FoxMotion Studios

**FoxMotion Studios** (**FMS**), also formerly known as **Fox Animation Studios**, was an American animation studio which created direct-to-video and occasional theatrical animated feature films. The studio was a division of 20th Century Animation, with both being part of 20th Century Studios, itself a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios. The studio produced 60 feature films, beginning with *Anastasia* in 1997. Its final feature film was *Night & Day: The Rise of Zodiacal* in 2020. In February 2021, Disney announced that FoxMotion would be shut down in April 2021 citing the economic impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns on its business operations. The studio ceased all operations on April 10, 2021.

Most of the FoxMotion Studios library is currently owned by Disney via 20th Century Studios.

## History

### Fox Animation Studios

After the financially unsuccessful release of Sullivan Bluth Studios film *Thumbelina* in 1994, animators Don Bluth and Gary Goldman were hired by Bill Mechanic, then-chairman of 20th Century Fox, to be the creative heads of the animation studio. Mechanic and John Matoian, President of Fox Family Films, also brought in Stephen Brain (Executive VP at Silver Pictures) as Senior VP/General Manager to oversee the startup of the studio and run day-to-day operations of the division.

The company was designed to compete with Walt Disney Feature Animation, which had phenomenal success during the late 1980s and early 1990s with the releases of films such as *The Little Mermaid* (1989), *Beauty and the Beast* (1991), *Aladdin* (1992) and *The Lion King* (1994). Disney veterans Bluth and Goldman came in 1994 to Fox from Sullivan Bluth Studios, which had produced *An American Tail*, *The Land Before Time* and both *All Dogs Go To Heaven* and *Rock-a-Doodle*, among other films.

Before Bluth came to Fox, the studio distributed three animated features during the 1990s which were produced by outside studios – *FernGully: The Last Rainforest*, *Once Upon a Forest*, and *The Pagemaster*, the last two of which were both commercial and critical failures. Even before, Fox distributed two Ralph Bakshi features, *Wizards* and *Fire and Ice*, as well as *Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure* by Richard Williams. Also, Fox distributed *Asterix Conquers America* in France and United Kingdom.

### Productions

Fox Animation Studios did not achieve the same level of success as Disney's animated crop. Only three of its four theatrical releases, *Anastasia* (1997), *Symphony Tales: Next Generations* (1998) and *RandomBlast!* (1999), found critical and box-office success. Its other theatrical release *Titan A.E.* (2000) got mixed reviews and was a costly flop, losing $100 million for 20th Century Fox. Almost a year before *Titan A.E.*, Fox laid off 300 of the 380 people who worked at the Phoenix studio in order to "make films more efficiently."

## Filmography

### Feature films

Starting with *Titan A.E.*, all films co-produced with 20th Century Animation.

### Short films

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*More coming soon!*

### Cancelled projects

 *Ice Age* | Fox Animation Studios was originally working on a traditionally animated action-oriented comedy-drama movie set in the Ice age, Around the same time, Blue Sky Studios, a small visual effects studio in White Plains, New York, was bought out by Fox and reshaped into a full-fledged CG animation film studio. In light of this, Fox Animation head Chris Meledandri and executive producer Steve Bannerman approached Forte with the proposition of developing the film as a computer-animated movie, which Forte realized was "basically a no-brainer," according to her.

## See also

* Kenny & Kella Young Productions
* 20th Century Fox Animation