Sony Pictures Animation is an American animated film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, founded in May 2002. It works closely with Sony Pictures Imageworks, which handles digital production. Theatrical releases are distributed under the Columbia Pictures banner, and Direct to Video releases are distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Also see Columbia Cartoons, for all the 2D animated shorts from Columbia Pictures in the 30s, 40s and 50s.
Works produced by SPA include:
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Franchises
- Open Season (2006) and its Direct to Video sequels:
- Open Season 2 (2008)
- Open Season 3 (2010)
- Open Season: Scared Silly (2015)
- Surf's Up (2007)
- Surf's Up 2: WaveMania (2017; Direct-to-Video) (with WWE Studios and Rainmaker Entertainment)
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
- The Smurfs (2011; with The Kerner Entertainment Company)
- The Smurfs 2 (2013; with The Kerner Entertainment Company)
- Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017; with The Kerner Entertainment Company, Lone Star Funds and Wanda Pictures)
- Hotel Transylvania
- Hotel Transylvania (2012)
- Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015; with Lone Star Funds)
- Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)
- Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022; released by Amazon Studios)
- Goosebumps (2015; with Lone Star Funds, Village Roadshow Pictures, Original Film and Scholastic Entertainment)
- Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018; with Original Film, Scholastic Entertainment and Silvertongue Films)
- Spider-Man: Spider-Verse:
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018; with Marvel Entertainment, Lord/Miller Productions, Pascal Pictures and Arad Productions)
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023; with Marvel Entertainment, Lord/Miller Productions, Pascal Pictures and Arad Productions)
Other feature films
- Arthur Christmas (2011; with Aardman Animations)
- The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists (2012; with Aardman Animations)
- The Emoji Movie (2017)
- The Star (2017; with Walden Media, The Jim Henson Company, Affirm Films, and Cinesite)
- Peter Rabbit (2018; with Animal Logic, 2.0 Entertainment, Olive Bridge Entertainment, Screen Australia and Screen NSW)note
- The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019; with Rovio Entertainment)note
- The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021; with Lord/Miller Productions; released on Netflix)
- Wish Dragon (2021; with Beijing Sparkle Roll Media, Flagship Entertainment and Base Animation), a Chinese-American co-production produced by and starring Jackie Chan (John Cho in the English-language dub)
- Vivo (2021; released on Netflix)
Short films
- "Boog and Elliott's Midnight Bun Run" (2007)
- "The ChubbChubbs!" (2002)
- "The ChubbChubbs Save Xmas" (2007)
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs:
- "Attack of the 50-Foot Gummy Bear" (2014)
- "Earl Scouts" (2013)
- "Steve's First Bath" (2014)
- "Super Manny" (2013)
- "Early Bloomer" (2003)
- "Flopsy Turvy" (2018)
- "Hair Love" (2019)
- Hotel Transylvania:
- "Goodnight Mr. Foot" (2012)note
- "Puppy!" (2017)
- "Monster Pets" (2021)
- "Live Stream" (2019)
- The Smurfs:
- "A Christmas Carol" (2011)
- "Legend of Smurfy Hollow" (2013)
- "So You Want to Be a Pirate!" (2012; with Aardman Animations)
- "Spider-Ham: Caught in a Ham" (2019)
Television series
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2017-18; with DHX Media and Corus Entertainment)
- GO! Cartoons (2017-18; with Frederator Studios)
- Hotel Transylvania: The Series (2017-20; with Nelvana and Corus Entertainment)
- Agent Elvis (2023-present; with Titmouse)
- Young Love (2023-present)
Cancelled projects
- Popeye
- The Boondocks reboot series (2022; with Sony Pictures Television)note
Upcoming projects
- Black Knight, an adult animated action film directed by Genndy Tartakovsky.
- Bubble, an adult animated film based on the podcast of the same name.
- Fixed, another adult animated movie directed by Tartakovsky. It will be the studio's first R-rated feature film.
- Ghostbusters animated film
- Ghostbusters: Ecto Force animated series (with Ghost Corps)
- Hungry Ghosts, an animated series adapted from the graphic novel of the same name (which was created by the late Anthony Bourdain).
- K-Pop Demon Hunters, another adult (possibly PG-13) animated film.
- Spider Man Beyond The Spider Verse
- Superbago! animated series (with Stoopid Buddy Studios)
Tropes associated with their works:
- All-CGI Cartoon: Exceptions to the trope are The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, its television series and some shorts.
- Cash-Cow Franchise: Hotel Transylvania got four films (the first three were released theatricallynote , while the fourth was released on Prime Video due to the COVID-19 Pandemic), three shorts, a television series and several video games.
- Channel Hop: The COVID-19 Pandemic led to SPA's entire planned 2021 slate being shifted from Columbia Pictures to streaming outlets like Netflix (The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Wish Dragon, Vivo) and Prime Video (Hotel Transylvania: Transformania).
- Denser and Wackier: The studio is known for having a heavy emphasis on off-beat humor and physical comedy more in contrast to their contemporaries. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the exception.
- Deranged Animation: Many of their projects, such as the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Hotel Transylvania films, have been known to push the boundaries when it comes to physical comedy, especially when compared to other major animation studios.
- International Coproduction: Arthur Christmas and The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! were made with the British-based Aardman Animations and the upcoming Wish Dragon is also produced with China's Base Animation, while Goosebumps (2015) and Smurfs: The Lost Village were funded by Village Roadshow Pictures and Wanda Pictures respectively. Also, the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs TV series and Hotel Transylvania: The Series were primarly done in Canada.
- Medium Blending: The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol and The Smurfs: Legend of Smurfy Hollow utilizes CGI and hand-drawn animation.
- Production Posse: Sony Pictures Imageworks animates most of their films.
- Recycled: The Series: So far, only Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Hotel Transylvania have received this treatment.
- Unexpectedly Dark Episode: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, while not without its humorous moments, is more serious and emotional than their previous films.
