Warner Bros. Discovery has owned and operated several animation studios since its founding on February 10, 1972 as WarnerMedia, before merging with Discovery, Inc. on April 8, 2022, including its flagship feature animation studio Warner Bros. Animation through Warner Bros. Entertainment that claims heritage from this original studio.
Besides Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Bros. Discovery also presently operates the Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, Cartoon Network Studios, and Williams Street (both through The Cartoon Network, Inc.). This article does not include other animation studios whose films were released by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Studio | Established | Parent unit |
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1980 | ||
Animation: Television & DVD films, short films, specials and television series in hand-drawn, digital, and CGI.
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2013 | ||
Animation: Theatrical feature films and short films
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1994 | Warner Bros. Television Studios | |
Animation: Television series, specials and feature films
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1994 | Warner Bros. Television Studios | |
Animation: Television series, specials and feature films
|
Studio | Established | Status |
---|---|---|
1933 | Defunct in 1969 | |
Animation: Hand-drawn theatrical feature films and short films The original animation unit of Warner Bros. Originally founded as an independent studio called Harman-Ising Productions in 1926, then renamed to Leon Schlesinger Productions in 1933, it was later sold to WB in 1944. After its closure in 1963, it was briefly reopened in 1967, only to be shut down for good in 1969.
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1957 | Defunct in 2001 | |
Animation: Theatrical films, direct to video films, short films and television films, television series
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1977 | Defunct in 1996 | |
Animation: Television series and specials
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1994 | Defunct in 2004 | |
Animation: Feature films
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2003 | Defunct in 2024 | |
Animation: Web series, feature films
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1991 | Defunct in 1997 | |
Animation: Feature films
|
Warner Bros. Feature Animation, a division of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, opened in 1991 with 360 employees in Burbank, and another 100 employees in London. [2] Warner Bros. placed veteran film producer Max Howard in charge of the new division [3]
Release date | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
November 15, 1996 | Space Jam | |
March 26, 1997 | Cats Don't Dance | |
May 15, 1998 | Quest for Camelot | |
August 6, 1999 | The Iron Giant | |
August 10, 2001 | Osmosis Jones | |
November 14, 2003 | Looney Tunes: Back in Action |
Warner Bros. Pictures Animation (formerly known as the Warner Animation Group) was created in 2013, by Jeff Robinov to create animated theatrical films for Warner Bros. Pictures, and to replace the shuttered Warner Bros. Feature Animation which closed in 2004.
Release date | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
February 7, 2014 | The Lego Movie | |
June 17, 2014 | Enter the Ninjago | Included with the home media release of The Lego Movie. |
January 29, 2016 | The Lego Movie: 4D – A New Adventure | An attraction at Legoland Florida |
September 23, 2016 | The Master | Short which premiered before the theatrical release of Storks |
September 23, 2016 | Storks | |
February 10, 2017 | The Lego Batman Movie | |
September 22, 2017 | The Lego Ninjago Movie | |
September 28, 2018 | Smallfoot | |
February 8, 2019 | The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part | |
May 15, 2020 | Scoob! | |
February 26, 2021 | Tom & Jerry | |
July 16, 2021 | Space Jam: A New Legacy | |
July 29, 2022 | DC League of Super-Pets |
Established in 1933, after Harman and Ising who had been creating animated shorts for Warner Bros. since 1927, left for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Warner Bros. Cartoons began creating animated shorts for the company, going on to launch the most famous characters in history, Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series. The animation studio created dozens of award-winning shorts before shuttering in 1969.
Founded in 1994, Cartoon Network Studios originated as a division of Hanna-Barbera, that focused on producing original programing for Cartoon Network including Dexter's Laboratory , Johnny Bravo , and The Powerpuff Girls . Following the merger of Hanna-Barbera's parent, Turner Broadcasting System with Time Warner, the Hanna-Barbera studio was folded into Warner Bros. Animation by its chief executive, Jean MacCurdy. [4] After Hanna-Barbera merged into Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios was resurrected as a separate entity. [4]
Created in 1994, Williams Street Productions was started by Cartoon Network to produce more adult-targeted serials for the network. Being the main production arm of Adult Swim, the division started as Ghost Planet Industries, named after the home planet of the titular character of their first production, Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
Started in 1957 by Tom and Jerry creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The company went on to create numerous television shows. In 1991, the studio was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System, and began creating media exclusively for Cartoon Network. In 1998 it was moved to the same complex as Warner Bros. Animation, before the two companies were merged in 2001. Hanna-Barbera exists only as a copyright holder to their old properties.
Founded in 1994, Turner Feature Animation was created from the feature animation division of Hanna-Barbera. After its first film in 1994, the studio's parent company Turner Entertainment was bought by Time Warner in 1996, and the Turner Feature Animation division was folded into Warner Bros. Feature Animation before the release of their second and final film. [5]
Cartoon Network Studios is an American animation studio owned by the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros. Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. The studio is the production arm of Cartoon Network, and was founded on October 21, 1994, as a division of Hanna-Barbera, until the latter was absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation on March 12, 2001.
Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. was an American animation studio and production company, which was active from 1957 until its absorption into Warner Bros. Animation in 2001. Founded on July 7, 1957 by Tom and Jerry creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, it was headquartered on Cahuenga Blvd from 1960 to 1998, then subsequently at the Sherman Oaks Galleria in Sherman Oaks.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. was an American television and media conglomerate founded by Ted Turner in 1965. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner on October 10, 1996. As of April 2022, all of its assets are now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The headquarters of Turner's properties are largely located at the CNN Center in Downtown Atlanta, and the Turner Broadcasting campus off Techwood Drive in Midtown Atlanta, which also houses Techwood Studios. Some of their operations are housed within WBD's corporate and global headquarters inside 30 Hudson Yards in Manhattan's West Side district, and at 230 Park Avenue South in Midtown Manhattan, both in New York City, respectively.
Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner on August 2, 1986. Purchased by Time Warner Entertainment on October 10, 1996, as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing the TBS library for worldwide distribution. In recent years, this role has largely been limited to being the copyright holder, as it has become an in-name-only subsidiary of Warner Bros., which currently administers their library.
Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios, a division of Warner Bros., which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery and serves as the animation division and label of Warner Bros.
What a Cartoon! is an American animated anthology series created by Fred Seibert for Cartoon Network. The shorts were produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions; by the end of the run, a Cartoon Network Studios production tag was added to some shorts to signal they were original to the network. The project consisted of 48 cartoons, intended to return creative power to animators and artists, by recreating the atmospheres that spawned the iconic cartoon characters of the mid-20th century. Each of the shorts mirrored the structure of a theatrical cartoon, with each film being based on an original storyboard drawn and written by its artist or creator. Three of the cartoons were paired together into a half-hour episode.
Warner Bros. Television Studios, operating under the name Warner Bros. Television, is an American television production and distribution studio and the flagship studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of Warner Bros., a flagship studio of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Launched on March 21, 1955 by William T. Orr, it serves as a television production arm of DC Comics productions by DC Studios and, alongside Paramount Global's CBS Studios, The CW, the latter that launched in 2006 and WBD has a 12.5% ownership stake. It also serves as the distribution arm of WBD units HBO, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim.
Joseph Roland Barbera was an American animator and cartoonist, best known as the co-founder of the animation studio Hanna-Barbera.
Frederator Studios is an American animation television production studio founded by Fred Seibert in January 1997. Seibert sold Frederator Networks, Inc. in 2022, and it is now a division of Kartoon Studios' Canadian holding company Wow Unlimited Media. The studio's slogan is "Original Cartoons since 1998."
Michael Allen Lazzo is a retired American television producer and the former executive vice president in charge of the Adult Swim programming block of Cartoon Network, and its production arm, Williams Street.
Mike Milo is an American animator, director, storyboard artist, writer, and producer in the television industry. He is currently directing the new series Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? at Warner Bros. Animation. He was an animation director on Uncle Grandpa as well as Craig of the Creek, both for Cartoon Network. He was also a story artist on Curious George for Universal. In 2012, he worked as a storyboard artist for The Fairly OddParents, and developed a pilot with Butch Hartman. Before that, he directed the animated series Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja at Titmouse, Inc. for Disney XD. He is also known to have designed the characters for the Comedy Central series Brickleberry, although he is uncredited. Before that, he was a story artist on the show Phineas and Ferb for Disney Channel and co-wrote nine episodes for that series. Growing up in Old Tappan, New Jersey, he began his animation career in 1990 animating commercials for Broadcast Arts in New York City. Subsequently, he worked for Sierra On-Line and Warner Bros., again as an animator working on Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Tazmania, Pinky and the Brain and Histeria!. He has also worked for Disney Television Animation, Frederator Studios, Film Roman, Hanna-Barbera, Universal Animation Studios, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network Studios, DIC Entertainment, Saban, Mike Young Productions, and other smaller studios.
The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to accompany MGM feature films in Loew's Theaters, which included popular cartoon characters Tom, Jerry, Droopy, Butch, Spike, Tyke, and Barney Bear.
Cartoon Network is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is the flagship property of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also oversees Boomerang, Cartoonito, Discovery Family, Adult Swim, and Toonami. The channel is headquartered at 1050 Techwood Drive NW in Atlanta, Georgia.
Lawrence "Larry" Huber is an American television producer, writer, and animator who is known for his long history as a producer at Hanna-Barbera, Ruby-Spears, and Nickelodeon. Huber began his animation career in 1969 while working on Hanna-Barbera's The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. He went on to work for Ruby-Spears for 15 years. Returning to Hanna-Barbera in 1990, Huber worked on 2 Stupid Dogs and Fish Police. He was hired by Buzz Potamkin to supervise production on Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons in 1995.
These lists of animated feature films compile animated feature films from around the world and are organized alphabetically under the year of release. Theatrical releases as well as made-for-TV (TV) and direct-to-video (V) movies of all types of animation are included. Currently, the lists don't recognize one release form from another.
Jerry Beck is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer.
Dino: The Great Egg-Scape is a 1997 American animated short film and a spin-off of The Flintstones starring Dino, the Flintstone family's pet dinosaur. Directed by Joseph Barbera and produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, it originally aired as part of What a Cartoon! on Cartoon Network on March 5, 1997.
Cartoon Network is an American basic cable and satellite television channel that is part of The Cartoon Network, Inc. unit of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery which primarily focuses on animated programs.