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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation
Company type Division
Industry Animation
GenreAnimated films
Live-action animated film
Founded1993; 31 years ago (1993) [1]
Founder
  • Paul Sabella
  • Jonathan Dern
Defunct2002; 22 years ago (2002)
FateDormancy
SuccessorLibrary:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (films)
MGM Television (TV shows)
Products Television shows
Feature films
Parent Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation (shortened to MGM Animation) was the animation division of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture studio in Hollywood, California, that specializes in animated productions for theatrical features and television. It was established in 1993 and primarily involved in producing children's entertainment based upon MGM's ownership of properties, such as The Pink Panther, The Lionhearts, The Secret of NIMH, and All Dogs Go to Heaven.

The founders, Paul Sabella and Jonathan Dern, left the company in 1999 and founded SD Entertainment. The studio has been dormant in 2002, ever since then.

Filmography

Theatrical

Release Date Title Other
March 29, 1996 All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 co-production with MGM/UA Family Entertainment

Direct-to-video

Release Date Title
March 4, 1997 MGM Sing-Alongs: Searching for Your Dreams
MGM Sing-Alongs: Friends
MGM Sing-Alongs: Having Fun
MGM Sing-Alongs: Being Happy
October 14, 1997 Babes in Toyland
November 17, 1998 An All Dogs Christmas Carol
December 22, 1998 The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue
April 4, 2000 Tom Sawyer

TV series

Show Year(s) Notes
The Pink Panther 1993–1996
All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series 1996–1998
RoboCop: Alpha Commando 1998–1999 billed as "Produced by MGM Animation for Orion Pictures"
The Lionhearts 1998

Miscellaneous productions

Unproduced projects

  • The Betty Boop Movie. In 1993, there were plans for an animated musical feature film of Betty Boop to be MGM Animation's first theatrical animated film, but the plans were later canceled. The musical storyboard scene of the proposed film can be seen online. [2] The finished reel consists of Betty and her estranged father performing a jazz number together called "Where are you?" Jimmy Rowles and Sue Raney provide the vocals for Betty and Benny Boop. Later, All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 became MGM Animation's only theatrical animated film.
  • Noah. According to Animation Magazine, MGM Animation had plans to do a theatrical animated film adaption of comedian Bill Cosby's famous stand up sketch of his take of Noah's Ark with Cosby producing, co-writing the script with Charles Kipps and as the voice of God, while Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and Jonathan Winters were in talks to voice Noah. However the project was canceled after Cosby's previous films were both commercial and critically failures and more people were becoming aware of Cosby's sex abuse cases. [3] [4]
  • Stargate: The Young Explorers. In 1997, Stargate: The Young Explorers was a proposed direct-to-video movie based on MGM's Stargate franchise that was announced to be in development alongside Babes in Toyland and The Secret of NIMH II. While the movie was never produced it's possible some of the concepts were incorporated into the animated series Stargate: Infinity. [5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Mancuso, Kirk (July 30, 1994). "Frank Mancuso A Q&A With The MGM CEO". Billboard. p. 55,57. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  2. ^ Moore Studios Archived May 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Mallory, Michael (February 14, 2013). "The Elephant Not in the Room (or Anywhere Else)". Animation Magazine. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  4. ^ "Cosby's riff on Noah to be MGM toon pic". 18 May 1998.
  5. ^ "MGM animation taps Fukuto". 16 July 1997.