Warner Bros. Pictures Animation
 Logo used since January 11, 2024. | |
| Company type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | |
| Predecessor | Warner Bros. Feature Animation (1994–2004) |
| Founded | January 7, 2013 |
| Founder | Jeff Robinov |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people |
|
| Products | Animated films |
| Parent | Warner Bros. |
Warner Bros. Pictures Animation (WBPA), (formerly known as Warner Animation Group (WAG)) is an American animation studio by Jeff Robinov, the studio is the successor to the dissolved 2D traditional hand-drawn animation studio Warner Bros. Feature Animation, which shut down in 2004, and is also a sister to the regular Warner Bros. Animation studio.
History
[change | change source]On January 7, 2013, Jeff Robinov (then head of the studio's motion picture division) founded a screenplay development department, nicknamed a "think tank" for developing theatrical animated films, known as the Warner Animation Group. Warner Bros. created the group with the hope that the box office reception of their films will be competitive with other animation studios' releases.
On February 7, 2014, Warner Animation Group released their first film, The Lego Movie, a film animated by Animal Logic, which also provided the animation for both spin-offs. It was met with critical praise and proved to be a box-office success. Due to the movie's success, a media franchise was created, with two spin-offs, The Lego Batman Movie[1] and The Lego Ninjago Movie (both 2017),[2] and a sequel, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019). While The Lego Batman Movie proved to be successful at the box office, The Lego Ninjago Movie and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part were both unable to recoup its budget, with Ninjago being the first film from the Warner Animation Group to be a box-office flop.
Released movies
[change | change source]| # | Title | Release date | Distributor/Co-production with | Animation service | Released by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Lego Movie | February 7, 2014 | Warner Bros. Pictures
Village Roadshow Pictures Lego System A/S |
Animal Logic | Theatrical | First Warner Animation Group in 3D. |
| 2 | Storks | September 23, 2016 | RatPac-Dune Entertainment | Sony Pictures Imageworks | Second Warner Animation Group in 3D.
First Warner Animation Group in IMAX. | |
| 3 | The Lego Batman Movie | February 10, 2017 | Warner Bros. Pictures | Animal Logic | Third Warner Animation Group in 3D.
Second Warner Animation Group in IMAX. | |
| 4 | The Lego Ninjago Movie | September 22, 2017 | Warner Bros. Pictures
Lego System A/S RatPac-Dune Entertainment |
Fourth Warner Animation Group in 3D. | ||
| 5 | Smallfoot | September 28, 2018 | Warner Bros. Pictures
Zaftig Films |
Sony Pictures Imageworks | Fifth Warner Animation Group in 3D.
First Warner Animation Group’s Musical. | |
| 6 | The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part | February 8, 2019 | Warner Bros. Pictures
Lego System A/S |
Last Warner Animation Group in 3D.
Last Warner Animation Group in IMAX. Last Warner Animation Group’s Musical. | ||
| 7 | Scoob! | May 15, 2020 | Warner Bros. Pictures | Reel FX Creative Studios | Digital | |
| 8 | Tom & Jerry | February 26, 2021 | Warner Bros. Pictures | Framestore | Theatrical and Digital | First Warner Animation Group film released thought Theaters and HBO Max. |
| 9 | Space Jam: A New Legacy | July 16, 2021 | Warner Bros. Pictures
Proximity The SpringHill Company |
Industrial Light & Magic | Theatrical and Digital | Last Warner Animation Group film released thought Theaters and HBO Max. |
| 10 | DC League of Super-Pets | July 29, 2022 | Warner Bros. Pictures
DC Entertainment Seven Bucks Productions |
Animal Logic | Theatrical | Last film under the name of Warner Animation Group. |
Upcoming
[change | change source]| # | Title | Release date | Distributor/Co-production with | Animation service |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | The Cat in the Hat | March 6, 2026 | Warner Bros. Pictures
Dr. Seuss Enterprises |
- |
| 12 | Thing One and Thing Two | 2026 | ||
| 13 | Bad Fairies | July 23, 2027 | Locksmith Animation
Sketchshark Productions | |
| 14 | Margie Claus | November 5, 2027 | On the Day Productions | |
| 15 | Oh, the Places You'll Go! | March 17, 2028 | Dr. Seuss Enterprises | - |
| 16 | Dynamic Duo | June 30, 2028 | DC Studios 6th & Idaho Swaybox | |
| 17 | Coyote vs. Acme | TBA | Two Monkeys, a Goat, and Another, Dead, Monkey | |
| 18 | Toto | TBA | Warner Bros. Pictures | |
| 19 | The Lego Movie 3 | TBA | Warner Bros. Pictures Animation |
Process
[change | change source]Similar to Paramount Animation and Sony Pictures Animation, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation outsources their computer-animated films' production to other studios such as Animal Logic (The Lego Movie franchise, DC League of Super-Pets and Toto), Sony Pictures Imageworks (Storks and Smallfoot), Reel FX Creative Studios (Scoob!), Framestore (Tom & Jerry) and Industrial Light & Magic (Space Jam: A New Legacy). However, Space Jam: A New Legacy did also include hand-drawn animation, which is done in-house and also outsourced from Company 3 Animation, and Tonic DNA.
The budgets for their films tend to range from $60–80 million. Their most expensive films to date are The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part ($99 million), Scoob! ($90 million), Space Jam: A New Legacy ($150 million), and DC League of Super-Pets ($90 million).
Filmography
[change | change source]Franchises
[change | change source]| Title | Films | Short films | Release dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Lego Movie | 4 | 11 | 2014–2019 |
| DC | 2 | 0 | 2017–present |
| Tom & Jerry | 1 | 2021–present | |
| Looney Tunes | 2021–present |
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Kit, Borys (April 20, 2015). "'The Lego Batman Movie' Gets Release Date". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 22, 2015. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
- ↑ "Warner Bros Dates Lego Spinoff 'Ninjago' For Fall 2016". Deadline Hollywood. May 20, 2014. Archived from the original on May 21, 2014. Retrieved May 23, 2014.