Warner Bros. Pictures Animation

Template:Short description Template:Pp Template:About Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox company Warner Bros. Pictures AnimationTemplate:Efn (WBPA), formerly known as Warner Animation Group (WAG), is an American animation studio that serves as the animated feature film label of Warner Bros.' theatrical film production and distribution division, Warner Bros. Pictures. Established on January 7, 2013, by Jeff Robinov, the studio is the successor to the dissolved 2D traditional hand-drawn animation studio Warner Bros. Feature Animation, which shut down in 2004, and is also a sister to the regular Warner Bros. Animation studio.

The studio has currently produced 10 feature films, the first one being The Lego Movie, which was released on February 7, 2014, and the most recent being DC League of Super-Pets, which was released on July 29, 2022; their upcoming slate of films includes The Cat in the Hat on March 6, 2026, Thing One and Thing Two in 2026, Bad Fairies on July 23, 2027, Margie Claus on November 5, 2027, Oh, the Places You'll Go! in 2027, Dynamic Duo in 2028, and Coyote vs. Acme and Toto, both on an unspecified release date. Films produced by WBPA have grossed a total of $2 billion at the box-office.

History

On January 7, 2013, Jeff Robinov (then head of the studio's motion picture division) founded a screenplay development department, nicknamed a "think tank" for developing theatrical animated films, known as the Warner Animation Group. The group includes John Requa, Glenn Ficarra, Nicholas Stoller, Jared Stern, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Warner Bros. created the group with the hope that the box office reception of their films will be competitive with other animation studios' releases.

On February 7, 2014, Warner Animation Group released their first film, The Lego Movie, a film animated by Animal Logic, which also provided the animation for both spin-offs. It was met with critical praise and proved to be a box-office success. Due to the movie's success, a media franchise was created, with two spin-offs, The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie (both 2017), and a sequel, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019). While The Lego Batman Movie proved to be successful at the box office, The Lego Ninjago Movie and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part were both unable to recoup its budget, with Ninjago being the first film from the Warner Animation Group to be a box-office flop.

WAG's second film, Storks, was released September 23, 2016. It received mixed reviews from critics. On December 14, 2017, Warner Bros. announced Allison Abbate had been named Executive Vice President, and Chris Leahy has been named Senior Vice President.

The WAG shield used as the print logo from 2014 to 2021; extensively used in trailers

Smallfoot, released September 28, 2018, received mostly positive reviews from critics and became a box office success. In October 2019, Locksmith Animation formed a multi-year production deal with Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Animation Group, which will distribute Locksmith's films.

An animated reboot of the Scooby-Doo film series titled Scoob! was initially set for a theatrical release on May 15, 2020, but then it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 21, 2020, it was announced that it would instead go to video on demand in response to the pandemic. It received mixed reviews from critics.

Former logo as Warner Animation Group used from 2021 to 2023.

A live-action/animated film based on Tom & Jerry was released internationally on February 11, 2021, and on February 26 in the United States in theaters and HBO Max simultaneously and also debuted the company's new logo to match with the design of the new shield logo that Warner Bros. debuted back in November 2019, and like the main WB logo, which was debuted that year with Locked Down, it is made by Devastudios, using Terragen for the sky and clouds, along with the studio's blueprints from the Warner Bros. Studio Facilities and the available photography and videography from the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood and Google Maps, all to reconstruct it in CGI. It received generally negative reviews from critics, and is the first film from the company to have met so.

Space Jam: A New Legacy, starring LeBron James, was released on July 16, 2021, and was the first film from Warner Animation Group to incorporate traditional animation. It also received generally negative reviews from critics and is the second film from the company to have met so after Tom & Jerry, due to the film being heavy on product placement of the studio's intellectual properties.

An animated film based on the Legion of Super-Pets titled DC League of Super-Pets was released on July 29, 2022. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

A Christmas-themed spin-off prequel titled Scoob! Holiday Haunt, taking place in the gang's youth, with the actors who portrayed their younger selves reprising, was set for release in 2022 on HBO Max, but was cancelled following the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery in April 2022 by CEO David Zaslav on August 2, 2022, citing cost-cutting measures and a refocus on theatrical films rather than creating projects for streaming. Later that month, it was reported that the film would still be finished, even though Warner Bros. Discovery had no present plans to release it. Although the film was used as a tax write-off, the film was finally finished on November 4 that year.

Following the merger, it was announced in August that Allison Abbate would be leaving the studio.

Unused logo for the then-renamed animation studio in 2023.

On February 9, 2023, it was reported that former DreamWorks Animation chief creative officer Bill Damaschke was in talks to lead the studio. On May 5, 2023, it was confirmed in a Warner Bros. Discovery earnings call by Zaslav that Damaschke had been hired, and was hard at work with Warner Bros. Pictures Group co-CEOs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy on developing a new slate of films. On June 9, 2023, Damaschke announced the rebranding of the division into Warner Bros. Pictures Animation and stated that they planned to follow the creative lead of Abdy and De Luca.

Process

Similar to Paramount Animation and Sony Pictures Animation, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation outsources their computer-animated films' production to other studios such as Animal Logic (The Lego Movie franchise, DC League of Super-Pets and Toto), Sony Pictures Imageworks (Storks and Smallfoot), Reel FX Creative Studios (Scoob!), Framestore (Tom & Jerry) and Industrial Light & Magic (Space Jam: A New Legacy). However, Space Jam: A New Legacy did also include hand-drawn animation, which is done in-house and also outsourced from Company 3 Animation, and Tonic DNA.

The budgets for their films tend to range from $60–80 million. Their most expensive films to date are The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part ($99 million), Scoob! ($90 million), Space Jam: A New Legacy ($150 million), and DC League of Super-Pets ($90 million).

The screenplay department is reportedly somewhat similar to Pixar Animation Studios' "brain trust" in terms of how its members consult with one another and give feedback on each other's projects. The group is nicknamed the "think tank".

Filmography

#	Title	Release date	Co-production with	Animation services	Notes	Budget	Gross	Template:Ref heading
Under Warner Animation Group
1	The Lego Movie	Template:Dts	Village Roadshow Pictures Lego System A/S Vertigo Entertainment Lin Pictures	Animal Logic	First film. First collaboration with Lego System A/S, Vertigo Entertainment, and Lin Pictures. First collaboration with Animal Logic.Template:Ref label	$60–65 million	$469 million
2	Storks	Template:Dts	RatPac-Dune Entertainment Stoller Global Solutions (uncredited)	Sony Pictures Imageworks	First fully-animated film First collaboration with Sony Pictures Imageworks.	$70 million	$183.7 million
3	The Lego Batman Movie	Template:Dts	DC Entertainment RatPac-Dune Entertainment Lego System A/S Lord Miller Productions Vertigo Entertainment Lin Pictures	Animal Logic	First spin-off film. First film based on a DC Comics property. First collaboration with Lord Miller Productions.	$80 million	$312 million
4	The Lego Ninjago Movie	Template:Dts	RatPac-Dune Entertainment Lego System A/S Vertigo Entertainment Lord Miller Productions Lin Pictures		Final collaboration with Lin Pictures before renaming itself to Rideback.Template:Ref label	$70 million	$123.7 million
5	Smallfoot	Template:Dts	Zaftig Films	Sony Pictures Imageworks	First musical film.	$80 million	$217.9 million
6	The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part	Template:Dts	Lego System A/S Vertigo Entertainment Lord Miller Productions Rideback	Animal Logic	First sequel. First collaboration with Rideback after renaming itself from Lin Pictures. Final Lego film before the adaptation rights were sold to Universal Pictures.Template:Ref label	$99 million	$192.3 million
7	Scoob!	Template:DtsTemplate:Efn	Template:N/A	Reel FX Creative Studios	First film based on a Hanna-Barbera property. First film to be released on PVOD. First collaboration with Reel FX Creative Studios.	$90 million	$28.6 million
8	Tom & Jerry	Template:Dts	The Story Company Turner Entertainment Co.(uncredited)	Framestore	First film simultaneously released in theaters and on HBO Max.Template:Ref label	$79 million	$136.5 million
9	Space Jam: A New Legacy	Template:Dts	Proximity The SpringHill Company	Industrial Light & Magic Luma Pictures Cinesite Company 3 Animation Tonic DNA House of Moves Day For Nite Studio D Virtuos	First film to incorporate traditional animation. Final film simultaneously released in theaters and on HBO Max.Template:Ref label	$150 million	$163.7 million
10	DC League of Super-Pets	Template:Dts	DC Entertainment Seven Bucks Productions	Animal Logic	Possibly the final film released under the Warner Animation Group name.	$90 million	$207.6 million
Upcoming
11	Coyote vs. Acme	TBA	Two Monkeys, a Goat, and Another, Dead, Monkey	DNEG	Template:Ref label	Completed
Under Warner Bros. Pictures Animation
12	The Cat in the Hat	Template:Dts	Dr. Seuss Enterprises	DNEG		Pre-production
13	Thing One and Thing Two	2026		Template:N/A		In development
14	Bad Fairies	Template:Dts	Locksmith Animation	DNEG
15	Margie Claus	Template:Dts	On the Day Productions	rowspan="2" Template:N/A
16	Oh, the Places You'll Go!	2027	Dr. Seuss Enterprises Bad Robot Productions
17	Dynamic Duo	June 30, 2028	DC Studios 6th & Idaho Swaybox	Swaybox		In production
TBA	Toto	TBA	Turner Entertainment Co.	Animal Logic		In production
	Meet the Flintstones	TBA	colspan="2" Template:N/A	In development
	Meerkat Manor		The Green Room Oxford Scientific Films ITV Studios			Template:N/A
	Untitled Looney Tunes film
	Untitled animated Tom & Jerry film		Le Train Train

Template:Note labelCombines live-action with animation.

Franchises

Title	Films	Short films	Release dates
The Lego Movie	4	11	2014–2019
DC	2	0	2017–present
Tom & Jerry	1		2021–present
Looney Tunes			2021–present

Upcoming releases

The studio was developing a live-action/animation hybrid film titled Coyote vs. Acme, directed by Dave Green and produced by Chris DeFaria and James Gunn, which was due to be released on July 21, 2023. However, that release date was taken by Barbie, with Coyote vs. Acme remaining undated. However, the film was cancelled on November 9, 2023, the studio citing a tax write-off; a similar fate befell the Scoob! prequel Scoob! Holiday Haunt the previous year. This decision, which was not known to the crew until it was completed, was met with backlash, citing that the film had received positive test screenings and interested buyers. However, following extensive backlash, the company reversed their decisions, allowing the filmmakers to shop the film to interested distributors. However, in February 2024, due to being unable to find a distributor, Warner Bros. Discovery was reportedly considering canceling and deleting the film for good, though discussions to release it were reportedly still ongoing. On March 10, 2024, writer of the film, Samy Burch has said that conversations ongoing to release the film.

A musical feature adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's children's book Toto: The Dog-Gone Amazing Story Of The Wizard Of Oz began animation production in February 2021. It is being directed by Alex Timbers, from a screenplay by John August, and produced by Derek Frey. It was originally scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on February 2, 2024. On April 5, 2023, it was taken off the release schedule with Alto Knights taking over its original release date.

Warner Bros. Pictures Animation is also collaborating with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to produce musical films based on a series of children's books of Dr. Seuss properties, including film adaptations of both The Cat in the Hat and Oh, the Places You'll Go!. The firm is also developing a spin-off film of The Cat in the Hat with the focus on Thing One and Thing Two, with collaboration with J. J. Abrams' production company Bad Robot Productions.

There are also plans to develop a DC League of Super-Pets franchise following the film's critical and commercial success.

The second Hanna-Barbera based film titled Meet the Flintstones, an origin movie based on The Flintstones is in early development. It will be written by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, who both previously directed Illumination's The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

A photorealistic animated feature film adaptation of the Animal Planet series Meerkat Manor was announced to be in development in April 2024, with Seth Green and Tracy Falco set to produce the film, and series creator Caroline Hawkins and Clare Birks from Oxford Scientific Films to serve as executive producers.

A Christmas film titled Margie Claus is scheduled to be released on November 5, 2027, with Melissa McCarthy starring and producing under her On the Day Productions company alongside Ben Falcone and Pilar Flynn, and Falcone and Damon Jones writing the script. The project was previously set up as a live-action feature at New Line Cinema.

A full-length animated feature based on Emily the Strange is in development with Pamela Ribon set to write the screenplay. Bad Robot will co-produce the film, with Rob Reger, the creator of Emily the Strange, serving as executive producer alongside Trevor Duke-Moretz.

See also

• Warner Bros. Animation
• Paramount Animation
• Miramax Animation
• Sony Pictures Animation
• Universal Animation Studios
• DreamWorks Animation Studios
• Illumination
• Walt Disney Animation Studios
• Pixar
• 20th Century Animation
• Netflix Animation
• Reel FX Animation
• Laika
• Cartoon Network Studios
• Williams Street
• Hanna-Barbera
• Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe
• Warner Bros. Cartoons
• List of Warner Bros. theatrical animated feature films
• List of unproduced Warner Bros. Animation projects

External links

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