Modern animation in the United States from the late 1980s to the early 2000s is frequently referred to as the renaissance age of American animation. During this period, many large American entertainment companies reformed and reinvigorated their animation departments, following the dark age, and the United States had an overall profound effect on animation globally.
Blue Sky Studios, Inc. was an American visual effects and computer animation studio based in Greenwich, Connecticut. It was founded on February 22, 1987 by Chris Wedge, Michael Ferraro, Carl Ludwig, Alison Brown, David Brown, and Eugene Troubetzkoy after their employer, MAGI, one of the visual effects studios behind Tron, shut down. Using its in-house rendering software, the studio created visual effects for commercials and films before dedicating itself to animated film production. It produced 13 feature films, the first being Ice Age, released in 2002 by 20th Century Fox, and the final one being Spies in Disguise, released in 2019.
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene from its first synchronized sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie (1928). Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney, it is the oldest-running animation studio in the world. It is currently organized as a division of Walt Disney Studios and is headquartered at the Roy E. Disney Animation Building at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Since its foundation, the studio has produced 62 feature films, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to Wish (2023), and hundreds of short films.
Aladdin: The Series is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation that aired from February 6, 1994, to November 25, 1995, concluding exactly three years to the day from the release of the original Disney's 1992 animated feature film of the same name on which it was based. Despite the animated television series premiering four months before the first sequel, the direct-to-video film The Return of Jafar, it takes place afterward. The second and final animated sequel was the 1996 direct-to-video film, Aladdin and the King of Thieves.
Disneytoon Studios (DTS), originally named Disney MovieToons and also formerly Walt Disney Video Premieres, was an American animation studio which created direct-to-video and occasional theatrical animated feature films. The studio was a division of Walt Disney Animation Studios, with both being part of The Walt Disney Studios, itself a division of The Walt Disney Company. The studio produced 44 feature films, beginning with DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp in 1990. Its final feature film was Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast in 2015.
Sony Pictures Animation Inc. is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and founded on May 9, 2002. Most of the studio's films are distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures Releasing under their Columbia Pictures label, while direct-to-video releases are released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd. is one of the oldest and most prolific Taiwanese-American animation studios since 1978. The company, based in Xindian, Taipei and Los Angeles, California, has done traditional hand-drawn 2D animation/ink and paint for various TV shows and films for studios across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
The Swan Princess is a 1994 American animated musical fantasy film based on the ballet Swan Lake. Featuring Michelle Nicastro, Howard McGillin, Jack Palance, John Cleese, Steven Wright, Sandy Duncan, and Steve Vinovich, the film is directed by former Disney animation director Richard Rich and scored by Lex de Azevedo. The film was distributed by New Line Cinema in the United States and by Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International outside the US. It was released theatrically on November 18, 1994, and grossed $9.8 million against a $21 million budget, becoming a box-office bomb, partly due to struggling competition with a re-release of The Lion King (1994). The film later became popular through home video releases and has since been followed by a series of direct-to-video sequels starting in 1997.
Ronald Francis Clements is an American animator, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He often collaborates with fellow director John Musker and is best known for writing and directing the Disney films The Great Mouse Detective (1986), The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), Hercules (1997), Treasure Planet (2002), The Princess and the Frog (2009), and Moana (2016).
Richard James Rich is an American director, producer, and screenwriter. Rich is founder and owner of Crest Animation Productions. Rich started his career in the mailroom of the Walt Disney Studios in 1972 and would give piano lessons during lunch breaks. He was chosen by John Lounsbery to be an assistant director for Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too based on his musical expertise. He made his directorial debut on The Fox and the Hound.
The Princess and the Frog is a 2009 American animated musical romantic fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is inspired in part by the 2002 novel The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker, which in turn is based on the German folk tale "The Frog Prince" as collected by the Brothers Grimm. The film was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements and produced by Peter Del Vecho, from a screenplay that Clements and Musker co-wrote with Rob Edwards. The directors also co-wrote the story with the writing team of Greg Erb and Jason Oremland. The film stars the voices of Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Michael-Leon Wooley, Jim Cummings, Jennifer Cody, John Goodman, Keith David, Peter Bartlett, Jenifer Lewis, Oprah Winfrey, and Terrence Howard. Set in New Orleans during the 1920s, the film tells the story of a hardworking waitress named Tiana who dreams of opening her own restaurant. After kissing prince Naveen, who has been turned into a frog by the evil voodoo witch doctor Facilier, Tiana becomes a frog as well and must find a way to turn Naveen and herself back into humans before it is too late.
Crest Animation Studios Ltd. was an Indian animation studio. It was founded by Shyam Raja Ramanna in 1990 under the name Crest Communications, and it first went public in 1995. On New Year's Day 2000, it acquired Rich Animation Studios in the United States after the failure of The King and I. In 2001, it had over 500 employees; however, it had three years of losses during which it laid off all but 110 employees. In 2004, it posted a profit and hired an additional 260 animators, and in October 2004 renamed itself to its current name. The former CEO is A.K.Madhavan. In 2010, the company released an animated feature film in conjunction with Lionsgate called Alpha and Omega in both 2D and 3D.
The Disney Renaissance was a period from 1989 to 1999 during which Walt Disney Feature Animation returned to producing critically and commercially successful animated films. These were mostly musical adaptations of well-known stories, similar to the films produced during the era of Walt Disney from the 1930s to 1960s. The resurgence allowed Disney's animated films to become a powerhouse of successes at the domestic and foreign box office, earning much greater profits than most of the Disney films of previous eras.
Nest Family Entertainment is an American family entertainment company based in Coppell, Texas. It was formed on July 1, 1988 as Family Entertainment Network by Jared F. Brown, Stephen W. Griffin, and Seldon O. Young. The company has produced several dramatized radio series, animated films and TV series since the '80s which include the Animated Stories from the New Testament, The Swan Princess,The King and I, and The Scarecrow among others.
Blur Studio Inc. is an American production company which specialises in CGI visual effects, CGI animation and CGI design. Located in Culver City, California, the studio has produced CGI-animated films, teasers and ad spots for television, as well as video-game CGI cinematics.
The Swan Princess: Christmas is a 2012 American animated fantasy family film directed by Richard Rich, produced by Crest Animation Productions and Nest Family Entertainment. It is the fourth film in The Swan Princess series, and the first in 14 years. It follows the adventures of Odette and Derek celebrating their first Christmas together. While the three previous films in the series were animated using traditional 2D hand-drawn techniques, The Swan Princess Christmas was the first in the series to be created entirely with 3D CGI animation.
The Swan Princess is an animated film series that began with the 1994 film The Swan Princess. There are twelve films in the series as of 2023.
Ben Gluck is an American animator, screenwriter, and film director. Gluck was a director and head of story at Disney Animation studios
