Aardman Animations Limited is a British Bristol-based animation studio. It is known for films and television series made using stop-motion and clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring its plasticine characters from Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, and Morph. After some experimental computer-animated short films during 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.
Cel shading or toon shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make 3D computer graphics appear to be flat by using less shading color instead of a shade gradient or tints and shades. A cel shader is often used to mimic the style of a comic book or cartoon and/or give the render a characteristic paper-like texture. There are similar techniques that can make an image look like a sketch, an oil painting or an ink painting. The name comes from cels, clear sheets of acetate which are painted on for use in traditional 2D animation.
Sir Christopher James Hampton is a British playwright, screenwriter, translator and film director. He is best known for his play Les Liaisons Dangereuses based on the novel of the same name and the film adaptation. He has thrice received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay: for Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Atonement (2007) and The Father (2020); winning for the former and latter.
Pepé Le Pew is an animated character from the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, introduced in 1945. Depicted as a French anthropomorphic striped skunk, Pepé is constantly on the quest for love and pursuit of romance but typically his skunk odor causes other characters to run away from him.
Surf's Up is a 2007 American animated mockumentary comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It was directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck from a screenplay they co-wrote with Don Rhymer and producer Chris Jenkins, based on a story by Jenkins and Christian Darren. The film stars the voices of Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder, and James Woods. It is a parody of surfing documentaries, such as The Endless Summer and Riding Giants, with parts of the plot parodying North Shore. Real-life surfers Kelly Slater and Rob Machado have vignettes as their penguin surfer counterparts. To obtain the desired hand-held documentary feel, the film's animation team motion-captured a physical camera operator's moves.
Joe Ochman is an American actor who is most active in voice over roles in various animation shows, films, and video games. He is the fourth and current voice of Jiminy Cricket since 2014.
Hellboy Animated is an American straight-to-DVD anime-inspired superhero film series based upon the Hellboy comic books by Mike Mignola. Both films are anthologies and contain the full-length titles named Sword of Storms and Blood and Iron, received the signature of Mike Mignola and Guillermo del Toro.
Harold and the Purple Crayon is a 1955 children's picture book written and illustrated by Crockett Johnson. Published by HarperCollins Publishers, it is Johnson's most popular book, and has led to a series of other related books, as well as many adaptations. The story is written in third-person point-of-view, and follows a young boy on an imaginative adventure through the night.
Chickenhare is a series of graphic novels, written and illustrated by the American author Chris Grine. The first two books were published by Dark Horse Comics, and the third was being released on-line as a web comic since November 2009, before its cancellation.
Ben Stassen is a Belgian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for directing and producing several animated films such as A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures (2010), Robinson Crusoe (2016), and The Queen's Corgi (2019).
Stuart Little is a mixed live-action and animated American film franchise based on the 1945 children's novel Stuart Little by E. B. White. The films are produced by Franklin / Waterman Productions and released by Columbia Pictures.
Hotel Transylvania is an American media franchise created by Todd Durham and owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. It consists of four animated feature films, three short films, an animated television series, and several video games.
nWave Studios is an animation studio based in Brussels, Belgium with an office in Los Angeles, California.
Surf's Up 2: WaveMania is a 2017 animated comedy film directed by Henry Yu. It is the sequel to the 2007 film Surf's Up. Produced by Sony Pictures Animation and WWE Studios with animation from Rainmaker Entertainment, the film received a direct-to-video release on January 17, 2017, on DVD and digital media. The reception to the sequel was mostly negative. Jeremy Shada and Melissa Sturm respectively replace Shia LaBeouf and Zooey Deschanel as Cody Maverick and Lani Aliikai. Jon Heder and Diedrich Bader return as Chicken Joe and Tank Evans, respectively, while WWE professional wrestlers John Cena, The Undertaker, Triple H, Saraya Bevis, Michael Cole, and Vince McMahon make up the rest of the cast.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines is a 2021 animated science fiction comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation. The film was directed by Mike Rianda and co-directed by Jeff Rowe, from a screenplay written by both of them. Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Kurt Albrecht served as producers. The film stars an ensemble voice cast that includes Danny McBride, Abbi Jacobson, Maya Rudolph, Rianda, Eric André, and Olivia Colman, with Fred Armisen, Beck Bennett, John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Blake Griffin, Conan O'Brien, and Doug the Pug in supporting roles. It follows the dysfunctional Mitchell family that winds up having to save Earth from a global uprising of robots while on a road trip.
Vivo is a 2021 American animated musical comedy film directed by Kirk DeMicco and co-directed by Brandon Jeffords, from a screenplay written by DeMicco and Quiara Alegría Hudes, and based on an original idea by Hudes and Peter Barsocchini, the film is produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, with original songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also serves as an executive producer and voices the title character. The film also features the voices of Zoe Saldaña, Juan de Marcos, Brian Tyree Henry, Michael Rooker, Nicole Byer, Gloria Estefan, and introduces Ynairaly Simo in her film debut as Gabi. Vivo marks Sony Pictures Animation's first musical film. The story follows Vivo (Miranda), a music-loving kinkajou, who embarks on the journey of a lifetime to fulfill his destiny and must deliver a love song to Marta Sandoval (Estefan), a retiring singer.
My Father's Dragon is a 2022 animated fantasy adventure comedy film directed by Nora Twomey with a screenplay by Meg LeFauve who co-wrote the story with John Morgan. It is based on the 1948 children's novel of the same name by Ruth Stiles Gannett. The film is also dedicated to Morgan who had since died. It stars the voices of Jacob Tremblay, Gaten Matarazzo, Golshifteh Farahani, Dianne Wiest, Rita Moreno, Chris O'Dowd, Judy Greer, Alan Cumming, Yara Shahidi, Jackie Earle Haley, Whoopi Goldberg, and Ian McShane.
