Amblimation
Amblimation was the British animation production subsidiary of Amblin Entertainment.[1][2] It was formed by Steven Spielberg in May 1989, following the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), and after he parted ways with Don Bluth, due to creative differences. It was stationed in what was originally the D. Napier & Son factory in Acton, London and had 250 crew members from 15 different nations.[3] It has only produced three feature films: An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991), We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993), and Balto (1995), all three of which were distributed by Universal Pictures. The company's mascot, Fievel Mousekewitz, appears in its production logo.
Amblimation logo, used after the closing credits of all three of their films | |
Subsidiary | |
Fate | Closed |
Successor | DreamWorks Animation |
Founded | May 1989 |
Founder | Steven Spielberg |
Defunct | 1997 |
Headquarters | Park House, 207-211 The Vale, Acton, London, England , |
Key people | Kate Mallory (studio manager) Simon Wells (director) Cynthia Woodbyrne (production manager) |
Products | Animated films |
Parent | Amblin Entertainment |
The studio closed after only 8 years of operation and became a self-storage facility called Access Self-Storage. All 250 of Amblimation's crew members went on to join DreamWorks Animation,[4] which was later acquired in 2016 by Universal's parent company NBCUniversal for $3.8 billion.[5]
Filmography
Theatrical feature films
Release Date | Title | Box Office Gross |
---|---|---|
November 22, 1991 | An American Tail: Fievel Goes West | $40.6 million |
November 24, 1993 | We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story | $9.3 million (US) |
December 22, 1995 | Balto | $11.3 million |
Television
- Back to the Future: The Animated Series (1991-1992)
- Fievel's American Tails (1992) (with Nelvana)
Note: Both television series were co-produced with Universal Animation Studios.
See also
- Illumination
- Amblin Entertainment
- DreamWorks Animation
- Universal Interactive
- Universal Animation Studios
- Sullivan Bluth Studios
- List of Universal Pictures theatrical animated features
- List of unproduced Universal Pictures animated projects
References
- Hofmeister, Sallie (October 17, 1994). "Hollywood Falls Hard for Animation" – via NYTimes.com.
- "A look inside Hollywood and the movies" - Los Angeles Times
- "Animation Really Keeps Steven Spielberg Moving". November 17, 1991. Retrieved May 30, 2020 – via Mcall.com.
- "Film: The Man Who Would Be Walt". archive.nytimes.com.
- James, Meg. "Comcast's NBCUniversal buys DreamWorks Animation in $3.8-billion deal". latimes.com. Retrieved 2019-01-16.