New World Animation Ltd., formerly known as Marvel Productions, was the television and film studio subsidiary of the

Marvel Entertainment Group Marvel Entertainment, LLC (formerly Marvel Enterprises) is an American entertainment company founded in June 1998 and based in New York City, New York, formed by the merger of Marvel Entertainment Group and Toy Biz. The company is a wholly owned ...

, based in Hollywood,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It later became a subsidiary of

New World Entertainment New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 197 ...

and eventually of

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New ...

(

Fox Entertainment Group Fox Entertainment Group was an American entertainment company specialised in filmed entertainment owned by 21st Century Fox. Following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, the group's assets were folded into various Disney units. The ...

). Marvel Productions produced animated television series, motion pictures, and television specials such as ''

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends may refer to the following shows: * ''Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends'' (1981 TV series), a 1981 cartoon series * ''Spidey and His Amazing Friends'' (2021 TV series), a 2021 Disney Junior cartoon {{Disam ...

'', ''

The Incredible Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of '' The Incredible Hulk'' (May 1962). In his comic book a ...

'', '' My Little Pony: The Movie'', '' The Transformers: The Movie'', and '' G.I. Joe: The Movie'' as well as '' The Transformers'' and '' G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' television series. Most of Marvel Productions/New World Animation's non-Hasbro-related back catalog (with the exception of ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...

'') is currently owned by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

History

DePatie–Freleng Enterprises (1963–1981)

The company began in 1963 as DFE Films, and was sold to Cadence Industries,

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

Group's owner, in 1981 after DFE founder and company executive Friz Freleng departed the company to return to his former job at

Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 19 ...

. Freleng's business partner and DFE co-founder David H. DePatie continued to work for the company under the Marvel banner for several years until his retirement.

Marvel Productions (1981–1993)

Marvel Productions opened its Los Angeles studio in 1981. In 1984,

Margaret Loesch Margaret Ann Loesch () is an American television executive and producer. She is the former President and CEO of Discovery Communications and Hasbro Inc's joint venture television network Hub Network. On June 12, 2014, she announced that she would ...

joined Marvel Productions as President and Chief Executive Officer. Marvel Comics Group, owned by Cadence Industries Corporation since 1968, was sold to New World Pictures in 1986 along with Marvel Productions and incorporated as Marvel Entertainment Group (MEG). With New World having cash flow problems, MEG was sold in January 1989 to Andrews Group, a MacAndrews and Forbes subsidiary, owned by

Ronald Perelman Ronald Owen Perelman (; born January 1, 1943) is an American banker, businessman and investor. MacAndrews & Forbes, MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated, his company, has invested in companies with interests in groceries, cigars, Liquorice (confect ...

. However, New World kept Marvel Productions and merged it with its own television business. MP moved their offices from Van Nuys to West Los Angeles in May 1989. New World's problems continued, which led them to also be acquired by the Andrews Group within the year. Loesch left for Fox Kids in 1990. In December 1992, New World formed New World Family Filmworks and New World Action Animation, headed by Marvel Productions president Rick Ungar, to produce $20 million worth of family entertainment programming.

New World Animation (1993–1996)

Marvel Productions was renamed New World Animation in November 1993. In 1994, Marvel and New World started up Marvel Films including Marvel Films Animation. New World Animation (''

''),

Saban Entertainment Saban Entertainment, Inc. (along with Saban International; currently operating under the legal name is BVS Entertainment, Inc.) was a worldwide-served independent American-Israeli television production company formed in 1980 by Haim Saban and ...

(''

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in 1970 due to lo ...

''), and Marvel Films Animation ('' Spider-Man''), each produced a Marvel series for television. Tom Tataranowicz was in charge of both Marvel Films Animation and New World Animation during this period.

News Corporation subsidiary (1996)

acquired New World Entertainment, along with New World Animation and Marvel Films Animation for $2.5 billion in August 1996. At the same time, Saban Entertainment secured the rights from Marvel Entertainment Group for '' Captain America'', '' Daredevil'', and ''

Silver Surfer The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first a ...

'', and additional characters to be developed into four series and 52 episodes over the next seven years. Fox Children's Productions and Saban Entertainment merged to form Fox Kids Worldwide, a holding company and joint venture, in November 1996, while Fox retained ownership of New World Animation.

Postscript

Fox Family Worldwide and its assets, including the Marvel Productions library and Saban Entertainment, were purchased by

for $5.2 billion in July 2001, with Saban Entertainment renamed to

BVS Entertainment Saban Entertainment, Inc. (along with Saban International; currently operating under the legal name is BVS Entertainment, Inc.) was a worldwide-served independent American-Israeli television production company formed in 1980 by Haim Saban and ...

in October 2001. After getting its 2002 profit participation statements for the Marvel Productions library, Marvel Enterprises sued The Walt Disney Company over royalties in August 2004 after Disney would not open their books. This was followed by a November 2004 suit which claimed that the purchase of Fox Family did not transfer the shows' copyrights to Disney as the purchase was done without Marvel's approval. As part of both suits, Marvel claimed library income concealment and failure to exploit the characters. On August 31, 2009, Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, reunifying the Marvel Productions library and Marvel Entertainment under the same corporate banner. Disney then sold the ''

Power Rangers ''Power Rangers'' is an entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise '' Super Sentai''. Produced first by Saban Entertainment, second by BVS E ...

'' franchise – which was included in the Fox Family acquisition and originally part of the BVS library – to

Saban Brands Saban Capital Group LLC is an American investment firm based in Los Angeles, California focused on media, entertainment, and communications investments. Formed in 2010 by Haim Saban, Saban Capital Group owns Saban Films, part of Univision Commu ...

in 2010; that franchise, since 2018, is currently owned by Hasbro. After Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox on March 20, 2019, the Marvel Productions and Fox Kids/Saban Entertainment libraries reunited with the New World Animation library.

Animated series

* ''The Young Astronauts'', licensed from the Young Astronaut Council and also adapted into a comic book by

; never aired due to the

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster On January 28, 1986, the broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. The spacecraft disintegrated above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39a.m. EST (16:39 UTC). It wa ...

causing CBS to cancel the show before being produced. * ''Stealth Warriors''

Original specials

Except for ''Fraggle Rock'', the rights to series based on Jim Henson properties are now held by The Muppets Studio, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. All programs based on

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

properties were co-productions with Sunbow Productions. These programs are now owned by Entertainment One.

Theatrical and DTV films

Executives

* David H. DePatie – president and chief executive officer (1980–1984) *

– president and chief executive officer (1984–1990) * Rick Ungar – president and chief executive officer (1991–August 1995) *

Lee Gunther Lee Gunther (May 30, 1935 – August 25, 1998) was a co-founder of Marvel Productions and a film editor (which, in animation parlance, means sound effects editor) on more than 85 animated shorts in all. Career Starting at Warner Bros. in the 19 ...

– senior vice president, production (1986) * Stan Lee – vice president, creative affairs (1986) * Michael Wahl – vice president, business affairs (1986) * Peter Knepper – vice president and chief financial officer (1986) * Hank Sarovan – vice president (1986)

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{Marvel Action Universe 1981 establishments in California 1996 disestablishments in California American companies established in 1981 American companies disestablished in 1996 American animation studios Companies based in Los Angeles Defunct film and television production companies of the United States Marvel Comics animation Marvel Entertainment Mass media companies disestablished in 1996 Mass media companies established in 1981