Paramount Global has owned and operated several animation studios since its founding on March 16, 1952 as the original Viacom, throughout the first and second incarnation and CBS Corporation (previously Westinghouse Electric Corporation). The two companies merged into one on December 4, 2019. [1]
Currently, Nickelodeon Animation Studio, Paramount Animation (though Paramount Pictures), and CBS Eye Animation Productions operate their flagship brands.
Studio | Established | Parent unit |
---|---|---|
1990 | ||
Animation: Television series, specials, and TV films Animation division producing original series and films for Nickelodeon brands such as Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. Former names: Games Productions Inc. (1990–1998) Units: Nickelodeon Digital Subunits: Paws, Inc., Avatar Studios | ||
1993 | ||
Animation: Television series and feature films Animation division of MTV producing animated series and films for MTV brands. | ||
2011 | ||
Animation: Theatrical feature films and TV series The feature film division of Paramount. | ||
2018 | ||
Animation: Television series and TV films The animation production company of CBS Studios. Units: Late Night Cartoons, Inc. | ||
Miramax Animation (49% stake) | 2019 | |
Animation: Theatrical feature films and TV series The feature film division of Miramax. |
Studio | Established | Defunct |
---|---|---|
1921 | 1942 | |
Animation: Hand-drawn short films and theatrical feature films Founded in 1921 as an independent studio by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, it became the principal supplier of animation as Paramount Pictures distributed its films. However, Paramount acquired Fleischer Studios and reorganized it as Famous Studios. Acquired by Paramount Pictures in 1942 and reorganized as Famous Studios (later Paramount Cartoon Studios). Former names: Inkwell Studios, Inc. (1921–1929) | ||
1929 | 1972 | |
Animation: Theatrical short films and TV series Founded in 1929 as an independent studio by Paul Terry, Frank Moser, and Joseph Coffman, 20th Century Fox (and its precursor Fox Films) distributed its films, even when the studio sold to CBS Films in circa 1956. CBS Films became the original Viacom which evolved into ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global) in 2019. As a result, Terrytoons was folded into Paramount Pictures with CBS Entertainment Group currently holding the television distribution to the film library. | ||
1942 | 1967 | |
Animation: Theatrical short subjects and TV series Founded in 1942 as the successor to Fleisher Studios. Produced licensed products based on other sources such as Popeye and Superman (both owned by Warner Bros. Discovery via Turner Entertainment and DC Comics); Harvey Comics and Felix the Cat (now both owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal via DreamWorks Classics). Although Paramount still owns the rights to the Pre-Oct 1950, Post-March 1962, and post-December 1967 cartoons. Former names: Famous Studios (1942–1956) | ||
Rainbow S.p.A. (30% stake) | 1995 | sold in 2023 |
Animation: Television series and feature films Italian studio in which Paramount Global held a 30% ownership from 2011 to 2023. [2] Units: Bardel Entertainment, [3] Rainbow CGI |
Founded in 2011, Paramount Animation is the animation division of Paramount Pictures that creates animated theatrical films. The company serves after a successor to Paramount Cartoon Studios (and the previous animation studios before it).
Release date | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
February 6, 2015 | The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water [lower-alpha 1] | |
January 13, 2017 | Monster Trucks [lower-alpha 1] | |
March 23, 2018 | Sherlock Gnomes | |
March 15, 2019 | Wonder Park | |
August 14, 2020 [lower-alpha 2] | The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run [lower-alpha 1] | |
December 15, 2021 | Rumble | |
October 27, 2023 | Under the Boardwalk | |
February 2, 2024 | The Tiger's Apprentice |
Fleischer Studios was founded in 1921 by Max Fleischer and his brother Dave Fleischer who originally ran the pioneering company. [4] The studios are most well known for creating famous characters such as Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Bimbo, and producing shorts for licensed characters such as Popeye the Sailor and Superman. In 1942, Fleischer Studios was renamed to Famous Studios (later Paramount Cartoon Studios) after Paramount Pictures acquired it. The studio has also released animated feature films under Paramount.
Release date | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
December 22, 1939 | Gulliver's Travels | |
December 5, 1941 | Mr. Bug Goes to Town |
Famous Studios (later renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was Paramount Pictures' first animation division. It was founded as a successor to Fleischer Studios after Paramount seized its founders, Max and Dave Fleischer's control in 1941. [4] [5] The studio's productions included three series started by the Fleischer Popeye the Sailor, Superman, and Screen Songs . It also featured Harvey Comic characters such as Little Audrey , Little Lulu , Casper the Friendly Ghost , Honey Halfwitch, Herman and Katnip , Baby Huey , and the anthology Noveltoons series. After the animation studio shut down in 1967, Paramount sold most of these original characters back to their original owners. [6]
Terrytoons was founded in 1929 by Paul Terry, Frank Moser, and Joseph Coffman. The studio has brought many cartoon characters such as Mighty Mouse, Heckle & Jeckle, Gandy Goose, Sourpuss, Dinky Duck, Luno, and Farmer Al Falfa (from Bray Productions, the studios' predecessor). 20th Century Fox (and its precursor Fox Films) originally released Terrytoons theatrical shorts. In 1955, CBS purchased the studio. The theatrical library was transferred under Paramount Pictures (via the ViacomCBS re-merger). Its television library still remmains under CBS Entertainment Group.
Founded in 2018, CBS Eye Animation Productions is the animation production arm of CBS Studios. Its first projects announced were two Star Trek animated series, Star Trek: Lower Decks [7] and Star Trek: Prodigy (for Nickelodeon & Paramount+). [8]
Founded in 1990, Nickelodeon Animation Studio was originally named Games Animation [9] (previously Games Productions Inc.); it oversaw the production of animated programs for Nickelodeon such as Doug, Rugrats , and The Ren & Stimpy Show with Rocko's Modern Life becoming Games Animation's first fully in-house series produced for the network. In 1998-99 the studio's name was changed to Nickelodeon Animation Studio following relocation from Studio City, California to Burbank with a second facility in New York City in 1999. [10]
Established in 1986, MTV Animation began by producing several animated shorts that aired as bumpers for its namesake network. While its department is often grouped with that of Nickelodeon's, the two entities are completely separate. MTV's cartoons typically have more dark humor, sexual jokes, graphic violence, and pop culture references than its sister studio. In the early 2000s, MTV Animation branched out to Web-based content. [11] As of recently, the current state of the studio remains unknown.
In February 2011, Viacom purchased a 30% ownership stake in the Italian animation studio Rainbow S.p.A. for 62 million euros (US$83 million). [12] Since then, the studio has collaborated with ViacomCBS' other company, Nickelodeon, on multiple shows, including Winx Club and Club 57 . [13] Paramount Global sold its 30% stake in the studio in 2023.
Paramount Pictures Corporation, doing business as Paramount Pictures is an American film and television production and distribution company and the namesake subsidiary of Paramount Global. It is the sixth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest film studio in the United States, and the sole member of the "Big Five" film studios located within the city limits of Los Angeles.
The golden age of American animation was a period in the history of U.S. animation that began with the popularization of sound synchronized cartoons in 1928, gradually ending in the 1960s when theatrical animated shorts started to lose popularity to the newer medium of television. Animated media from after the golden age were produced on cheaper budgets and with more limited animation techniques between the 1960s and 1970s. The theatrical animation of the golden age peaked in the 1930s and 1940s, while the period is subdivided as the silver age for the rest of its animation produced in the 1950s and 1960s; which includes the latest theatrical animations produced by Walt Disney and Walter Lantz, the latest theatrical cartoons of MGM and Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera's earliest animated television series and DePatie–Freleng's earliest theatrical cartoons. Furthermore, the history of animation became very important as an artistic industry in the United States.
Terrytoons was an American animation studio in New Rochelle, New York, that produced animated cartoons for theatrical release from 1929 to 1973. Terrytoons was founded by Paul Terry, Frank Moser, and Joseph Coffman, and operated out of the "K" Building in downtown New Rochelle. The studio created many cartoon characters including Fanny Zilch, Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Gandy Goose, Sourpuss, Dinky Duck, Little Roquefort, the Terry Bears, Dimwit, and Luno; Terry's pre-existing character Farmer Al Falfa was also featured often in the series.
Fleischer Studios was an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of its films. In its prime, Fleischer Studios was a premier producer of animated cartoons for theaters, with Walt Disney Productions being its chief competitor in the 1930s.
The Fleischer Superman cartoons are a series of seventeen animated superhero short films released in Technicolor by Paramount Pictures and based upon the comic book character Superman, making them his first animated appearance.
Famous Studios was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized control of the aforementioned studio after the departure of its founders, Max and Dave Fleischer, in 1942. The studio's productions included three series started by the Fleischers—Popeye the Sailor, Superman, and Screen Songs—as well as Little Audrey, Little Lulu, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Honey Halfwitch, Herman and Katnip, Baby Huey, and the anthology Noveltoons series.
Nicktoons is a collective name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company in their copyright bylines.
Winx Club is an animated series co-produced by Rainbow SpA and later Nickelodeon. It was created and directed by Italian animator Iginio Straffi. The show is set in a magical universe that is inhabited by fairies, witches, and other mythical creatures. The main character is a fairy warrior named Bloom, who enrolls at Alfea College to train and hone her skills. The series uses a serial format with an ongoing storyline. It premiered on 28 January 2004, becoming a ratings success in Italy and on Nickelodeon networks internationally.
Color Classics are a series of animated short films produced by Fleischer Studios for Paramount Pictures from 1934 to 1941 as a competitor to Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies. As the name implies, all of the shorts were made in color format, with the first entry of the series, Poor Cinderella (1934), being the first color cartoon produced by the Fleischer studio. There were 36 shorts produced in this series.
Daniel Campbell Gordon was an American storyboard artist and film director who was best known for his work at Famous Studios and Hanna-Barbera Productions. Gordon was one of the first famous film directors. He wrote and directed several Popeye the Sailor and Superman cartoons. Later in his career, he worked on several cartoons featuring Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, and many others. His younger brother, George Gordon, also worked for Hanna-Barbera.
Rainbow S.p.A. is an Italian studio founded by Iginio Straffi. Viacom became a co-owner of the studio in 2011. Rainbow has collaborated with Viacom/Paramount's other company, Nickelodeon, on multiple shows, including Winx Club and Club 57. The studio is based in Loreto, Marche and was founded by Straffi in 1995. Rainbow began as an animation studio, providing creative services for larger companies until it secured enough funds for original productions.
U.M. & M. TV Corporation was an American media company best known as the original purchaser of the pre-October 1950 short films and cartoons produced by Paramount Pictures, excluding Popeye and Superman. The initials stand for United Film Service, MTA TV of New Orleans, and Minot T.V.
Nickelodeon Animation Studio is an American animation studio owned by Paramount Global through the Nickelodeon Group. It has created many original television programs for Nickelodeon, such as SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, Rugrats and Avatar: The Last Airbender, among various others. Since the 2010s, the studio has also produced its own series based on preexisting IP purchased by Paramount Global, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Winx Club. In November 2019, Nickelodeon Animation Studio signed a multiple-year output deal for Netflix, which will include producing content, in both new and preexisting IP, for the streaming platform.
Seymour Kneitel was an American animator, best known for his work with Fleischer Studios and its successor, Famous Studios.
Iginio Straffi is an Italian animator and former comic book author. He is the founder and president of Rainbow SpA, which he co-owned alongside the American media company Paramount Global from 2011 until 2023. Straffi is the creator of the studio's animated series Winx Club and Huntik: Secrets & Seekers, as well as the co-creator of its comic book series Maya Fox.
This is a list of the 122 cartoons of the Popeye the Sailor film series produced by Famous Studios for Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1957, with 14 in black-and-white and 108 in color. These cartoons were produced after Paramount took ownership of Fleischer Studios, which originated the Popeye series in 1933.
Popeye the Sailor is an American animated series of short films based on the Popeye comic strip character created by E. C. Segar. In 1933, Max and Dave Fleischer's Fleischer Studios, based in New York City, adapted Segar's characters into a series of theatrical cartoon shorts for Paramount Pictures. The plotlines in the animated cartoons tended to be simpler than those presented in the comic strips, and the characters slightly different. A villain, usually Bluto, makes a move on Popeye's "sweetie", Olive Oyl. The villain clobbers Popeye until he eats spinach, giving him superhuman strength. Thus empowered, Popeye makes short work of the villain.
CBS Eye Animation Productions is an American animation studio, division of CBS Studios owned by Paramount Global. The studio is closely associated with the Star Trek franchise with its first projects, Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy. CBS reinstated it as an animation division in late 2018 before its re-merger with Viacom in late 2019.