144 Fun Facts About The Polar Express

Which Back to the Future gadget is hidden among the gauges of the Polar Express locomotive's cab?

The flux capacitor sits among the cab's dials during the runaway descent, director Robert Zemeckis's wink at the time machine that made his name in 1985.

Tom Hanks likened acting on The Polar Express's bare motion-capture stage to which kind of live performance?

Theater in the round: with cameras ringing the stage and no lights or marks to hit, Hanks said the cast simply played each scene as a 10- to 15-minute play in real time.

What animation technique, which records live actors' movements, was used to create the film's people?

Motion capture recorded the actors' movements with body-mounted markers; Tom Hanks performed five characters this way, and the film was the first feature shot entirely with the technique.

The soundtrack sets new songs beside vintage Christmas records by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and which sister act?

The Andrews Sisters' 'Winter Wonderland' is one of the old pop records that give the film its long-ago Christmas mood, so the new songs share the album with voices from the 1940s.

Which bird snatches Hero Girl's lost ticket and tries to feed it to its chick?

An eagle carries the ticket up to its nest, where the eaglet spits it out; the bird was animated by hand, since no animal could be directed on a capture stage.

Where does the doubting Hero Boy read that the North Pole is 'stark, barren, devoid of life'?

An encyclopedia feeds his doubt: he looks the place up just after overhearing his parents reassure his little sister, and the end credits thank World Book.

Which director, whose company Castle Rock co-produced The Polar Express, was first attached before Robert Zemeckis took over?

Rob Reiner, a co-founder of Castle Rock, was lined up to direct when the company backed the project in 2000; he later bowed out and has no credit on the film.

Which actor died in 2003 before finishing his lines as the Polar Express's engineer and fireman?

Michael Jeter died in March 2003 with the two roles unfinished, so André Sogliuzzo re-recorded most of the lines; the end credits dedicate the film to his memory.

What does the bragging boy hiding in Santa's sack find in the one present of his that he opens?

Underwear is all he finds: caught checking that he is getting everything on his list, he grumbles that his one present held nothing but 'stupid underwear'.

Which song do the Conductor and waiters perform for the children aboard the train?

Hot Chocolate is sung by Tom Hanks himself as the waiters serve every child a cup, and it lays down the car's one rule for the drink: 'never, ever let it cool'.

Who provided the voice of Hero Girl?

Nona Gaye voiced and performed Hero Girl; Leslie Zemeckis, the director's wife, played Hero Boy's sister and mother instead.

What sends the train speeding down a steep hill onto a frozen lake?

A throttle malfunction sends the train racing down a steep grade onto the frozen lake: the throttle's cotter pin snaps, so the engineers cannot slow the engine until it is replaced.

What is the name of the shy and lonely boy who is hesitant to board the train?

Billy, also known as the Lonely Boy, is a timid character who initially hesitates to join the other children on the Polar Express.

According to the Conductor's notes, what did Hero Boy make his sister do this year?

Put out the milk and cookies: with no Santa photo and no letter either, the Conductor says it sounds like 'your crucial year' and advises him to climb aboard.

In November 2004 The Polar Express was the first major studio film to open at once in regular cinemas and which format?

IMAX 3D showings ran on just 59 giant screens yet sold out for weeks, the one bright spot while the film's regular opening disappointed its studio.

Critics were split on The Polar Express, but opening-night audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it which grade?

A+ is CinemaScore's top grade, and audiences awarded it the same week that reviewers were calling the film's human characters creepy and lifeless.

What does the Hobo ask Hero Boy whether he believes in, just before vanishing into the snow?

Ghosts: when the boy shakes his head the Hobo says only 'Interesting' and disappears; a deleted scene reveals he is the ghost of a man killed riding the roof.

What type of large animal briefly obstructs the train's path on the tracks?

A herd of caribou stops a train that must not be late: the crew reckon a hundred thousand animals, maybe a million, and hours before the track clears.

Which major film studio distributed *The Polar Express*?

Warner Bros. Pictures kept sole distribution rights even after an outside investor covered nearly half the cost; Universal had declined to share the bill, judging the film too risky.

At about $1 million for every minute of footage, roughly what did The Polar Express cost to make?

$165 million was so steep for an untested technique that the studio went looking for an outside investor, who ended up covering nearly half of it.

In The Polar Express, what is the inquisitive, talkative boy who constantly shares facts on the train called?

Know-It-All is the only name the credits give him; at the Pole he turns up inside Santa's sack, checking that he is getting everything on his list.

The Hero Boy's hometown at the start of the story is implied to be which Michigan city?

Grand Rapids, the author's own birthplace, is named outright at the Pole, where an elf sorting presents reads out a parcel's routing: 'Grand Rapids, Michigan'.

Who composed the musical score for *The Polar Express* film?

Alan Silvestri wrote both the score and the songs' music, yet the soundtrack album carries only a few minutes of his orchestral score beside the songs.

What prestigious award did The Polar Express's author-illustrator win for its pictures?

Caldecott Medal judges honored pictures that began as one mental image, a child meeting a train in foggy woods, which he questioned until a story unfolded.

What is Hero Boy wearing over his pajamas when he boards the train?

Hero Boy boards in a bathrobe and slippers over his pajamas; the torn pocket of that robe is how he later loses his first gift.

What is the name of Hero Boy's younger sister in The Polar Express?

Sarah was acted on the capture stage by the same grown woman who played her mother, and a separate performer dubbed in the child's voice.

Why must anyone riding on top of the Polar Express get down before Flat Top Tunnel?

Only an inch of clearance separates the tunnel from the cars, the Hobo warns, so the pair race along the train and the boy drops into the coal tender in time.

What happens when the boy's parents try to ring his first gift of Christmas?

They cannot hear it: his parents shake the bell, hear nothing and call it broken, while the boy and his sister hear it ring out clearly.

What role did the author of The Polar Express take on its film adaptation?

Executive producer was his credit, shared with Tom Hanks: he had resisted turning the book into a film and relented only once Hanks took an interest.

What are the names of the engineer and fireman who operate the train?

Smokey and Steamer were animated by hand rather than captured: one stands about eight feet tall and the other four, a pairing no single actor could perform.

The Polar Express opened in second place at the US box office behind which movie?

The Incredibles, a week into its own run, took more than twice as much that weekend; holiday crowds then kept the train film in cinemas long after its slow start.

Which Chicago neighborhood, once a railcar maker's company town, inspired the buildings at The Polar Express's North Pole?

Pullman was built for the workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company, maker of America's sleeping cars, so Santa's brick city doubles as a nod to railroad history.

What is the name of the original song from The Polar Express that received an Academy Award nomination?

'Believe' lost the Oscar to a song from The Motorcycle Diaries, then came back a year later to win its writers a Grammy.

Herpolsheimer's and Wurzburg's, childhood haunts that helped inspire The Polar Express, were what kind of business?

Department stores, and local rivals; the film repays the debt by sending the train past Herpolsheimer's and its Christmas window display.

Which term have critics attached to the look of The Polar Express's human characters?

The uncanny valley names the unease stirred by figures that are almost, but not quite, lifelike; some reviewers found the cast creepy, and the film became a stock example of the term.

Which company handled the visual effects and digital character animation for the film?

Sony Pictures Imageworks animated the performance-capture characters; the studio had done effects for Zemeckis's Contact and Cast Away and returned for Beowulf.

What does Hero Boy use to stop the train so the lonely boy can board?

The emergency brake halts the train long enough for the lonely boy to climb on, and earns Hero Boy a scolding from a Conductor demanding to know who 'in the blazes' applied it.

Which artist recorded The Polar Express's Oscar-nominated song and performed it at the Academy Awards?

Josh Groban saw the song lose the Oscar that night, yet a year later it brought a Grammy to its two writers rather than to its singer.

Who provided the child's speaking voice for Hero Boy in The Polar Express?

Daryl Sabara's voice was dubbed over a grown man's acting: Tom Hanks, then in his forties, performed the boy's movements on the capture stage.

What happens to Hero Girl's unpunched ticket when Hero Boy tries to return it to her?

It blows away in the wind as he crosses between cars, then drifts past a wolf pack and down a snowy hillside before fluttering back aboard the train.

The Polar Express's digital artists tried to match the soft look of which medium used for the book's pictures?

Pastels gave the book its hazy blues and purples, a look the director prized so much that he ruled out ordinary live action rather than lose it.

What are the Polar Express's engineer and fireman out fixing when a child is left at the controls?

The headlight has gone dark, so the pair clamber out along the front of the engine with a new bulb, and a passenger gets a turn driving the train.

What did Chris Van Allsburg insist on when he sold the film rights to The Polar Express?

No cartoon version was his rule, yet live action would have lost the book's look, so the director filmed actors on a bare stage and rendered them digitally.

What is the name of Tom Hanks's production company that co-produced The Polar Express?

Playtone signed on in 2000 with Hanks due to play only the Conductor; by the time the cameras rolled he had taken on five characters.

After a soft 2004 opening, how did the studio keep The Polar Express earning in cinemas long afterwards?

Yearly holiday re-releases, run with almost no marketing budget, turned what one newspaper had called a 2004 fiasco into a very profitable title for its studio.

On The Polar Express, which facial feature could capture markers not record, leaving animators to move it by hand?

The eyes defeated the markers, which vanished into the folds around the lids, so animators set the glances by hand, and critics still called the cast 'dead-eyed'.

What word does the Conductor punch into Hero Girl's ticket?

LEAD is first read out as the metal, 'like lead balloon', until the Conductor says it as in 'leader' and adds that he would follow her anywhere.

What is the name of the steep grade the Polar Express descends before the frozen lake?

Glacier Gulch is, the Conductor announces from the front of the runaway engine, the steepest downhill grade in the world, so he suggests everyone hold on tightly.

Besides Best Original Song, The Polar Express earned its Oscar nominations in which two fields?

Sound editing and mixing were its other nominations, yet a film sold on pioneering visuals got none for effects or animation and went home empty-handed.

Which instrument does the Hobo play while singing 'Good King Wenceslas'?

A hurdy-gurdy accompanies the Hobo's singing beside his rooftop campfire until he spots the boy, and soon he is probing his visitor's 'persuasion on the big man'.

What carries Santa's giant sack of toys into the North Pole's central square?

A zeppelin hauls the sack in so low that it is about to hit the square's great tree, until elves leap off with parachutes and the lighter craft rises clear.

Which puppet, glimpsed briefly in the film, becomes the main villain of the 2004 Polar Express video game?

Ebenezer Scrooge, a marionette that jeers at the boy as a doubter in the film, spends the game stealing the children's tickets to keep them from the Pole.

Which model railroad maker produces licensed Polar Express sets in O scale on 3-rail track?

Lionel teamed up with the film's studio to launch the sets alongside the film, and they became one of the company's best sellers ever, its first hit in years.

Which company licenses the real-world Polar Express train rides in the US, Canada and UK?

Rail Events Inc., based in Durango, Colorado, holds the licence for The Polar Express Train Ride; host railways include the Grand Canyon Railway and the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.

The real locomotive behind The Polar Express hauls Christmas trains from Owosso, Michigan, under which name?

North Pole Express trips began the same year the film came out; the engine takes riders to the village of Ashley for a two-hour Christmas party before steaming home.

In The Polar Express, the elves are alerted to a New Jersey boy who has done what to his sister?

Stuck gum in her hair is the charge against a boy named Steven, but with Christmas so close the elf in charge lets him off, moving him to the 'check-twice list' for next year.

Which theme park turned its Wild Arctic simulator into the Polar Express Experience for the 2007 Christmas season?

SeaWorld Orlando's Wild Arctic normally sent guests on a simulated helicopter flight to an Arctic research base; in November 2007 the simulator became a ride aboard the film's train instead.

The address called out for Billy's stop in The Polar Express, 11344 Edbrooke, was the real childhood home of whom?

The film's director grew up at 11344 Edbrooke Avenue on Chicago's South Side, and gave his old address to the lonely boy the train collects from 'the other side of the tracks'.

Which holiday weekend gave The Polar Express a box-office rise in its third week in cinemas?

Thanksgiving weekend lifted its takings by almost a quarter, a reversal after they had fallen by a third the weekend before.

Where on the train does Billy sit by himself after boarding?

In the last car, the observation car, Billy rides alone until Hero Girl saves him a hot drink and the Conductor walks her back through the train to deliver it.

Which critic gave The Polar Express four stars, praising its 'deeper, shivery tone'?

Roger Ebert predicted it would 'become a perennial, shared by the generations'; a year later he found it still selling out.

A Kirkus column marking The Polar Express book's 30th anniversary suggested its most natural audience is really which group?

Nostalgic adults, wrote the magazine's children's editor: a story that asks whether Santa is real may plant the doubt in small children, and it is the grown-ups, she added, who buy the book.

In the Conductor's parting words about trains in The Polar Express, what is it that matters?

Deciding to get on is his point: 'One thing about trains: it doesn't matter where they're going,' he says as he drops the boy back home.

What does the Hobo offer Hero Boy when they first meet in The Polar Express?

Coffee, which the Hobo calls 'Joe', is his idea of a hot refreshment for a cold winter's night; he pops up offering another cup later, just as the children seem sure to crash.

In The Polar Express, how does Santa sign the note he leaves the boy on Christmas morning?

Mr. C signs a teasing note saying he found the gift on the seat of his sleigh and telling the boy to fix the hole in his pocket; in the film, Billy's present carries the same signature.

The fact-spouting boy in The Polar Express insists the frozen lake the train crossed was really what?

An optical illusion is his verdict: he announces 'You missed it', then insists the train only looked to be on ice, because nobody could lay track across a lake.

In The Polar Express, Santa tells Billy that there is no greater gift than what?

Friendship is Santa's answer on seeing that the boy who boarded alone has made new friends; earlier Billy had told them that Christmas just doesn't work out for him.

Which institution owned the real Polar Express locomotive before the Steam Railroading Institute?

Michigan State University was given the engine for its engineering students, but the engineering dean had no use for an obsolete locomotive, so it went to the campus museum instead.

In The Polar Express, Know-It-All credits the locomotive to which builder, though the real engine came from Lima, Ohio?

Baldwin Locomotive Works is his answer, along with a 1931 build date; the real engine the film copied left Lima Locomotive Works in October 1941, ten years later.

In The Polar Express, what does Hero Boy say he has wanted to do his whole life?

Blow the train whistle: he pulls the cord in the cab and says so, borrowing the line Doc Brown speaks when he does the same in the director's Back to the Future Part III.

The director's first idea for Tom Hanks in The Polar Express was to have him do what?

Play every role was the plan, elves and girls included, until a day of tests in five or more parts left Hanks telling the director he was exhausted, and the list was cut down.

Volunteers restoring the real Polar Express locomotive were warned that if work stopped the engine would be what?

Cut up for scrap was the threat: an official warned that the torches would come out the day work stopped, so the volunteers kept at it for 17 years, until it could pull an excursion train.

Which two films had the star and director of The Polar Express made together before it?

Forrest Gump and Cast Away came first; Cast Away stopped mid-shoot so its star could lose weight, and the director made What Lies Beneath in the gap.

As a boy, the author of The Polar Express climbed on the real locomotive on his way to what?

College football games took him and his father past the engine, parked on display near the stadium; decades later he was amazed to learn the film's locomotive was the very one he had climbed on.

On which night does the story of The Polar Express take place?

Christmas Eve finds the narrator lying still in bed, straining for a sound a friend has told him he will never hear: proof that Santa is real.

What does one boy predict The Polar Express's Conductor will do to Hero Girl over her lost ticket?

Throw her off the train from the rear platform is his guess, 'standard procedure' as he puts it; Hero Boy sets off after her in alarm and finds she has been put in charge of the engine instead.

In The Polar Express, where does the Hobo tell Hero Boy to keep the ticket safe?

In his slipper is the Hobo's advice, since experience shows it is the safest place; the wind still whips the ticket out of it later, out on the ice.

Which former sitcom partner of the film's star acted out Billy's movements for The Polar Express?

Peter Scolari was a grown man playing a small boy: the process let adults perform the children, moving among oversized props, while a child actor supplied Billy's voice.

Which rock singer performed the elf who sings 'Rockin' on Top of the World' in The Polar Express?

Steven Tyler of Aerosmith plays two elves, the lieutenant and the band's frontman, and his number rocks the party the elves throw once Santa has flown off with the presents.

What rating did the MPAA give The Polar Express on its release?

G, for general audiences, was the rating, even though a number of critics found the film's lifelike human characters unsettling and even creepy.

Van Allsburg earned a master's degree in which discipline at the Rhode Island School of Design?

Sculpture was his subject for both of his degrees, yet the honours that made his name were for drawing: he has twice won America's top prize for picture-book illustration.

Which Van Allsburg book was filmed in 2005 with Jon Favreau directing?

Zathura's director preferred practical effects to digital ones, so its young actors played scenes opposite a performer in a robot suit and physical puppets, with miniatures for the spaceships.

Which animal from his first book does Van Allsburg hide in all his picture books, The Polar Express included?

A bull terrier called Fritz, the runaway dog of The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, has a cameo in each book as a tribute to the real dog he was drawn from; here he sits on the boy's bedpost.

Which earlier Van Allsburg book got a space-set sequel from him in 2002?

Jumanji ends with two brothers, Danny and Walter Budwing, carrying the board game home from the park; the sequel picks up with them as a second game hurls their house into space.

What does the Hobo use to whisk Hero Boy toward the locomotive in The Polar Express?

Skis carry the pair along the train in a race to reach the engine before Flat Top Tunnel.

The actor behind The Polar Express's engineer and fireman played a prisoner with a pet mouse in which earlier film?

The Green Mile cast him as Eduard Delacroix, the inmate devoted to his mouse Mr. Jingles; he died before The Polar Express was finished, and the film is dedicated to him.

Hero Girl's performer in The Polar Express had just played Zee in the sequels to which science-fiction hit?

The Matrix sequels gave her the role of Zee after Aaliyah, first cast in the part, died in a plane crash soon after filming began.

Eddie Deezen, who voiced Know-It-All, is known for voicing which Dexter's Laboratory character?

Mandark, the boy genius's nemesis, is his best-known voice; The Polar Express reunited him with the director who had first cast him in I Wanna Hold Your Hand in 1978.

The actor who performed Billy in The Polar Express co-starred with its star in which early-1980s sitcom?

Bosom Buddies cast the pair as ad men who pose as women to rent rooms in a women-only hotel; it lasted only two seasons, and the pair were still working together two decades later, on this film.

Which Spy Kids character was played by the actor who supplied Hero Boy's speaking voice in The Polar Express?

Juni Cortez was his calling card when he was hired for his voice alone: the boy's body was performed by the film's adult star, so a real child was dubbed in afterwards.

The Polar Express's composer first worked with its director on which 1984 film?

Romancing the Stone began the partnership, and the composer has scored every film the director has made since, Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit among them.

Which films did ImageMovers Digital, the Disney venture of The Polar Express's director, release?

A Christmas Carol and Mars Needs Moms were ImageMovers Digital's two releases, in 2009 and 2011; Disney announced the studio's closure in 2010, before the second film's box-office failure.

Which magazine did Polar Express co-writer William Broyles Jr. co-found?

William Broyles Jr. was the founding editor of Texas Monthly in 1973; he later co-created China Beach and shared an Oscar nomination for Apollo 13's screenplay.

According to the Conductor in The Polar Express, the most real things in the world are which ones?

The things we can't see, he says, after recalling how something unseen caught him when he slipped on the icy train during his first run, years before.

Which two children sing 'When Christmas Comes to Town' together in The Polar Express?

Hero Girl and Billy share the duet, though neither of their actors sings a note: two other singers were dubbed in, with Billy starting alone before she joins him.

In The Polar Express, the Conductor says the abandoned toys riding in one car are being collected for what?

To be refurbished rather than thrown away: the Conductor calls it the boss's new idea, 'rebicycling', and says the North Pole's nimble-fingered workers are best at untangling the puppets' strings.

In The Polar Express book, how does the first gift of Christmas come off the reindeer's harness?

An elf cuts it loose at Santa's request after the boy asks for a bell from the sleigh; the film instead has it break free as the reindeer prance and land at his feet.

What title does the Hobo claim for himself when Hero Boy meets him in The Polar Express?

King of the North Pole is his boast, along with owning the train; when the boy objects that the title belongs to Santa, the Hobo mocks the idea by imitating a mechanical shop-window Santa.

Which 2006 animated family horror comedy did the director of The Polar Express executive-produce?

Monster House reused the technique of The Polar Express and did better with the Academy: it was nominated for Best Animated Feature, a category the earlier film missed.

In The Polar Express, what does Hero Boy tell his sister Santa would have to do to visit every house?

Fly faster than light, he has told her; she repeats his doubts to their parents at bedtime, and their father insists her brother was only kidding.

By what time must the Polar Express reach its destination?

Midnight is when Santa takes off, yet the deadline never seems to get closer: Know-It-All points out that it has been five minutes to twelve for a suspiciously long time.

In The Polar Express, the Conductor likens the distant lights of the train's destination to those of a strange what?

Ocean liner, 'sailing on a frozen sea', is his image as the train crosses the Arctic Circle and the lights of the city first show on the horizon.

In The Polar Express, Santa tells the boy shouting 'Pick me' that a smidgen of what would serve him well?

Humility, along with patience, is Santa's advice when the boy begs to be picked for the first gift; his ticket home is then punched with a one-word lesson to match.

In The Polar Express book, where does the boy's lost gift turn up next morning?

In a small box behind the tree, spotted by his sister once the other presents are opened; inside is a note from Santa telling him to fix the hole in his pocket.

Which natural light display appears in the sky as the Polar Express train arrives at its destination in the film?

The Northern Lights appear just as the Conductor announces that the train has arrived. Thousands of elves then gather in the town square to wait for Santa.

On the Polar Express ride home, what costs Hero Boy the gift Santa has just given him?

A hole in his pocket lets the gift slip away unnoticed, and he only finds out once he is back on the train. Santa returns it on Christmas morning with a note.

In The Polar Express, the elves' Naughty sign flashes over the misdeeds of a boy from which state?

New Jersey is home to the boy whose misbehaviour trips the warning in the elves' gift factory. The Elf General decides to forgive him and leads his crew away.

In The Polar Express, what does the Conductor pull to produce the wail that clears animals off the tracks?

The fireman's beard gets a sharp tug, and his wail sends the animals on their way. Moments earlier the engineer had complained that the tracks were impassable.

When Hero Boy first meets the Hobo on the Polar Express roof, what is the drifter sitting beside?

A campfire is burning on top of the speeding train when the two meet. The Hobo scolds the boy for doubting Santa, then saves him from a low tunnel.

In The Polar Express, what do the elves monitor on hundreds of black-and-white televisions at the North Pole?

Sleeping children fill the screens in the elves' gift factory. A warning flashes when one youngster's misdeeds are spotted, though the Elf General lets him off.

Which publisher released Chris Van Allsburg's picture book The Polar Express and issued a teacher's guide to it?

Houghton Mifflin brought the book out as a 32-page hardcover. Its teacher's guide praised the pictures for creating expressive characters and scenes that come alive.

Whose recording of Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town joins Bing Crosby's White Christmas on the Polar Express soundtrack?

Frank Sinatra sings it on an album that pairs new songs from the film with vintage holiday recordings. The Andrews Sisters, Perry Como and Kate Smith are on there too.

Which pop superstar joined the original singer to perform the Polar Express ballad at the 77th Academy Awards?

Beyoncé shared the stage for the nominated duet and sang two other Best Original Song contenders that night. The Oscar went to a song from another film.

Which future Hunger Games star performed additional motion capture for the young Hero Boy in The Polar Express?

Josh Hutcherson lent his facial expressions and body movements to the character as a child actor. Years later he played Peeta Mellark in the dystopian film series.

Which future R&B star of the hit 2 On served as the motion-capture model for Hero Girl in The Polar Express?

Tinashe was a child performer in California when she modelled the character's movements. A decade later her major-label debut single reached the Billboard top 30.

Leslie Zemeckis, who performed Hero Boy's mother in The Polar Express, is which relation to the film's director?

His wife took on two motion-capture parts, the mother and the hero's little sister. The couple married in Venice the year before he signed on to direct.

Charles Fleischer, the Elf General in The Polar Express, voiced which character in an earlier Robert Zemeckis film?

Roger Rabbit was his signature voice, along with Benny the Cab and two of the weasels. Sixteen years on, the same director cast him to command the elves.

Tom Hanks compared motion-capture acting on The Polar Express to performing which kind of stage production?

A play in the round was his comparison for performing on a bare stage without sets or costumes. He called it a return to a kind of acting that films do not normally allow.

Polar Express co-writer William Broyles Jr. earned an Oscar nomination for scripting which earlier Tom Hanks film?

Apollo 13 was his first feature-film writing credit, shared with Al Reinert, and it brought both men an Academy Award nomination. He had earlier co-created the TV drama China Beach.

Doug Chiang, a production designer on The Polar Express, was earlier design director on which blockbuster franchise?

Star Wars brought him to Lucasfilm to head the art department on The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. He later returned as production designer of Rogue One.

The Los Angeles premiere of The Polar Express at the Chinese Theater raised funds for which institution's film school?

University of Southern California is where the director studied film, and he had already funded a digital arts centre there. Its School of Cinema-Television received the proceeds.

Which Nintendo home console received the Polar Express video game alongside the PlayStation 2 and Windows versions?

GameCube owners got the same adventure as PlayStation 2 players, minus two bonus minigames exclusive to Sony's machine. A separate handheld edition was made for the Game Boy Advance.

Which publisher released every version of the Polar Express video game and bought its console developer weeks later?

THQ published the game on all four platforms and acquired its console developer later the same month. The studio stayed in-house until it was closed in 2011.

A version of the Polar Express video game was in development for which console but never reached shops?

Microsoft Xbox owners missed out: an edition for the console was in development but was never released. Its rival consoles, a handheld and Windows all got the game.

The studio that built the console versions of the Polar Express video game, closed in 2011, was based in which country?

Australia was its home: the Melbourne studio started out in web development and released a football game, AFL Finals Fever, as its first title.

What do players hunt for on behalf of other passengers throughout the train in the Polar Express console game?

Lost tickets drive the plot, because a villainous puppet keeps stealing them to get the children thrown off the train. Most rooms on board are minigames leading to one.

In the Polar Express console game, what must the hero throw at the puppet villain to defeat him?

Snowballs aimed at his nose and exposed chest bring the puppet down about halfway through. One reviewer felt the game lost all direction once its only villain was gone.

One motion-controlled bonus game in the PlayStation 2 Polar Express title has players wave a hand to decorate what?

A Christmas tree is trimmed by waving over the right spots while swatting away puppets that try to ruin the work. The other bonus game has players wipe snow off the train's windscreen.

Which angry member of the train's staff must players sneak past in a stealth section of the Polar Express video game?

The chef reacts to noise: an exclamation mark appears over his head whenever his suspicion is aroused, in the style of the Metal Gear stealth games.

The Game Boy Advance edition of The Polar Express is mainly which type of game, unlike its 3D console cousins?

A side-scrolling platformer in 2D is how the handheld tells the story, though a few levels let players drive the train itself in 3D. A different studio built it.

In the Polar Express video game, the Conductor is voiced by which relative of Tom Hanks, his regular stand-in as Woody?

His brother Jim also plays the Hobo and the puppet villain in the game. He sounds so much like Tom that he regularly voices Woody in Toy Story games and spin-offs.

Which feature of the real locomotive behind The Polar Express happens to spell out Christmas Day in month-day form?

Its road number is 1225, or 12/25, and the engine already wore it when the book's author played on it as a boy, long before he wrote the story.

Which of Tom Hanks's six roles in The Polar Express is a member of Hero Boy's own family?

His father appears only briefly at home, yet Hanks performed him as well as Santa, the Conductor and the hero himself. The director first considered having him play every part.

Robert Zemeckis said a live-action Polar Express would look awful and cost roughly how much to make?

$1 billion was his estimate, several times what the motion-capture version ended up costing. He also felt real sets and actors would lose the look of the book's artwork.

Roughly how many tracking dots were fixed to each Polar Express actor's face to capture expressions?

150 markers, each just four millimetres wide, covered the face, with about forty-eight more on the bodysuit. Until then, motion capture had mostly recorded body movement alone.

The Polar Express soundtrack album earned which RIAA certification in November 2007?

Gold status arrived in November 2007, three years after the album was released alongside the film, marking 500,000 copies shipped in the United States.

By 2009, roughly how many Polar Express DVDs had been sold in the United States alone?

9 million copies made it one of the studio's most successful DVD releases. For years cinemas also brought the film back each holiday season with almost no marketing.

Nine days after The Polar Express opened, which cartoon character's first feature film arrived to compete for families?

SpongeBob SquarePants reached cinemas on 19 November with heavy promotion, leaving the train adventure squeezed between two big family rivals.

Roughly seventy of what surrounded the small stage where the Polar Express cast performed their scenes?

Cameras ringed a small green-screen stage, tracking the performers' markers and feeding a master computer that rebuilt the action with virtual skeletons.

Counting its yearly re-releases, The Polar Express has grossed roughly how much at cinemas worldwide?

$300 million was passed by 2009, helped by an IMAX 3D version that kept selling out. Weeks after it opened, one Los Angeles Times report had called it one of 2004's biggest Hollywood fiascos.

At the 77th Academy Awards, the Polar Express ballad lost Best Original Song to a song from which film?

The Motorcycle Diaries won with a ballad written by Jorge Drexler. On the night it was performed by Antonio Banderas and Carlos Santana.

In The Polar Express, where does Hero Boy first glimpse Santa after vowing to have faith in him?

In the bell's reflection Santa suddenly appears, after the boy had failed to catch a glimpse of him through the crowd. He hands the bell back, and Santa picks him out of all the children.

Chris Van Allsburg, creator of The Polar Express, worked as a visual development artist on which Disney animated film?

The Little Mermaid lists him among its visual development artists, a credit earned in 1989, long before his own train story reached cinemas.

The studio behind the Polar Express console game later created which acclaimed paint-splashing platformer for the Wii?

De Blob arrived in 2008 as the studio's first original game in years, and IGN named it the best platform game on the Wii that year.