Thomas and the Magic Railroad

Thomas and the Magic Railroad
Canadian theatrical release poster
Directed byBritt Allcroft
Written byBritt Allcroft
Based onThe Railway Series
by Reverend W. Awdry
Thomas & Friends
Shining Time Station
by Britt Allcroft
Produced by
  • Britt Allcroft
  • Phil Fehrle
Starring
CinematographyPaul Ryan
Edited byRon Wisman
Music byHummie Mann[nb 1]
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • July 9, 2000 (2000-07-09) (Odeon Leicester Square)
  • July 14, 2000 (2000-07-14) (United Kingdom)
  • July 26, 2000 (2000-07-26) (United States)
Running time
84 minutes
Countries
  • United Kingdom[2]
  • United States[2]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$19 million
Box office$19.7 million[3]

Thomas and the Magic Railroad is a 2000 children's fantasy adventure film written and directed by Britt Allcroft and produced by Allcroft and Phil Fehrle; the cast includes Alec Baldwin, Peter Fonda, Mara Wilson, Didi Conn, Russell Means, Cody McMains, Michael E. Rodgers, and the voices of Eddie Glen and Neil Crone. The film is based on the British children's book series The Railway Series by the Reverend W. Awdry, its televised adaptation Thomas & Friends by Allcroft, and the American television series Shining Time Station by Allcroft and Rick Siggelkow; it is the only theatrical live-action/animated film in the Thomas & Friends franchise. The plot is centered on Lily Stone (Wilson), the granddaughter of the caretaker (Fonda) of an enchanted steam engine who is lacking an appropriate supply of coal, and Mr. Conductor (Baldwin) of Shining Time Station, whose provisions of magical gold dust are at a critical low. Lily and Mr. Conductor enlist the help of Thomas the Tank Engine (Glen), who confronts the ruthless, steam engine-hating Diesel 10 (Crone) along the way.

Thomas and the Magic Railroad premiered on July 9, 2000. It was panned by critics upon release, with criticism of the acting, plot, special effects, and lack of fidelity to its source material.[4] The film was a box office bomb, grossing $19.7 million worldwide against a production budget of $19 million; Allcroft resigned from her company in September 2000 due to the film's poor performance.[5] HiT Entertainment acquired the company two years later, including the television rights to Thomas.[6] As of October 2020, a second theatrical live-action animated Thomas & Friends film is in development at Mattel Films, a division of Mattel, the current owner of HiT Entertainment, with Marc Forster serving as director.[7]


Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ https://variety.com/1999/film/news/thomas-chugs-into-u-k-for-icon-1117503209/
  2. ^ a b "Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on March 9, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference BOM was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Michael Thomson (July 13, 2000). "Films – review – Thomas and the Magic Railroad". BBC News. Archived from the original on January 6, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
  5. ^ "Britt Allcroft quits as Thomas flops". The Guardian. September 8, 2000. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  6. ^ "Gullane succumbs to HIT's advances". The Guardian. July 5, 2002. Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2020 Forster was invoked but never defined (see the help page).