John Stevenson | |
|---|---|
 Stevenson in 2018 | |
| Born | 1958 (age 65–66) London, England |
| Occupation(s) | Animator, art director, film director, motion capture performer, puppeteer, storyboard artist, voice actor |
| Years active | 1978–present |
John Stevenson (born 1958) is a British animator, film director and puppeteer with over 40 years of experience in animation.
Stevenson worked as a story artist on the feature films The Great Muppet Caper , The Dark Crystal , Labyrinth and Little Shop of Horrors and as a character designer and story artist on shows and films like The Dreamstone , Count Duckula , Back to the Future: The Animated Series , The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat , two of the Fox Tales specials and FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue . He also worked as an art director on Back to the Future: The Animated Series and a puppeteer on James & the Giant Peach and Motion Capture Performer on The Moxy Pirate Show . In 1991, Stevenson moved to the United States, and in 1998, he was hired as a head of story at DreamWorks Animation. There he worked for many years in the art department on many films such as Shrek , Shrek 2 , Madagascar and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas , in addition to helming a number of episodes of their animated primetime show Father of the Pride . He worked for four years bringing Kung Fu Panda to the screen.
In 2009, Stevenson was nominated for an Academy Award with Mark Osborne for Best Animated Feature for Kung Fu Panda [1] and won the Annie Award with Osborne for Directing in a Feature Production. [2]
In 2011-12, Stevenson directed a six-minute animated short film for The Coca-Cola Company produced by Ridley and Tony Scott called The Polar Bears . [3]
Since 2012, Stevenson has been directing for Rocket Pictures the sequel of Gnomeo & Juliet , titled Sherlock Gnomes , The film was released on 23 March 2018 to negative reception. [4] [5]
Stevenson was originally set to work as director for an upcoming film based on the character created by Mattel, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe . [6] He was also attached to various projects like The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, [7] We3 , [8] Alien Rock Band [9] and Rotten Island. [9] In August 2014, it was announced that Stevenson will direct for Unified Pictures a CG-animated feature film The Ark and the Aardvark inspired by Noah's Ark. [10]
| Year | Title | Director | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Kung Fu Panda | Yes | No | Co-directed with Mark Osborne |
| 2018 | Sherlock Gnomes | Yes | No | |
| 2024 | The Ark and the Aardvark | No | Executive |
DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA) (also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio owned by Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The studio has released a total of 48 feature films, including several of the highest-grossing animated films of all time, with Shrek 2 (2004) having been the highest at the time of its release. Its first film, Antz, was released on October 2, 1998, and its latest film was Kung Fu Panda 4 on March 8, 2024; their upcoming theatrical slate of films includes The Wild Robot on September 20, 2024, Dog Man on January 31, 2025, and The Bad Guys 2 on August 1, 2025. Additionally, DreamWorks has reserved a release date for an untitled animated film on September 26, 2025.
William Damaschke is an American film executive and producer who currently serves as the president of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation. Previously, he had spent 20 years at DreamWorks Animation, most recently as Chief Creative Officer, where he was involved in the creative, artistic, and operational direction of the company. His tenure oversaw the release of some of the company's big franchise films, including Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon and The Croods. He also oversaw all of DreamWorks's live theatrical productions, including the award-winning Shrek the Musical. Damaschke’s other projects as a producer include the Broadway musical The Prom, directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, which played at the Longacre Theatre from 15 November 2018 to 11 August 2019; the Broadway-bound musical Half Time, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, which was presented at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Spring of 2018; and the stage adaptation of Moulin Rouge, directed by Alex Timbers, on which Damaschke serves as executive producer. He was also formerly the president of Skydance Animation.
Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The first installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise, it was directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne, from a screenplay and story respectively written by the writing teams of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris. The film stars the voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim, James Hong, Dan Fogler, Michael Clarke Duncan and Jackie Chan. The film, set in a version of ancient China populated by anthropomorphic animals, centers on a bumbling panda bear named Po (Black), a kung-fu enthusiast living in the Valley of Peace. When the savage snow leopard Tai Lung (McShane) is foretold to escape imprisonment and attack the Valley, Po is unwittingly named the "Dragon Warrior", a prophesied hero worthy of reading a scroll that has been intended to grant its reader limitless power.
Simon Finlay Wells is an English film director of animation and live-action films. He is the great-grandson of author H. G. Wells, and is best known for directing The Prince of Egypt with Brenda Chapman and Steve Hickner.
James Baxter is a British character animator. He was first known for his work on several Walt Disney Animation Studios films, including various characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Rafiki in The Lion King, and Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Kelly Adam Asbury was an American film director, writer, voice actor, and illustrator. He was best known for directing animated films, including Shrek 2, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Gnomeo & Juliet, Smurfs: The Lost Village, and UglyDolls.
Mark Randolph Osborne is an American film director, writer, producer and animator.
Mike Mitchell is an American film director, writer, producer, actor and animator. He has directed the films Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999), Surviving Christmas (2004), Sky High (2005), Shrek Forever After (2010), Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011), The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015), Trolls (2016), The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019), and Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024).
The 36th Annual Annie Awards, honoring the best in animation for 2008, were held on January 30, 2009, at Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California. Below is a list of announced nominees. Kung Fu Panda received the most awards with 10, winning nearly all of its nominations, albeit amid controversy.
Kung Fu Panda 2 is a 2011 American animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and written by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, the film is the sequel to Kung Fu Panda (2008), and the second installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. It stars Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong and Jackie Chan reprising their roles from the first film, with Gary Oldman, Michelle Yeoh, Danny McBride, Dennis Haysbert, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Victor Garber voicing new characters. In the film, Po and his Furious Five allies travel to Gongmen City to stop the evil peacock Lord Shen from conquering China, while also rediscovering Po's forgotten past.
Gnomeo & Juliet is a 2011 British-Canadian animated romantic comedy film directed by Kelly Asbury from a screenplay by Rob Sprackling and John Smith. It is loosely based on the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and features the voices of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Jason Statham, Maggie Smith, Ashley Jensen, Stephen Merchant, Matt Lucas, Jim Cummings, Julie Walters, Richard Wilson, Patrick Stewart, and Ozzy Osbourne. The story follows Gnomeo and Juliet, a pair of garden gnomes who fall in love, but due to the feud between their respective families, they must find a way to keep their blossoming romance a secret.
Kung Fu Panda is an American martial arts comedy media franchise that originally started in 2008 with the release of the animated film of the same name produced by DreamWorks Animation. Following the adventures of the titular Po Ping, a giant panda who is improbably chosen as the prophesied Dragon Warrior and becomes a master of kung fu, the franchise is set in a fantasy wuxia genre version of ancient China populated by anthropomorphic animals. Although everyone initially doubts him, including Po himself, he proves himself worthy as he strives to fulfill his destiny.
The 38th Annual Annie Awards honoring the best in animation of 2010 was held February 5, 2011, at Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California. DreamWorks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon was the big winner winning 10 out of its 15 nominations, sparking a big controversy over Disney and Pixar's boycott.
Jennifer Yuh Nelson is an American story artist, character designer, television director, illustrator, and film director. She is best known for directing the films Kung Fu Panda 2, Kung Fu Panda 3, and The Darkest Minds. Yuh is the first woman to solely direct and the first Asian American to direct a major American animated film, and has been recognized as a commercially successful Asian American director.
The 39th Annual Annie Awards honoring the best in animation of 2011 were held on February 4, 2012, at Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California.
Sherlock Gnomes is a 2018 3D animated mystery comedy film directed by John Stevenson. Based on the character Sherlock Holmes created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, it is a sequel to Gnomeo & Juliet (2011). The main cast all reprise their roles from the first film with the exception of Jason Statham, including James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Ashley Jensen, Matt Lucas, Stephen Merchant, Ozzy Osbourne, Kelly Asbury, Julio Bonet, Julie Walters, and Richard Wilson, alongside new voice cast members including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mary J. Blige, Jamie Demetriou, Eve Webster, James Hong, Dan Starkey, Dexter Fletcher, Javone Prince, and Johnny Depp. The animation is provided by Mikros Image and Reel FX Creative Studios.
Kung Fu Panda 3 is a 2016 animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation, China Film Group Corporation, Oriental DreamWorks and Zhong Ming You Ying Film, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the third installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise and the sequel to Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011). The film was directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni and written by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger.
Alessandro Carloni is an Italian film director, animator, and art director, best known for his work with DreamWorks Animation in general, particularly the Kung Fu Panda films. He co-directed Kung Fu Panda 3, alongside Jennifer Yuh Nelson.
Pierre Perifel is a French film director and animator, best known for his work at DreamWorks Animation. He has directed the feature film The Bad Guys (2022) and the award-winning short films Le Building (2005) and Bilby (2018).
Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight is an American CG-animated television series, developed by Mitch Watson and Peter Hastings for Netflix. It is the third TV series in the Kung Fu Panda franchise, following Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny. Produced by DreamWorks Animation Television, the series premiered on Netflix on July 14, 2022. A second season was released on January 12, 2023. A third and final season was released on September 7, 2023.
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