The First Audio-Animatronic in a Movie
Movie Animatronics
If you're a movie fan, then most likely you've seen animatronics in action from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to Jurassic Park to the really creepy characters in Five Nights at Freddy's.
So how did it all get started? It's been many years since the first animatronics appeared in a movie. Any guess which was the first movie to feature them? The image above should give you a clue.
Walt Disney in 1954
Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Although the Jules Verne classic had originally been brought to the big screen in the 1916 silent film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Disney decided to make his own version of Verne's adventure novel which was released in 1954.
Directed by Richard Fleischer, the movie starred Kirk Douglas, Peter Lorre, Paul Lukas and James Mason as the dark and troubled Captain Nemo.
Disney spared no expense at making this film with shooting locations in Jamaica and Nasal the Bahamas. In fact, the Nasal location was the same location that was used to film the 1916 silent film. To date, it was the most expensive movie ever made costing $9,000,000.
Filming was going pretty smoothly until it came to what became the epic giant squid battle. That's when things took a turn for the worse.
Original Scene of the Squid Fight in Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
The original squid fight scene filmed for the movie was way different than the one used in the final cut of the film. First of all, it was filmed to appear to be sunset under a pink sky so it was light enough to view the squid clearly.
It was also filmed with a very calm ocean. In other words, a pretty boring backdrop for what was supposed to be an epic battle. As the tentacles of the squid would absorb water during filming, they became heavier and more difficult to move properly causing them to look quite awkward at times.
Add to that the some of the cables used to move the giant tentacles could be seen in the footage. The result was a pretty fake looking battle
Once Disney saw it, he knew it lacked the drama, suspense and imagery needed to portray the suspenseful battle he had hoped to give the scene. You can view the original footage above.
Note: It was not Kirk Douglas, but his stunt double who filmed this scene.
Audio-Animatronic Squid in Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
After the failure of the first shooting of the giant squid scene at a cost of $300,000, (a huge amount of money for those days,) Disney knew it had to be reshot so he started everything again from scratch.
Gone was the pink sunset sky and it was replaced with the dark sky of night. The once calm water of the ocean became a violent storm with crashing waves and high winds. Due to the background, the squid became much more sinister looking as all you could see was the darkness of the beast.
A new squid was created with its movement being a combination of hydraulics and pneumatics. With 40 foot tentacles filled with air hoses and 24 men at the controls for movement, the new squid became an ominous nemesis to the crew of the Nautilus.
The new scene cost $250,000, (once again high by the standards of the time,) and took 100 people to create between all of the effects used to bring the scene to life.
In the long run, it paid off. Not only was the movie a hit, it also won 2 Academy Awards including one for best special effects.
Check out the video above to see the scene that was used in the movie and you'll see a huge difference from the one originally filmed.
Five Nights at Freddy's
Jackmcgovern12345 at Wikimedia through Creative Commons licensing
Popular Movie Animatronics
With the success of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Disney continued the use of audio-animatronics in his films with the next one being the bird that Mary Poppins sings "A Spoonful of Sugar" to in the film Mary Poppins.
Many other movies were made over the years featuring animatronics including Alien, Child's Play, Jaws, Jurassic World: Dominion and Five Nights at Freddy's. (Animatronics became quite popular in the making of sci-fi movies.)
CGI in the movie Avatar
Animatronics vs CGI
Although animatronics have come a long way since the first audio-animatronic in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, some directors are moving away from them and opting to use CGI instead.
(To note, Disney claimed the term audio-animatronics which is a particular form of animatronics.)
While there is the advantage of having an animatronic on set while filming, oftentimes CGI can be less expensive to use, not to mention the limitless movement that can be brought to life.
In some cases both are incorporated. Take the Giganotosaurus from Jurassic World: Dominion. The head is a product of animatronics while the body was created with CGI. You can see a combination of the effects in the video below.
In Conclusion
Disney was the start of the world of animatronics in movies with the giant squid in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and since that time, the technology has grown and become way more defined as seen in current movies.
Not only was this the start of animatronics in movies, but the start of them in other venues including theme park rides, restaurants and even department stores.
Although CGI has become a partial replacement for some animatronics, it doesn't look like the animatronics will go out of style at any time in the near future.
