Melnitsa Animation Studio

Melnitsa Animation Studio

Industry	Animation Motion pictures
Founded	March 26, 1999 (March 26, 1999)
Headquarters	Saint Petersburg , Russia
Products	Animated films
Revenue	$1.57 million (2017)
Operating income	$207,909 (2017)
Net income	$84,501 (2017)
Total assets	$12.9 million (2017)
Total equity	$484,653 (2017)
Number of employees	325 (2014)
Website	www.melnitsa.com

Melnitsa Animation Studio (Russian: Студия анимационного кино «Мельница», "melnitsa" meaning "windmill") is one of the largest animation studios in Russia. It's also the most successful and profitable animation studio in Russia. Deutsche Welle called the studio the Walt Disney of Saint Petersburg. Alongside its animation projects, Melnitsa has an effort devoted to creating digital special effects for both animation projects and live-action films.

History

The studio traces its roots to several animated projects in the late 1990s, including television commercials, the short film Die Hard by Konstantin Bronzit (Grand Prix of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, 1998), and the animated series "Global Bears Rescue" and "Technology", created for Poseidon Film Distributors Ltd.

In 1999, Melnitsa was formally established with backing from STV Film Company's Sergey Seliyanov and led by Aleksandr Boyarskiy. STV Film Company retains a 50% share of the studio. The newly formed studio's first project was Adventures in Oz (Приключения в Изумрудном Городе) for NTV-film (НТВ-кино), a four-part animation released in 2000.

In 2001, Melnitsa released its first 3D-animated project - the short film Good Morning (С добрым утром) by Denis Chernov. In 2002 Melnitsa released two short films by the famous animator and director Konstantin Bronzit: There Was an Old Lady for Scholastic Entertainment and the 3D-animated film The God (winner of a number of international festival awards).

In 2000, Melnitsa began work on the feature-length animated film Little Longnose (Карлик Нос) directed by Ilya Maksimov, based on the fairy tale of Wilhelm Hauff. The film premiered on March 20, 2003, reportedly becoming one of the first Russian animated feature film released to theatres in nearly 40 years.

On December 23, 2004, the feature film Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin Zmey (Алёша Попович и Тугарин Змей) was released, directed by Konstantin Bronzit. The film was completed on a $4 million budget, and took in about $1.7 million at the box office. This marked the beginning of Melnitsa's "The Three Bogatyrs" trilogy, and two more films were planned over the next several years.

On January 2005, at the 10th Open Russian Festival of Animated Film in Suzdal, the new short film by Konstantin Bronzit premiered, called Cat and Fox (Кот и Лиса). Work on it had been finished in November 2004. Bronzit's film, based on a national Russian tale, was part of the huge government-sponsored project by Moscow-based Pilot studio called "Gora Samotsvetov" (Гора самоцветов)[1]. The project, when complete, will consist of 52 13-minute films based on fairy tales from all of Russia's nationalities.

On March 15, 2006, the second film in the "3 Bogatyrs" trilogy was released, called Dobrynya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych (Добрыня Никитич и Змей Горыныч), directed by Ilya Maksimov. It came on the heels of the animated blockbuster Prince Vladimir, which was released on February 22, 2006.

Luntik, an animated series launched in 2007, gathered a total of over 2 billion views on YouTube.

The third film in the trilogy, Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber (Илья Муромец и Соловей Разбойник), was released on July 7, 2007, grossing $10 million on a $2 million budget and setting a record for Russia's domestic animation industry, later surpassed by the studio's Three Heroes on Distant Shores earning $26 million in 2012. The 2013 film Three Warriors On Far Shores again established a new record for Russian animation, grossing $31.5 million. The release of Krepost in 2015 led to some controversy in Poland, as it depicted a 17th century battle between Russian and Polish armies.

The studio's 2007 short film Lavatory – Lovestory was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, followed by a nomination for We Can't Live Without Cosmos in the same category during the 88th Academy Awards in 2016.

Filmography

Short Film

Year	Production
2015	We Can't Live Without Cosmos
2007	Lavatory Lovestory
2003	The God

Full length

Year	Title cartoon	Director	Author(s) script	Production Designer	Budget	Box Office
2003	Little Longnose Карлик Нос	Ilya Maksimov	Aleksandr Boyarsky	Aleksandra Averianova	$2,5 million	$569 837
2004	Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin Zmey Алёша Попович и Тугарин Змей	Konstantin Bronzit	Aleksandr Boyarsky Maksim Sveshnikov Ilya Maksimov Konstantin Bronzit	Ol'ga Ovinnikova	$4 million	$1 730 000
2006	Dobrynya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych Добрыня Никитич и Змей Горыныч	Ilya Maksimov	Aleksandr Boyarsky Maksim Sveshnikov Ilya Maksimov	Ol'ga Ovinnikova	$4,5 million	$3 620 000
2007	Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber Илья Муромец и Соловей-Разбойник	Vladimir Toropchin	Aleksandr Boyarsky Maksim Sveshnikov	Ol'ga Ovinnikova Oleg Markelov	$2 million	$9 739 679
2008	The Tale of Soldier Fedot, The Daring Fellow	Lyudmila Steblyanko	Lyudmila Steblyanko Roman Smorodin	Anastasia Vasil'eva	—	$2 586 097
2010	How Not to Rescue a Princess Три богатыря и Шамаханская царица	Sergey Glezin	Aleksandr Boyarsky Ol'ga Nikiforova	Ol'ga Ovinnikova Elena Lavrent'eva Oleg Markelov	$2,5 million	$19 010 585
2011	Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf Иван Царевич и Серый Волк	Vladimir Toropchin	Aleksandr Boyarsky Rostislav Khait Leonid Barats Sergei Petreykov	Marina Kudryavtseva	$3 million	$24 830 497
2012	Three Heroes on Distant Shores Три богатыря на дальних берегах	Konstantin Feoktistov	Aleksandr Boyarsky	Ol'ga Ovinnikova Lidiya Savina	$3,5 million	$31 505 876
2013	Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf 2 Иван Царевич и Серый волк 2	Vladimir Toropchin	Vladimir Toropchin Aleksandr Boyarsky Svetlana Sachenko	Svetlana Degtyarёva	—	$20 962 988
2015	Three heroes. Horse Course Три богатыря. Ход конём	Konstantin Feoktistov	Aleksandr Boyarsky Svetlana Sachenko	Svetlana Degtyarёva	$3,5 million	$19 390 136
	Krepost (The Fortress)	Fyodor Dmitriev	Aleksandr Boyarsky	Oleg Markelov	—	$1 176 906
2016	Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf 3 Иван Царевич и Серый волк 3	Darina Schmidt	Rostislav Khait Leonid Barats Sergei Petreykov	Svetlana Degtyarёva	—	$10 271 463
2017	The Three Heroes and the Sea King Три богатыря и морской царь	Konstantin Feoktistov	Aleksandr Boyarsky Svetlana Sachenko Alena Tabunova (idea)	Andrei Yakobchuk	$4	$14 134 274
2017	Fantastic Journey to OZ Урфин Джюс и его деревянные солдаты	Vladimir Toropchin Fyodor Dmitriev Darina Schmidt	Aleksandr Boyarsky Darina Schmidt	Anatolii Sokolov	—	$3 068 073
2017	Three Heroes and the Princess of Egypt Три богатыря и принцесса Египта	Konstantin Feoktistov	Aleksandr Boyarsky Svetlana Sachenko	Andrei Yakobchuk	$3.5 million	$12.6 million
2018	Three Heroes. The Heiress to the Throne Три богатыря и наследница престола	Konstantin Bronzit	Maksim Sveshnikov Vadim Sveshnikov Konstantin Bronzit	Yuliya Maslova Daria Ivanova	$2.5 million	—
2018	Sadko Садко	Maksim Volkov Vitaly Mukhametzyanov	Alexander Arkhhipov Dmitry Novoselov Slava Se	Aleksei Motavin
2019	Fantastic Return to OZ Урфин Джюс возвращается	Fyodor Dmitriev	Aleksandr Boyarsky	Aleksei Korobkin
2019	Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf 4 ru:Иван Царевич и Серый волк 4	Darina Schmidt Konstantin Feoktistov	Rostislav Khait Leonid Barats Sergei Petreykov	Daria Ivanova
2020	The Barkers: Mind the Cats! Барбоскины на даче	Elena Galdobina Fyodor Dmitriev	Aleksandr Boyarsky Aleksandra Shokha	Oleg Markelov	$2 million	$951 075
2020	Horse Julius and the Big Races Конь Юлий и большие скачки	Darina Schmidt Konstantin Feoktistov	Maksim Sveshnikov Vadim Sveshnikov Aleksandr Boyarsky	Andrei Yakobchuk	$2.4 million	$4 875 202

In Production

Full length

Year	Title cartoon	Director	Author(s) script	Production Designer	Start of production
2021	Three Heroes and a Horse on the Throne Три богатыря и Конь на троне	Darina Schmidt Konstantin Feoktistov	Aleksandr Boyarsky Aleksandra Shokha	Daria Ivanova	2020

Serial cartoons

Year	Title cartoon	Directed by of the animated series	The main authors of the script	Production Designer	Number of seasons	Number of series
1999—2000	Adventures in the Emerald City Приключения в Изумрудном городе	Aleksandr Makarov (1-2) Ilya Maksimov (3) Denis Chernov (4)	Evgeny Markov (1-2) Mikhail Bartenev (3-4) Andrei Usachyov (3-4)	Yuriy Solovyov (1-2) Ilya Myshkin (3-4)	1 season	4
2006—present	Luntik Приключения Лунтика и его друзей	Darina Shmidt Elena Galdobina Ekaterina Salabay	Darina Shmidt Fёdor Dmitriev Elena Galdobina Mariya Domogatskaya Anna Sosnora Alexandr Mal'gin Svetlana Sachenko Tatiana Gorbushina	Marina Komarkevich (1-2 seasons) Tatiana Klein (2-6 seasons) Irina Fёdorova (5-6 seasons) Vita Tkachёva (7 seasons: series 2012) Ekaterina Maksimenko (since 7 seasons)	8, in production 9 season	500+
2011—2019	The Barkers Барбоскины	Elena Galdobina Ekaterina Salabay	Elena Galdobina Fyodor Dmitriev Konstantin Feoktistov Vadim Smolyak Anna Sosnora	Lyudmila Steblyanko (1-100) Alesya Barsukova (91-130) Marina Makarova (131-212)	14 seasons	212
2018—present	Little Tiaras Царевны	Konstantin Bronzit Elena Galdobina Darina Schmidt	Darina Schmidt Fyodor Dmitriev Aleksandr Sinitsyn	Andrei Yakobchuk	2	52

See also

• History of Russian animation
• List of animated feature films

External links

• Official website
• Template:IMDb company
• Official website of the "3 Bogatyrs" trilogy (in Russian)
• Interview with Konstantin Bronzit (in Russian)
• La monto da gemoj - some Gora samotsvetov (Gem Mountain) series with subtitles in Esperanto.