Melnitsa Animation Studio

Melnitsa Animation Studio (Russian: Студия анимационного кино «Мельница», "melnitsa" meaning "windmill") is one of the largest animation studios in Russia. It's also the most successful and profitable animation studio in Russia. Deutsche Welle called the studio the Walt Disney of Saint Petersburg.[2] Alongside its animation projects, Melnitsa has an effort devoted to creating digital special effects for both animation projects and live-action films.

Melnitsa Animation Studio

Industry	Animation Motion pictures
Founded	1999 (1999)
Founder	Sergey Mikhailovich Selyanov, Aleksandr Boyarskiy
Headquarters	Saint Petersburg , Russia
Products	Animated films
Revenue	$1.57 million[1] (2017)
Operating income	$208 thousand[1] (2017)
Net income	$84.5 thousand[1] (2017)
Total assets	$12.9 million[1] (2017)
Total equity	$485 thousand[1] (2017)
Number of employees	325 (2014)
Website	www.melnitsa.com

History

The studio traces its roots to several animated projects in the late 1990s, including television commercials, the short film Die Hard by Konstantin Bronzit (Grand Prix of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, 1998), and the animated series "Global Bears Rescue" and "Technology", created for Poseidon Film Distributors Ltd.

In 1999, Melnitsa was formally established with backing from STV Film Company's Sergey Seliyanov and led by Aleksandr Boyarskiy.[3] STV Film Company retains a 50% share of the studio.[4] The newly formed studio's first project was Adventures in Oz (Приключения в Изумрудном Городе) for NTV-film (НТВ-кино), a four-part animation released in 2000.

In 2001, Melnitsa released its first 3D-animated project - the short film Good Morning (С добрым утром) by Denis Chernov. In 2002 Melnitsa released two short films by the famous animator and director Konstantin Bronzit: There Was an Old Lady for Scholastic Entertainment and the 3D-animated film The God (winner of a number of international festival awards).

In 2000, Melnitsa began work on the feature-length animated film Little Longnose (Карлик Нос) directed by Ilya Maksimov, based on the fairy tale of Wilhelm Hauff. The film premiered on March 20, 2003, reportedly becoming one of the first Russian animated feature film released to theatres in nearly 40 years.[5]

On December 23, 2004, the feature film Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin Zmey (Алёша Попович и Тугарин Змей) was released, directed by Konstantin Bronzit. The film was completed on a $4 million budget, and took in about $1.7 million at the box office.[6][7] This marked the beginning of Melnitsa's "The Three Bogatyrs" trilogy, and two more films were planned over the next several years.

On January 2005, at the 10th Open Russian Festival of Animated Film in Suzdal, the new short film by Konstantin Bronzit premiered, called Cat and Fox (Кот и Лиса). Work on it had been finished in November 2004. Bronzit's film, based on a national Russian tale, was part of the huge government-sponsored project by Moscow-based Pilot studio called "Gora Samotsvetov" (Гора самоцветов). The project, when complete, will consist of 52 13-minute films based on fairy tales from all of Russia's nationalities.

On March 15, 2006, the second film in the "3 Bogatyrs" trilogy was released, called Dobrynya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych (Добрыня Никитич и Змей Горыныч), directed by Ilya Maksimov. It came on the heels of the animated blockbuster Prince Vladimir, which was released on February 22, 2006.

Luntik, an animated series launched in 2007, gathered a total of over 2 billion views on YouTube.[8]

The third film in the trilogy, Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber (Илья Муромец и Соловей Разбойник), was released on July 7, 2007, grossing $10 million on a $2 million budget and setting a record for Russia's domestic animation industry,[9] later surpassed by the studio's Three Heroes on Distant Shores earning $26 million in 2012.[10] The 2013 film Three Warriors On Far Shores again established a new record for Russian animation, grossing $31.5 million.[8] The release of Krepost in 2015 led to some controversy in Poland, as it depicted a 17th century battle between Russian and Polish armies.[11]

The studio's 2007 short film Lavatory – Lovestory was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, followed by a nomination for We Can't Live Without Cosmos in the same category during the 88th Academy Awards in 2016.[12]

Filmography

Short Film

Year	Production
2015	We Can't Live Without Cosmos
2007	Lavatory Lovestory
2003	The God

Full length

Year	Title cartoon	Director	Author(s) script	Production Designer	Budget	Box Office
2003	Little Longnose Карлик Нос	Ilya Maksimov	Aleksander Boyarsky	Aleksandra Averianova	$2,5 million	$569 837
2004	Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin Zmey Алёша Попович и Тугарин Змей	Konstantin Bronzit	Aleksander Boyarsky Maksim Sveshnikov Ilya Maksimov Konstantin Bronzit	Ol'ga Ovinnikova	$4 million	$1 730 000
2006	Dobrynya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych Добрыня Никитич и Змей Горыныч	Ilya Maksimov	Aleksander Boyarsky Maksim Sveshnikov Ilya Maksimov	Ol'ga Ovinnikova	$4,5 million	$3 620 000
2007	Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber Илья Муромец и Соловей-Разбойник	Vladimir Toropchin	Aleksander Boyarsky Maksim Sveshnikov	Ol'ga Ovinnikova Oleg Markelov	$2 million	$9 739 679
2008	The Tale of Soldier Fedot, The Daring Fellow	Lyudmila Steblyanko	Lyudmila Steblyanko Roman Smorodin	Anastasia Vasil'eva	—	$2 586 097
2010	How Not to Rescue a Princess Три богатыря и Шамаханская царица	Sergey Glezin	Alexander Boyarsky Ol'ga Nikiforova	Ol'ga Ovinnikova Elena Lavrent'eva Oleg Markelov	$2,5 million	$19 010 585
2011	Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf Иван Царевич и Серый Волк	Vladimir Toropchin	Alexander Boyarsky	Marina Kudryavtseva	$3 million	$24 830 497
2012	Three Heroes on Distant Shores Три богатыря на дальних берегах	Konstantin Feoktistov	Alexander Boyarsky	Lidiya Savina	$3,5 million	$31 505 876
2013	Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf 2 Иван Царевич и Серый волк 2	Vladimir Toropchin	Vladimir Toropchin Alexander Boyarsky Svetlana Sachenko	Svetlana Degtyarёva	—	$20 962 988
2015	Three heroes. Horse Course Три богатыря. Ход конём	Konstantin Feoktistov	Alexander Boyarsky Svetlana Sachenko	Svetlana Degtuarёva	$3,5 million	$19 390 136
	Krepost (The Fortress)	Konstantin Feoktistov	Alexander Boyarsky	Oleg Markelov	—	$1 176 906
2016	Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf 3 Иван Царевич и Серый волк 3	Vladimir Toropchin	—	—	—	$10 271 463
2017	The Three Heroes and the Sea King Три богатыря и морской царь	Konstantin Feoktistov	Aleksander Boyarsky Svetlana Sachenko Alena Tabunova	—	$4	$14 134 274
2017	Fantastic Journey to OZ Урфин Джюс и его деревянные солдаты	Vladimir Toropchin	Aleksander Boyarsky Darina Shmidt	Anatolii Sokolov	—	$3 068 073
2017	Three Heroes and the Princess of Egypt Три богатыря и принцесса Египта	Konstantin Feoktistov	Alexander Boyarsky Svetlana Sachenko	-	$3.5 million	$12.6 million
2018	Sadko Садко	Maksim Volkov	Alexander Arkhhipov Dmitry Novoselov Slava Se	-
2019	Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf 4 ru:Иван Царевич и Серый волк 4	Darina Schmidt, Konstantin Feoktistov

In Production

Full length

Year	Title cartoon	Director	Author(s) script	Production Designer	Start of production

Serial cartoons

Title cartoon	Start of production	Information
«Luntik» ru:Приключения Лунтика и его друзей	Since August 2014	In production 8 season

Serial cartoons

Year	Title cartoon	Directed by of the animated series	The main authors of the script (as at 2014)	Production Designer	Number of seasons	Number of series
2006—present	«Fireboy & Watergirl» ru:Огонь и Вода	Darina Shmidt	Darina Shmidt Fёdor Dmitriev Elena Galdobina Mariya Domogatskaya Anna Sosnora Alexandr Mal'gin Svetlana Sachenko Tatiana Gorbushina	Marina Komarkevich (1 seasons) Tatiana Klein (3-6 seasons) Irina Fёdorova (6-11 seasons) Vita Tkachёva (6 seasons: series 2011) Ekaterina Maksimenko (since 9 seasons)	7, in production 8 season	554+
2005—present	«Luntik» ru:Приключения Лунтика и его друзей	Darina Shmidt	Darina Shmidt Fёdor Dmitriev Elena Galdobina Mariya Domogatskaya Anna Sosnora Alexandr Mal'gin Svetlana Sachenko Tatiana Gorbushina	Marina Komarkevich (1-2 seasons) Tatiana Klein (2-6 seasons) Irina Fёdorova (5-6 seasons) Vita Tkachёva (7 seasons: series 2012) Ekaterina Maksimenko (since 7 seasons)	7, in production 8 season	440+
2019	Doodle Toons	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA

See also

• History of Russian animation
• List of animated feature films

References

1. "Бухгалтерская отчётность". Melnitsa Animation Studio. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
2. "The Walt Disney of Saint Petersburg". Deutsche Welle. March 22, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
3. Giannalberto Bendazzi (6 November 2015). Animation: A World History: Volume III: Contemporary Times. CRC Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-1-317-51988-1.
4. "Мультяшки на миллиард: кто зарабатывает на героях российских мультфильмов". РБК. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
5. "Alosha Breaks Toon Records in Russia". Animation Magazine. 11 February 2005. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
6. Алеша Попович и Тугарин Змей — кассовые сборы — КиноПоиск. КиноПоиск (in Russian). Retrieved 4 April 2017.
7. Birgit Beumers (2011). Directory of World Cinema: Russia. Intellect Books. p. 269. ISBN 978-1-84150-372-1.
8. "Russian Animation Rises From Ashes of 1990s". Moscow Times. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
9. "Is Russian ani ready to rise? Stay tooned". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
10. Barraclough, Leo (8 September 2014). "Russian Cinema: Toon Boom Echoes, But Not Far Enough". Variety. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
11. "Rosjanie przygotowali kolejną antypolską produkcję. Tym razem indoktrynują dzieci". naTemat.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 4 April 2017.
12. "Russian cartoon competing for Oscars". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 4 April 2017.

External links

• Official website
• Melnitsa Animation Studio on IMDb
• Official website of the "3 Bogatyrs" trilogy (in Russian)
• Interview with Konstantin Bronzit (in Russian)
• La monto da gemoj - some Gora samotsvetov (Gem Mountain) series with subtitles in Esperanto.