/)
- **Stravinsky, Firebird Suite (1919 version)**: a tale of death and rebirth in which a young sprite awakens a ravaged forest.[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/)
Some pieces were truncated to fit the format; critic Kenneth Turan noted the three-minute version of Beethoven's Fifth as an example.[8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-31-ca-49189-story.html) [Celebrity](https://www.edgepedia.org/celebrity) hosts introduce the segments on screen: [Steve Martin](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-martin) as introductory host, with [Itzhak Perlman](https://www.edgepedia.org/itzhak-perlman), Quincy Jones, Bette Midler, James Earl Jones, Penn & Teller, and Angela Lansbury.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fantasia_2000)
The new segments required the development of computer graphics technology that, according to *Computer Graphics World*, helped prove the merit of CGI to the studio, while the animators integrated the computer imagery into more conventional hand-drawn scenery.[7](https://www.cgw.com/Publications/CGW/2000/Volume-23-Issue-1-January-2000-/Fantasia-2000.aspx) • [9](https://www.avclub.com/fantasia-2000-1798192409)
## Origins
[Walt Disney](https://www.edgepedia.org/walt-disney) had conceived the original *Fantasia* (1940) as a continuing work-in-progress, with segments swapped out over time, but that plan was never realized.[6](https://movies.disney.com/fantasia-2000) The sequel grew from his nephew [Roy E. Disney](https://www.edgepedia.org/roy-e-disney), who learned of the concept at age 12 and had wanted to create new segments for the film ever since.[7](https://www.cgw.com/Publications/CGW/2000/Volume-23-Issue-1-January-2000-/Fantasia-2000.aspx) According to a retrospective account, a successful 50th-anniversary theatrical re-release of *Fantasia* that grossed $25 million, together with the 1991 home-video release that sold millions of copies, convinced then-CEO [Michael Eisner](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-eisner) to greenlight a sequel; studio chair Jeffrey Katzenberg was lukewarm on the idea, and Eisner pursued it with Roy E. Disney as a Y2K-themed event.[3](https://midwestfilmjournal.com/2020/06/29/class-of-2000-fantasia-2000/amp/) D23, the official Disney archives fan club, describes the film as a longtime pet project of Roy E. Disney, who gave it his personal supervision.[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/)
## The IMAX release
Disney staged the release as a millennial event. After a five-city live orchestral tour in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, and Los Angeles, the film opened exclusively in IMAX theaters worldwide on January 1, 2000, for a run through April 30.[10](https://ewh.ieee.org/reg/7/millennium/imax/imax_fantasia.html) • [11](https://www.awn.com/news/disney-announces-fantasia-2000-release-plans) At 74 to 76 minutes depending on the account, it was the first feature-length studio film produced for IMAX; while Rolling Stones: At the Max (1991) had run 89 minutes in the format, no previous IMAX film had been produced by a major studio as a feature.[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/) • [12](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-feb-07-ca-61796-story.html) • [17](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58761-AT-THEMAX) Admission averaged about $12.50, against roughly $8 for a typical IMAX film or theatrical release at the time.[12](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-feb-07-ca-61796-story.html)
**The temporary Los Angeles theater.** Disney wanted an exclusive four-month engagement in Los Angeles, but the [California Science Center](https://www.edgepedia.org/california-science-center), operator of the only IMAX theater in central Los Angeles, refused; negotiations broke down over the film's educational merits and the exclusivity demand. In response, Disney put up a temporary theater made of steel and fiberglass in West Los Angeles at a price close to $4 million, housing 622 seats arranged stadium-fashion, digital sound rated at 12,000 watts, and a screen measuring 80 feet across and 56 feet high. The entire facility was to be dismantled four months after opening.[13](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-07-ca-41225-story.html)
The IMAX run was profitable: the film collected $64.5 million in IMAX receipts before its wide release in June 2000.[3](https://midwestfilmjournal.com/2020/06/29/class-of-2000-fantasia-2000/amp/) Industry observers credited the release with demonstrating that commercial animation could work on giant screens.[14](https://www.awn.com/mag/issue5.09/AWNMag5.09.pdf)
## Reception and box office
In wide release the film did not repeat the IMAX performance. It ultimately earned $90 million on an $85 million budget, short of what Eisner had hoped, and it did not earn enough to sustain Walt Disney's original intent of keeping a *Fantasia* film in regular theatrical rotation with segments swapped every few years.[3](https://midwestfilmjournal.com/2020/06/29/class-of-2000-fantasia-2000/amp/)
Critical response was mixed to positive. Rotten Tomatoes records an 80% Tomatometer from 84 reviews and a 75% audience score; Metacritic records a Metascore of 59 from 27 critics, labeled mixed or average, against a user score of 7.2.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fantasia_2000) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/fantasia-2000/) Roger Ebert, reviewing the IMAX presentation, wrote that the film as a film was not the equal of the original, partly because it aimed for broader appeal, while praising the closing ecological-healing segment and noting that the IMAX presentation renewed his faith in film technology over digital projection.[15](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/fantasia2000-1999) Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called it more ephemeral than epochal, a pleasant diversion that did not leave much of a residue.[8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-31-ca-49189-story.html)
## Legacy
The film's chief historical distinction is format: it was the first feature-length studio film produced for IMAX, decades after the format's founding and after the 1991 theatrical IMAX release *Rolling Stones: At the Max*, and it opened the door to later Hollywood features in the format, with the 2003 *Matrix* sequels among the first live-action films to go through the IMAX process.[16](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/fantasy-movies/the-odyssey-director-christopher-nolan-says-he-first-dreamt-about-making-an-imax-movie-in-1986/) • [17](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58761-AT-THEMAX) The film was released on video in November 2000[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/) and is now available on Disney+.[6](https://movies.disney.com/fantasia-2000)
## References
1. [Fantasia/2000 (film), D23](https://d23.com/a-to-z/fantasia2000-film/)
2. [Fantasia 2000: Millennium Magic For A New Generation, Animation World Network](https://www.awn.com/animationworld/fantasia-2000-millennium-magic-new-generation)
3. [Class of 2000: Fantasia 2000, Midwest Film Journal](https://midwestfilmjournal.com/2020/06/29/class-of-2000-fantasia-2000/amp/)
4. [Fantasia 2000, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fantasia_2000)
5. [Fantasia 2000, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/fantasia-2000/)
6. [Fantasia 2000, Disney Movies](https://movies.disney.com/fantasia-2000)
7. [Fantasia 2000, Computer Graphics World](https://www.cgw.com/Publications/CGW/2000/Volume-23-Issue-1-January-2000-/Fantasia-2000.aspx)
8. ['Fantasia': An Idea Gets Imaxed Out, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-31-ca-49189-story.html)
9. [Fantasia 2000, The A.V. Club](https://www.avclub.com/fantasia-2000-1798192409)
10. [IMAX and Fantasia 2000 -- Success in Hollywood, IEEE](https://ewh.ieee.org/reg/7/millennium/imax/imax_fantasia.html)
11. [Disney announces FANTASIA 2000 release plans, Animation World Network](https://www.awn.com/news/disney-announces-fantasia-2000-release-plans)
12. [They Think Even Bigger May Be Better, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-feb-07-ca-61796-story.html)
13. [L.A. Imax Says No, So Disney Builds Its Own Huge Screen, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-07-ca-41225-story.html)
14. [AWN Magazine issue 5.09](https://www.awn.com/mag/issue5.09/AWNMag5.09.pdf)
15. [Fantasia/2000 movie review, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/fantasia2000-1999)
16. [Christopher Nolan interview on IMAX history, GamesRadar](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/fantasy-movies/the-odyssey-director-christopher-nolan-says-he-first-dreamt-about-making-an-imax-movie-in-1986/)
17. [catalog.afi.com](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58761-AT-THEMAX)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Animated and short films › Animated film studios and franchise animation › Disney and Pixar animated films*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license