Tarzan (1999 film)

This article is about the film. For the soundtrack, see Tarzan (1999 soundtrack). For the video game, see Tarzan (video game). For the franchise, see Tarzan (franchise).

Tarzan
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Screenplay by
Story by
Based onTarzan of the Apes
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Produced byBonnie Arnold
Starring
Edited byGregory Perler
Music byMark Mancina
Production
company
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures Distribution[a]
Release dates
Running time
88 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$130 million[1]
Box office$448.2 million[1]

Tarzan is a 1999 American animated coming-of-age[3] adventure comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is based on the 1912 story Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, being the first animated major motion picture version of the story. The film was directed by Kevin Lima and Chris Buck (in his feature directorial debut) and produced by Bonnie Arnold, from a screenplay written by Tab Murphy and the writing team of Bob Tzudiker and Noni White. It stars the voices of Tony Goldwyn as the title character along with Minnie Driver, Glenn Close, Rosie O'Donnell, Brian Blessed, Lance Henriksen, Wayne Knight, and Nigel Hawthorne.

Pre-production of Tarzan began in 1995, with Lima selected as director[4] and Buck joining him the same year. Following Murphy's first draft, Tzudiker, White, Dave Reynolds, and Jeffrey Stepakoff (the latter two of whom received additional screenplay credits in the final cut), were brought in to reconstruct the third act and add additional material to the screenplay. English recording artist Phil Collins was recruited to compose and record songs integrated with a score by Mark Mancina. Meanwhile, the production team embarked on a research trip to Uganda and Kenya to study the gorillas. The animation of the film combines 2D hand-drawn animation with the extensive use of computer-generated imagery, and it was done in California, Orlando, and Paris, with the pioneering computer animation software system Deep Canvas being predominantly used to create three-dimensional backgrounds.

Tarzan premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on June 12, 1999, and was released in the United States on June 18. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised its voice performances, music, animation, and action sequences. Against a production budget of $130 million (then the most expensive traditionally animated film ever made until Treasure Planet in 2002), the film grossed $448.2 million worldwide, becoming the fifth highest-grossing film of 1999, the second highest-grossing animated film of 1999 behind Toy Story 2, and the first Disney animated feature to open at first place at the North American box office since Pocahontas (1995). It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song ("You'll Be in My Heart" by Phil Collins). The film has led to many derived works, such as a Broadway adaptation, a television series, and two direct-to-video followups, Tarzan & Jane (2002) and Tarzan II (2005). Due to licensing issues with Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., the use of these characters are limited.[5]


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  1. ^ a b c "Tarzan (1999)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on December 2, 2002. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
  2. ^ "Tarzan". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
  3. ^ "Top 10 Coming-of-Age Animated Disney Movies | WatchMojo.com". WatchMojo. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
  4. ^ Fulton, Rick (September 17, 1999). "Back to Basics: Disney Finally Makes the Ape Man the Kind". The Daily Record. Archived from the original on November 18, 2015. Retrieved November 8, 2015 – via TheFreeLibrary.com.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference ST was invoked but never defined (see the help page).