Amidst the summer haze of giant robots, explosions and wizards comes a little animated film that was swallowed up by the cold winter when it hit theaters in December. Delgo’s theater run may have only lasted a week, but on August 4th Twentieth Century Home Entertainment is going to give it another shot and release it on DVD. Delgo may be packed with mystical creatures and Hollywood heavyweights, but I’d guess it’s also on the road to being a fantastical flop all over again.
Freddie Prinze Jr. voices the titular character, Delgo, a young boy of an alien race called the Lockni. When the Nohrin race is forced to leave their home in the sky due to resource depletion, they move to the Lockni’s territory on the ground of the planet Jhamora. While most of the Nohrin respect the Lockni and appreciate their hospitality, others believe their race is the superior of the two and should take the land for themselves. War ensues, but the leader of the Nohrin, King Zahn (Louis Gossett Jr.), is horrified by the violence and exiles the individual responsible for inciting the battle, his sister Sedessa (Anne Bancroft). During the time of peace Delgo must deal with his intense desire for revenge against the Nohrin for what they did to his family. Things get more troublesome when Delgo falls in love with a Nohrin, Princess Kyla (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Sedessa returns to conquer the planet.
So we’ve got Freddie Prinze Jr., Jennifer Love Hewitt, Anne Bancroft, Louis Gossett Jr. as well as Chris Kattan, Val Kilmer, Michael Clarke Duncan, Kelly Ripa and Burt Reynolds and Fathom Studios still can’t keep Delgo in theaters for more than one week? It’s hard to come up with any reason for you to buy this film when it is notorious for being one of the biggest flops of 2008. According to an article on Yahoo! Movies, Delgo broke the record for having the worst opening weekend ever. The article even breaks down the earnings based on the number of theaters the film was shown in and the results are astounding. “Delgo earned a measly $511,920 this weekend on 2,160 screens, not even breaking the top ten. That's an average of $237 per screen for the three days. If you figure there were five screenings a day, and assume ticket prices are about $8, that comes out to two people in the theater per showing.”
If you believe in second chances you can pick up Delgo for $22.98. The DVD comes with audio commentary with the directors, the animated short “Chroma Chameleon,” deleted scenes and four featurettes including “Behind-the-Scenes,” “Sounds of Delgo,” “Meet the Characters” and “See the Creatures.”
