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anyone know about Universal & Fox animation's history?

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411314 41314 from Michigan Since: Feb, 2010
41314
#1: Sep 19th 2011 at 6:54:04 PM

I'm an animation fan and have found a couple of different sources giving fairly detailed histories of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Warner Bros. cartoon studio or "Termite Terrace", including things like where the ideas for various films came from, who worked there, etc. I'd be interested in learning similar info for Universal Animation Studios and Fox Animation Studios, but I can't seem to find it. If you could direct me to some good sources, I'd very much appreciate it.

the world is so complicated
Shota Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Dancing with myself
#2: Sep 19th 2011 at 9:02:48 PM

Those two studios have been inconsistent with their animated history, I don't think they ever had a good understanding of it than Disney or Warner Bros did. Blue Sky is now FOX's animation unit, and Illumination Entertainment is now Universal's.

Fun fact: Universal made the hand-drawn Curious George, which went through a lot of Development Hell and got poor reviews. So Illumination Entertainment is, naturally, going to remake it as a live-action movie with a CG monkey. Classy, Hollywood. Classy.

Buscemi I Am The Walrus from a log cabin Since: Jul, 2010
I Am The Walrus
#3: Sep 19th 2011 at 10:41:24 PM

Universal distributed Walter Lantz's cartoons (most notably Woody Woodpecker and Chilly Willy). They also distributed Amblination titles (before they were absorbed into Dream Works).

Fox distributed the Terrytoons titles (such as Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle). Paramount now owns those titles due to Viacom buying Terrytoons.

Before Blue Sky and Illumination, both companies would work with independent studios to make projects (Fox worked with FAI, Hanna-Barbera, Richard Williams and Ralph Bakshi, for example). Fox later started an animation division with Don Bluth, which was closed when Titan AE flopped but reopened with Blue Sky when Ice Age was a hit.

And I might be weird but I think that had they made a Curious George movie in the 1980's, Robert De Niro would have made for a great Man in the Yellow Hat. I realized this when I saw a poster for New York, New York (I believe designed by the great Al Hirschfeld) and the De Niro caricature looked eerily similar to The Man in the Yellow Hat.

edited 19th Sep '11 10:46:26 PM by Buscemi

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Gray64 Since: Dec, 1969
#4: Sep 19th 2011 at 10:46:16 PM

Walt Disney worked for Universal before founding his own studio; he created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit while there, and he created Mickey Mouse when he couldn't secure the rights to Oswald from them. Universal replaced Disney with Walter Lantz, whose studio went on to create Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, etc, for them.

F Ox has a pretty interesting history in regards to animation; they were the home of Terry Toons back in the 40's, which gave rise to Heckle and Jeckle and Mighty Mouse, among others. Most of Ralph Bakshi's films were released through them in the 70's, and now they produce the Simpsons.

Gray64 Since: Dec, 1969
#5: Sep 19th 2011 at 10:47:08 PM

[lol] Apparently Buscemi and I were typing at the same time!

AnonymousUser Since: Jan, 2001
#6: Sep 19th 2011 at 10:48:12 PM

Paramount now owns those titles due to Viacom buying Terrytoons.

Not anymore. CBS kept them when Viacom split up (CBS Television Studios, the unit that owns them, used to be Paramount Television.).

TParadox Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: The captain of her heart
#7: Sep 19th 2011 at 11:46:58 PM

Disney got Oswald back in the 90s as part of the settlement for one of their commentators (I want to say Costas) leaving ESPN.

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Prinzenick Since: Sep, 2009
Theoriginalblader Sloving cases one by one from Downtown Since: Feb, 2011
Sloving cases one by one
#9: Sep 20th 2011 at 11:35:07 AM

Oswald returned to Disney around 2006(hence why Oswald appeared in a video game with Mickey Mouse). I know a bit about both Universal and Fox but very little.

Universal distributed a few animated features, one of which being Land before time. Although the feature itself was made from Sullivan Bluth studio(from Don Bluth). Aside from features, Universal's most well known character is Woody Woodpecker.

Now for Fox. At times Executive Meddling happened for certain animation for Fox. One of which in particular was John K's The Ripping Friends. I dont know what they did to it other than I know for a fact that John hates it to this day(I cant say I blame him!).

kyun Since: Dec, 2010
#10: Sep 20th 2011 at 12:11:16 PM

These days, Warner Bros has INCREDIBLY BAD taste for animation, and they marketed what should've been their best animated films the wrong way, and they're paying the price for it today! You can probably guess what examples I'm talking about.

Buscemi I Am The Walrus from a log cabin Since: Jul, 2010
I Am The Walrus
#11: Sep 20th 2011 at 1:08:44 PM

John K. owns The Ripping Friends and released an uncut version on Adult Swim some years ago (around the same time, the cut versions were released on DVD by Lionsgate with John K.'s cooperation). From what I remember, the uncut versions were near unwatchable while the cut versions were somewhat tolerable (but still an average show on Fox Kids).

Fox was right to cut down the show.

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AnonymousUser Since: Jan, 2001
#12: Sep 20th 2011 at 11:37:02 PM

NBCU traded Oswald to Disney for Al Michaels.

Buscemi I Am The Walrus from a log cabin Since: Jul, 2010
I Am The Walrus
#13: Sep 21st 2011 at 12:43:16 AM

A win-win situation for both sides. NBC got one of the greatest broadcasters of all-time and Disney got their pre-history.

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411314 41314 from Michigan Since: Feb, 2010
41314
#14: Sep 24th 2011 at 7:34:31 AM

Thanks for all the info so far. I know this wiki has Noteworthy Disney Staff and Noteworthy Looney Tunes Staff pages. Does anyone know of noteworthy Fox or Universal animation staff? Are there any stories about where the ideas for some of these studios' films came from (I know they say one scene in Lady and the Tramp where the family gets the dog is based on when Walt Disney got a dog for a present himself, and the guy who created Pepe Le Pew at Warner Bros. based him on a friend he knew who was a Casanova Wannabe, but I haven't been able to find any little fun facts like that for Universal or Fox's animation departments). Any production details you might know for any of these films would be interesting as well.

edited 24th Sep '11 8:44:18 PM by 411314

the world is so complicated
kyun Since: Dec, 2010
#15: Sep 29th 2011 at 10:11:05 AM

Actually, I'm more surprised that there isn't a page for noteworthy Dream Works staff, since they're more popular than FOX or Universal when it comes to animation.

Buscemi I Am The Walrus from a log cabin Since: Jul, 2010
I Am The Walrus
#16: Sep 30th 2011 at 5:59:27 AM

[up] That may be because of Katzenberg overshadowing everyone and trying to pretend that Dream Works Animation's era as PDI never happened.

Also most of the notable names have either left (Andrew Adamson), came from Disney (Chris Sanders) or are known for other things (Guillermo Del Toro). Otherwise, it's just The Katzenberg and Hans Zimmer (head of the music department) Show.

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Shota Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Dancing with myself
#17: Sep 30th 2011 at 6:15:00 AM

Tom Mc Grath, Chris Miller, Jennifer Yun Nelson, Mark Osborne, John Wayne Stevenson, Conrad Vernon, to name a few, are all people who have been responsible for their output post-PDI.

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