Co-director Qui Nguyen reveals how Strange World had a much darker story when first envisioned. Walt Disney Animation Studios released their 61st feature film Strange World to a weak box office. Despite this, the film was critically acclaimed for its unique visuals and characters. The film centers on the Clade Family as they are thrust into a subterranean adventure after their source of energy suddenly begins dying and encounter odd creatures in an untamed world. Besides the fact that much of the film is inspired by classic pulp magazines, the story appears to be pretty straightforward and not much of its background has been revealed until recently.
Both Nguyen and Don Hall spoke with Muprhy’s Multiverse about Strange World and how the story developed. Compared to the more family fun version that audiences ended up getting, the co-directors revealed that the film was initially going to be much darker. One example being that instead of the single character death that happens earlier in the film when they enter the Strange World, the original version was going to feature more side characters getting killed, and it would have had a major impact on the leads. Check out Nguyen’s full quote below:
“We had so many. That’s the joy of making one of these films. We get to play with a lot of different ideas, especially in the story stage. We had a series of deaths that were – like we were murdering different characters throughout. There was a version of the movie where, like, the whole crew is dead and you have a feral Callisto at the end who’s like ‘I’m enraged! I will destroy this place no matter what I do!’ We had a much more barbarian type of Jaeger who like killed a giant caterpillar monster with his bare hands, which was really cool. So, there’s a lot of iterations of this film that were really fun to do… like, what if Jaeger was a lot more barbaric or Callisto was a lot more angry or something like that.”
Would Strange World Have Succeeded With A Darker Story?
Based on Nguyen’s comments, Callisto (Lucy Liu) was going to take on a more villainous role. This is in stark contrast to the final film where she instead comes to a major disagreement, only to be turned around upon seeing the severity of the situation. As for Jaeger (Dennis Quaid), he went from being a savage character to something of a comical, eccentric hermit due to the isolation in the subterranean world. Not to imply that Strange World was intended to be dark, Hall revealed that at one point, they were going to focus on a group of minor creatures called “Poop Pickles”, but it was cut due to time.
Contrary to what the public thinks, Disney is no stranger for tackling darker themes in their animated films. Based on the description, the movie sounded like it would have stuck close thematically to Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Just like Strange World, Atlantis was well-received, but failed to be a box office hit with audiences. It also featured a darker story with side characters getting killed, mature themes, and even some risqué humor. Regardless of whether being a darker movie would have improved Strange World, the film’s box office suggests it wouldn’t have made much of a difference.
Strange World‘s poor box office is more likely the result of scarce marketing, most likely due to former Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s lack of respect for the animation studio. While a darker film would have led to Disney making an audacious piece of cinema, it probably would not have secured a box office success for the film. The past couple of animated films from Disney did not achieve success until they were added to Disney+. Chances are, Strange World will finally find its audience once gets added to the streamer as well.
