Warner Animation Group

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The **Warner Animation Group** (**WAG**) is an American animation studio which is the feature animation label of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which is part of WarnerDiscovery. Established on January 7, 1990 as Warner Bros Feature Animation, but hasn't made films from 2004 to 2013, when they got renamed to it's current name, and was also a sister to the regular Warner Bros. Animation studio, but that folded into this company, thus moving in.

Its first film, *The Lego Movie*, was released on February 7, 2014, and its most recent film was *Space Jam: A New Legacy* on July 16, 2021; their upcoming slate of films includes *DC League of Super-Pets* on May 20, 2022, and *Coyote vs. Acme* on July 21, 2023. Films produced by WAG have grossed a total of $1.8 billion at the box office.

## History

#### 1990–2004: Warner Bros. Feature Animation

During the rise of the animation renaissance in the early 1990s, Warner Bros. distributed its first animated films: *The Nutcracker Prince* in 1990, which is a Canadian-produced feature film based on E. T. A. Hoffmann's classic holiday tale *The Nutcracker and the Mouse King*; and *Rover Dangerfield* in 1991, whose title character is a dog whose look and mannerisms are inspired by his voice actor Rodney Dangerfield. Both films received negative and mixed reviews respectively and under-performed at the box office due to lack of promotion. Three years later after the release of *Rover Dangerfield*, Warner distributed Don Bluth's *Thumbelina*, which also received mixed reviews from critics and under-performed at the box office.

That same year, Warner Bros., as well as several other Hollywood studios, moved into feature animation following the success of Walt Disney Feature Animation's *The Lion King*. Max Howard, a Disney alumnus, was brought in to head the new division, which was set up in Sherman Oaks near the television studio in nearby Glendale (not to be confused with the character). Turner Feature Animation, later merged and named Warner Bros. Feature Animation, like all of the in-house feature animation studios, proved an unsuccessful venture, as six of the seven films, under-performed during its original theatrical releases (due to lack of promotion).<

The first of Warner’s animated features was *Space Jam* (1996), a live-action/animated hybrid which starred NBA star Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny (Jordan had previously appeared with the Looney Tunes in a number of Nike commercials). The film featured live-action sequences directed by Joe Pytka and animated sequences directed by Bruce W. Smith and Tony Cervone. *Space Jam* received mixed reviews from critics but proved to be a success at the box office. Animation production for *Space Jam* was primarily done at the new Sherman Oaks studio, although much of the work was outsourced to animation studios around the world.

Before the success of *Space Jam*, a Turner Entertainment-run studio that spun off from Hanna-Barbera were already producing animated features following the success of the Disney features. The first was *The Pagemaster*, a fantasy adventure featuring the performances of Macaulay Culkin and Christopher Lloyd with live-action segments serving as bookends for the film's story. Released by 20th Century Fox, the film under-performed and received negative reviews from critics during its holiday release of 1994. After the merger with Turner and Warner Bros.'s parent company Time Warner in 1996, Turner Feature Animation completed its second and last feature, *Cats Don't Dance* (1997), which was met with warm critical and audience reception but under-performed due to little marketing and fanfare.[*citation needed*] By the time of the film's release, however, Turner Feature Animation had merged with Warner Feature Animation and transferred a majority of its staff from said studio.

The following year, its next film, *Quest for Camelot* (1998), underwent production difficulties and also received mixed reviews from critics. However, its soundtrack (such as one of the songs, "The Prayer") received some praise and accolades, including an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe win.

The third animated feature from Warner Feature Animation, Brad Bird's *The Iron Giant* (1999), received a positive reception from critics and audiences. However, the studio decided to rush its release to the end of the summer with a rushed marketing push.[*citation needed*]

The studio's next film, *Osmosis Jones* (2001), was another animated/live-action mix that suffered through another troubled production. This time, the animation segments, directed by Piet Kroon and Tom Sito, were completed long before the live-action segments were filmed, eventually directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly and starring Bill Murray. The resulting film received mixed reviews and underperformed, although it was successful enough on home video for Warner's Television Animation department to produce a related Saturday morning cartoon, *Ozzy & Drix* (2002–2004) for its WB broadcast network.

Following the releases of *The Iron Giant* and *Osmosis Jones*, the feature animation staff was scaled back, and the entire animation staff – feature and television – were moved to the larger Sherman Oaks facility.

*Looney Tunes: Back in Action* was released in 2003. It was intended to be the starting point for a reestablishment of the classic cartoons brands, including a planned series of new *Looney Tunes* theatrical shorts, produced by *Back in Action* writer and producer Larry Doyle.[*citation needed*] After *Back in Action*, directed by Joe Dante (live-action) and Eric Goldberg (animation), received mixed reviews from critics and under-performed at the box office, production was shut down on the new shorts, and *Looney Tunes* has been mostly relegated on television ever since.

### 2013-present: Warner Revival

On January 7, 2013, Jeff Robinov (then head of the studio's motion picture division) founded a screenplay development department, nicknamed a "think tank" for developing theatrical animated films, known as the Warner Animation Group. The group includes John Requa, Glenn Ficarra, Nicholas Stoller, Jared Stern, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Warner Bros. created the group with the hope that the box office reception of their films will be competitive with other animation studios' releases.

On February 7, 2014, Warner Animation Group released their first film, *The Lego Movie*, a film animated by Animal Logic, which also provided the animation for both spinoffs. It was met with positive reviews and proved to be a box office success.

WAG's second film, *Storks*, was released September 23, 2016. It received mixed reviews from critics.

On February 10, 2017, Warner Animation Group released *The Lego Batman Movie*, which received positive reviews from critics and was a box office success. On December 14, 2017, Warner Bros. announced Allison Abbate had been named Executive Vice President, and Chris Leahy has been named Senior Vice President.

*The Lego Ninjago Movie*, based on the *Lego Ninjago* toys, was released on September 22, 2017. Upon release, the film was met with mixed reviews from critics and became the first film from the studio and franchise to fail to recoup its budget.

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*Smallfoot*, released September 28, 2018, earned a 75% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with mostly positive reviews from critics and has grossed over $214 million worldwide.

*The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part*, a sequel to *The Lego Movie*, was released February 8, 2019 and earned an 85% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with generally positive reviews from critics but only grossed around $192.3 million worldwide, almost barely recouping its budget and becoming the studio and franchise's second box office disappointment.

In October 2019, Locksmith Animation formed a multi-year production deal with Warner Bros., which will distribute Locksmith's films.

An animated reboot of the *Scooby-Doo* film series titled *Scoob!* was initially set for a theatrical release on May 15, 2020, but then it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 21, 2020 it was announced that it would instead go to video on demand in response to the pandemic. It received mixed reviews from critics.

A live action/animated film based on *Tom & Jerry* was released internationally on February 11, 2021 and on February 26 in the United States in theaters and HBO Max simultaneously (which also debuted the company's new logo to match with the design of the new shield logo that Warner Bros. debuted back in November 2019, and like its regular WB logo, which was revamped earlier that year with *Locked Down*, it is made by Devastudios, with clouds created using Terragen). It received mostly negative reviews from critics.

*Space Jam: A New Legacy*, starring LeBron James, was released on July 16, 2021, and was the first film from Warner Animation Group to incorporate traditional animation. It also received mostly negative reviews from critics.

## Upcoming releases

An animated film based on the Legion of Super-Pets titled *DC League of Super-Pets* is scheduled for release on May 20, 2022.

WAG's third live-action/animation hybrid, a Wile E. Coyote film titled *Coyote vs. Acme*, will be released on July 21, 2023. The film will be directed by Dave Green and produced by Chris DeFaria and James Gunn.

A musical feature adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's children's book  *Toto: The Dog-Gone Amazing Story Of The Wizard Of Oz* began animation production in February 2021. It is being directed by Alex Timbers, from a screenplay by John August, and produced by Derek Frey.

## Production

Similar to Disney's 20th Century Animation, NBCUniversal's DreamWorks Animation and Illumination, Paramount Animation and Sony Pictures Animation, WAG outsources their animated films' production to other studios, such as Animal Logic (*The Lego Movie* franchise, *DC League of Super-Pets* and *Toto*), Sony Pictures Imageworks (*Storks* and *Smallfoot*), Reel FX Creative Studios (*Scoob!*), Framestore (*Tom & Jerry*) and Industrial Light & Magic (*Space Jam: A New Legacy*). However, *Space Jam: A New Legacy* did included in-house animation by WAG, with several animators hired by the studio to work on the film's hand-drawn animated segments.

The budgets for their films tend to range within $60–80 million. Their most expensive films to date, *The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part*, *Scoob!* and *Space Jam: A New Legacy*, cost $99 million, $90 million and $150 million respectively.

The screenplay department is reportedly somewhat similar to Pixar Animation Studios' "brain trust" in terms of how its members consult with one another and give feedback on each other's projects. The group is nicknamed the "think tank".

## Filmography

Main article: Warner Animation Group/Films

## Accolades

Main article: Warner Animation Group/Accolades

## See also

* Warner Bros. Animation
* Warner Animation Group/Films

## External links

* Template:IMDb company

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1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Template:Cite news
2. ↑ Template:Cite news
3. ↑ Template:Cite news
4. ↑ The Lego Batman Movie (2017). *Rotten Tomatoes*.
5. ↑ WARNER ANIMATION GROUP NAMES SENIOR CREATIVE TEAM (December 14, 2017).
6. ↑ Warner Bros Dates Lego Spinoff 'Ninjago' For Fall 2016 (May 20, 2014).
7. ↑ The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017). *Rotten Tomatoes*.
8. ↑ Smallfoot (2018). *Rotten Tomatoes*.
9. ↑ Smallfoot (2018). *Box Office Mojo*.
10. ↑ The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019). *Rotten Tomatoes*.
11. ↑ The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019). *Box Office Mojo*.
12. ↑ Mendelson, Scott. Why 'The LEGO Movie 2' Is A Franchise-Ending Box Office Failure (en).
13. ↑ Template:Cite news
14. ↑ Template:Cite news
15. ↑ Template:Cite news
16. ↑ Template:Cite news
17. ↑ Rubin, Rebecca (2020-12-14). Warner Bros. Shifts 'Mortal Kombat,' 'Tom and Jerry' Release Dates (en-US).
18. ↑ Warner Bros' 'DC Super Pets' Animated Movie Moves To 2022 (May 22, 2019).
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 D'Alessandro, Anthony (2020-12-23). Warner Bros. Dates Three Pics For 2023 Theatrical Release (Not HBO Max): 'Furiosa', 'Coyote Vs. Acme' & 'The Color Purple' (en-US).
20. ↑ Grater, Tom (February 9, 2021). Warner's 'Toto' Animation Gears Up; Federation Adds To Doc Slate; New BASE UK Chair – Global Briefs. *Deadline*.
21. ↑ Template:Cite news
22. ↑ Template:Cite AV media
23. ↑ Tweet by Matt Williames.
24. ↑ Williames at RCC.
25. ↑ Tweet by Ole Loken.
26. ↑ Template:Cite news