Universal Animation Studios

Summary

Universal Animation Studios LLC[5] (formerly known as Universal Cartoon Studios) is an American animation studio and a division of Universal Pictures, which is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast. It has produced direct-to-video sequels to Universal-released feature films, such as The Land Before Time, An American Tail, Balto, and Curious George, as well as other films and television series.

Universal Animation Studios LLC
FormerlyUniversal Cartoon Studios (1990–2005)
Company typeDivision
IndustryAnimation
PredecessorWalter Lantz Productions
Founded1990; 34 years ago (1990)[1]
Headquarters
Number of locations
2
ProductsAnimated films
Animated television shows
ParentUniversal Pictures

The actual animation production is done overseas, usually by foreign animation studios like Wang Film Productions and Rough Draft Studios, while pre-production and post-production is United States-based.

The television animation divisions of Universal and DreamWorks merged on August 23, 2016 after Universal completed its acquisition of DreamWorks Animation, who began producing a majority of Universal Pictures' family friendly TV shows.[6]

History edit

Universal Animation Studios was established in 1990 as Universal Cartoon Studios, the animation division of MCA Inc.[7] It was originally a subsidiary of Universal Family Entertainment, which was headed by Jeff Segal.[8] 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.[9][10]

In 1996, the two groups Universal Family Entertainment and its subsidiary Universal Cartoon Studios were absorbed into MCA Television Entertainment.[11]

In 2005, Universal Cartoon Studios was absorbed into Universal Studios Family Productions, and later on, it was renamed to Universal Animation Studios.[12][13]

Franchises edit

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 1991–present1 2 6
An American Tail 1986–1999 4 1
The Land Before Time 1988–2016 14 2
Balto 1995–2004 3 0
Alvin and the Chipmunks 1999–2000 2 0
Charlotte's Web 2003 1 0
Curious George 2006–2022 6 15

1:The date reflects the first appearance of Woody Woodpecker in a production from Universal Cartoon Studios rather than the date when the character was originally created in 1940 by Walter Lantz Productions.

Filmography edit

Feature films edit

Theatrical feature films edit

# Title Release date Director Writer(s) Producer(s) Co-production with
Story Screenplay
1 Curious George February 10, 2006 (2006-02-10) Matthew O'Callaghan Ken Kaufman
Mike Werb
Ken Kaufman Ron Howard
David Kirschner
Jon Shapiro
Imagine Entertainment
2 Woody Woodpecker[R][S] October 5, 2017 (2017-10-05) Alex Zamm William Robertson
Alex Zamm
Daniel Altiere
Steven Altiere
William Robertson
Alex Zamm
Mike Elliott Universal 1440 Entertainment
S Combines live-action with animation.
R Not released theatrically in the United States

Direct-to-video/streaming feature films edit

Children's feature films edit
# Title Release date Co-production with
as Universal Cartoon Studios
1 The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure December 13, 1994 (1994-12-13) N/A
2 The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving December 12, 1995 (1995-12-12)
3 The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists December 10, 1996 (1996-12-10)
4 The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island December 9, 1997 (1997-12-09)
5 Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus January 6, 1998 (1998-01-06) Renaissance Pictures
6 The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock December 1, 1998 (1998-12-01) N/A
7 Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein September 28, 1999 (1999-09-28) Bagdasarian Productions, LLC.
8 An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island February 15, 2000 (2000-02-15) N/A
9 An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster July 25, 2000 (2000-07-25)
10 Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman August 29, 2000 (2000-08-29) Bagdasarian Productions, LLC.
11 The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire December 5, 2000 (2000-12-05) N/A
12 The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze December 4, 2001 (2001-12-04)
13 Balto II: Wolf Quest February 19, 2002 (2002-02-19)
14 The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water December 10, 2002 (2002-12-10)
15 Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure March 18, 2003 (2003-03-18) Paramount Pictures
Nickelodeon Animation Studio
16 The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration December 2, 2003 (2003-12-02) N/A
17 Balto III: Wings of Change September 30, 2004 (2004-09-30)
18 The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses January 11, 2005 (2005-01-11)
19 The Adventures of Brer Rabbit March 21, 2006 (2006-03-21)
as Universal Animation Studios
20 The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers February 27, 2007 (2007-02-27) N/A
21 The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends November 27, 2007 (2007-11-27)
22 Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey![R] July 10, 2009 (2009-07-10) Imagine Entertainment
23 The Little Engine That Could March 22, 2011 (2011-03-22) Crest Animation Productions
24 Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle[14] June 23, 2015 (2015-06-23) Imagine Entertainment
Universal 1440 Entertainment
25 The Land Before Time XIV: Journey of the Brave[15] February 2, 2016 (February 2, 2016) Universal 1440 Entertainment
26 Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You November 14, 2017 (2017-11-14) Universal 1440 Entertainment
Splash Entertainment
Telegael
Magic Carpet Productions
27 Curious George: Royal Monkey[16] September 10, 2019 (2019-09-10) Imagine Entertainment
Universal 1440 Entertainment
28 Curious George: Go West, Go Wild[P][17] September 8, 2020
29 Bobbleheads: The Movie December 8, 2020 Threshold Animation Studios
Universal 1440 Entertainment
30 Curious George: Cape Ahoy[P][18] September 30, 2021 Imagine Entertainment
Universal 1440 Entertainment
31 Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp[N][S][19] April 12, 2024 (2024-04-12)[20] Universal 1440 Entertainment
Adult animated short films edit
# Title Release date Co-production with
as Universal Cartoon Studios
1 Van Helsing: The London Assignment[A] May 11, 2004 (2004-05-11) N/A
2 The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury[A] June 15, 2004 (2004-06-15)
P Released on Peacock.
N Released on Netflix.
A Adult animated production.

Short films edit

Television series edit

# Title Creator(s) / Developer(s) Original run Network Co-production with
as Universal Cartoon Studios
1 Back to the Future Robert Zemeckis
Bob Gale
1991–1992 CBS Amblin Television
Zaloom/Mayfield Productions
BIG Pictures
2 Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories Shelley Duvall 1992–1993 Showtime Think Entertainment
3 Fievel's American Tails David Kirschner 1992 CBS Amblin Television
Nelvana
4 Exosquad Jeff Segal
Eric Lewald
Michael Edens
1993–1994 Syndication N/A
5 Problem Child Scott Alexander
Larry Karaszewski
USA Network D'Ocon Films Productions (season 1)
Lacewood Productions (season 2)
6 Monster Force Marv Wolfman 1994 Syndication Lacewood Productions
7 Beethoven N/A 1994–1995 CBS Northern Lights Entertainment
8 Earthworm Jim Doug TenNapel
Doug Langdale
1995–1996 Kids' WB Shiny Entertainment
9 The Savage Dragon Dean Stefan
Bob Forward
USA Network Lacewood Productions
(season 1)
Studio B Productions
(season 2)
P3 Entertainment
USA Studios
10 The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper Sherri Stoner
Deanna Oliver
1996–1998 Fox Kids Amblin Television
Harveytoons
11 Wing Commander Academy Michael Edens
Mark Edens
1996 USA Network N/A
12 Vor-Tech: Undercover Conversion Squad N/A Syndication Edition Dupuis France S.A.
Mediatoon
Lacewood Productions
13 The New Woody Woodpecker Show Bob Jacques
Kelly Armstrong
1999–2002 Fox Kids N/A
14 The Mummy: The Animated Series Thomas Pugsley
Greg Klein
2001–2003 Kids' WB Studios USA Television (season 1)
The Sommers Company
as Universal Animation Studios
15 Curious George Joe Fallon 2006–2022 PBS Kids (2006–2022)
Family Jr. (2018–2020)
Peacock (2020–2022)
Imagine Entertainment (seasons 1–9, 14–15)
WGBH Boston (seasons 1–12)
Universal 1440 Entertainment (seasons 10–15)
16 The Land Before Time Ford Riley 2007–2008 Cartoon Network Amblin Entertainment
17 Woody Woodpecker Alex Zamm 2018–2022 YouTube Universal Pictures International
Universal 1440 Entertainment
Splash Entertainment

Television specials edit

# Title Release date Network Co-production with
as Universal Cartoon Studios
1 A Wish for Wings That Work December 18, 1991 (December 18, 1991) CBS Amblin Television
as Universal Animation Studios
2 Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas November 25, 2009 (November 25, 2009) PBS Kids Imagine Entertainment
WGBH Boston
3 Curious George Swings Into Spring April 22, 2013 (April 22, 2013)
4 Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest October 28, 2013 (October 28, 2013)
5 How Murray Saved Christmas December 5, 2014 (December 5, 2014) NBC Universal Television

Miscellaneous work edit

Cancelled projects edit

  • Escape from Jurassic Park,[23] 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.[24] 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.[25][26][27] 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.[28] 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."[29]
  • 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.[30][31]
  • 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.[32][33] 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.[34][35] That month, it was also reported that the cartoon could be ready by March 1998, as a mid-season replacement.[34] The Chaos Effect toyline was released in June 1998,[35] but the animated series was never produced, for unknown reasons.[36]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "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.
  2. ^ "Animation Production Companies". June 8, 2009. Retrieved May 12, 2020 – via Backstage.com.
  3. ^ Motion Picture Almanac. Quigley Publishing Company. June 6, 2008. ISBN 9780900610806. Retrieved May 12, 2020 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ "2017 Studio List" (PDF). August 29, 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 25, 2021. Retrieved May 12, 2020 – via Animationguild.org.
  5. ^ "Universal Animation Studios LLC". OpenCorporates. 2002-04-12. Retrieved 2023-09-03.
  6. ^ Rainey, James (23 August 2016). "NBCUniversal Sets New DreamWorks Animation Chain of Command".
  7. ^ "Orlando theme park features characters". The Orlando Sentinel. Orlando, Florida. July 19, 1991. p. 35. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  8. ^ "Universal opens new toon town" (PDF). Broadcasting. May 27, 1991. p. 39. Retrieved October 12, 2023.
  9. ^ "Future Has a Future". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. March 22, 1991. p. 480. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  10. ^ Boyar, Jay (September 6, 1991). "Short Subjects". The Orlando Sentinel. Orlando, Florida. p. 68. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  11. ^ "Fisher gets expanded role at MCA" (PDF). Broadcasting. 1996-04-22. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-09-25. Retrieved 2021-09-25.
  12. ^ Gallo, Scott Hettrick,Eliza; Hettrick, Scott; Gallo, Eliza (2005-03-07). "U homevid units in family way". Variety. Retrieved 2023-10-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ "Universal Home Ent. Family Prods. Ups Patti Jackson and Ellen Cockrill". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
  14. ^ "Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle". Universal Studios Entertainment. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  15. ^ "Rawr: Reba's Voice Will Be In The Next Land Before Time Movie". US99.5. August 18, 2015. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  16. ^ Milligan, Kaitlin (July 24, 2019). "Curious George Royal Monkey arrives on DVD, Digital 9/10". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ Nash, Anthony (2021-09-30). "Exclusive Curious George: Cape Ahoy Clip From Peacock's Animated Film". Comingsoon.net. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
  19. ^ Slatter, Sean (2021-09-12). "Universal 1440 Entertainment's 'Woody Woodpecker' sequel filming in Victoria". IF Magazine. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  20. ^ Lang, Jamie (2024-02-01). "Netflix Announces New Hybrid 'Woody Woodpecker' Feature, Coming April 12". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
  21. ^ Oscars (7 July 2015). "Short Film Winners: 1991 Oscars" – via YouTube.
  22. ^ "The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (1999) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  23. ^ 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.
  24. ^ "'Jurassic' series?". The San Bernardino Sun. June 17, 1993. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  25. ^ 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.
  26. ^ 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.
  27. ^ 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.
  28. ^ 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.
  29. ^ 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.
  30. ^ 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.
  31. ^ 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.
  32. ^ Finkelstein, Dan (July 20, 1997). "What's New". Dan's The Lost World Page. Archived from the original on June 3, 2000.
  33. ^ Finkelstein, Dan (July 22, 1997). "What's New". Dan's The Lost World Page. Archived from the original on June 3, 2000.
  34. ^ a b Finkelstein, Dan (November 11, 1997). "Chaos Effect". Dan's The Lost World Page. Archived from the original on September 9, 1999.
  35. ^ a b "Chaos Effect". JPToys.com. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
  36. ^ "Interview With Tim Bradley". JPToys.com. March 1, 2008. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved June 25, 2015.