Darkness Awakening

Darkness Awakening is a 1999 traditionally-animated dark adventure thriller film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation. It was directed by Toby Bluth from the screenplay by Jymn Magon. It follows the teenage girl (Kirsten Dunst) who has her dark secret and tries to find a truth about the meaning of it.

The film was released in the United States on September 24, 1999, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $247 million worldwide against its $40 million budget, making it a box office success for its MGM Animation division.

Plot
At age 10, a young girl named Kristina was living in her student life. Suddenly, she discovers a shadow figure and unexpectedly has a dark secret behind her.

Four years later, her parents warns her that she must try to find a truth about the meaning of her dark secret. She goes to school without letting other students know about her dark secret.

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Cast

 * Kirsten Dunst as Kristina, a teenage girl who has her dark secret behind her.
 * Joan Allen as Louise, Kristina's mother
 * Dom DeLuise as Billy, a secretary who seeks Kristina's dark secret
 * Alan Rickman as Sean, Kristina's father
 * Lacey Chabert as Rachel, one of Kristina's friends at school
 * Adam Wylie as Owen, one of Kristina's friends at school

Production
While working on the direct-to-video movie Babes in Toyland, Toby Bluth was also working on its theatrical movie about the girl trying to find a truth about her dark secret behind her. Kirsten Dunst has been attached in the lead role after the producers saw her vocal performance in Fox Animation Studios' Anastasia. Joan Allen, Dom DeLuise and Alan Rickman also joined the main voice cast in October 1998.

Release
The film was released theatrically on September 24, 1999, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, making it the third MGM Animation film released theatrically after All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 and The Hero of Toytown.

Home media
Darkness Awakening was released on VHS and DVD on March 14, 2000, by MGM Home Entertainment.

Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack was scored by John Powell, making it the third MGM Animation film without frequent composer Mark Watters after The Hero of Toytown and The Secret of NIMH 2: Timothy to the Rescue.

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 71%, based on 128 reviews. On Metacritic, holds a score of 58 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Box office
Darkness Awakening grossed $120.5 million in the United States and Canada and $126.5 million with a worldwide total of $247 million, making it the third highest-grossing animated film of 1999 behind Toy Story 2 and Tarzan. In the United States and Canada, the film opened alongside Double Jeopardy and grossed $28.3 million at its opening weekend, debuting number one.