Not from me, unfortunately, but from Paramount. This is kind of old news, really, but I never blogged about it. I think they were distributing another studio’s CGI movies (Dreamworks?), but I guess the current CGI animation renessaince is too attractively lucrative for a studio like Paramount not to try joining in the fun. Though perhaps the market risks oversaturation, for now I think this is good news for people like me who wish to pursue careers in animation.

Currently the big US studios are: Pixar, Disney, Dreamworks, Blue Sky, and Sony. ILM tried jumping into the game with Rango, but I’m not sure if they’re currently planning more or not. In a few years, looks like Paramount may be added to the mix. That would make six or seven big CG animation studios for the US. Whew! The more, the merrier, I say. And I’d of course be thrilled to get a job with any of ’em…

Anyway, the reason I was reminded of this news was because of today’s press release that David Stainton was named president of this new division. The press release says:

Paramount Animation aims to focus on high-quality animation with budgets per picture of up to $100 million, with an initial target of one release per year. The division’s mandate will be the development of the broadest range of family CGI animated films, with a key piece being titles under the label of Viacom’s Nickelodeon, the No. 1 entertainment brand for kids worldwide. Paramount will also build on Viacom’s already thriving global consumer products business by seeking to capitalize on merchandising opportunities tied to all Paramount Animation releases.

Interesting…


2 Comments

S P Hannifin · October 10, 2011 at 4:26 PM

“… a key piece being titles under the label of Viacom’s Nickelodeon …”

I’m not exactly sure what this means… does that mean their movies will be labeled as “Nickelodeon Pictures” and their associated merchandise will be marketed under the Nickelodeon brand? Or… what else could it mean?

All I know is… Spongebob Squarepants.

S P Hannifin · October 10, 2011 at 6:37 PM

Oh, and I guess there’s always the chance that it won’t be a US animation studio, but will outsource animation to some other country, like Despicable Me was… only time will tell…

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