20th Century Fox анимациялық студиясының тарихы

American animation studio founded by Don Bluth (1994 2000)

Fox Animation Studios was an American animation production company owned by 20th Century Fox and located in Phoenix, Arizona. After six years of operation, the studio was shut down on June 26, 2000, ten days after the release of its final film, Titan A. E Most of the Fox Animation Studios library was acquired by Disney (via 20th Century Studios) on March 20, 2019. Anastasia is the studio's most critically praised and commercially successful film, as well as the most commercially successful film by Don Bluth.

After the financially unsuccessful release of the Don Bluth Entertainment produced film Thumbelina on March 30, 1994, animators Don Bluth and Gary Goldman were hired by Bill Mechanic, then chairman of 20th Century Fox, to create a brand new Fox animation studio. Before Bluth came to Fox, the studio distributed three animated features during the 1990s which were produced by outside studios – FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992), Once Upon a Forest (1993) and The Pagemaster (1994), the last two of which were both commercial and critical failures. Even before, Fox distributed Hugo the Hippo (1975) by William Feigenbaum and József Gémes, two Ralph Bakshi features, Wizards (1977) and Fire and Ice (1983), as well as Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977) by Richard Williams. Also, Fox distributed Asterix Conquers America (1994) in France and the United Kingdom.

Fox Animation Studios did not achieve the same level of success as Disney's animated crop, due to increased competition from Pixar and DreamWorks Animation, the declining revenues of the Disney Renaissance, and the rise of computer generated animation. The films used digital ink and paint similar to what Disney did with the CAPS software. The studio's first theatrical release Anastasia (1997) found critical and box office success, but their second and final theatrical release Titan A. E. (2000) got mixed reviews and was a costly flop, losing $100 million for 20th Century Fox. Nearly a year before its closure, 20th Century Fox laid off 300 of the nearly 380 people who worked at the Phoenix studio in order to "make films more efficiently".

On June 26, 2000, the studio was shut down after six years of operation, resulting from poor financial returns. Their last film set to be made would have been an adaptation of Wayne Barlowe's illustrated novel Barlowe's Inferno, and was set to be done entirely with computer animation. Another film they would have made was The Little Beauty King, an adult animated film directed by Steve Oedekerk, which would have been a satire of the films from the Disney Renaissance. It would predate Shrek, which was released in 2001. Fox Animation Studios' only other productions were the PBS television series Adventures from the Book of Virtues (1996–2000) and the direct to video spin off to Anastasia, Bartok the Magnificent (1999), along with sub contract work for DreamWorks Animation's The Prince of Egypt (1998). An apartment complex was later built on the site.

+ Title Notes Betty of the Jungle In 1995, animator Bill Kopp (creator of Fox Kids' Eek! the Cat) pitched an idea for an original adult animated film called Betty of the Jungle, in which he describes it as a sexy George of the Jungle about jungle warrior woman Betty (set to be voiced by Loni Anderson) and her gun caring poodle (set to be voiced by Bruce Willis) who battle evil to protect their jungle village. However, after an animation test and conceptual artwork, Fox Animation declined to approve the project. Dracula At one time, Fox Animation had planned to produce an adult animated musical adaptation of Dracula, described as a Disney style Rocky Horror Picture Show. Barlowe's Inferno A computer animated film based on Wayne Barlowe's novel of the same name. The Little Beauty King An adult animated film directed by Steve Oedekerk, which would have been a satire of the films from the Disney Renaissance. It would predate Shrek. Africa An adult animated epic film set in Africa. Animator Will Makra posted concept art of the film later on. Fathom In June 2000, the reports circulated that Fox was adapting the comic book series Fathom. Ice Age Fox Animation Studios was originally working on a traditionally animated action oriented comedy drama film set in the Ice age. Around the same time, Blue Sky Studios, a small visual effects studio in White Plains, New York, was bought out by Fox and reshaped into a full fledged CG animation film studio. In light of this, Fox Animation head Chris Meledandri and executive producer Steve Bannerman approached Forte with the proposition of developing the film as a computer animated film, which Forte realized was "basically a no brainer", according to her.