Thomas and the Magic Railroad

Thomas and the Magic Railroad is a 2000 children's fantasy adventure film written and directed by Britt Allcroft and produced by Allcroft and Phil Fehrle. It is the only theatrical live-action/animated Thomas & Friends film in the franchise. The film stars Alec Baldwin as Mr. Conductor, Peter Fonda, Mara Wilson, Didi Conn, Russell Means, Cody McMains, Michael E. Rodgers, and the voices of Eddie Glen and Neil Crone. The film is based on the British children's book series The Railway Series by the Reverend W. Awdry, its televised adaptation Thomas & Friends by Allcroft, and the American television series Shining Time Station by Allcroft and Rick Siggelkow. The film tells the story of Lily Stone (Wilson), the granddaughter of the caretaker (Fonda) of an enchanted steam engine who is lacking an appropriate supply of coal, and Mr. Conductor (Baldwin) of Shining Time Station, whose provisions of magical gold dust are at a critical low. Lily and Mr. Conductor enlist the help of Thomas the Tank Engine (Glen), who confronts the ruthless, steam engine-hating Diesel 10 (Crone) along the way. Thomas and the Magic Railroad premiered on July 9, 2000. It was panned by critics upon release with criticism of the acting, plot, special effects, and lack of fidelity to its source material. The film was a box office bomb, grossing $19.7 million worldwide against a production budget of $19 million; Allcroft resigned from her company in September 2000 due to the film's poor performance. HiT Entertainment acquired the company two years later, including the television rights to Thomas. As of October 2020, a second theatrical live-action/animated Thomas & Friends film is in development at Mattel Films, a division of Mattel, the current owner of HiT Entertainment, with Marc Forster serving as director. Plot Sir Topham Hatt and his family have left the Island of Sodor on holiday, leaving Mr. Conductor in charge. Gordon complains that Thomas was eight seconds late. Diesel 10 races by, scaring both engines. In Shining Time, Mr. Conductor is suffering a crisis; his supply of magic gold dust is too low for him to travel back from Sodor. At Tidmouth Sheds, Diesel 10 announces his plan to rid Sodor of steam engines by destroying Lady, the lost engine. Lady had been hidden in a workshop on Muffle Mountain by her driver, Burnett Stone, after Diesel 10's previous attempt to destroy her. Lady is unable to steam despite trying all of the coals in Indian Valley.