Universal Animation Studios
| File:Universal Animation Studios.jpg Company logo post-2006 | |
| Formerly | Universal Cartoon Studios (1991–2006) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Division |
| Industry | Animation |
| Predecessor | Walter Lantz Productions |
| Founded | 1991[1] |
| Headquarters |
|
Number of locations | 2 |
Key people | Margie Cohn (Head of DWA Television) |
| Products | Animated films Animated television shows |
| Owner | NBCUniversal |
| Parent | Universal Pictures |
Universal Animation Studios, formerly known as Universal Cartoon Studios, is an American animation studio that is a subsidiary of Comcast's NBCUniversal and a division of Universal Pictures. It has produced sequels to Universal-released feature films, such as The Land Before Time, An American Tail, Balto, as well as other films and television series.
The actual animation production is done overseas, usually by either Wang Film Productions or Rough Draft Studios, while pre-production and post-production is United States-based.
On August 22, 2016, the television animation divisions of Universal and DreamWorks merged after Universal completed its acquisition of DreamWorks Animation.[5]
History
![[icon]](/enwiki/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2021) |
Universal Animation Studios was established in 1990 as Universal Cartoon Studios, the animation division of MCA Inc..[6] Its debut work was Back to the Future: The Animated Series, which was announced on March 22, 1991 and premiered on CBS on September 14 the same year.[7][8]
Franchises
This is not including the original films of Charlotte's Web, An American Tail, The Land Before Time and Balto made by either Hanna-Barbera Productions, Sullivan Bluth Studios or Amblimation
| Titles | Release dates | Movies | TV Seasons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woody Woodpecker | 19991–present | 1 | 4 |
| Charlotte's Web | 1973–2003 | 2 | - |
| An American Tail | 1986–1999 | 4 | 1 |
| The Land Before Time | 1988–present | 14 | 2 |
| Balto | 1995–2004 | 3 | - |
| Alvin and the Chipmunks | 1999–2000 | 2 | - |
| Curious George | 2006–present | 5 | 13 |
1:The date reflects the first appearance of Woody Woodpecker in a production from Universal Animation Studio rather than the date when the character was originally created in 1940 by Walter Lantz.
Filmography
Feature films
Theatrical feature films
| # | Title | Release date | Co-production with |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Curious George | February 10, 2006 | Imagine Entertainment |
| 2 | The Tale of Despereaux | December 19, 2008 | Relativity Media |
| 3 | Woody Woodpecker[R] | October 5, 2017 | Universal 1440 Entertainment |
- R Not released theatrically in the United States
Direct-to-video feature films
- A An adult animated production.
Television series
Short films
- Fractured Fairy Tales: The Phox, the Box, & the Lox (1999)
Television specials
- A Wish for Wings That Work (1991)
- Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas (2009)
- How Murray Saved Christmas (2014)
- 5 More Sleeps ’til Christmas (2021)[13]
Miscellaneous work
- 63rd Academy Awards (1991) - animation for Woody Woodpecker presenting the award for Best Animated Short Film[14]
- Kids WB! promos - Earthworm Jim segments.
- The Incredible Hulk Coaster (1999-2015 version) - traditionally animated introduction.
- The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (1999) - traditionally-animated introduction[15]
- Dudley-Do Right’s RipSaw Falls (1999) - traditionally-animated queue video.
Cancelled projects
- Escape from Jurassic Park,[16] an animated TV series that takes place after the first Jurassic Park film, was confirmed to be in development and awaiting Steven Spielberg's approval in June 1993.[17] The series would have centered on John Hammond's attempts to finish Jurassic Park and open it to the public, while InGen's corporate rival Biosyn is simultaneously planning to open their own dinosaur theme park in Brazil, which ultimately ends with their dinosaurs escaping into the jungles.[18][19][20] Artist William Stout was hired to work on the series and subsequently made a trailer to demonstrate how the series would look, and how it would combine traditional animation with computer animation. The series required Spielberg's final approval before it could go into production. However, Spielberg had grown tired of the massive promotion and merchandise revolving around the film, and never watched the trailer.[21] On July 13, 1993, Margaret Loesch, president of the Fox Children's Network, confirmed that discussions had been held with Spielberg about an animated version of the film. Loesch also said, "At least for now and in the foreseeable future, there will not be an animated Jurassic Park. That's Steven Spielberg's decision, and we respect that decision."[22]
- A pair of traditionally animated cutscenes were produced for the 1996 video game Crash Bandicoot to serve as the game's intro and outro, as well as act as source material for a potential animated series if the game was well-received and commercially successful. The hand-drawn cutscenes were dropped after Sony Computer Entertainment picked up Crash Bandicoot for publication, as Sony desired to push the PlayStation's 3D polygonal graphics. The cutscenes were uploaded to YouTube by producer David Siller in 2015.[23][24]
- Jurassic Park: Chaos Effect, an animated television series based on The Lost World: Jurassic Park, was confirmed to be in development within the third part of a four-part comic adaptation of the film published by Topps Comics in July 1997.[25][26] In November 1997, it was reported that the cartoon would be accompanied by Jurassic Park: Chaos Effect, a series of dinosaur toys produced by Kenner and based on a premise that scientists had created dinosaur hybrids consisting of DNA from different creatures.[27][28] That month, it was also reported that the cartoon could be ready by March 1998, as a mid-season replacement.[27] The Chaos Effect toyline was released in June 1998,[28] but the animated series was never produced, for unknown reasons.[29]
Video games
| Title | Release date | Platform(s) | Developer | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Land Before Time: Return to the Great Valley | 2000 | PlayStation | Sound Source Interactive | Realtime Associates |
| The Land Before Time: Great Valley Racing Adventure | 2001 | PlayStation | Vision Scape Interactive | TDK Mediactive |
| The Land Before Time: Big Water Adventure | 2002 | PlayStation | Digital Illusions | TDK Mediactive |
| Curious George | 2006 | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, PC | Monkey Bar Games | Namco |
See also
- Illumination Entertainment
- DreamWorks Animation
- Universal Interactive Studios
- List of Universal Pictures theatrical animated feature films
- List of unproduced Universal Pictures animated projects
References
- ^ "Registration Certificate". United States Patent and Trademark Office. October 6, 1992. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
First use 4-5-1991, in commerce 4-5-1991.
- ^ "Animation Production Companies". June 8, 2009. Retrieved May 12, 2020 – via Backstage.com.
- ^ "Motion Picture Almanac". June 6, 2008. Retrieved May 12, 2020 – via Google Books.
- ^ "2017 Studio List" (PDF). August 29, 2017. Retrieved May 12, 2020 – via Animationguild.org.
- ^ Rainey, James (23 August 2016). "NBCUniversal Sets New DreamWorks Animation Chain of Command".
- ^ "Orlando theme park features characters". The Orlando Sentinel. Orlando, Florida. July 19, 1991. p. 35. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
- ^ "Future Has a Future". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. March 22, 1991. p. 480. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
- ^ Boyar, Jay (September 6, 1991). "Short Subjects". The Orlando Sentinel. Orlando, Florida. p. 68. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
- ^ "Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle". Universal Studios Entertainment. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
- ^ "Rawr: Reba's Voice Will Be In The Next Land Before Time Movie". US99.5. August 18, 2015. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
- ^ "Curious George: Royal Monkey - Trailer". YouTube. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
- ^ White, Peter (2020-09-03). "'Curious George: Go West, Go Wild' Film Heads To Peacock As Part Of Kids' Slate". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
- ^ https://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/jimmy-fallon-sets-slate-with-nbcu-animated-special-series-in-dev/
- ^ Oscars (7 July 2015). "Short Film Winners: 1991 Oscars" – via YouTube.
- ^ "The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (1999) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
- ^ Pugh, Chris (June 1, 2016). "Escape from Jurassic Park – 1993 animated series detailed". JurassicOutpost.com. Archived from the original on July 6, 2016. Retrieved July 3, 2016.
- ^ "'Jurassic' series?". The San Bernardino Sun. June 17, 1993. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
- ^ Squires, John (December 6, 2016). "Art and Story Details from Cancelled 'Jurassic Park' Animated Series Finally Surface". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on December 8, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
- ^ Scott, Ryan (December 6, 2016). "Canceled Jurassic Park Animated Series Full Season Details Revealed". MovieWeb. Archived from the original on December 8, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
- ^ Pugh, Chris (December 5, 2016). "The Entire First Season of the Cancelled Jurassic Park Television Series Revealed (Exclusive)". Jurassic Outpost. Archived from the original on December 7, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
- ^ Stout, William (April 26, 2014). "My Top Ten Favorite Dinosaur Films – Part One". WilliamStout.com. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
- ^ Duffy, Mike (July 15, 1993). "Dinosaur TV 'toons are extinct for now". The Indianapolis Star. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
- ^ Fahey, Mike (July 19, 2015). "Crash Bandicoot Could Have Had These Sweet Animated Cutscenes". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on July 21, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
- ^ Good, Owen S. (July 19, 2015). "Long-lost Crash Bandicoot animation was for the game first, a cartoon series second". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on July 21, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
- ^ Finkelstein, Dan (July 20, 1997). "What's New". Dan's The Lost World Page. Archived from the original on June 3, 2000.
- ^ Finkelstein, Dan (July 22, 1997). "What's New". Dan's The Lost World Page. Archived from the original on June 3, 2000.
- ^ a b Finkelstein, Dan (November 11, 1997). "Chaos Effect". Dan's The Lost World Page. Archived from the original on September 9, 1999.
- ^ a b "Chaos Effect". JPToys.com. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
- ^ "Interview With Tim Bradley". JPToys.com. March 1, 2008. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
Categories:
- Universal Animation Studios
- 1991 establishments in California
- American companies established in 1991
- Mass media companies established in 1991
- Universal Pictures subsidiaries
- American animation studios
- Television production companies of the United States
- Companies based in Glendale, California
- Universal City, California