2000 in animation is an overview of notable events, including notable awards, list of films released, television show debuts and endings, and notable deaths.
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Events
January January 1: The website Homestar Runner goes up. January 6: The film Cóndor Crux, la leyenda premieres. January 12: South Park concludes its third season on Comedy Central with the episode "World Wide Recorder Concert", this was the first episode to premiere in the 2000s. It was watched by over 2 million viewers that night.Comedy Central Ratings Report (January 10–16, 2000). Nielsen Media Research (Report). January 14: The Simpsons receive a star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
February February 6: The Walt Disney Company releases The Tigger Movie. February 26: The first episode of The Weekenders airs. February 29: The Walt Disney Company releases An Extremely Goofy Movie. This serves as the finale to the television series Goof Troop. Specific date unknown: Titmouse, Inc is founded.
March March 9: The animated TV series God, the Devil and Bob is first broadcast, but was cancelled after four episodes over its satirical portrayal of God and Satan. March 19: The Simpsons episode "Bart to the Future" premieres. It has a throwaway joke about Donald Trump being President of the United States in the future and causing a budget crisis, which gained more attention when Trump became president in 2017 and the episode was accused of unintentionally predicting the future. March 26: 72nd Academy Awards: The Old Man and the Sea by Alexander Petrov wins the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. "You'll Be in My Heart" from Tarzan by Phil Collins wins the Academy Award for Best Original Song. March 31: The Road to El Dorado premieres.
April April 1: Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang launches. April 3: The first episode of Between the Lions airs. April 5: Season 4 of South Park begins on Comedy Central with the premiere of the episode "The Tooth Fairy's Tats 2000"."Watch South Park Episodes Online Season 4 (2000)". TV Guide. Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019. This episode marks the debut of the character Timmy Burch.
May May 19: The Walt Disney Company releases Dinosaur. This marks the first Disney animated feature to receive the PG rating since The Black Cauldron in 1985. May 21: King of the Hill concludes its fourth season on Fox with episode "Peggy's Fan Fair", which was seen by over 7.2 million viewers that night. The Simpsons concludes its eleventh season on Fox with episode "Behind the Laughter", which was seen by over 13.8 million viewers that night. May 22: Cartoon Network Studios opened in Burbank, California.
June June 16: Don Bluth and Gary Goldman's Titan A.E. is released, but becomes a box office flop, gaining $36.8 million against a $75–90 million budget and resulting in a $100 million loss for 20th Century Fox. Due to the failure of the film, Fox Animation Studios was shut down afterward. June 23: Peter Lord and Nick Park's Chicken Run premieres. It is the first feature-length film of Aardman Animation.
July July 7: June Foray receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. July 10: The film Heavy Metal 2000, a sequel to the 1981 film Heavy Metal, is released. July 22: The film The Boy Who Saw the Wind premieres. July 25: The final episode of the animated sitcom adaptation of Scott Adams' newspaper comic Dilbert is broadcast: Dilbert. Don Hertzfeldt's Rejected premieres. Universal Cartoon Studios releases An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster, the final installment to An American Tail. Universal discontinued the franchise as the studio would then work on direct-to-video sequels based on Balto. July 29: The film Blood: The Last Vampire premieres at the 5th annual International Festival of Fantasy, Action and Genre Cinema, nicknamed Fantasia 2000, in Montreal. The film airs in Australia on August 26, 2000, at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festival. It makes its theatrical debut in its home country of Japan on November 16, 2000.
August August 1: Family Guy concludes its second season on Fox with the episode "Fore, Father", which was seen by over six million viewers that night."National Nielsen Viewership (July 31-Aug. 6, 2000)". Los Angeles Times. August 9, 2000. Retrieved June 10, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. August 14: The first episode of Dora the Explorer airs. August 18: The pilot episode of Sheep in the Big City is broadcast. August 26: The pilot episode of Generation O! is broadcast. August 29: Monster Mash is first released.
September September 3: The first episode of Playboy's Dark Justice, a computer-animated pornographic series, is broadcast. September 4: The first episode of Clifford the Big Red Dog airs. September 9: The first episode of Jackie Chan Adventures airs, an animated TV series based on martial arts actor Jackie Chan. The first episode of Teacher's Pet is broadcast. September 15: The film Titanic: The Legend Goes On is released.. It would later gain notoriety for its low quality and rapping dog character. September 18: The Walt Disney Company announces they would be selling DIC Entertainment through a management buyout backed up through Bain Capital. September 23: The first episode of Static Shock airs. Specific date unknown: Corus Entertainment buys Nelvana
October October 1: Season 5 of King of the Hill begins on Fox with the premiere of the episode "The Perils of Polling", which was seen by just nearly 9.6 million viewers that night. October 2: The first episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command airs. October 3: Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders is released, receiving positive reviews. This is the final time Mary Kay Bergman would voice Daphne as the film is dedicated to her memory. Grey DeLisle would later take the role for the character in the next film. October 6: Digimon: The Movie premieres. Help! I'm a Fish is first released. October 9: The Arthur episode "It's a No-Brainer" airs. It was withdrawn from circulation 21 years later. October 20: Season 2 of SpongeBob SquarePants begins on Nickelodeon with the premiere of the episodes "Something Smells/Bossy Boots"."SpongeBob SquarePants, Season 2". iTunes. Apple Inc. Retrieved November 26, 2013. Starting with this season, the show's animation style switches from cel animation to digital ink and paint. October 21: The film Ah! My Goddess: The Movie is released. October 24: The first episode of Pelswick airs, based on John Callahan's cartoons. October 25: The first episode of As Told by Ginger airs. October 27: Pettson och Findus - Kattonauten, based on the Pettson and Findus book series, is released. October 31: The film Gen13 is released. Specific date unknown: The film Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is released.
November November 1: Season 12 of The Simpsons begins on Fox with the premiere of the latest Treehouse of Horror installment "Treehouse of Horror XI", which was seen by over 13.2 million viewers that night."National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 30-Nov. 5, 2000)". Los Angeles Times. November 8, 2000. Archived from the original on May 12, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. November 5: The Simpsons' 250th episode "A Tale of Two Springfields" premieres on Fox, featuring the following guest stars: Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Paul Townshend (playing his brother Pete Townshend) & Gary Coleman. The episode was seen by over 16.1 million viewers that night. November 7: The film Joseph: King of Dreams is released, a sequel to The Prince of Egypt. November 7–9: The three-part Rugrats special "Acorn Nuts & Diapey Butts" premieres on Nickelodeon, these episodes serve as the prologue to Rugrats in Paris: The Movie."Rugrats: The Complete Series". iTunes Store. Apple, Inc. August 11, 1991. Retrieved May 31, 2022. November 13: The Arthur episode "Bitzi's Beau" airs. This marks the earliest depiction of Mr. Ratburn getting married, but only in a fantasy sequence as being straight. His actual marriage occurs in the later episode "Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone", over 20 years of being closeted. November 14: 3-2-1 Penguins! is released in direct-to-video format. November 17: Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon's Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, is released. It marks the debuts of Kimi Watanabe her mother Kira and their dog Fifi who will all become part of the show's cast. It received positive reviews over its predecessor. Cartoon Network’s Sheep in the Big City airs. This program became coveted long after its cancellation in 2002. November 25: The CatDog made-for-TV movie "CatDog and the Great Parent Mystery", premieres on Nickelodeon.
December December 7: The SpongeBob SquarePants holiday special episode "Christmas Who?" premieres on Nickelodeon. December 12: Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker is released direct-to-video. The film caused controversy for its violent content, including the Joker's death. As a result, the film was censored and the uncut version was not released until 2002. December 14: The film The Magic Pudding is first released. December 15: The Walt Disney Company releases The Emperor's New Groove. December 20: South Park concludes its fourth season on Comedy Central with the Christmas special "A Very Crappy Christmas", this was the last episode to premiere during the 20th century. It was seen by over 3 million viewers that night.Comedy Central Ratings Report (December 18–24, 2000). Nielsen Media Research (Report). December 21: Cartoon Network began airing adult oriented programs during 4am and 5am, including Sealab 2021, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and The Brak Show, all were unannounced and continued to air for ten nights. Cartoon Network would launch Adult Swim later in the following year. December 23: Pandavas: The Five Warriors, the first Indian computer animated film, is released. December 27: Let's All Go to the Lobby and Porky in Wackyland are added to the National Film Registry.
Specific date unknown Per Åhlin's The Dog Hotel is first released. Michaël Dudok de Wit's Father and Daughter is first released. Happy Tree Friends first airs online.
Films released
January 6 - Condor Crux, the Legend (Spain and Argentina) January 26 - Princes and Princesses (France) February 11: Circleen: Mice and Romance (Denmark) The Tigger Movie (United States and Japan) February 18 - Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists (India and United States) February 21 - Soreike! Anpanman: Kieta Jam Oji-san (Japan) February 29 - An Extremely Goofy Movie (United States) March 4: Doraemon: Nobita and the Legend of the Sun King (Japan) One Piece: The Movie (Japan) March 10 - Hundhotellet (Sweden) March 11 - The Great Easter Egg Hunt (United States) March 31: The Road to El Dorado (United States) The Miracle Maker (Russia and United Kingdom) April 1 - VeggieTales: King George and the Ducky (United States) April 4 - Tom Sawyer (United States) April 22: Case Closed: Captured in Her Eyes (Japan) Crayon Shin-chan: Rumble in the Jungle (Japan) May 19 - Dinosaur (United States) May 24 - The New Bremen Town Musicians (Russia) May 26 - Odwrocona gora albo film pod strasznym tytułem (Poland) June 13 - Aladdin and the Adventure of All Time (United States and Philippines) June 16 - Titan A.E. (United States) June 23 - Chicken Run (United Kingdom and United States) June 24 - Escaflowne (Japan) June 30 - The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (United States) July - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (Japan) July 6 - Heart, the Joys of Pantriste (Argentina) July 8 - Pokémon 3: The Movie Entei-Spell of the Unknown (Japan) July 10 - Heavy Metal 2000 (Canada and Germany) July 13 - The Rescue by Pintin (Argentina) July 14 - Leif Erickson, Discoverer of North America (United States) July 15 - Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card (Japan) July 22 - The Boy Who Saw the Wind (Japan)