Crest Animation Productions (formerly RichCrest Animation Studios, Rich Animation Studios and originally Rich Entertainment) was an Indian-American animation studio that operated from 1986 to 2013. Headquartered in Burbank, California, it was founded on March 15, 1986 by Richard Rich.
Crest's most well known work include Alpha and Omega and The Swan Princess. The studio initially made some traditional animated films, but later exclusively relied on computer animation until its closure in 2013.
History The studio was founded by film director Richard Rich in 1986, who previously worked at Walt Disney Productions. He initially had 26 employees, most of them coming from Disney such as former marketing chief Matt Mazer. Around that time, Rich was contacted by Jared F. Brown to produce half-hour animated videos based on audio cassettes of the Book of Mormon for his Living Scriptures firm. They subsequently expanded to educational animated Christian and historical videos for children through a sister company Family Entertainment Network.
In 1993, Rich Animation Studios was fully acquired by Nest Entertainment, a holding company that also combined Family Entertainment Network and Cassette Duplicators Inc., a cassette-duplicator in West Valley City. On the heels of the videos' success, the two studios produced The Swan Princess in 1994, based on the classic ballet Swan Lake. Despite being a box-office disappointment, it sold well on video and spawned two sequels, The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain and The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Kingdom.
In 1999, the two studios teamed up with Morgan Creek Productions and Rankin/Bass Productions to produce an animated adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I for Warner Bros. However, the film bombed at the box office and received very negative reviews, which forced Nest Family Entertainment to sell off the studio to Crest Animation Studios on New Year's Day 2000. The studio was renamed to RichCrest Animation Studios, and they continued to produce Bible videos for Nest until 2005.
In February 2007, RichCrest was renamed to Crest Animation Productions and announced that it was "expanding its business to become a full-service animation studio specializing in the development and production of CGI-animated properties for theatrical, television, home entertainment and interactive distribution".
The studio was shut down in 2013, after failing to make a profit. Many of its productions contracts were handed over to other studios for completion. Norm of the North, a film that was in production at Crest before closing, along with future Alpha and Omega sequels were handed over to Splash Entertainment while future Swan Princess installments were handled by Streetlight Animation, which Rich also formed.
Filmography Theatrical features
Rich era Title Release date Notes The Swan Princess Co-production with Nest Family Entertainment The King and I Co-production with Morgan Creek Productions, Rankin/Bass Productions and Nest Family Entertainment
RichCrest era Title Release date Notes The Trumpet of the Swan Co-production with TriStar Pictures and Nest Family Entertainment Muhammad: The Last Prophet
Crest era Title Release date Notes Alpha and Omega Co-production with Lionsgate Films; and produced in CGI.
Direct-to-video Rich era Title Release date Notes Animated Stories from the Book of Mormon 1987-1992 Co-production with Living Scriptures Animated Stories from the New Testament 1987-2004 Co-production with Nest Family Entertainment Animated Hero Classics 1991–1997, 2004 Co-production with Living History Productions, Nest Family Entertainment and Warner-Nest Animation Animated Stories from the Bible 1992–1995 Co-Production with Nest Family Entertainment The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain The Swan Princess III: The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure The Scarecrow
RichCrest era Title Release date Notes K10C: Kids' Ten Commandments 2003 Co-production with TLC Entertainment and SMEC Media Arthur's Missing Pal (CGI) Co-production with WGBH-TV, Mainframe Entertainment and Marc Brown Studios
Crest era Note: All films CGI. Title Release date Notes The Little Engine That Could Co-production with Universal Animation Studios The Swan Princess: Christmas Co-production with Nest Family Entertainment Alpha and Omega 2: A Howl-iday Adventure The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale Co-production with Nest Family Entertainment Alpha and Omega 3: The Great Wolf Games Alpha and Omega 4: The Legend of the Saw Tooth Cave Alpha and Omega: Family Vacation
Films originally slated for production at Crest Title Release date Notes Norm of the North Co-produced by Splash Entertainment and Assemblage Entrainment Alpha and Omega: Dino Digs The Swan Princess: Princess Tomorrow, Pirate Today Co-production with Nest Family Entertainment Alpha and Omega: The Big Fureeze The Swan Princess: Royally Undercover Co-production with Nest Family Entertainment Alpha and Omega: Journey to Bear Kingdom The Swan Princess: A Royal Myztery Co-production with Nest Family Entertainment The Swan Princess: Kingdom of Music The Swan Princess: A Royal Wedding The Swan Princess: A Fairytale is Born The Swan Princess: Far Longer than Forever
References