This article is about the main feature animation division of Paramount Pictures. For the animation studio that maintain the Hollywood studio, see Paramount Animation.
Paramount Animation Hollywood, formerly known as Inkwell Studios from 1921 to 1929, Fleischer Studios from 1929 to 1942, Famous Studios from 1942 to 1956, Paramount Cartoon Los Angeles from 1956 to 1967, Paramount Cartoon Studios from 1968 to 1986 and Paramount Feature Animation from 1986 to 2006, is the in-house animation division of Paramount Pictures, a subsidiary of Paramount Global, and is based at the Paramount Pictures Studios Lot in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
Established in 1921 by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer, formerly known as Inkwell Studios and Fleischer Studios, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the studio's parent company and the distributor of its films. In its prime, Fleischer Studios was a premier producer of animated cartoons for theaters, with Walt Disney Productions becoming its chief competitor in the 1930s. Today, the company is again family owned and oversees the licensing and merchandising for its characters.
Fleischer Studios is notable for Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Bimbo, Popeye the Sailor, and Superman. Unlike other studios, whose characters were anthropomorphic animals, the Fleischers' most successful characters were humans (with the exception of Bimbo). The cartoons of the Fleischer Studio were very different from the Disney product, both in concept and in execution. As a result, the Fleischer cartoons were rough rather than refined, commercial rather than consciously artistic. But in their unique way, their artistry was expressed through a culmination of the arts and sciences. This approach focused on surrealism, dark humor, adult psychological elements, and sexuality, and the environments were grittier and urban, often set in squalid surroundings, reflecting the Depression as well as German Expressionism.
In the 1940s, Max and Dave Fleischer left the studio which lead to Fleischer Studios to be renamed into Famous Studios and to Paramount Cartoon Los Angeles, after Paramount acquired the animation studio along with producing new characters such as Little Audrey, Little Lulu, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Honey Halfwitch, Herman and Katnip, Baby Huey, and the anthology Noveltoons series, as well as building its California studio.
The Famous name was previously used as Famous Players Film Company, one of several companies which in 1912 became Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, the company which founded Paramount Pictures. Paramount's music publishing branch, which held the rights to all of the original music in the Fleischer/Famous cartoons, was named Famous Music, and a movie theater chain in Canada owned by Paramount was called Famous Players.
The library of Paramount cartoons is currently divided between three separate film studios (via various subsidiaries): Paramount Pictures (who owns both the pre-October 1950 and post-March 1962 cartoons, as well as the entirety of Nancy Farwell-directed/produced Noveltoons shorts and the 1949-1967 films), Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation through DreamWorks Classics aka Classic Media, LLC. (who owns the cartoons made between October 1950 and March 1962 under Harvey Entertainment), and Warner Bros. through Turner Entertainment and DC Comics (who owns the entirety of both the Superman and Popeye cartoons). In 1967, the division was later changed its named to Paramount Cartoon Studios before being renamed to Paramount Feature Animation in 1986 and was shortened in 2006 to its current name after Viacom and CBS' split and RCH Animation was acquired by the second incarnation of Viacom.
Paramount Animation has produced 76 feature films, its first film Gulliver's Travels was released on December 22, 1939, and its latest release was Nights into Dreams on May 19, 2023, with their next release being Olympus Journey on October 13, 2023.
History
Early founding and the silent era (1921–1929)
The Fleischer Studio was built on Max Fleischer's novelty film series, Out of the Inkwell (1919-1927). The novelty was based largely on the results of the "rotoscope", invented by Fleischer to produce realistic animation. The first Out of the Inkwell films were produced through The Bray Studio. They featured Fleischer's first character, "The Clown," which became known as Ko-Ko the Clown in 1924.
In 1921, The Bray Studio ran afoul with legal issues, having contracted for more films than it could deliver to its distributor, Goldwyn Pictures. The Fleischer Brothers left and began their own studio Out of the Inkwell Films with Dave as director and production supervisor, and Max as producer, at 129 East 45th Street, later to 1600 Broadway, Times Square, midtown Manhattan, New York City. In 1924, animator, Dick Huemer came to the Out of the Inkwell Films studio and redesigned "The Clown" for more efficient animation. Huemer's new design and experience as an animator moved them away from their dependency on the rotoscope for fluid animation. In addition to defining the clown, Huemer established the Fleischer style with its distinctive thick and thin ink lines. In addition, Huemer created Ko-Ko's companion, Fitz the Dog, who would evolve into Bimbo in 1930.
Throughout the 1920s, Fleischer was one of the leading producers of animation with clever moments and numerous innovations. These innovations include the "Rotograph", an early "Aerial Image" photographic process for compositing animation with live action backgrounds. Other innovations included Ko-Ko Song Car-Tunes and sing-along shorts (featuring the famous "bouncing ball"), a precursor to karaoke.
In 1924, distributor Edwin Miles Fadiman and Hugo Riesenfeld formed the Red Seal Pictures Corporation. Riesenfeld was the theatrical manager of the Strand, Rivoli, and Rialto theaters on Broadway. Because the Out of the Inkwell films were a major part of the program in Riesenfeld's theaters, the Fleischers were invited to become partners. The Red Seal Company committed to an ambitious release schedule of 26 films with The Inkwell Studio as the primary supplier. The following year, Red Seal released 141 films that included documentaries, short comedy subjects, and live-action serials. Carrie of the Chorus, also known as Backstage Comedies, was one of the Red Seal series that featured Max's daughter, Ruth in a supporting role. Ray Bolger made his screen debut in this series and dated Ruth for a short time.
Red Seal released cartoon novelty series such as The Animated Hair Cartoons by Cartoonist "Marcus," and Inklings. The Animated Hair series resembled the on-screen hand drawing gimmick established in Out of the Inkwell. In this case, "Marcus" produced high-quality ink line portraits of celebrities and political figures. Then through stop motion animation techniques, the lines and forms would break away to entertainingly re-form the portrait into another. Inklings was similar in concept to the Animated Hair films, but was more of a visual puzzle novelty using a variety of progressive scratch-off/reveal techniques and rearranged animated cutouts to change the images.
It was during this time that Lee de Forest started filming his Phonofilms experiments featuring several of the major Broadway headliners. The Red Seal company began acquiring more theaters outside of New York and equipped them with sound equipment produced by Lee de Forest, displaying "talkies" three years before the sound revolution began. Because of Max's interest in technology, Riesenfeld introduced him to deForest. And it was through this partnership that Max produced a number of the Ko-Ko Song Car-tunes as sound releases. Of the 36 song films produced between 1924 and 1927, 12 were produced as sound films beginning in 1926 with standard silent versions as well. The first sound release was Mother Pin a Rose on Me. Other sound releases included Darling Nellie Gray, Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?, When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam', Coming Through the Rye, My Wife's Gone to the Country, Margie, Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning, Sweet Adeline, Old Black Joe, Come Take A Trip in My Airship, and By the Light of the Silvery Moon.
Red Seal owned 56 theaters, extending as far west as Cleveland, Ohio. But after only two years of operation, Red Seal was broke. Max (Fleischer) sought an appointment of receiver in bankruptcy in October 1926. Just as the situation looked hopeless, Alfred Weiss appeared from the horizon with a Paramount contact.
The Paramount deal provided financing and distribution. But due to legal complications of the bankruptcy, the title to Out of the Inkwell was changed to The Inkwell Imps (1927-1929) and the studio was renamed Inkwell Studios. One year into the relationship, the Fleischer Brothers discovered mismanagement under Weiss and left before the end of the Imps contract. Out of the Inkwell Films, Inc. filed bankruptcy in January 1929. In March, Max formed Fleischer Studios with Dave as his partner. Operations were first set up at the Carpenter-Goldman Laboratories in Queens. With a skeleton staff, Fleischer Studios started out doing industrial films, most notably, Finding His Voice, a technical demonstration film explaining Western Electric's Variable Density recording and reproduction system. Max Fleischer secured a new contract with Paramount to produce a revival of the "Bouncing Ball" song films, re-branded as Screen Songs, with The Sidewalks of New York as the first release on February 5, 1929.
Sound films and Fleischer Studios era (1929–1940)
The early experiments with sound synchronization gave Fleischer Studios experience in perfecting the post-production method of recording, aided by several inventions by founder, Max Fleischer. And with the conversion to sound, Paramount needed more sound films, and cartoons could be produced faster than feature films. As the Screen Songs returned Fleischer to the established song film format, a new sound series, Talkartoons replaced the silent Inkwell Imps, the first being Noah's Lark released on October 25, 1929. Earlier entries in the series were one-shot cartoons, until the appearance of Bimbo as of the fourth entry. Bimbo evolved through several redesigns in each cartoon for the first year. While the intent was to develop him as the star of the series, it was the cameo appearance of a Helen Kane caricature in the seventh entry, Dizzy Dishes that took center stage. Audience reactions to the New York preview were so great that Paramount encouraged the continued development of the most famous character to come from the Fleischer Studio by that time, Betty Boop. While originated as a hybrid human/canine character, Betty Boop was transformed into the human character she is known as by 1932. Having become the main attraction of the Talkartoons, she was given her own series, which ran until 1939.
The "Jazz Baby" Flapper character, Betty Boop lifted the spirits of Depression Era audiences with her paradoxical mixture of childlike innocence and sexual allure. Being a musical novelty character, she was a natural for theatrical entertainment. Several of her early cartoons were developed as promotional vehicles for some of the top Black Jazz performers of the day including Louis Armstrong (I'll Be Glad When You're Dead You Rascal, You), Don Redman (I Heard), and most notably, the three cartoons made with Cab Calloway, Minnie the Moocher, Snow White, and The Old Man of the Mountain. This was considered a bold action in light of the Jim Crow policies active in the South where such films would not be shown.
In 1934, the Hays Code resulted in severe censorship for films. This affected the content of all of Paramount's films as well, which tended to reflect a more "mature" tone in the features of the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, and most of all, Mae West. As a result, each of these stars was released as Paramount changed the content of its films to reflect a more "general audience" in order to comply with the new Code and stay in business. Paramount had also gone through three reorganizations from bankruptcy between 1931 and 1936. The new management under Barney Balaban set out to make more general audience films of the type made at MGM, but for lower budgets. This change in content policy affected the content of cartoons that Fleischer was to produce for Paramount, which urged emulation of the Walt Disney product
While Paramount was a large organization with a network of theaters, its fiscal consciousness was largely responsible for preventing Fleischer Studios from acquiring the three-strip Technicolor process, leaving it available for a four-year exclusivity with Walt Disney, who created a new market for color cartoons, established by Academy Award winner, Flowers and Trees (1932).
Paramount acquiesced to the release of the Color Classics series starting in 1934. But with the exclusivity of the three-color process still held by Disney, Fleischer Studios used the available two-color processes, Cinecolor, a two-emulsion red and blue process, and Two-color Technicolor, using red and green. By 1936, the Disney exclusivity had expired, and Fleischer Studios used the three-color process in its color cartoons beginning with Somewhere in Dreamland and continued using it for the remainder of its active years.
The Fleischer Studio's greatest success came with the licensing of E.C. Segar's comic strip character Popeye the Sailor beginning in 1933. Popeye eventually became the most popular series the studio ever produced, and its success surpassed Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoons, documented by popularity polls. And with the availability of full spectrum color, the Fleischer Studios produced three two-reel Popeye featurettes, Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936), Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves (1937), and Popeye the Sailor Meets Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp (1939). This series of longer-format cartoons were an indication of the emergence of the animated feature film as a commercially viable project beginning with Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).
The Fleischer Studios had reached its zenith by 1936, with four series and 52 annual releases. Due to the phenomenal success of the Popeye cartoons, Paramount demanded more, and the Fleischer Studio experienced rapid expansion in order to balance out the increased workload. The crowded conditions, production speedups, drawing quotas, and internal management problems resulted in a Labor Strike beginning in May 1937 which lasted for five months. This strike was a test case, the first launched in the motion picture industry, and produced a nationwide boycott of Fleischer cartoons for the duration.
Max Fleischer had been petitioning Paramount for three years about producing an animated feature. Paramount vetoed his proposals until the proven success of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Paramount now wanted an animated feature for a 1939 Christmas release. This request came at the time of preparations for relocating to Miami, Florida. While the relocation had been a consideration for some time, its final motivation was made a reality due to lower corporate tax structures and an alleged escape from the remaining hostility from the strike.
The new Fleischer Studio opened in October 1938, and production on its first feature, Gulliver's Travels (1939), went from the development stage begun in New York to active production in Miami. The score was by Paramount staff composer, Victor Young and recorded at the Paramount west coast facilities. While limited to only 60 theaters in a one-month release, Gulliver's Travels earned more than $3 million, in spite of exceeding its original $500,000 estimated cost. Accordingly, a second feature was ordered for the Christmas period, Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941).
Fall and departure of Fleischer, Acquisition by Paramount and Famous Studios era (1940–1951)
While profits dwindled, Paramount continued to advance money to Fleischer Studios to continue the production of cartoons with its focus mainly on Popeye, Superman, and Mr. Bug Goes to Town, a new feature film for the 1941 Christmas season; all in hope of rekindling the studio. On May 24, 1941, Paramount demanded reimbursement on the penalties still owed after 18 months and assumed full ownership of Fleischer Studios, Inc. The Fleischers remained in control of production until November 1941. Mr. Bug Goes to Town, intended for release in December 1941, was not released until February 1942, and never recouped its costs.
In spite of living up to his contractual obligations and delivering the film, Max Fleischer was asked to resign. Dave Fleischer had resigned the month before, and Paramount finished out the last five months of the Fleischer contract without the Fleischer brothers. The last cartoon produced at the credited Fleischer Studios was the Superman cartoon Terror on the Midway. Paramount renamed the studio Famous Studios on May 27, 1942.
Shortly after the rename, Paramount began plans to move a significantly downsized Famous Studios back to New York, a move completed early in 1943. Virtually all of the Famous staff, from voice artist/storyman Jack Mercer, Mae Questel and storyman Carl Meyer to animators such as Myron Waldman, David Tendlar, Thomas Johnson, Nicholas Tafuri, and Al Eugster, were holdovers from the Fleischer era. These artists remained with Famous/Paramount for much of the studio's existence. As at Fleischer's, the head animators carried out the tasks that were assigned to animation directors at other studios, while the credited directors—Kneitel, Sparber, Gordon, and Disney/Terrytoons veteran Bill Tytla—acted more as supervisors. Sammy Timberg served as musical director until he was replaced in 1946 by Winston Sharples, who formerly worked with the Van Beuren Studios.
Continuing series from the Fleischer period included Popeye the Sailor and Superman, both licensed from popular comics characters. The expensive Superman cartoons, having lost their novelty value with exhibitors, ended production in 1943, a year after Famous' inception. They were replaced by a series starring Saturday Evening Post comic strip character Little Lulu. Also in 1943, Famous began producing the formerly black-and-white Popeye cartoons in Technicolor, and began a new series of one-shot cartoons under the umbrella title Noveltoons (similar in respects to the Color Classics series from Fleischer Studios, and also the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series from Warner Bros.).
The Noveltoons series introduced several popular characters such as Herman and Katnip, Baby Huey and Casper the Friendly Ghost, created by writer Seymour Reit and Famous animator Joe Oriolo during World War II as a children's book manuscript, was sold to Famous in 1945 and became the studio's most successful wholly owned property. In 1947, Paramount decided to stop paying Little Lulu creator Marge licensing royalties, and created another "mischievous girl" character, Little Audrey, as a replacement. That same year Famous resurrected an old Fleischer series, Screen Songs, introducing a new series of musical cartoons featuring a "bouncing ball" sing-along. In 1951, the Screen Songs became "Kartune Musical Shorts," which ended in 1953 after Max Fleischer claimed ownership of the "bouncing ball" trademark. Only two more musical cartoons were released (as one-shot Noveltoons): in 1954 ("Candy Cabaret") and 1963 ("Hobo's Holiday"). Although the studio still carried much of the staff from the previous regime, animation fans and historians note that its films soon diverged from the previous style. Many of them deride the company style for being highly formulaic and largely oriented towards a children's audience, with none of the artistic ambition or sophistication that the previous management strove for. The next year, Famous created another cartoon character. Friendly Fox, which it later become the studio's most valuable animated property. The shorts were successful at the box office, many licensed products (comic books, toys, etc.) were released to the market.
Rebranding, taking over most of the Noveltoons shorts, and competing with Disney (1951–1967)
Sam Buchwald died of a heart attack in 1951. Seymour Kneitel and Isadore Sparber became the production heads of the studio shortly afterward, and Dave Tendlar was promoted to director in 1953.
The mid and late-1950s brought a number of significant changes for Famous Studios. In 1955, Paramount sold most of their pre-October 1950 shorts and cartoons, except for the Popeye and Superman shorts, to U.M. & M. TV Corporation for television distribution. The Popeye cartoons were acquired by Associated Artists Productions, and the Superman cartoons had already reverted to Superman's owners National Comics after the studio's film rights to the character had expired. In October 1956, Famous Studios was downsized and reorganized, which lead Paramount assumed full control of the studio, where they spilt into two studios, Paramount Cartoon New York for animated shorts and Paramount Cartoon Los Angeles for animated feature films and most Noveltoons shorts. After Isadore Sparber was fired, Nancy Farwell decided to let her estate to own her rights to her characters, including Friendly Fox, while still in charge of the studio. However, she allowed Paramount to placed him as their mascot.
More coming soon!
Switching to feature animation division, renaming, and the entrance of George Burke, Lana Ponce and Julie Young (1967-1984)
By the fall of 1967, Paramount's new owners, Gulf+Western, had begun the process of shutting down the New York studio and placing the Los Angeles studio as Paramount's main animation studio, a task completed in December. In the meantime, Farwell hired George Burke and Lana Ponce as one of the new producers and directors for the studio's then-upcoming films. Burke brought over artists from Kenny & Kella Young Productions, while Farwell brought over some of the staff from the New York studio, Warner Bros. Cartoons and Terrytoons. Some of the New York studio's artists came to the Los Angeles studio in fall 1967 after it was shut down by Gulf+Western. The studio later renamed as Paramount Cartoon Studios in January 1968.
More coming soon!
Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg's departure and "rock bottom" (1984–1988)
In 1984, two years after the release of Doodles, Michael Eisner left Paramount and became CEO of The Walt Disney Company, alongside Jeffrey Katzenberg who later become chairman of the company as well as the founder of DreamWorks in 1994, while George Burke and Lana Ponce started as producer of the features.
The studio began the mid-1980s with the release of The Tales of Wind, the last film project to be approved by Eisner and Katzenberg. However, the film was received mixed reviews and underperformed at the box office.
In 1986, Paramount Animation Studios was renamed into Paramount Feature Animation, and released its twelfth film, Candy Land, which based on the children's board game of the same name by Milton Bradley Company (now owned by Hasbro). Candy Land opened in the theaters on the same day as Disney's The Great Mouse Detective; however, the film received negative reviews and it performed poorly at the box office, putting the future of the animation division in jeopardy and losing to its apparent competitor, The Great Mouse Detective. However, the film became even more successful through merchandising and subsequent home video releases in the 1990s and became into a cult classic. Both The Tales of Wind and Candy Land would come to represent what would later be referred to as the "rock bottom" point for Paramount animation.
In 1988, two year later, Paramount released Hotel for Dogs on December 9, 1988, a month after Disney's Oliver & Company and Universal/Amblin/Bluth's The Land Before Time released on the same day. However, the film outgrossed both Oliver and Time in the US and went on to become the most successful animated feature in the US to that date, though the later's worldwide box office gross was higher than the former.
Beginning of the Paramount Animation Legacy, successful releases, returning to compete with Disney (1989–1994)
In 1989, the studio released East of the Sun and West of the Moon, which became critical and financial success, grossing over $229 million worldwide, a record for the studio. East of the Sun and West of the Moon was the first of a series of blockbusters that would be released over the next decade by Paramount Feature Animation, a period later designated by the term Paramount Animation Legacy.
However, Disney's The Little Mermaid was released on the same year and received critical acclaim and a commercial success than East of the Sun and West of the Moon. After the success of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, it was reported that Paramount Feature Animation would make a partnership with Amblimation on few animated feature films, such as The World of Fairy Tales, Meredith's Journey, and Natalia's Story.
The next film, Paramount released its first sequel Little Helpers To the Rescue on the same day as Disney's The Rescuers Down Under and 20th Century Fox's Home Alone. However, the film did not duplicate the success of East of the Sun and West of the Moon. It was accompanied in theaters by the studio's first non-Noveltoons animated short, Lena.
The following years, the next Paramount animated feature, Island of Parrots, was released to critical and financial success, grossing over $287 million worldwide. The successes of East of the Sun and West of the Moon and Island of Parrots established the template for future Paramount releases during the 1990s: a musical-comedy format with Broadway-styled songs and tentpole action sequences, buoyed by cross-promotional marketing and merchandising, all carefully designed to pull audiences of all ages and types into theatres to compete with Disney.
The World of Fairy Tales, released in October 1992, as a first collaborative project from Paramount and Amblimation, earning $187 million worldwide at the box office, which did get slightly better than Amblimation's previous film An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.
In 1993, Paramount created a computer animation department at the studio's main headquarters that would produce computer-generated productions, including special effects for some of their films. For then, the studio had the traditional animators working for their main hand-drawn animation department, and the computer animators worked on CG productions.
In November 1994, Paramount and Amblimation released Meredith's Journey, directed by Julie Young and Simon Wells. Meredith's Journey earned $969 million at the worldwide box office, to this date a record for a traditionally animated film, earning millions more in merchandising, promotions, and record sales for its soundtrack. With the success of the film, Paramount to acquired Amblimation from Amblin Entertainment and renamed into Paramount Feature Animation London.
In addition, the successes of the animated films from Disney and Paramount, such as Island of Parrots, Aladdin, The Lion King and Meredith's Journey spurred a significant increase in the number of American-produced animated features throughout the rest of the decade, with the major film studios establishing new animation divisions such as Fox Animation Studios, Sullivan Bluth Studios, Valentina Animation, Universal Feature Animation, Amblimation, JeremyWorks Studios, Rich Animation Studios, Turner Feature Animation, and Warner Bros. Animation being formed to produce films in a Disney/Paramount-esque musical-comedy format such as The Last Little Pegasus (1992), Life of Teenagers (1993), We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993), Thumbelina (1994), Romeo and Juliet (1994), The Swan Princess (1994), A Troll in Central Park (1994), The Royal Kingdom (1994), The Pebble and the Penguin (1995), Cats Don't Dance (1997), The Princess and the Werewolf (1997), Anastasia (1997), Quest for Camelot (1998), The King and I (1999) and What About Judy & Lucy? (1999). Out of these non-Disney/Paramount animated features, only The Last Little Pegasus, Life of Teenagers, The Royal Kingdom, The Princess and the Werewolf, Anastasia and What About Judy & Lucy? were a box-office success.
End of the Paramount Animation Legacy, George Burke and Lana Ponce's departure, Viacom era (1994–1999)
On July 7, 1994, Paramount Communications Inc. was sold to Viacom following the purchase of 50.1% of Paramount's shares for $9.75 billion. William Mathews and River Becker also became leading animation units for the entire Viacom group. The latter company's CGI division, Viacom Digital Images, was renamed Paramount Digital Images as the computer-graphics division of Paramount Feature Animation. In October 21, 1994, George Burke and Lana Ponce has come to their retirement after the release of Meredith's Jounrey, while John Cohen has been named president of Paramount Feature Animation.
The following year, The Cry of the Wolf was released on October 27, 1995. However, unlike its predecessors, it received mixed reviews from critics but proved to be a success at the box office. Natalia's Story, the first film produced primarily at the London studio, was released in fall 1996 as the last collaborative project from Paramount and Amblimation. The film earned $876 million in worldwide box office. In the same years, Paramount started producing computer-animated short films to compete with Pixar, after the success of their short film, including Toy Story. These included Busy Tools, The Sounds of the Whale, Peaceful Life and Robot Fight.
Some of Viacom Animation's artists came to Paramount Feature Animation in 1996, with the rest doing so following the studio merged with its feature animation rival, Warner Bros. Feature Animation.
In 1997, Paramount released two animated films for the first time, Animated Quest, a live-action/animated fantasy comedy-adventure film, in March and Edwin & Triston, a animated musical comedy-buddy film. However, Animated Quest grossed $142 million worldwide, while Edwin & Triston was a disappointment at the box office, possibly due to it being overshadowed by Fox Animation Studios' Anastasia, which was came out around the same time. It was responsible for beginning the decline of traditional animated films.
The following film, Naturia, earned $563 million in worldwide box office. The next year's Ama and the Mysterious Crystal, the second film from the London studio, had a high production cost of $159 million, but earned $563 million at the box office.
John Cohen's departure, downsizing and conversion to computer animation, Viacom split (2000–2006)
Just after Ama's December 1999 release, it was announced that Feature Animation president John Cohen would be resigning from the studio, before moving on to become VP production at 20th Century Fox Animation.
Julie Young and the Paramount Animation team assisted with the animation and story development of Sweet Destiny (2001), which originally started as a solo Paramount Feature Animation-produced project. Future Princess was eventually produced under the Nickelodeon Movies label and directed by Naturia director Nadia Hanson, with Paramount Digital Images providing the CGI animated sequences. Released in June 2001 in theaters with the new short Studiotopia, Future Princess opened to a mixed reception but a commercial success, grossing $329 million worldwide against a budget of $44 million.
In July 2001, The Viking Warrior was released. The film earned $280 million worldwide when released, though it was well-reviewed and performed better on video.
In January 2002, Paramount Feature Animation announced a slate of CGI animated feature films in development to be produced by its Digital Images division as a result of the successes of Busy Tools, The Sounds of the Whale, Peaceful Life, Robot Fight, Nickelodeon's Future Princess and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius; these films included Twin, Duo, and Two, Mission Planet, an adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale The Golden Bird, Circus Bears, Legends, and a feature-length film version of Robot Fight.
The Wizards, an supernatural fantasy comedy-drama directed by Mike Mitchell and Frederik Du Chau, earning $380 million worldwide against an $55 million production budget. The studio's another film, Musical Stories 2002, directed by Farwell and Don Bluth, received a positive reception from critics and audiences. However, the studio decided to rush its release to September with a rushed marketing push.
The studio's last hand-drawn animated film, Magina, released in November 2003, underwent production difficulties and received mixed reviews from critics and under-performed at the box office which led to a growing perception that hand-drawn animation was becoming outdated and falling out of fashion in favor of the increasing popularity of computer animation. Upon the unsuccessful release of Magina, Paramount laid off most of the employees at the Feature Animation studio in Hollywood, downsizing it to one unit and beginning plans to move into fully computer animated films. Subsequently, Paramount Feature Animation officially announced they were becoming a fully CGI studio, now with a staff of 460 people and began selling off all of its traditional animation equipment.
In 2004, Paramount released its first fully in-house computer-animated feature film Twin, Duo, and Two to critical and commercial success. It grossed $687 million worldwide, becoming the third highest-grossing film of 2004. Twin, Duo, and Two established Paramount as the fifth studio after Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, Blue Sky Studios and Valentina Animation to have launched a successful CGI franchise.
In March 2005, Viacom announced plans of looking into splitting into two publicly traded companies under the continuing ownership of National Amusements because of a stagnating stock price. The internal rivalry between Les Moonves and Tom Freston, longtime heads of CBS and MTV Networks respectively, and the controversy of Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show, which resulted in MTV being banned from producing any more Super Bowl halftime shows, were also seen as factors. The split was approved by Viacom's board on June 14, 2005, and took effect on January 1, 2006, and effectively reversed the Viacom/CBS merger of 1999.
In July 2005, the studio released its second computer-animated film HighLoose, which had been in active development since 1997, to generally positive reviews and had grossed over $394 million worldwide at the box office.
In February 2006, the studio released its third computer-animated film Circus Bears, to mixed reviews from critics. However, it was a box office success, earning $587 million worldwide.
Reorganization, renaming (2006–2010)
In October 2005, during the split of Viacom and CBS, Viacom announced that it would acquire RCH Animation for $5.7 million in an all-stock deal, with the deal closing that February, with Nancy Farwell overseeing RCH as Head of Animation. This meant that Paramount would be able to release as many as three animated films in a year divided between the two studios. Many felt that this decision was made to help Paramount to establish itself as a competitor to Disney's feature animation group, which consists of Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Young later explained that to maintain the studios' separate identities and cultures (notwithstanding the fact of common ownership and common senior management), she and the Paramount Animation executives "drew a hard line" that each studio was solely responsible for its own projects and would not be allowed to borrow personnel from or lend tasks out to the other; the rule ensured that each studio would maintain "local ownership" of projects and could "be proud of its own work". Thus, for example, when Paramount Animation had issues with Twin, Duo, and Double (2007) and RCH Animation with Virtual Hollywood: Act Third (2005), "nobody bailed them out", and each studio was required "to solve the problem on [their] own", even when they knew there were personnel at the other studio who, theoretically, could have helped.
After Viacom's acquisition of RCH, Paramount renamed its Feature Animation unit from Paramount Feature Animation to Paramount Animation, and merged its direct-to-video and television animation units with the feature animation.
In October 2006, Paramount Animation released its fifty feature OtherWorld, a CGI animated adventure film. The film opened to a much bigger than expected $43 million opening, and ended up with $376 million worldwide. The studio's next feature and second sequel Twin, Duo, and Double opened in 2007. It earned over $975 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing animated film of the year and breaking a record as the most profitable film from Paramount Animation.
The Adventures to the Treasure Island, a CGI animated action adventure film, was released in October 2007. The film grossed $293.5 million worldwide against a $70 million budget. In September 2008, the studio released The Queen of Legacy, to generally positive reviews and had grossed over $168 million worldwide at the box office. Virtual Journey, the studio's thirty-seventh film, was released in 2009 and became a significant critical and commercial success, earning $643 million worldwide. The following year, Twin, Duo, and Three, the third installment in the Twin, Duo, and Two franchise, was released. The film was a box office success, earning over $783 million worldwide. However, unlike the first two Twin, Duo, and Two films, Twin, Duo, and Three was not well-received critically.
Current years (2011–present)
After Twin, Duo, and Three, The Flamingo Prince, directed by Young, Goldman, Frederik Du Chau, and Ralph Zondag, was the studio's first hand-drawn animated film in eight years. A return to the musical-comedy format of the 1990s with songs by Alan Menken and Pasek and Paul, the film was released in 2009 to a positive critical reception the film was released in 2009 to a positive critical reception and was nominated for several accolades; it earned $756 million in worldwide box office revenue, making it the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film of the year, overpowering Disney's Winnie the Pooh.
In the wake of critical and box office success of their animated features, Nickelodeon Movies' Rango and Paramount Animation's The Flamingo Prince, heavy fan demand about bring back hand-drawn animation, and the departure of DreamWorks Animation upon completion of their distribution contract in 2012, Paramount Pictures announced that they reposition the studio as an animation house that produces both traditional and computer-animated projects, and extended its animation production unit at Los Angeles, devoted to the creation of animated productions. In order to keep costs down on hand-drawn productions, animation, design, and layout were done in-house at Paramount while clean-up animation and digital ink-and-paint were farmed out to vendors and freelancers.
In October 2011, while Julie Young become the CEO of Paramount Animation and head of animation of RCH Animation, Paramount named a former president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, David Stainton, president of Paramount Animation. In February 2012, Stainton resigned for personal reasons, with Paramount Film Group's president, Adam Goodman, stepping in to directly oversee the studio. The studio's next feature was Musical Stories: A New Revival, released in July 2012 with mostly positive reviews from critics and grossed $548 million worldwide.
In August 2013, the studio released Virtual Journey: Level Two, a sequel to the studio's 2009 Virtual Journey, to positive reviews and earned over $624 million worldwide, becoming a box office hit. Puffy, a CGI comedy film, was released in May 2014 to widespread acclaim and became a blockbuster hit. Directed by Young and Doug Sweetland, it was the first Paramount animated film to earn over $1 billion in worldwide box office revenue. It also received two Academy Award nominations.
An animated reboot of the Susan Telltale film series, Susan, opened in theaters in November 2014, earning over $654 million worldwide, but received mixed reviews. In February 2015, Paramount fired Adam Goodman due to the studio's thin film slate and Goodman greenlighting box office bombs at the studio.
In the summer of 2015, Paramount Pictures participated in a bidding war against Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures Animation for the rights to produce The Emoji Movie, based on a script by Tony Leondis and Eric Siegel. Sony won the bidding war in July and released the film in 2017. The studio's head Bob Bacon also left Paramount Animation that summer.
The Virtual Journey spin-off Nyasia: The Warrior Princess was released on September 4, 2015, and was another commercial and critical success for the studio, grossing over $647 million worldwide and receiving two Academy Award nominations.
In February 2016, the studio released The Brady Kids, based on the television sitcom The Brady Bunch. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film grossing over $858 million worldwide. The studio's next film Paradoria, was released on August 2017 and grossed $257 million worldwide.
Virtual Journey: Next Dimensions, the third installment in the Virtual Journey franchise, was released on May 2017 and was another commercial and critical success for the studio, grossing over $894 million worldwide and receiving two Academy Award nominations. In July 2017, Paramount Pictures named former DreamWorks Animation co-president Mireille Soria as the president of the studio in Hollywood and Los Angeles. Soria restructured the studio, increasing its number of employees from 10 to over 110, and created a new goal of releasing two tentpole animated films a year with different animation styles and genres. She would also look over the completion of The Legend of Magic Sword, Sherlock Gnomes, Crawler, Liger and Ratty: The Three Animals and Wonder Park, which were in production before her arrival. The Legend of Magic Sword, a fantasy adventure animated film was released in December 2017 and was the first Paramount animated film to earn over $2 billion in worldwide box office revenue.
In April 2018, Paramount Pictures named former Blue Sky Studios and Nickelodeon Movies producer Ramsey Naito as the executive vice president of the studio in Hollywood and Los Angeles. She later left the company in order to become the head of animation at Nickelodeon. In the same month, Soria greenlit the studio’s first three animated features under her leadership to be released in 2020 and beyond: The SpongeBob Movie: It’s a Wonderful Sponge (later renamed Sponge On the Run), Sunnie, Reel FX’s Monster on the Hill (later renamed Rumble), Virtual Journey: Game Changer, Sergio Pablos' Beyond and Skydance Animation’s Luck. In October 2018, the studio released Crawler, Liger and Ratty: The Three Animals, starring the animal henchmen trio from various Paramount films. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film grossed over $899 million worldwide.
The studio's next feature film was the sequel Puffy's Big Break, released on July 2019. The film grossed over $1 billion worldwide and received two Academy Award nominations for Best Animated Feature. According to Paramount (who does not consіder the 2019 The Lion King remake to be an anіmated film), Puffy's Big Break is the highest-grossing anіmated film of all tіme.
In September 2019, Paramount Animation introduced its new logo for both Hollywood and Los Angeles and new mascot, a tween girl named Star Skipper, while Friendly from Friendly Fox is now the mascot of ViacomCBS. In November 2019, the studio released the fourth installment in the Twin, Duo, and Two franchise, Twin, Duo, and Forever. The film became the second film to earn $1 billion for the studio.
The studio's 54th film Sunnie was theatrically released first in Canada in October 2020 while with a February 2021 release in the United States on Paramount+ and a December 2020 release internationally on Netflix due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film received positive reviews from critics, and only grossed $9.5 million worldwide with a $300 million budget.
The studio released Virtual Journey: Game Changer on May 14, 2021 in the United States in theaters and simultaneously streaming on Paramount+. It received positive reviews from critics.
On September 30, 2021, shortly after Brian Robbins replaced Jim Gianopulos as the chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, it was announced that Ramsey Naito would replace Mireille Soria as the president of Paramount Animation in addition to her current role as the president of Nickelodeon Animation Studio.
On January 20, 2022, Latifa Ouaou (a veteran of both Illumination Entertainment and DreamWorks Animation) was hired as the executive vice president of movies and global franchises for both Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation Studio. In this position, Ouaou will oversee both streaming and theatrical films for the two companies.
Upcoming projects
Paramount Animation is currently working on Olympus Journey (December 20, 2023). Other Paramount Animation films in development include Secret of the Dead, an original film about how a teenager travel to the world where skeletons live, Crawler, Liger and Ratty: Madness in Florida, a computer-animated sequel to Crawler, Liger and Ratty: The Three Animals, a animated reboot to the Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and three animated films based on Nights into Dreams, Sonic the Hedgehog and Terrytoons.
Filmography
Feature films
- Further information: List of Paramount Animation films
Short films
Further information: List of Paramount Animation short films
Television programming
Paramount Animation announced its expansion into television programming in 2021, and is currently producing 3 original shows for Paramount+.
| # | Title | Release date | Network | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ToonMania: Unleashed | March 10, 2022 | Paramount+ | Providing development |
| 2 | Puffy's School Life | September 15, 2022 | ||
| 3 | TBA | 2023 |
Franchises
| Title | Release date | Movies | TV Seasons |
|---|---|---|---|
| World of Wonderland | 1970–2000 | 2 | 0 |
| Little Helpers | 1972–1997 | 4 | 6 |
| Crawler, Liger and Ratty | 1975–present | 20 (appearances in main PA films)
2 (spin-off films) |
8 |
| Noveltoons | 1976–present | 17 | 21 |
| The Snow Queen | 1979–2004 | 2 | 0 |
| Doodles | 1982–present | 2 | 4 |
| Meredith | 1994–present | 5 | 3 |
| Natalia's Story | 1996–present | 4 | 7 |
| Edwin & Triston | 1997–2005 | 2 | 8 |
| Twin, Duo, and Two | 2004–2019 | 4 | 7 |
| Virtual Journey | 2009–present | 4 | 4 |
| Jeremy Jaguar | 2013–present | 2 | 0 |
| Puffy | 2014–2022 | 3 | 6 |
Accolades
- Main article: List of accolades received by Paramount Animation
Gallery
Coming soon!
Trivia
- Paramount Animation is often described by fans as the Paramount counterpart of Walt Disney Animation Studios while Blue Sky Studios is described as the Paramount counterpart of Pixar since 2022.
- According to Paramount and Disney fans, Paramount Animation is actually true competitor of Walt Disney Animation Studios.
See also
- Paramount Animation
- Paramount Television Animation
- DreamWorks Animation
- Games Animation
- Viacom Animation
- Nickelodeon Animation Studio
- UltraToons Studios
- Miramax Animation
- Amblin Animation
- List of Paramount Animation productions
- List of Paramount Pictures theatrical animated features
- List of unproduced Paramount Pictures animated projects