This article is about the Paramount animation studio that controls the Los Angeles studio. For the main in-house animation division of Paramount Pictures, see Paramount Animation (feature animation department). For the television animation division of Paramount, see Paramount Television Animation.
Paramount Animation (formerly Paramount Animation Studios until 2006) is the animation studio division of Paramount Pictures, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. Founded on 1994 through the merger of Paramount Feature Animation and Games Animation, the studio creates animated feature films, short films, and television programs for Paramount, and currently maintains its main feature animation studio in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, which produces a total of 76 feature films including the Crawler, Liger and Ratty, Doodles, Meredith, Natalia's Story, Twin, Duo, and Two, Virtual Journey, Jeremy Jaguar and Puffy franchises.
In recent years, Paramount Animation has primarily focused upon the production of television, feature and direct-to-video animation of other properties owned by Paramount, notably including Games Animation and Worldwide Comics, as well as those related to films that already exist since 1939.
Background
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History
Viacom era (1994–2005)
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Brad Grey/Julie Young era (2005–2017)
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Jim Gianopulos/Mireille Soria era (2017–2021)
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Brian Robbins/Ramsey Naito era (2021–present)
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Logo
Initially, Paramount Animation never had an on-screen logo for their first fourteen features. They just used the standard Paramount logo.
Beginning with the release of Little Helpers To the Rescue in 1990, Paramount Feature Animation introduced its silhouette mountain logo. The logo was created by Paramount Feature Animation itself in traditional animation and featured a silhouette Paramount mountain against a black background.
This logo was seen after all films until 2006, when it was updated with the release of Mistaken Identity since Paramount Feature Animation was renamed into Paramount Animation. Designed by Julie Young, the modernized logo. The opening begins a recreation to the classic 1975-1986 Paramount Pictures logo (although with another version of Paramount on Parade melody), but with a notorious change. After the Paramount Animation logo fades in a light blue background, Barry Bird from Noveltoons pops up behind the logo and runs wildly around the logo until an annoyed Sylvia Barker pulls him away. The logo was animated at James Baxter Animation in Pasadena and later reanimated in-house at Paramount Animation in 2014. It was first seen in front of Mistaken Identity and last seen in front of Puffy's Big Break.
In September 2019, Paramount Animation introduced a new animated logo featuring a character nicknamed Star Skipper. When Mireille Soria came to Paramount Animation, one of the first goals set by Jim Gianopulos was to make a new logo for the division. The crew wanted to put a female character in the logo because the studio’s team is mostly female, and according to Soria, it captures “the magic” of the division. The logo and the character of Star Skipper was designed by Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie lead visual development artist and art director Christopher Zibach and animated in-house at Paramount Animation's headquarters in Los Angeles, along with ATK PLN and Reel FX Creative Studios. This logo made its debut in front of Twin, Duo, and Forever on November 27, 2019. The logo's music is the same as the standard Paramount logo, which is composed by Michael Giacchino.
On April 14, 2023, a new logo was announced. The logo showcases Star Skipper skip skips a stone across a blue lake, as it turns transforms into a golden star, interacting with several Paramount animated characters before reaching to the Paramountain. It features characters from Noveltoons, Beyond, Paradoria, Virtual Journey, Puffy, and Twin, Duo, and Two with a new fanfare from Michael Giacchino and Mark Mothersbaugh, produced by Nadia Hanson, and Christopher Zibach returning as the production designer. However, the pervious logo still used for other films outside the in-house studio.
Process
Similar to the 20th Century Animation, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Animation, Paramount Animation outsources its animation production to other animation studios, with the majority of their films being animated in-house by the main Paramount Animation headquarters in Los Angeles, California.
Like 20th Century Animation with 20th Century Studios, the studio also acts as somewhat of a distribution label for animated films that are made under or acquired by Paramount Pictures. The earliest case of this would be the aborted deal with Locksmith Animation. Additionally, Blazing Samurai, originally expected to be distributed by Open Road Films and later STX Entertainment, was acquired by Paramount to distributed under Paramount Animation.
On December 4, 2019, the same day the ViacomCBS merger was completed, Paramount Animation announced they would open its in-house studio in Montreal, Canada. They would provide additional animation services for Paradoria 2, Virtual Journey: Game Changer and Puffy's Years. On July 21, 2020, it was reported that Paramount was opening its new animation studio in New York City in New York while signing its 50,462-square-foot lease to occupy.
According to Mireille Soria, each film will have their own unique style created by the filmmakers, which would be helped by outsourcing animation to different vendors.
When Ramsey Naito took charge of Paramount Animation in September 2021, she brought over the culture of the Nickelodeon Animation Studio, which she describes as "artist-driven" and "creative". Both companies are now united under one team, in a move different from Disney and Universal's animation studios (Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar post-Lasseter for the former and Illumination and DreamWorks for the latter).
Filmography
- Main article: List of Paramount Animation productions
Franchises
| Title | Release date | Movies | TV Seasons | Studio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terrytoons | 1929–present | N/A | 4 | with CBS Eye Animation Productions |
| Toony Tales | 1942-present | 10 | TBA | Games Animation |
| Noveltoons | 1943–present | 17 | 21 | N/A |
| World of Wonderland | 1970–2000 | 2 | 0 | |
| Little Helpers | 1972–1997 | 4 | 6 | |
| Charlotte's Web | 1973–2003 | 2 | 0 | |
| Crawler, Liger and Ratty | 1975–present | 20 (appearances in main PA films)
2 (spin-off films) |
8 | |
| The Snow Queen | 1979–2004 | 2 | 0 | |
| Rugrats | 1991–present | 3 | 9 | Nickelodeon Animation Studio |
| Meredith | 1994–present | 5 | 3 | N/A |
| Natalia's Story | 1996–present | 4 | 7 | |
| SpongeBob Squarepants | 1999–present | 3 | 13 | Nickelodeon Animation Studio |
| Twin, Duo, and Two | 2004–2019 | 4 | 7 | N/A |
| Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events | 2004–present | 0 | Nickelodeon Animation Studio | |
| Barnyard | 2006–2011 | 1 | 2 | |
| Virtual Journey | 2009–present | 4 | 4 | N/A |
| Jeremy Jaguar | 2013–present | 2 | TBD | |
| Puffy | 2014–present | 3 | 6 |
Gallery
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Trivia
- Friendly Fox is considered to be a mascot of Paramount Animation, alongside Star Skipper.
See also
- DreamWorks Animation
- Nickelodeon Movies
- Nickelodeon Animation Studios
- UltraToons Studios
- Games Animation
- Viacom Animation
- RCH Animation
- CBS Animation
- Blue Sky Studios
- Miramax Animation
- List of Paramount Pictures theatrical animated features
- List of unproduced Paramount Pictures animated projects
- List of animation studios owned by Paramount Global