50 Fun Facts About Strange World

Strange World's director Don Hall had already won an Oscar for which Disney film?

Big Hero 6. Its producer Roy Conli and composer Henry Jackman both rejoined Hall for Strange World, which he first pitched to Conli in an office papered with adventure artwork.

Who voices Searcher Clade in Strange World?

Jake Gyllenhaal. As a teenager his Searcher found the plant that powers Avalonia, yet the grown man is a cautious homebody, nothing like his explorer father.

Who voices Jaeger Clade, the larger-than-life explorer in Strange World?

Dennis Quaid. His Jaeger walks out on his own expedition, and his teenage son, to push on alone, and is not seen again for a generation.

Strange World's Jaeger and Searcher Clade are voiced by actors who had played father and son before in which film?

The Day After Tomorrow. In the 2004 disaster film the father is a climate scientist who sets out on foot through a frozen America to reach his son, trapped in New York.

Who voices Meridian Clade, the pilot in Strange World?

Gabrielle Union. Her Meridian, once an aerobatic stunt flyer, chases the expedition down in her own plane and soon ends up at the controls of its airship.

Who voices Callisto Mal, the President of Avalonia, in Strange World?

Lucy Liu. Her Callisto once explored alongside Jaeger Clade and launches the new expedition herself; the film's writer called her his opposite, out for her people, not her own glory.

What is the name of the miracle plant that powers Avalonia in Strange World?

Pando. Director Don Hall took the name from a real aspen forest in Utah that is all one connected organism, among the largest living things known.

What did Strange World's designers deliberately leave off every creature of the underground world?

Faces. Co-director Qui Nguyen said the rule was no eyes, noses or mouths, so the animators had to make each creature act with its body alone.

In Strange World, what surrounds the land of Avalonia on every side?

An endless wall of mountains. Nobody in Avalonia has ever ventured beyond them, and the wish to be first is what costs Jaeger Clade his family.

In Strange World, which over-the-top weapon does Jaeger Clade carry through the underground?

A flamethrower. The effects team said they 'cranked it up to an 11', letting its fire spread and wrap around whatever Jaeger turns it on.

What is the name of President Callisto Mal's airship in Strange World?

The Venture. When flying creatures snatch its pilot on the way underground, Meridian Clade takes the controls and keeps them.

What is the name of the Clades' three-legged dog in Strange World?

Legend. Disney veteran Burny Mattinson insisted in a story meeting that the Clades needed a dog, and director Don Hall named it after his nickname for Mattinson.

When Strange World's first concept art appeared, /Film said it looked a lot like which James Cameron film?

Avatar. The site also thought of Pandora, the Avatar land at Disney's Animal Kingdom, and pointed out that Cameron's sequel would open only weeks after Strange World.

In Strange World, what does Ethan name the amorphous blue creature he befriends?

Splat. 'You just kind of give me Splat vibes,' Ethan tells it, and it goes on to guide the Clades through the underground and later helps to free them.

Strange World's wordless blue creature was animated with which earlier Disney character in mind?

The magic carpet from Aladdin. Like the carpet, it has to show every mood in pantomime, through pose and timing alone, and one animator compared it to working a puppet.

In Strange World, what are the tentacled creatures that attack the expedition underground called?

Reapers. One has Searcher Clade cornered until a stranger drives it off, and the rescuer turns out to be the father he has not seen since his teens.

In Strange World, what do Searcher and Ethan discover Avalonia sits on?

A giant turtle-like creature. The underground is the inside of its body, the monsters are its immune system, and the miracle crop turns out to be an infection attacking its heart.

Don Hall and Qui Nguyen put Strange World on hold to take over which other Disney animated film?

Raya and the Last Dragon. Its creative team was swapped mid-production, so the pair stepped in as director and writer, and Hall said they came back to Strange World 'in fighting shape'.

In Strange World, what has stopped Jaeger Clade crossing the underground?

An acidic ocean. Jaeger has spent years underground trying to get past it, and now means to cross it aboard the expedition's airship.

In Strange World, what kind of aircraft does Meridian Clade fly for a living?

A crop duster. A daredevil in her younger days, she uses it to chase down the expedition, and before long she is flying its far bigger ship instead.

What is the name of Ethan's crush, later boyfriend?

Jonathan Melo voices him; Kardez and Azimuth are Ethan's friends.

Alan Tudyk, Strange World's pilot Duffle, was the pilot Wash in which TV series?

Firefly. Tudyk was its joking pilot, Wash, and Duffle is another joker at the controls, pulled from his cockpit by a flying creature and never seen again.

Lonnie Redshirt's surname references a trope from which franchise?

Red-shirted crew members famously die insignificantly in the original series.

Besides Jules Verne's novels, which classic monster movie did Don Hall name as a model for Strange World?

King Kong. Hall called it a good example of the story he loves best, in which explorers stumble on a hidden world that nobody knew was there.

Don Hall began developing Strange World in 2017, straight after co-directing which Disney film?

Moana. His usual directing partner, Chris Williams, worked on the first version with him, and some of that early artwork survives in the film's art book.

Chris Williams left Strange World, and Disney, to direct which animated film for Netflix?

The Sea Beast. Williams had been developing Strange World with Don Hall, his usual directing partner, and his own monster adventure came out in the same year.

Don Hall pitched Strange World to its writer as 'Indiana Jones' meets which comedy?

National Lampoon's Vacation. Writer Qui Nguyen said the pairing told him at once where the comedy would come from, so he knew exactly what he was signing on for.

Alan Tudyk's voices in Strange World continued a run of Walt Disney Animation roles that began with which film?

Wreck-It Ralph. He won an Annie Award as its villain King Candy, and every Walt Disney Animation feature from then to Strange World found him a part; this one gave him three.

Which Jules Verne novel did Strange World's director name as an inspiration?

Journey to the Center of the Earth. Like Verne's travellers, the Clades find their unknown world by going down, not across, and Variety called the film an adventure in that novel's style.

What kind of publications did Don Hall say inspired Strange World's look?

Pulp magazines. Hall grew up reading their tales of explorers who stumble on hidden worlds, so the film's artists went back to issues from the 1930s and 1940s.

Which other Disney-released animated film joined Strange World in Deadline's top five box-office bombs of 2022?

Lightyear. Deadline put the Toy Story spin-off's loss at about $106 million, little more than half the $197 million it reckoned for Strange World, the largest on its list.

Who returned as Disney's chief executive just days before Strange World opened in American cinemas?

Bob Iger. He replaced the ousted Bob Chapek, whose central distribution arm, the one that decided which films went to cinemas and which to streaming, was quickly dismantled.

What is the title of the song on the Strange World soundtrack performed by James Hayden?

They're The Clades! It is the goofy family anthem that opens the film, a number the makers second-guessed and then kept; Henry Jackman wrote the music.

Writer Qui Nguyen compared Strange World's twist to which earlier film?

The Sixth Sense. He wanted viewers to be able to go back, track every hint and say, 'They told us all along what this was.'

Who made the new Disney logo Strange World introduced?

Industrial Light & Magic. The effects house built the new castle sequence to mark Disney's 100 years, set to a fresh arrangement of When You Wish Upon a Star, and Strange World was the first film to carry it.

Why did Strange World skip cinemas in France?

A dispute over release windows. French rules would have kept it off Disney+ for 17 months after a cinema run, so Disney sent it straight to the service and called the system 'anti-consumer'.

At which Hollywood cinema did Strange World have its premiere in November 2022?

El Capitan Theatre. The 1926 movie palace on Hollywood Boulevard belongs to Disney, which uses it to launch its own films.

Strange World flopped on its American release over which holiday weekend in 2022?

Thanksgiving. It took $18.6 million over the five-day holiday when $30 million to $40 million had been forecast, and Variety put the eventual loss at $100 million or more.

In Strange World, how does Ethan Clade come to be on the expedition?

He stows away on the airship. Told to stay at home, the 16-year-old slips aboard with the family dog, and his mother has to give chase.

Which film kept Strange World off the top of the US box office on its opening weekend?

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Disney's own Marvel sequel, by then in its third weekend, stayed in front, so the studio finished first and second.

Strange World was the first Disney Animation film graded below A- by which audience poll?

CinemaScore. Opening-night audiences gave it a B where critics had been kinder, and The Hollywood Reporter counted that weak word of mouth among the reasons it sank so fast.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics consensus called Strange World a Disney milestone in terms of what?

Representation. The same sentence then took the praise back, saying that as storytelling the 'dazzlingly animated adventure offers little audiences haven't already seen'.

What did director Don Hall say first inspired the story of Strange World?

The planet his sons would inherit. Hall said that thought led him to the one he had inherited from his own father, and so to a story about three generations.

Expecting censors to object to Ethan's romance, Disney did what with Strange World across the Middle East?

Withheld it. Unwilling to cut a crush it treated as part of the story, Disney chose not to submit the film to censors at all there, or in markets such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

The Hollywood Reporter's review compared the painterly look of Strange World to which earlier Disney film?

Treasure Planet. The reviewer was thinking of the painterly landscapes and science-fiction bent, but the 2002 film was also a costly box-office bomb, a fate Strange World went on to share.

Some analysts tied Strange World's flop to which studio's films going straight to streaming?

Pixar. Soul, Luca and Turning Red all went straight to Disney+ while the company built up its streaming service, which those analysts said had left families confused.

Which institution did Strange World's filmmakers visit as part of their research?

National Geographic. The team also consulted climatologists, paleontologists and biologists, so that even the strangest inhabitants of their world would rest on real science.

Which colours did Strange World's designers lean into for its underground world?

Reds and magentas. As a dare from the director, green, blue and brown were ruled out below ground, so that nothing there would look like warm, nostalgic Avalonia above.

In Strange World, what does Searcher Clade expect his son Ethan to become?

A farmer. Searcher pushes the family trade on Ethan much as his own father once pushed exploring on him, until the 16-year-old tells him outright that he does not want it.

Strange World's Karan Soni plays taxi driver Dopinder in which film series?

Deadpool. His Dopinder is the cabbie who befriends the antihero in the first film and comes back for both sequels; in Strange World he voices Caspian, the expedition's resident nerd.