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99-524: Aardman Animations Limited , stylized as AARDMAN since 2022, is a British animation studio based in Bristol . It is known for films and television series made using stop motion and clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring its plasticine characters from Wallace & Gromit , Chicken Run , Shaun the Sheep , and Morph . After some experimental computer-animated short films during

198-451: A French broadcasting corporation, but then sold all remaining assets to Jérôme Seydoux's family-owned corporation, Fornier SA, which changed its name to Pathé. A list of current and former assets of Pathé. In its home country France, Pathé self-distributes its films through Pathé Films (formerly called AMLF ( Agence méditerranéenne de location de films ) from 1972 to 1998). On home video, their films are distributed by Fox Pathé Europa,

297-488: A big deal." On 1 October 2006, right before the release of Flushed Away , The New York Times reported that due to creative differences, DreamWorks Animation and Aardman had decided to end their contract. The deal was officially terminated on 30 January 2007. According to an Aardman spokesperson: "The business model of DreamWorks no longer suits Aardman and vice versa. But the split couldn't have been more amicable." Unofficial reasons for departure were weak performances of

396-567: A director since Chicken Run . Two additional films were announced in June 2007: The Cat Burglars , a stop-motion animated heist comedy film directed by Steve Box , about cat burglars that steal milk, and their plans to pull off 'the great milk float robbery'; and an untitled Nick Park project (which would later become Early Man ). The studio is also known to provide generous resources and training to young animators by providing awards at various animation festivals. For example, The Aardman Award at

495-545: A dog was clearly more suitable as a loyal pet/companion than a cat and also because a dog would be easier to make and animate in Plasticine. Embedded in the ABC News article is a video interview with Lord and Sproxton, which gives information not only on Wallace and Gromit, but also Shaun the Sheep and others. On 9 November 2018, Aardman Animations announced that Lord and Sproxton would be transferring majority ownership of

594-617: A five-piece, " Viva Forever ". The video took over five months to produce, considerably longer than the group's box office hit movie, Spice World . He is also the co-creator of the Finnish-British animated series Moominvalley , based on the Moomins books. Barry Purves , director of the Aardman short Next , also directed Hamilton Mattress for Harvest Films. The film, a half-hour special that premiered on Christmas Day 2001,

693-484: A full-length animated feature film i.e. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , which laid the foundation for other studios to try to make full-length movies. In 1932 Flowers and Trees , a production by Walt Disney Productions and United Artists , won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film . This period, from the 1920s to the 1950s or sometimes considered from 1911 to the death of Walt Disney in 1966,

792-544: A holding company (Radio-Natan-Vitus) to run what would become a burgeoning radio empire. In order to finance the company's continued expansion, Pathé's board of directors (which still included Charles Pathé) had voted in 1930 to issue shares worth 105 million francs. Then the Great Depression hit France in 1931, and only 50 percent of the shares were purchased. One of the investor banks collapsed due to financial difficulties unrelated to Pathé's problems, and Pathé

891-605: A huge share of the international market. They first expanded to London in 1902 where they set up production facilities and a chain of cinemas. By 1909, Pathé had built more than 200 cinemas in France and Belgium and by the following year they had facilities in Madrid , Moscow , Rome and New York City plus Australia and Japan. Slightly later, they opened a film exchange in Buffalo, New York . Through its American subsidiary , it

990-458: A joint venture between Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment , Pathé and EuropaCorp . In August 1992, Pathé's then-parent company Chargeurs purchased Guild Entertainment from Wembley PLC, becoming Pathé's de-facto UK distributor. Initially, PolyGram Video distributed Guild's VHS releases until March 1995, when Chargeurs formed a UK rental joint-venture with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment , who became Guild/Pathé's home video distributor,

1089-601: A longer running manga or animated series. As the OAV market is not adapted to the rigors that are faced by television shows or feature films, they have been known to show gratuitous amounts of violence and/or pornography. Some OAV's have registered such strong acclaim that they have been remade as anime television series as well as theatrical releases. Since most new OVA's are derived from other animated media, many animation studios that have previously worked on animated series or movies, and adaptations of Japanese manga, have now entered

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1188-517: A major producer of phonograph records . In 1908, Pathé invented the newsreel that was shown in cinemas before a feature film. Pathé is the second-oldest operating film company, behind Gaumont , which was established in 1895. The company was founded as Société Pathé Frères ( French: [pate fʁɛʁ] ; "Pathé Brothers Company") in Paris , France on 28 September 1896, by the four brothers Charles , Émile, Théophile and Jacques Pathé. During

1287-481: A new Wallace and Gromit short film, called A Matter of Loaf and Death . The first film made in partnership with Sony was the computer-animated Arthur Christmas (2011), which is Aardman's first 3D feature film. 2012 saw the release of The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (known internationally in America as The Pirates! Band of Misfits ), Aardman's first 3D stop-motion film and Lord's first film as

1386-506: A new animation studio, Studio Ghibli , which would be used for the personal works of Miyazaki and his close friend, Isao Takahata . Many of Ghibli's works have become Japan's top-grossing theatrical films, whether in live-action or animated form. The market for 'OAV's or ' Original Anime Video ' later the acronym would be better known as 'OVA' meaning 'Original video animation' as the term 'OAV' could often be misunderstood for 'Original Adult Video', began in 1984. These are often tended towards

1485-425: A new supplier. On 1 March 2024 Emma Hardie was announced to be the newly created role of Executive Commercial and Brand Director. She will be oversee financing, distribution, licensing, marketing, and planning of the studio's animated intellectual property. She takes up the role, which includes a seat on Aardman's executive board, on April 15. Peter Lord was also stepping down from Aardman’s executive board to focus on

1584-728: A number of shorts for Channel 4 , including the Conversation Pieces series. These five shorts worked in the same area as the Animated Conversations pieces, but were more sophisticated. Lord and Sproxton began hiring more animators at this point; three of the newcomers made their directorial debut at Aardman with the Lip Synch series. Of the five Lip Synch shorts, two were directed by Lord, one by Barry Purves , one by Richard Goleszowski and one by Nick Park . In 1990, Park's short, Creature Comforts ,

1683-508: A profitable enterprise and many have entered the made for television market since, with Joseph Barbera and William Hanna refining the production process for television animation on their show Ruff and Reddy . It was in 1958 that The Huckleberry Hound Show claimed the title of being the first all-new half-hour cartoon show. This, along with their previous success with the series Tom and Jerry , elevated their animation studio, H.B. Enterprises (later Hanna-Barbera Productions ), to dominate

1782-698: A result of mass television ownership. In the United States, beginning in 1914, the company built film production studios in Fort Lee and Jersey City, New Jersey, where their building still stands. The Heights, Jersey City produced the extremely successful serialised episodes called The Perils of Pauline . By 1918 Pathé had grown to the point where it was necessary to separate operations into two distinct divisions. With Emile Pathé as chief executive, Pathé Records dealt exclusively with phonographs and recordings. Brother Charles managed Pathé-Cinéma',' which

1881-537: A slate of individual projects as the Creative Director. He also intends to act as an ambassador for the company and British animation. Along the announcements Sarah Cox and Daniel Efergan have received promotions to Chief Creative Director and Executive Creative Director of Interactive & Innovation respectively. On 8 March 2024 Aardman and the BBC announced a new collaboration called Things We Love , based on

1980-550: A very small core group. After being bought out or sold to other companies, they eventually consolidated with other studios and became larger. The drawback of this setup was that there was now a major thrust towards profitability with the management acting as a damper towards creativity of these studios, continuing even in today's scenario. Currently, the independent animation studios are looking to ensure artistic integrity by signing up with big animation studios on contracts that allow them to license out movies, without being directed by

2079-478: Is a French major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiary Pathé Cinémas and television networks across Europe. It is the name of a network of French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest film equipment and production company, as well as

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2178-420: Is a motion picture subsidiary of Aardman Animations. It has produced 9 films so far, 3 with DreamWorks Animation, 2 with Sony Pictures Animation, 3 with StudioCanal and 1 with Netflix. Nathan Love LLC (formerly Aardman Nathan Love LLC from 2006–2019) is an American subsidiary of Aardman Animations. Joe Burrascano founded the company in 2007. The works of Aardman have received numerous awards and nominations,

2277-707: Is commonly known as the Golden Age of American Animation as it included the growth of Disney, as well as the rise of Warner Bros. Cartoons and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio as prominent animation studios. Disney continued to lead in technical prowess among studios for a long time afterwards, as can be seen with their achievements . In 1941, Otto Messmer created the first animated television commercials for Botany Tie ads/weather reports. They were shown on NBC-TV in New York until 1949. This marked

2376-528: Is dated around 1917, but it would take until 1956 for the Japanese animation industry to successfully adopt the studio format as used in the United States. In 1961, these productions began to be aired in the US. Toei Animation , formed in 1948, was the first Japanese animation studio of importance and saw the reduction of animators as independent anime artists. After the formation of Toei Animation Co. Ltd. in 1948,

2475-606: Is subject to local intellectual property rights. The animators must also be aware of the contracts laws and labour laws prevalent in the jurisdiction to which the animation studio is subject to. There have been numerous legal battles fought over the copyright of famous franchises, such as Kung Fu Panda and SpongeBob SquarePants . This has come about as a result of the clause in Copyright contracts that states that an idea cannot be protected, only an actual piece of work can be said to be infringed upon. This means that though

2574-726: The Paris Stock Exchange . In 1896, Mitchell Mark of Buffalo , New York , became the first American to import Pathé films to the United States, where they were shown in the Vitascope Theater. In 1907, Pathé acquired the Lumière brothers ' patents and then set about to design an improved studio camera and to make their own film stock. Their technologically advanced equipment, new processing facilities built at Vincennes , and aggressive merchandising combined with efficient distribution systems allowed them to capture

2673-520: The highest-grossing stop-motion film of all time . A sequel, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget , was released in 2023. Aardman was founded in 1972 as a low-budget project by Peter Lord and David Sproxton , who wanted to realise their dream of producing an animated motion picture. The partnership provided animated sequences for the BBC series for deaf children Vision On . The company name originates from

2772-734: The Aardman YouTube channel, which is a YouTube Partner channel featuring the entire Creature Comforts TV series, the Morph series, Cracking Contraptions and clips from the Wallace and Gromit films. From December 2008, Aardman also started posting various flash games on Newgrounds , the majority of which are based on Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep . In 2009, Nintendo announced that Aardman would make twelve short films using only Flipnote Studio . The films were posted on Flipnote's Hatena web service provider. The first film

2871-491: The BBC asked them to whom they should make their first cheque out. Co-founder David Sproxton has claimed that the name was a result of being unable to "find another word with more A's in it than 'aardvark ' " as a schoolboy. A number of Aardman directors have worked at other studios, taking the distinctive Aardman style with them. Aardman's Steve Box directed the animated music video for the Spice Girls ' final single as

2970-755: The British stop-motion animated series Digby Dragon debuted on Nick Jr. UK in 2016. In advance of Aardman's fortieth anniversary, the BBC One aired the one-hour television documentary A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman , first broadcast in December 2015. Narrated by Julie Walters , this career retrospective includes commentary by the company's founders and staff, as well as various friends, fans and colleagues including Terry Gilliam , John Lasseter , and Matt Groening . From 29 June 2017 to 29 October 2017, an exhibition entitled "Wallace and Gromit and Friends"

3069-488: The Garden Wall special alongside series creator Patrick McHale to celebrate the miniseries' 10th anniversary, set for release on 3 November 2024. On 21 October 2024, Aardman announced that they would team up with Mattel Television Studios to produce a new Pingu series. The company name is taken from one of its early characters, a superhero created for Vision On in 1972. Unlike the claymation productions that

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3168-728: The Japanese studios churned out minor works of animation. But with the release of Toei's first theatrical feature, The Tale of the White Serpent released in October 1958, the animation industry in Japan came into the eye of the general public. The success of Alakazam the Great led to the finding of the artist Osamu Tezuka , who would go on to become the father of Japanese manga with his brand of modern, fast-paced fantasy storylines. He became influenced by Hanna-Barbera productions of

3267-858: The North American and European markets, direct-to-video animation has seen a rise, as a concept, in the Western markets. With many comic characters receiving their versions of OVA 's, original video animations , under the Westernized title of direct-to-video animations, the OVA market has spread to American animation houses. Their popularity has resulted in animated adaptations of comic characters ranging from Hellboy , Green Lantern and Avengers . Television shows such as Family Guy and Futurama also released direct-to-video animations. DC Comics have continually released their own animated movies for

3366-406: The North American television animation market during the latter half of the 20th century. In 2002, Shrek , produced by DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature . Since then, Disney / Pixar have produced the most number of movies either to win or be nominated for the award. Though the term "direct-to-video" carries negative connotations in

3465-566: The Nugget . The film, starring Thandiwe Newton and Zachary Levi , premiered on the platform on 15 December 2023. A new Wallace and Gromit film was also confirmed to be 'in the works' for a 2024 release on the BBC in the UK and Netflix for the rest the world. Also in 2022–2023, the 52 episode children's series Lloyd of the Flies aired on CITV . Aardman is one of the nine studios involved with Lucasfilm 's Star Wars: Visions Volume 2 , contributing

3564-413: The OVA market, looking to capitalize on the popularity of their flagship shows. Studios participating in such circumstances include Production I.G and Studio Deen . Although there are permanent/full-time positions in studios, most animators work on a contract basis. There are some animators that are considered to be in the core group of the studio, which can either be as a result of being there since

3663-466: The Pathé name, the video rental division Fox Guild Home Entertainment would be renamed Fox Pathé Home Entertainment the following year. Guild Home Video remained as an in-name-only dormant business of Pathé until folding on 17 December 2019. On 12 March 2009, Pathé announced that they would close their UK/Ireland theatrical distribution unit and form a new partnership with Warner Bros. Pictures to handle

3762-628: The Reindeer in Legend of the Lost Tribe , was directed by Peter Peake, whose directorial credits for Aardman include Pib and Pog and Humdrum . Aardman alumni also produced many of the claymation shorts used in the 1986–1990 American television series Pee-wee's Playhouse . Aardman Animations has produced a number of animated features, shorts, videos and TV series, as well as adverts. Their major feature films are: Aardman Features Limited

3861-401: The UK theatrical market and restructure to focus on the premium television market instead. The exit was due to structural changes in the film industry following Covid-19 , issues with the structure of independent distribution in the country (which led to fellow rival Entertainment One (now Lionsgate Canada) closing their UK distribution arm earlier in the year), some of their films flopping at

3960-640: The UK's Animex Festival in Teesside provides story consultation to a promising young animator for their next film. In 2008, Aardman joined with Channel 4 and Lupus Films to launch a user-generated content animation portal called 4mations . They also designed the BBC One Christmas Idents for that year, which featured Wallace and Gromit to tie in with the showing of the new Wallace and Gromit film called A Matter of Loaf and Death on Christmas Day at 8:30pm. In April 2008, Aardman launched

4059-537: The Were-Rabbit . The following year Flushed Away , Aardman's first computer-animated feature, was released. On 10 October 2005, a serious fire at a storage facility used by Aardman and other Bristol-based companies destroyed over 30 years of props , models, and scenery often built by the Bristol-based Cod Steaks . This warehouse was used for storage of past projects and so did not prevent

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4158-477: The animators may have forwarded ideas to the animation studios about certain characters and plots, these ideas alone cannot be protected and can lead to studios profiting on individual animator's ideas. However, this has not stopped many independent artists from filing claims to characters produced by different studios. Due to the wide range of animation techniques and styles, many animation studios typically specialize in certain types. Traditional animation employs

4257-583: The assets of the American Pathé record company were merged into the newly formed American Record Corporation . The Pathé and Pathé-Marconi labels and catalogue still survive, first as imprints of EMI and now currently EMI's successor Parlophone Records . In 1967 EMI Italiana took control of the entire catalog. In turn, the Universal Music Group acquired EMI Italiana in 2013. As the phonograph business became successful, Pathé saw

4356-569: The bad luck to take charge of the studio just as the Great Depression convulsed the French economy. Natan attempted to steady Pathé's finances and implement modern film industry practices at the studio. He acquired another film studio, Société des Cinéromans , from Arthur Bernède and Gaston Leroux , which let Pathé expand into projector and electronics manufacturing. He also bought the Fornier chain of motion picture theatres and rapidly expanded

4455-547: The bigger studios. Examples of such co-operation are the joint ventures between DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures and that of Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Studios . On August 22, 2016, Comcast's NBCUniversal acquired DreamWorks Animation , appointing Meledandri oversee Comcast's Universal Animation/DreamWorks/Illumination, Disney's Disney Animation/Pixar/20th Century Animation, & Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Animation/Warner Bros. Pictures Animation. The first known example of Japanese animation, also called anime ,

4554-506: The brothers designed and sold their own phonographs that incorporated elements of other brands. Soon after, they also started marketing pre-recorded cylinder records. By 1896 the Pathé brothers had offices and recording studios not only in Paris, but also in London , Milan , and St. Petersburg . Pathé manufactured cylinder records until approximately 1914. In 1905, the Pathé brothers entered

4653-428: The chain's nationwide presence. The French press, however, attacked Natan mercilessly for his stewardship of Pathé. Many of these attacks were antisemitic . Pathé-Natan did well under Natan's guidance. Between 1930 and 1935, despite the world economic crisis, the company made 100 million francs in profits, and produced and released more than 60 feature films (just as many films as major American studios produced at

4752-414: The company are famous for, Aardman was cel-animated. Peter Lord has stated that the most interesting thing about the company name is that it "means nothing" and is only a joke that two teenagers found funny. He has stated that the name came from a combination of "Aardvark" and "Superman" for the reason that they found aardvark to be a particularly funny word. Aardman Animations became their company name when

4851-488: The company to its employees in order to keep the studio independent. In January 2019, Lord and Sproxton released a book detailing the history of the studio, called A Grand Success! The Aardman Journey, One Frame at a Time . In December 2020, Netflix announced an Aardman Christmas musical special entitled Robin Robin . The 30-minute short, starring Bronte Carmichael, Richard E. Grant , Gillian Anderson and Adeel Akhtar ,

4950-508: The company. As a result of the deregulation of the French telecommunications market, in June 1999 Pathé merged with Vivendi , with the exchange ratio for the merger fixed at three Vivendi shares for every two Pathé shares. The Wall Street Journal estimated the value of the deal at US$ 2.59 billion. Following the completion of the merger, Vivendi retained Pathé's interests in British Sky Broadcasting and CanalSatellite ,

5049-447: The distributor for home video. Select film acquisitions that were planned to be distributed by Pathé, such as Chatroom and Dead Man Running , were sold to Revolver Entertainment . On 1 February 2011, it was announced that 20th Century Fox would take over as Pathé's theatrical distributor. Pathé UK's co-CEO Francois Ivernel deemed it easier for one company to handle the licensing process for both theatrical and home video. With

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5148-499: The existing Watch identity by UKTV to make the inflatable eyeball (called "Blinky") in the idents blink. In October 2013, Lord (co-founder of Aardman Animations) created a fundraising project on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter . The campaign has a target of £75,000 which would be used to fund 12 new one-minute episodes of Morph. Lord was hoping to start production in January 2014 using the original stop-frame animation. Backers of

5247-476: The film "I Am Your Mother". The factory that made Lewis Newplast, the modelling clay used by Aardman, shut down in March 2023; Aardman purchased enough remaining clay to cover the upcoming 2024 Wallace and Gromit film. The Daily Telegraph initially reported that the studio may not be able to produce new films afterwards due to a lack of clay, but Aardman later released a statement clarifying that it would find

5346-670: The film's rights reverted to DreamWorks. From 2006 to 2007, the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka , Tokyo, Japan, had an exhibit featuring the works of Aardman Studios. Sproxton and Lord visited the exhibit in May 2006 and met with animator Hayao Miyazaki during the visit. Miyazaki has long been a fan of Aardman Animations' works. In April 2007, Aardman signed and in 2010 renewed a three-year deal with Sony Pictures to finance, co-produce, and distribute feature films. The next year, Aardman released

5445-452: The first forays of animation designed for the smaller screen and was to be followed by the first animated series specifically made for television, Crusader Rabbit , in 1948. Its creator, Alex Anderson , had to create the studio 'Television Arts Productions' specifically for the purpose of creating this series as his old studio, Terrytoons , refused to make a series for television. Since Crusader Rabbit, however, many studios have seen this as

5544-501: The first part of the 20th century, Pathé became the largest film equipment and production company in the world, as well as a major producer of phonograph records . The driving force behind the film operation and phonograph business was Charles Pathé , who had helped open a phonograph shop in 1894 and established a phonograph factory at Chatou on the western outskirts of Paris. The Pathé brothers began selling Edison and Columbia phonographs and accompanying cylinder records and later,

5643-663: The growing field of disc records . In France, Pathé became the largest and most successful distributor of cylinder records and phonographs. These, however, failed to make headway in foreign markets such as the United Kingdom and the United States where other brands were already in widespread use. In December 1928, the French and British Pathé phonograph assets were sold to the British Columbia Graphophone Company . In July 1929,

5742-414: The home video market, while not tending to the television or theatrical audience as such. They refer to those movies that are launched as direct-to-video releases and not meant to be released in theatres. Video productions can run from half an hour productions to well over two hours. They require that premise or story be original in order to be counted as an OVA, though sometimes, the story can be derived from

5841-508: The honor of the first studio dedicated to animation. Though beaten to the post of being the first studio, Bray's studio employee, Earl Hurd , came up with patents designed for mass-producing the output for the studio. As Hurd did not file for these patents under his own name but handed them to Bray, they would go on to form the Bray-Hurd Patent Company and sold these techniques for royalties to other animation studios of

5940-421: The inception of the company or being talented recruits from other animation studios. These are the more secure positions in an animation studio, though the studio might have policies concerning the possible tenure of animators. Since studios can hire animators on a work for hire basis nowadays, many artists do not retain rights over their creations, unlike some of the early animators. The extent of these copyrights

6039-408: The last two movies, for which DreamWorks had to take writedowns, and citing the article, "Aardman executives chafed at the creative control DreamWorks tried to exert, particularly with Flushed Away ..." The studio had another film in development, Crood Awakening (eventually The Croods ), which had been announced in 2005, with John Cleese co-writing the screenplay. With the end of the partnership,

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6138-575: The late 1950s and made Japan's first made for television animation studio, Mushi Productions . The success of the studios' first show in 1963, Astro Boy , was so immense that there were 3 other television animation studios by the end of the year and Toei had opened their own made for television division. The greatest difference between Japanese studios and North American studios was the difference in adult-themed material to make way in Japan. Tezuka's thought that animation should not be restricted to kids alone has brought about many studios that are employed in

6237-508: The late 1990s, beginning with Owzat (1997), Aardman entered the computer animation market with Flushed Away (2006). As of February 2020, it had earned $ 1.1 billion worldwide, with an average $ 135.6 million per film. Between 2000 and 2006, Aardman partnered with DreamWorks Animation . Aardman's films have been consistently very well received, and their stop-motion films are among the highest-grossing produced, with their 2000 debut, Chicken Run , being their top-grossing film, as well as

6336-447: The latter two winning Academy Awards . In December 1997, Aardman, DreamWorks (later DreamWorks Animation ) and Pathé announced that their companies were teaming up to co-finance and distribute Chicken Run , Aardman's first feature film, which had already been in pre-production for a year. On 27 October 1999, Aardman and DreamWorks signed a $ 250 million deal to make an additional four films that were estimated to be completed during

6435-518: The major awards won include the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and BAFTA Award for Best British Film for Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit . Light Chaser Animation Studios Animation studio The idea of a studio dedicated to animating cartoons was spearheaded by Raoul Barré and his studio, Barré Studio , co-founded with Bill Nolan , beating out the studio created by J.R. Bray , Bray Productions , to

6534-488: The name of their nerdish Superman character in that sequence. The process of using clay animation to produce a segment called "Gleebees" (1975) became the inspiration for creating Morph , a simple clay character. Around the same time, Lord and Sproxton made their first foray into adult animation with the shorts Down and Out and Confessions of a Foyer Girl , entries in the BBC's Animated Conversations series using real-life conversations as soundtracks. Aardman also created

6633-493: The next 12 years. Along with the deal their first project was announced, titled The Tortoise and the Hare . Intended to be based on Aesop 's fable and directed by Richard Goleszowski , it was paused two years later because of script problems. On 23 June 2000, Chicken Run was released to a great critical and financial success. In 2005, after ten years of absence, Wallace and Gromit returned in Academy Award -winning The Curse of

6732-434: The opportunities offered by new means of entertainment and in particular by the fledgling motion picture industry. Having decided to expand the record business to include film equipment, the company expanded dramatically. To finance its growth, the company took the name Compagnie Générale des Établissements Pathé Frères Phonographes & Cinématographes (sometimes abbreviated as CGPC ) in 1897, and its shares were listed on

6831-613: The outbreak of World War I , Pathé dominated Europe's market in motion picture cameras and projectors. It has been estimated that at one time, 60 percent of all films were shot with Pathé equipment. In 1908, Pathé distributed Excursion to the Moon by Segundo de Chomón, an imitation of Georges Méliès 's A Trip to the Moon . Pathé and Méliès worked together in 1911. Méliès made a film Baron Munchausen's Dream , his first film to be distributed by Pathé. Pathé's relationship with Méliès soured, and after he went bankrupt in 1913, his last film

6930-560: The production of adult-themed adaptations of classic stories such as Heidi ( Heidi, Girl of the Alps ), One Thousand and One Nights and The Diary of a Young Girl and many more. In the 1980s, animation studios were led back to their theatrical roots due to the success of Hayao Miyazaki 's film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind , which led publishing house Tokuma Shoten to finance

7029-407: The production of their current projects at the time. In addition, the company's library of finished films was stored elsewhere and was undamaged. An electrical fault was determined to be the cause of the blaze. Referring to the 2005 Kashmir earthquake , Park was quoted as saying, "Even though it is a precious and nostalgic collection and valuable to the company, in light of other tragedies, today isn't

7128-480: The project would receive a variety of rewards, including early access to the new animations and a small box of clay used in the production, depending on the individual's level of funding. In 2015, the studio bought a majority share in New York-based animation studio Nathan Love, announcing the merger with a short film called Introducing: Aardman Nathan Love on 25 September of the same year of that being that

7227-519: The purchase of 20th Century Fox by the Walt Disney Company on 20 March 2019, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures took over distribution of Pathé's material, releasing both Misbehaviour and The Human Voice , Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment would release the two films on home video. The longstanding deal with Fox/Disney deal expired on 30 June 2021, and Pathé decided not to renew. Pathé UK managing director Cameron McCracken

7326-516: The rental joint-venture would be named Fox Guild Home Entertainment . After the Chargeurs demerger in 1996, Pathé began retiring the Guild brand, initially rebranding the theatrical arm as Guild Pathé Cinema and eventually in June 1997, as Pathé Distribution after securing a deal to produce films in the country. The home video division followed suit toward the end of the year, rebranding under

7425-422: The research of Henri Chrétien , who developed the anamorphic lens (leading to the creation of CinemaScope and other widescreen film formats common today). Natan expanded Pathé's business interests into communications industries other than film. In November 1929, Natan established France's first television company, Télévision-Baird-Natan . A year later, he purchased a radio station in Paris and formed

7524-601: The resulting frames are played back. Notable studios specializing in this style of animation include Aardman Animations , Laika and ShadowMachine . 3D animation is the newest of the animation techniques, using the assistance of computers and software, such as Houdini , to create 3D models that are then manipulated and rendered to create movement. Notable studios include Pixar Animation Studios , Sony Pictures Imageworks , Blue Sky Studios , Illumination , DNEG and Marza Animation Planet . Path%C3%A9 Pathé ( French: [pate] ; styled as PATHÉ! )

7623-417: The sole purpose of sale in the direct-to-video market. With growing worries about piracy, direct to video animation might become more popular in the near future. With the growth of animation as an industry, the trends of ownership of studios have gradually changed with time. Current studios such as Warner Bros. and early ones such as Fleischer Studios , started life as small, independent studios, being run by

7722-414: The state. French authorities pursued charges of fraud against Natan, including financing the purchase of the company without any collateral, of bilking investors by establishing fictitious shell corporations , and financial mismanagement. He was also accused of hiding his Romanian and Jewish heritage by changing his name. In 1938, Natan was arrested and imprisoned, never to regain his freedom. In 1939 he

7821-444: The storied studio. Parretti's shady past, however, raised enough eyebrows in the French government that the deal fell through. It turned out to be a fortunate decision, as Parretti later took over Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , and merged it with his Pathé Communications Group to create MGM-Pathé Communications in 1990, only to lose it in bankruptcy in late 1991. In 1990 Chargeurs , a French conglomerate led by Jérôme Seydoux, took control of

7920-463: The studio's Creature Comforts films, set to air throughout 2024. Like Creature Comforts , the six, 30-second-long shorts feature animated animals matched to the audio of real, unscripted interviews. On 6 June 2024, Aardman announced the title of the new Wallace and Gromit feature film as Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl . On 22 September 2024, Cartoon Network announced on Twitter that they had recruited Aardman to work on an Over

8019-433: The synchronisation of film and gramophone recordings. In 1908, Pathé invented the newsreel that was shown in theatres prior to the feature film. The news clips featured the Pathé logo of a crowing rooster at the beginning of each reel. In 1912, it introduced 28 mm non-flammable film and equipment under the brand name Pathescope. Pathé News produced cinema newsreels from 1910, up until the 1970s when production ceased as

8118-431: The theatre and distribution arm. Pathé was already in substantial financial trouble when Bernard Natan took control of the company in 1929. Studio founder Charles Pathé had been selling assets for several years to boost investor value and keep the studio's cash flow healthy. The company's founder had even sold Pathé's name and "rooster" trademark to other companies in return for a mere two percent of revenues. Natan had

8217-460: The theatrical distribution of their titles in the UK, following a handful of films that flopped at the box office. The move was made so Pathé could focus more on the development and production of its own titles instead of acquisitions. The partnership would allow the two companies working together to identify co-production opportunities. Pathé would remain as an international sales agent for films, while 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment would remain as

8316-542: The time). He resumed production of the newsreel Pathé News , which had not been produced since 1927. Natan also invested heavily into research and development to expand Pathé's film business. In 1929, he pushed Pathé into sound film . In September, the studio produced its first sound feature film, and its first sound newsreel a month later. Natan also launched two new cinema-related magazines, Pathé-Revue and Actualités Féminines , to help market Pathé's films and build consumer demand for cinema. Under Natan, Pathé also funded

8415-417: The time. The biggest name in animation studios during this early time was Disney Brothers Animation Studio (now known as Walt Disney Animation Studios ), co-founded by Walt and Roy O. Disney . Started on October 16, 1923, the studio went on to make its first animated short, Steamboat Willie in 1928, to much critical success, though the real breakthrough was in 1937, when the studio was able to produce

8514-400: The title sequence for The Great Egg Race and supplied animation for the multiple award-winning music video of Peter Gabriel 's song " Sledgehammer ". They produced the music video for the song " My Baby Just Cares For Me " by Nina Simone in 1987. Also in the 1980s, they created the trombone-playing character "Douglas" in a television commercial for Lurpak butter. Later Aardman produced

8613-513: The use of hand-drawn frames, and is used in the world of cartoons, movies and anime. Notable studios that specialize in this style include Studio Ghibli , Cartoon Saloon , Nickelodeon Animation Studio , Disney Television Animation , 20th Television Animation , Warner Bros. Animation , Cartoon Network Studios , Titmouse , Ufotable , Studio Chizu and CoMix Wave Films . Stop-motion animation uses objects that are incrementally moved and photographed in order to create an illusion of movement when

8712-427: The years, the business underwent a number of changes including diversification into producing programmes for the burgeoning television industry. During the 1970s, operating theatres overtook film production as Pathé's primary source of revenue. In the late 1980s, Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti tried to make a bid for Pathé, even taking over Cannon and renaming it Pathé Communications in anticipation of owning

8811-533: Was indicted and sentenced to four years in jail. As a result, he was in prison when France fell to the Nazis, a time when other Jewish filmmakers fled or went into hiding. On his release from prison in 1942, he was delivered to the Nazis, and by September 1942 had been deported to Auschwitz , where he was murdered. In 1943, the company was forced to undergo a restructuring, and was acquired by Adrien Ramauge, changing its name to Société Nouvelle Pathé Cinema. Over

8910-593: Was called The Sandwich Twins and was released on 16 September 2009. The remaining eleven films were released on a weekly basis until Christmas, and can also be downloaded using Hatena. In the same year, the headquarters of the studio moved into a new building, designed by Alec French architects, in Gas Ferry Road, Bristol, although work needing large-scale sets is still carried out in sheds in Aztec West and Bedminster . In April 2009, Aardman Animations edited

9009-478: Was forced to follow through with the purchase of several cinema chains it no longer could afford to buy. Although the company continued to make a profit, it lost more money thanks to these acquisitions than it could bring in. In 1935, a commercial court began examining Pathé's accounts, and by 1936 it was declared bankrupt and Natan was dismissed. The studios were not doing badly and continued to make films, but his companies went into receivership and were claimed by

9108-452: Was never released by Pathé. After World War I, Charles Pathé started divesting himself from various film interests, believing that the French film industry would never recover after 1918. The company's subsequent decline relegated Pathé primarily as a distributor of short subjects and it became a minor player in the mainstream film industry. Worldwide, the company emphasised research, investing in such experiments as hand-coloured film and

9207-708: Was part of the MPPC cartel of production in the United States. It participated in the Paris Film Congress in February 1909 as part of a plan to create a similar European organisation. The company withdrew from the project in a second meeting in April which fatally undermined the proposal. In 1906 Pathé Frères had pioneered the luxury cinema with the opening of the Omnia Cinéma-Pathé in Paris. Prior to

9306-634: Was pleased with Disney's treatment of the company's films, deeming them to have given the films the same treatment that Fox did. On 7 June 2021, a few weeks before the expiration of the Fox deal, Pathé UK announced they would revert their distribution to Warner Bros. Pictures , with the first films being released under the new deal being Parallel Mothers and The Duke . Unlike the 2009 deal, this new deal would also include home video and digital rights as well, which Fox/Disney previously handled. On 15 November 2023, Pathé UK announced that they would exit out of

9405-627: Was produced by Chris Moll, producer of the Wallace & Gromit short film The Wrong Trousers . The models were provided by Mackinnon & Saunders, a firm that did the same for Bob the Builder and Corpse Bride . Similarly, Robbie the Reindeer in Hooves of Fire , a BBC Bristol/Comic Relief production, was directed by Richard Goleszowski , creator of Rex the Runt . Its sequel, Robbie

9504-488: Was released on the platform on 24 November 2021. On 9 August 2021, it was announced that Gurinder Chadha was directing a musical claymation feature set in India, telling the story of an elephant dreaming about becoming a dancer. On 30 November 2021, Aardman began producing The Very Small Creatures for Sky Kids and Apple TV . On 20 January 2022, Netflix announced a sequel to Chicken Run entitled Chicken Run: Dawn of

9603-542: Was responsible for film production, distribution, and exhibition. In 1922 they introduced the Pathé Baby home film system using a new 9.5 mm film stock , which became popular during the next few decades. In 1921, Pathé sold off its United States motion picture production arm. It was renamed " Pathé Exchange " and later merged into RKO Pictures , disappearing as an independent brand in 1931. Pathé sold its British film studios to Eastman Kodak in 1927, while maintaining

9702-641: Was shown at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in Melbourne . A report on this exhibition was shown on Australian ABC News Breakfast on Wednesday, 28 June, featuring an 8-minute interview with producers Lord and Sproxton. The exhibition revealed that in Park's very early sketches, Gromit was originally a cat, but Park soon changed him into a dog, since it was generally agreed that

9801-413: Was the first Aardman production to win an Academy Award . Park also developed the clay modelled shorts featuring the adventures of Wallace & Gromit , a comical pair of friends: Wallace being a naive English inventor with a love of cheese, and Gromit his best friend, the intelligent but silent dog. These films include A Grand Day Out (1989), The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995),

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