Paramount Animation is an American animation studio , serving as the animation division and label of Paramount Pictures , a subsidiary of Paramount Global . The division was founded on July 6, 2011, following the box office success of Paramount's own Rango and the end of their distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation in 2012.
159-457: The studio's first film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water was released on February 6, 2015, and its latest release was Transformers One on September 20, 2024, with their next release being The Smurfs Movie on July 18, 2025. Films produced by Paramount Animation have grossed a total of $ 832 million at the box office. Its highest-grossing film to date is The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water , which grossed $ 325.1 million. After
318-522: A Variety article that the original film Under the Boardwalk would be released straight to Paramount+ instead of theaters (similar Rumble ). He stated, “We’re not going to release an expensive original animated movie and just pray people will come,” while also pointing to the box office underperformances of Pixar animated films such as Lightyear and Elemental . This statement received widespread criticism on social media, including from those in
477-588: A Wonderful Sponge (later renamed Sponge On the Run ), Reel FX 's Monster on the Hill (later renamed Rumble ), and Skydance Animation's Luck . On January 14, 2019, Mireille Soria announced that the team at Paramount Animation will no longer work with Skydance Animation because of their hiring of former Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar CCO John Lasseter as the head of animation. Luck and Spellbound were still going to be released by Paramount Pictures without
636-540: A budget of less than $ 100 million. In June 2019, Paramount Animation announced a new slate of animated features, including an animated Spice Girls film, a live-action/animated Mighty Mouse film, an animated film adaptation of The Tiger's Apprentice , a musical film titled Jersey Crabs (later Under the Boardwalk ), and the Imagine Entertainment co-production The Shrinking of Treehorn . The studio's seventh film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on
795-552: A chip carrying evidence of Sentinel's treason. Sentinel and his forces then arrive, capturing and killing Trion. Evading their pursuers, the team travels back to Iacon to expose Sentinel but is captured by the High Guard, former warbots of the Primes rebelling against Sentinel. While D-16 takes command of the High Guard by defeating their leader, Starscream , Orion grows concerned by his friend's increasing aggression since learning
954-500: A critical and financial disappointment, grossing $ 90.3 million on a $ 59 million budget. In April 2018, Paramount Pictures named former Blue Sky Studios and Nickelodeon Movies producer Ramsey Ann Naito as the executive vice president of the studio. 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
1113-412: 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. It was also announced that The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water , a standalone sequel to 2004's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie , would be
1272-528: A full-length compilation feature, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh , which was released in 1977. Walt Disney died in December 1966, ten months before the studio's next film The Jungle Book , was completed and released. The film was a success, finishing 1967 as the fourth highest-grossing film of the year. Following Walt Disney's death, Wolfgang Reitherman continued as both producer and director of
1431-512: A grand sense of scale was essential to the Transformers brand. As there are no humans in the film to use as a scale reference, the team looked to Cybertron instead and aimed to make it feel larger than life. In May 2024, it was announced that Brian Tyler , who had previously provided the score for the animated television series Transformers: Prime (2010–2013), would compose the score for Transformers One . The soundtrack album features
1590-642: A groundbreaking live-action/animation hybrid directed by Robert Zemeckis , which featured licensed animated characters from other studios (such as Warner Bros., MGM, and Universal). Disney set up a new animation studio under Williams' supervision in London to create the cartoon characters for Roger Rabbit , with many of the artists from the California studio traveling to England to work on the film. A significant critical and commercial success, Roger Rabbit won three Academy Awards for technical achievements. and
1749-451: A lower advance payment for each Oswald short. Disney refused and, as Universal owned the rights to Oswald rather than Disney, Mintz set up his own animation studio to produce Oswald cartoons. Most of Disney's staff was hired away by Mintz to move over once Disney's Oswald contract expired in mid-1928. Working in secret while the rest of the staff finished the remaining Oswalds on contract, Disney and his head animator Ub Iwerks led
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#17327912457891908-542: A lukewarm response at the box office and was a sharp critical disappointment in its initial release. Peter Pan , released in 1953, on the other hand, was a commercial success and the sixth highest-grossing film of the year . In 1955, Lady and the Tramp was released to higher box office success than any other Disney animated feature since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , earning an estimated $ 6.5 million in rentals at
2067-406: A modern pop soundtrack. Oliver & Company opened in the theaters on the same day as another Bluth/Amblin/Universal animated film, The Land Before Time ; however, Oliver & Company outgrossed The Land Before Time in the U.S. and went on to become the most successful animated feature in the U.S. to that date, though the latter's worldwide box office gross was higher than the former. At
2226-465: A multi-year deal to produce five animated feature films in collaboration with Paramount Pictures, with Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall producing; the first two began production the following summer, at a cost of over US$ 20 million each. Three of the projects were based on books by E. B. White ( The Trumpet of the Swan ), Clive Barker ( The Thief of Always ) and Graeme Base ( The Sign of
2385-431: A multi-year production deal with 20th Century Fox four months later. In July 2017, Paramount Pictures named former DreamWorks Animation co-president Mireille Soria as the president of the studio. 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
2544-613: A new distribution contract with Columbia Pictures . Powers, in return, signed away Ub Iwerks, who began producing cartoons at his own studio, although he would return to Disney in 1940. Columbia distributed Disney's shorts for two years before the Disney studio entered a new distribution deal with United Artists in 1932. The same year, Disney signed a two-year exclusive deal with Technicolor to utilize its new 3-strip color film process , which allowed for fuller-color reproduction where previous color film processors could not. The result
2703-848: A reference to his previous origin story, the film originally included a scene depicting Megatron as a gladiator, to have him and Optimus Prime come from completely different backgrounds. Due to runtime constraints, that idea was scrapped and they were both made to be coworkers in the mines instead. The voice cast of the film was announced at CinemaCon in April 2023, consisting of Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry as younger versions of Optimus Prime and Megatron , respectively, alongside Scarlett Johansson , Keegan-Michael Key , Jon Hamm , and Laurence Fishburne headlining. In April 2024, Steve Buscemi , who had previously voiced Daytrader in Transformers: The Last Knight (2017),
2862-595: A regular basis, with many of the shorts divisions' personnel either leaving the company or being reassigned to work on Disney television programs such as The Mickey Mouse Club and Disneyland . While the Silly Symphonies shorts had dominated the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) during the 1930s, its reign over the most awards had been ended by MGM 's Tom and Jerry cartoons, Warner Bros' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies , and
3021-639: A scene from its first synchronized sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie (1928). Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney after the closure of Laugh-O-Gram Studio , it is the longest-running animation studio in the world. It is currently organized as a division of Walt Disney Studios and is headquartered at the Roy E. Disney Animation Building at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California . Since its foundation,
3180-569: A separate "story department" with storyboard artists dedicated to story development. With well-developed characters and an interesting story, the 1933 Technicolor Silly Symphony cartoon Three Little Pigs became a major box office and pop culture success, with its theme song " Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? " becoming a popular chart hit. In 1934, Walt Disney gathered several key staff members and announced his plans to make his first animated feature film. Despite derision from most of
3339-561: A series of silent Alice Comedies short films featuring a live-action child actress in an animated world. The Alice Comedies were distributed by Margaret J. Winkler 's Winkler Pictures , which later also distributed a second Disney short subject series, the all-animated Oswald the Lucky Rabbit , through Universal Pictures starting in 1927. Upon relocating to California, the Disney brothers initially started working in their uncle Robert Disney's garage at 4406 Kingswell Avenue in
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#17327912457893498-487: A small handful of loyal staffers in producing cartoons starring a new character named Mickey Mouse . The first two Mickey Mouse cartoons, Plane Crazy and The Galloping Gaucho , were previewed in limited engagements during the summer of 1928. For the third Mickey cartoon, however, Disney produced a soundtrack, collaborating with musician Carl Stalling and businessman Pat Powers , who provided Disney with his bootlegged "Cinephone" sound-on-film process. Subsequently,
3657-558: A wider release in January the following year. It received positive reviews, but grossed $ 5.7 million on an $ 8 million budget. On May 4, 2016, Paramount Pictures announced that they had signed a deal with UK-based Locksmith Animation to co-develop and co-produce three original animated projects to be released under the Paramount Animation label (with animation produced by DNEG ). The studio's fourth film, Monster Trucks
3816-447: Is a 2024 American animated science fiction action film based on Hasbro 's Transformers toy line. It was directed by Josh Cooley from a screenplay by Eric Pearson and the writing duo of Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, based on a story by Barrer and Ferrari. The film features the voices of Chris Hemsworth , Brian Tyree Henry , Scarlett Johansson , Keegan-Michael Key , Steve Buscemi , Laurence Fishburne , and Jon Hamm . It
3975-489: Is among Disney's most notable assets, with the stars of its animated shorts— Mickey Mouse , Minnie Mouse , Donald Duck , Daisy Duck , Goofy , and Pluto —becoming recognizable figures in popular culture and mascots for the Walt Disney Company as a whole. Three of the studio's films— Frozen (2013), Zootopia (2016), and Frozen II (2019)—are all among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time , with
4134-407: Is composed by Michael Giacchino . Similar to Warner Bros. Pictures Animation , Illumination , and Sony Pictures Animation , Paramount Animation outsources its animation production to other animation studios such as Mikros Image, Reel FX, and Industrial Light & Magic ( Transformers One ). Rumble was developed outside of Paramount Animation by Reel FX, but the studio acquired the rights to
4293-470: Is discussion for Transformers One to become a trilogy of films. By June, he confirmed that the story is mapped out to progress over three movies, detailing the progression of the characters into their depiction in the live-action film series. The producer explained that Hemsworth's depiction of Optimus Prime will grow into the leader depicted in the previous installments, stating that the transition from Hemsworth's voice to Peter Cullen's will make sense within
4452-499: Is set on Cybertron, the home planet of the Transformers, and depicts the origins and early relationship of Optimus Prime and Megatron . In March 2015, following the release of Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), Paramount Pictures tasked Akiva Goldsman to set up a writers' room to create ideas for potential future Transformers films. By May 2015, Barrer and Ferrari had signed on as writers, and they came up with
4611-517: The Los Angeles Times opined that the film benefitted from the quality standard set by prior Transformers films, but still commended it for its screenplay, themes, humor, animation, and emotional core. Adam Graham of The Detroit News awarded the film a B- rating, praising the animation, direction, screenplay, and humor, and comparing it favorably to the live-action installments. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter praised
4770-651: The Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 10, 2024; audience and social media reactions were reportedly positive. The film premiered in Sydney, Australia on September 11, 2024, and was theatrically released in the United States on September 20, 2024. It was screened in various formats, including RealD 3D , IMAX , Dolby Cinema , and 4DX . It was originally scheduled to be released on July 19, 2024, but
4929-583: The Disneyland theme park, production of the animated films was left primarily in the hands of the "Nine Old Men" trust of head animators and directors. This led to several delays in approvals during the production of Sleeping Beauty , which was finally released in 1959. At $ 6 million, it was Disney's most expensive film to date, produced in a heavily stylised art style devised by artist Eyvind Earle and presented in large-format Super Technirama 70 with six-track stereophonic sound. However, despite being
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5088-735: The Donald Duck cartoons eclipsed the Mickey Mouse series in popularity. Silly Symphonies , which garnered seven Academy Awards , ceased in 1939, until the shorts returned to theatres with some re-issues and re-releases. The success of Snow White allowed Disney to build a new, larger studio on Buena Vista Street in Burbank, where The Walt Disney Company remains headquartered to this day. Walt Disney Productions had its initial public offering on April 2, 1940, with Walt Disney as president and Roy Disney as CEO. The studio launched into
5247-546: The Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, then, in October 1923, formally launched their studio in a small office on the rear side of a real estate agency's office at 4651 Kingswell Avenue. In February 1924, the studio moved next door to office space of its own at 4649 Kingswell Avenue. In 1925, Disney put down a deposit on a new location at 2719 Hyperion Avenue in the nearby Silver Lake neighborhood , which came to be known as
5406-428: The attack on Pearl Harbor , the studio housed over 500 U.S. Army soldiers who were responsible for protecting nearby aircraft factories from enemy bombers. In addition, several Disney animators were drafted to fight in the war and the studio was contracted on producing wartime content for every branch of the U.S. military , particularly military training, and civilian propaganda films. From 1942 to 1943, 95 percent of
5565-581: The third highest-grossing film of the year and the most successful and best reviewed Disney animated film since The Jungle Book . The film was reissued in 1983, accompanied by a new Disney featurette, Mickey's Christmas Carol . The production of The Rescuers signaled the beginning of a changing of the guard process in the personnel at the Disney animation studio, as veterans such as Milt Kahl and Les Clark retired; they were gradually replaced by new talents such as Don Bluth , Ron Clements , John Musker and Glen Keane . The new animators, selected from
5724-543: The "sweet spot" of the movie business. The following year, Paramount signed a distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation , starting with Over the Hedge and ending with Rise of the Guardians . During this deal, the studio released Nickelodeon Movies' Barnyard in 2006 and ImageMovers ' Beowulf in 2007. On March 4, 2011, the studio released its first in-house animated film, Nickelodeon Movies' Rango . The film
5883-534: The 1950s. Following its success, production on the in-limbo features Alice in Wonderland , Peter Pan , and Lady and the Tramp was resumed. In addition, an ambitious new project, an adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale " Sleeping Beauty " set to Tchaikovsky 's classic score, was begun but took much of the rest of the decade to complete. Alice in Wonderland , released in 1951, met with
6042-529: The 1959 layoffs and competition for Walt Disney's attention from the company's expanded live-action film, TV and theme park departments, production continued on feature animation productions at a reduced level. In 1961, the studio released One Hundred and One Dalmatians , an animated feature that popularized the use of xerography during the process of inking and painting traditional animation cels . Using xerography, animation drawings could be photochemically transferred rather than traced from paper drawings to
6201-573: The 1970s to the present. The Sword in the Stone was released in 1963 and was the sixth highest-grossing film of the year in North America with estimated rentals of $ 4.75 million. A featurette adaptation of one of A. A. Milne 's Winnie-the-Pooh stories, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree , was released in 1966, to be followed by several other Pooh featurettes over the years and
6360-560: The 2026 Mutant Mayhem sequel. The studio's eleventh film, Transformers One , was released on September 20, 2024. It received positive reviews from critics but became a financial disappointment grossing $ 128.9 million worldwide on a budget of $ 75–147 million. If the pending merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media happens, John Lasseter , who is head of Skydance Animation will become head of Paramount Animation. Initially, Paramount Animation did not have its own opening logo. Its first six features (and Transformers One ) just used
6519-639: The American release due to the French producers not paying an additional, previously agreed $ 20 million for the North American prints and advertising budget, however they still retained the distribution rights in France. It was later released onto Netflix on August 5, 2016, as a Netflix original film . The studio's third film, Anomalisa , was given a limited release on December 30, 2015, while getting
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6678-558: The Disney studio. A bitter union strike began in May 1941 , which was resolved without the angered Walt Disney's involvement in July and August of that year. As Walt Disney Productions was being set up as a union shop, Walt Disney and several studio employees were sent by the U.S. government on a Good Neighbor policy trip to Central and South America. The Disney strike and its aftermath led to an exodus of several animation professionals from
6837-714: The High Guard. After the Matrix restores the miners' cogs and makes Energon flow again, Optimus is made Cybertron's new leader, christening his followers as Autobots , and sends a message warning the Quintessons to stay away. In a post-credits scene , Megatron renames the High Guard into the Decepticons and swears vengeance against Optimus. Following the release of Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), Paramount Pictures tasked Akiva Goldsman in March 2015 to work with
6996-470: The Hyperion Studio to distinguish it from the studio's other locations, and, in January 1926, the studio moved there and took on the name Walt Disney Studio . Meanwhile, after the first year's worth of Oswalds , Walt Disney attempted to renew his contract with Winkler Pictures, but Charles Mintz , who had taken over Margaret Winkler's business after marrying her, wanted to force Disney to accept
7155-470: The North American box office in 1955. Lady and the Tramp is significant as Disney's first widescreen animated feature, produced in the CinemaScope process, and was the first Disney animated feature to be released by Disney's own distribution company, Buena Vista Distribution . By the mid-1950s, with Walt Disney's attention primarily set on new endeavours such as live-action films, television and
7314-487: The Paramount Animation brand until Apple TV+ acquired the distribution rights to both films in December 2020 and made a larger pact with Skydance Animation in February 2021. Apple Original Films would replace Paramount for both Luck and Spellbound . The studio's sixth film, Wonder Park was released on March 15, 2019. It received mixed reviews and it became a box office flop, grossing only $ 119.6 million worldwide on
7473-606: The Pauper , The Rescuers Down Under (1990) was Disney's first animated feature sequel and the studio's first film to be fully colored and composited via computer using the CAPS/ink-and-paint system. However, the film did not duplicate the success of The Little Mermaid . The next Disney animated feature, Beauty and the Beast , had begun production in London but was moved back to Burbank after Disney decided to shutter
7632-524: The Run theatrically released only in Canada on August 14, 2020, with a March 4, 2021, release in the United States on Paramount+ and a November 5, 2020, release internationally on Netflix due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The film received positive reviews from critics, and grossed $ 4.4 million worldwide with a $ 60 million budget. In January 2021, Paramount Animation picked up two new films: an adaption of
7791-777: The Seahorse ); an original production called Mask Vision was also in the works. However, none of the films were produced in this deal. Following Paramount's merger with Viacom , the studio started releasing several animated films based on Nickelodeon 's TV shows, including the Rugrats film trilogy, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie , and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius ; the films produced by Nickelodeon Movies . The studio also released features based on MTV 's Beavis and Butt-Head and Comedy Central 's South Park . In 2005, Paramount's new CEO Brad Grey considered building an in-house animation division, because he saw family films as
7950-408: The Seven Dwarfs , one of the first full-length animated feature films and the first U.S.-based one. In 1986, during a large corporate restructuring, Walt Disney Productions, which had grown from a single animation studio into an international media conglomerate , was renamed The Walt Disney Company and the animation studio became Walt Disney Feature Animation ( WDFA ) in order to differentiate it from
8109-448: The Transformers were heavily influenced by those of Generation 1 . Cooley said, "They’re really clear and have these great silhouettes. It was important to hit that." The team began by looking at the work of original Transformers character designer, Floro Dery . Art Deco was a big influence on the film's production and character design, with Cooley describing the style as being all about post-depression. He felt it to be relevant to
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#17327912457898268-511: The United Kingdom and Ireland region, where it released on October 11, 2024, the film opened to £ 1.6 million, ranking it above DC Comics holdover Joker: Folie à Deux . On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 89% of 161 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Dramatically satisfying with a dash of good humor, Transformers One suggests that animation might be
8427-567: The United States and Canada, and $ 69.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $ 128.9 million. In the United States and Canada, Transformers One was released alongside The Substance and Never Let Go , and was projected to gross $ 30–40 million from 3,978 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $ 9.6 million on its first day, including $ 3.4 million from Wednesday and Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $ 24.6 million, finishing second behind holdover Beetlejuice Beetlejuice . The opening weekend gross
8586-410: The animation program at CalArts and trained by Eric Larson, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and Woolie Reitherman, got their first chance to prove themselves as a group with the animated sequences in Disney's live-action/animated hybrid feature Pete's Dragon (1977), the animation for which was directed by Bluth. In September 1979, dissatisfied with what they felt was a stagnation in the development of
8745-480: The animators created or formalized many of the techniques and processes that became the key tenets and principles of traditional animation. Silly Symphonies such as The Goddess of Spring (1934) and The Old Mill (1937) served as experimentation grounds for new techniques such as the animation of realistic human figures, special effects animation and the use of the multiplane camera , an invention that split animation artwork layers into several planes, allowing
8904-512: The art of animation at Disney, Bluth and several of the other new guard animators quit to start their own studio, Don Bluth Productions , which became Disney's chief competitor in the animation field during the 1980s. Delayed half a year by the defection of the Bluth group, The Fox and the Hound was released in 1981 after four years in production. The film was considered a financial success by
9063-518: The best of the Paramount Transformers films. They lauded the humor, voice performances, and animation. Tom Jorgensen of IGN rated the film 5 out of 10, praising the voice cast and Brian Tyree Henry 's performance, as well as the story of Orion Pax and D-16. Overall he felt the film was underwhelming and was critical of it for being surface-level and featuring illegible action scenes. Soren Andersen of The Seattle Times gave
9222-607: The board to fire Miller. Roy E. Disney brought in Michael Eisner as Disney's new CEO and Frank Wells as president. Eisner in turn named Jeffrey Katzenberg chairman of the film division, The Walt Disney Studios. Near completion when the Eisner regime took over Disney, The Black Cauldron (1985) came to represent what would later be referred to as the "rock bottom" point for Disney animation. The studio's most expensive feature to that point at $ 44 million, The Black Cauldron
9381-495: The box office and became the highest-grossing first-issue animated film to that point. Katzenberg, Schneider, and Roy Disney set about changing the culture of the studio, increasing staffing and production so that a new animated feature would be released every year instead of every two to four. The first of the releases on the accelerated production schedule was Oliver & Company (1988), which featured an all-star cast including Billy Joel and Bette Midler and an emphasis on
9540-662: The box office, and had laid off a large portion of their hand-drawn animators. However, the studio stated in 2019 and 2023 that they are open to proposals from filmmakers for future hand-drawn feature projects. In addition, in April 2022, Eric Goldberg , one of the studio's hand-drawn animators who has been working with the studio since 1992, confirmed plans within the Disney studio to once again return to hand-drawn animation. Kansas City, Missouri , natives Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney founded Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in Los Angeles in 1923 and got their start producing
9699-442: The camera to appear to move dimensionally through an animated scene. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs cost Disney a then-expensive sum of $ 1.4 million to complete (including $ 100,000 on story development alone) and was an unprecedented success when released in February 1938 by RKO Radio Pictures , which had assumed distribution of Disney product from United Artists in 1937. It was briefly the highest-grossing film of all time before
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#17327912457899858-532: The character animation on these productions and all subsequent features until the late 1970s was supervised by a brain-trust of animators Walt Disney dubbed the " Nine Old Men ", many of whom also served as directors and later producers on the Disney features: Frank Thomas , Ollie Johnston , Woolie Reitherman , Les Clark, Ward Kimball , Eric Larson , John Lounsbery , Milt Kahl , and Marc Davis . Other head animators at Disney during this period included Norm Ferguson, Bill Tytla and Fred Moore . The development of
10017-507: The chattier version of Bumblebee seen in other Transformers media influenced Key's casting, who he had worked with before when directing Pixar's Toy Story 4 (2019). Cooley requested that Key stay close to his regular speaking voice for Bumblebee. Johansson was approached to voice Elita by Hemsworth, who texted her upon joining the project himself. The two had previously worked together in several Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films. Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), who had provided
10176-472: The city of Iacon, Orion Pax , a mining robot without a cog, sneaks into an archive and watches a documentary on the Primes, the first Cybertronians made directly by their creator Primus. Security guards catch Orion, but his best friend D-16 bails him out. Later, a cave-in occurs in the Energon mine where the two work, trapping fellow miner Jazz . While Orion and D-16 save him, their overseer, Darkwing, blames
10335-478: The city. After Sentinel is defeated, D-16 attempts to execute him, but Orion intervenes, ending up fatally shot. Though initially horrified, D-16 ultimately lets Orion fall to his death. Now calling himself " Megatron ", he kills Sentinel and commands the High Guard to destroy Iacon. Deeming Orion worthy, Primus and the spirits of the Primes bestow him with the Matrix, reviving him as " Optimus Prime ", who then defeats Megatron before exiling his former friend alongside
10494-410: The clear acetate sheets (" cels ") used in final animation production. The resulting art style – a scratchier line which revealed the construction lines in the animators' drawings – typified Disney films into the 1980s. The film was a success, being the tenth highest-grossing film of 1961 with rentals of $ 6.4 million. The Disney animation training program started at the studio in 1932 before
10653-404: The closure of Paramount Cartoon Studios (formerly named Famous Studios) in December 1967, Paramount distributed a few animated films from 1973 to 1992 that were produced by outside studios, including Charlotte's Web , Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown , Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!) , and Bebe's Kids . In the fall of 1993, Canadian animation studio Nelvana signed
10812-476: The company's film and television production divisions, creating the Walt Disney Pictures banner under which future films from the feature animation department would be released. After a series of corporate takeover attempts in 1984, Roy E. Disney , son of Roy O. and nephew of Walt, resigned from the company's board of directors and launched a campaign called "SaveDisney", successfully convincing
10971-418: The company's other divisions. Its current name was adopted in 2006 after Pixar Animation Studios was acquired by Disney. For many people, Disney Animation is synonymous with animation, for "in no other medium has a single company's practices been able to dominate aesthetic norms" to such an overwhelming extent. The studio was recognized as the premier American animation studio for much of its existence and
11130-552: The completion of Sherlock Gnomes and Wonder Park , which were in production before her arrival. That same month, Skydance announced its first two animated feature films for Skydance Animation — Split (later retitled Spellbound ) and Luck . Both films would be distributed by Paramount Pictures as part of their deal with Skydance. On October 10, 2017, Bill Damaschke was hired to head the division as president of animation and family entertainment. The studio released its fifth film, Sherlock Gnomes , on March 23, 2018, and became
11289-437: The corpses of the other Primes. Upon reactivation, he reveals that Sentinel betrayed the Primes to steal the Matrix from them, which failed when it rejected him and disappeared. In truth, Sentinel has been giving Energon to invading Quintesson aliens in exchange for letting him rule Cybertron while creating the miner class by removing their cogs before activation. Trion provides the group with cogs, allowing them to transform, and
11448-562: The culture of the Nickelodeon Animation Studio , which she describes as "artist-driven" and "creative". Both companies are now united under one team, in a move different from Disney and Universal's animation studios ( Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar post- Lasseter for the former and Illumination and DreamWorks for the latter). All films listed are distributed by Paramount Pictures unless noted otherwise. Transformers One Transformers One
11607-448: The day-to-day operations in 1985. On February 6, 1986, Disney executives moved the animation division from the Disney studio lot in Burbank to a variety of warehouses, hangars and trailers located about two miles east (3.2 kilometers) at 1420 Flower Street in nearby Glendale, California . About a year later, the growing computer graphics (CG) group would move there too. The animation division's first feature animation at its new location
11766-505: The departure of DreamWorks Animation upon completion of their distribution contract with Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Rise of the Guardians in 2012, Paramount announced the formation of a new animation division. The studio would initially produce one animated film a year with a maximum budget of $ 100 million. A key portion of the films would be co-produced with Nickelodeon and they would be cross-promoted at Nickelodeon's theme parks and hotels. In October 2011, Paramount named
11925-632: The development of Snow White eventually led to Walt Disney helping found the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) . This university formed via the merger of Chouinard Art Institute and the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. It included a Disney-developed animation program of study among its degree offerings. CalArts became the alma mater of many of the animators who would work at Disney and other animation studios from
12084-487: The division. The logo and the character of Star Skipper were designed by Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie lead visual development artist and art director Christopher Zibach and animated by ATK PLN and Reel FX Creative Studios . This logo debuted in front of The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run in 2020. The logo's music is the same as the standard Paramount Pictures logo, which
12243-505: The feature animation department created a caste system at the Disney studio: lesser animators (and feature animators in-between assignments) were assigned to work on the short subjects, while animators higher in status such as the Nine Old Men worked on the features. Concern over Walt Disney accepting credit for the artists' work as well as debates over compensation led to many of the newer and lower-ranked animators seeking to unionize
12402-521: The feature animation studio and outsourcing future animation. Roy E. Disney intervened, offering to head the feature animation division and turn its fortunes around, while Eisner established the Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group to produce lower-cost animation for television. Named Chairman of feature animation by Eisner, Roy E. Disney appointed Peter Schneider president of animation to run
12561-466: The film a 2 out of 4 star rating. He commended Keegan-Michael Key 's performance but felt the film to be overall an exhausting experience due to an overabundance of action scenes. Wilson Chapman of IndieWire gave the film a C grade and said: "It’s all executed competently but joylessly, with zero fun to be had as it labors across an hour and 40 minute runtime that feels both too short and painfully long." In April 2023, di Bonaventura stated that there
12720-457: The film and co-produced it. Like 20th Century Animation with animated films under 20th Century Studios , the studio also acts as somewhat of a distribution label for animated films that are made under or acquired by Paramount Pictures . The earliest case of this would be the aborted deal with Locksmith Animation. Additionally, Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank , originally expected to be distributed by Open Road Films and STX Entertainment ,
12879-450: The film as it takes place before the planet of Cybertron falls apart and while things are still going well. In order to make the Transformers feel more human and for the audiences to better connect, the team at ILM was instructed to make them more emotive with their faces and character animation. Measures applied to ensure this included making sure their faces were not covered all of the time and making their eyes more expressive. Cooley felt
13038-406: The film for its direction, animation, screenplay, and emotional core and felt it to have revitalized the Transformers franchise. Leigh Monson of The A.V. Club awarded the film a B- rating. They commended the story, animation, and voice performances, though felt the film to be predictable and unambitious. Randy Myers of The Mercury News gave the film a 3 out of 4 rating and referred to it as
13197-433: The film franchise's director Michael Bay , executive producer Steven Spielberg , and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura to set up a writers' room to create ideas for future Transformers films. According to Goldsman, the writing team would look at various Transformers media created by Hasbro for inspiration; if they found one that interested them, they could submit a treatment, which would then be further developed by
13356-417: The film in 2017. The studio's head Bob Bacon also left Paramount Animation that summer. In June 2015, it was revealed that Spain's Ilion Animation Studios (the studio behind 2009's Planet 51 ) won a bidding war against other animation studios to produce a 3D animated tentpole film for Paramount Animation, which was already in production since 2014. In November 2015, Paramount Animation officially announced
13515-503: The film industry, who dubbed the production "Disney's Folly", Disney proceeded undaunted into the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , which would become the first animated feature in English and Technicolor. Considerable training and development went into the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the studio greatly expanded, with established animators, artists from other fields and recent college graduates joining
13674-517: The film's direction, animation, and screenplay. He felt the film boasted a level of complexity and described it as "the most sophisticated onscreen portrait" of the Transformers to date. G. Allen Johnson of the San Francisco Chronicle compared the film favorably to the live-action installments, applauding its screenplay, visuals, and resonant themes, and describing it as unapologetically made for "the inner child." Carlos Aguilar of
13833-433: The film's final original box office take varying between $ 1.4 million and $ 1.9 million. However, Pinocchio was a critical success, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song and Best Original Score , making it the first film of the studio to win not only either Oscar, but both at the same time. Fantasia , an experimental film produced to an accompanying orchestral arrangement conducted by Leopold Stokowski ,
13992-399: The filmmakers wrote, bringing his charisma and comedy to them. From a fan's point of view, di Bonaventura felt important to respect longtime Optimus Prime actor Peter Cullen 's performance while not bringing him back to ensure the audience felt Prime's youth, leading to Hemsworth's casting, who surprised di Bonaventura with his "very strong sense of story". Cooley's desire to harken back to
14151-470: The franchise, Cooley and the team aimed to "inject more comedy and humanity" into the Transformers themselves. They wanted to make sure that the characters had enough humor and emotion to carry the story on their own. The film depicts how the Transformers gained the ability to transform, an idea Cooley found appealing. He felt that there was fun in seeing the characters learn and adapt to their new powers. The relationship between Optimus Prime and Megatron and
14310-523: The idea of an animated prequel set on Cybertron. The film was announced in August 2017, and by April 2020, Cooley had been hired to direct. Animation services were provided by Industrial Light & Magic , and the design was primarily influenced by the Generation 1 era and Art Deco . The score was composed by Brian Tyler . Transformers One premiered in Sydney, Australia, on September 11, 2024, and
14469-557: The incident on their superior, Elita-1 , and has her demoted. Cybertron's leader, Sentinel Prime , returns from an expedition to the planet's surface to find the lost Matrix of Leadership , the absence of which caused Energon to stop flowing; thus forcing the miners to extract it. Though unable to find it, he organizes a race to reprieve the population. To prove themselves as more than miners, Orion enters himself and D-16 illegally using jet packs but they lose. While Sentinel promises to reward them for boosting mining morale, Darkwing drags
14628-602: The incorporation of "Start Me Up" gave the film "a very 2000s DreamWorks Animation vibe." A second trailer debuted at San Diego Comic-Con on July 25, 2024. Transformers One was released on premium video-on-demand services on October 22, 2024, with Ultra HD Blu-ray , Blu-ray , and DVD copies to be distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment at a later date. It was released on the Paramount+ streaming service on November 15, 2024. As of November 20, 2024 , Transformers One has grossed $ 59.1 million in
14787-497: The industry such as Guillermo del Toro , Jorge R. Gutierrez , and Christopher Miller . This also contradicts an earlier statement by the division’s president Naito, who stated in a Deadline interview that she plans to release original animated features to continue building franchises. Under the Boardwalk , the studio's ninth film was instead given a limited theatrical release under the Nickelodeon Movies imprint. It
14946-453: The kids, we lose everything". The studio began the 1970s with the release of The Aristocats , the last film project to be approved by Walt Disney. In 1971, Roy O. Disney, the studio co-founder, died and Walt Disney Productions was left in the hands of Donn Tatum and Card Walker , who alternated as chairman and CEO in overlapping terms until 1978. The next feature, Robin Hood (1973),
15105-412: The latter becoming the third-highest-grossing animated feature film of all time . It also had the highest-grossing worldwide opening of all time for an animated feature film up until the release of Nintendo and Illumination 's The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023). By 2013, the studio had no hand-drawn animated features in development as a result of their computer animated films performing better at
15264-478: The latter two also having "story by" billing. When Cooley first joined the project, Hasbro gave him a bible that covered the lore for the entire franchise. Cooley wanted to capture an "epic quality" and grand scale for the film and used The Transformers: The Movie (1986) and Dune (1965) as points of reference. As there are no human characters in Transformers One as they are in previous films in
15423-473: The main output accompanied by cartoons starring Mickey Mouse, Figaro and, in the 1950s, Chip 'n' Dale and Humphrey the Bear . In addition, Disney began reissuing the previous features, beginning with re-releases of Snow White in 1944, Pinocchio in 1945, and Fantasia in 1946. This led to a tradition of reissuing the Disney films every seven years, which lasted into the 1990s before being translated into
15582-406: The midst of the animators' strike, premiered in October 1941 and proved to be a financial success. The film cost $ 950,000 to produce, half the cost of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , less than a third of the cost of Pinocchio , and two-fifths of the cost of Fantasia . Dumbo eventually grossed $ 1.6 million during its original release. Dumbo was the first Disney animated film to be completed at
15741-471: The optimal medium for this oft-adapted franchise." Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 64 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it an average five out of five stars, with 75% saying they would definitely recommend it. Todd Gilchrist of Variety praised
15900-502: The original Animation Building of the Walt Disney Studios (Walt Disney Productions) in Burbank, California . In August 1942, Bambi was released and, as with Pinocchio and Fantasia , did not perform well at the box office. Out of its $ 1.7 million budget, it grossed $ 1.64 million. Production of full-length animated features was temporarily suspended after the release of Bambi . Given the financial failures of some of
16059-463: The poor box office income, production designer Jason Scheier stated in a podcast that a sequel is still possible if there is enough demand from the Transformers fanbase. Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios ( WDAS ), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation , is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company . The studio's current production logo features
16218-433: The production of new animated features, the first of which was Pinocchio , released in February 1940. Pinocchio was not initially a box office success. The box office returns from the film's initial release were below both Snow White 's unprecedented success and the studio's expectations. Of the film's $ 2.289 million cost – twice of Snow White – Disney recouped $ 1 million by late 1940, with studio reports of
16377-423: The project as Amusement Park , (later renamed Wonder Park ) with former Pixar animator Dylan Brown helming. The studio also announced Monster Trucks , The Little Prince , Sherlock Gnomes , and the third SpongeBob film. The studio's second film, The Little Prince , was released on July 29, 2015, in France. It was scheduled to be released on March 18, 2016, in the United States, but Paramount canceled
16536-491: The recent features and World War II cutting off much of the overseas cinema market, the studio's financiers at the Bank of America would only loan the studio working capital if it temporarily restricted itself to shorts production. Features then in production such as Peter Pan , Alice in Wonderland and Lady and the Tramp were therefore put on hold until after the war. Following the United States' entry into World War II after
16695-488: The same time in 1988, Disney started entering into Australia's long-standing animation industry by purchasing Hanna-Barbera 's Australian studio to start Disney Animation Australia . While Oliver & Company and the next feature The Little Mermaid were in production, Disney collaborated with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and master animator Richard Williams to produce Who Framed Roger Rabbit ,
16854-419: The score and was released by Sony Classical Records and Milan Records on September 20, 2024. An original song for the film, "If I Fall", written by Tyler and performed by Quavo and Ty Dolla Sign , was released as a single on September 6, 2024. A second original song, "Together As One", by DJ and producer Excision , was released on September 12, 2024. Transformers One screened as a work-in-progress at
17013-414: The shorts division was shut down in 1956. After that, all future shorts were produced by the feature films division until 1969. The last Disney short of the golden age of animation was It's Tough to Be a Bird . Disney shorts would only be produced on a sporadic basis from this point on, with notable later shorts including Runaway Brain (1995, starring Mickey Mouse) and Paperman (2012). Despite
17172-430: The standard Paramount logo. On September 19, 2019, Paramount Animation introduced a new animated logo featuring a character nicknamed "Star Skipper". When Mireille Soria came to Paramount Animation, one of the first goals set by Jim Gianopulos was to make a logo for the division. The crew wanted to put a female character in the logo because the studio's team is mostly female, and according to Soria, it captures "the magic" of
17331-607: The stop-motion The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), a live-action adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (2010), and a stop-motion feature remake of Frankenweenie (2012). Bird was also fired after a few years working at the company for criticizing Disney's upper management as he felt that they were playing it safe and not taking risks on animation. He subsequently became an animation director at other studios, including Warner Bros. Animation and Pixar. Ron Miller , Walt Disney's son-in-law, became president of Walt Disney Productions in 1980 and CEO in 1983. That year, he expanded
17490-484: The story. In September 2024, di Bonaventura confirmed that they will make a Transformers One sequel if the film turns out a success, with the filmmakers already devising ideas for a character-driven sequel like its predecessor. On November 20, 2024, following the film's underperformance, Hasbro announced that they would no longer be co-financing film adaptions of their products and IPs , instead leaving external studios to exclusively fund such projects. However, despite
17649-400: The studio and observe animators at work. That same year, the studio released The Little Mermaid , which became a keystone achievement in Disney's history as its largest critical and commercial success in decades. Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, who'd been co-directors on The Great Mouse Detective , The Little Mermaid earned $ 84 million at the North American box office, a record for
17808-449: The studio has produced 63 feature films , from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to Moana 2 (2024), and hundreds of short films . Founded as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio ( DBCS ) in 1923, renamed Walt Disney Studio ( WDS ) in 1926 and incorporated as Walt Disney Productions ( WDP ) in 1929, the studio was dedicated to producing short films until it entered feature production in 1934, resulting in 1937's Snow White and
17967-400: The studio to work on the film. The training classes, supervised by head animators such as Les Clark , Norm Ferguson and Art Babbit and taught by Donald W. Graham , an art teacher from the nearby Chouinard Art Institute , had begun at the studio in 1932 and were greatly expanded into orientation training and continuing education classes. In the course of teaching the classes, Graham and
18126-412: The studio's animation output was for the military. During the war, Disney produced the live-action/animated military propaganda feature Victory Through Air Power (1943), and a series of Latin culture -themed shorts resulting from the 1941 Good Neighbor trip were compiled into two features, Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944). Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros set
18285-447: The studio's feature films. It was Reitherman who was responsible for a noticeable softening of Disney villains, and over the next two decades, nearly all Disney villains were more comical or pitiful than scary. Reitherman's main priority was ensuring that the studio would continue to turn a profit and towards that end, he stressed the importance of making family-friendly films. According to Andreas Deja , Reitherman said that "if we lose
18444-619: The studio's first film and would be released in 2014. A short time after, the film was delayed to early 2015. In August 2012, Variety reported that Paramount Animation was in the process of starting development of several animated films in collaboration with Nickelodeon, Mary Parent , and J. J. Abrams . Besides the SpongeBob sequel, Paramount Animation considered adapting Dora the Explorer , The Legend of Korra , and Monkey Quest into films. The increase in animated film production
18603-482: The studio's handling of home video releases. In 1948, Disney returned to the production of full-length features with Cinderella , a feature film based on the fairy tale by Charles Perrault . At a cost of nearly $ 3 million, the future of the studio depended upon the success of this film. Upon its release in 1950, Cinderella proved to be a box-office success, with the profits from the film's release allowing Disney to carry on producing animated features throughout
18762-413: The studio's highest-grossing animated feature since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , the film's large production costs and the box office underperformance of Disney's other 1959 output resulted in the studio posting its first annual loss in a decade for fiscal year 1960, leading to massive layoffs throughout the studio. By the end of the decade, the Disney short subjects were no longer being produced on
18921-423: The studio's thin film slate and Goodman greenlighting box office bombs at the studio. Paramount announced another SpongeBob film later that year. 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
19080-700: The studio, and development continued on The Black Cauldron , a long-gestating adaptation of the Chronicles of Prydain series of novels by Lloyd Alexander produced in Super Technirama 70. The Black Cauldron was intended to expand the appeal of Disney animated films to older audiences and to showcase the talents of the new generation of Disney animators from CalArts. Besides Keane, Musker and Clements, this new group of artists included other promising animators such as Andreas Deja , Mike Gabriel , John Lasseter , Brad Bird and Tim Burton . Lasseter
19239-488: The studio, from top-level animators such as Art Babbitt and Bill Tytla to artists better known for their work outside the Disney studio such as Frank Tashlin , Maurice Noble , Walt Kelly , Bill Melendez , and John Hubley . Hubley, along with several other Disney strikers, went on to found the United Productions of America studio, Disney's key animation rival in the 1950s. Dumbo , in production during
19398-416: The studio. The film was built around a score from Broadway songwriters Alan Menken and Howard Ashman , who was also a co-producer and story consultant on the film. The Little Mermaid won two Academy Awards, for Best Original Song and Best Original Score . The Little Mermaid vigorously relaunched a profound new interest in the animation and musical film genres. The film was also the first to feature
19557-746: The template for several other 1940s Disney releases of "package films": low-budgeted films composed of animated short subjects with animated or live-action bridging material. These films were Make Mine Music (1946), Fun and Fancy Free (1947), Melody Time (1948) and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949). The studio also produced two features, Song of the South (1946) and So Dear to My Heart (1948), which used more expansive live-action stories which still included animated sequences and sequences combining live-action and animated characters. Shorts production continued during this period as well, with Donald Duck , Goofy , and Pluto cartoons being
19716-782: The third Mickey Mouse cartoon, Steamboat Willie , became Disney's first cartoon with synchronized sound and was a major success upon its November 1928 debut at the West 57th Theatre in New York City. The Mickey Mouse series of sound cartoons, distributed by Powers through Celebrity Productions, quickly became the most popular cartoon series in the United States. A second Disney series of sound cartoons, Silly Symphonies , debuted in 1929 with The Skeleton Dance . In 1929, disputes over finances between Disney and Powers led to Disney's animation production company, reincorporated on December 16, 1929, as Walt Disney Productions , signing
19875-441: The title was officially confirmed as Transformers One . di Bonaventura stated that the plot will center around the origins of the Transformers, and explore the events that lead Optimus and Megatron to go from being brothers-in-arms to becoming enemies. The budget was reportedly $ 75 million, although one source put the cost of production as high as $ 147 million. Eric Pearson , Barrer, and Ferrari received screenplay credit, with
20034-409: The tragedy of their falling out is the emotional core of the film. For Cooley, it was important to show that Megatron was not just a villain. He wanted people who did not know Transformers to come into the film and not be able to immediately pick up who was going to be good or bad. He took inspiration from several famous brothers-turned-enemies stories from across pop culture when crafting the arc. As
20193-454: The truth. Sentinel's forces find them, and in the ensuing battle, D-16, B-127, and Starscream are captured, along with half the High Guard, while the evidence chip is destroyed. Orion, encouraged by Elita, rallies the remaining High Guard members and returns to Iacon to rescue their comrades. Once there, Orion convinces the miners to rebel while Elita exposes Sentinel by broadcasting the memory recordings of his lieutenant, Airachnid , throughout
20352-559: The two companies. It was also revealed that The Tiger’s Apprentice (which was originally being directed by Carlos Baena ) will now be directed by Raman Hui , with Paul Watling and Yong Duk Jhun being co-directors. Bob Persichetti (the Academy Award-winning co-director of Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ) had also joined the film as a producer. On July 26, 2023, Robbins revealed in
20511-409: The two to garbage incineration , where they meet the eccentric B-127 . After discovering a chip among the junk containing a distress message from Alpha Trion , one of the Primes, Orion convinces D-16 and B-127 to travel with him to his coordinates on the surface; they also persuade Elita to join when she catches them hitchhiking on a cargo train. The four eventually find a deactivated Trion alongside
20670-625: The unprecedented success of Gone with the Wind two years later, grossing over $ 8 million on its initial release, the equivalent of $ 173,163,120 in 1999 dollars. During the production of Snow White , work had continued on the Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies series of shorts. Mickey Mouse switched to Technicolor in 1935, by which time the series had added several major supporting characters, among them Mickey's dog, Pluto , and their friends Donald Duck and Goofy . Donald, Goofy, and Pluto would all be appearing in series of their own by 1940, and
20829-537: The upcoming Tom Wheeler book C.O.S.M.O.S. and an original animated film from the Comedy Central star Trevor Noah . On September 30, 2021, shortly after Brian Robbins replaced Jim Gianopulos as the chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, it was announced that Ramsey Ann Naito would replace Mireille Soria as the president of Paramount Animation in addition to her current role as the president of Nickelodeon Animation Studio . The studio's eighth film Rumble
20988-438: The use of Disney's Computer Animation Production System (CAPS). Developed for Disney by Pixar, which had grown into a commercial computer animation and technology development company, CAPS/ink-and-paint would become significant in allowing future Disney films to more seamlessly integrate computer-generated imagery and achieve higher production values with digital ink and paint and compositing techniques. The Little Mermaid
21147-404: The visual effects for the first six live-action Transformers installments, returned to provide the animation for the film. Rob Coleman served as animation supervisor, and Frazier Churchill served as VFX supervisor. Cooley directed the studio to create a visual style for the film that was realistic enough to be believable while still looking like it was crafted by human hands. The designs of
21306-476: The whole team. In late May, the team of Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari signed on as writers. According to Deadline Hollywood , one of the ideas from the writer's room had the working title Transformers One and would serve as an animated prequel focusing on the Autobot–Decepticon conflict that began on Cybertron. In August 2017, it was reported that an animated Transformers film was officially in
21465-561: The works of United Productions of America (UPA), whose flat art style and stylized animation techniques were lauded as more modern alternatives to the older Disney style. During the 1950s, only one Disney short, the stylized Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom , won the Best Short Subject (Cartoons) Oscar. The Mickey Mouse , Pluto and Goofy shorts had all ceased regular production by 1953, with Donald Duck and Humphrey continuing and converting to widescreen CinemaScope before
21624-401: The works. Following the release of Bumblebee (2018), di Bonaventura discussed the animated film, clarifying that it was "in the works" and would "tell the whole Cybertron mythology". Bumblebee director Travis Knight additionally expressed interest in the film. In April 2020, it was reported that former Pixar animator and filmmaker Josh Cooley had been hired to direct the film and
21783-536: The years. Despite its financial failure, Fantasia was the subject of two Academy Honorary Awards on February 26, 1942 – one for the development of the innovative Fantasound system used to create the film's stereoscopic soundtrack, and the other for Stokowski and his contributions to the film. Fantasia was the final Disney animated film to be completed at the Hyperion Studio of the Walt Disney Studios (Walt Disney Productions) in Los Angeles. Much of
21942-464: Was The Great Mouse Detective (1986), begun by John Musker and Ron Clements as Basil of Baker Street after both left production of The Black Cauldron . The film was enough of a critical and commercial success to instill executive confidence in the animation studio. Later the same year, however, Universal Pictures and Steven Spielberg 's Amblin Entertainment released Don Bluth's An American Tail , which outgrossed The Great Mouse Detective at
22101-420: Was "for many decades the undisputed world leader in animated features"; it developed many of the techniques, concepts and principles that became standard practices of traditional animation . The studio also pioneered the art of storyboarding , which is now a standard technique used in both animated and live-action filmmaking, as well as television shows and video games. The studio's catalog of animated features
22260-427: Was a critical and commercial failure. The film's $ 21 million box office gross led to a loss for the studio, putting the future of the animation division in jeopardy. Between the 1950s and 1980s, the significance of animation to Disney's bottom line was significantly reduced as the company expanded into further live-action production, television and theme parks. As new CEO, Michael Eisner strongly considered shuttering
22419-500: Was acquired by Paramount to be distributed under Paramount Animation, later being distributed under Nickelodeon Movies. Paramount Animation does not have an in-house animation style. According to Mireille Soria, each film has their own unique style created by the filmmakers, which would be helped by outsourcing animation to different vendors. When Ramsey Ann Naito took charge of Paramount Animation in September 2021, she brought over
22578-407: Was cast as Starscream . Cooley desired to get a voice cast as impressive as that of The Transformers: The Movie . Transformers One marks Hemsworth's first animated feature film. The actor joined the project after being impressed with the screenplay. Hemsworth made efforts to not use his regular speaking voice for Optimus Prime. Many of Hemsworth's lines in the film were "riff offs" from what
22737-434: Was critically acclaimed and grossed over $ 245 million at the box office. The success of Rango helped Paramount discover its potential in making successful animated features on its own. In June of that year, the studio acquired the rights to produce an animated film based on Penny Arcade 's 2010 webcomic The New Kid . In July 2011, in the wake of Rango ' s success, the high hopes for The Adventures of Tintin , and
22896-605: Was deemed disappointing, but there was optimism that the film would do well over time. In its second weekend, the film had a 62.8% drop, making only $ 9.2 million and finishing in third. This was attributed to the lack of marketing and interest from families, as well as facing competition from The Wild Robot , which took over in premium format screens. Internationally, the film was released on dates ranging from September 11, 2024 (in Indonesia), to October 24, 2024 (in Israel). In
23055-482: Was due to DreamWorks Animation being in talks with other studios to distribute their post-2012 animated films. On July 31, 2013, Paramount Animation announced that they were developing a new live-action/animated franchise in the vein of the Transformers series, which was titled Monster Trucks . Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger were set to write the film's script, Chris Wedge (director of 2002's Ice Age )
23214-568: Was fired from Disney in 1983 for pushing the studio to explore computer animation production, but went on to become the creative head of Pixar , a pioneering computer animation studio that would begin a close association with Disney in the late 1980s. Similarly, Burton was fired in 1984 after producing a live-action short shelved by the studio, Frankenweenie , then went on to become a high-profile producer and director of live-action and stop-motion features for Disney and other studios. Some of Burton's high-profile projects for Disney would include
23373-465: Was initially delayed to September 13, before shifting a week later to avoid competition with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice . The first trailer for Transformers One was released online on April 18, 2024 to positive response. It featured a custom introduction from Hemsworth and Henry, and incorporated the song " Start Me Up " by the Rolling Stones . It made its debut via a spacecraft that
23532-563: Was key in renewing mainstream interest in American animation. Other than the film itself, the studio also produced three Roger Rabbit shorts during the late 1980s and early 1990s. A second satellite studio, Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida , opened in 1989 with 40 employees. Its offices were located within the Disney-MGM Studios theme park at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida , and visitors were allowed to tour
23691-491: Was launched 125,000 feet above the Earth. Brian Welk of IndieWire felt that the film looked to have appeal for both younger audiences and longtime Transformers fans. Alex Billington of FirstShowing.net found the trailer amusing and felt that the film had promise, though he opined that it seemed to be more geared towards younger audiences than compared to previous Transformers films. Eric Diaz of Nerdist commented that
23850-400: Was overseeing the script by Barrer and Ferrari. Hasbro Entertainment and Paramount Animation would produce the film. In February 2022, it emerged that the film would be computer-animated. In December 2022, the title was reported to be Transformers: A New Generation , though di Bonaventura later stated in April 2023 that the title had yet to be finalized. Later that month, at CinemaCon ,
24009-406: Was produced with a significantly reduced budget and animation repurposed from previous features. Both The Aristocats and Robin Hood were minor box office and critical successes. The Rescuers , released in 1977, was a success exceeding the achievements of the previous two Disney features. Receiving positive reviews, high commercial returns, and an Academy Award nomination, it ended up being
24168-488: Was released by Paramount Pictures in the United States on September 20. The film has received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the story, animation, voice performances, and humor, but underperformed at the box office , grossing $ 128.9 million worldwide on a budget of $ 75–147 million. Cybertron is a planet inhabited by sentient robots fueled by a substance called Energon and fitted with transformation cogs, devices that allow them to transform into vehicles. In
24327-484: Was released in November 1940 by Disney itself in a series of limited-seating roadshow engagements. The film cost $ 2 million to produce and, although the film earned $ 1.4 million in its roadshow engagements, the high cost ($ 85,000 per theater) of installing Fantasound placed Fantasia at a greater loss than Pinocchio . RKO assumed distribution of Fantasia in 1941, later reissuing it in severely edited versions over
24486-559: Was released on December 15, 2021, on Paramount+ . It was originally expected to be released in theaters on February 18, 2022, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic , it was later moved to Paramount+. It received mixed reviews. On January 20, 2022, Latifa Ouaou (a veteran of both Illumination and DreamWorks Animation via Universal Pictures ) 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
24645-659: Was released on October 27, 2023, with a video-on-demand release on November 7. The studio's tenth film, The Tiger's Apprentice , was released on February 2, 2024 on Paramount+, after facing several theatrical delays and its theatrical release being cancelled. It received mixed reviews from critics. On March 5, 2024, Paramount Animation signed a multi-year first-look deal with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem director Jeff Rowe . Under this deal, Rowe will produce and direct both animated and live-action films, including
24804-525: Was released to mixed reviews and became a box office failure, grossing $ 64.5 million on a $ 125 million budget and losing the studio $ 120 million. In March 2017, Skydance Media formed a multi-year partnership with Ilion Animation Studios , forming Skydance Animation . In April 2017, Paramount ended its deal with Locksmith Animation when Paramount chairman and CEO Brad Grey was replaced by Jim Gianopulos , who decided that their projects did not fit in with Paramount's other upcoming releases. Locksmith formed
24963-435: Was set to direct the film, and Mary Parent was set to produce the film, with an initial release date set for May 29, 2015. The studio's first film, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water , was released on February 6, 2015, to positive reviews and was a box office success, grossing over $ 325 million worldwide and becoming the fifth highest grossing animated film of 2015. That same month, Paramount fired Adam Goodman due to
25122-571: Was the Silly Symphony cartoon Flowers and Trees , the first film commercially released in full Technicolor. Flowers and Trees was a major success and all Silly Symphonies were subsequently produced in Technicolor. By the early 1930s, Walt Disney had realized that the success of animated films depended upon telling emotionally gripping stories that would grab the audience and not let go, and this realization led him to create
25281-487: Was the first of a series of blockbusters that would be released over the next decade by Walt Disney Feature Animation, a period later designated by the term Disney Renaissance . The Renaissance era also saw the studio return to making films with darker themes and scarier villains, similar to the films it had made when Walt Disney was still alive. Accompanied in theaters by the Mickey Mouse featurette The Prince and
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