Finding Nemo (franchise)

Last updated

Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo logo.svg
Finding Nemo logo; its sequel Finding Dory uses a similar logo (see below)
Created by Andrew Stanton
Original work Finding Nemo (2003)
Owner The Walt Disney Company
Years2003–present
Films and television
Film(s)
Short film(s)
Theatrical presentations
Musical(s) Finding Nemo – The Musical (2007)
Games
Video game(s)
Audio
Soundtrack(s)
Miscellaneous
Theme park attraction(s)
  • * Work where this franchise's characters or settings appeared as part of a crossover.
  • † A remastered re-release of Kinect Rush: A Disney•Pixar Adventure (2012); Finding Dory was added to the re-release.
  • ‡ Pavilion opened in 1986 as The Living Seas.

Finding Nemo [a] is a CGI animated film series and Disney media franchise that began with the 2003 film of the same name, produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The original film was followed by a standalone sequel, Finding Dory , released in 2016. Both films were directed by Andrew Stanton. The film series received widespread critical acclaim from critics and audiences with two films released to-date, the series has grossed $1.9 billion worldwide.

Contents

Film series

Finding Nemo (2003)

Finding Nemo logo.svg

Finding Nemo is the fifth Pixar film. The film tells the story of a clownfish named Nemo (voiced by Alexander Gould), who gets abducted from his home in the Great Barrier Reef and winds up in a dentist’s office aquarium. His over-protective father Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks) who, along with an amnesiac regal tang named Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres), searches for him all the way to Sydney Harbour. Along the way, Marlin learns to take risks and let little Nemo take care of himself.

Finding Dory (2016)

Finding Dory.svg

Finding Dory is the seventeenth Pixar film. The film focuses on the amnesiac character Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres), who travels to California to find her long-lost parents, Jenny and Charlie, as well as exploring the idea of her being reunited with her family. [1] It takes place one year after Finding Nemo and is set off the coast of Morro Bay, California. [2] [3]

Future films

Director Andrew Stanton commented in June 2016 about the possibility of a third Finding film, stating:

"I really do feel like that this was the missing piece, emotionally, for the first movie. Now, I’ve stopped saying never for anything because there are a lot of new characters that get introduced and we’ve broadened the universe for this movie. And again, I’m very used to seeing that world continue to open up from the Toy Story movies, so I’ve learned to just say, to my knowledge, I think everything that was born of the first movie is wrapped up. But we’ll see. With any of the other sequels, we strive to try and make it seem like it was inevitable, like it was meant to be, that all these extended stories and journeys with these characters were part of the whole canon. And that's really hard, but it's so satisfying for me when I’m experiencing that, whether it's a great second season of a TV show or another book in a series. It's a small club when it's done successfully. Regardless of how much people may vocalize that they don’t enjoy or wish that there weren’t extensions, sometimes it's really nice to go back and spend more time with these characters if they evolve, if they grow, if they expand. So that, I’m very happy with. I feel like it was just as hard, if not harder, on Finding Dory to get it to feel inevitable and preordained, and that it was always of the larger piece." [4]

In May 2024, Pixar CCO Pete Docter suggested that the studio was considering making a third installment in the Finding Nemo franchise. He stated "Where else have we not gone in the ocean? The ocean's a big place. I think there's a lot of opportunity there. We're kind of fishing around." [5] In July 2024, while in the middle of her final tour entitled "Ellen's Last Stand...Up", DeGeneres answered in a Q&A session that her Netflix special later that year would be her last act in show business. When asked if she would reprise the role of Dory again, DeGeneres responded "No, I’m going bye-bye, remember." [6]

Short films

Exploring the Reef with Jean-Michel Cousteau (2003)

Exploring the Reef is a short documentary film. It features Jean-Michel Cousteau, exploring the Great Barrier Reef, but Marlin, Dory, and Nemo keep interrupting him. The short film is included on the Finding Nemo DVD. [7]

Marine Life Interviews (2016)

Marine Life Interviews focuses on some of the supporting characters within Dory as they give brief interviews and thoughts on Dory herself. This is similar to the character interviews for Finding Nemo .

Dory Finding (2021)

Dory Finding shows Dory finding items from the surface in the coral reef. This short is part of the Pixar Popcorn series on Disney+. [8]

Reception

Box office performance

Finding Nemo is the second highest-grossing film of 2003, behind The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King . [9] It was the highest-grossing Pixar film, up until 2010 when Toy Story 3 surpassed it. [10] Finding Dory is the third-highest-grossing film of 2016, behind Civil War and Rogue One . [11]

Finding Nemo is the 10th highest-grossing animated franchise. [12]

FilmRelease dateRevenueRankBudget
United StatesOther territoriesWorldwideAll-time domesticAll-time worldwide
Finding Nemo [13] May 30, 2003$380,843,261$559,492,275$940,335,536#26
#55 (A)		#36$99,000,000
Original releaseMay 30, 2003$339,714,978 [13] $531,304,279 [14] $871,019,257$94,000,000 [13]
3-D re-releaseSeptember 14, 2012$41,128,283 [15] $28,187,996 [15] $69,316,279$5,000,000 [16]
Finding Dory [17] June 17, 2016$486,295,561$541,068,765$1,027,364,326#7
#71 (A)		#22$200,000,000
Total$867,138,822$1,100,561,040$1,967,699,862$299,000,000
List indicator(s)
(A) indicates the adjusted totals based on current ticket prices (calculated by Box Office Mojo).

Critical and public response

FilmCriticalPublic
Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic CinemaScore
Finding Nemo 99% (267 reviews) [18] 90 (38 reviews) [19] A+ [20]
Finding Dory 94% (339 reviews) [21] 77 (48 reviews) [22] A [23]

Accolades

Both films received universal acclaim, with the first film winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It was a financial blockbuster as it grossed over $921 million worldwide. It is the best-selling DVD of all time, with over 40 million copies sold as of 2006 [24] and is the 2nd highest grossing G-rated movie of all time. In 2008, the American Film Institute named it the 10th greatest American Animated film ever made during their 10 Top 10. [25] It also won the award for best Animated Film at the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards, the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards, the National Board of Review Awards, the Online Film Critics Society Awards, and the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards.

Cast and characters

List indicators

This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in the franchise.

CharactersFeature filmsShort films
Finding Nemo Finding Dory Exploring the Reef with Jean-Michel Cousteau Marine Life Interviews
Nemo Alexander Gould Hayden Rolence Alexander Gould
Marlin Albert Brooks
Dory Ellen DeGeneres Ellen DeGeneres
Sloane Murray Y
Lucia Geddes Y 		Ellen DeGeneres
Gill Willem Dafoe
Bloat Brad Garrett
Peach Allison Janney
Gurgle Austin Pendleton
Bubbles Stephen Root
Deb Vicki Lewis
Jacques Joe Ranft Jerome Ranft
Crush Andrew Stanton
SquirtNicholas BirdBennett Dammann
Mr. Ray Bob Peterson
Bruce Barry Humphries Deleted scene
Darla ShermanLuLu EbelingPhotograph
TadJordy RanftCharacters are mute
Sheldon Erik Per Sullivan
PearlErica Beck
Anchor Eric Bana
Chum Bruce Spence
Philip Sherman Bill Hunter
Nigel Geoffrey Rush
Coral Elizabeth Perkins
School of Moonfish John Ratzenberger
Hank Ed O'Neill Ed O'Neill
Destiny Kaitlin Olson Kaitlin Olson
Bailey Ty Burrell Ty Burrell
Jenny Diane Keaton
Charlie Eugene Levy
Fluke Idris Elba Idris Elba
Rudder Dominic West Dominic West
Stan Bill Hader
Inez Kate McKinnon
GeraldTorbin Xan Bullock
Becky
BillJohn Ratzenberger
Jean-Michel Cousteau Himself

Theme park attractions

Other media

Video games

Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo was released in 2003 by THQ. The goal in the game is to complete different levels under the roles of film protagonists Nemo, Marlin or Dory. It includes cutscenes from the movie and each clip is based on a level. For example, Marlin and Dory hopping through a batch of jellyfish.

The game received mixed reviews. It received 2/5 stars on GameSpy, [27] [28] [29] [30] 6.2/10 points on GameSpot [31] [32] [33] and IGN gave it 7.0/10 and 6.0/10 on its PS2 and Xbox, and GameCube platforms, respectively. [34] [35]
[36]

Disney Friends

In 2007, Disney Interactive Studios released Disney Friends. It is a video game based on various Disney films. The game features characters Stitch from Lilo & Stitch , Dory from Finding Nemo, Pooh from Winnie the Pooh , and Simba from The Lion King .

Kinect: Disneyland Adventures

Kinect: Disneyland Adventures is a video game released in 2011 by Frontier Developments. The game is based in various Disneyland attractions. It was released on Kinect for Xbox 360. Characters from Finding Nemo appear as part of a minigame based on Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.

Nemo's Reef

Nemo's Reef was a mobile game available from December 20, 2012 to June 30, 2017 by Disney Mobile. The game is a casual reef building which features characters from Finding Nemo. It was released on Android and iOS devices.

Disney Infinity

Disney Infinity was a video game series developed by Avalanche Software that ran from 2013 to 2016. Elements from Finding Nemo appeared throughout all three games in the series, with power discs based on the film released for the first game, and a playset based on Finding Dory along with Dory and Nemo figures released for the console versions of Disney Infinity 3.0 in June 2016. The aforementioned playset and figures were the last new content released for the series, which was cancelled by Disney in May 2016.

Rush: A Disney•Pixar Adventure

Kinect Rush: A Disney•Pixar Adventure is a video game developed by Asobo Studio originally released in 2012 for Xbox 360. On October 31, 2017, a remastered release without the Kinect branding titled Rush: A Disney•Pixar Adventure was released for Xbox One and Microsoft Windows 10. The remastered version adds a world based on Finding Dory alongside the original release's worlds.

Disney Magic Kingdoms

During a limited time Event focused on the franchise, under the name "Finding Marlin", the world builder game Disney Magic Kingdoms included Nemo, Marlin, Dory, Crush, Squirt, Bruce and Hank as playable characters, along with the attractions Crush's Coaster, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, and The Seas with Nemo and Friends. [37] Bailey and Destiny were also included as playable characters in a later update of the game. [38] In the game the characters are involved in new storylines that serve as a continuation of the events in the films.

Stage musical

Finding Nemo – The Musical is a 40-minute show (performed five times daily), which opened on January 24, 2007 at the Theater in the Wild at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida. It is a musical adaption of the film with new songs written by Tony Award-winning Avenue Q composer Robert Lopez and his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez. It would "combine puppets, dancers, acrobats and animated backdrops". [39]

Appearance on Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman

In the PBS KIDS Show Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman, Crush the sea turtle appeared as a guest star in the Season 5 episode, "The Ol' Shell Game", voiced again by Andrew Stanton.

Magazine

In August 2016, Egmont Publishing launched a magazine, titled Finding Dory. [40]

Music

Finding Nemo is the soundtrack album of the film of the same name. Finding Dory is the soundtrack album of the film of the same name. The soundtracks were scored by Thomas Newman.

The score was nominated for the 76th Academy Awards for Best Original Score but lost against The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King . [41] [42] It received 5/5 stars from the Film Score Reviews [43] and 3.5/5 stars from Soundtrack.net. [44]

Crew

FilmDirector(s)Writer(s)Producer(s)Executive ProducerComposerEditor(s)
Finding Nemo Andrew Stanton
Co-directed by: Lee Unkrich 		Original Story by: Andrew Stanton
Screenplay by: Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds 		Graham Walters John Lasseter Thomas Newman David Ian Salter
Finding Dory Andrew Stanton
Co-directed by: Angus MacLane 		Original Story by: Andrew Stanton
Screenplay by: Andrew Stanton and Victoria Strouse		Lindsey CollinsAxel Geddes

Notes

  1. ↑ sometimes referred to as simply Finding'"`UNIQ--ref-0000001C-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-0000001D-QINU`"'

References

  1. ↑ Risley, Matt (April 2, 2013). "Pixar confirm Finding Nemo sequel". Total Film. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
  2. ↑ Zeitchik, Steven (April 2, 2013). "Ellen DeGeneres' 'Nemo' sequel, 'Finding Dory', set for 2015". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
  3. ↑ Lussier, Germain (April 2, 2013). "'Finding Nemo' Sequel Officially Called 'Finding Dory', Releases November 25, 2015". /Film. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
  4. ↑ Snetiker, Marc (June 20, 2016). "'Finding Nemo 3'? Here's whether it could happen". Entertainment Weekly . No.  Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  5. ↑ Buckley, Thomas (May 30, 2024). "Disney Is Banking On Sequels to Help Get Pixar Back on Track". Bloomberg. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  6. ↑ Sharf, Zack (July 11, 2024). "Ellen DeGeneres Says 'I Am Not Mean' and 'I'm Done' With Fame After Next Netflix Special: 'This Is the Last Time You're Going to See Me'". Variety . Retrieved March 2, 2025.
  7. ↑ "Finding Nemo: Exploring the reef with Jean-Michel, Nemo and Dori". Ocean Futures. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  8. ↑ Alex Reif (January 22, 2021). "Short Review: "Pixar Popcorn" Offers 10 Charming Shorts from 7 Franchises". Laughing Place.
  9. ↑ "Top Grossing Films of 2002". Box Office Mojo.
  10. ↑ "Pixar". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
  11. ↑ "2016 WORLDWIDE GROSSES". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Worldwide Grosses". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  13. 1 2 3 "Finding Nemo (2003)". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  14. ↑ McClintock, Pamela (August 5, 2009). "Nemo slips on 'Ice'". Variety. Retrieved January 26, 2014. It took six years for a toon to overtake Pixar and Disney's "Finding Nemo," which grossed $524.9 million internationally in its 2002 release.
  15. 1 2 "Finding Nemo (3D)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 26, 2014.
  16. ↑ Kaufman, Amy (September 16, 2012). "'Resident Evil: Retribution' sinks 3-D version of 'Finding Nemo'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 26, 2014. The studio said it spent under $5 million to convert the film to 3-D.
  17. ↑ "Finding Dory (2016)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Finding Nemo". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved December 27, 2024. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  19. ↑ "Finding Nemo". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  20. ↑ Geier, Thom (January 12, 2020). "53 Movies With A+ CinemaScore Since 2000, From 'Remember the Titans' to 'Just Mercy' (Photos)". TheWrap. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  21. ↑ "Finding Dory". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved May 2, 2022. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  22. ↑ "Finding Dory". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  23. ↑ Anthony D'Alessandro (June 20, 2016). "'Dory's Record Animated Pic $135M+ Opening Is Also Second Best For June After 'Jurassic World'". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  24. ↑ Boone, Louis E. Contemporary Business 2006, Thomson South-Western, page 4 - ISBN   0-324-32089-2
  25. ↑ "AFI's 10 Top 10". American Film Institute . Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  26. ↑ "Finding Nemo Ride, Pirate Shows, and New Electrical Parade Floats Coming to Tokyo Disney Resort in 2017". WDW News Today. September 21, 2016. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  27. ↑ "Finding Nemo (Game Boy)". GameSpy. Archived from the original on December 31, 2005. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  28. ↑ "Finding Nemo (PlayStation 2)". GameSpy . Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  29. ↑ "Finding Nemo (Xbox)". GameSpy . Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  30. ↑ "Finding Nemo (GameCube)". GameSpy . Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  31. ↑ Tracy, Tim (June 3, 2003). "Disney/Pixar Finding Nemo Review (PlayStation 2)". GameSpot . Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  32. ↑ Tracy, Tim (June 3, 2003). "Disney/Pixar Finding Nemo Review (Xbox)". GameSpot . Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  33. ↑ Tracy, Tim (June 3, 2003). "Disney/Pixar Finding Nemo Review (GameCube)". GameSpot . Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  34. ↑ Perry, Douglass C. (May 27, 2003). "Finding Nemo". IGN . Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  35. ↑ Perry, Douglass C. (May 27, 2003). "Finding Nemo Review". IGN . Archived from the original on June 5, 2003. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  36. ↑ Perry, Douglass C. (May 27, 2003). "Finding Nemo". IGN . Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  37. ↑ "Update 32: Finding Nemo | Livestream". YouTube. August 2, 2019.
  38. ↑ "Update 50: Finding Dory NGO Event | Livestream". YouTube. May 28, 2021.
  39. ↑ Hernandez, Ernio. "Avenue Q Composer Lopez Co-Pens Musical Finding Nemo for Disney Archived December 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine ,"Playbill.com (April 10, 2006).
  40. ↑ "Egmont Publishing Launches Finding Dory Magazine" (Press release). Egmont Publishing. July 19, 2016. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  41. ↑ "The 76th Academy Awards (2004) Nominees and Winners". Academy Award. Archived from the original on September 29, 2012. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  42. ↑ "Academy Award For Best Original Music Score". Listal. Archived from the original on August 6, 2016. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  43. ↑ "Finding Nemo". Film Score Reviews. Archived from the original on June 16, 2013. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  44. ↑ Brecher, Daniel (August 25, 2003). "Finding Nemo". Soundtrack.net . Retrieved April 8, 2013.