The Polar Express (2004) is based on the children's book of the same name by Charles Van Allsburg. Like the movie after it, the book The Polar Express told of a boy who travels aboard a train to the North Pole to visit Santa Claus. Inspiration for The Polar Express went in part back to Charles Van Allsburg's childhood. Pete Marquette 1225 is steam locomotive which was owned at one point by Michigan State University. Growing up Charles Van Allsburg attended nearly all of Michigan State University's home football games and remembered playing on the train as a kid. The Polar Express proved to be a success. It made the New York Times bestseller list and was awarded the Caldecott Medal. It has since become regarded as a classic.
Among the many parents who read The Polar Express to their children was actor Tom Hanks. It was in 1999 that he optioned the book in the hope that he could play both the conductor and Santa Claus. In 2000 Castle Rock Entertainment agreed to co-produce the movie with Tom Hanks's Playtone Company. It was in February 2002 that Robert Zemeckis signed on to produce The Polar Express. He would also become the film's director. Robert Zemeckis co-wrote the screenplay with William Broyles Jr. As the book The Polar Express was only 32 pages with illustrations, Messrs.Zemeckis and Broyles had to expand the plot a bit.. Minor characters in the book, such as Hero Girl, the Lonely Boy, and Know-it-all became more prominent in the film than they had been in the book, and new character, a hobo calling himself "the King of the North Pole" was created for the movie.
Based on a fantasy children's book, The Polar Express presented the producers with some special challenges. The book featured some action that would be impossible to re-produce in a live-aciton movie. Making The Polar Express as a live-action movie would also mean losing the magic of the book's artwork. At the same time, making The Polar Express as an animated movie would mean losing the humanity of the characters. Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks then decided that The Polar Express should be made using motion capture technology., whereby the movement of people would be recorded and then animated. In some ways it similar to rotoscoping, the technique pioneered by animator Max Flesicher whereby animators traced over live action footage. The cost of making the movie using motion capture necessitated binging in another studio to produce the film. Universal turned the chance to co-produce The Polar Express, but eventually Shangri-La Entertainment, agreed to do so. The Polar Express became the first feature-length movie made entirely with motion picture technology. It also marked the first time that motion capture was for both the performers' facial expressions and body movements. Previously it had only been used for body movements.
Principal photography on The Polar Express (2004) began on March 21 2003. Shooting the film involved seventy motion capture cameras which surrounded a green screen stage.Principal photography for The Polar Express took only thirty eight days, an impossibility had it been shot as a live-action movie.
As to the train in the film, the Polar Express itself, it was based on Pete Marquette 1225. Not only did the locomotive serve as a model for the movie's train, but sounds from the engine were recorded to be used in The Polar Express (2004). Dennis Braid, executive director of the Steam Railroading Institute who own Pete Marquette 1225, lent several items to be used for the movie, among them a bulb and valve gear from Pete Marquette 1225.
The Polar Express (2004) premiered at the 40th Chicago International Film Festival on October 21 2004. Later that month it was shown at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival on October 20 2004, and its Hollywood premiere was on November 7 2004. The Polar Express went into wide release in the United States on November 10 2004. In addition to the standard 35mm format, The Polar Express was also released in 3D for IMAX theatres.
As mentioned earlier, reviews for The Polar Express (2004) were mixed. Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review, stating, "...it has a haunting, magical quality." Richard Roeper also gave the movie good marks, commenting that it "...remains true to the book, right down to the bittersweet final image." Other critics gave The Polar Express (2004) overly negative reviews. Peter Travers of The Rolling Stone referred to The Polar Express (2004) as "...a failed and lifeless experiment in which everything goes wrong." Geoff Pevere of the Toronto Star wrote, " "If I were a child, I'd have nightmares. Come to think of it, I did anyway." Stephanie Zacharek of Salon also thought The Polar Express had ventured into uncanny valley territory, commenting, "I could probably have tolerated the incessant jitteriness of The Polar Express if the look of it didn't give me the creeps."
Initially audiences did not seem to embrace The Polar Express (2004) either. In its opening weekend it earned only $23.3 million and came in second to The Incredibles (2004), which had come out a week earlier. For its second weekend, The Polar Express (2004) dropped by 33%, making a gross profit of only $15.7 million. While the film was underperforming at standard theatres, it was doing very well at IMAX theatres. In fact, it would hold the record for the highest IMAX gross of a film until it was overtaken by Avatar in 2009.
While The Polar Express (2004) would be a disappointment at the box office in its initial release, it would be helped by strong word of mouth so that it would do relatively well in its re-releases over the years. The December 10 2011 issue of Variety it was reported that Warner Bros.' holiday re-issues of The Polar Express had $182.2 million in domestic grosses since 2004. While the film had been a disappointment at the box office upon its first release, in the end it had become very profitable and one of Warner Bros.' most successful movies of the Naughts. It has also come to be regarded by many as a Christmas classic.
The Polar Express (2004) still has its share of detractors. There are still those who maintain its human characters are unsettling, that the film ventures into the uncanny valley. Despite this, there are many who have come to love the film and it is regarded by some as a recent holiday classic. Indeed, in recent years it has done very well on various streaming venues. There may always be those who are critical of The Polar Express (2004), but it seem clear that it had developed a large following who love the film.
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