text: the prince of egypt the prince of egypt is a 1998 american animated epic musical drama biblical film and the first traditionally animated film produced and released by dreamworks pictures . the film is an adaptation of the book of exodus and follows the life of moses from being a prince of egypt to his ultimate destiny to lead the children of israel out of egypt . the film was directed by brenda chapman , simon wells and steve . the film featured songs written by stephen schwartz and a score composed by hans zimmer . the voice cast featured a number of major hollywood actors in the speaking roles , while professional singers replaced them for the songs , except for michelle pfeiffer , ralph fiennes , steve martin , martin short , and ofra haza ( who also sang her character 's number , " deliver us " , in seventeen other languages for the film 's dubbing ) , who sang their own parts . jeffrey katzenberg had frequently suggested an animated adaption of the 1956 film the ten commandments while working for the walt disney company , and he decided to put the idea into production after founding dreamworks in 1995 . to make this inaugural project , dreamworks animation employed artists who had worked for walt disney feature animation and the recently disbanded , totaling a crew of 350 people from 34 different nations . the film has a blend of traditional animation and computer - generated imagery , created using software from toon boom animation and silicon graphics . the prince of egypt was released in theaters on december 18 , 1998 , and on home video on september 14 , 1999 . reviews were positive , with critics praising the animation , music and voice work . the film went on to gross $ 218 , 613 , 188 worldwide in theaters , which made it the most successful non - disney animated feature at the time . the film 's success led to the direct - to - video prequel joseph : king of dreams ( 2000 ) and the development of a stage adaptation . the song " when you believe " became a commercially successful single in a pop version performed by whitney houston and mariah carey , and went on to win best original song at the 1999 academy awards . plot in ancient egypt , yocheved ( ofra haza ) , a hebrew mother , and her two children , miriam and aaron , watch in horror as the newborn hebrew boys are taken and ruthlessly killed as ordered by pharaoh seti i ( patrick stewart ) , who fears that an alarming increase could lead to rebellion . fearing for her own newborn son 's safety , yocheved places him in a basket afloat on the nile river , not before bidding him farewell with a final but powerful lullaby . miriam follows the basket to the pharaoh 's palace and witnesses her baby brother safely adopted by queen tuya ( helen mirren ) , who names him moses . years later , moses ( val kilmer ) and his brother rameses ii ( ralph fiennes ) are scolded by their father for accidentally destroying a temple during one of their youthful misadventures , though moses tries to take the blame . that evening at a palace banquet , seti , who wants to give rameses the opportunity to prove that he is responsible , names him prince regent and gives him authority over egypt 's temples . as a tribute , the high priests hotep ( steve martin ) and huy ( martin short ) offer him a beautiful young woman , tzipporah ( michelle pfeiffer ) , and rameses gives her to moses . rameses then appoints him royal chief architect . later that evening , moses follows tzipporah as she escapes from the palace and runs into his siblings miriam ( sandra bullock ) and aaron ( jeff goldblum ) . miriam is overjoyed to see her younger brother again , but aaron is fearful to watch the confrontation . despite aaron 's attempts to protect his sister , miriam tries to tell moses about his past , but he refuses to listen . miriam then sings her mother 's lullaby , which causes moses to remember the melody . moses runs to the palace , eager to return to familiar surroundings . the truth about his past is later confirmed by a nightmare , and finally by seti himself . the next morning , moses accidentally pushes an egyptian guard off the scaffolding of the temple when trying to stop him from whipping a hebrew slave , and the guard falls to his death . ashamed and confused , moses flees into the desert in exile , despite rameses ' pleas to stay . while in the desert moses defends three young girls from bandits , only to find out their older sister is tzipporah , whom he helped escape from egypt . moses is welcomed by tzipporah 's father and the high priest of midian , jethro ( danny glover ) . after assimilating this new culture , moses becomes a shepherd and marries tzipporah . while chasing a stray lamb , moses discovers a burning bush through which god tells him to go back to egypt and guide the hebrew slaves to freedom . god bestows moses ' shepherding staff with his power and promises that he will tell moses what to say . moses and tzipporah return to egypt , where moses is happily greeted by rameses , who is now pharaoh . when moses requests the hebrews ' release and changes his staff into an egyptian cobra , to demonstrate his alliance with god , hotep and huy boastfully recreate this transformation , only to have their snakes eaten by moses ' snake . rather than persuaded , rameses doubles the hebrews ' workload . moses and tzipporah thereafter live with miriam , who convinces aaron and the other hebrews to trust them . later , moses inflicts nine of the plagues of egypt , but rameses refuses to relent despite each plague being worse than the one before . against moses ' warning ( foreshadowing the final plague ) , rameses makes it clear that he will never release the hebrew slaves . disheartened by rameses ' words , moses prepares the hebrews for the tenth and final plague , instructing them to sacrifice a lamb and mark the doorposts with the lamb 's blood . that night , the final plague kills all the firstborn children of egypt , including rameses ' son , while sparing those of the hebrews . the next day , a grief - stricken rameses , mourning the loss of his son , finally gives moses permission to free the hebrews . moses breaks down crying from the guilt of hurting rameses , and from hearing the cries of numerous families across the city . the following morning , the hebrews leave egypt , led by moses , miriam , aaron , and tzipporah . at the red sea , they discover that rameses is closely pursuing them with his army . upon the arrival , moses uses his staff to part the sea , while a fire blocks the army 's way . the hebrews cross the open sea bottom ; and when the fire vanishes and the army gives chase , the water closes over the egyptian soldiers , sparing rameses alone , who is washed ashore on the other side of the sea . thereafter , moses sadly bids farewell to his brother , and leads the hebrews to mount sinai , where he receives the ten commandments . cast val kilmer as moses , a hebrew who was adopted by pharaoh seti . val kilmer also provides ( uncredited ) the voice of god amick byram provides moses ' singing voice . ralph fiennes as rameses , moses ' adoptive brother and eventual successor to his father , seti . michelle pfeiffer as tzipporah , jethro 's oldest daughter and moses ' wife . sandra bullock as miriam , moses and aaron 's biological sister . sally dworsky provides miriam 's singing voice . eden riegel provides both the speaking and singing voice of a younger miriam . jeff goldblum as aaron , moses and miriam 's biological brother . patrick stewart as pharaoh seti , rameses ' father , moses ' adoptive father and the first pharaoh in the film . danny glover as jethro , tzipporah 's father and midian 's high priest . brian stokes mitchell provides jethro 's singing voice . helen mirren as queen tuya , seti 's consort , rameses ' mother , and moses ' adoptive mother . linda dee shayne provides queen tuya 's singing voice . steve martin as hotep , one of the high priests who serves as advisor to seti , and later rameses . martin short as huy , hotep 's fellow high priest . ofra haza as yocheved , the biological mother of miriam , aaron , and moses . director brenda chapman briefly voiced miriam when she sings the lullaby to moses . the vocal had been recorded for a scratch audio track , which was intended to be replaced later by sally dworsky . the track turned out so well that it remained in the film . production development former disney chairman jeffrey katzenberg had always wanted to do an animated adaption of the ten commandments . while working for the walt disney company , katzenberg suggested this idea to michael eisner , but he refused . the idea for the film was brought back at the formation of dreamworks skg in 1994 , when katzenberg 's partners , amblin entertainment founder steven spielberg , and music producer david geffen , were meeting in spielberg 's living room . katzenberg recalls that spielberg looked at him during the meeting and said , " you ought to do the ten commandments . " the prince of egypt was " written " throughout the story process . beginning with a starting outline , story supervisors kelly asbury and lorna cook led a team of fourteen storyboard artists and writers as they sketched out the entire film — sequence by sequence . once the storyboards were approved , they were put into the avid media composer digital editing system by editor nick fletcher to create a " story reel " or animatic . the story reel allowed the filmmakers to view and edit the entire film in continuity before production began , and also helped the layout and animation departments understand what is happening in each sequence of the film . after casting of the voice talent concluded , dialogue recording sessions began . for the film , the actors record individually in a studio under guidance by one of the three directors . the voice tracks were to become the primary aspect as to which the animators built their performances . because dreamworks was concerned about theological accuracy , jeffrey katzenberg decided to call in biblical scholars , christian , jewish and muslim theologians , and arab american leaders to help his film be more accurate and faithful to the original story . after previewing the developing film , all these leaders noted that the studio executives listened and responded to their ideas , and praised the studio for reaching out for comment from outside sources . design and animation art directors kathy altieri and richard chavez and production designer gogol led a team of nine visual development artists in setting a visual style for the film that was representative of the time , the scale and the architectural style of ancient egypt . part of the process also included the research and collection of artwork from various artists , as well as taking part in trips such as a two - week travel across egypt by the filmmakers before the film 's production began . character designers carter goodrich , carlos and nicolas worked on setting the design and overall look of the characters . drawing on various inspirations for the widely known characters , the team of character designers worked on designs that had a more realistic feel than the usual animated characters up to that time . both character design and art direction worked to set a definite distinction between the symmetrical , more angular look of the egyptians versus the more organic , natural look of the hebrews and their related environments . the backgrounds department , headed by supervisors paul and ron lukas , oversaw a team of artists who were responsible for painting the sets / backdrops from the layouts . within the film , approximately 934 hand - painted backgrounds were created . the animation team for the prince of egypt , including 350 artists from 34 different nations , was primarily recruited both from walt disney feature animation , which had fallen under katzenberg 's auspices while at the walt disney company , and from , a defunct division of steven spielberg 's amblin entertainment . as at disney 's , character animators were grouped into teams by character : for example , kristof , as the supervising animator of older moses , set the acting style of the character and assigned scenes to his team . consideration was given to properly depicting the ethnicities of the ancient egyptians , hebrews , and nubians seen in the film . there are 1192 scenes in the film , and 1180 contain work done by the special effects department , which animates everything in an animated scene which is not a character : blowing wind , dust , rainwater , shadows , etc . a blend of traditional animation and computer - generated imagery was used in the depictions of the ten plagues of egypt and the parting of the red sea . the animated characters were digitally inked and painted using cambridge systems ' animo software system ( now merged with toon boom ) , and the compositing of the 2d and 3d elements was done using the " exposure tool " , a digital solution developed for dreamworks by silicon graphics . creating the voice of god the task of creating god 's voice was given to lon bender and the team working with the film 's music composer , hans zimmer . " the challenge with that voice was to try to evolve it into something that had not been heard before , " says bender . " we did a lot of research into the voices that had been used for past hollywood movies as well as for radio shows , and we were trying to create something that had never been previously heard not only from a casting standpoint but from a voice manipulation standpoint as well . the solution was to use the voice of actor val kilmer to suggest the kind of voice we hear inside our own heads in our everyday lives , as opposed to the larger than life tones with which god has been endowed in prior cinematic incarnations . " as a result , in the final film , kilmer gave voice to moses and god , as well , yet the suggestion is that someone else would have heard god speak to them in their own voice . music composer and lyricist stephen schwartz began working on writing songs for the film from the beginning of the film 's production . as the story evolved , he continued to write songs that would serve to both entertain and help move the story along . composer hans zimmer arranged and produced the songs and then eventually wrote the film 's score . the film 's score was recorded entirely in london , england . three soundtrack albums were released simultaneously for the prince of egypt , each of them aimed towards a different target audience . while the other two accompanying records , the country - themed " nashville " soundtrack and the gospel - based " inspirational " soundtrack , functioned as film tributes , the official the prince of egypt soundtrack contained the actual songs from the film . this album combines elements from the score composed by hans zimmer and film songs by stephen schwartz . the songs were either voiced over by professional singers ( such as salisbury cathedral choir ) , or sung by the film 's voice actors , such as michelle pfeiffer and ofra haza . various tracks by contemporary artists such as k - ci & jojo and boyz ii men were added , including the mariah carey and whitney houston duet " when you believe " , a babyface rewrite of the original schwartz composition , sung by michelle pfeiffer and sally dworsky in the film . musical numbers " deliver us " – ofra haza , eden riegel , and chorus " all i ever wanted " – amick byram " river lullaby " - amy grant " all i ever wanted ( queen 's reprise ) " – linda dee shayne " through heaven 's eyes " – brian stokes mitchell " playing with the big boys " – steve martin and martin short " the plagues " – byram , ralph fiennes , and chorus " when you believe " – sally dworsky , michelle pfeiffer , and chorus release the prince of egypt had its premiere at the ucla 's royce hall on december 16 , 1998 , with its wide release occurring two days later . despite being the inaugural production by dreamworks animation , it wound up the second to get a theatrical release , as antz was rushed to reach theatres in september . the international release occurred simultaneously to the united states , as according to dreamworks ' distribution chief jim tharp , opening one week prior to the " global holiday " of christmas , audiences all over the world would be available at the same time . the accompanying marketing campaign aimed to bring more adults , usually averse to animated films . merchandising was limited to a line of collectible figures and books . wal - mart served as a promotional partner , and offered in stores a package featuring two tickets to the prince of egypt , a storybook and the film 's soundtrack . home media the prince of egypt was released on dvd and vhs on september 14 , 1999 . the ownership of the film was assumed by dreamworks animation when that company split from dreamworks pictures in 2004 ; as with the rest of the dreamworks animation catalog , it is available for streaming on netflix in hd . however , both the dvd release and the streaming versions used a 35mm print of the film , rather than using the original files to encode the movie directly to digital . reception box office performance on its opening weekend , the film grossed $ 14 . 5 million for a $ 4 , 658 average from 3 , 118 theaters , earning second place at the box office , behind you 've got mail . due to the holiday season , the film gained 4 % in its second weekend , earning $ 15 . 1 million and finishing in fourth place . it had a $ 4 , 698 average from 3 , 218 theaters . it would hold well in its third weekend , with only a 25 % drop to $ 11 , 244 , 612 for a $ 3 , 511 average from 3 , 202 theaters and once again finishing in fourth place . the film closed on may 27 , 1999 after earning $ 101 . 4 million in the united states and canada with an additional $ 117 . 2 million overseas for a worldwide total of $ 218 . 6 million . the prince of egypt was the second non - disney animated feature to gross over $ 100 million in the u.s. after paramount / nickelodeon 's the rugrats movie . it remained the top grossing non - disney animated film until being surpassed by the 2000 stop motion film chicken run , also distributed by dreamworks , and remained the highest grossing traditionally animated non - disney film until 2007 , when it was out - grossed by 20th century fox 's the simpsons movie .