SIP Animation is a French animation studio that was founded by Haim Saban and Jacqueline Tordjman in 1977 as a music and record company called Saban International Paris. It was the predecessor company to Saban Entertainment, which it became a subsidiary of after its founding in 1980.
At the end of the decade, Saban International Paris transitioned to become a fully-fledged animation studio and soon separated as a fully independent division by 1990, with Saban holding a 49% stake in the studio and the rest held by other parties. Saban International Paris was mostly responsible for much of Saban's original animated programming.
In 1996, after Saban purchased fellow rival studio Créativité et Développement (C&D) and its absorption into Saban International Paris, the company expanded. This was the time that the company began co-producing a lot of its shows with Fox Kids Europe and Canadian animation studio CinéGroupe.
In July 2001, The Walt Disney Company announced the purchase of Fox Family Worldwide, which was closed in October 2001. Saban Entertainment and its subsidiaries began to be folded under the BVS (Buena Vista Studios) umbrella, while Saban International Paris remained as was, but rebranded as SIP Animation in October 2002 after no longer being allowed to use the "Saban" name.
After its renaming, SIP continued producing cartoons (mostly with Fox Kids/Jetix Europe) until its closure in 2009. A majority of SIP's former employees now work at Zagtoon, with SIP's co-founder Jacqueline Tordjman being their own co-founder alongside Jeremy Zag. In 2012 BVS Entertainment collected all stakes from other parties and SIP fully integrated with it's parent company first time after 1991 and Saban-era. BVS Entertainment became a soleshareholder partner after dormancy.
As of 2023, most of SIP's library and their former assets are under the control of Disney via BVS Entertainment, with the exception of co-productions with CinéGroupe, which are owned by that company.
Works from SIP:
- Alpha Teens on Machines (aka Action Man ATOM''; spinoff based on Hasbro's action figure line)
- Combo Niños
- Gadget and the Gadgetinis (co-produced with DiC Entertainment)
- Iznogoud (Based on the comic book of the same name)
- Jason And The Heroes Of Mount Olympus
- Jim Button (co-produced with CinéGroupe)
- Journey to the Heart of the World
- Saban's Adventures of the Little Mermaid
- Saban's Adventures of Oliver Twist
- Saban's Around the World in 80 Dreams
- Saban's Diabolik: Track of the Panther
- Saban's Gulliver's Travels
- Saban's Sissi The Princess (co-produced with CinéGroupe)
- Saban's The Why Why Family (Edutainment Show, adaptation of French cartoon series Les Kikekoi)
- Space Strikers
- The Tofus (co-produced with CinéGroupe)
- Walter Melon
- What's with Andy? (co-produced with CinéGroupe, season 2 only)
- W.I.T.C.H. (based on Disney's Italian comic book)
- Wunschpunsch (co-produced with CinéGroupe)
Tropes associated with SIP Animation:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: A.T.O.M. utilized quite a bit of cel-shaded CGI animation for overview and background scenes.
- Amateur Cast: While most of SIP's shows averted this trope (mainly utilizing well-known Canadian or American voice actors), Combo Niños utilized several One-Book Authors who have since faded into obscurity.
- Animation Bump: Quite a lot of their shows have aged very well animation-wise, likely due to their status of utilizing different styles. Princess Sissi, in order for it to remain as faithful as possible to its original source material, was made to look as realistic as possible.
- Animesque: W.I.T.C.H. utilized an art style based on Anime. A.T.O.M. and Combo Niños were similar, but instead used comic book and manga-esque styles, with the latter even utilizing sweat drops and other Anime tropes.
- Limited Animation: Saban's Gulliver's Travels and Saban's Around the World in Eighty Dreams were this.
- What Could Have Been: The company has seen a few projects that never saw the light of day.
