Universal Animation Studios LLC, formerly known as Universal Cartoon Studios, is an American animation studio and a unit of Universal 1440 Entertainment, a home entertainment division of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, which in turn is owned by NBCUniversal, the entertainment and mass media division of Comcast. It has produced direct-to-video sequels to Universal-released feature films, such as An American Tail (1986), The Land Before Time (1988), Balto (1995), and Curious George (2006), as well as other films and television series. This studio rarely made theatrically-released films, focusing instead on direct-to-video/streaming films and TV shows.
The actual animation production is mostly done overseas, usually by foreign animation studios such as AKOM, Wang Film Productions, and Rough Draft Studios, while pre-production and post-production are United States–based. On August 23, 2016, after Universal completed its acquisition of DreamWorks Animation, the division was merged with DreamWorks Animation Television, which began producing a majority of Universal Pictures' family-friendly TV shows. The studio is one of Comcast's three animation studios, alongside DreamWorks Animation and Illumination.
History Universal Animation Studios was established in 1990 as Universal Cartoon Studios, the animation division of MCA Inc., to produce television shows. It was originally a subsidiary of Universal Family Entertainment, which was headed by former Hanna-Barbera employee Jeff Segal. Its debut work was Back to the Future: The Animated Series, which was announced on March 22, 1991, and premiered on CBS on September 14 the same year.
In 1993, Universal Cartoon Studios was transferred as a joint-venture between Universal Family Entertainment and MCA/Universal Home Video, due to the tremendous growth in the children's home video market.
In 1995, the company partnered with Harvey Comics to launch a new subsidiary, Universal/Harvey Animation Studios, to produce animated series based on Harvey Comics' properties.
In 1996, the two groups Universal Family Entertainment and its subsidiary Universal Cartoon Studios were absorbed into MCA Television Entertainment.
In 1998, Universal Cartoon Studios was later transferred to Universal Family & Home Entertainment Production (later renamed as Universal Home Entertainment Productions), as first mentioned in An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island.
In 2001, when Vivendi acquired Universal Cartoon Studios and Universal Pictures Home Video's parent Universal Studios alongside its owner Seagram back in 2000, Universal Studios established a new subsidiary that would handle, manage and expand Universal Pictures' key intellectual properties across multiple platforms entitled Universal Pictures Franchise Development with Universal Cartoon Studios and its home entertainment parent Universal Pictures Home Video & London-based British production division Universal Pictures Visual Programming being placed into the new subsidiary alongside Universal Studios' consumer products & licensing division Universal Pictures Consumer Products which also became division of the new subsidiary, while Louis Feola became president of the new subsidiary.
In 2005, Universal Cartoon Studios was absorbed into Universal Studios Family Productions, and later on, it was renamed to Universal Animation Studios.
In 2006, Universal Animation Studios produced and animated the film Curious George in-house in Los Angeles, along with several animation studios around the world.
In 2007, Chris Meledandri founded Illumination (formerly as unnamed until 2008) with a deal was announced positioning his studio as Universal's family entertainment arm, that would produce one to two films a year starting in 2010, while Universal Studios Family Productions acts as Universal Animation Studios' animation home-video arm. As part of the deal, Illumination retains creative control and Universal Pictures exclusively distributes the films.
In 2016, Universal Pictures acquired DreamWorks Animation, making it one of the two theatrical animation divisions of Universal, alongside Illumination. With this acquisition, it was merged with DreamWorks Animation Television, who began to produce shows based on Universal Pictures franchises, such as Fast & Furious: Spy Racers and Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.
Franchises This is not including the original films of An American Tail, The Land Before Time and Balto made by either Hanna-Barbera (formerly), Sullivan Bluth Studios or Amblimation. Titles Release dates Movies TV Seasons Woody Woodpecker 1991–present 2 6 An American Tail 1986–2000 4 1 The Land Before Time 1988–2016 14 1 Balto 1995–2004 3 0 Alvin and the Chipmunks 1999–2000 2 Curious George 2006–2022 6 15
Filmography
Feature films
Theatrical feature films
No. Title Release date Director Writer(s) Producer(s) Co-production withStoryScreenplay 1 Curious George Matthew O'Callaghan Ken KaufmanMike WerbKen Kaufman Ron HowardDavid KirschnerJon Shapiro Imagine Entertainment 2 Woody Woodpecker Alex Zamm William RobertsonAlex ZammDaniel AltiereSteven AltiereWilliam RobertsonAlex Zamm Mike Elliott Universal 1440 Entertainment
Combines live-action with animation. Not released theatrically in the United States
Direct-to-video/streaming feature films
Children's feature films
No. Title Release date Co-production with as Universal Cartoon Studios 1 The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure N/A 2 The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving 3 The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists 4 The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island 5 Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus Renaissance Pictures 6 The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock N/A 7 Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein Bagdasarian Productions, LLC. 8 An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island N/A 9 An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster 10 Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman Bagdasarian Productions, LLC. 11 The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire N/A 12 The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze 13 Balto II: Wolf Quest 14 The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water 15 The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration N/A 16 Balto III: Wings of Change 17 The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses 18 The Adventures of Brer Rabbit as Universal Animation Studios 19 The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers N/A 20 The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends 21 Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey! Imagine Entertainment 22 The Little Engine That Could Crest Animation Productions 23 Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle Imagine EntertainmentUniversal 1440 Entertainment 24 The Land Before Time XIV: Journey of the Brave Universal 1440 Entertainment 25 Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You Universal 1440 EntertainmentSplash EntertainmentTelegaelMagic Carpet Productions 26 Curious George: Royal Monkey Imagine EntertainmentUniversal 1440 Entertainment 27 Curious George: Go West, Go Wild 28 Bobbleheads: The Movie Threshold Animation StudiosUniversal 1440 Entertainment 29 Curious George: Cape Ahoy Imagine EntertainmentUniversal 1440 Entertainment 30 Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp Universal 1440 Entertainment
Adult animated short films No. Title Release date Co-production with as Universal Cartoon Studios 1 Van Helsing: The London Assignment N/A 2 The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury
Released on Peacock. Released on Netflix. Adult animated production.
Short films Fractured Fairy Tales: The Phox, the Box, & the Lox (1999) (theatrical release)
Television series No. Title Creator(s) / Developer(s) Original run Network Co-production with as Universal Cartoon Studios 1 Back to the Future Robert ZemeckisBob Gale 1991–1992 CBS Amblin TelevisionZaloom/Mayfield ProductionsBIG Pictures 2 Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories Shelley Duvall 1992–1993 Showtime Think Entertainment 3 Fievel's American Tails David Kirschner 1992 CBS Amblin TelevisionNelvana 4 Exosquad Jeff SegalEric LewaldMichael Edens 1993–1994 Syndication N/A 5 Problem Child Scott AlexanderLarry Karaszewski USA Network D'Ocon Films Productions (season 1)Lacewood Productions (season 2) 6 Monster Force Marv Wolfman 1994 Syndication Lacewood Productions 7 Beethoven N/A 1994–1995 CBS Northern Lights Entertainment 8 Earthworm Jim Doug TenNapelDoug Langdale 1995–1996 Kids' WB Shiny Entertainment 9 The Savage Dragon Dean StefanBob Forward USA Network Lacewood Productions(season 1)Studio B Productions(season 2)P3 EntertainmentUSA Studios 10 The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper Sherri StonerDeanna Oliver 1996–1998 Fox Kids Amblin TelevisionHarveytoons 11 Wing Commander Academy Michael EdensMark Edens 1996 USA Network USA Studios 12 Vor-Tech: Undercover Conversion Squad N/A Syndication Edition Dupuis France S.A.MediatoonLacewood Productions 13 The New Woody Woodpecker Show Bob JaquesKelly Armstrong 1999–2002 Fox Kids N/A 14 The Mummy: The Animated Series Thomas PugsleyGreg Klein 2001–2003 Kids' WB Studios USA Television (season 1)The Sommers Company as Universal Animation Studios 15 Curious George Joe Fallon 2006–2022 PBS Kids (2006–2022)Family Jr. (2018–2020)Peacock (2020–2022) Imagine Entertainment (seasons 1–9, 14–15)WGBH Boston (seasons 1–12)Universal 1440 Entertainment (seasons 10–15) 16 The Land Before Time Ford Riley 2007–2008 Cartoon Network Amblin Entertainment 17 Woody Woodpecker Alex Zamm 2018–2022 YouTube Universal Pictures InternationalUniversal 1440 EntertainmentSplash Entertainment
Television specials No. Title Release date Network Co-production with as Universal Cartoon Studios 1 A Wish for Wings That Work CBS Amblin Television as Universal Animation Studios 2 Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas PBS Kids Imagine EntertainmentWGBH Boston 3 Curious George Swings Into Spring 4 Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest 5 How Murray Saved Christmas NBC Universal Television
Miscellaneous work 63rd Academy Awards (1991) – animation for Woody Woodpecker presenting the award for Best Animated Short Film Kids WB! promos – Earthworm Jim segments. Dudley-Do Right’s RipSaw Falls (1999) – traditionally-animated queue video.
Cancelled projects Escape from Jurassic Park, an animated TV series that takes place after the first Jurassic Park film, was confirmed to be in development and awaiting Steven Spielberg's approval in June 1993. The series would have centered on John Hammond's attempts to finish Jurassic Park and open it to the public, while InGen's corporate rival Biosyn is simultaneously planning to open their own dinosaur theme park in Brazil, which ultimately ends with their dinosaurs escaping into the jungles. Artist William Stout was hired to work on the series and subsequently made a trailer to demonstrate how the series would look, and how it would combine traditional animation with computer animation. The series required Spielberg's final approval before it could go into production. However, Spielberg had grown tired of the massive promotion and merchandise revolving around the film, and never watched the trailer. On July 13, 1993, Margaret Loesch, president of the Fox Children's Network, confirmed that discussions had been held with Spielberg about an animated version of the film. Loesch also said, "At least for now and in the foreseeable future, there will not be an animated Jurassic Park. That's Steven Spielberg's decision, and we respect that decision."