Thomas and The Magic Railroad (2019)

Thomas and the Magic Railroad (also known as Thomas the Tank Engine: The Magic Railroad in the United Kingdom and Germany) is a 2019 American 3D live-action/CGI animated family comedy adventure fantasy film directed by Robert Zemeckis and Britt Allcroft based on three titled The Railway Series by Rev. W. Awdry, on the television series of the character from the same name and Shining Time Station by Britt Allcroft.

The film is a remake of the 2000 original film of the same name by the same director who created the film named Britt Allcroft, but it was a box-office bomb and a critical failure from critics and the fandom of the book and the show for the plot that was changed from the original cut, terrible acting, and the editing which had made the editor shortened the time of the main character and removed the true villain when it released on 2000, which in the 2019 version, it has all the characters like P.T. Boomer, Tasha and even George from the film and not been edited from before along with the help of Robert Zemeckis.

It was produced by ImageMovers, Legendary Pictures, and HiT Entertainment, presented in association with the Isle of Man Film Commission, and distributed by Universal Pictures in US prints and along with Sony Pictures Entertainment (who originally known as Destination Films also created the 2000 film) in US and international prints.

The film was a box office success and it received critical acclaim, with critics praising the faithfulness to the 2000 film's original director's cut, the visual effects, the CGI animation on the trains, splendid acting, well-developed characters, and the plot along with the performance of Nicolas Cage as P.T. Boomer. The film also become the fourth highest grossing film and won eight Academy Awards and received eight Academy Award nominations. At the UK, the film had won three BAFTA Film Awards and also got one BAFTA nomination.

Plot
The film begins with a female narrator telling the story on the Island of Sodor, where it was populated by talking trains, which the only one here was Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas is a really useful engine who is very kind to his friends. A few seconds later, Thomas met Gordon at Wellsworth Station, telling him that Sir Topham Hatt was gone for a holiday. But then, Diesel 10 rudely pass both Thomas and Gordon, which means that Diesel 10 was sent to the Island of Sodor by Sir Topham Hatt for helping, but he was acting like he was bullying any engines.

[Under conduction]

Live-action actors
There are some cameo appearances in the film like:
 * Ariel Winter as Lily Stone, the main protagonist and the granddaughter of Burnett Stone. She lives in the city with her mother. With the help of her grandpa, Patch and Thomas, they helped restore Lady to her former glory and returned the magic to the Magic Railroad.
 * Anne Hathaway as Adult Lily, the narrator of the film.
 * Owen Wilson as Burnett Stone, the tetartagonist who is Lady's caretaker on his workshop at Muffle Mountain. Long ago, he only shared the secret of Lady with Tasha, his childhood friend.
 * Josh Hutcherson as Teenage Burnett
 * Max Charles as Young Burnett
 * Alec Baldwin as Mr. Conductor, the deuteragonist of the film and a 20-centimetre tall conductor who narrated the television series episodes that appeared in Shining Time Station.
 * David Tennant as Mr. Conductor, Junior, Mr. Conductor's cousin. Like his cousin, he is at a regular height on Sodor and the Magic Railroad - anywhere else, he shrinks to a height of 24 centimetres (ten inches).
 * AnnaSophia Robb as Tasha
 * Scarlett Estevez as Young Tasha
 * Nicolas Cage as P.T. Boomer, Pete Tiberius Boomer is the main antagonist who wants to get revenge on Burnett Stone for marrying Tasha. Boomer wants to destroy Lady along with Diesel 10, so they can take over the whole Thomas & Friends universe.
 * Scott McCord as Young Boomer
 * Owen Wilder as Patch
 * Ewan McGregor as Adult Patch
 * Jennifer Lawrence as Stacy Jones
 * Jeff Bridges as Billy Twofeathers
 * Drew Barrymore as Mrs. Bethany Stone
 * George Clooney as Sir Topham Hatt
 * Hayden Rolence as Burnett Stone, Jr.
 * Don Stanton and Dan Stanton as Thomas's Fireman and Driver
 * Alexander Gould as Newspaper Delivery Boy
 * John Bellis as Shining Time Firefighter
 * Robert Zemeckis as Himself (He appears in a mid-credits scene along with Britt Allcroft to tell the audience that he and Britt hoped the audience enjoyed the movie)
 * Britt Allcroft as Herself (She appears in a mid-credits scene along with Robert Zemeckis to tell the audience that she and Zemeckis hoped the audience enjoyed the movie)
 * Ringo Starr as Storyteller (He appears in a scene where he tell stories about Thomas and his friends in the Island of Sodor to the children)
 * Keith Scott as Australian Passenger
 * Doug Walker as Himself (He makes a cameo appearance when he was late for his train)

Steam Engines

 * Joseph May as Thomas
 * Keith Wickham as Percy
 * Idina Menzel as Lady
 * Jim Broadbent as Toby
 * Ringo Starr as Gordon
 * Hugh Laurie as Henry
 * Rob Rackstraw as James
 * Rowan Atkinson as Edward
 * Keith Wickham as Skarloey and Sir Handel
 * John Hasler as Rheneas
 * Steven Kynman as Peter Sam
 * Tom Stourton as Duncan

Diesels

 * Teresa Gallagher as Mavis
 * Matt Wilkinson as Diesel 10 and Rusty, Diesel 10 is the secondary antagonist who was been hired by Sir Topham Hatt but he have an aggressive behavior and he was going to destroy Lady, Rusty is an friend of Thomas.
 * Thomas F. Wilson as Splatter
 * Kevin Frank as Dodge
 * Kerry Shale as Diesel (scrapped), he was being a bully of Thomas and his friends. He likes to get into trouble, but he always did so, until he became one of Diesel 10's henchmen.

Others

 * Keith Wickham as Bertie the Bus
 * Kerry Shale as Harold the Helicopter
 * Teresa Gallagher as Annie and Clarabel
 * Tom Hanks as George the Steamroller and Tumbleweed
 * Glenn Wrage as Cranky the Crane
 * Christopher Ragland, Tom Kenny, Nathan Lane, Jack Black, and Will Ferrell as Troublesome Trucks
 * Tom Kenny as The Bluebird, Lily's inanimate toy bluebird who came to life as a CGI animated talking bluebird by Burnett Stone and Lily Stone using the magical gold dust on that bluebird.

Development
In 2003, 3 years after the original film became a box-office failure, Britt Allcroft, creator of Thomas & Friends, has been resigned from her original company which was now known as "Gullane Entertainment". After HiT Entertainment took control on Thomas & Friends, HiT revealed that its theatrical division would be piloted by a "Thomas" film. Originally targeted for late-2010 release, in September 2009 this was revised to "Spring 2011".

As of January 2011, the release date had been pushed back further to 2012 and the name of the production had still not been announced. The initial draft of the script was written by Josh Klausner who has also said that the film will be set around the times of World War II, Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi also helped write the script. On 8 June 2011, Deadline announced that 9 director Shane Acker will direct the live-action adaptation of Thomas the Tank Engine, with Weta Digital designing the film's visual effects.

Since then, no actual production has been announced, until Robert Zemeckis came in and remake the original "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" film, along with Britt Allcroft, to bring in new actors to play the characters from the original "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" film (except Alec Baldwin, in which he will reprise his role as Mr. Conductor), new voice actors to play the animated Thomas & Friends characters, video editing and restoration, audio mastering, mixing, recording, and editing, CGI animation for the "Island of Sodor" segments, blue-screen and green-screen effects for the "Island of Sodor" segments, new visual effects, and some brand new music, along with the original music from the original "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" film.

Casting
While the film is on development, Robert Zemeckis hired Alec Baldwin who previously played as Mr. Conductor in the original 2000 film, so Baldwin agreed to reprise his role.

[More coming soon!]

Filming
[When the film is done development]

Animation
[When the film is done development]

Visual Effects
[When the film is done development]

Post Production
[When the film is done development]

Music
[When the film is done development]

Release
Thomas and the Magic Railroad is set to release into theaters on February 12, 2019 in America.

Thomas and the Magic Railroad will also be releasing on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on the late 2019 with a new DVD and Blu-ray release for the director's cut version of the original 2000 film. Along with the 2019 film and the 2000 film's director's cut version is the Shining Time Station Volumes 1, 2, and 3 on DVD and Blu-ray. 2099

Animated shorts
The 2019 remake of "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" has four computer-animated shorts which was the recreation of well-known episodes from the original television series like Thomas and Bertie, Thomas Goes Fishing, Thomas and Gordon and Down the Mine by HiT Entertainment in theatrical releases and on DVD and Blu-ray.

Marketing
About a few weeks later after the film's release, Bachmann Industries released a model of Shining Time Station and even the Island of Sodor along with train models of Thomas, Lady, and Diesel 10 and some human models of Burnett Stone, Lily, Mr. Conductor, and P.T. Boomer.

Home media
[When the film is done development]

Soundtrack

 * Main article: Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2019 film)/Soundtrack

Broadway musical
One year after the movie's release, the film will be adapted into a Broadway musical based on the movie titled Thomas and the Magic Railroad: The Musical.
 * Main article: Thomas and the Magic Railroad: The Musical

DVD or Blu-Ray Main Menu
Here's is the sections from the DVD and Blu-Ray main menus.
 * Play Movie
 * Scene Selection
 * Opening Titles/Meet Thomas
 * Lily in the Big City
 * Boomer's Return
 * Diesel 10 Bothers the Steam Engines
 * Splatter & Dodge
 * Mr. Conductor
 * Lily
 * The Legend
 * Sir Topham Hatt's Orders
 * Sugar in a Diesel Tank
 * Burnett meets Boomer
 * "I Know How the Moon Must Feel"
 * "Where is the windmill?"
 * George the Steamroller
 * Calling Junior
 * Lily Arrives at Shining Time
 * Mr. Conductor Has Another Bad Dream
 * Boomer and Burnett at the Crossroads
 * Sounds of Lady's Magic
 * Mavis Betrays the Mean Diesels/Delayed
 * "Really Useful Engine"
 * Mr. Conductor in Diesel's Clutches
 * The Clue
 * Traveling to the Island of Sodor
 * Lily Meets Thomas
 * Family Reunion
 * Landing into Trouble
 * Mr. Conductor and Lily
 * The Truth About Lady
 * Solving Some Mysteries
 * Looking for Lily's Grandfather
 * "It's Now or Never!"
 * George Quits the Evil Diesel Team
 * Green for Glory
 * The Train Chase to the Viaduct
 * "Gold Dust!!!"
 * 20 Years into the Future
 * Closing Credits
 * Set Up
 * Language
 * English
 * French (Thomas et le Magie Ferroviaire)
 * Spanish (Thomas y el Ferrocarril Mágico)
 * Portuguese (Thomas e a Ferrovia Mágica)
 * German (Thomas die kleine Lokomotive: Die Magische Eisenbahn; title translated in English as Thomas the Tank Engine: The Magic Railroad)
 * Hungarian (Thomas és a Mágikus Vasút)
 * Danish (Thomas og det Magic Railroad)
 * Norwegian (Thomas og den Magiske Jernbanen)
 * Swedish (Thomas och den Magiska Järnvägen)
 * Italian (Thomas e Magica Ferrovia)
 * Polish (Thomas i Magiczna Kolejowy)
 * Japanese (きかんしゃトーマス魔法の線路)
 * Korean (토마스와 마법의 철도)
 * Greek (Θωμάς και το Μαγεία Σιδηροδρομικές)
 * Thai (โทมัสและเวทมนตร์ของทางรถไฟ)
 * Subtitles
 * English
 * French
 * Spanish
 * Portuguese
 * German
 * Hungarian
 * Danish
 * Norwegian
 * Swedish
 * Italian
 * Polish
 * Japanese
 * Korean
 * Greek
 * Thai
 * Commentaries with Britt Allcroft and Robert Zemeckis (with or without subtitles)
 * Special Features
 * The History of Thomas the Tank Engine
 * History of Thomas & Friends
 * Making of Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000)
 * Casting
 * Development
 * Setting
 * The P.T. Boomer scenes, featuring Lennox family and Nicolas Cage.
 * Release
 * Deleted scenes
 * Outtakes
 * Artwork design
 * Thomas and Bertie, Thomas Goes Fishing, Thomas and Gordon and Down the Mine computer-animated remake short films
 * Trailers
 * Teaser trailer
 * Theatrical
 * 1
 * 2
 * 3

Box office
[When the film is done development]

Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 99% approval rating with an average rating of 9/10 based on 260 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "An old timer film that it was very bad on 2000 so now it was back on the rail to make it better." On Metacritic, the film achieved an average score of 97 out of 100 based on 39 reviews, signifying "universal acclaim".

CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film a rare "A-" grade. Some of the critics and moviegoers had praised Nicolas Cage's performance of the character Boomer, The New York Times reviewed his performance "When the infamous actor used to make an appearance in any movie like The Wicker Man until it has been flopped, but his performance that he did was the main antagonist P.T. Boomer in the remake from the original 2000 film Thomas and the Magic Railroad where Boomer is very envious that he has nothing to get on his way, which is the most great performance I have ever seen".

It Had a 7.5/10 on IMDB

IGN game the film a grade of 9.1/10 (Amazing),

[More coming soon!]

Sequels
Since the 2019 Thomas and the Magic Railroad reboot released into theaters, and had received universal acclaim, won a truckload of awards, and was a huge box-office success, Robert Zemeckis & Britt Allcroft are thinking about turning the whole film into an all-new theatrical Thomas & Friends movie franchise that was also related to the original Thomas & Friends franchise. This franchise was known as Thomas & Friends Cinematic Universe. Since the franchise was born, Britt Allcroft was developing a sequel to the 2019 TATMR reboot, which was based on "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens and the Veggietales video "An Easter Carol" from Big Idea Entertainment. Although the sequel doesn't have the official title yet, Allcroft named the Thomas & Friends sequel "A Sodor Easter Carol".

The film Might be released on Easter 2022, with the script being written by Keith Lango, Tim Hodge, and Britt Allcroft, who will also return as director and producer. Robert Zemeckis, who might have been interested in holidays since he previously worked on The Polar Express in 2004, will return as director of the sequel, Or it Might be a Different Sequel about Something Different.

Trivia

 * This film has been used on the 2000 film that it was edited because this film was too scary for young audiences which the true main villain P.T. Boomer was cut, so in the 2019 film it still has P.T. Boomer. This is likely of the film is rated PG instead of the G rating the original 2000 version had.
 * It also has George in the film which in the 2000 film he's omitted.
 * Plus the other engines from the television series in the story.
 * Special thanks to Britt Allcroft for the four parts of the script from the 2000 film with all the characters and even too Eddie Kennedy in fan-fiction of the plot.
 * This is the second theatrical Thomas the Tank Engine film ever created.
 * The moment when the cartoon Weta uses a rope to flip to the next page is a reference to the scene when 5 members of Plankton's family used ropes to pull the door to the fake Krabby Patty Secret Formula in the Spongebob Squarepants episode "Plankton's Army"
 * Diesel was going to be in the film as Diesel 10's henchmen, but he was scrapped.
 * Doug Walker (who play as the Nostalgia Critic) was his second appearance in the film, his first role is the Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie, which Britt Allcroft find it really great of his performance from the Nostalgia Critic's review of her first film, even though it wasn't as successful as the other Thomas & Friends films which are now currently direct-to-video films and/or TV specials at the time being.
 * Randy Newman Was Gonna Compose this Film, But He Had to Compose "Toy Story 4", So John Debney Composed this Film (Hans Zimmer and John Powell Did Not Compose This Film, John Debney Did).