Sony Pictures Animation

Sony Pictures Animation Inc. (also referred to as Sony Animation Studios and abbreviated to SPA) is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and founded on May 9, 2002. The studio is based in Los Angeles, California. Most of the studio's films either theatrical or streaming-service exclusive are distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures Releasing under their Columbia Pictures label, while direct-to-video releases are released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

The studio has produced 28 feature films, the first being '' Open Season'', which was released on September 29, 2006, and the most recent being '' Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse'', which was released on June 2, 2023; their upcoming slate of films includes '' KPop Demon Hunters'' on June 20, 2025, '' Fixed'' on August 13, 2025, ''Goat'' on February 13, 2026, and '' Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse'' on June 4, 2027.

History

In 2001, Sony Pictures considered selling off its visual effects facility Sony Pictures Imageworks but after failing to find a suitable buyer, having been impressed with the CGI sequences of '' Stuart Little 2'' and seeing the box office successes of DreamWorks Animation's '' Shrek'' and Disney/ Pixar's '' Monsters, Inc.'', SPI was reconfigured to become an animation studio. ''Astro Boy'', which had been in development at Sony since 1997 as a live-action film, was set to be SPI's first all-CGI film, but never made it to fruition. On May 9, 2002, Sony Pictures Animation was established to develop characters, stories and movies with SPI taking over the digital production while maintaining its visual effects production. Meanwhile, SPI produced two short films, the Academy Award-winning '' The ChubbChubbs!'' and '' Early Bloomer'', as a result of testing its strengths and weaknesses in producing all-CGI animation.

Before the establishment of SPA, Columbia Pictures distributed a few animated films from 1959 to 2002 that were produced by outside studios, including '' 1001 Arabian Nights'', '' The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon'', '' Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!'', '' The Man Called Flintstone'', '' Jack and the Beanstalk'', '' American Pop'', '' Heavy Metal'', '' Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation'', '' Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within'', and '' Eight Crazy Nights''.

On its first anniversary on May 9, 2003, Sony Pictures Animation announced a full slate of animated projects in development: '' Open Season'', an adaptation of a Celtic folk ballad '' Tam Lin'', '' Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs'', '' Surf's Up'', and a feature-length film version of ''The ChubbChubbs!''.

On May 27, 2014, it was announced that Netflix had acquired streaming rights to films produced by Sony Pictures Animation.

On November 3, 2014, the studio collaborated with Frederator Studios' Cartoon Hangover on '' GO! Cartoons'', an incubator series consisting of 12 short films, with at least one short film being developed into a series. The short films were funded by SPA, with the additional goal of attracting new talent for the studio.

In June 2019, Sony Pictures Animation announced that they had launched an "International" division headed by Aron Warner at the 2019 Annecy International Animated Film Festival, with '' Wish Dragon'' set to be the division's first film. The same day, they also announced an "Alternative" division aimed at producing adult animated content, headed by Katie Baron and Kevin Noel. In addition to Tartakovsky's films ''Black Knight'' and '' Fixed'', the division's TV shows are set to include ''Superbago'', a co-production with Stoopid Buddy Stoodios that was originally greenlit as a feature film; and ''Hungry Ghosts'', a series based on the Dark Horse graphic novel by Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose. They had previously announced their plans to produce adult content at the 2017 Annecy festival.

In April 2021, Disney and Sony Pictures reached a multi-year deal to let Sony's titles (such as films from the ''Spider-Man'', '' Jumanji'', '' Hotel Transylvania'', '' Ghostbusters'' franchises, and other films made by Sony Pictures Animation, etc, and anime licensed by Funimation/Crunchyroll like '' Attack on Titan'' and '' Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works'') to stream on Hulu and Disney+. A significant number of Sony titles began streaming on Disney+ starting in September 2022. It includes films from 2022 onwards.

Process

In a similar fashion to Warner Bros. Pictures Animation and Paramount Animation, the studio outsources their films to other animation companies and visual effects studios, with the majority of their films being animated by sister company Sony Pictures Imageworks. Some films, such as '' Arthur Christmas'' and '' The Pirates! Band of Misfits'' were acquired by Sony Pictures Animation to be released under their banner while others, such as '' Goosebumps'' and '' Peter Rabbit'', were made with no involvement from the studio.

According to Kristine Belson, president of SPA, the studio produces films on a 1:1 development-to-production ratio, meaning that the studio puts films into development as much as it places films in production, unlike other animation studios.

Filmography

Sony Pictures Animation's first feature film was ''Open Season'', released in September 2006, which became Sony's second-highest-grossing home entertainment film in 2007 and spawned three direct-to-video sequels. Its second feature film, '' Surf's Up'' was released in June 2007, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and won two Annie Awards. SPA's first 3D movie since the IMAX 3D release of ''Open Season'', '' Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs'', was released in September 2009 and was nominated for four Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature. '' The Smurfs'' (2011) was the studio's first CGI/live-action hybrid. SPA's parent company Sony Pictures had partnered in 2007 with Aardman Animations to finance, co-produce and distribute feature films. Together, they produced two films: '' Arthur Christmas'' (2011), and '' The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!'' (2012), the latter which was SPA's first and currently only stop-motion film. In 2012, SPA released '' Hotel Transylvania'', which grossed over $350 million worldwide and launched a successful franchise with three sequels and a TV series. Two sequels were released in 2013: '' The Smurfs 2'' and '' Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2''.

SPA's latest releases are '' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'', an animated superhero film based on the Spider-Man comics and featuring the Miles Morales incarnation of the character, '' The Angry Birds Movie 2'', the sequel to the 2016 film '' The Angry Birds Movie'' produced by Rovio Animation, '' The Mitchells vs. the Machines'', a robot apocalypse/road trip film written and directed by Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe while produced by longtime collaborators Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, '' Wish Dragon'', a co-production with Base FX, the musical film, Lin-Manuel Miranda's '' Vivo'', which marks Sony Pictures Animation's first musical film, '' Hotel Transylvania: Transformania'', the fourth and final feature installment in the ''Hotel Transylvania'' franchise, and '' Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse'', the sequel to ''Into the Spider-Verse''. SPA has since signed Genndy Tartakovsky to a long-term deal with the studio to develop and direct original films starting with Tartakovsky's R-rated animated film ''Fixed''.

Upcoming projects

As of , upcoming films from the studio include the musical fantasy film '' KPop Demon Hunters'' (releasing on Netflix on June 20, 2025), the R-rated romantic comedy film '' Fixed'' (releasing on Netflix on August 13, 2025), a sports film from Stephen Curry and Erick Peyton of Unanimous Media titled ''Goat'' (releasing on February 13, 2026), and '' Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse'' (releasing on June 4, 2027). Projects in development include an animated '' Ghostbusters'' spin-off film, another Tartakovsky project titled ''Black Knight'', ''Tao'', a China-set science-fiction adventure film directed by '' The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part'' story artist Emily Dean, ''Tut'', an afro-futuristic coming-of-age story set in ancient Egypt directed by '' Hair Love'' creator Matthew A. Cherry, an untitled project based on an original idea by Matt Braly and Rebecca Sugar, and an animated film adaptation based on the science fiction podcast '' Bubble'' (a co-production with Point Grey Pictures and Matt Tolmach Productions).

Franchises

Highest-grossing films

See also

* Adelaide Productions
* Sony Pictures Imageworks
* Sony Pictures Television Kids
* Screen Gems (1921–1949)
* Sony Pictures Kids Zone
* United Productions of America
* List of Sony theatrical animated feature films
* List of unproduced Sony Pictures Animation projects
* List of animation studios owned by Sony

Notes

References

External links

*

{{Authority control

2002 establishments in California
American animation studios
American companies established in 2002
Companies based in Culver City, California
Entertainment companies based in California
Film production companies of the United States
Mass media companies established in 2002
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony subsidiaries
Adult animation studios