Hyperion Pictures is an American production company and former animation studio, founded in 1984 by former Walt Disney Productions head of production Thomas L. Wilhite, and his longtime partner; director and writer Willard Carroll. It is named for Hyperion Avenue, the street in Los Angeles where one of Walt Disney's initial studios was located.
They are perhaps best known for producing The Brave Little Toaster, an adaptation of Thomas M. Disch's novella which Wilhite had attempted to greenlight prior during his tenure with Disney (most notably with John Lasseter). Directed by Jerry Rees, with practically No Budget and a botched theatrical release, the film became a huge hit on video, and a cult favorite among many. After the commercial failures of more upscale animated features they were involved with like Rover Dangerfield and Bébé's Kids, Hyperion shifted its animation output to lower-budget faire for television and the direct-to-video market, which where they would find their footing in for over a decade. Hyperion also produced a significant amount of live-action work in this period as well, most notably Playing by Heart.
In 1999, Hyperion partnered with Bruce W. Smith, a frequent collaborator of their animated projects, and formed Jambalaya Studios, to produce animated shows aimed at black audiences, which significantly cultivated The Proud Family. However, not long after production on the series wrapped up, Hyperion went dormant. Thomas L. Wilhite and Willard Carroll have since moved to Maine, but the company continues to exist.
Animated films and shorts produced by Hyperion Pictures:
- Family Dog (1987)
- The Brave Little Toaster (1988)
- Rover Dangerfield (1991)
- Bébé's Kids (1992)
- The Itsy Bitsy Spider (1992)
- The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue (1997)
- The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (1998)
- 1001 Nights: An Animation Symphony (1998)
- The Sissy Duckling (1999)
- Christmas Classics Series (1999)
- We Wish You A Merry Christmas
- O' Christmas Tree
- Jingle Bells
- The Tangerine Bear: Home in Time for Christmas! (2000)
- The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina (2002)
- The Proud Family Movie (2005)
Animated series
- The Itsy Bitsy Spider (1993-1996)
- Life with Louie (1994-1996)
- The Adventures of Hyperman (1995-1996)
- Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (1995-2000)
- The Oz Kids (1996-1997)
- The Proud Family (2001-2005)
- Da Boom Crew (2004-2005)
Live action productions
- Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (1986)
- The Runestone (1990)
- Chunks of Life: Rent (1994)
- Bone Chillers (1996)
- ARK, the Adventures of Animal Rescue Kids (1997–1998)
- Playing by Heart (1998)
- Tom's Midnight Garden (1999)
- My Louisiana Sky (2001)
- Three Way (2004)
- The Need (2006)
- Marigold (2007)
Tropes associated with Hyperion include:
- Animation Bump: The period in the early 90s after Brave Little Toaster would see projects largely animated domestically, with several high end animation studios assisting. This can be seen in Rover Dangerfield and Bebe's Kids, as well as The Itsy Bitsy Spider short. Family Dog and 1001 Nights also counts.
- Deranged Animation: 1001 Nights, with production design by Yoshitaka Amano, contains some of the strangest animation the studio would ever produce.
- Celebrity Toons: A seeming speciality of theirs, with productions like Rover Dangerfield (Rodney Dangerfield), Bebe's Kids (Robin Harris), Life With Louie (Louie Anderson) and The Sissy Duckling (Harvey Fierstein)
-
Creator's Oddball: 1001 Nights, created for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, is a an animated depiction of the work of Yoshitaka Amano, perhaps as far distant as you can get from their more mainstream productions. Chunks of Life also counts; which is a pilot for an offbeat adult sitcom.... starring puppets. - Limited Animation: Somewhat averted with Brave Little Toaster, as much of the US production crew flew down to Wang Film Productions to train the animation team to achieve the quality of animation they wanted.
- Production Posse: Bruce W. Smith and Matthew O'Callaghan are among the studio's most significant contributors to their animated projects. They frequently uses Wang Film Productions for animation service work, David Newman is a frequent composer.
