Act I | Scene I
Brilliant animated feature film idea composed. The studio's buzzing, the chairman wants to see some designs, and the top, top talent is hired at great expense.

Act I | Scene II
Concept drawings are finished. The studio decides what type of animation will be both profitable at the box office and what will ultimately cut costs in the long run. Voice actors -- and mega stars -- are called up.

Act II | Scene I
The chairman sees the rough work and decides it's rubbish, asks the production team to come up with a "better solution."

Act II | Scene II
The lead creative talent becomes frustrated and leaves for a different project. Production is shut down for 5 months. The studio eventually decides to reassess their options according to the financial outlook.

Act II | Scene III
A new team with a "fresh attitude" is located and hired. The title of the picture is changed. The overall aesthetic of the film is thrown out for a new look, feel and sensibility. One that should have been taken all along...

Act II | Scene IV
A marketing strategy is launched to cover-up the years of mistakes.

Act III | Scene I
The film is released to mixed reviews, lackluster box office results and happy children.

Act III | Scene II
The studio plunges into pre-production on their next film. Should it be a sequel? A re-hash of an "evergreen" property?

Act III | Scene III
All of us enthusiasts sit back and keep shaking our heads.

An 18 year-old peasant girl named Anya does not realize she is standing in front of her own portrait at the former Romanov palace. © 1997 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved.

The year was 1997. Anastasia was about to be released and every studio big and small wanted to produce an animated film. Executives had found that animated features could be as profitable as live-action films back when The Little Mermaid and The Lion King were released, but it wasn't until the mid to late Nineties that any of these new studios stood up to the plate. On the surface it would appear that animation had finally broken the mold, a new day was born where animators could look forward to working in a prosperous environment. However, in the rush to the starting gate there have been many false starts and stops that have put a damper on the entire industry.

Don Bluth (seated) and Gary Goldman produced and directed Anastasia and later Titan A.E. © 1997 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved.

If one were to follow the production of any animated film, the results would surprisingly act out much like a dramatic play. Why is it taking a studio five years to produce a film that could have been completed in two and a half max? Other films are being rushed to the screen like a rabbit on speed. Why does story take years -- and sometimes months of production -- before being re-worked and nailed down? Why are these films greenlit before this has happened? Why is animation completed before this happens? Can we only rely on John Lasseter, Brad Bird and Nick Park for brilliant films these days? And even if they do their best, they are at the mercy of the studio that puts together the final marketing and advertising plan. Animation has the wonderful capability to do just about anything the mind can fathom. However, when there isn't a capable script, a talented (and unfettered) crew and the studio punch behind the product, the final box office figures will show justly.

This new world of animated features has raised the stakes for studios, and along with the possibility of big wins, and losses, comes second guessing and constant tweaking. Let's uncover the history of a few animated projects. We've all seen the final results. Now, what did it take to get there?