Quest for Camelot

Quest for Camelot
Theatrical release poster by John Alvin
Directed by	Frederik Du Chau
Screenplay by	Kirk DeMicco William Schifrin Jacqueline Feather David Seidler
Based on	The King's Damosel by Vera Chapman
Produced by	Andre Clavel Dalisa Cohen Zahra Dowlatabadi
Starring	Jessalyn Gilsig Cary Elwes Gary Oldman Eric Idle Don Rickles Jane Seymour Pierce Brosnan Bronson Pinchot Jaleel White Gabriel Byrne John Gielgud
Edited by	Stanford C. Allen
Music by	Patrick Doyle[1]
Production company	Warner Bros.[1]
Distributed by	Warner Bros.[1]
Release date	May 15, 1998 (1998-05-15)
Running time	86 minutes[2]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$40 million[3]
Box office	$38.1 million[3]

Quest for Camelot (released internationally as The Magic Sword: Quest for Camelot) is a 1998 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation and directed by Frederik Du Chau and very loosely based on the 1976 novel The King's Damosel by Vera Chapman. It features the voices of Jessalyn Gilsig, Cary Elwes, Gary Oldman, Eric Idle, Don Rickles, Jaleel White, Jane Seymour, Pierce Brosnan, Bronson Pinchot, Gabriel Byrne, John Gielgud (his final film), Frank Welker, and Sarah Rayne. Andrea Corr, Bryan White, Celine Dion, and Steve Perry perform the singing voices for Gilsig, Elwes, Seymour, and Brosnan. The story follows Kayley (Gilsig), the adventurous daughter of a Knight of the Round Table killed by the power-hungry Lord Ruber (Oldman). When Ruber's renewed attempt to usurp Camelot from King Arthur (Brosnan) by stealing Excalibur goes awry, Kayley enlists the help of the blind recluse Garrett (Elwes) and a two-headed dragon, Devon and Cornwall (Idle and Rickles), to help her retrieve the sword and save the kingdom.

In May 1995, the film, initially titled The Quest for the Holy Grail, was announced to be Warner Bros. Feature Animation's first project, with Bill Kroyer and Du Chau jointly directing the film. The film went into production later that year, but was delayed when animators were reassigned to help finish Space Jam (1996). During the interim, the story was heavily re-tooled; among these changes was its central focus on the Holy Grail being replaced with Excalibur. Creative differences spurred by these alterations resulted in prominent members of the animation and management staff, including Kroyer, leaving the project. Due to its troubled production, the film's release was delayed by six months, from November 1997 to May 1998. Animation was mostly done in Glendale, California and London, England.^[4][5]

Quest for Camelot was released by Warner Bros. under their Family Entertainment label on May 15, 1998 in the United States and Canada. It received mixed reviews^[6] and was a commercial failure, grossing $38.1 million against a $40 million budget.^[7] One of the film's songs, "The Prayer", won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.