Animation icon Ralph Bakshi to attend 35th Anniversary screening of Wizards |

Twentieth Century Fox’s first-ever animated film, Wizards, created by renowned director Ralph Bakshi, is set to be released in a 35th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Book on March 13th from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Celebrating its 35th anniversary, the epic fantasy of peace and magic Wizards features the voice talent of Star Wars’ Mark Hamill, who plays Sean.

Director Ralph Bakshi will be attending a screening of Wizards at LACMA, sponsored by Film Independent, on March 15th. The LACMA screening will be held in the Bing Theater at LACMA in central Los Angeles, midway between downtown and Santa Monica, 1/2 mile south of the Grove. CLICK HERE for additional details on the event.

Released the same year as Star Wars, Wizards was Twentieth Century Fox’s first foray into feature animation. Bakshi wrote, directed, and produced this post-apocalyptic adventure about an earth recovering from nuclear fallout millions of years after a bomb was detonated—an uneasy co-existence between humans and a race of mystic creatures.

Wizards is an adventure fantasy set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, that follows the story of Avatar (Bob Holt), the kindly, eccentric sorcerer-ruler of Montagar, a rainbow paradise inhabited by elves and fairies. Avatar’s evil brother, Blackwolf (Steve Gravers), dominates Scortch, a bleak land of goblins and wraiths. When the power-hungry Blackwolf attacks Montagar, Avatar, accompanied only by a spirited young woman and a courageous elf, must enter the darkness of Scortch to save his world.

In addition to Hamill, Wizards also features the voice talents of Bob Holt, Jesse Welles, Richard Romanus, David Proval, Jim Connell, Steve Gravers, Barbara Sloane, Angelo Grisanti, Hyman Wien, Christopher Tayback, Peter Hobbs, Tina Romanus, Victoria Bakshi, Susan Tyrrell and Ralph Bakshi himself as Fritz, as well as the Storm Trooper & various other characters.

Wizards Original Release Date: February 9, 1977

For those of you unfamiliar with the work of legendary artist and animator Ralph Bakshi, here is a partial list of cult classic animated film projects he has either animated, directed, or both.