This list provides an overview of animated productions that can be considered as milestones in the development of animation techniques or in artistic or commercial success.
Year | Milestone | Film | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1878 | praxinoscope animation | Le singe musicien | |
1900 | Animation on standard celluloid film | The Enchanted Drawing | |
1917 | Synchronized sound on feature film; Lost | El Apóstol | Created with cutout animation; now considered lost. The film featured synchronized sound using a system Cristiani himself devised. [1] |
1926 | Feature film; Oldest surviving animated feature film | The Adventures of Prince Achmed | Cutout silhouette animation |
1919 | Filmed in Rotoscope | The Clown's Pup | Short film |
1926 | Synchronized sound on film with animated dialogue | My Old Kentucky Home [2] | Short film; used Lee de Forest's Phonofilm sound on film process; a dog character mouths the words, "Follow the ball, and join in, everybody!" |
1930 | Filmed in Two-color Technicolor | King of Jazz [3] | Premiering in April 1930, a three-minute cartoon sequence produced by Walter Lantz appears in this full-length, live-action Technicolor feature film. |
1930 | Two-color Technicolor in a stand-alone cartoon | Fiddlesticks | Released in August 1930, this Ub Iwerks-produced short is the first standalone color cartoon. |
1930 | Feature-length puppet animated (stop-motion) film | The Tale of the Fox | Only animation finished in 1930; not released with a soundtrack until 1937 |
1935 | The New Gulliver | The first released puppet-animated feature. Includes scenes of animation combined with live-action footage | |
1931 | Feature-length sound film | Peludópolis | Now considered lost |
1932 | Filmed in three-strip Technicolor | Flowers and Trees | Short film |
1937 | First film using Disney's multiplane camera | The Old Mill | Short film. A predecessor of the multiplane technique had already been used for The Adventures of Prince Achmed. Ub Iwerks had developed an early version of the multiplane camera in 1934 for his The Headless Horseman Comicolor Cartoon. [4] |
Feature filmed in three-strip Technicolor | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | ||
1940 | Stereophonic sound | Fantasia | Recorded in Fantasound with 33 microphones on eight channels, but the reproduction of multi-channel Fantasound in theaters was eventually more limited than intended |
1942 | First film applying limited animation | The Dover Boys at Pimento University | Short film |
1951 | First animated 3-D film | Now is the Time Around is Around | Abstract dual-strip stereoscopic short films by Norman McLaren for the Festival of Britain [5] |
1953 | First cartoon presented in widescreen format | Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom | Short film |
1955 | First animated feature in widescreen format | Lady and the Tramp | |
First stop-motion television series | The Gumby Show [6] | ||
1956 | First US animated primetime TV series | CBS Cartoon Theatre | Compilation television series |
1957 | First animated TV series broadcast in color | Colonel Bleep | Television series |
1959 | Syncro-Vox | Clutch Cargo | Television series |
1960 | Xerography process (replacing hand inking) | Goliath II | Short film |
First primetime animated sitcom | The Flintstones | Television series | |
1961 | Feature film using xerography process | One Hundred and One Dalmatians | |
1962 | The First animated TV Christmas Special | Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol | Television special |
1964 | First feature film based on a television show | Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! | |
1966 | The First animated TV Halloween Special | It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown | Television special |
1969 | First animated feature deemed to be X-rated | A Thousand and One Nights | Japanese anime hit. Pornographic animations had already been made for the phénakisticope and the short film The Virgin with the Hot Pants (circa 1924) |
1978 | Animated feature to be presented in Dolby sound | Watership Down | |
1983 | 3D feature film - stereoscopic technique | Abra Cadabra | |
Animated feature containing computer-generated imagery | Rock and Rule | ||
Animated TV series to be recorded in Stereo sound | Inspector Gadget | ||
1985 | Feature-length clay-animated film | The Adventures of Mark Twain | |
1988 | First feature film to have live-action and cartoon animation share the screen for the entire film | Who Framed Roger Rabbit | |
1989 | TV cartoon to be broadcast in Dolby Surround sound. | Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration | |
1990 | First computer-animated feature (produced without a camera) Feature film using digital ink and paint | The Rescuers Down Under | First feature film completely produced with Disney's Computer Animation Production System |
1991 | First animated film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture | Beauty and the Beast | As of 2023, no animated film has won the Best Picture Oscar yet. |
1992 | First animated feature to earn $500 million worldwide [7] | Aladdin | |
1993 | CGI-animated series | VeggieTales | Christian animated series released on home video |
1994 | CGI-animated series for television | Insektors | |
First animated feature to earn $750 million worldwide [8] | The Lion King | ||
1995 | First "3D" style (wire-frame) computer-animated feature First CGI and G-rated Pixar CGI feature film | Toy Story | |
Animated television series to be broadcast in Dolby Surround | Pinky and the Brain | ||
1996 | First entirely CGI feature film (without using rotoscopy) | Cassiopéia | Released 3 months after Toy Story, this Brazilian film does not use anything that was not created within CGI software |
1997 | First animated series produced for the Internet [9] Animated series | The Goddamn George Liquor Program | |
1998 | PG-rated CGI animated film | Antz | |
1999 | First animated IMAX feature | Fantasia 2000 | |
2001 | Motion-capture animation PG-13-rated CGI animated film | Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within | |
First Academy Award for Best Animated Feature | Shrek | Monsters, Inc. and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius were also nominated. | |
2002 | First Flash-animated television series | ¡Mucha Lucha! | |
2003 | First Flash-animated film | Wizards and Giants | |
2004 | Cel-shaded animation | Appleseed | |
First motion capture animated movie | The Polar Express | ||
2005 | Feature shot with digital still cameras | Corpse Bride | |
2007 | Feature digitally animated by one person | Flatland | |
Presented in 7.1 surround sound | Ultimate Avengers | Blu-ray release | |
2008 | Feature film designed, created and released exclusively in 3D | Fly Me to the Moon | |
2009 | Stop-motion character animated using rapid prototyping | Coraline | |
First feature film directly produced in stereoscopic 3D rather than converted in 3D after completion using InTru3D | Monsters vs. Aliens | ||
2010 | First animated feature to earn $1 billion worldwide [10] Feature film released theatrically in 7.1 surround sound | Toy Story 3 | |
2012 | Stop-motion film to use color 3-D printing technology for models | ParaNorman | |
2013 | First animated feature to earn $1.25 billion worldwide | Frozen | |
2016 | The first R-rated 3D computer-animated film | Sausage Party | |
2019 | First animated feature to earn $1.5 billion worldwide | The Lion King (2019) | Walt Disney Pictures, which produced the film, considered it to be live-action despite the entire film (aside from its opening shot) being computer animated. [11] Other sources deemed it to be animated based on specified criteria. [12] |
2022 | Animated feature film to aspect ratio opened up in IMAX | Lightyear | It opened up from 2.39:1 to 1.43:1 for select sequences of the film. [13] |
2023 | First silent, non-narrative and fully-developed RPG Maker animated feature film | Distortion | The film is entirely non-narrative without the use of story and dialogue, only multiple scenes dissolve each other, one-by-one; all scenes from RPG Maker MV as a test demo shot in Bandicam. |
2024 | First AI-generated animated feature film First AI anime feature film | DreadClub: Vampire's Verdict | 100% AI-generated including visuals, acting, sound, music, animation, and scripting. |
Animated series with IMAX aspect ratio | Max & the Midknights | Opened from 2.39:1 to 1.43:1 for select sequences. | |
First animated feature film in 2:1 aspect ratio First animated feature film converted from planned TV series | Moana 2 | Originally planned as Disney+ series, converted to film due to first film's 2023 streaming success. |
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Oliver Disney as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; it also operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before changing it to its current name in 1986. In 1928, Disney established itself as a leader in the animation industry with the short film Steamboat Willie. The film used synchronized sound to become the first post-produced sound cartoon, and popularized Mickey Mouse, who became Disney's mascot and corporate icon.
Aladdin is a 1992 American animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution under Walt Disney Pictures. It is based on the Arabic folktale "Aladdin" from One Thousand and One Nights. The film was produced and directed by John Musker and Ron Clements from a screenplay they co-wrote with the writing team of Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. Featuring the voices of Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin, Jonathan Freeman, Frank Welker, Gilbert Gottfried and Douglas Seale, the film follows the titular Aladdin, an Arabian street urchin who finds a magic lamp containing a genie. With the genie's help, Aladdin disguises as a wealthy prince and tries to impress the Sultan of Agrabah to win the heart of his free-spirited daughter, Princess Jasmine, as the Sultan's evil vizier, Jafar, plots to steal the magic lamp.
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated musical coming-of-age drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution under the Walt Disney Pictures banner. The film was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff and produced by Don Hahn, from a screenplay written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. The film features an ensemble voice cast that includes Matthew Broderick, Moira Kelly, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Niketa Calame, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Rowan Atkinson, and Robert Guillaume. Its original songs were written by composer Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice, with a score by Hans Zimmer. Inspired by African wildlife, the story is modelled primarily on William Shakespeare's stage play Hamlet with some influence from the Biblical stories of Joseph and Moses, and follows a young heir apparent who is forced to flee after his uncle kills his father and usurps the throne. After growing up in exile, the rightful king returns to challenge the usurper and end his tyrannical rule over the kingdom.
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