Sony Pictures Animation
Sony Pictures Animation Inc. is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and founded on May 9, 2002. The studio's films are distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures Releasing under their Columbia Pictures label, while all direct-to-video releases are released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Their first movie Open Season was released on September 29, 2006, it's latest release was Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse on June 6, 2023. The studio's most successful movie to date is The Smurfs. However, its most critically acclaimed movie is Arthur Christmas, which was co-produced with Aardman Animations.
History
Sony Pictures Animation/Paramount Pictures deal (2001–03)
In 2001, Sony Pictures considered selling off its visual effects facility Sony Pictures Imageworks but after failing to find a suitable buyer, having been impressed with the CGI sequences of Stuart Little 2 and seeing the box office successes of DreamWorks Animation's Shrek and Disney/Pixar's 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, but never made it to fruition.[3] On May 9, 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.[4] Meanwhile, SPI produced two short films, the Academy Award-winning The ChubbChubbs! and Early Bloomer, as a result of testing its strengths and weaknesses in producing all-CGI animation.[5]
Sony Pictures Animation (2003–2011)
On its first anniversary on May 9, 2003, 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 film version of The ChubbChubbs!.[6]
On May 2014, it was announced that Netflix had acquired streaming rights to films produced by Sony Pictures Animation.[7]
Sony Pictures Animation (2011–18)
In June 2019, Sony Pictures Animation announced that they had launched an "International" division headed by Aron Warner at the 2019 Annecy International Animated Film Festival, with Wish Dragon set to be the division's first film. The same day, they also announced an "Alternative" division aimed at producing adult animated content, headed by Katie Baron and Kevin Noel. In addition to Tartakovsky's films Black Knight and Fixed, the division's TV shows are set to include The Boondocks, a reboot of the original TV series that originally aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block from 2005 to 2014; Superbago, a co-production with Stoopid Buddy Stoodios that was originally greenlit as a feature film; and Hungry Ghosts, a series based on the Dark Horse graphic novel by Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose.[10] They had previously announced their plans to produce adult content at the 2017 Annecy festival.[11]
Sony Pictures Animation (2018–present)
According to Kristine Belson, president of SPA, the studio produces films on a 1:1 development-to-production ratio, meaning that the studio puts films into development as much as it places films in production, unlike other animation studios.[11]
Movies
| Title | Release Date | Co-production with | Animation services | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Open Season | November 3, 2006 | N/A | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 2 | Surf's Up | July 13, 2007 | N/A | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 3 | Open Season 2 | September 24, 2008 | N/A | Reel FX Creative Studios |
| 4 | Open Season 3 | October 21, 2010 | N/A | Reel FX Creative Studios |
| 5 | Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs | October 23, 2009 | N/A | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 6 | The Smurfs | September 2, 2011 | The Kerner Entertainment Company | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 7 | Arthur Christmas | December 28, 2011 | Aardman Animations | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 8 | The Pirates! Band of Misfits | June 1, 2012 | Aardman Animations | Aardman Animations |
| 9 | Hotel Transylvania | November 2, 2012 | N/A | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 10 | The Smurfs 2 | September 4, 2013 | The Kerner Entertainment Company | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 11 | Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 | November 1, 2013 | N/A | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 12 | Hotel Transylvania 2 | October 30, 2015 | LStar Capital | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 13 | Open Season: Scared Silly | December 18, 2015 | N/A | Rainmaker Entertainment |
| 14 | The Angry Birds Movie | June 24, 2016 | Rovio Animation | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 15 | Surf's Up 2: Wavemania | September 16, 2016 | WWE Studios | Rainmaker Entertainment |
| 16 | Smurfs: The Lost Village | May 12, 2017 | The Kerner Entertainment Company Wanda Pictures LStar Capital | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 17 | The Emoji Movie | September 1, 2017 | N/A | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 18 | The Star | December 22, 2017 | The Jim Henson Company Franklin Entertainment Walden Media Affirm Films | Cinesite |
| 19 | Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation | August 17, 2018 | N/A | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 20 | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse | December 21, 2018 | Marvel Entertainment Arad Productions Pascal Pictures Lord Miller Productions | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 21 | The Angry Birds Movie 2 | August 13, 2019 | Rovio Animation | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 22 | The Mitchells vs. The Machines | April 30, 2021 | Lord Miller Productions | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 23 | Wish Dragon | June 11, 2021 | Tencent Pictures
Flagship Entertainment Group |
Titmouse |
| 24 | Vivo | August 6, 2021 | Laurence Mark Productions | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 25 | Hotel Transylvania: Transformania | January 14, 2022 | N/A | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
| 26 | Tut | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| 27 | Black Knight | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| 28 | Fixed | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| 29 | K-Pop: Demon Hunters | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| 30 | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | June 6, 2023 | Marvel Entertainment | Sony Pictures Imageworks |
TV Series
| Title | Aired | Co-production with | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs | 2017–2018 | Corus EntertainmentDHX Media |
| 2 | Hotel Transylvania: The Series | 2017–2020 | Corus Entertainment |
| 3 | Young Love | 2023 | Blue Key Entertainment
Lion Forge Animation |
| 4 | Agent Elvis | 2023–present | Titmouse, Inc. |
Short movies
| Title | Release Date | Animation Services | Franchise |
|---|---|---|---|
| The ChubbChubbs! | July 3, 2002 | Sony Pictures Imageworks | The ChubbChubbs! |
| Early Bloomer | May 9, 2003 | Sony Pictures Imageworks | N/A |
| Boog & Elliot's Midnight Bun Run | October 30, 2006 | Sony Pictures Imageworks | Open Season |
| The ChubbChubbs Save Xmas | August 8, 2007 | Sony Pictures Imageworks | The ChubbChubbs! |
| The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol | December 2, 2011 | Sony Pictures Imageworks | The Smurfs |
| Goodnight Mr. Foot | October 26, 2012 | Rough Draft Studios | Hotel Translyvania |
| The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow | September 10, 2013 | Duck Studios | The Smurfs |
| Puppy! | July 28, 2017 | Sony Pictures Imageworks | Hotel Translyvania |
| Spider-Ham: Caught in a Ham | March 19, 2019 | Titmouse | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse |
| Hair Love | August 14, 2019 | Lion Forge Animation | N/A |
| Monster Pets: A Hotel Transylvania Short | April 3, 2021 | Sony Pictures Imageworks | Hotel Translyvania |
Franchises
| Titles | Movies | Release dates |
|---|---|---|
| Open Season | 4 | 2006–present |
| Surf's Up | 2 | 2007–2017 |
| Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs | 2 | 2009–present |
| The Smurfs | 3 | 2011–2017 |
| Hotel Transylvania | 4 | 2012–2022 |
| The Angry Birds Movie | 2 | 2016–2019 |
| Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse | 2 (1 coming soon) | 2018–present |
Sony Pictures Animation Media
Logo used from 2006 to 2011
Logo used from 2011 to 2018
