Warner Bros. Animation Inc. (abbreviated as WBA) is an American animation studio and the main animation division and label of Warner Bros. owned by its Television Group division, the flagship television arm of Skydance Corporation. It was established on March 15, 1980.
As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 1933 to 1969, the studio is closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters, among others. Warner Bros. re-established its animation division in 1980 to produce Looney Tunes–related works. Turner Broadcasting System merged with WBD predecessor Time Warner in 1996. and Turner's acquired studio, Hanna-Barbera, was absorbed into this studio in March 2001.
Warner Bros. Animation has specialized in producing television and direct-to-video animation featuring characters from other properties owned by Skydance Corporation, including Turner Entertainment Co. (which owns the rights to properties originally created by the MGM cartoon studio), Hanna-Barbera, Ruby-Spears and DC Entertainment.
History 1970–1986: Restarting the studio
The original Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, as well as all of Warner Bros.'s short subject production divisions, closed its doors on October 10, 1969, due to the rising costs and declining returns of short subject production. Outside animation companies were hired to produce new Looney Tunes-related animation for TV specials and commercials at irregular intervals. In 1975, Warner Bros. Cartoons alumnus Chuck Jones began producing a series of Looney Tunes specials at his Chuck Jones Productions animation studio, the first of which was Carnival of the Animals. These specials, and a 1975 Looney Tunes retrospective feature film titled Bugs Bunny: Superstar (distributed by United Artists, the previous owner of the pre-1950 Warner Bros. library), led Jones to produce The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie for Warner Bros. Pictures in 1979. This film blended classic Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies shorts with newly produced wraparounds of Bugs Bunny introducing each cartoon. Warner Bros. responded to the success of this film by reestablishing its own cartoon studio.
Warner Bros. Animation opened its doors on March 15, 1980, to produce compilation films and television specials starring the Looney Tunes characters. The studio's initial head was Hal Geer, who had been the original studio's sound effects editor during its final days, and he was soon joined by Friz Freleng, who left DePatie–Freleng (which became Marvel Productions after being sold to Marvel Comics), and returned to Warner as executive producer. The new wraparounds for The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981), Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982) and Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island (1983) featured footage by a new Warner Bros. Animation staff, composed mainly of veterans from the golden age of WB cartoons, including writers John Dunn and Dave Detiege.
By 1986, Freleng had departed, and Hal Geer also stepped down the following year. Geer was briefly replaced by Steven S. Greene, who in turn was replaced by Freleng's former secretary Kathleen Helppie-Shipley, who would spearhead a major revival of the Looney Tunes brand in the years that followed. The studio continued production on special projects starring the Looney Tunes characters, sporadically producing new Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies shorts for theaters such as The Duxorcist (1987), Night of the Living Duck (1988), Box-Office Bunny (1990), and Carrotblanca (1995). Many of these shorts, as well as the new footage in the compilation film Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (which includes The Duxorcist), were directed by Greg Ford and Terry Lennon, as well as Darrell Van Citters.
1986–1996: Moving into television animation
Beginning in 1986, Warner Bros. moved into regular television animation production. Warners' television division was established by WB Animation President Jean MacCurdy, who brought in producer Tom Ruegger and much of his staff from Hanna-Barbera Productions' A Pup Named Scooby-Doo series (1988–1991). A studio for the television unit was set up in the office tower of the Imperial Bank Building adjacent to the Sherman Oaks Galleria northwest of Los Angeles. Darrell Van Citters, who used to work at Disney, would work at Warner Bros. on the newer Bugs Bunny shorts, before leaving to form Renegade Animation in 1992. The first Warner Bros. original animated TV series Tiny Toon Adventures (1990–1995) was produced in conjunction with Amblin Entertainment, and featured young cartoon characters based upon specific Looney Tunes stars, and was a success. Later Amblin/Warner Bros. television shows, including Animaniacs (1993–1998), its spin-off Pinky and the Brain (1995–1998), and Freakazoid! (1995–1997) followed in continuing the Looney Tunes tradition of cartoon humor.
Warner Bros. Animation also began developing shows based upon comic book characters owned by sister company DC Comics. These programs, including Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1995), Superman: The Animated Series (1996–2000), The New Batman Adventures (1997–1999), Batman Beyond (1999–2001), and Justice League/Justice League Unlimited (2001–2006) proved popular among both children and adults. These shows were part of the DC animated universe. A Batman spin-off feature, Mask of the Phantasm, was produced in 1993 and bumped up to theatrical release. The film was critically acclaimed but performed poorly at the box-office, though it eventually became a commercial success through its subsequent home video releases. In 2003, Warner Bros. Television Animation was folded and was subsequently merged with Warner Bros. Animation.
The group was regrouped into three units, Warner Bros. Classic Animation led by Katherine Helppie-Shipley, Warner Bros. Television Animation and Warner Bros. Feature Animation, as well as an outsourcing deal Warner Bros. Animation's group had with Chuck Jones Film Productions, an independent production company led by ex-Warner Bros. animator Chuck Jones, founded in 1993, and the company was dissolved in 1996.
1990–2004: Warner Bros. Feature Animation
During the rise of the animation renaissance in the early 1990s, Warner Bros. distributed its first animated films: The Nutcracker Prince in 1990, which is a Canadian-produced feature film based on E. T. A. Hoffmann's classic holiday tale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King; and Rover Dangerfield in 1991, whose title character is a dog whose look and mannerisms are inspired by his voice actor Rodney Dangerfield. Both films received negative reviews and umderperformed at the box office due to lack of promotion. Three years later after the release of Rover Dangerfield, Warner distributed Don Bluth's Thumbelina, which also received mixed reviews from critics and underperformed at the box office.
That same year, Warner Bros., as well as several other Hollywood studios, moved into feature animation following the success of Walt Disney Feature Animation's The Lion King. Max Howard, a Disney alumnus, was brought in to head the new division, which was set up in Sherman Oaks near the television studio in nearby Glendale.Kenyon, Heather (April 1998) "An Afternoon with Max Howard, President, Warner Bros. Feature Animation ". Animation World Network. Retrieved June 16, 2007.
The first of Warner's animated features was Space Jam (1996), a live-action/animated hybrid which starred NBA star Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny (Jordan had previously appeared with the Looney Tunes in a number of Nike commercials). The film featured live-action sequences directed by Joe Pytka and animated sequences directed by Bruce W. Smith and Tony Cervone. Space Jam received mixed reviews from critics but proved to be a success at the box office. Animation production for Space Jam was primarily done at the new Sherman Oaks studio, although much of the work was outsourced to animation studios around the world.
Two years later, its second film, Frederik Du Chau's Quest for Camelot (1998), underwent production difficulties and also received mixed reviews from critics and underperformed at the box office. However, its soundtrack (such as one of the songs, "The Prayer") received some praise and accolades, including an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe win.
The third animated feature from Warner Bros. Feature Animation, Brad Bird's The Iron Giant (1999), received widespread acclaim from critics and audiences. However, the studio decided to rush its release to the end of the summer with a rushed marketing push, resulting it flopping at the box office.
The studio's next and fourth film, Osmosis Jones (2001), was another animated/live-action mix that suffered through another troubled production. This time, the animation sequences, directed by Piet Kroon and Tom Sito, were completed long before the live-action parts were filmed, eventually directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly and starring Bill Murray. The resulting film received mixed reviews and underperformed, although it was successful enough on home video for Warner's Television Animation department to produce a related Saturday morning cartoon, Ozzy & Drix (2002–2004) for its WB broadcast network.
Following the releases of The Iron Giant and Osmosis Jones, the feature animation staff was scaled back, and the entire animation staff – feature and television – were moved to the larger Sherman Oaks facility.
Warner Bros. Feature Animation's fifth and final project, Looney Tunes: Back in Action was released in 2003. It was intended to be the starting point for a reestablishment of the classic cartoons brands, including a planned series of new Looney Tunes theatrical shorts, produced by Back in Action writer and producer Larry Doyle. After Back in Action, directed by Joe Dante (live-action) and Eric Goldberg (animation), received mixed reviews from critics and underperformed at the box office, production was shut down on the new shorts, and, in 2004, Warner Bros. Feature Animation was folded into Warner Bros. Animation, and Looney Tunes has been mostly relegated to television until 2021's Space Jam: A New Legacy.
+Filmography Title Release date Director(s) Writer(s) Producer(s) Co-production with Animation services Budget GrossStoryScreenplay Space Jam Live Action:Joe PytkaAnimation:Bruce W. SmithTony Cervone Leo BenvenutiSteve RudnickTimothy HarrisHerschel Weingrod Joe MedjuckDaniel GoldbergIvan Reitman Warner Bros. Family EntertainmentNorthern Lights Entertainment Main facilityBardel EntertainmentStardust PicturesHeart of Texas ProductionsCharacter BuildersChuck Gammage AnimationPremier Films Ltd.Rees / Leiva ProductionsSpaff AnimationUli Meyer Features $80 million $250.2 million Quest for Camelot Frederik Du Chau Kirk DeMiccoWilliam SchifrinJacqueline FeatherDavid Seidler Dalisa Cohen Warner Bros. Family Entertainment California and London WBFA facilityYowza! AnimationA. Film A/SHeart of Texas Productions $40 million $38.1 million The Iron Giant Brad Bird Tim McCanlies Allison AbbateDes McAnuff Main facultiesA. Film A/S (uncredited)Duncan Studios (Signature Edition) $70–80 million $31.3 million Osmosis Jones Live-action:Bobby Farrelly Peter FarrellyAnimation:Piet KroonTom Sito Marc Hyman Dennis EdwardsBobby FarrellyPeter FarrellyZak PennBradley Thomas Conundrum Entertainment Main facultiesA. Film A/S (uncredited)Yowza! Animation $70 million $14 million Looney Tunes: Back in Action Live-action:Joe Dante Animation:Eric Goldberg Larry Doyle Paula WeinsteinBernie Goldman Baltimore Spring Creek ProductionsGoldmann PicturesLonely Film Productions GmbH & Co. KG Main facultiesYowza! AnimationMercury Filmworks $80 million $68.5 million Combines live-action with animation.
1996–2019: Acquisitions of libraries