Paramount Animation
Paramount Animation is an American animation studio that is the animation division and label of Paramount Pictures. The division was founded on July 6, 2011. Its first film ' was released on February 6, 2015 and its most recent release, Wonder Park, was released on March 15, 2019. Their next release, ', will be released in Canadian theatres on August 14, 2020.
Background
In July 2011, in the wake of critical and box office success of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies' animated feature, Rango, and Paramount's departure of DreamWorks Animation upon completion of their distribution contract with and Rise of the Guardians in 2012, Paramount announced the formation of a new division, devoted to the creation of animated productions.History
Brad Grey era (2011–2017)
In October 2011, Paramount named a former president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, David Stainton, president of Paramount Animation. In February 2012, Stainton resigned for personal reasons, with Paramount Film Group's president, Adam Goodman, stepping in to directly oversee the studio. It was also announced that ', a standalone sequel to 2004's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and based upon the popular Nickelodeon TV show, SpongeBob SquarePants, is the studio's first film and would be released in 2014.In August 2012, Variety reported that Paramount Animation was in the process of starting development of several animated films with budgets of around US$100 million.
On July 31, 2013, Paramount Animation announced that they were developing a new live-action/animated franchise in the vein of the Transformers series, which was titled Monster Trucks. Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger were set to write the film's script, Chris Wedge was set to direct the film, and Mary Parent was set to produce the film, with an initial release date set for May 29, 2015.
The studio's first film, ' on February 6, 2015 to positive reviews and was a box office success, grossing over $325 million worldwide and becoming the fifth highest grossing animated film of 2015. That same month, Paramount fired Adam Goodman due to the studio's thin film slate and Goodman greenlighting box office bombs at the studio. Paramount announced later that year.
In the summer of 2015, Paramount Pictures participated in a bidding war against Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures Animation for the rights to produce The Emoji Movie, based on a script by Tony Leondis and Eric Siegel. Sony won the bidding war in July and released the film in 2017. The studio's head Bob Bacon also left Paramount Animation that summer.
In June 2015, it was revealed that Spain's Ilion Animation Studios won a bidding war against other animation studios to produce a 3D animated tentpole film for Paramount Animation, which was already in production since 2014. In November 2015, Paramount Animation officially announced the project as Amusement Park, with former Pixar animator Dylan Brown helming. The studio also announced Monster Trucks, The Little Prince, Sherlock Gnomes, and the third SpongeBob film.
On May 4, 2016, Paramount Pictures announced that they had signed a deal with UK-based Locksmith Animation to co-develop and co-produce three original animated projects to be released under the Paramount Animation label.
The studio's second film, Monster Trucks was released to mixed reviews and became a box office failure, grossing $64.5 million on a $125 million budget and losing the studio $120 million.
In March 2017, Skydance Media formed a multi-year partnership with Ilion Animation Studios and in July, Skydance announced its first two animated feature films — Luck and Spellbound — which would be distributed by Paramount Pictures as part of their deal with Skydance. On October 10, 2017, Bill Damaschke was hired to head the division as president of animation and family entertainment. But on January 14, 2019 Paramount Animation CEO Mireille Soria announced that they will no longer work with Skydance Animation because of their partnership with John Lasseter while Luck and Spellbound will still be released by Paramount but not under the Paramount Animation brand.
Jim Gianopulos era (2017–present)
In April 2017, Paramount ended its deal with Locksmith Animation when Paramount chairman and CEO Brad Grey was replaced by Jim Gianopulos, who decided that their projects did not fit in with Paramount's other upcoming releases. Locksmith formed a multi-year production deal with 20th Century Fox four months later.In July 2017, Paramount Pictures named former DreamWorks Animation co-president Mireille Soria as the president of the studio.
The studio released its third film, Sherlock Gnomes on March 23, 2018 and became a critical and financial disappointment, grossing $90.3 million on a $59 million budget.
In April 2018, Paramount Pictures named former Blue Sky Studios and Nickelodeon Movies producer Ramsey Naito as the executive vice president of the studio.
The studio's next film, Wonder Park was released on March 15, 2019. It received mixed reviews and it became a box office flop, grossing only $119.6 million worldwide on a budget of less than $100 million.
Logo
Initially, Paramount Animation never had an on-screen logo for their first four features. They just used the standard Paramount Pictures logo.On September 19, 2019, Paramount Animation introduced a new animated logo featuring a character nicknamed Star Skipper. When Mireille Soria came to Paramount Animation, one of the first goals set by Jim Gianopulos was to make a logo for the division. The crew wanted to put a female character in the logo because the studio’s team is mostly female, and according to Soria, it captures “the magic” of the division. The logo and the character of Star Skipper was designed by ' lead visual development artist and art director Christopher Zibach and animated by ATK PLN and Reel FX Creative Studios. This logo will debut in front of ' in 2020.
Process
Similar to Warner Animation Group and Sony Pictures Animation, the studio outsources animation production to other animation studios. Rumble was created outside of Paramount Animation, although it will be released under the studio's label.Paramount Animation will not have an in-house animation style. According to Mireille Soria, each film will have their own unique style created by the filmmakers, which would be helped by outsourcing animation to different vendors.
Filmography
Feature films
All films are distributed by Paramount Pictures.| # | Title | Release date | Co-production with | Animation service | Directors |
| 1 | Nickelodeon Movies United Plankton Pictures | Rough Draft Studios Iloura | Paul Tibbitt Mike Mitchell | ||
| 2 | Monster Trucks | Disruption Entertainment Nickelodeon Movies | Mr. X Moving Picture Company | Chris Wedge | |
| 3 | Sherlock Gnomes | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Rocket Pictures | Mikros Image Reel FX Creative Studios | John Stevenson | |
| 4 | Wonder Park | Nickelodeon Movies Midnight Radio Productions | Ilion Animation Studios | Dylan Brown |