Brad Bird’s directorial debut, The Iron Giant, hit theaters 25 years ago, long before the release of DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot. Despite its initial failure at the box office, the 1999 film has since become a beloved classic.
Set in the 1950s, The Iron Giant follows a young boy who befriends an alien robot, voiced by Vin Diesel, while the U.S. government seeks to destroy it. The voice cast also included Jennifer Aniston and Harry Connick Jr. Bird co-wrote the script with Tim McCanlies, based on Ted Hughes’ 1968 novel The Iron Man. Hughes originally wrote the story to help his children cope with the loss of their mother, Sylvia Plath.
Originally, The Iron Giant was intended to be a musical, influenced by Pete Townshend’s 1989 concept album The Iron Man: A Musical, but Bird re-envisioned it. His pitch—”What if a gun had a soul?”—became the heart of the film. Eli Marienthal, who voiced the boy Hogarth, recalled Bird’s creative methods of direction, such as making him stand in cold water for authenticity.
Released by Warner Bros. on August 6, 1999, The Iron Giant was critically acclaimed but struggled at the box office, earning only $23 million. Bird attributed the failure to the studio’s hesitation about the release date, which hindered the film’s marketing. Despite its commercial performance, The Iron Giant is now cherished by fans. In 2015, a remastered version was released at the Toronto Film Festival.
Meanwhile, The Wild Robot, which premieres on September 8 at the same festival, follows a similar theme of an alien robot connecting with the world around it. Directed by Chris Sanders and featuring the voices of Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, and Kit Connor, the film explores the robot’s relationship with animals on an isolated island.
Reflecting on The Iron Giant’s lasting legacy, Marienthal, who has since co-founded Back to Earth, an organization dedicated to wilderness experiences for boys, said, “It’s been a delight to watch it touch so many people at different moments.”
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