A Bug's Life

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A Bug's Life
Directed byJohn Lasseter
Screenplay by
Story by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographySharon Calahan
Edited byLee Unkrich
Music byRandy Newman
Production
companies
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures Distribution
Release dates
  • November 14, 1998 (1998-11-14) (United States)
  • March 17, 1999 (1999-03-17) (Russia, Kazakhstan, India, Togo, Turkey, United States)
  • April 19, 2013 (2013-04-19) (United Kingdom, Turkey & United States)
Running time
95 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$45 million
Box office$363.3 million

A Bug's Life is a 1998 movie made by Pixar. It follows the conflict between ants and grasshoppers in the world of insects. It is a retelling of a fable by Aesop, The Ant and the Grasshopper.

Voice cast[change | change source]

Premieres[change | change source]

Country Release date
 United States November 25, 1998
March 17, 1999
May 18, 2001
June 18, 2004
February 15, 2013
 Canada November 25, 1998
March 17, 1999
May 18, 2001
June 18, 2004
February 15, 2013
 United Kingdom December 2, 1998 (premiere)
February 5, 1999
May 16, 2001
May 5, 2002
February 8, 2013
 Israel December 4, 1998 (English)
March 12, 1999 (premiere)
March 18, 1999
May 4, 2001
February 8, 2002
June 5, 2005
May 12, 2013
 Kazakhstan March 17, 1999 (English)
January 15, 2000 (German)
June 2, 2001
September 28, 2007
August 29, 2013
 Russia March 17, 1999 (English)
May 16, 2000 (Spanish)
May 12, 2001
June 2, 2004 (German)
September 2, 2008
February 8, 2013

Soundtrack[change | change source]

  1. Roll to Me by Del Amitri
  2. Basket Case by Green Day
  3. Loser by Beck
  4. Love in an Elevator by Aerosmith
  5. Baba O'Riley by The Who
  6. I Want It That Way by Backstreet Boys
  7. La Cucaracha by Santana
  8. Hey World! by Ziggy Marley
  9. Blister by Jimmy Eat World
  10. Born to Be Wild by Bruce Springsteen
  11. The Time of Your Life by Lionel Richie

Home media[change | change source]

This released on VHS and DVD on November 13, 2001.

Production[change | change source]

A Bug's Life was first considered in 1988, as a short movie to be based on Aesop's fable, but it was delayed by Toy Story. Almost a year after its release, Disney made an agreement with Pixar to make movies together. John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Doctor, and Joe Ranft brought up the project idea, A Bug's Life in late 1994.[4] The ideas for Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and WALL-E were also brought up and the three decided to have the grasshoppers demand food instead of begging for it, as it is in the fable. Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai helped influence the project. A basic story treatment was completed in 1995, and production began soon after. The movie had many technical challenges. One of the biggest technical triumphs was the simulation of crowds of ants. It would be impossible for an animator to animate every single ant in a crowd of thousands. So the technical supervisors came up with a computer program that would make every single ant in the crowd different in small ways; for example, different eye color, skin color, weight, or height. They would also build several ants that could be animated. When randomly distributed through the crowds, these ants appear to be blinking, talking, or looking in different directions.


Awards[change | change source]

Award nominations and wins for A Bug's Life
Year Category Institution or publication Result Notes Ref.
1999 Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score Academy Awards Nominated [5]
2000 Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects British Academy Film Awards Nominated [6]
1999 Best Fantasy Film Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Nominated SA Website does not go back that far and is not in archives either
1999
  • Outstanding Individual Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
  • Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production
  • Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature
  • Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production
Annie Awards Nominated [7]
1999 Favorite Animated Family Movie Blockbuster Entertainment Awards Won IMDb is the only reference as Blockbusterawards no longer exists, and no archives prior to 2006.
1999 Bogey Award in Silver Bogey Awards Won IMDb is the only reference, I was able to find mention of it in German, but I do not understand the site and how it is laid out [8]
1999
  • Best Animated Feature
  • Best Family Film
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Won Tied with The Prince of Egypt for Best Animated Film [9]
1998 Best Animation Los Angeles Film Critics Association Won [10]
1998 Best Musical or Comedy Score - Randy Newman Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nominated [10]
1999 Animated Voice-Over Casting - Ruth Lambert Casting Society of America - Artios Award Won [11]
1999 Best Original Score — Randy Newman Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Nominated [12]
1998 Special Notice to 1998 animation features Florida Film Critics Circle Won [13]
1999 Best Score Motion Picture - Randy Newman Golden Globe Awards Nominated [14]

References[change | change source]

  1. "A Bug's Life". bbfc.co.uk. British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on March 2, 2016. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 A Bug's Life. Behind The Voice Actors[permanent dead link]
  3. Sterngold, James (December 4, 1998). "At the Movies; Bug's Word: Yaddanyafoo". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 29, 2014. Retrieved February 19, 2017. Tuck is older by a few milliseconds,...
  4. Price, David (2008). The Pixar Touch. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-307-26575-3.
  5. "The 71st Academy Awards | 1999". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 21 March 1999. Archived from the original on 17 July 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  6. "Film in 2000 | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Archived from the original on 17 July 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  7. "49th Annual Annie Awards". annieawards.org. Archived from the original on 17 July 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 12 June 2022 suggested (help)
  8. "Bogey Awards, Germany (1999)". IMDb. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  9. "Movie Reviews". The New York Times. 14 July 2022. Archived from the original on 24 January 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  10. 10.0 10.1 "Movie Reviews". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  11. "1999 Artios Awards". www.castingsociety.com. Archived from the original on 21 June 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  12. "Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 1999". MUBI. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  13. "1998 FFCC Award Winners". Florida Film Critics Circle. 16 November 2013. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  14. "A Bug's Life". www.goldenglobes.com. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2022.

Other websites[change | change source]