Sony Group Corporation has owned several animation studios since the company's founding on May 7, 1946 by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo.
Besides Sony Pictures Animation, which serves as the company's flagship animation studio, Sony also presently operates Sony Pictures Imageworks, Sony Pictures Television Kids, A-1 Pictures and CloverWorks (the latter two through Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex).
Studio | Established | Parent unit |
---|---|---|
2002
|
||
Animation: Theatrical feature films, short films and television series in hand-drawn, digital and CGI | ||
2011
|
||
Animation: Television series and feature films Acquired in 2019.
| ||
1992
|
Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group
| |
Animation: Feature films and television series | ||
2001
|
||
Animation: Feature films and television series Acquired in 2022. | ||
1995
|
||
Animation: Television series and feature films Former names: Sony Pictures Entertainment Music Publishing Inc. (1995–1997), Sony Pictures Entertainment Visual Works Inc. (1997–2001) and Sony Music Entertainment Visual Works Inc. (2001–2003) | ||
2005
|
Aniplex
| |
Animation: Television series, feature films, OVAs and specials | ||
2018
|
Aniplex
| |
Animation: Television series, feature films, OVAs and ONAs | ||
Boundary
|
2020
|
Aniplex
|
Animation: Television series | ||
Madhouse
(5%) |
1972
|
|
Animation: Feature films, television series and OVAs | ||
Toei Animation
(1.86%) |
1948
|
|
Animation: Feature films, television series and OVAs | ||
JOEN
(joint venture) |
2022
|
|
Animation: Feature films and television series |
Studio | Established | Status |
---|---|---|
1993
|
Dormant
| |
Also known as: Columbia TriStar Television Animation, Columbia TriStar Animation, Columbia TriStar Children's Television, and Sony Pictures Television Animation Animation: Television series | ||
1995
|
Sold in 2000
| |
Animation: Television series, feature films and specials Assets sold to TV-Loonland AG in October 2000, with North American home video and international audio rights retained by Sony.[1] | ||
1980
|
Sold in 2000
| |
Animation: Television series, feature films and specials Founded in 1980 by Griffin-Bacal Advertising and acquired by Sony Wonder Television in 1998. TV-Loonland AG purchased the company in 2000.[2] | ||
2018
|
Closed in 2021
| |
Animation: Television series Acquired in 2021.
|
On April 1, 2020, Aniplex established Boundary, a 3DCG animation production company subsidiary. CloverWorks president Akira Shimizu was appointed the studio's president and representative director.[3][4] Since its inception, Boundary has been mainly involved in the CG production of CloverWorks projects.[5]
On May 30, 2022, Aniplex, its subsidiary, CloverWorks, WIT Studio, and Shueisha announced the establishment of JOEN, a new joint venture involved in the planning and production of animated works, including TV series, feature films, and short clips. CloverWorks’ Corporate Officer Yūichi Fukushima and WIT Studio Director Tetsuya Nakatake, producers of the highly acclaimed adaptation of Spy x Family, a collaboration between their respective studios, were appointed representative directors of JOEN.[6][7][8] JOEN will strive to establish a new creative framework that prioritizes the staff during production while maintaining high quality and ensuring better and adequate profit sharing with creators. It plans to collaborate with various studios, producers, and creators to capture the charm of each project instead of working exclusively with CloverWorks and WIT.[7][8]