Sullivan Bluth Studios
Encyclopedia
Sullivan Bluth Studios was an American animated film production company established in 1985 by animator Don Bluth
. Bluth and several colleagues, all of whom were former Disney
animators, left Disney in 1979 to form Don Bluth Productions, later known as the Bluth Group. This studio produced the short film Banjo the Woodpile Cat
, the feature film The Secret of NIMH
, and the video games Dragon's Lair
and Space Ace
. The Bluth Group went bankrupt
in 1984, and Bluth teamed up with Irish-American businessman Morris Francis Sullivan
to form Sullivan Bluth Studios, which opened in 1985.
The studio initially operated from an animation facility in Van Nuys, California, and struck a deal with Steven Spielberg
and Amblin Entertainment
to make the animated feature An American Tail
. During its production, Morris Sullivan began to engineer the studio's move to Dublin, Ireland to take advantage of government investment and incentives offered by the Industrial Development Authority
. Most of the staff from the US studio moved to the new Dublin facility during production on the studio's second feature film, The Land Before Time
. The studio also recruited heavily from Ireland, and helped set up an animation course at Ballyfermot
Senior College to train new artists.
After The Land Before Time the studio severed its connection with Amblin and struck a deal with UK
-based Goldcrest Films
, which invested in and distributed two additional features, All Dogs Go to Heaven
and Rock-a-Doodle
. In 1989, during the production of All Dogs Go to Heaven founding member John Pomeroy
and many of the remaining US staff members returned to America to form a US wing in Burbank, California
. The studio found itself in financial difficulty in 1992 when a major investor withdrew funding due to concerns about the poor box office returns of its most recent films and budgetary over-runs in its in-production films, Thumbelina
, A Troll in Central Park
and The Pebble and the Penguin
. Another UK film company, Merlin Films, and Hong Kong
media company Media Assets invested in the studio to fund the completion and release of the three partially completed films.
Founding members Don Bluth and Gary Goldman
were drawn away from the studio when they were approached in 1994 to set up a new animation studio for 20th Century Fox
. Sullivan Bluth Studio's films continued to suffer losses at the box office, and operations were wound down in 1995 after the release of their final feature, The Pebble and the Penguin. Don Bluth and Gary Goldman went on to head up Fox Animation Studios
in Phoenix, Arizona
to work on Anastasia
and Titan A.E.
.
and animation director
at Walt Disney Productions
, fellow animators John Pomeroy
and Gary Goldman
, and eight other animation staff, left the studio during production on The Fox and the Hound
. Bluth cited as his reasons dissatisfaction with the studio's stifling bureaucracy and its “churn 'em out” attitude to filmmaking. Bluth, Pomeroy and Goldman had been working for four years prior to leaving Disney on a project of their own, Banjo the Woodpile Cat
. Upon leaving Disney, they and the other defecting animators formed the independent studio Don Bluth Productions, working out of Bluth's garage and home in Ventura, California
, and made the completion of this short film their first project. After four years of production, much of it part-time, Banjo the Woodpile Cat was completed and given theatrical screenings in two theatres in December 1979. The short was then offered to various television stations, airing on HBO in February 1980 and ABC
in 1982.
After the completion of Banjo, the studio moved out of Bluth's house and into a two-storey facility in nearby Studio City. The studio's first commission was to produce a two-minute animated sequence for the song “Don't Walk Away” in the live-action musical Xanadu
. The brief sequence might ordinarily have taken four or five months to produce; Bluth's studio completed it in under three. The studio then started work on its first feature film
, an adaptation of the Newbery Medal
-winning children's book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
. Backed by Aurora Productions
, The Secret of NIMH
started production in 1980 and was completed in 1982. Though generally well-received by critics, who praised the richness and fluidity of the animation, some found the narrative unsatisfying. The Secret of NIMH returned only a modest box office performance, which was blamed on distributor MGM/UA
's poor promotion, regionally-staggered releases and competition from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
, which had been released the previous month. Between this and an industry-wide animators strike in 1982, the studio found itself in financial trouble and filed for bankruptcy
.
Reforming under the name Bluth Group, the studio's next project was to produce the animation for Cinematronics
' arcade video games Dragon's Lair
and Space Ace
, which were released in 1983. The games were very successful, attracting considerable attention for the animated visuals quite unlike the simplistic graphics of other games of the era, but were criticised for their limited interactivity. The collapse of the video game industry
in late 1983 and early 1984 halted production on the sequel Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp
. Cinematronics, now in debt and trying to cut its own losses, froze fees and royalties of over US$
3 million to Bluth Group, driving the studio once again into bankruptcy. The unfinished sequel to Dragon's Lair, despite having almost all of its animated footage completed, remained unreleased until 1991.
During Bluth Group's period working with Cinematronics, Don Bluth met Morris Sullivan
, a mergers and acquisitions
broker and enthusiast of traditional animation
, who quickly saw the potential in the studio. When the studio declared its second bankruptcy, Sullivan stepped in to assist, combining his experience of the business world with Don Bluth and his crew's talent to form Sullivan-Bluth Studios (later dropping the hyphen to become Sullivan Bluth Studios). Moving out of the smaller Studio City facility and into a dedicated building in Van Nuys, California, the studio opened in 1985.
In its early days the studio worked on a number of smaller projects such as commercials while seeking a suitable feature film project. In 1984, as the studio was preparing to move to its new headquarters, Bluth was approached by Steven Spielberg
with an idea for a feature film about a mouse family emigrating to America, An American Tail
. Bluth and Spielberg worked together to develop the story for the film, and production began in earnest later that year. With backing from Spielberg's production company Amblin Entertainment
, and distributors Universal Pictures
, the film was released in November 1986, accompanied by a major publicity campaign. An American Tail was very successful at the box-office, grossing US$
47 million in the US and becoming the highest-grossing animated film on an initial release.
During production on An American Tail, Morris Sullivan drew plans to move the majority of the studio's operations to Ireland
to take advantage of a scheme set up by the Industrial Development Authority
encouraging filmmakers to invest in the country by offering grants, tax benefits and lower operating costs. Difficulties with American trade union
s that arose when Bluth offered his employees wages below union rates during the financially tense production of An American Tail may also have influenced the decision to relocate. The IDA offered Sullivan Bluth Studios the largest grant in the country's history to relocate to Dublin, in return for a 5% government ownership of the studio. This, along with Sullivan's own investment, funded the foundation of a large and sophisticated new animation studio near Dublin's Phoenix Park
. The studio opened with a staff of 85, mostly handling the ink-and-paint process, but expanded to employ over 300 people, including some 100 staff relocated from the California studio, and to cover all aspects of the animation process and even film processing. To build up this workforce, the studio brought young Irish people to the USA studio to train, and Bluth helped to set up an animation course at the nearby Ballyfermot
Senior College. Despite the majority of operations eventually being moved to the Dublin studio, an executive office was retained in Burbank, California
to maintain ties with US producers and distributors.
During the move to Ireland, production had started on the studio's second feature, The Land Before Time
. Again, Amblin and Spielberg backed the production, with additional input from friend of Spielberg and Star Wars
creator George Lucas
, who had worked with Spielberg on the initial story treatment. The movie had been rushed into its early production stages even before the release of An American Tail to meet an Autumn 1987 release date, a very tight schedule for a feature-length animated film. However, between delays caused by the disruption of the move to Dublin, and the unwillingness of Amblin and Universal to fully commit to the project until An American Tails release, production fell behind by several months, and it was Spring 1987 before it reached full stride.
Spielberg and Lucas' control over the story and production of The Land Before Time was notably greater than with An American Tail; substantial changes to the story were imposed mid-production, and around 10 minutes of footage, an expenditure for the studio of over US$
1 million, was removed. Production was completed in 1988 for a November release, the film vying for box-office receipts with Disney's Oliver & Company
. Despite a generally lukewarm reception by critics, The Land Before Time broke the record for the highest-grossing animated film on its opening weekend, and would have retained the record for highest overall gross (US$
48 million) had Oliver & Company not surpassed it (US$
53 million).
4.5 million was invested in improvements to the studio as part of a plan to move into television. At around the same time, plans were also announced to go into live-action film production, and to purchase a film distribution company to distribute not only the studio's own output but also other Irish productions. However, the live action and distribution plans were put on hold when the studio struck a deal with UK
producers Goldcrest Films
in early 1988 to partially finance and distribute a further three animated films.
Later that year the plans were revived, along with the possibility of opening a TV animation division to produce high-quality Saturday morning cartoons. However, these plans were halted by Spring 1989. Out of all the plans to diversify, only the studio's commercial animation department was kept, producing advertisements for US and European television.
(which had an Irish office) would make this possible. Working under Goldcrest also afforded director Don Bluth freer rein over the development of the story than under Amblin and Spielberg.
Early ideas for a dog-based story starring Burt Reynolds
had been mooted after the completion of The Secret of NIMH, but never progressed beyond rough storyboard
s. The idea was revisited in late 1987 and developed into a feature-length story, titled All Dogs Go to Heaven
. The film entered full production in late 1988, following directly on from The Land Before Time.
In 1989, during the production of All Dogs Go to Heaven, founding member John Pomeroy and several original crew members left the Dublin studio to return to the US, setting up a studio in Burbank, California
named West Olive, later to become Sullivan Bluth Animation Studio. The new studio handled some of the animation for All Dogs Go to Heaven, as well as some television commercials. The move helped strengthen the studio's presence in the US market, and early promotion for All Dogs Go to Heaven included a presentation at the 1989 San Diego Comic-Con and sales of animation cels from previous productions. Initially the new US studio handled only the rough animation, with the drawings then sent to the Dublin studio for cleanup, ink-and-paint and shooting. As the studio expanded, it took on more and more of the animation process, with the paper animation completed there and sent to Dublin for Xerography
and painting.
All Dogs Go to Heaven was completed in late 1989, opening in November. On Pomeroy's insistence, some cuts were made to bring the film down from its initial MPAA rating of PG to a G rating. Like their previous feature, the studio's latest would be going head-to-head against Disney's newest release, this time The Little Mermaid
. Critics gave the movie mixed reviews, with some drawing unfavourable comparisons with The Little Mermaid. At the box office it fell short of the studio's previous two features, grossing US$
26 million domestically. However, it was a great success when released on home video; accompanied by a US$13m advertising campaign, the video sold over three million copies in the first month alone, topping the charts and becoming one of the top-selling VHS releases of all time.
The unspectacular reception for All Dogs Go to Heaven led the studio to reconsider its approach to public relations
. For its next feature film, Rock-a-Doodle
, a greater emphasis was placed on audience reception. Several screenings of early test footage were held, and changes were made to the film's content to reduce the intensity or suggestiveness of several scenes and broaden its commercial appeal.
Rock-a-Doodle was loosely based on the play Chantecler
by poet and playwright Edmond Rostand
(itself based on a fable
popularised by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales
). The idea for an adaptation of Chantecler dates back to the late 1930s at the Walt Disney Company, and was revisited repeatedly in the decades to follow, but never entered production. It was not until 1982 that Don Bluth, having left Disney, took a similar idea into pre-production, though the project stalled with the collapse of Don Bluth Productions in the same year. As work on All Dogs Go to Heaven neared completion, the idea was revived and Rock-a-Doodle entered production in late 1989.
During the production of Rock-a-Doodle, the studio found itself in difficulties again. Following a buyout of Goldcrest Films, the new owners of the production company decided to end its dealings with Sullivan Bluth Studios. Shortly after, Goldcrest took steps to liquidate the studio, claiming it could not pay back a US$
300,000 loan and other debts. However, the petition was withdrawn and the issue settled outside court. Though the precise reasons for the withdrawal were not made public, as part of the settlement the ownership of the studio's artwork was turned over to Goldcrest Films, putting an end to the studio's selling of animation cels.
In January 1992, Sullivan Bluth Studios changed its name to Don Bluth Entertainment.
Rock-a-Doodle was released in April 1992, and was the last of the studio's films to have Goldcrest involved in its distribution; The Samuel Goldwyn Company
picked up the rights for its distribution in the US. Critical reception was poor to indifferent, and it performed poorly at the box office, grossing just US$11.7M. The film's poor financial performance, along with the loss of financial backing for several other features the studio had in development, led the studio to declare bankruptcy in October 1992.
had been in production since mid-1990, and Thumbelina
since 1991. The studio's in-development features were going over budget, and the studio's Belgian
investors and a Netherlands
bank, who had invested heavily in them, suffered financial difficulties as a result and withdrew further funding. The threat of the closure of the studio was raised that month in the Dáil Éireann
(the lower house
of the Oireachtas
, or Irish national parliament) in the hopes of securing its future. Thirty employees were laid off at the Los Angeles studio, many of the staff at the Dublin studio continued working unpaid, and Don Bluth reportedly met some operating expenses out of his own pocket.
In November 1992, Don Bluth Entertainment found investment from UK
film production company Merlin Films and Hong Kong
-based company Media Assets. Merlin Films and Media Assets invested US$14M to purchase the studio's next three films and a further US$6M to ensure the completion of the two partially completed films, with further investment to follow on the third film, The Pebble and the Penguin
, then still in early development. A condition of the investment was that Merlin Films and Media Assets would have a close involvement in the management of Don Bluth Entertainment's financial operations, following reports of the studio's past mismanagement. In 1993, STAR TV (Asia)
, the parent company of Media Assets, was purchased by Rupert Murdoch
, effectively making the studio a subsidiary
of News Corporation
.
Although A Troll in Central Park was closer to completion, Merlin and Media Assets decided that Thumbelina
was more likely to be a commercial success, and pressed for its completion and release first. MGM/UA
, who planned to distribute the films in the US, had already backed off in the wake of DBE's bankruptcy, and Warner Bros.
picked up Thumbelina and subsequent films for worldwide distribution. The film was released in March 1994. Critical reception was generally indifferent to mixed, and the film performed poorly at the box office, grossing US$11.4M.
The studio's next feature suffered a much weaker commercial performance. A Troll in Central Park
, almost complete at the time of the Merlin deal, was given a limited regional release in October 1994. Like Thumbelina before it, A Troll in Central Park was poorly received by critics, and it grossed just US$74,368. The poor performance of the film has been attributed to Warner Bros.' lack of promotion; there was no television promotion, no advance screenings, and only a low-key print campaign. In the July 2001 issue of Don Bluth's animation magazine Toon Talk, Bluth explained the film's troubled production, faulting his own unwillingness to accept outside input, and lack of time to refine the story, likening the film to “a child [...] born prematurely”.
The third of the studio's partially completed features, The Pebble and the Penguin
, was also dogged by production difficulties. MGM/UA
stepped in to become distributors for the film in the US, and at a relatively late stage in production insisted on making extensive changes, cutting some sequences, removing some characters and re-recording many of the voices. The changes meant that the animation, the effects animation in particular, fell behind, and some of the ink-and-paint work had to be farmed out to a Hungarian animation studio to meet the release deadline. Directors Don Bluth and Gary Goldman were so dissatisfied at the enforced changes that they insisted on their names being removed from the credits (though the company name “Don Bluth Entertainment Ireland, Ltd.” remained). The Pebble and the Penguin was released in April 1995, and again made a loss at the box office, grossing US$3.9M in the US. The film performed better on home video
when released that August, becoming a fast seller alongside other animated films released in the same month Bluth did not remain disassociated with The Pebble and the Penguin, supervising a high-definition remastering
in 2007 that corrected some of the animation and shooting errors caused by the rushed production.
Peter Chernin
, and CEO and Chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment Bill Mechanic
to discuss the creation of a feature animation division. While Bluth and Goldman wanted to remain at the Dublin studio, arguing that because Media Assets was owned by Fox's parent company News Corporation
, Fox effectively had a working animation studio already, Mechanic wanted Bluth and Goldman to head up a new studio in Phoenix, Arizona
instead. Bluth and Goldman intended to remain in Ireland to complete work on The Pebble and the Penguin, but when they were forced to make changes to the film they left the studio and began working with Mechanic to set up Fox Animation Studios
. After the release of The Pebble and the Penguin in 1995, operations at the Dublin studio were wound down. Many of the staff moved to the new Fox Animation studio, and the studio closed its doors later the same year.
Working at the new Arizona animation facility, Bluth and Goldman co-directed Fox Animation Studio's first film, Anastasia
, released in 1997, a 1999 direct-to-video prequel Bartok the Magnificent
and Titan A.E.
, released in 2000. Titan A.E. grossed just US$22.7M against its estimated budget of US$75M; Fox Animation Studios had already laid off two-thirds of its staff several months previously, and it closed entirely shortly after Titan A.E.s release.
by six months. Ron W. Miller
, the president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company at the time, remarked that although the timing of their departure was unfortunate, it was “possibly the best thing that could happen to our animation group”. Bluth expressed concerns that as Disney's productions became more technically advanced, the story seemed to lose importance. The aim of his new studio was to “return animation to its glorious past”, concentrating on strong stories, and using traditional animation techniques that had fallen out of favour at Disney. Animation historian Jerry Beck
observed that Don Bluth Productions was clearly set up in direct opposition to Disney; even Aurora Productions, who backed the studio's first feature, The Secret of NIMH
, was made up of former Disney executives.
While Bluth's early output did not match Disney's success at the box office, critics praised the studio's visual style, and by 1986 Sullivan Bluth Studios' An American Tail
had broken the box-office record for a first-release animated feature. As animation columnist Jim Hill notes, this critical and commercial reception forced Disney to rethink its approach to animated features. Throughout the 1980s Disney strove to revitalise its output, and while the next feature after Bluth's departure, The Black Cauldron
, was a commercial and critical failure (attributed by Hill to the use of the latest animation technology at the expense of the story), the films that followed (The Great Mouse Detective
and Oliver & Company
) marked the beginning of a period of increasing success for the studio in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with each successive film earning 40-50% more than its predecessor, culminating in The Lion King
earning nearly $
800 million worldwide in 1994.
Sullivan Bluth Studios has also been regarded as a major influence in the development of Ireland
's animation industry. Animator Jimmy Murakami
had been operating his studio Murakami Films in Ireland throughout the 1980s, and the opening of Sullivan Bluth Studios brought about expansion in the sector, with Murakami Films expanding to become Murakami-Wolf Dublin (later Fred Wolf Films Dublin), and another studio of American origins, Emerald City, opening in Dublin. By 1990 Dublin's animation industry employed around 530 people.
Sullivan Bluth Studios was also instrumental in setting up education programmes in Dublin to train new artists and animators. At the Ballyfermot Senior College an animation department was set up, modelled on the school of Art and Design at Sheridan College
, Ontario
, Canada
. Many of Ballyfermot's graduates went on to work at Sullivan Bluth and the city's other animation studios. In 1989 around 75% of the 350 staff employed at the Dublin studio was Irish, and by late 1990 most of the original US crew had returned to America to be replaced by Irish artists and animators. Some senior staff at the studio became part-time instructors at the college. The success of the animation course at Ballyfermot spurred the creation of an animation programme at Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology
, focussed more on experimental and arthouse techniques compared to Ballyfermot's traditional animation
approach.
The closure of Sullivan Bluth Studios in 1995 brought about a near collapse in the Irish animation industry. Emerald City closed soon after, and Fred Wolf Films Dublin downsized. By 1997 the industry's annual turnover had dropped from around £12 million to just £100,000. However, the industry began to recover as numerous smaller animation studios were set up. Several former Sullivan Bluth employees started studios of their own, including Brown Bag Films
, Monster Productions and Terraglyph Animation..
In recent years, The Animation sector in Ireland has grown to become a very successful industry as indigneous studios have all managed to produce their TV series for international markets.
* denotes works completed by Don Bluth Productions/Bluth Group, prior to the foundation of Sullivan Bluth Studios
Don Bluth
Donald Virgil "Don" Bluth is an American animator and independent studio owner. He is best known for his departure from The Walt Disney Company in 1979 and his subsequent directing of animated films such as The Secret of NIMH , An American Tail ,The Land Before Time , and All Dogs Go to Heaven ,...
. Bluth and several colleagues, all of whom were former Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
animators, left Disney in 1979 to form Don Bluth Productions, later known as the Bluth Group. This studio produced the short film Banjo the Woodpile Cat
Banjo the Woodpile Cat
Banjo the Woodpile Cat is a 1979 animated short television film directed by Don Bluth. It follows the story of Banjo, an overly curious and rebellious kitten who, after getting into trouble for falling from a house to see if he could land on his feet, runs away from his woodpile home in his owners'...
, the feature film The Secret of NIMH
The Secret of NIMH
The Secret of NIMH is a 1982 animated film directed by Don Bluth in his directorial debut. It is an adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's 1971 children's novel Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. The film was produced by Aurora Pictures and released by United Artists. While released to critical acclaim,...
, and the video games Dragon's Lair
Dragon's Lair
Dragon's Lair is a laserdisc video game published by Cinematronics in 1983. It featured animation created by ex-Disney animator Don Bluth....
and Space Ace
Space Ace
Space Ace is a laserdisc video game produced by Don Bluth Studios, Cinematronics, and Advanced Microcomputer Systems...
. The Bluth Group went bankrupt
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
in 1984, and Bluth teamed up with Irish-American businessman Morris Francis Sullivan
Morris Sullivan
Morris Francis Sullivan was an American businessman who co-founded the Sullivan Bluth Studios with three former Disney animators. Sullivan Bluth Studios employeed approximately 400 people at the peak of its success...
to form Sullivan Bluth Studios, which opened in 1985.
The studio initially operated from an animation facility in Van Nuys, California, and struck a deal with Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
and Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981. Amblin is only a production company, and has never distributed its own movies, nor has it fully financed its...
to make the animated feature An American Tail
An American Tail
An American Tail is a 1986 American animated adventure film directed by Don Bluth and produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios and Amblin Entertainment. The film tells the story of Fievel Mouskewitz and his family as they immigrate from Russia to America for freedom. However, Fievel gets lost and must...
. During its production, Morris Sullivan began to engineer the studio's move to Dublin, Ireland to take advantage of government investment and incentives offered by the Industrial Development Authority
IDA Ireland
IDA Ireland is the agency responsible for industrial development in Ireland. The agency was founded in 1949 as the Industrial Development Authority and placed on a statutory footing a year later...
. Most of the staff from the US studio moved to the new Dublin facility during production on the studio's second feature film, The Land Before Time
The Land Before Time
The Land Before Time is a 1988 American animated adventure film directed and co-produced by Don Bluth , and executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank Marshall....
. The studio also recruited heavily from Ireland, and helped set up an animation course at Ballyfermot
Ballyfermot
Ballyfermot is a suburb in the city of Dublin.Celebrities such as the famous Furey Brothers and the brilliant Keenan family have all resided in Ballyfermot.Ireland, located 7 kilometres due west from the city centre, and to the south of the Phoenix Park...
Senior College to train new artists.
After The Land Before Time the studio severed its connection with Amblin and struck a deal with UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based Goldcrest Films
Goldcrest Films
Goldcrest Films is a British film production company founded by Jake Eberts in January 1977. It enjoyed great success in the 1980s with films such as Local Hero , The Killing Fields and Hope and Glory mostly produced by David Puttnam on modest budgets. The company also benefited from the new...
, which invested in and distributed two additional features, All Dogs Go to Heaven
All Dogs Go to Heaven
All Dogs Go to Heaven is a 1989 Irish-English animated film directed and produced by Don Bluth and released by United Artists. The film tells the story of two dogs, Charlie B. Barkin and his loyal best friend Itchy Itchiford...
and Rock-a-Doodle
Rock-A-Doodle
Rock-a-Doodle is a 1992 American animated re-telling of Edmond Rostand's comedy, Chantecler. This film was directed by Don Bluth, produced by Goldcrest Films for The Samuel Goldwyn Company, and originally released in the United States on April 3, 1992.-Plot:Chanticleer is a proud rooster whose...
. In 1989, during the production of All Dogs Go to Heaven founding member John Pomeroy
John Pomeroy
John Pomeroy is an American animator who has worked for several major studios, including The Walt Disney Company and Sullivan Bluth Studios...
and many of the remaining US staff members returned to America to form a US wing in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
. The studio found itself in financial difficulty in 1992 when a major investor withdrew funding due to concerns about the poor box office returns of its most recent films and budgetary over-runs in its in-production films, Thumbelina
Thumbelina (1994 film)
Thumbelina is a 1994 American animated film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman from a screenplay by Bluth based on Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina. The film was produced by Don Bluth Entertainment and was released to movie theaters by Warner Bros...
, A Troll in Central Park
A Troll in Central Park
A Troll in Central Park is a 1994 animated feature-length film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, creators of films such as Thumbelina, The Land Before Time, and All Dogs Go to Heaven. It was released on October 7, 1994 by Warner Bros...
and The Pebble and the Penguin
The Pebble and the Penguin
The Pebble and the Penguin is a 1995 animated musical film, based on the true life mating rituals of the Adelie Penguins in Antarctica, produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. The film was released to theatres on April 11, 1995 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the United States and...
. Another UK film company, Merlin Films, and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
media company Media Assets invested in the studio to fund the completion and release of the three partially completed films.
Founding members Don Bluth and Gary Goldman
Gary Goldman
Gary Wayne Goldman is an American Film Producer, Director, Animator, Writer and voice actor, he is well known for working on films with Don Bluth like Anastasia, An American Tail and The Land Before Time...
were drawn away from the studio when they were approached in 1994 to set up a new animation studio for 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
. Sullivan Bluth Studio's films continued to suffer losses at the box office, and operations were wound down in 1995 after the release of their final feature, The Pebble and the Penguin. Don Bluth and Gary Goldman went on to head up Fox Animation Studios
Fox Animation Studios
Fox Animation Studios is an American animation production company located in Phoenix, Arizona and is a division of 20th Century Fox. After the bankruptcy of Sullivan Bluth Studios in Ireland in 1994, animators Don Bluth and Gary Goldman returned to the United States and were hired by 20th Century...
in Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
to work on Anastasia
Anastasia (1997 film)
Anastasia is a 1997 American animated musical film produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. It was the first feature film to be released by Fox Animation Studios....
and Titan A.E.
Titan A.E.
Titan A.E. is an American animated post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman released in 2000. The title refers to the spacecraft that is central to the plot, with A.E. meaning "After Earth."...
.
Early history
In 1979, Don Bluth, an animatorAnimator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...
and animation director
Animation director
An animation director is the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated film or animated segment for a live-action film...
at Walt Disney Productions
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
, fellow animators John Pomeroy
John Pomeroy
John Pomeroy is an American animator who has worked for several major studios, including The Walt Disney Company and Sullivan Bluth Studios...
and Gary Goldman
Gary Goldman
Gary Wayne Goldman is an American Film Producer, Director, Animator, Writer and voice actor, he is well known for working on films with Don Bluth like Anastasia, An American Tail and The Land Before Time...
, and eight other animation staff, left the studio during production on The Fox and the Hound
The Fox and the Hound (film)
The Fox and the Hound is a 1981 animated feature loosely based on the Daniel P. Mannix novel of the same name, produced by Walt Disney Productions and released in the United States on July 10, 1981...
. Bluth cited as his reasons dissatisfaction with the studio's stifling bureaucracy and its “churn 'em out” attitude to filmmaking. Bluth, Pomeroy and Goldman had been working for four years prior to leaving Disney on a project of their own, Banjo the Woodpile Cat
Banjo the Woodpile Cat
Banjo the Woodpile Cat is a 1979 animated short television film directed by Don Bluth. It follows the story of Banjo, an overly curious and rebellious kitten who, after getting into trouble for falling from a house to see if he could land on his feet, runs away from his woodpile home in his owners'...
. Upon leaving Disney, they and the other defecting animators formed the independent studio Don Bluth Productions, working out of Bluth's garage and home in Ventura, California
Ventura, California
Ventura is the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States, incorporated in 1866. The population was 106,433 at the 2010 census, up from 100,916 at the 2000 census. Ventura is accessible via U.S...
, and made the completion of this short film their first project. After four years of production, much of it part-time, Banjo the Woodpile Cat was completed and given theatrical screenings in two theatres in December 1979. The short was then offered to various television stations, airing on HBO in February 1980 and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in 1982.
Xanadu (film)
Xanadu is a 1980 romantic musical fantasy film written by Marc Reid Rubel and directed by Robert Greenwald. The title is a reference to the poem "Kubla Khan, or, A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which is quoted in the film. Xanadu is the name of the Chinese province...
. The brief sequence might ordinarily have taken four or five months to produce; Bluth's studio completed it in under three. The studio then started work on its first feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
, an adaptation of the Newbery Medal
Newbery Medal
The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...
-winning children's book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is a 1971 children's book by Robert C. O'Brien. Illustrated by Zena Bernstein, it won the 1972 Newbery Medal. A film adaptation, The Secret of NIMH, was released in 1982....
. Backed by Aurora Productions
Aurora Productions
Aurora Productions is a film production company established in Hollywood, California in 1978 by former executives of The Walt Disney Company Rich Irvine and James L. Stewart. It produced several feature films, including The Secret of NIMH , Heart Like a Wheel , and Eddie and the Cruisers...
, The Secret of NIMH
The Secret of NIMH
The Secret of NIMH is a 1982 animated film directed by Don Bluth in his directorial debut. It is an adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's 1971 children's novel Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. The film was produced by Aurora Pictures and released by United Artists. While released to critical acclaim,...
started production in 1980 and was completed in 1982. Though generally well-received by critics, who praised the richness and fluidity of the animation, some found the narrative unsatisfying. The Secret of NIMH returned only a modest box office performance, which was blamed on distributor MGM/UA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
's poor promotion, regionally-staggered releases and competition from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote...
, which had been released the previous month. Between this and an industry-wide animators strike in 1982, the studio found itself in financial trouble and filed for bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
.
Reforming under the name Bluth Group, the studio's next project was to produce the animation for Cinematronics
Cinematronics
Cinematronics Incorporated was a pioneering arcade game developer that had its heyday in the era of vector display games. While other companies released games based on raster displays, early in their history, Cinematronics and Atari released vector-display games, which offered a distinctive look...
' arcade video games Dragon's Lair
Dragon's Lair
Dragon's Lair is a laserdisc video game published by Cinematronics in 1983. It featured animation created by ex-Disney animator Don Bluth....
and Space Ace
Space Ace
Space Ace is a laserdisc video game produced by Don Bluth Studios, Cinematronics, and Advanced Microcomputer Systems...
, which were released in 1983. The games were very successful, attracting considerable attention for the animated visuals quite unlike the simplistic graphics of other games of the era, but were criticised for their limited interactivity. The collapse of the video game industry
Video game crash of 1983
The North American video game crash was a serious event that brought an abrupt end to what is considered the second generation of console video gaming in North America. Beginning in 1983, the crash almost destroyed the then-fledgling industry and led to the bankruptcy of several companies producing...
in late 1983 and early 1984 halted production on the sequel Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp
Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp
Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp is a 1991 laserdisc video game by Don Bluth. It is regarded as the first "true" sequel to Dragon's Lair. It takes place years after the timeline of the original Dragon's Lair. Dirk has married Daphne, and the marriage has produced several children...
. Cinematronics, now in debt and trying to cut its own losses, froze fees and royalties of over US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
3 million to Bluth Group, driving the studio once again into bankruptcy. The unfinished sequel to Dragon's Lair, despite having almost all of its animated footage completed, remained unreleased until 1991.
Amblin and Spielberg / Sullivan Bluth
Morris Sullivan
Morris Francis Sullivan was an American businessman who co-founded the Sullivan Bluth Studios with three former Disney animators. Sullivan Bluth Studios employeed approximately 400 people at the peak of its success...
, a mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...
broker and enthusiast of traditional animation
Traditional animation
Traditional animation, is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand...
, who quickly saw the potential in the studio. When the studio declared its second bankruptcy, Sullivan stepped in to assist, combining his experience of the business world with Don Bluth and his crew's talent to form Sullivan-Bluth Studios (later dropping the hyphen to become Sullivan Bluth Studios). Moving out of the smaller Studio City facility and into a dedicated building in Van Nuys, California, the studio opened in 1985.
In its early days the studio worked on a number of smaller projects such as commercials while seeking a suitable feature film project. In 1984, as the studio was preparing to move to its new headquarters, Bluth was approached by Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
with an idea for a feature film about a mouse family emigrating to America, An American Tail
An American Tail
An American Tail is a 1986 American animated adventure film directed by Don Bluth and produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios and Amblin Entertainment. The film tells the story of Fievel Mouskewitz and his family as they immigrate from Russia to America for freedom. However, Fievel gets lost and must...
. Bluth and Spielberg worked together to develop the story for the film, and production began in earnest later that year. With backing from Spielberg's production company Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981. Amblin is only a production company, and has never distributed its own movies, nor has it fully financed its...
, and distributors Universal Pictures
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, the film was released in November 1986, accompanied by a major publicity campaign. An American Tail was very successful at the box-office, grossing US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
47 million in the US and becoming the highest-grossing animated film on an initial release.
During production on An American Tail, Morris Sullivan drew plans to move the majority of the studio's operations to Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
to take advantage of a scheme set up by the Industrial Development Authority
IDA Ireland
IDA Ireland is the agency responsible for industrial development in Ireland. The agency was founded in 1949 as the Industrial Development Authority and placed on a statutory footing a year later...
encouraging filmmakers to invest in the country by offering grants, tax benefits and lower operating costs. Difficulties with American trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s that arose when Bluth offered his employees wages below union rates during the financially tense production of An American Tail may also have influenced the decision to relocate. The IDA offered Sullivan Bluth Studios the largest grant in the country's history to relocate to Dublin, in return for a 5% government ownership of the studio. This, along with Sullivan's own investment, funded the foundation of a large and sophisticated new animation studio near Dublin's Phoenix Park
Phoenix Park
Phoenix Park is an urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying 2–4 km west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its 16 km perimeter wall encloses , one of the largest walled city parks in Europe. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since the seventeenth...
. The studio opened with a staff of 85, mostly handling the ink-and-paint process, but expanded to employ over 300 people, including some 100 staff relocated from the California studio, and to cover all aspects of the animation process and even film processing. To build up this workforce, the studio brought young Irish people to the USA studio to train, and Bluth helped to set up an animation course at the nearby Ballyfermot
Ballyfermot
Ballyfermot is a suburb in the city of Dublin.Celebrities such as the famous Furey Brothers and the brilliant Keenan family have all resided in Ballyfermot.Ireland, located 7 kilometres due west from the city centre, and to the south of the Phoenix Park...
Senior College. Despite the majority of operations eventually being moved to the Dublin studio, an executive office was retained in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
to maintain ties with US producers and distributors.
The Land Before Time
The Land Before Time is a 1988 American animated adventure film directed and co-produced by Don Bluth , and executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank Marshall....
. Again, Amblin and Spielberg backed the production, with additional input from friend of Spielberg and Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
creator George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
, who had worked with Spielberg on the initial story treatment. The movie had been rushed into its early production stages even before the release of An American Tail to meet an Autumn 1987 release date, a very tight schedule for a feature-length animated film. However, between delays caused by the disruption of the move to Dublin, and the unwillingness of Amblin and Universal to fully commit to the project until An American Tails release, production fell behind by several months, and it was Spring 1987 before it reached full stride.
Spielberg and Lucas' control over the story and production of The Land Before Time was notably greater than with An American Tail; substantial changes to the story were imposed mid-production, and around 10 minutes of footage, an expenditure for the studio of over US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1 million, was removed. Production was completed in 1988 for a November release, the film vying for box-office receipts with Disney's Oliver & Company
Oliver & Company
Oliver & Company is a 1988 American animated film in which a homeless kitten named Oliver joins a gang of dogs to survive on the 1980s New York City streets. The film was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and became the twenty-seventh animated feature released in the Walt Disney Animated...
. Despite a generally lukewarm reception by critics, The Land Before Time broke the record for the highest-grossing animated film on its opening weekend, and would have retained the record for highest overall gross (US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
48 million) had Oliver & Company not surpassed it (US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
53 million).
Diversification
During the production of The Land Before Time, Morris Sullivan detailed plans to diversify the studio's output into other areas. In late 1987, a further US$United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
4.5 million was invested in improvements to the studio as part of a plan to move into television. At around the same time, plans were also announced to go into live-action film production, and to purchase a film distribution company to distribute not only the studio's own output but also other Irish productions. However, the live action and distribution plans were put on hold when the studio struck a deal with UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
producers Goldcrest Films
Goldcrest Films
Goldcrest Films is a British film production company founded by Jake Eberts in January 1977. It enjoyed great success in the 1980s with films such as Local Hero , The Killing Fields and Hope and Glory mostly produced by David Puttnam on modest budgets. The company also benefited from the new...
in early 1988 to partially finance and distribute a further three animated films.
Later that year the plans were revived, along with the possibility of opening a TV animation division to produce high-quality Saturday morning cartoons. However, these plans were halted by Spring 1989. Out of all the plans to diversify, only the studio's commercial animation department was kept, producing advertisements for US and European television.
Goldcrest
During the production of The Land Before Time, development work was already beginning on the studio's next feature. Sullivan had been keen to fund the next feature with a combination of the studio's own revenue and Irish investment, as opposed to Hollywood producers; the deal with Goldcrest FilmsGoldcrest Films
Goldcrest Films is a British film production company founded by Jake Eberts in January 1977. It enjoyed great success in the 1980s with films such as Local Hero , The Killing Fields and Hope and Glory mostly produced by David Puttnam on modest budgets. The company also benefited from the new...
(which had an Irish office) would make this possible. Working under Goldcrest also afforded director Don Bluth freer rein over the development of the story than under Amblin and Spielberg.
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
had been mooted after the completion of The Secret of NIMH, but never progressed beyond rough storyboard
Storyboard
Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence....
s. The idea was revisited in late 1987 and developed into a feature-length story, titled All Dogs Go to Heaven
All Dogs Go to Heaven
All Dogs Go to Heaven is a 1989 Irish-English animated film directed and produced by Don Bluth and released by United Artists. The film tells the story of two dogs, Charlie B. Barkin and his loyal best friend Itchy Itchiford...
. The film entered full production in late 1988, following directly on from The Land Before Time.
In 1989, during the production of All Dogs Go to Heaven, founding member John Pomeroy and several original crew members left the Dublin studio to return to the US, setting up a studio in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
named West Olive, later to become Sullivan Bluth Animation Studio. The new studio handled some of the animation for All Dogs Go to Heaven, as well as some television commercials. The move helped strengthen the studio's presence in the US market, and early promotion for All Dogs Go to Heaven included a presentation at the 1989 San Diego Comic-Con and sales of animation cels from previous productions. Initially the new US studio handled only the rough animation, with the drawings then sent to the Dublin studio for cleanup, ink-and-paint and shooting. As the studio expanded, it took on more and more of the animation process, with the paper animation completed there and sent to Dublin for Xerography
Xerography
Xerography is a dry photocopying technique invented by Chester Carlson in 1938, for which he was awarded on October 6, 1942. Carlson originally called his invention electrophotography...
and painting.
All Dogs Go to Heaven was completed in late 1989, opening in November. On Pomeroy's insistence, some cuts were made to bring the film down from its initial MPAA rating of PG to a G rating. Like their previous feature, the studio's latest would be going head-to-head against Disney's newest release, this time The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid (1989 film)
The Little Mermaid is a 1989 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the film was originally released to theaters on November 14, 1989 and is the twenty-eighth film in...
. Critics gave the movie mixed reviews, with some drawing unfavourable comparisons with The Little Mermaid. At the box office it fell short of the studio's previous two features, grossing US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
26 million domestically. However, it was a great success when released on home video; accompanied by a US$13m advertising campaign, the video sold over three million copies in the first month alone, topping the charts and becoming one of the top-selling VHS releases of all time.
The unspectacular reception for All Dogs Go to Heaven led the studio to reconsider its approach to public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
. For its next feature film, Rock-a-Doodle
Rock-A-Doodle
Rock-a-Doodle is a 1992 American animated re-telling of Edmond Rostand's comedy, Chantecler. This film was directed by Don Bluth, produced by Goldcrest Films for The Samuel Goldwyn Company, and originally released in the United States on April 3, 1992.-Plot:Chanticleer is a proud rooster whose...
, a greater emphasis was placed on audience reception. Several screenings of early test footage were held, and changes were made to the film's content to reduce the intensity or suggestiveness of several scenes and broaden its commercial appeal.
Rock-a-Doodle was loosely based on the play Chantecler
Chantecler
Chantecler can refer to:*Chantecler, the rooster in the epic tale of Reynard*Chantecler, a breed of chicken*Chantecler , a play by Edmond Rostand, whose characters are barnyard animals, and whose eponymous protagonist is a rooster...
by poet and playwright Edmond Rostand
Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century...
(itself based on a fable
Fable
A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized , and that illustrates a moral lesson , which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.A fable differs from...
popularised by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. The tales are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at...
). The idea for an adaptation of Chantecler dates back to the late 1930s at the Walt Disney Company, and was revisited repeatedly in the decades to follow, but never entered production. It was not until 1982 that Don Bluth, having left Disney, took a similar idea into pre-production, though the project stalled with the collapse of Don Bluth Productions in the same year. As work on All Dogs Go to Heaven neared completion, the idea was revived and Rock-a-Doodle entered production in late 1989.
During the production of Rock-a-Doodle, the studio found itself in difficulties again. Following a buyout of Goldcrest Films, the new owners of the production company decided to end its dealings with Sullivan Bluth Studios. Shortly after, Goldcrest took steps to liquidate the studio, claiming it could not pay back a US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
300,000 loan and other debts. However, the petition was withdrawn and the issue settled outside court. Though the precise reasons for the withdrawal were not made public, as part of the settlement the ownership of the studio's artwork was turned over to Goldcrest Films, putting an end to the studio's selling of animation cels.
In January 1992, Sullivan Bluth Studios changed its name to Don Bluth Entertainment.
Rock-a-Doodle was released in April 1992, and was the last of the studio's films to have Goldcrest involved in its distribution; The Samuel Goldwyn Company
The Samuel Goldwyn Company
The Samuel Goldwyn Company was an independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., the son of the famous Hollywood mogul, Samuel Goldwyn, in 1979.-Background:...
picked up the rights for its distribution in the US. Critical reception was poor to indifferent, and it performed poorly at the box office, grossing just US$11.7M. The film's poor financial performance, along with the loss of financial backing for several other features the studio had in development, led the studio to declare bankruptcy in October 1992.
Decline
With Goldcrest Films' withdrawal, the future of Don Bluth Entertainment was uncertain. Two further films were already well into development; A Troll in Central ParkA Troll in Central Park
A Troll in Central Park is a 1994 animated feature-length film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, creators of films such as Thumbelina, The Land Before Time, and All Dogs Go to Heaven. It was released on October 7, 1994 by Warner Bros...
had been in production since mid-1990, and Thumbelina
Thumbelina (1994 film)
Thumbelina is a 1994 American animated film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman from a screenplay by Bluth based on Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina. The film was produced by Don Bluth Entertainment and was released to movie theaters by Warner Bros...
since 1991. The studio's in-development features were going over budget, and the studio's Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
investors and a Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
bank, who had invested heavily in them, suffered financial difficulties as a result and withdrew further funding. The threat of the closure of the studio was raised that month in the Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann is the lower house, but principal chamber, of the Oireachtas , which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann . It is directly elected at least once in every five years under the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote...
(the lower house
Lower house
A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power...
of the Oireachtas
Oireachtas
The Oireachtas , sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the "national parliament" or legislature of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of:*The President of Ireland*The two Houses of the Oireachtas :**Dáil Éireann...
, or Irish national parliament) in the hopes of securing its future. Thirty employees were laid off at the Los Angeles studio, many of the staff at the Dublin studio continued working unpaid, and Don Bluth reportedly met some operating expenses out of his own pocket.
In November 1992, Don Bluth Entertainment found investment from UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
film production company Merlin Films and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
-based company Media Assets. Merlin Films and Media Assets invested US$14M to purchase the studio's next three films and a further US$6M to ensure the completion of the two partially completed films, with further investment to follow on the third film, The Pebble and the Penguin
The Pebble and the Penguin
The Pebble and the Penguin is a 1995 animated musical film, based on the true life mating rituals of the Adelie Penguins in Antarctica, produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. The film was released to theatres on April 11, 1995 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the United States and...
, then still in early development. A condition of the investment was that Merlin Films and Media Assets would have a close involvement in the management of Don Bluth Entertainment's financial operations, following reports of the studio's past mismanagement. In 1993, STAR TV (Asia)
STAR TV (Asia)
Satellite Television Asian Region is an Asian TV service owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.In 2009, News Corporation restructured STAR Asia into four units – STAR India, STAR Greater China, STAR Select and Fox International Channels....
, the parent company of Media Assets, was purchased by Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
, effectively making the studio a subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
of News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
.
Thumbelina (1994 film)
Thumbelina is a 1994 American animated film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman from a screenplay by Bluth based on Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina. The film was produced by Don Bluth Entertainment and was released to movie theaters by Warner Bros...
was more likely to be a commercial success, and pressed for its completion and release first. MGM/UA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
, who planned to distribute the films in the US, had already backed off in the wake of DBE's bankruptcy, and Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
picked up Thumbelina and subsequent films for worldwide distribution. The film was released in March 1994. Critical reception was generally indifferent to mixed, and the film performed poorly at the box office, grossing US$11.4M.
The studio's next feature suffered a much weaker commercial performance. A Troll in Central Park
A Troll in Central Park
A Troll in Central Park is a 1994 animated feature-length film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, creators of films such as Thumbelina, The Land Before Time, and All Dogs Go to Heaven. It was released on October 7, 1994 by Warner Bros...
, almost complete at the time of the Merlin deal, was given a limited regional release in October 1994. Like Thumbelina before it, A Troll in Central Park was poorly received by critics, and it grossed just US$74,368. The poor performance of the film has been attributed to Warner Bros.' lack of promotion; there was no television promotion, no advance screenings, and only a low-key print campaign. In the July 2001 issue of Don Bluth's animation magazine Toon Talk, Bluth explained the film's troubled production, faulting his own unwillingness to accept outside input, and lack of time to refine the story, likening the film to “a child [...] born prematurely”.
The third of the studio's partially completed features, The Pebble and the Penguin
The Pebble and the Penguin
The Pebble and the Penguin is a 1995 animated musical film, based on the true life mating rituals of the Adelie Penguins in Antarctica, produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. The film was released to theatres on April 11, 1995 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the United States and...
, was also dogged by production difficulties. MGM/UA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
stepped in to become distributors for the film in the US, and at a relatively late stage in production insisted on making extensive changes, cutting some sequences, removing some characters and re-recording many of the voices. The changes meant that the animation, the effects animation in particular, fell behind, and some of the ink-and-paint work had to be farmed out to a Hungarian animation studio to meet the release deadline. Directors Don Bluth and Gary Goldman were so dissatisfied at the enforced changes that they insisted on their names being removed from the credits (though the company name “Don Bluth Entertainment Ireland, Ltd.” remained). The Pebble and the Penguin was released in April 1995, and again made a loss at the box office, grossing US$3.9M in the US. The film performed better on home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
when released that August, becoming a fast seller alongside other animated films released in the same month Bluth did not remain disassociated with The Pebble and the Penguin, supervising a high-definition remastering
Remastering
Remastering may refer to:*Audio mastering*Remaster*Software remastering...
in 2007 that corrected some of the animation and shooting errors caused by the rushed production.
Departure of Bluth and Goldman
In January 1994, shortly after the Merlin Films/Media Assets deal, founders Don Bluth and Gary Goldman met with then-President of 20th Century Fox Television20th Century Fox Television
20th Century Fox Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, and a production arm of the Fox Broadcasting Company...
Peter Chernin
Peter Chernin
Peter Chernin currently owns and runs Chernin Entertainment and The Chernin Group, both of which he founded in 2009. He was formerly President and COO of News Corporation, and Chairman and CEO of Fox Entertainment Group. He is a Corporate Director for American Express and sits on the Board of...
, and CEO and Chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment Bill Mechanic
Bill Mechanic
Bill Mechanic was chairman and chief executive officer of Fox Filmed Entertainment from 1994 to 2000. He oversaw all operations of the studio including worldwide feature film production, marketing and distribution activities; as well as all worldwide operations for Fox Video, Fox Interactive,...
to discuss the creation of a feature animation division. While Bluth and Goldman wanted to remain at the Dublin studio, arguing that because Media Assets was owned by Fox's parent company News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
, Fox effectively had a working animation studio already, Mechanic wanted Bluth and Goldman to head up a new studio in Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
instead. Bluth and Goldman intended to remain in Ireland to complete work on The Pebble and the Penguin, but when they were forced to make changes to the film they left the studio and began working with Mechanic to set up Fox Animation Studios
Fox Animation Studios
Fox Animation Studios is an American animation production company located in Phoenix, Arizona and is a division of 20th Century Fox. After the bankruptcy of Sullivan Bluth Studios in Ireland in 1994, animators Don Bluth and Gary Goldman returned to the United States and were hired by 20th Century...
. After the release of The Pebble and the Penguin in 1995, operations at the Dublin studio were wound down. Many of the staff moved to the new Fox Animation studio, and the studio closed its doors later the same year.
Working at the new Arizona animation facility, Bluth and Goldman co-directed Fox Animation Studio's first film, Anastasia
Anastasia (1997 film)
Anastasia is a 1997 American animated musical film produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. It was the first feature film to be released by Fox Animation Studios....
, released in 1997, a 1999 direct-to-video prequel Bartok the Magnificent
Bartok the Magnificent
Bartok the Magnificent, also known as Bartok the Great, is a spin-off to the 1997 film Anastasia, which features Hank Azaria as the voice of Bartok. This film was released on VHS and DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on November 16, 1999, and was re-released in 2005 along with Anastasia...
and Titan A.E.
Titan A.E.
Titan A.E. is an American animated post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman released in 2000. The title refers to the spacecraft that is central to the plot, with A.E. meaning "After Earth."...
, released in 2000. Titan A.E. grossed just US$22.7M against its estimated budget of US$75M; Fox Animation Studios had already laid off two-thirds of its staff several months previously, and it closed entirely shortly after Titan A.E.s release.
Influence
The departure in 1979 of animators Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy, along with a further four animators and four assistant animators from Disney's feature animation studio caused a considerable disturbance in the animation industry. The 11 animators who left represented about 17% of the studio's animation staff, a loss that delayed the release of The Fox and the HoundThe Fox and the Hound (film)
The Fox and the Hound is a 1981 animated feature loosely based on the Daniel P. Mannix novel of the same name, produced by Walt Disney Productions and released in the United States on July 10, 1981...
by six months. Ron W. Miller
Ron W. Miller
Ronald William "Ron" Miller is a former professional American football player, the son-in-law of Walt Disney, and a former president and CEO of what is now The Walt Disney Company.-Marriage and early career:...
, the president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company at the time, remarked that although the timing of their departure was unfortunate, it was “possibly the best thing that could happen to our animation group”. Bluth expressed concerns that as Disney's productions became more technically advanced, the story seemed to lose importance. The aim of his new studio was to “return animation to its glorious past”, concentrating on strong stories, and using traditional animation techniques that had fallen out of favour at Disney. Animation historian Jerry Beck
Jerry Beck
Jerry Beck is a well-known animation historian, with ten books and numerous articles to his credit. He is also an animation producer, an industry consultant to Warner Bros., and has been an executive with Nickelodeon and Disney....
observed that Don Bluth Productions was clearly set up in direct opposition to Disney; even Aurora Productions, who backed the studio's first feature, The Secret of NIMH
The Secret of NIMH
The Secret of NIMH is a 1982 animated film directed by Don Bluth in his directorial debut. It is an adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's 1971 children's novel Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. The film was produced by Aurora Pictures and released by United Artists. While released to critical acclaim,...
, was made up of former Disney executives.
While Bluth's early output did not match Disney's success at the box office, critics praised the studio's visual style, and by 1986 Sullivan Bluth Studios' An American Tail
An American Tail
An American Tail is a 1986 American animated adventure film directed by Don Bluth and produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios and Amblin Entertainment. The film tells the story of Fievel Mouskewitz and his family as they immigrate from Russia to America for freedom. However, Fievel gets lost and must...
had broken the box-office record for a first-release animated feature. As animation columnist Jim Hill notes, this critical and commercial reception forced Disney to rethink its approach to animated features. Throughout the 1980s Disney strove to revitalise its output, and while the next feature after Bluth's departure, The Black Cauldron
The Black Cauldron (film)
The Black Cauldron is a 1985 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and originally released to theatres on July 24, 1985...
, was a commercial and critical failure (attributed by Hill to the use of the latest animation technology at the expense of the story), the films that followed (The Great Mouse Detective
The Great Mouse Detective
The Great Mouse Detective is a 1986 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, originally released to movie theaters on July 2, 1986 by Walt Disney Pictures...
and Oliver & Company
Oliver & Company
Oliver & Company is a 1988 American animated film in which a homeless kitten named Oliver joins a gang of dogs to survive on the 1980s New York City streets. The film was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and became the twenty-seventh animated feature released in the Walt Disney Animated...
) marked the beginning of a period of increasing success for the studio in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with each successive film earning 40-50% more than its predecessor, culminating in The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...
earning nearly $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
800 million worldwide in 1994.
Sullivan Bluth Studios has also been regarded as a major influence in the development of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
's animation industry. Animator Jimmy Murakami
Jimmy Murakami
Teruaki "Jimmy" Murakami, , is a Japanese American animator and director with a long career working in numerous countries. Among his best-known works are the animated adaptations of the Raymond Briggs books When the Wind Blows and The Snowman...
had been operating his studio Murakami Films in Ireland throughout the 1980s, and the opening of Sullivan Bluth Studios brought about expansion in the sector, with Murakami Films expanding to become Murakami-Wolf Dublin (later Fred Wolf Films Dublin), and another studio of American origins, Emerald City, opening in Dublin. By 1990 Dublin's animation industry employed around 530 people.
Sullivan Bluth Studios was also instrumental in setting up education programmes in Dublin to train new artists and animators. At the Ballyfermot Senior College an animation department was set up, modelled on the school of Art and Design at Sheridan College
Sheridan College
Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a diploma and degree granting Canadian polytechnic institute with approximately 15,000 full time students and 35,000 continuing education students...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Many of Ballyfermot's graduates went on to work at Sullivan Bluth and the city's other animation studios. In 1989 around 75% of the 350 staff employed at the Dublin studio was Irish, and by late 1990 most of the original US crew had returned to America to be replaced by Irish artists and animators. Some senior staff at the studio became part-time instructors at the college. The success of the animation course at Ballyfermot spurred the creation of an animation programme at Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology
Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology
IADT - Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology is located at Dún Laoghaire, Ireland was established in 1997 and incorporated the former Dun Laoghaire College of Art and Design as its School of Creative Arts.-Campus:...
, focussed more on experimental and arthouse techniques compared to Ballyfermot's traditional animation
Traditional animation
Traditional animation, is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand...
approach.
The closure of Sullivan Bluth Studios in 1995 brought about a near collapse in the Irish animation industry. Emerald City closed soon after, and Fred Wolf Films Dublin downsized. By 1997 the industry's annual turnover had dropped from around £12 million to just £100,000. However, the industry began to recover as numerous smaller animation studios were set up. Several former Sullivan Bluth employees started studios of their own, including Brown Bag Films
Brown bag films
Brown Bag Films is an animation studio based in Dublin, Ireland. Established in 1994 by Cathal Gaffney and Darragh O'Connell, Brown Bag Films produce 3D character animation, including short films, features and TV series for international markets...
, Monster Productions and Terraglyph Animation..
In recent years, The Animation sector in Ireland has grown to become a very successful industry as indigneous studios have all managed to produce their TV series for international markets.
Laserdisc Video Games
- Dragon's LairDragon's LairDragon's Lair is a laserdisc video game published by Cinematronics in 1983. It featured animation created by ex-Disney animator Don Bluth....
(1983) * - Space AceSpace AceSpace Ace is a laserdisc video game produced by Don Bluth Studios, Cinematronics, and Advanced Microcomputer Systems...
(1984) * - Dragon's Lair II: Time WarpDragon's Lair II: Time WarpDragon's Lair II: Time Warp is a 1991 laserdisc video game by Don Bluth. It is regarded as the first "true" sequel to Dragon's Lair. It takes place years after the timeline of the original Dragon's Lair. Dirk has married Daphne, and the marriage has produced several children...
(1991)
Feature Films
- The Secret of NIMHThe Secret of NIMHThe Secret of NIMH is a 1982 animated film directed by Don Bluth in his directorial debut. It is an adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's 1971 children's novel Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. The film was produced by Aurora Pictures and released by United Artists. While released to critical acclaim,...
(1982, United ArtistsUnited ArtistsUnited Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
) * - An American TailAn American TailAn American Tail is a 1986 American animated adventure film directed by Don Bluth and produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios and Amblin Entertainment. The film tells the story of Fievel Mouskewitz and his family as they immigrate from Russia to America for freedom. However, Fievel gets lost and must...
(1986, Universal PicturesUniversal Pictures-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
) - The Land Before TimeThe Land Before TimeThe Land Before Time is a 1988 American animated adventure film directed and co-produced by Don Bluth , and executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank Marshall....
(1988, Universal PicturesUniversal Pictures-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
) - All Dogs Go to HeavenAll Dogs Go to HeavenAll Dogs Go to Heaven is a 1989 Irish-English animated film directed and produced by Don Bluth and released by United Artists. The film tells the story of two dogs, Charlie B. Barkin and his loyal best friend Itchy Itchiford...
(1989, United ArtistsUnited ArtistsUnited Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
) - Rock-a-DoodleRock-A-DoodleRock-a-Doodle is a 1992 American animated re-telling of Edmond Rostand's comedy, Chantecler. This film was directed by Don Bluth, produced by Goldcrest Films for The Samuel Goldwyn Company, and originally released in the United States on April 3, 1992.-Plot:Chanticleer is a proud rooster whose...
(1990, The Samuel Goldwyn CompanyThe Samuel Goldwyn CompanyThe Samuel Goldwyn Company was an independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., the son of the famous Hollywood mogul, Samuel Goldwyn, in 1979.-Background:...
) - ThumbelinaThumbelina (1994 film)Thumbelina is a 1994 American animated film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman from a screenplay by Bluth based on Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina. The film was produced by Don Bluth Entertainment and was released to movie theaters by Warner Bros...
(1994, Warner Bros.Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
) - A Troll in Central ParkA Troll in Central ParkA Troll in Central Park is a 1994 animated feature-length film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, creators of films such as Thumbelina, The Land Before Time, and All Dogs Go to Heaven. It was released on October 7, 1994 by Warner Bros...
(1994, Warner Bros.Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
) - The Pebble and the PenguinThe Pebble and the PenguinThe Pebble and the Penguin is a 1995 animated musical film, based on the true life mating rituals of the Adelie Penguins in Antarctica, produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. The film was released to theatres on April 11, 1995 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the United States and...
(1995, Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
/Warner Bros.Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
)
Short Films
- Banjo the Woodpile CatBanjo the Woodpile CatBanjo the Woodpile Cat is a 1979 animated short television film directed by Don Bluth. It follows the story of Banjo, an overly curious and rebellious kitten who, after getting into trouble for falling from a house to see if he could land on his feet, runs away from his woodpile home in his owners'...
(1979; TV short) * - XanaduXanadu (film)Xanadu is a 1980 romantic musical fantasy film written by Marc Reid Rubel and directed by Robert Greenwald. The title is a reference to the poem "Kubla Khan, or, A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which is quoted in the film. Xanadu is the name of the Chinese province...
(1980; short animated sequence) * - The Funtastic World of Hanna-BarberaThe Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera (ride)The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera was a simulator ride at Universal Studios Florida, and one of the park's original attractions. The story line was that Dick Dastardly and Muttley have kidnapped Elroy Jetson, Yogi Bear gives chase and the audience is in for the ride of their lives. Peter N...
(1990, ride film for Universal Studios FloridaUniversal Studios FloridaUniversal Studios Florida is an American theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Opened on June 7, 1990, the park's theme is the entertainment industry, in particular movies and television. Universal Studios Florida inspires its guests to "ride the movies," and it features numerous attractions and...
) - Dancing Cows (1994, network ID for MTV)
* denotes works completed by Don Bluth Productions/Bluth Group, prior to the foundation of Sullivan Bluth Studios
External links
- Don Bluth's official Animation Academy
- http://www.donbluth.com/ Don Bluth Films Inc]