Universal Animation Studios Explained

Universal Animation Studios LLC
Former Names:	Universal Cartoon Studios (1990–2005)
Type:	Division
Industry:	Animation
Foundation:	^[1]
Location:	111 Universal Hollywood Drive, Universal City, California, U.S.^[2] ^[3] 1000 Flower Street, Glendale, California, U.S.^[4]
Locations:	2
Products:	Animated films Animated television shows
Predecessor:	Studio: Walter Lantz Productions Library: Sullivan Bluth Studios Amblimation (distribution through The Land Before Time and respectively by Universal Pictures)
Parent:	Universal Pictures

Universal Animation Studios LLC^[5] (formerly known as Universal Cartoon Studios) is an American animation studio and a division of Universal Pictures, which is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast. It has produced direct-to-video sequels to Universal-released feature films, such as The Land Before Time, An American Tail, Balto, and Curious George, as well as other films and television series.

The actual animation production is done overseas, usually by foreign animation studios such as AKOM, Wang Film Productions and Rough Draft Studios, while pre-production and post-production is United States-based.

The television animation divisions of Universal and DreamWorks merged on August 23, 2016 after Universal completed its acquisition of DreamWorks Animation, who began producing a majority of Universal Pictures' family friendly TV shows.^[6]

History

Universal Animation Studios was established in 1990 as Universal Cartoon Studios, the animation division of MCA Inc.^[7] It was originally a subsidiary of Universal Family Entertainment, which was headed by Jeff Segal.^[8] Its debut work was Back to the Future: The Animated Series, which was announced on March 22, 1991, and premiered on CBS on September 14 the same year.^{[9] [10]}

In 1996, the two groups Universal Family Entertainment and its subsidiary Universal Cartoon Studios were absorbed into MCA Television Entertainment.^[11]

In 2005, Universal Cartoon Studios was absorbed into Universal Studios Family Productions, and later on, it was renamed to Universal Animation Studios.^{[12] [13]}

Franchises

This is not including the original films of An American Tail, The Land Before Time and Balto made by either Hanna-Barbera Productions, Sullivan Bluth Studios or Amblimation.

Titles	Release dates	Movies	TV Seasons
Woody Woodpecker	1991–present^1	2	6
An American Tail	1986–1999	4	1
The Land Before Time	1988–2016	14	2
Balto	1995–2004	3	0
Alvin and the Chipmunks	1999–2000	2	0
Curious George	2006–2022	6	15

^1:The date reflects the first appearance of Woody Woodpecker in a production from Universal Cartoon Studios rather than the date when the character was originally created in 1940 by Walter Lantz Productions.

Filmography

Feature films

Theatrical feature films

	Title	Release date	Director	Writer(s)		Producer(s)	Co-production with
				Story	Screenplay
1	Curious George			Ken Kaufman Mike Werb	Ken Kaufman	Ron Howard David Kirschner Jon Shapiro	Imagine Entertainment
2	Woody Woodpecker			William Robertson Alex Zamm Daniel Altiere Steven Altiere	William Robertson Alex Zamm		Universal 1440 Entertainment

Combines live-action with animation.

Not released theatrically in the United States

Direct-to-video/streaming feature films

Children's feature films

	Title	Release date	Co-production with
as Universal Cartoon Studios
1			N/A
2
3
4
5			Renaissance Pictures
6			N/A
7
8	Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein		Bagdasarian Productions, LLC.
9			N/A
10	Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman		Bagdasarian Productions, LLC.
11			N/A
12
13
14
15			Paramount Pictures Nickelodeon Animation Studio
16			N/A
17
18
19	The Adventures of Brer Rabbit
as Universal Animation Studios
20			N/A
21
22			Imagine Entertainment
23	The Little Engine That Could		Crest Animation Productions
24	Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle^[14]		Imagine Entertainment Universal 1440 Entertainment
25	^[15]		Universal 1440 Entertainment
26	Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You		Universal 1440 Entertainment Splash Entertainment Telegael Magic Carpet Productions
27	Curious George: Royal Monkey^[16]		Imagine Entertainment Universal 1440 Entertainment
28	Curious George: Go West, Go Wild^[17]	September 8, 2020
29	Bobbleheads: The Movie	December 8, 2020	Threshold Animation Studios Universal 1440 Entertainment
30	Curious George: Cape Ahoy^[18]	September 30, 2021	Imagine Entertainment Universal 1440 Entertainment
31	Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp^[19]	^[20]	Universal 1440 Entertainment

Adult animated short films

	Title	Release date	Co-production with
as Universal Cartoon Studios
1			N/A
2

Released on Peacock.

Released on Netflix.

Adult animated production.

Short films

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

Television series

	Title	Creator(s) / Developer(s)	Original run	Network	Co-production with
as Universal Cartoon Studios
1	Back to the Future		1991–1992		Amblin Television Zaloom/Mayfield Productions BIG Pictures
2	Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories		1992–1993		Think Entertainment
3	Fievel's American Tails		1992		Amblin Television Nelvana
4	Exosquad	Jeff Segal Eric Lewald Michael Edens	1993–1994		N/A
5	Problem Child				D'Ocon Films Productions (season 1) Lacewood Productions (season 2)
6	Monster Force		1994		Lacewood Productions
7	Beethoven	N/A	1994–1995		Northern Lights Entertainment
8	Earthworm Jim		1995–1996		Shiny Entertainment
9	The Savage Dragon				Lacewood Productions (season 1) Studio B Productions (season 2) P3 Entertainment USA Studios
10	The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper		1996–1998		Amblin Television Harveytoons
11	Wing Commander Academy	Michael Edens Mark Edens	1996		USA Studios
12		N/A			Edition Dupuis France S.A. Mediatoon Lacewood Productions
13	The New Woody Woodpecker Show	Bob Jaques Kelly Armstrong	1999–2002		N/A
14		Thomas Pugsley Greg Klein	2001–2003		Studios USA Television (season 1) The Sommers Company
as Universal Animation Studios
15	Curious George	Joe Fallon	2006–2022	PBS Kids (2006–2022) Family Jr. (2018–2020) Peacock (2020–2022)	Imagine Entertainment (seasons 1–9, 14–15) WGBH Boston (seasons 1–12) Universal 1440 Entertainment (seasons 10–15)
16	The Land Before Time		2007–2008		Amblin Entertainment
17	Woody Woodpecker		2018–2022		Universal Pictures International Universal 1440 Entertainment Splash Entertainment

Television specials

	Title	Release date	Network	Co-production with
as Universal Cartoon Studios
1	A Wish for Wings That Work		CBS	Amblin Television
as Universal Animation Studios
2	Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas		PBS Kids	Imagine Entertainment WGBH Boston
3	Curious George Swings Into Spring
4	Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest
5	How Murray Saved Christmas		NBC	Universal Television

Miscellaneous work

• 63rd Academy Awards (1991) – animation for Woody Woodpecker presenting the award for Best Animated Short Film^[21]
• Kids WB! promos – Earthworm Jim segments.
• The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (1999) – traditionally-animated introduction^[22]
• Dudley-Do Right’s RipSaw Falls (1999) – traditionally-animated queue video.

Cancelled projects

• Escape from Jurassic Park,^[23] an animated TV series that takes place after the first Jurassic Park film, was confirmed to be in development and awaiting Steven Spielberg's approval in June 1993.^[24] The series would have centered on John Hammond's attempts to finish Jurassic Park and open it to the public, while InGen's corporate rival Biosyn is simultaneously planning to open their own dinosaur theme park in Brazil, which ultimately ends with their dinosaurs escaping into the jungles.^{[25] [26] [27]} Artist William Stout was hired to work on the series and subsequently made a trailer to demonstrate how the series would look, and how it would combine traditional animation with computer animation. The series required Spielberg's final approval before it could go into production. However, Spielberg had grown tired of the massive promotion and merchandise revolving around the film, and never watched the trailer.^[28] On July 13, 1993, Margaret Loesch, president of the Fox Children's Network, confirmed that discussions had been held with Spielberg about an animated version of the film. Loesch also said, "At least for now and in the foreseeable future, there will not be an animated Jurassic Park. That's Steven Spielberg's decision, and we respect that decision."^[29]
• A pair of traditionally animated cutscenes were produced for the 1996 video game Crash Bandicoot to serve as the game's intro and outro, as well as act as source material for a potential animated series if the game was well-received and commercially successful. The hand-drawn cutscenes were dropped after Sony Computer Entertainment picked up Crash Bandicoot for publication, as Sony desired to push the PlayStation's 3D polygonal graphics. The cutscenes were uploaded to YouTube by producer David Siller in 2015.^{[30] [31]}
• Jurassic Park: Chaos Effect, an animated television series based on , was confirmed to be in development within the third part of a four-part comic adaptation of the film published by Topps Comics in July 1997.^{[32] [33]} In November 1997, it was reported that the cartoon would be accompanied by Jurassic Park: Chaos Effect, a series of dinosaur toys produced by Kenner and based on a premise that scientists had created dinosaur hybrids consisting of DNA from different creatures. That month, it was also reported that the cartoon could be ready by March 1998, as a mid-season replacement.^[34] The Chaos Effect toyline was released in June 1998,^[35] but the animated series was never produced, for unknown reasons.^[36]

See also

• Illumination
• DreamWorks Animation
  • DreamWorks Animation Television
• List of Universal Pictures theatrical animated feature films
• List of unproduced Universal Pictures animated projects
• List of animation studios owned by NBCUniversal

Notes and References

1. Web site: Registration Certificate. United States Patent and Trademark Office. September 25, 2014. October 6, 1992. First use 4-5-1991, in commerce 4-5-1991..
2. Web site: Animation Production Companies. June 8, 2009. May 12, 2020. Backstage.com.
3. Book: Motion Picture Almanac. June 6, 2008. Quigley Publishing Company . 9780900610806 . May 12, 2020. Google Books.
4. Web site: 2017 Studio List. August 29, 2017. May 12, 2020. Animationguild.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20210625094004/https://animationguild.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/2017-Studio-List-0829.pdf. June 25, 2021. live.
5. Web site: 2002-04-12 . Universal Animation Studios LLC . 2023-09-03 . OpenCorporates.
6. Web site: NBCUniversal Sets New DreamWorks Animation Chain of Command. James. Rainey. 23 August 2016.
7. News: Orlando theme park features characters . . . 35 . July 19, 1991 . July 6, 2021.
8. News: May 27, 1991 . Universal opens new toon town . 39 . . October 12, 2023.
9. News: Future Has a Future . . . 480 . March 22, 1991 . July 6, 2021.
10. News: Short Subjects . Boyar . Jay . . . 68 . September 6, 1991 . July 6, 2021.
11. News: 1996-04-22 . Fisher gets expanded role at MCA . . live . 2021-09-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210925001144/https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/96-OCR/BC-1996-04-22-OCR-Page-0034.pdf . 2021-09-25.
12. Web site: Gallo . Scott Hettrick,Eliza . Hettrick . Scott . Gallo . Eliza . 2005-03-07 . U homevid units in family way . 2023-10-12 . Variety . en-US.
13. Web site: Universal Home Ent. Family Prods. Ups Patti Jackson and Ellen Cockrill . 2023-10-12 . Animation World Network . en.
14. Web site: Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle. Universal Studios Entertainment. March 30, 2015.
15. Web site: Rawr: Reba's Voice Will Be In The Next Land Before Time Movie. US99.5. November 21, 2015. August 18, 2015.
16. News: Milligan . Kaitlin . Curious George Royal Monkey arrives on DVD, Digital 9/10 . January 13, 2022 . BroadwayWorld.com . July 24, 2019 . en.
17. Web site: White. Peter. 2020-09-03. 'Curious George: Go West, Go Wild' Film Heads To Peacock As Part Of Kids' Slate. 2020-09-03. Deadline. en.
18. Web site: Nash. Anthony. 2021-09-30. Exclusive Curious George: Cape Ahoy Clip From Peacock's Animated Film. 2021-09-30. Comingsoon.net. en.
19. Web site: Slatter . Sean . 2021-09-12 . Universal 1440 Entertainment's 'Woody Woodpecker' sequel filming in Victoria . 2023-08-15 . IF Magazine . en-AU.
20. Web site: Lang . Jamie . 2024-02-01 . Netflix Announces New Hybrid 'Woody Woodpecker' Feature, Coming April 12 . 2024-02-01 . Cartoon Brew . en-US.
21. Web site: Short Film Winners: 1991 Oscars. Oscars. 7 July 2015. YouTube.
22. Web site: The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (1999) - IMDb. www.imdb.com.
23. Web site: Escape from Jurassic Park – 1993 animated series detailed . Pugh . Chris . June 1, 2016 . JurassicOutpost.com. July 3, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160706140317/http://jurassicoutpost.com/escape-jurassic-park-1993-animated-series-detailed/. July 6, 2016. live.
24. Web site: 'Jurassic' series? . June 17, 1993 . The San Bernardino Sun. December 20, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161220164342/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7933279/the_san_bernardino_county_sun/. December 20, 2016. live.
25. Web site: Squires . John . Art and Story Details from Cancelled 'Jurassic Park' Animated Series Finally Surface . Bloody Disgusting . December 6, 2016 . December 6, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161208122622/http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3417036/art-story-details-cancelled-jurassic-park-animated-series-finally-surface/. December 8, 2016. live.
26. Web site: Scott . Ryan . Canceled Jurassic Park Animated Series Full Season Details Revealed . MovieWeb . December 6, 2016 . December 6, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161208130247/http://movieweb.com/jurassic-park-animated-series-full-season-details/. December 8, 2016. live.
27. Web site: Pugh . Chris . The Entire First Season of the Cancelled Jurassic Park Television Series Revealed (Exclusive) . Jurassic Outpost . December 6, 2016 . December 5, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161207144739/http://jurassicoutpost.com/entire-first-season-cancelled-jurassic-park-television-series-revealed-exclusive/. December 7, 2016. live.
28. Web site: My Top Ten Favorite Dinosaur Films – Part One . WilliamStout.com . April 26, 2014 . June 25, 2015 . William . Stout. https://web.archive.org/web/20151106161512/http://www.williamstout.com/news/journal/?p=3518. November 6, 2015. live.
29. Web site: Dinosaur TV 'toons are extinct for now . Duffy . Mike . July 15, 1993 . The Indianapolis Star. December 20, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161220164513/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7933302/the_indianapolis_star/. December 20, 2016. live.
30. Web site: Crash Bandicoot Could Have Had These Sweet Animated Cutscenes . https://web.archive.org/web/20150721194615/http://kotaku.com/crash-bandicoot-could-have-had-these-sweet-animated-cut-1718880217 . Fahey . Mike . . . July 19, 2015 . July 21, 2015 . April 15, 2021 . live.
31. Web site: Long-lost Crash Bandicoot animation was for the game first, a cartoon series second . https://web.archive.org/web/20150721062329/http://www.polygon.com/2015/7/19/9000385/crash-bandicoot-cartoon-scenes-animation . Good . Owen S. . . . July 19, 2015 . July 21, 2015 . April 15, 2021 . live.
32. Web site: What's New . Finkelstein . Dan . July 20, 1997 . Dan's The Lost World Page. https://web.archive.org/web/20000603124700/http://users.nac.net/splat/lw/oldnews28.htm. June 3, 2000.
33. Web site: What's New . Finkelstein . Dan . July 22, 1997 . Dan's The Lost World Page. https://web.archive.org/web/20000603124700/http://users.nac.net/splat/lw/oldnews28.htm. June 3, 2000.
34. Web site: Chaos Effect . Finkelstein . Dan . November 11, 1997 . Dan's The Lost World Page. https://web.archive.org/web/19990909113130/http://users.nac.net/splat/lw/oldnews31.htm. September 9, 1999.
35. Web site: Chaos Effect . JPToys.com . June 25, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150626123538/http://www.jptoys.com/toy-database/chaos-effect/index.htm. June 26, 2015. live.
36. Web site: Interview With Tim Bradley . JPToys.com . March 1, 2008 . June 25, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150626124149/http://www.jptoys.com/jptoys-files/interviews/tim-bradley-interview/index.htm. June 26, 2015. live.