Paramount Pictures to launch in-house animation division

Andy Price | Industry | News | 08/07/2011 12:15pm

The studio behind this year’s animated hit Rango has announced its plan to open an animation division in-house

Following the success of Rango, which grossed $240 million worldwide, the studio behind the film, Paramount Pictures is planning to launch another animated title in 2014, but this time around, it will be made by an in-house animation division.

Rango was directed by Gore Verbinski and featured ILM on animation duties, but in the wake of its huge success, Paramount is looking to go in-house.

In a report yesterday on The Hollywood Reporter it was mentioned that Paramount chairman & CEO Brad Grey has said the initiative was part of the studio’s long-term strategy for growth and that the new division, Paramount Animation, will focus on high quality animation with budgets of up to $100 million per picture.

“The marketplace has never offered as many opportunities to create wonderfully imaginative pictures at very appealing budget levels, so we feel this is a perfect moment to launch this effort,” said Grey.

Apparently the studio already has a project in development: an adaptation of the Penny Arcade web comic New Kid, about a lone human child in a school of aliens.

And while it maybe true that the marketplace is full of animation opportunities, will Paramount succeed in building a successful animation studio when the likes of Pixar and DreamWorks Animation have spent year’s building up their brands and reputation? Let us know your thoughts on 3D World’s Twitter feed and Facebook page, and of course – the 3D World forum.

Posted on Friday, July 8th, 2011 at 12:15 pm under Industry, News. You can subscribe to comments. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.