Creative Work attributes
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (also known as Spirit) is a 2002 American animated adventure film produced by Amblimation, (a division of Universal Animation Studios) and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook (in their feature directional debuts) from a screenplay by John Fusco. The film follows Spirit, a Kiger Mustang stallion (voiced by Matt Damon through inner dialogue), who is captured during the American Indian Wars by the United States Cavalry; he is freed by a Native American man named Little Creek who attempts to lead him back into the Lakota village. In contrast to the way animals are portrayed in an anthropomorphic style in other animated features, Spirit and his fellow horses communicate with each other through non-linguistic sounds and body language like real horses. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron was released in theaters on May 24, 2002, and earned $122.6 million on an $80 million budget. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, losing to Spirited Away. The film also launched a media franchise using computer animation with a Netflix spin-off television series, titled Spirit Riding Free, that premiered on May 5, 2017, followed by a film adaptation of the series as well as a spin-off of the original film, titled Spirit Untamed, set for release on June 4, 2021. To date, this is the only production of the Spirit franchise to use traditional animation.
