Sony Pictures Animation
| Company type | Subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment |
|---|---|
| Industry | CGI animation Motion pictures |
| Founded | May 2002 |
| Headquarters | Culver City, California, USA |
Key people | Michelle Raimo Kouyate, President[1] |
| Products | Animated films |
| Owner | Sony |
| Parent | Sony Pictures Entertainment |
| Website | www |
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. The studio's most successful movie to date is The Smurfs. However, its most critically acclaimed film is Arthur Christmas, which was co-produced with Aardman Animations.[citation needed]
History
In 2001, Sony Pictures Entertainment considered selling off its visual effects facility Sony Pictures Imageworks. After failing to find a suitable buyer, and having been impressed with the CGI sequences created for Stuart Little 2, and seeing the box office success of Shrek and Monsters, Inc., SPI was reconfigured to become an animation studio. Astro Boy, which had been in development at Sony since 1997 as a live-action film, was set to be SPI's first all-CGI film.[2] In May 2002, Sony Pictures Animation was established to develop characters, stories and movies, with SPI taking over the digital production while maintaining its visual effects production.[3] Meanwhile, SPI produced two short films, The ChubbChubbs! and Early Bloomer, as a result of testing its strengths and weakness in producing all-CG animation.[4]
On its first anniversary, Sony Pictures Animation 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!.[5]
Its first full feature film was Open Season; it was released in September 2006 and it became Sony's second-highest-grossing home entertainment film in 2007 and spawned two direct-to-video sequels. Its second feature film, Surf's Up was released in June 2007, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and won two Annie Awards. A motion captured animated film Neaderthals,[6] written and produced by Jon Favreau, was cancelled sometime in 2008,[7] 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) was the studio's first CGI/live-action hybrid and its most successful release. SPA's parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment has partnered in 2007 with Aardman Animations to finance, co-produce and distribute feature films.[8] The first film made in this partnership, a computer-animated film Arthur Christmas, was released in November 2011.
The studio is currently in production with Aardman Animations on 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), Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers (2014), and The Familiars (2014), and has many other projects in development, including Popeye and RollerCoaster Tycoon.
Filmography
Feature films
Released films:
| # | Title | Release date | Budget | Gross | RT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Open Season | September 29, 2006 | $85,000,000 | $197,309,027 | 48% |
| 2 | Surf's Up | June 8, 2007 | $100,000,000 | $149,044,513 | 77% |
| 3 | Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs | September 18, 2009 | $100,000,000 | $243,006,126 | 86% |
| 4 | The Smurfs | July 29, 2011 | $110,000,000 | $563,749,323 | 23% |
| 5 | Arthur Christmas | November 23, 2011 | $100,000,000 | $147,419,472 | 92% |
Upcoming films:
| Title | Release date | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|
| The Pirates! Band of Misfits | April 27, 2012 | [9] |
| Hotel Transylvania | September 28, 2012 | [10][11][12] |
| The Smurfs 2 | July 31, 2013 | [13][14] |
| Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers | February 7, 2014 | [15][16][17] |
| The Familiars | 2014 | [18][19] |
Project:
| Title | Ref(s) |
|---|---|
| Popeye | [20] |
| RollerCoaster Tycoon | [21] |
| Chickenhare | [22] |
| Harold and the Purple Crayon | [23] |
| Pooch Café | [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: A Christmas Carol | December 2, 2011 |
| 6 | So You Want to Be a Pirate! | 2012 |
References
- ^ Finke, Nikki (2010-11-04). "EXCLUSIVE: Michelle Raimo Named New President of Sony Pictures Animation". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
- ^ Brodesser, Claude (December 9, 2001). "Sony finds Rx for its f/x". Variety. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Raugust, Karen (2006-05-30). "The Value of Shorts". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2011-07-22.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Adler, Shawn (2008-01-09). "Jon Favreau Gets Animated For 'Neanderthals'". MTV. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
- ^ Serrano, Armand (2010-04-19). "Neanderthals". Armand Serrano Blog. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
- ^ BBC News (2007-04-02). "Gromit animators sign Sony deal". BBC News. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
- ^ "Pirate Captain and his crew wish you a happy Chinese New Year". Sony Pictures Animation. Facebook. January 23, 2012. Retrieved January 24, 2012.
- ^ Fritz, Ben (2006-07-31). "'Hotel' key to Sony toons". Variety. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
- ^ Finke, Nikki (2010-06-16). "Changing Release Dates: Sony Pics Sked". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
- ^ "Hotel Transylvania". Movie Insider. February 10, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
- ^ "Sony Pictures Moving Forward with Smurfs 2". ComingSoon.net. 2011-08-09. Retrieved 2011-08-09.
- ^ Goldberg, Matt (March 29, 2012). "New Release Dates for THE SMURFS 2, THE SAMARITAN and the Farrelly/Wessler Star-Packed Comedy Anthology". Collider.com. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
- ^ Woerner, Meredith (2010-04-12). "Cloudy With Meatballs 2 Is Happening — Minus The Original Directors". Io9. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
- ^ "The Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Sequel Gets a Title". ComingSoon.net. 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
- ^ "Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
- ^ Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson (2010-09-24). ""The Familiars" movie gets a director". The Familiars. Retrieved 2010-10-04.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Siegel, Tatiana; McNary, Dave (2010-03-22). "Sony's 'Popeye' to pop eyes in 3D". Variety. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
- ^ Kit, Borys (2010-05-13). ""Rollercoaster Tycoon" riding to the screen". Reuters. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
- ^ "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) - ^ Rowles, Dustin (February 25, 2010). "Exclusive: Harold and the Purple Crayon Headed to the Big Screen". Pajiba. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
- ^ Kit, Borys (October 7, 2011). "'Gnomeo and Juliet' Filmmaker Penning 'Pooch Cafe' for Sony Pictures Animation". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 6, 2011.