Universal Animation Studios

Template:Short description Template:Pp-pc1 Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox company Universal Animation Studios LLC (formerly known as Universal Cartoon Studios) is an American animation studio and a division of Universal Pictures, which is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast. It has produced direct-to-video sequels to Universal-released feature films, such as The Land Before Time, An American Tail, Balto, and Curious George, as well as other films and television series.

The actual animation production is done overseas, usually by foreign animation studios such as AKOM, Wang Film Productions and Rough Draft Studios, while pre-production and post-production is United States–based.

The television animation divisions of Universal and DreamWorks merged on August 23, 2016, after Universal completed its acquisition of DreamWorks Animation, who began producing a majority of Universal Pictures' family-friendly TV shows.

History

Template:Expand section Universal Animation Studios was established in 1990 as Universal Cartoon Studios, the animation division of MCA Inc. It was originally a subsidiary of Universal Family Entertainment, which was headed by Jeff Segal. Its debut work was Back to the Future: The Animated Series, which was announced on March 22, 1991, and premiered on CBS on September 14 the same year.

In 1996, the two groups Universal Family Entertainment and its subsidiary Universal Cartoon Studios were absorbed into MCA Television Entertainment.

In 2005, Universal Cartoon Studios was absorbed into Universal Studios Family Productions, and later on, it was renamed to Universal Animation Studios.

Franchises

This is not including the original films of An American Tail, The Land Before Time and Balto made by either Hanna-Barbera Productions, Sullivan Bluth Studios or Amblimation.

Titles	Release dates	Movies	TV Seasons
Woody Woodpecker	1991–present1	2	6
An American Tail	1986–1999	4	1
The Land Before Time	1988–present	14	2
Balto	1995–2004	3	0
Alvin and the Chipmunks	1999–2000	2	0
Curious George	2006–present	6	15

^1:The date reflects the first appearance of Woody Woodpecker in a production from Universal Cartoon Studios rather than the date when the character was originally created in 1940 by Walter Lantz Productions.

Filmography

Feature films

Theatrical feature films

#	Title	Release date	Director	Writer(s)		Producer(s)	Co-production with
				Story	Screenplay
1	Curious George	Template:Start date	Matthew O'Callaghan	Ken Kaufman Mike Werb	Ken Kaufman	Ron Howard David Kirschner Jon Shapiro	Imagine Entertainment
2	Woody WoodpeckerTemplate:Ref labelTemplate:Ref label	Template:Start date	Alex Zamm	William Robertson Alex Zamm Daniel Altiere Steven Altiere	William Robertson Alex Zamm	Mike Elliott	Universal 1440 Entertainment

Template:Note labelCombines live-action with animation.

Template:Note labelNot released theatrically in the United States

Direct-to-video/streaming feature films

Children's feature films

#	Title	Release date	Co-production with
as Universal Cartoon Studios
1	The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure	Template:Start date	N/A
2	The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving	Template:Start date
3	The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists	Template:Start date
4	The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island	Template:Start date
5	Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus	Template:Start date	Renaissance Pictures
6	An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island	Template:Start date	N/A
7	The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock	Template:Start date
8	Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein	Template:Start date	Bagdasarian Productions, LLC.
9	An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster	Template:Start date	N/A
10	Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman	Template:Start date	Bagdasarian Productions, LLC.
11	The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire	Template:Start date	N/A
12	The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze	Template:Start date
13	Balto II: Wolf Quest	Template:Start date
14	The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water	Template:Start date
15	Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure	Template:Start date	Paramount Pictures Nickelodeon Animation Studio
16	The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration	Template:Start date	N/A
17	Balto III: Wings of Change	Template:Start date
18	The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses	Template:Start date
19	The Adventures of Brer Rabbit	Template:Start date
as Universal Animation Studios
20	The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers	Template:Start date	N/A
21	The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends	Template:Start date
22	Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!Template:Ref label	Template:Start date	Imagine Entertainment
23	The Little Engine That Could	Template:Start date	Crest Animation Productions
24	Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle	Template:Start date	Imagine Entertainment Universal 1440 Entertainment
25	The Land Before Time XIV: Journey of the Brave	Template:Start date	Universal 1440 Entertainment
26	Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You	Template:Start date	Universal 1440 Entertainment Splash Entertainment Telegael Magic Carpet Productions
27	Curious George: Royal Monkey	Template:Start date	Imagine Entertainment Universal 1440 Entertainment
28	Curious George: Go West, Go WildTemplate:Ref label	September 8, 2020
29	Bobbleheads: The Movie	December 8, 2020	Threshold Animation Studios Universal 1440 Entertainment
30	Curious George: Cape AhoyTemplate:Ref label	September 30, 2021	Imagine Entertainment Universal 1440 Entertainment
31	Woody Woodpecker Goes to CampTemplate:Ref labelTemplate:Ref label	Template:Start date	Universal 1440 Entertainment

Adult animated short films

#	Title	Release date	Co-production with
as Universal Cartoon Studios
1	Van Helsing: The London AssignmentTemplate:Ref label	Template:Start date	N/A
2	The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark FuryTemplate:Ref label	Template:Start date

Template:Note labelReleased on Peacock.

Template:Note labelReleased on Netflix.

Template:Note labelAdult animated production.

Short films

• Fractured Fairy Tales: The Phox, the Box, & the Lox (1999) (theatrical release)

Television series

#	Title	Creator(s) / Developer(s)	Original run	Network	Co-production with
as Universal Cartoon Studios
1	Back to the Future	Robert Zemeckis Bob Gale	1991–1992	CBS	Amblin Television Zaloom/Mayfield Productions BIG Pictures
2	Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories	Shelley Duvall	1992–1993	Showtime	Think Entertainment
3	Fievel's American Tails	David Kirschner	1992	CBS	Amblin Television Nelvana
4	Exosquad	Jeff Segal Eric Lewald Michael Edens	1993–1994	Syndication	N/A
5	Problem Child	Scott Alexander Larry Karaszewski		USA Network	D'Ocon Films Productions (season 1) Lacewood Productions (season 2)
6	Monster Force	Marv Wolfman	1994	Syndication	Lacewood Productions
7	Beethoven	N/A	1994–1995	CBS	Northern Lights Entertainment
8	Earthworm Jim	Doug TenNapel Doug Langdale	1995–1996	Kids' WB	Shiny Entertainment
9	The Savage Dragon	Dean Stefan Bob Forward		USA Network	Lacewood Productions (season 1) Studio B Productions (season 2) P3 Entertainment USA Studios
10	The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper	Sherri Stoner Deanna Oliver	1996–1998	Fox Kids	Amblin Television Harveytoons
11	Wing Commander Academy	Michael Edens Mark Edens	1996	USA Network	USA Studios
12	Vor-Tech: Undercover Conversion Squad	N/A		Syndication	Edition Dupuis France S.A. Mediatoon Lacewood Productions
13	The New Woody Woodpecker Show	Bob Jaques Kelly Armstrong	1999–2002	Fox Kids	N/A
14	The Mummy: The Animated Series	Thomas Pugsley Greg Klein	2001–2003	Kids' WB	Studios USA Television (season 1) The Sommers Company
as Universal Animation Studios
15	Curious George	Joe Fallon	2006–2022	PBS Kids (2006–2022) Family Jr. (2018–2020) Peacock (2020–2022)	Imagine Entertainment (seasons 1–9, 14–15) WGBH Boston (seasons 1–12) Universal 1440 Entertainment (seasons 10–15)
16	The Land Before Time	Ford Riley	2007–2008	Cartoon Network	Amblin Entertainment
17	Woody Woodpecker	Alex Zamm	2018–2022	YouTube	Universal Pictures International Universal 1440 Entertainment Splash Entertainment

Television specials

#	Title	Release date	Network	Co-production with
as Universal Cartoon Studios
1	A Wish for Wings That Work	Template:Start date	CBS	Amblin Television
as Universal Animation Studios
2	Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas	Template:Start date	PBS Kids	Imagine Entertainment WGBH Boston
3	Curious George Swings Into Spring	Template:Start date
4	Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest	Template:Start date
5	How Murray Saved Christmas	Template:Start date	NBC	Universal Television

Miscellaneous work

• 63rd Academy Awards (1991) – animation for Woody Woodpecker presenting the award for Best Animated Short Film
• Kids WB! promos – Earthworm Jim segments.
• The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (1999) – traditionally-animated introduction
• Dudley-Do Right’s RipSaw Falls (1999) – traditionally-animated queue video.

Cancelled projects

• Escape from Jurassic Park, an animated TV series that takes place after the first Jurassic Park film, was confirmed to be in development and awaiting Steven Spielberg's approval in June 1993. The series would have centered on John Hammond's attempts to finish Jurassic Park and open it to the public, while InGen's corporate rival Biosyn is simultaneously planning to open their own dinosaur theme park in Brazil, which ultimately ends with their dinosaurs escaping into the jungles. Artist William Stout was hired to work on the series and subsequently made a trailer to demonstrate how the series would look, and how it would combine traditional animation with computer animation. The series required Spielberg's final approval before it could go into production. However, Spielberg had grown tired of the massive promotion and merchandise revolving around the film, and never watched the trailer. On July 13, 1993, Margaret Loesch, president of the Fox Children's Network, confirmed that discussions had been held with Spielberg about an animated version of the film. Loesch also said, "At least for now and in the foreseeable future, there will not be an animated Jurassic Park. That's Steven Spielberg's decision, and we respect that decision."
• A pair of traditionally animated cutscenes were produced for the 1996 video game Crash Bandicoot to serve as the game's intro and outro, as well as act as source material for a potential animated series if the game was well-received and commercially successful. The hand-drawn cutscenes were dropped after Sony Computer Entertainment picked up Crash Bandicoot for publication, as Sony desired to push the PlayStation's 3D polygonal graphics. The cutscenes were uploaded to YouTube by producer David Siller in 2015.
• Jurassic Park: Chaos Effect, an animated television series based on The Lost World: Jurassic Park, was confirmed to be in development within the third part of a four-part comic adaptation of the film published by Topps Comics in July 1997. In November 1997, it was reported that the cartoon would be accompanied by Jurassic Park: Chaos Effect, a series of dinosaur toys produced by Kenner and based on a premise that scientists had created dinosaur hybrids consisting of DNA from different creatures. That month, it was also reported that the cartoon could be ready by March 1998, as a mid-season replacement. The Chaos Effect toyline was released in June 1998, but the animated series was never produced, for unknown reasons.

See also

• Illumination
• DreamWorks Animation
  • DreamWorks Animation Television
• List of Universal Pictures theatrical animated feature films
• List of unproduced Universal Pictures animated projects
• List of animation studios owned by NBCUniversal