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Fox Animation Studios

From Wikipedia - Reading time: 14 min
For the animation studio that used this name from 1998–1999, see 20th Century Animation.

Fox Animation Studios
Company typeSubsidiary
Industry2D hand-drawn/CGI animation
PredecessorDon Bluth Entertainment
FoundedAugust 8, 1994; 30 years ago (August 8, 1994)[1]
Founders
DefunctJune 26, 2000; 24 years ago (June 26, 2000)
FateClosed
Successor20th Century Animation
Blue Sky Studios
Headquarters2747 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix, Arizona, United States
Key people
  • Don Bluth (President)
  • Gary Goldman (Senior VIP President)
  • Anne Noakes (Chief Executive Officer)
ProductsAnimated features
Number of employees
80 (2000)
Parent20th Century Animation

Fox Animation Studios was an American animation production company owned by 20th Century Fox and located in Phoenix, Arizona. It was a subsidiary of 20th Century Fox Animation. It operated for six years, until the studio was shut down on June 26, 2000, ten days after the release of its final film, Titan A.E.. Most of the Fox Animation Studios library was later acquired by Disney (via 20th Century Studios) on March 20, 2019. Anastasia is the studio's most critically praised and commercially successful film, as well as the most commercially successful film by Don Bluth.

History

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Founding

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After the financially unsuccessful release of the Don Bluth Entertainment-produced film Thumbelina on March 30, 1994, animators Don Bluth and Gary Goldman were hired by Bill Mechanic, then-chairman of 20th Century Fox, to create a brand new Fox animation studio.[2] Mechanic and John Matoian, president of Fox Family Films, also brought in Stephen Brain (Executive VP at Silver Pictures) as Senior VP/General Manager to oversee the startup of the studio and run day-to-day operations of the division.

The company was designed to compete with Walt Disney Feature Animation (owned by The Walt Disney Company – which would later acquire certain Fox assets in March 2019, including the rights to Fox Animation Studios' film library), which had phenomenal success during the late 1980s and early 1990s with the releases of films such as The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992) and The Lion King (1994). Disney veterans Bluth and Goldman came in 1994 to Fox from Sullivan Bluth Studios, which had produced The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail (1986), The Land Before Time (1988), and All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), among other films.[2]

Before Bluth came to Fox, the studio distributed three animated features during the 1990s which were produced by outside studios – FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992), Once Upon a Forest (1993) and The Pagemaster (1994), the last two of which were both commercial and critical failures. Even before, Fox distributed Hugo the Hippo (1975) by William Feigenbaum and József Gémes, two Ralph Bakshi features, Wizards (1977) and Fire and Ice (1983), as well as Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977) by Richard Williams. Also, Fox distributed Asterix Conquers America (1994) in France and the United Kingdom.

Productions

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Fox Animation Studios did not achieve the same level of success as Disney's animated crop, due to increasingly stiff competition from Pixar and DreamWorks Animation with their computer-generated animated films and the declining revenues of the Disney Renaissance. The films used digital ink and paint similar to Disney's CAPS software, more specifically the Toonz software program. The studio's first theatrical release Anastasia (1997) was a critical and box-office success (and was and still is the most successful film by its director Don Bluth), but their second and final theatrical release Titan A.E. (2000) got mixed reviews and was a costly flop, losing $100 million for 20th Century Fox.[3] Nearly a year before its closure, 20th Century Fox laid off 300 of the nearly 380 people who worked at the Phoenix studio[4] in order to "make films more efficiently".

Shutdown and legacy

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On June 26, 2000, the studio was shut down after six years of operation, resulting from poor financial returns.[5][6][7] Their last film set to be made would have been an adaptation of Wayne Barlowe's illustrated novel Barlowe's Inferno, and was set to be done entirely with computer animation, which would have made it 20th Century Fox's first fully computer animated film, predating Ice Age, which was released in 2002.[8] Another film they would have made was The Little Beauty King, an adult animated film directed by Steve Oedekerk, which would have been a satire of the films from the Disney Renaissance. It would predate DreamWorks' Shrek, which was released in 2001.[9]

Fox Animation Studios' only other productions were the PBS television series Adventures from the Book of Virtues (1996–2000) and the direct-to-video spin-off to Anastasia, Bartok the Magnificent (1999), along with sub-contract work for DreamWorks Animation's The Prince of Egypt (1998).[10] Out of all the television shows, sequels and spin-offs based on Don Bluth properties, Bartok was the only one to actually have Bluth and Goldman as directors.

The former headquarters for the studio sat unused and abandoned until it was torn down in 2017.[11] An apartment complex was built on the site in 2019.

As of March 20, 2019, most of the studio's library is now currently owned by The Walt Disney Company due to its finished acquisition of 21st Century Fox, with the exception of The Prince of Egypt, which is currently owned by Universal Pictures via DreamWorks Animation, and Adventures from the Book of Virtues, which is owned by PBS.

Filmography

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Title Release date Directed by Story by Screenplay by Produced by Budget Gross Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic Notes
Anastasia November 21, 1997 Don Bluth and Gary Goldman Eric Tuchman Susan Gauthier, Bruce Graham, Bob Tzudiker, and Noni White Don Bluth and Gary Goldman $53 million[12] $140 million[12] 86% (56 reviews)[13] 61[14] co-production with Fox Family Films
Bartok the Magnificent November 16, 1999 Jay Lacopo $24.8 million [15] — — (3 reviews)[16] — Direct-to-video release
Titan A.E. June 16, 2000 Hans Bauer and Randall McCormick Ben Edlund, John August, and Joss Whedon Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, and David Kirschner $75–85 million[17][15] $36.8 million[17] 50% (103 reviews)[18] 48[19] co-production with 20th Century Fox Animation and David Kirschner Productions

Animation service

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Title Release date Studio(s) Notes
Adventures from the Book of Virtues 1996–2000 KCET Los Angeles
PorchLight Entertainment 		TV series; aired on PBS[20][21]
The Prince of Egypt 1998 DreamWorks Pictures
DreamWorks Animation 		additional final line animation[10]

Cancelled projects

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See also: List of unproduced 20th Century Studios animated projects
Title Notes
Betty of the Jungle In 1995, animator Bill Kopp (creator of Fox Kids' Eek! the Cat) pitched an idea for an original adult animated film called Betty of the Jungle, in which he describes it as a sexy George of the Jungle about jungle warrior woman Betty (set to be voiced by Loni Anderson) and her gun-caring poodle (set to be voiced by Bruce Willis) who battle evil to protect their jungle village. However, after an animation test and conceptual artwork, Fox Animation declined to approve the project.[22][23]
Dracula At one time, Fox Animation had planned to produce an adult animated musical adaptation of Dracula, described as a Disney style Rocky Horror Picture Show.[24]
Barlowe's Inferno A computer-animated film based on Wayne Barlowe's novel of the same name.[8] Was to be Fox Animation Studios' next film after Titan A.E. and would have been 20th Century Fox's first fully computer-animated film, before Ice Age.
Rhapsody Fox Animation had intended to produce an animated film based on the first installment of the Rhapsody trilogy by Elizabeth Haydon. The story was to tell of a human girl named Rhapsody going on an epic quest with the warrior Achmed and a Firbolg named Grunthor.[25]
The Little Beauty King An adult animated film directed by Steve Oedekerk, which would have been a satire of the films from the Disney Renaissance. It would predate Shrek.[9]
Over the Hedge Based on the comic of the same name by Michael Fry and T. Lewis. Later picked up by DreamWorks Animation.[26]
Africa An adult animated epic film set in Africa. Animator Will Makra posted concept art of the film later on.[27]
Fathom In June 2000, the reports circulated that Fox was adapting the comic book series Fathom.[28]
Ice Age Fox Animation Studios was originally working on a traditionally animated action-oriented comedy-drama film set in the Ice age. Around the same time, Blue Sky Studios, a small visual effects studio in White Plains, New York, was bought out by Fox and reshaped into a full-fledged CG animation film studio.[29] In light of this, Fox Animation head Chris Meledandri and executive producer Steve Bannerman approached Forte with the proposition of developing the film as a computer-animated film, which Forte realized was "basically a no-brainer", according to her.[30]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Bates, James (August 2, 1994). "Fox Animation Studio Will Be Built in Phoenix: Hollywood: Arizona entices the company with $1 million in job training funds and low-interest loans". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Kaye, Jeff (May 6, 1994). "Company Town - Fox Heats Up the Animation Wars - Movies: Heavyweight Don Bluth discusses the deal that will bring him and Gary Goldman home from Ireland". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  3. ^ Palmeri, Christopher (September 19, 2013). "Despicable Me 2 Producer Knows How to Win the Box Office". Bloomberg. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  4. ^ Lauria, Larry. "A Conversation With The New Don Bluth". Animation World Network. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  5. ^ Eller, Claudia (June 29, 2000). "20th Century Fox Closes Its Phoenix Animation Studio". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  6. ^ F. Duke, Paul (June 27, 2000). "Fox tooning out, closing Phoenix arm". Variety. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  7. ^ Linder, Brian (June 27, 2000). "Fox Animation Studios Closes Its Doors". IGN. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  8. ^ a b Snider, Mike (February 9, 2010). "Concept artist Wayne Barlowe on 'Dante's Inferno', Hell and video games". USA Today. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  9. ^ a b Snider, Mike. "The Little Beauty King - Oedekerk Report - Unofficial fan site of director, producer, writer Steve Oedekerk". Archived from the original on February 10, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  10. ^ a b Felperin, Leslie. "The Prince of Egypt (1998)". Sight & Sound. No. January 1999. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  11. ^ "Display Location: Fox Animation Studios - Urban Exploration Resource".
  12. ^ a b "Anastasia (1997)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  13. ^ "Anastasia". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 23, 2022. Edit this at Wikidata
  14. ^ "Anastasia". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Ask Us". DonBluth.com. Archived from the original on September 14, 2000. Bartok $24.8 million
  16. ^ "Bartok the Magnificent". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  17. ^ a b "Titan A.E. (2000)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  18. ^ "Titan A.E.". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 23, 2022. Edit this at Wikidata
  19. ^ "Titan A.E.". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  20. ^ A. Schechter, Pamela (1996). "TV's Fall Animation Lineup". Animation World Network. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  21. ^ D. Johnson, Bruce (November 1, 1997). "PBS Special Report: Program profiles: Adventures From the Book of Virtues". Kidscreen. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved April 1, 2015. Production begins with Fox Animation Studios in Phoenix.
  22. ^ Korkis, Jim (February 14, 2014). "Animation Anecdotes #149". Carton Research.
  23. ^ "F Yeah, Failed Cartoon Pilots!". Tumblr.
  24. ^ Mallory, Michael (February 14, 2013). "The Elephant Not in the Room (or Anywhere Else)". Animation Magazine.
  25. ^ "Fox Animation's Next film... Elizabeth Haydon's RHAPSODY'". Ain't It Cool News. November 25, 1999.
  26. ^ "Comics2Film: Over The Hedge". Comics2Film. Archived from the original on April 7, 2001. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  27. ^ "Feature film". WillMakra.com.
  28. ^ Eller, Claudia (June 29, 2000). "20th Century Fox Closes Its Phoenix Animation Studio". Los Angeles Times.
  29. ^ Garrahan, Matthew (January 6, 2014). "Chris Meledandri, the man who has made millions from Minions". Financial Times. Archived from the original on December 11, 2022. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
  30. ^ Mallory, Michael (March 15, 2002). "Working With Sloths Can Be Time-Consuming". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 3, 2020. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
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