Universal Animation Studios

**Universal Animation Studios** is an American animation studio and a division of Universal Pictures. Universal Pictures is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal and is owned by Comcast. Universal Animation Studios has produced direct-to-video sequels to Universal-released movies, such as _Woody Woodpecker_, _The Land Before Time_, _An American Tail_, _Balto_, _Curious George_ as well as other movies and television series.

## History

Universal Animation Studios was established in 1990 as **Universal Cartoon Studios**. It was the animation division of MCA Inc. The first work by the company was _Back to the Future: The Animated Series_.  It was announced on March 22, 1991 and was first broadcast on CBS on September 14 the same year.

In 2006, Universal Cartoon Studios was renamed to Universal Animation Studios.

#### Direct-to-video feature movies

|#|Title|Release date|Co-production with||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|_The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure_|December 13, 1994|rowspan="4"|N/A|
|2|_The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving_|December 12, 1995|||
|3|_The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists_|December 10, 1996|||
|4|_The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island_|December 9, 1997|||
|5|_Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus_|January 6, 1998|Renaissance Pictures||
|6|_The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock_|December 1, 1998|N/A||
|7|_Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein_|September 28, 1999|Bagdasarian Productions, LLC.||
|8|_An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island_|February 15, 2000|rowspan="2"|N/A|
|9|_An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster_|July 25, 2000|||
|10|_Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman_|August 29, 2000|Bagdasarian Productions, LLC.||
|11|_The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire_|December 5, 2000|rowspan="4"|N/A|
|12|_The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze_|December 4, 2001|||
|13|_Balto II: Wolf Quest_|February 19, 2002|||
|14|_The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water_|December 10, 2002|||
|15|_Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure_|March 18, 2003|Paramount Pictures Nickelodeon Animation Studio||
|16|_The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration_|December 2, 2003|rowspan="4"|N/A|
|17|_The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses_|January 11, 2005|||
|18|_Balto III: Wings of Change_|September 30, 2005|||
|19|_The Adventures of Brer Rabbit_|March 21, 2006|||
|20|_The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers_|February 27, 2007|rowspan="2"|N/A|
|21|_The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends_|November 27, 2007|||
|22|_The Little Engine That Could_|March 22, 2011|Crest Animation Productions||
|23|_Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle_|June 23, 2015|Imagine Entertainment, Universal 1440 Entertainment||
|24|_The Land Before Time: Journey of the Brave_|February 2, 2016|Universal 1440 Entertainment||
|25|_Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You_|November 14, 2017|Universal 1440 Entertainment, Splash Entertainment, Telegael and Magic Carpet Productions||
|26|_Curious George: Royal Monkey_|September 10, 2019|rowspan="3"|Imagine Entertainment, Universal 1440 Entertainment|
|27|_Curious George: Go West, Go Wild_|September 8, 2020|||
|28|_Curious George: Cape Ahoy_|September 30, 2021|||
|29|_Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp_|April 12, 2024|Universal 1440 Entertainment||

#### Theatrical movies

|#|Title|Release date|Co-production with||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|_Curious George_|February 10, 2006|rowspan="2"|Imagine Entertainment|
|2|_Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!_|July 10, 2009|||
|3|_Woody Woodpecker_|October 5, 2017|Universal 1440 Entertainment||
|4|_The Ian And Sophie Movie_|November 13, 2021|Guru Studio, Spin Master Entertainment, Random House Studio, Filmora Animation And Universal 1440 Entertainment||
|5|_Ian And Sophie's Rainbow Rescue_|February 24, 2023|Jam Filled Toronto, Spin Master Entertainment, Random House Studio, Filmora Animation And Universal 1440 Entertainment||

### Short movies

- _Fractured Fairy Tales: The Phox, the Box, & the Lox_ (1999) (theatrical release)
- _Van Helsing: The London Assignment_ (2004) (direct-to-video)
- _The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury_ (2004) (direct-to-video)

### TV series

|#|Title|Creator(s) / Developer(s)|Original run|Co-production with|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|_Back to the Future: The Animated Series_|Robert ZemeckisBob Gale|1991–1992|Amblin TelevisionZaloom/Mayfield Productions BIG Pictures|||
|2|_Fievel's American Tails_|David Kirschner|1992|Amblin TelevisionNelvana|||
|3|_Exosquad_|Jeff Segal Eric Lewald Michael Edens|rowspan="2"|1993–1994|N/A||
|4|_Problem Child_|Scott AlexanderLarry Karaszewski|Imagine EntertainmentD'Ocon Films Productions <small>(season 1)</small> Lacewood Productions<small>(season 2)</small>||||
|5|_Monster Force_|Marv Wolfman|1994|Lacewood Productions|||
|6|_Beethoven_|Universal Cartoon Studios|1994–1995|Northern Lights Entertainment|||
|7|_Earthworm Jim_|Doug TenNapelDoug Langdale|rowspan="2"|1995–1996|Shiny Entertainment||
|8|_Savage Dragon_|Dean Stefan Bob Forward|Lacewood Productions(season 1) Studio B Productions (season 2) P3 Entertainment USA Studios||||
|9|_The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper_|Sherri StonerDeanna Oliver|1996–1998|Amblin TelevisionHarveytoons|||
|10|_Wing Commander Academy_|Michael Edens Mark Edens|rowspan="2"|1996|rowspan="3"|N/A|
|11|_Vor-Tech: Undercover Conversion Squad_|Universal Cartoon Studios|||||
|12|_The New Woody Woodpecker Show_|Bob JacquesKelly Armstrong|1999–2002||||
|13|_The Mummy: The Animated Series_|Thomas Pugsley Greg Klein|2001–2003|Studios USA Television(season 1) The Sommers Company|||
|14|_Curious George_|Joe Fallon|2006–2022|Imagine Entertainment <small>(seasons 1–9, 14–15)</small>WGBH Boston <small>(seasons 1–12)</small> Universal 1440 Entertainment <small>(season 10–15)</small>|||
|15|_The Land Before Time_|Ford Riley|2007–2008|Amblin Entertainment|||
|16|_Woody Woodpecker_|Alex Zamm|2018–2022|Universal 1440 EntertainmentSplash Entertainment|||
|17|_Ian And Sophie: The Series|Ian Martins|2021-Preaent|Universal 1440 Entertainment Guru Studio (Seasons 1-2), Jam Filed Toronto (Seasons 3-), Spin Master Entertainment Random House Children's Entertainment Filmora Animation|||

### TV Specials

- _Opus 'n' Bill: A Wish for Wings That Work_ (1991)
- _Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas_ (2009)
- _Curious George Swings Into Spring_ (2013)
- _Curious George A Halloween Boo Fest_ (2013)
- _How Murray Saved Christmas (2014)_
- _5 More Sleeps 'til Christmas_ (2021)
- _Ian And Sophie's Night Before Christmas_ (2022)

## Franchises

|Titles|Release dates|Movies|TV Seasons|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|_Woody Woodpecker_|1940–present|2|4|
|_Charlotte’s Web_|1973–2003|2|0|
|_An American Tail_|1986–1999|4|1|
|_The Land Before Time_|1988–2016|14|2|
|_Balto_|1995–2005|3|0|
|_Alvin and the Chipmunks_|1999–2000|2|0|
|_Curious George_|2006–2022|6|15|
|_Ian And Sophie_|2021-Present|3|4|

## Associated Productions

- _Charlotte’s Web_ (1973)
- _An American Tail_ (1986)
- _The Land Before Time_ (1988)
- _An American Tail: Fievel Goes West_ (1991)
- _Balto_ (1995)

### Miscellaneous

- _63rd Academy Awards_ (1991) - animation for Woody Woodpecker presenting the award for Best Animated Short Film
- _Kids WB! promos_ - Earthworm Jim segments.
- _The Incredible Hulk Coaster_
- _The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man_ (1999) - traditionally-animated introduction
- _Dudley-Do Right’s RipSaw Falls'' (1999) - traditionally-animated queue video.

## Related pages

- Universal Monsters
- Illumination
- Walter Lantz Productions
- DreamWorks Animation
    - DreamWorks Animation Television
    - DreamWorks Classics
        - Entertainment Rights
        - Big Idea Entertainment
        - Harvey Films
        - UPA
        - Bullwinkle Studios (50%)
- Amblimation
- Universal Interactive
- List of unproduced Universal Pictures animated projects

## Infobox (company)

- **name**: Universal Animation Studios
- **logo**: Universal Animation Studios (Print Logo 2006).webp
- **former names**: Universal Cartoon Studios (1990–2006)
- **type**: Division (business), Division
- **industry**: Animation
- **location**: * 111 Universal Hollywood Drive, 25th Flr., Universal City, California 91608, United States
* 1000 Flower Street, Glendale, California 91201, United States
- **locations**: 2
- **products**: Animated movies
Animated television shows
- **predecessor**: Walter Lantz Productions
- **key people**: Margie Cohn (Head of DWA Television)
- **owner**: NBCUniversal

- **parent**: Universal Pictures