Company type | Subsidiary |
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Industry | Animation |
Founded | May 9, 2002 |
Headquarters | 9050 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City, California , U.S. |
Key people |
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Products |
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Number of employees | 255 (2018) [2] |
Parent | Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group |
Website | Official website |
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. Most of the studio's films are distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures Releasing under their Columbia Pictures label, while direct-to-video releases are released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (with the exception of Fixed , which will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures through New Line Cinema [3] ).
The first film produced by the studio, Open Season , was released on September 29, 2006, and their most recent film was Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse on June 2, 2023; their upcoming slate of films includes Goat on February 13, 2026, and Fixed and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse on unspecified dates.
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. [4] 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. [5] 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. [6]
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!. [7]
On May 27, 2014, it was announced that Netflix had acquired streaming rights to films produced by Sony Pictures Animation. [8]
On November 3, 2014, the studio collaborated with Frederator Studios' Cartoon Hangover on GO! Cartoons , an incubator series consisting of 12 short films, with at least one short film being developed into a series. The short films were funded by SPA, with the additional goal of attracting new talent for the studio. [9] [10]
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. [11] They had previously announced their plans to produce adult content at the 2017 Annecy festival. [12]
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. [12]
In April 2021, Disney and Sony Pictures reached a multi-year deal to let Sony's titles (such as films from the Spider-Man , Jumanji , Hotel Transylvania , Ghostbusters franchises, and other films made by Sony Pictures Animation, etc, and anime licensed by Funimation/Crunchyroll like Attack on Titan and Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works ) to stream on Hulu and Disney+. A significant number of Sony titles began streaming on Disney+ starting in September 2022. It includes films from 2022 onwards. [13] [14]
Sony Pictures Animation's first feature film was Open Season, released in September 2006, which became Sony's second-highest-grossing home entertainment film in 2007 and spawned three direct-to-video sequels. Its second feature film, Surf's Up was released in June 2007, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and won two Annie Awards. SPA's first 3D movie since the IMAX 3D release of Open Season, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs , was released in September 2009 and was nominated for four Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature. The Smurfs (2011) was the studio's first CGI/live-action hybrid. SPA's parent company Sony Pictures had partnered in 2007 with Aardman Animations to finance, co-produce and distribute feature films. [15] Together, they produced two films: Arthur Christmas (2011), and The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012), the latter which was SPA's first and currently only stop-motion film. In 2012, SPA released Hotel Transylvania , which grossed over $350 million worldwide and launched a successful franchise with three sequels and a TV series. Two sequels were released in 2013: The Smurfs 2 and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 .
SPA's latest releases are Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse , an animated superhero film based on the Spider-Man comics and featuring the Miles Morales incarnation of the character, The Angry Birds Movie 2 , the sequel to the 2016 film The Angry Birds Movie produced by Rovio Animation, The Mitchells vs. the Machines , a robot apocalypse/road trip film written and directed by Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe while produced by longtime collaborators Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, [12] [16] Wish Dragon , a co-production with Base FX, the musical film, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Vivo , which marks Sony Pictures Animation's first musical film, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania , the fourth installment in the Hotel Transylvania franchise, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse , the sequel to Into the Spider-Verse. SPA has since signed Genndy Tartakovsky to a long-term deal with the studio to develop and direct original films. [17]
As of May 2024 [update] , the studio is working on projects such as a sports film from Stephen Curry and Erick Peyton of Unanimous Media titled Goat on February 13, 2026, [18] and an R-rated comedy from Genndy Tartakovsky titled Fixed (to be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures through New Line Cinema) and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, both of which will be released on unspecified dates, as well other projects in development, including an animated Ghostbusters spin-off film, [19] [20] another Tartakovsky project titled Black Knight, [21] a musical comedy K-Pop: Demon Hunters, [22] Tao, a China-set science-fiction adventure film directed by The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part story artist Emily Dean, [23] Tut, an afro-futuristic coming-of-age story set in ancient Egypt directed by Hair Love creator Matthew A. Cherry, [24] an untitled project directed by Matt Braly, [25] and an animated film adaptation based on the science fiction podcast Bubble (a co-production with Point Grey Pictures and Matt Tolmach Productions). [26]
In a similar fashion to Warner Bros. Pictures Animation and Paramount Animation, the studio outsources their films to other animation companies and visual effects studios, with the majority of their films being animated by sister company Sony Pictures Imageworks. Some films, such as Arthur Christmas and The Pirates! Band of Misfits were acquired by Sony Pictures Animation to be released under their banner while others, such as Goosebumps and Peter Rabbit , were made with no involvement from the studio.
Titles | Films | Shorts | Seasons | Release dates |
---|---|---|---|---|
Open Season | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2006–present |
Surf's Up | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2007–2017 |
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2009–2018 |
The Smurfs | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2011–2017 |
Hotel Transylvania | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2012–2022 |
Goosebumps | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2015–2018 |
The Angry Birds Movie [lower-alpha 1] | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2016–2019 |
Peter Rabbit [lower-alpha 2] | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2018–2021 |
Spider-Verse | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2018–present |
Dexter's Laboratory is an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky for Cartoon Network as the first Cartoon Cartoon. The series follows Dexter, an enthusiastic boy-genius with a hidden science laboratory in his room full of inventions, which he keeps secret from his clueless parents, who are only referred to as "Mom" and "Dad". Dexter is at constant odds with his older and more extroverted sister Dee Dee, who always gains access to the lab and inadvertently foils his experiments. Dexter has a bitter rivalry with his neighbor and classmate Mandark, a nefarious boy-genius who attempts to undermine Dexter at every opportunity. Prominently featured in the first and second seasons are other segments focusing on superhero-based characters Monkey, Dexter's pet lab-monkey/superhero, and the Justice Friends, a trio of superheroes who share an apartment.
Gennady Borisovich "Genndy" Tartakovsky is a Russian-American animator, writer, producer, and director. He is best known as the creator of various animated television series on Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, including Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Sym-Bionic Titan, Primal, and Unicorn: Warriors Eternal.
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment through multiple platforms.
The ChubbChubbs! is a 2002 American animated short film by Sony Pictures Imageworks. It was directed by Eric Armstrong, produced by Jacquie Barnbrook, and written by Jeff Wolverton.
Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc. is a Canadian visual effects and computer animation studio headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia and Montreal, Quebec, with an additional office on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California. SPI is a unit of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Motion Picture Group.
Hotel Transylvania is a 2012 American animated monster comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the first installment in the Hotel Transylvania franchise, it was directed by Genndy Tartakovsky from a screenplay by Peter Baynham and Robert Smigel, and a story by Todd Durham, Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman, based on an original concept created by Durham. The film stars the voices of Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade and CeeLo Green.
Philip Anderson Lord and Christopher Robert Miller are American filmmakers. They are the creators and co-stars of the adult animated sitcom Clone High, and the writers and directors of the animated films Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and The Lego Movie (2014), as well as the directors of the live-action comedy film 21 Jump Street (2012) and its sequel, 22 Jump Street (2014).
Hotel Transylvania 2 is a 2015 American animated monster comedy-drama film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation in association with LStar Capital, animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky and written by Robert Smigel and Adam Sandler, it is the second installment in the Hotel Transylvania franchise, serving as the sequel to Hotel Transylvania (2012).
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a 2018 American animated superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Miles Morales / Spider-Man, produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation in association with Marvel Entertainment, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the first animated film in the Spider-Man franchise and the first film in the Spider-Verse franchise, which is set in a shared multiverse of alternate universes called the "Spider-Verse". Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman from a screenplay by Phil Lord and Rothman, it stars Shameik Moore as Morales, alongside the voices of Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Luna Lauren Vélez, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Nicolas Cage, and Liev Schreiber. The film's story follows Miles as he becomes the new Spider-Man and joins other Spider-People from various parallel universes who team up to save New York City from the Kingpin.
Hotel Transylvania is an American media franchise created by Todd Durham and owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. It consists of four feature films, three short films, an animated television series, and several video games.
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is a 2018 American animated monster comedy film produced by Sony Pictures Animation and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the third installment in the Hotel Transylvania franchise and the sequel to Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015), it was directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, written by Tartakovsky and Michael McCullers, and features Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, Sadie Sandler, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Asher Blinkoff and Mel Brooks reprising their roles, with new additions to the cast including Jim Gaffigan, Kathryn Hahn, Joe Jonas, Chrissy Teigen, Joe Whyte, Tara Strong and Tartakovsky, while Chris Parnell, who voiced The Fly in the first two films, voices Stan. In the film, Dracula finds love with a ship captain named Ericka while he embarks on a vacation on a luxury cruise liner with his family and friends, but Mavis later discovers that Ericka is actually the great-granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing, Drac's arch-nemesis who secretly plan to destroy them.
TVPaint Animation is a 2D paint and digital animation software package developed by TVPaint Developpement SARL based in Lorraine, France. Originally released for Amiga in 1991, version 3.0 (1994) introduced support for other platforms. In 1999, the last Amiga version 3.59 was released as free download. TVPaint Animation currently runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, and Android operating systems.
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is a 2022 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation and released by Amazon Studios. It is the fourth and final installment in the Hotel Transylvania franchise and the sequel to Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018), the film was directed by Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska from a screenplay by Amos Vernon, Nunzio Randazzo and Genndy Tartakovsky. It stars the voices of Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kathryn Hahn, Jim Gaffigan, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Brian Hull, Fran Drescher, Brad Abrell, Asher Blinkoff, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins and Zoe Berri. In the film, Dracula and Johnny team up to find a crystal in South America to turn themselves back into their old selves, before their transformations become permanent.
Fixed is an upcoming American adult animated black comedy film produced by New Line Cinema and Sony Pictures Animation, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The first adult animated film from Sony Pictures Animation, as well as the studio's first traditionally animated film and their first to feature the involvement of another major film studio, it is directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, who co-wrote the screenplay written with Jon Vitti and co-produced with Michelle Murdocca. The film stars the voices of Adam DeVine, Idris Elba, Kathryn Hahn, Fred Armisen, Bobby Moynihan, and Beck Bennett. The story follows a blue bloodhound named Bull, who discovers that he is going to be neutered in the morning.