Universal Animation Studios

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.

Universal Animation Studios
FormerlyUniversal Cartoon Studios (1991–2006)
TypeDivision
IndustryAnimation
PredecessorWalter Lantz Productions
Founded1991 (1991)[1]
Headquarters
Number of locations
2
Key people
Margie Cohn (Head of DWA Television)
ProductsAnimated films
Animated television shows
OwnerNBCUniversal
ParentUniversal Pictures

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

Universal Animation Studios was established in 1991 as Universal Cartoon Studios.

Franchises

Titles Release dates Movies TV Seasons
Woody Woodpecker 1999–present 1 4
An American Tail 1992–1999 2 1
The Land Before Time 1994–present 13 2
Alvin and the Chipmunks 1999–2000 2 -
Balto 2002–2004 2 -
Curious George 2006–present 5 13

Filmography

Theatrical feature films

Title Release date Co-production with
Curious GeorgeFebruary 10, 2006 (2006-02-10)Imagine Entertainment
The Tale of DespereauxDecember 19, 2008 (2008-12-19)Relativity Media
Woody Woodpecker[R]October 5, 2017 (2017-10-05)Universal 1440 Entertainment
R Not released theatrically in the United States

Direct-to-video feature films

Title Release date Co-production with
as Universal Cartoon Studios
The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley AdventureDecember 13, 1994 (1994-12-13)
The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great GivingDecember 12, 1995 (1995-12-12)
The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the MistsDecember 10, 1996 (1996-12-10)
The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious IslandDecember 9, 1997 (1997-12-09)
Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount OlympusJanuary 6, 1998 (1998-01-06)Renaissance Pictures
The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus RockDecember 1, 1998 (1998-12-01)
Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet FrankensteinSeptember 28, 1999 (1999-09-28)Bagdasarian Productions, LLC.
An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan IslandFebruary 15, 2000 (2000-02-15)
An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night MonsterJuly 25, 2000 (2000-07-25)
Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the WolfmanAugust 29, 2000 (2000-08-29)Bagdasarian Productions, LLC.
The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold FireDecember 5, 2000 (2000-12-05)
The Land Before Time VIII: The Big FreezeDecember 4, 2001 (2001-12-04)
Balto II: Wolf QuestFebruary 19, 2002 (2002-02-19)
The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big WaterDecember 10, 2002 (2002-12-10)
Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great AdventureMarch 18, 2003 (2003-03-18)Paramount Pictures
Nickelodeon Animation Studio
The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck MigrationDecember 2, 2003 (2003-12-02)
Van Helsing: The London Assignment[A]May 11, 2004 (2004-05-11)
The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury[A]June 15, 2004 (2004-06-15)
The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the TinysaurusesJanuary 11, 2005 (2005-01-11)
Balto III: Wings of ChangeFebruary 1, 2005 (2005-02-01)
The Adventures of Brer RabbitMarch 21, 2006 (2006-03-21)
as Universal Animation Studios
The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the FlyersFebruary 27, 2007 (2007-02-27)
The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of FriendsNovember 27, 2007 (2007-11-27)
Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey![R]July 10, 2009 (2009-07-10)Imagine Entertainment
The Little Engine That CouldMarch 22, 2011 (2011-03-22)Crest Animation Productions
Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle[6]June 23, 2015 (2015-06-23)Imagine Entertainment, Universal 1440 Entertainment
The Land Before Time: Journey of the Brave[7]February 2, 2016 (February 2, 2016)Universal 1440 Entertainment
Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is YouNovember 14, 2017 (2017-11-14)Universal 1440 Entertainment, Splash Entertainment, Telegael and Magic Carpet Productions
Curious George: Royal Monkey[8]September 10, 2019 (2019-09-10)Imagine Entertainment, Universal 1440 Entertainment
Curious George: Go West, Go Wild[9]September 8, 2020
A An adult animated production.

Television series

Title Creator(s) / Developer(s) Original run Network Co-production with
Back to the Future: The Animated SeriesRobert Zemeckis
Bob Gale
1991–1992CBSAmblin Television
Zaloom/Mayfield Productions
BIG Pictures
Shelley Duvall's Bedtime StoriesShelley Duvall1992–1993Showtime
Fievel's American TailsDavid Kirschner1992CBSAmblin Television
Nelvana
ExosquadJeff Segal1993–1994Syndication
Problem ChildScott Alexander
Larry Karaszewski
USA NetworkImagine Entertainment
D'Ocon Films Productions (season 1)
Lacewood Productions (season 2)
Monster Force1994SyndicationLacewood Productions
Beethoven1994–1995CBSNorthern Lights Entertainment
Earthworm JimDoug TenNapel1995–1996Kids' WBShiny Entertainment
Savage DragonUSA NetworkLacewood Productions
(season 1)
Studio B Productions
(season 2)
P3 Entertainment
USA Studios
The Spooktacular New Adventures of CasperSherri Stoner
Deanna Oliver
1996–1998Fox KidsAmblin Television
Wing Commander AcademyUniversal Cartoon Studios1996USA Network
Vor-Tech: Undercover Conversion SquadSyndication
The New Woody Woodpecker Show1999–2002Fox Kids
The Mummy: The Animated SeriesThomas Pugsley
Greg Klein
2001–2003Kids' WBStudios USA Television (season 1)
The Sommers Company
Curious GeorgeMargret Rey
H. A. Rey
Alan J. Shalleck
Joe Fallon
2006–presentPBS Kids (2006–2015)
Peacock (2020–present)
Imagine Entertainment (seasons 1–9)
WGBH Boston (seasons 1–12)
Universal 1440 Entertainment (season 10–present)
The Land Before TimeFord Riley2007–2008Cartoon NetworkAmblin Television
Woody Woodpecker2018–2020YouTubeUniversal 1440 Entertainment
Splash Entertainment

Short films

  • Fractured Fairy Tales: The Phox, the Box, & the Lox (1999)

Television specials

Miscellaneous work

Cancelled projects

  • Escape from Jurassic Park, an animated TV series that takes place after the first Jurassic Park film and before The Lost World: Jurassic Park. While a pitchfilm was made and character designs, outlines and backgrounds had been created, Steven Spielberg never saw it and cancelled it after the storyboards were finished.
  • Crash Bandicoot cut scenes, cut scenes that were unused for the first Crash Bandicoot video game due to Sony wanting to push the 3D graphics. It has been theorized that these were going to be used as the basis for a Crash Bandicoot animated series.
  • Jurassic Park: Chaos Effect, another animated Jurassic Park TV series which takes place after The Lost World and before Jurassic Park III. It would also be accompanied by the toy series under the same name by Kenner Toys. It would've involved a group of scientists having created dinosaur hybrids consisting of DNA from different creatures. However, like its predecessor series, its production was cancelled.

See also

References

  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". June 6, 2008. Retrieved May 12, 2020 via Google Books.
  4. "2017 Studio List" (PDF). August 29, 2017. Retrieved May 12, 2020 via Animationguild.org.
  5. Rainey, James (23 August 2016). "NBCUniversal Sets New DreamWorks Animation Chain of Command".
  6. "Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle". Universal Studios Entertainment. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  7. "Rawr: Reba's Voice Will Be In The Next Land Before Time Movie". US99.5. August 18, 2015. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  8. "Curious George: Royal Monkey - Trailer". YouTube. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
  9. 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.
  10. Oscars (7 July 2015). "Short Film Winners: 1991 Oscars" via YouTube.
  11. "The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (1999) - IMDb" via www.imdb.com.
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