Paramount Animation

**Paramount Animation** is an American animation studio that is the animation division and label of Paramount Pictures, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS. The division was founded on July 6, 2001.

The studio's first film *Antz* was released on April 12, 1996.

## Background[edit]

After the closure of Paramount Cartoon Studios (formerly named Famous Studios) in December 1967, Paramount distributed a few animated films from 1973 to 1992 that were produced by outside studios, including *Charlotte's Web*, *Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown*, *Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!)*, and *Bébé's Kids*.

Following Viacom’s 1994 acquisition of Paramount Pictures, the studio started releasing several animated films based on Nickelodeon's TV shows, including the *Rugrats* film trilogy, *The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie*, and *Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius*. The studio also released features based on MTV's *Beavis and Butt-Head* and Comedy Central's *South Park*.

In 2005, Paramount's new CEO Brad Grey considered building an in-house animation division, because he saw family films as the “sweet spot” of the movie business. The following year, Paramount signed a distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation, which filled the studio's schedule with hit family features such as the two *Over the Hedge films*, the *Kung Fu Panda* trilogy, the *How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, Gnomeo and Juliet and Sherlock Gnomes*. During this deal, the studio released *Barnyard* in 2006 and *Beowulf* in 2007.

On March 4, 2011, the studio released its first in-house animated film, *Rango*. The film was critically acclaimed and grossed over $245 million at the box office. The success of *Rango* helped Paramount discover its potential in making successful animated features on its own. In June, the studio acquired the rights to produce an animated film based on Penny Arcade's 2010 webcomic *The New Kid*.

## History[edit]

### Brad Grey era (2001–2017)

In 2001, Hillenburg and the show's staff stopped making episodes to work on the film after the show's third season. The film's plot originally had SpongeBob rescue Patrick from a fisherman in Florida; an obvious reference to the 2002 film, *Finding Nemo* (2002), this was later said by Tom Kenny (the voice of SpongeBob) to be a "joke" plot to keep fans busy. Hillenburg directed the film and wrote the screenplay with five other writer-animators from the show (Paul Tibbitt, Derek Drymon, Aaron Springer, Kent Osborne, and Tim Hill) over a three-month period in a room of a former Glendale, California bank. Osborne said, "It was hugely fun although it did get kind of gamy in there." At the beginning of the series, Hillenburg screened a number of silent shorts (from Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, and Buster Keaton) and work by two modern comic actors: Jerry Lewis and Pee-wee Herman, both obvious inspirations for SpongeBob. For the film, the writers created a mythical hero's quest: the search for a stolen crown, which brings SpongeBob and Patrick to the surface. Bill Fagerbakke (the voice of Patrick) said about the plot, "It's just nuts. I'm continually dazzled and delighted with what these guys came up with.

In 2002 Dreamer was in development, it is going to Paramount Animation's first Live-Action movie.

When the film was completed, Hillenburg wanted to end the series "so it wouldn't jump the shark". However, Nickelodeon desired more episodes; Hillenburg stated: "Well, there was concern when we did the movie [in 2004] that the show had peaked.

In September 2003, Jules Engel, Hillenburg's mentor when he studied experimental animation at the California Institute of the Arts, died. Hillenburg dedicated the film to him: "He truly was the most influential artistic person in my life. I consider him my 'Art Dad. Barnyard began to be in Development.

In 2004 The *SpongeBob SquarePants Movie was released.*

In 2005 Dreamer the first live-action movie of Paramount Animation was released.

Then in 2006 Barnyard and Charlotte's Web was released.

In 2007 Underdog was released.

Then in 2008 The Spiderwick Chronicles and Fly Me to the Moon was released.

In 2009 Hotel for Dogs was released.

Then in 2010 A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures was released

Then in 2011 Rango and The Adventures of Tintin was released and are the most successful films.

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 *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water*, a standalone sequel to 2004's *The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie* and based upon the popular Nickelodeon TV show, *SpongeBob SquarePants.*

In 2012 the first sequel to Paramount Animation A Turtle's Tale 2: Sammy's Escape from Paradise was released and so was The Horrid Henry Movie.

In August 2012, *Variety* reported that Paramount Animation was in the process of starting development of several animated films in collaboration with Nickelodeon, Mary Parent, and J. J. Abrams. Besides the *SpongeBob* sequel, Paramount Animation considered adapting *Dora the Explorer*, *The Legend of Korra*, and *Monkey Quest* into films. The increase in animated film production was due to DreamWorks Animation being in talks with other studios to distribute their post-2012 animated films.

In 2013 Tad the Lost Explorer was released.

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 (director of 2002's *Ice Age*) 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

In 2014 Paddington was released.

In 2015, *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water* 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 another *SpongeBob* film 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.

Capture the Flag was released.

In June 2015, it was revealed that Spain's Ilion Animation Studios (the studio behind 2009's *Planet 51*) 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*, (later renamed *Wonder 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 (with animation produced by DNEG). Then The Little Prince, A Turtle's Tale 3: Sammy's New Adventure and The Wild Life was released.

On January 2017 *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.

On February 2017 Leap was released.

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.

### **Jim Gianopulos/Mireille Soria 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. Soria restructured the studio, increasing its number of employees from 10 to over 110, and created a new goal of releasing two tentpole animated films a year with different animation styles and genres. She would also look over the completion of Early Man and *Wonder Park*, which were in production before her arrival.

On October 2017 The My Little Pony Movie was released.

Early Man on February 16, 2018 and became a critical and financial disappointment, grossing $90.3 million on a $59 million budget it is the first Paramount Animation stop-motion film.

Few more film were released in 2018 such as, Tad the Lost Explorer 2: Secret of King Midas, The Son of Bigfoot and Paddington 2.

In April 2018, Paramount Pictures named former Blue Sky Studios and Nickelodeon Movies producer Ramsey Naito as the executive vice president of the studio. She later left the company in order to become the head of animation at Nickelodeon. In the same month, Soria greenlit the studio's first three animated features under her leadership to be released in 2020 and beyond: *The SpongeBob Movie: It’s a Wonderful Sponge* (later renamed *Sponge On the Run*), Reel FX's *Monster on the Hill* (later renamed *Rumble*), and Skydance Animation's *Luck*.

On January 14, 2019, Mireille Soria announced that the team at Paramount Animation will no longer work with Skydance Animation because of their hiring of John Lasseter as the head of animation. *Luck* and *Spellbound* were still going to be released by Paramount Pictures without the Paramount Animation brand until Apple TV+ acquired the distribution rights to both films in February 2021 as part of a larger pact with Skydance Animation.

*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.

In June 2019, Paramount Animation announced a new slate of animated features, including an animated Spice Girls film, a live-action/animated *Mighty Mouse* film, an animated film adaptation of *The Tiger’s Apprentice*, a musical film titled *Jersey Crabs* (later *Under the Boardwalk*), and the Imagine Entertainment co-production *The Shrinking of Treehorn*.

On August 2019 Dora and the Lost City of Gold was released.

On February 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog was released.

Then on April 2020 The Queen's Corgi was released.

*The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run* theatrically released only in Canada on August 14, 2020 with a March 4, 2021 release in the United States on Paramount+ and a November 5, 2020 release internationally on Netflix due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film received positive reviews from critics, and grossed $4.4 million worldwide with a $60 million budget.

In January 2021, Paramount Animation picked up two new films: an adaption of the upcoming Tom Wheeler book *C.O.S.M.O.S.* and an original animated film from the Comedy Central star Trevor Noah.

On February 2021 Bigfoot Family was released.

Paw Patrol: The Movie will be released in August 2021.

The Loud House Movie will be released on Netflix in the summer of 2021.

An untitled MLP G5 film will be released in September 2021.

## Process[edit]

Similar to Warner Animation Group and Sony Pictures Animation, the studio outsources animation production to other animation studios. *Rumble* was developed outside of Paramount Animation by Reel FX, but the studio acquired the rights to the film and is co-producing it.

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[edit]

### Feature films[edit]

1. James and the Giant Peach (1996)
2. Antz (1998)
3. The Rugrats Movie (1998)
4. Dinosaur (2000)
5. Rugrats 2: in Paris: the Movie (2000)
6. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001)
7. Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (2002)
8. Rugrats 3: Go Wild (2003)
9. The Cat in the Hat (2003)
10. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004)
11. Valiant (2005)
12. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of Were-Rabbit (2005)
13. Hoodwinked! (2005)
14. Barnyard (2006)
15. Charlotte's Web (2006)
16. My Friend Bernard (2007)
17. Underdog (2007)
18. The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
19. Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
20. Hotel for Dogs (2009)
21. A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures (2010)
22. The SpongeBob Movie: The Great Patty Caper (2010)
23. Rango (2011)
24. Hoodwinked! Two: Hood vs. Evil (2011)
25. The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
26. A Turtle's Tale 2: Sammy's Escape from Paradise (2012)
27. The Horrid Henry Movie (2012)
28. Tad the Lost Explorer (2013)
29. Paddington (2014)
30. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015)
31. Capture the Flag (2015)
32. The Little Prince (2016)
33. A Turtle's Tale 3: Sammy's New Adventure (2016)
34. The Wild Life (2016)
35. Backkom Bear: Agent 008 (2017)
36. Monster Trucks (2017)
37. Leap (2017)
38. The My Little Pony Movie (2017)
39. Early Man (2018)
40. Valiant 2 (2018)
41. A Good Friends (2017)
42. Tad the Lost Explorer 2: Secret of King Midas (2018)
43. Hoodwinked! Three: The Fellowship of the Hood (2018)
44. The Son of Bigfoot (2018)
45. Paddington 2 (2018)
46. Wonder Park (2019)
47. Wrackinng: A Backkom Bear Movie (2019)
48. Rango 2 (2019)
49. Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019)
50. Wallace & Gromit (2019)
51. Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
52. Antz 2 (2020)
53. The Queen's Corgi (2020)
54. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (2020)
55. Bigfoot Family (2021)
56. Backkom Bear 2: Gold Agent (2021)
57. The Backyardigans Movie (2021)
58. It Got Friends (2021)
59. Paw Patrol: The Movie (2021)
60. The Loud House Movie (2021)
61. Untitled MLP G5 Film (2021)
62. Clifford the Big Red Dog (2021)

### Upcoming films

1. Rumble (2022)
2. Luck (2022)
3. Rugrats 4: Go Home (2022)
4. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)
5. Under the Boardwalk (2022)
6. Spellbound (2022)
7. The Tiger's Apprentice (2023)
8. Girl Ghost (2023)
9. Untitled TMNT animated film (2023)
10. *The Shrinking of Treehorn (2023)*
11. Zombocaplyse (2024)
12. Untitled Wallace & Gromit film (2024)
13. Wrackinng 2: A Backkom Bear Movie (2024)
14. Mega Evil Motherfuckers (2025)
15. Wildwood (2025)

### Television

#### Specials

1. It's a SpongeBob Christmas (2012)
2. A Turtle's Christmas (2013)
3. Tad's Christmas Adventure (2014)
4. Paddington's Thanksgiving (2015)
5. Sammy's Easter Spectactular (2016)
6. The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom (2017)
7. Tad the Lost Explorer: Legend of the Spooky Valley (2018)
8. My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever (2018)
9. *My Little Pony: Rainbow Roadtrip (2019)*
10. A Paddington Christmas (2020)

#### Series

1. Rugrats (1991-2004)
2. SpongeBob SquarePants (1999-present)
3. Wallace & Gromit: Cracking Contraptions (2002-present)
4. Backkom (2006-present)
5. Back at the Barnyard (2007-2011)
6. Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention (2010-present)
7. Sammy & Co (2014-2016)
8. Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018-2020)
9. The Adventures of Paddington (2019-present)
10. My Little Pony: Pony Life (2020-present)
11. Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years (2021-present)
12. Adventures in Wonder Park (2021-present)