1st Animatronics in a Movie

If you're a movie fan, then most likely you've seen animatronics in action from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to the Jurassic Park and World movies, as well as 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 above photo might give you a clue.

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. Although originally Disney was going to make it an animated film, he chose live action instead.

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 in 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.

The Giant Squid Scene

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 a 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 fact that 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 below.

Note: It was not Kirk Douglas, but his stunt double in the striped shirt, who filmed this scene.

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, including 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, but it also won 2 Academy Awards, including one for best special effects.

You can see the difference in the video below after the squid scenes were reshot.

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.

Sources:

• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (film) - D23
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Scifist.
• Behind the Scenes of Disney;20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
• The Making of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ; Disney Inside