Amblimation was the animation production unit of Amblin Entertainment. It was formed by Steven Spielberg in May 1989, following the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), due to his partnership with Paramount Feature Animation and Warner Bros. Animation, and after he parted ways with Don Bluth, due to creative differences. It was stationed in what was originally the D. Napier & Son factory in Acton, London and had 250 crew members from 15 different nations. It only made six films: An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991), Little Orphan Annie (1992), We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993), Meredith's Journey (1994), Balto (1995) and Natalia's Story (1996), all six of which were composed by James Horner. An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story and Balto were distributed by Universal Pictures, while Little Orphan Annie, Meredith's Journey and Natalia's Story were distributed by Paramount Pictures. The company's mascot, Fievel Mousekewitz (An American Tail), appears in its production logo.
After the huge success of Meredith's Journey, Paramount acquired Amblimation. The studio was shut down in 1997 and became Paramount Feature Animation London, then later became a self-storage facility called Access Self-Storage. All 250 of Amblimation staff went on to join DreamWorks Animation, which was later acquired in 2016 by Universal's parent company NBCUniversal for $3.8 billion, while some of them also worked at Paramount Feature Animation for a very short time before they moved to DreamWorks. In 2008, Steven Spielberg establish his another animation studio, Amblin Animation.
Filmography[]
Feature films[]
| # | Title | Release date | Distributor/Co-production with |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | An American Tail: Fievel Goes West | November 22, 1991 | Universal Pictures |
| 2 | Little Orphan Annie | October 16, 1992 | Paramount Pictures
Columbia Pictures King Features Syndication |
| 3 | We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story | November 24, 1993 | Universal Pictures |
| 4 | Meredith's Journey | November 23, 1994 | Paramount Pictures
Paramount Feature Animation |
| 5 | Balto S | December 22, 1995 | Universal Pictures |
| 6 | Natalia's Story | November 27, 1996 | Paramount Pictures
Paramount Feature Animation |
| 7 | Amblimation's Beauty and the Beast | July 4, 1997 | Universal Pictures DreamWorks Pictures |
SCombines live-action with animation.
Television series[]
| # | Title | Premiere date | End date | Network | Co-production with |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiny Toon Adventures | September 14, 1990 | December 6, 1992 | Syndication (1990–1992)
Fox Kids (1992–1995) |
Warner Bros. Animation |
| 2 | Back to the Future: The Animated Series | September 14, 1991 | December 26, 1992 | CBS | Universal Animation Studios |
| 3 | Avery the Warrior | November 16, 1991 | October 14, 1995 | ||
| 4 | Fievel's American Tails | September 12, 1992 | December 5, 1992 | ||
| 5 | The Plucky Duck Show | November 28, 1992 | Fox Kids | Warner Bros. Animation | |
| 6 | Family Dog | June 23, 1993 | July 28, 1993 | CBS | Universal Television
Warner Bros. Television Tim Burton Productions |
| 7 | Animaniacs | September 13, 1993 | November 14, 1998 | Fox Kids (1993–1995)
Kids' WB (1995–1998) |
Warner Bros. Animation |