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Sony Pictures Animation

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Sony Pictures Animation
Company typeSubsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment
IndustryCGI animation
Motion pictures
FoundedMay 2002
HeadquartersCulver City, California, USA
Key people
Michelle Raimo Kouyate, President[1]
ProductsAnimated films
OwnerSony
ParentSony Pictures Entertainment
Websitewww.sonypicturesanimation.com

Sony Pictures Animation is an American computer-animated film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, founded in May 2002. It is working closely with Sony Pictures Imageworks, which takes care of the digital production. Theatrical releases are distributed by Columbia Pictures, and direct-to-video releases are distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Their first feature film Open Season was released on September 29, 2006 (along with some direct-to-video sequels Open Season 2 and Open Season 3). The SPA logo seen at the beginning of their movies features original music composed by James Newton Howard. Its most successful movie to date is The Smurfs .

History

Sony Pictures Animation was established in May 2002 in order to enable Sony Pictures Entertainment to tap into CGI movie scene and to develop characters, stories and movies. A sister company, Sony Pictures Imageworks took over the digital production, while maintaining its visual effects production.[2] SPI had already been testing for some time its strengths and weakness in producing all-CG animation, result of which were two short films, The ChubbChubbs! and Early Bloomer.[3]

On its first anniversary, the studio announced a full slate of animated projects in development: Open Season, an adaptation of a Celtic folk ballad Tam Lin, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Surf's Up, and a feature length version of the short film The ChubbChubbs!.[4]

Its first full feature film was Open Season; it was released in September 2006 and it became the studios #2 home entertainment film in 2007 and followed by two direct-to-video sequels: Open Season 2 and Open Season 3. Its second film, Surf's Up was released in June 2007. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and won two Annie Awards. A motion captured animated film Neaderthals,[5] written and produced by Jon Favreau, was cancelled sometime in 2008,[6] after four years in development. SPA's first 3D movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, was released in September 2009, and was nominated for four Annie Awards including Best Animated Feature. The Smurfs (2011) is the studio's most recent release and its first CGI/live-action hybrid.

The studio is currently in production with Aardman Animations on two feature films, a computer-animated film Arthur Christmas (2011) and a stop-motion film The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012). SPA is also working on its own films, Hotel Transylvania (2012), The Smurfs 2 (2013) and The Familiars (2014), and has many other projects in development, including Popeye, a sequel to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Rollercoaster Tycoon.

Filmography

Feature films

Released films

# Title Release date Budget Gross RT IMDb
1 Open Season September 29, 2006 $85,000,000 $197,309,027 47% 6.1
2 Surf's Up June 8, 2007 $100,000,000 $149,044,513 77% 7.0
3 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs September 18, 2009 $100,000,000 $243,006,126 86% 7.2
4 The Smurfs July 29, 2011 $110,000,000 $328,946,882 22% 4.6

Upcoming films

Title Release date Ref(s)
Arthur Christmas November 23, 2011 [7]
The Pirates! Band of Misfits March 30, 2012 [8][9]
Hotel Transylvania September 21, 2012 [10][11]
The Familiars 2013 [12][13]

Films in development

Title Ref(s)
Popeye [14]
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 [15]
Rollercoaster Tycoon [16]
Futuropolis [17]
Make My Own Monster [17]
Stephan Franck's Untitled Project [18]
Muncle Trogg [19]
How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack [20]
Instant Karma [21]
Chickenhare [22]
Harold and the Purple Crayon [23]
How to Live Forever [24]
Secret Histories [24]

Direct-to-video

# Title Release date
1 Open Season 2 September 24, 2008
2 Open Season 3 October 21, 2010

Short films

# Title Release date
1 The ChubbChubbs! July 3, 2002
2 Early Bloomer May 9, 2003
3 Boog and Elliot's Midnight Bun Run January 30, 2007
4 The ChubbChubbs Save Xmas August 8, 2007
5 The Smurfs: Christmas Carol [25][26] 2011

References

  1. ^ Finke, Nikki (2010-11-04). "EXCLUSIVE: Michelle Raimo Named New President of Sony Pictures Animation". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
  2. ^ "Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment Establishes Feature Animation Unit; Animation Executives Sandra Rabins and Penney Finkelman Cox Named to Top Posts" (Press release). 2002-05-09. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
  3. ^ Raugust, Karen (2006-05-30). "The Value of Shorts". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2011-07-22.
  4. ^ "Sony Pictures Animation Announces Projects for Directors Jill Culton, Anthony Stacchi, Roger Allers, Brenda Chapman and the Brizzi Brothers Cox Named to Top Posts" (Press release). 2003-05-09. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
  5. ^ Adler, Shawn (2008-01-09). "Jon Favreau Gets Animated For 'Neanderthals'". MTV. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
  6. ^ Serrano, Armand (2010-04-19). "Neanderthals". Armand Serrano Blog. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
  7. ^ "Arthur Christmas", IMDB
  8. ^ "Pirates!", IMDB
  9. ^ "Columbia Pictures'/Sony Pictures Animation's 3D Film "The Smurfs" Comes to the Candy Shop as My Idolpops Lollipops" (Press release). My Idolpops via PR Newswire. 2011-04-19. Retrieved 2011-04-24. {{cite press release}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ Fritz, Ben (2006-07-31). "'Hotel' key to Sony toons". Variety. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
  11. ^ Finke, Nikki (2010-06-16). "Changing Release Dates: Sony Pics Sked". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  12. ^ Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson (2010-09-24). ""The Familiars" movie gets a director". The Familiars. Retrieved 2010-10-04.
  13. ^ Charaipotra, Sona (2011-05-13). "Debut Author Q&A: Endcap Entertainment's Andrew Jacobson and Adam Epstein On 'The Familiars'". Teen Writers Bloc. Retrieved 2011-06-11.
  14. ^ Siegel, Tatiana; McNary, Dave (2010-03-22). "Sony's 'Popeye' to pop eyes in 3D". Variety. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
  15. ^ Woerner, Meredith (2010-04-12). "Cloudy With Meatballs 2 Is Happening — Minus The Original Directors". Io9. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
  16. ^ Kit, Borys (2010-05-13). ""Rollercoaster Tycoon" riding to the screen". Reuters. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  17. ^ a b Idelson, Karen (2010-09-30). "Gotham builds new model on tooned-up frame". Variety. Retrieved 2010-12-16.
  18. ^ Fleming, Mike (2010-12-15). "'Finding Nemo' Scribe Writes Sony Pictures Animation Pic". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2010-12-16.
  19. ^ Kit, Borys (2011-03-31). "Sony Pictures Animation Acquires 'Muncle Trogg'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2011-04-06.
  20. ^ Sneider, Jeff (2011-04-14). "Sony Animation, Zemeckis dig 'Gnome'". Variety. Retrieved 2011-04-15.
  21. ^ Kit, Borys (2011-04-27). "Sony Pictures Animation Acquires 'Instant Karma'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2011-04-28.
  22. ^ "Sony Animation Catches Chickenhare" (Press release). Sony Pictures Animation via Animation World Network. 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2011-07-21. {{cite press release}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. ^ Rowles, Dustin (February 25, 2010). "Exclusive: Harold and the Purple Crayon Headed to the Big Screen". Pajiba. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  24. ^ a b "Gotham builds slate". Variety. September 30, 2010. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
  25. ^ Weintraub, Steve (2011-06-14). "Director Raja Gosnell & Producer Jordan Kerner Talk SMURFS; Reveal They're Already Writing the Sequel & the DVD Has a 22 Minute Original Christmas Movie". Collider.com. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
  26. ^ "The Smurfs / The Smurfs: Christmas Carol (Three-Disc Combo Blu-ray / DVD ) (2011)". Amazon. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
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