Annie is a 1999 American made-for-television musical-comedy-drama film from The Wonderful World of Disney, adapted from the 1977 Broadway musical of the same name by Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin, and Thomas Meehan, which in turn is based on the 1924 Little Orphan Annie comic strip by Harold Gray. This was the first remake of Annie (1982 film).
It was directed by Rob Marshall, written by Irene Mecchi, and produced by Walt Disney Television, Columbia TriStar Television, Storyline Entertainment, and Chris Montan Productions. Annie marks the first film collaboration between The Walt Disney Company and Columbia Pictures since Columbia distributed some of Disney's short animated Silly Symphony films from 1930 to 1932. It stars Kathy Bates, Alan Cumming, Audra McDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, Victor Garber, Andrea McArdle (who originated the role of Annie in the musical), and introduces Alicia Morton as Annie and Lalaine as Kate.
Plot[]
In 1933, during the Great Depression, 11-year-old orphan Annie Bennett was left on her own at the Hudson Street Home For Girls when she was an infant. The only two things that she received from her family was half a heart-shaped locket with a key hole, and a note from her parents saying that they would come back for her. The orphanage is run by the tyrannical Miss Hannigan, who starves the orphans, and forces them to do slave labor. In the middle of the night, after getting tired of waiting for her parents, Annie tries to escape to find them, but is caught by Miss Hannigan in the process. When Miss Hannigan gets distracted, Annie hides in the dirty laundry bin and she finally succeeds in running away.
While out on her own, Annie befriends a dog, whom she names Sandy. But police officer Lt. Ward catches her and returns her back to the orphanage. When billionaire Oliver Warbucks decides to take in an orphan for Christmas, his secretary Grace Farrell chooses Annie. Annie and Sandy are brought to his wealthy estate and bathe in a grand life.
Although at first uncomfortable with Annie, Warbucks is soon charmed by her especially after a night out on the town, giving Annie a chance to get a better look at the city. Eventually Grace tells Hannigan that Warbucks wants to adopt Annie and is shocked but allows it. After Grace leaves, Hannigan's con artist brother Rooster, and his dimwitted girlfriend Lily St. Regis arrive and Hannigan tells them about Annie's adoption and they come up with a way to get some money and be well off. Meanwhile Warbucks desperately wants to adopt Annie, but Annie still wants to find her real parents telling him that her parents gave her the locket and a note saying that they would come back for her, so he announces on the radio a $50,000 reward for anybody who can prove they are her biological parents. The orphans accidentally tell Miss Hannigan, and after Rooster and Lily try and fail at posing as Annie's parents, the trio cook up a scheme to get the reward by posing as Ralph and Shirley Mudge (Annie's "so called" parents). However lots of other couples show up at Warbucks mansion and after reading all the stories, Grace and Warbucks realize that they were all after the money. There was nothing but sob stories and not one couple mentioned Annie’s locket. After being unable to find her parents Warbucks ask Annie if she would like to live with him and while she does say she loves her parents dearly she would love to be her daughter. After a dance together and the judge arrives Rooster and Ms Hannigan come and have a fake birth certificate and other papers. They allow Annie to stay one more night but Annie is too sadden to celebrate.
The next day Lily is left with the orphans after Miss Hannigan and Rooster leave, but Lily accidentally tells the secret. The orphans make her tell them what is going on, and she realizes that Rooster could leave her hanging as he has done before in the past. She and the orphans come to Warbucks' mansion where Lily demands her part in the cut while the orphans reveal the scheme. While fleeing from the orphans, Miss Hannigan and Rooster are intercepted upon the arrival of President Franklin D. Roosevelt along with his Secret Service. President Roosevelt reads the papers that identifies Miss Hannigan, Rooster, and Lily leading to Rooster and Lily getting arrested by the Secret Service. This enrages Miss Hannigan, who rants about all she did and the thanks she got for it. She is then carted off to a psychiatric hospital as she foresaw what would happen to her.
President Roosevelt then presents the evidence to Annie that her real parents are actually David and Margaret Bennett, but sadly they both had died several years earlier which explains why they never returned for her. Although Annie is saddened that her real parents are dead, she is cheered up when Daddy Warbucks officially adopts her. President Roosevelt ensures a happy ending for all as he promises that each of the orphans will be adopted by a stable and happy family. Daddy Warbucks and Grace become engaged, and Annie lives happily with her new parents and Sandy.
Production[]
ABC began work on the film following the success of Cinderella. Although the stage musical Annie had already been adapted as a film in 1982, the film was considered to be a critical and commercial failure. Zadan and Meron saw remaking the musical as an opportunity to rectify the previous adaptation's errors. They enlisted Cinderella's choreographer Rob Marshall to direct and making the orphans ethnically diverse. Zadan and Meron were both so impressed by Rob's work throughout Cinderella (saying he acted like a director), that when The Wonderful World of Disney came to them about doing a TV version of Annie, they both went to Rob to direct and choreograph. At first, he turned it down, saying “I’m not a director, I’m a choreographer. I don’t know why you’re even offering me this movie. I don’t know anything about film.” When Rob Marshall finally agreed to direct it, Disney executives didn’t want him to do the film. They said “Annie is too valuable a property. We’re not gonna give it to a guy who’s never directed a movie.” Yet, because Zadan and Meron both really believed in him, they told the executives in response “Then we won’t produce it.” They knew at the time that since Cinderella was so huge, the last thing Disney wanted to do was another musical not produced by them. So they kept calling saying “Let’s go over a list of directors”, but Zadan & Meron said no because they really wanted Rob Marshall to do it. So Disney eventually conceded and allowed him to direct and choreograph.
McDonald recalled in a 2017 interview that there was a reshoot of the final scene that showed her character, a black woman, not engaging with Daddy Warbucks; she suggested the reason for the reshoots was Disney and ABC were "a little uncomfortable" having a black woman engage with the white man. However, the other members of the cast and crew were not happy about having to do the reshoot, and Garber intentionally performed the scene badly so that it couldn't make it into the final cut. The dancers' costumes and the stage set of the Broadway section of "N.Y.C." are taken directly from the "Broadway Melody" ballet in Singin' in the Rain.
Release[]
Annie premiered on ABC November 7, 1999. The program proved to be popular during its initial airing, with an estimated 26.3 million viewers, making it the second-most watched Disney movie ever to air on ABC behind Cinderella (1997). This version earned two Emmy Awards and a George Foster Peabody Award.
Reception[]
The program proved to be popular during its initial airing, with an estimated 26.3 million viewers, making it the second-most-watched Disney movie ever to air on ABC behind Cinderella (1997). The film was praised for its casting and for being closer to the stage production than the 1982 film.
Trivia[]
- This was the second time Kathy Bates and Victor Garber starred alongside each other in a film. They had previously appeared in James Cameron's 1997 hit film Titanic.
- The film was nominated for multiple awards including the Golden Globes and the Daytime Emmy Awards.