History

The History of Animation

This history is not definitive in nature and some of the you, the readers, may feel that I have omitted certain animators, inventors, or creative works. I encourage you to provide me with information that you feel should be part of this history. This history was formed by using a number of resources and in fact there may be instances where I may have made enteries that may be in conflict by a year or two. This is the result of information provided and a personal decision on which date was probably more accurate. For a listing of the resources used please refer to the bibliography.

1645 - 1879	1885 - 1899	1900 - 1909	1910 - 1919	1920 - 1929	1930 - 1939	1940 - 1949
1950 - 1959	1960 - 1969	1970 - 1979	1980 - 1989	1990 - 1999	2000 -

	1645 - 1879
1645	The magic lantern is invented.
1794	The magic lantern theatre, the Phantasmagoria, opens in Paris.
1824	Peter Mark Roget - an examiner of physiology, explained that an image was retained by the retina for fractions of a second before being replaced by another image and that if these images appeared at a sufficent rate of change, the veiwer had a perception of motion when looking at still images.
1825	John A. Paris - an English physician, created the prototype of optical toys, the thaumatrope.
1832	Joseph Plateau - a Belgian scientist, invented the prototype of optical toys, the phenakistiscope
1834	Horner developed the zeotrope from Plateau's phenakistiscope
1861	Coleman Sellers - an American, patented the kinematoscope
1872	Emile Reynaud - a French precision-mechanics shop apprentice, built a device known as a praxinoscope
1879	Eadweard Muybridge - a British photographer, invented the zoopraxiscope.
	1885 - 1899
1885	The Reverend Hannibal Goodwin invetned the transparent celluloid flexible film which permitted the recording of succesive images on one long strip.
1887	Thomas Edison started research work into motion pictures
1888	Emile Reynaud modified the praxinoscope and gave it a new name, the theatre optique (optical theatre). The first film shown was Un bon bock (A Good Beer)
1889	Thomas Edison announced that his kinetoscope projected a 50 foot length of film in approximately 13 seconds George Eastman began the manufacture of photographic strips using a nitro-cellulosebase.
1895	The invention of a camera that was capable of taking (manually) from sixteen to twenty photographs per second Alfred Clark - an Amercian, discovered that the crank of the camera could be stopped and started which allowed the images being filmed to be changed which resulted in uninterrupted motion during projection. Louis and Augustine Lumiere issued a patent for a device called a cinematograph - a device capable fo projecting moving pictures. Herman Castor patented the mutoscope.
1897	The history of clay animation appears , when a pliable, oil-based modeling clay called "plasticine" was invented.
1896	Thomas Edison introduces the motion-picture projector. Thomas Armat designed the vitascope which was to have a major influence on all subsequent projectors. George Melies accidentally dicovered the process of having one scene dissolve into the next.
1898	George Melies - A French illusionist, is credited as the first artist to make objects move. He animated letters of the alphabet.
1899	Arthur Melbourne Cooper - a Briton, made the first animated film Matches: An Appeal and created the animation using matches.
	1900 - 1909
1900	James Stuart Blackton - an Amercian, was able to speed up caricature by modifying objects during a pause in the crank of the camera Edson filmakers in the film The Bombardment of Taku Forts by the Allied Fleets produce one of the earliest uses of minature speical effects.
1903	Life of an American Fireman was produced by Edwin S. Porter and marks an early attempt to tell a story in a sequence of pictures in which the story relies on actions shown thorugh a series of shots.
1905	Segundo de Chomon - a Spanish cameraman, marked the beginning of the use of models in his film Choque de trenes (Train Collision). He is also credited with the invention of the dolly.
1906	James Stuart Blackton made his first animated film Humorous Phases of Funny Faces. Walter R. Booth - a British magician, produced The Hand of the Artist using stop action. Winsor McCay used colored chalk and musical accompaniment when he produced the cartoon act Seven Ages of Man.
1907	Emile Cohl - a Frenchman, is credited with the starting point of animation in film. His first film was Fantasmagorie a film depicting white figures on a black background James Stuart Blackton produced The Haunted Hotel which used stop action and object animation.
1908	Winsor McCay - an Amercian cartoonist, is considered the first "classical" artist of American animation. The earliest surviving use of claymation is The Sculptor’s Nightmare , a spoof on the 1908 presidential election
1909	Winsor McCay produced the cartoon Gertie the Trained Dinosaur which consisted of 10, 000 diagrams. The Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC) was formed in the United States. Emile Cohl combined live actors and animated figures in the same frame in the release Clair de lune espagnol.
	1910 - 1919
1910	Willis O'Brien - an American substituted india rubber for clay figurines and made figurines equipped with metal skeletons and made films mixing live actors with animated characters. Julius Pinschewer - a German focused on the idea of using animation in advertising mixing object animation with live-action
1911	Winsor McCay's live action animated short Little Nemo debuts.
1912	Raoul Barre - a French Canadian painter and cartoonist, introduced the use of standard perforations in the drawing paper which eliminated jerkiness when moving from one image to the next. He also introduced the slash system which consisted of drawing the background only onc,e leaving blank spaces for character movement and inserting sheets (which illustrated the progressive movement of the character) cut to match theblank spaces. A black and white animated silent short How a Mosquito Operates debuts produced by Winsor McCay. Princess Nictoine was filmed using mirrors, camera masks and complicated trick setups.
1913	Bill Nolan - an American filmmaker used the dolly shot. Raoul Barre organized a systematic method of producing animated cartoons in an assembly line fashion. Eclair releases the first animated cartoon based on a comic strip.
1914	Gertie the Dinosaur debuts as the first film to use character animation and was produced by Winsor McCay. John Randolph Bray - an American cartoonist and illustrator, stressed technological development and focused on the printed background, the application of grey shades in drawings and the use of scenery drawn on transparent celluloid to be applied over the drawings which were to be animated. In the late 1920s Bray released the first animated color movie The Debut of Thomas Cat. John R. Bray released the first of a series of cartoons following the exploits of a cointinuing character (similar to the process found in comic strips) - Colonel Heeza Liar.
1915	Max Fleischer - an American, invented the rotoscope. Winsor McCay invented cel animation. Earl Hurd - an American, further refines and patents cel animation The Hicks in Nigthmareland is an animated live action silent short produced by Raoul Barre. Paul Terry produces his first animated movie Little Herman. Raoul Barre produced The Animated Grouch Chasers which used live action film clips to introduce animated sections. The International Film Service produced the animated films Krazy Kat, Jerry on the Job and The Katzenjammer Kids based on the Hearst newspaper comic strips. Tony Sarg produced a series of animated shorts Tony Sarg's Almanac which featued prehistoric silhouetted characters using stop action.
1916	Raoul Barre produced the animated silent Cramps featuring the adventures of Mutt and Jeff - a comic strip duo created by Bud Fisher Frank Moser establishes an animation bepartment for the International News Service. Bill Nolan innovated a panning background which consisted of a moving track placed underneath animation cels which resulted in the creation of the illusion that figures were moving against a background. The Henry Ford Motor Company established the first industrial film unit which focused on public relations films which included an animation component.
1917	Farmer Al Falfa's Wayward Pup is an animated short produced by Paul Terry - which is later included as part of Aesop's Fables. Helena Smith Dayton, an American female animator, used real doll clothes and human hair to add realism to her clay depictions of fairy tales and classic literature.
1918	The Sinking of the Lusitania is an animated live action silent short produced by Winsor McCay Frances Lyle Goldman produced a moving representation of the human larynx (demonstrated how human speech occurred) for the Pictograph. The Science of Life series - about communicable diseases and personal hygiene, was produced by W. J. Nirgeneau. Major Herbert W. Dawley used three dimensional models of prehistoric animals in The Ghost of Slumber Mountain. F. D. Williams received a patent for the travelling mask (matte) system.
1919	Robert Collard (Lortac) - a French fine arts student, organized the first animation studio Otto Messmer- an American, produces Feline Follies - animated silent shorts, featuring Felix for Paramount's newsreel which resulted in the longest lasting case of embezzlement in the history of cinema. Felix has been described as a great example of animated mine that did not require situations or comic accidents to cause the audience to laugh.
	1920 - 1929
1920	Walt Disney finds employment with a Kansas City Film Ad Company. Optical printing equipment is introduced which improves the use of photgraphic special effects allowing for reverse action, freeze frames , wipes and zoom simulations. The model chart was introduced. Oskar Fischinger experiments with film silhouettes, wax and abstract patterns.
1921	Paul Terry - an American, began a new series Aesop's Fables which contained numerous animals and each series ended with a moral. Oskar Fischinger - a German techincal artist, developed the wax machine. Winsor McCay produced the animated silent shorts The Pet and The Flying Horse. The animated, live action, stop motion, silent short Modeling was produced by the Fleischers and focuses on Ko-Ko, the clown.
1922	Walt Disney founded "Laugh-O-Gram" and began producing fables such as Cinderella and Puss in Boots. Walter Ruttman - a German used stop action, hand colored to display dots in the first of a series of films entitled Opera. Walter Lantz produced and directed his first cartoon series entitled Colonel Heeza Liar.
1923	Walt Disney utilized Max Fleischer's technique of combining live action with cartoon characters in the film Alice's Wonderland. Felix the Cat stars in Felix in Fairyland produced by Otto Messmer. The Max Fleischer organization streamlined the animation process be introducing inbetweeners - rookie animators who filled in the action between the extremes drawn by the key animators. Walt Disney Production is founded in Los Angeles, California.
1924	Fernand Leger- a French painter, produced Ballet mecanique (Mechanical Ballet) which can be best described as a collection of live action shots, direct painting on film, classical animation and special effects. It is considered to be the most well known film of avant-garde cinema The Flesicher brothers introduced the "bouncing ball" which invited the audience to join in the melody.
1925	Guido Seeber directed an abstract film Du musst zur Kipho (You Must Go to Kinophoto) which included cinematographic tricks. Viking Eggeling - a Swed, completed the film Diagonal Symphonie wihch is based on the movement of a white abstract form on a black background with the main movement being on the diagonal complemented with horizontal and vertical movements. Walter Lantz introduces Dinkey Doodle and Weakheart ( a dog) as characters in the animated live action short The Magic Lamp. Willis O'Brien produced The Lost World - a story about explorers in South America finding prehistoric animals.
1926	Hans Richter made Filmstudie which was an attempt to convey the sensation of purely visual rhythm. In this film he used a technique involving the juxtaposition of live action shots with animation and real people with abstract elements. Lotte Reiniger created one of the first feature length animation films in the world called Die Geschichte des Prinzen Achmed (The Adventures of Prince Achmed). The technique involved cut-out animation - silhouettes cut from black paper which were used to portray backlit people, animals or objects.
1927	Raoul Barre animated Felix the Cat based on a cartoon series created by Pat Sullivan. This character was the most important character in American animation until the arrival of Mickey Mouse. Walt Disney created the character of Oswald (a rabbit) who stars in the animated short Trolley Troubles and in Oswald the Lucky Rabbit - a fully animated production without live actors, Warner Brothers released The Jazz Singer which combined sound and images. This lip-synchronized film was the first meaningful integration of sound and action Noburo Ofuji - a Japanese animator, made the film Kujira (The Whale). In this film the figurines were cut out of chigoyami (a semi-transparent paper) and arranged on different superimposed glass plates from backgorund to foreground. The animated silent KoKo's Earth Control was produced by the Fleischers and stars Ko-Ko the clown and his dog. Walt Disney developed the pencil test. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences was founded.
1928	Walt Disney releases the film Steamboat Willie which utilizes the effects of sound synchronization Alexandre Alexeieff created with the pinscreen Walt Disney patented the name Mickey Mouse. Disney was credited with the development of Mickey's character and animator Ub Iwerks draws the mouse. Paul Terry experimented with synchronized sound in the animated short Dinner Time. Doktor Dolittle und seine Tiere (Dr. Dolittle and his animals) was animated by Lotte Reiniger. Walter Lantz became Universal's animation department head and focused on producing Oswald the Rabbit series.
1929	Oskar Fischinger composed eight Studien (Studies) which were composed of dots and geometric forms mixing and moving in relation to the sound with each element playing an instrumental part in the creation of a visual symphony. Walt Disney produced the first of a series entitled Silly Symphonies - The Skeleton Dance - directed by Ub Iwerks which used sound effects and music synchronization with animation. Paul Terry and Frank Moser form Terrytoons which used original sound tracks.
	1930 - 1939
1930	Rudolf Pfenninger - a Swiss National, noted for inventions in film and in particular synthetic sound experiments referred to as sound writing. Walter Lantz created the animation for The King of Jazz which was filmed in Technicolor on bichromic (2 color) film. The first Terrytoon Caviar is released. Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising begin the series Looney Tunes featuring Bosko, a boy whose character was as similar as possible to Mickey Mouse. The animated short Fiddlesticks is directed by Ub Iwerks and is the first of Flip the Frog Series Bosko appears in the animated short Ain't Nature Grand produced by Friz Freleng. Betty Boop appears in the animated short Dizzy Dishes produced by the Fleischers. The cartoon Sinkin' in the Bathtub is the first produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising which marks the beginning of the Looney Tunes series.
1931	Berthold Bartosch in a film L'Idee (The Idea) combined three dimensional images with shaded back lighting using a vertically placed motion picture camera, layers of glass plates containing various scenes and cutout images and illumiation coming from below. Max Fleischer received a patent for the process of creating synthetic sound on film.
1932	The Fleischer's film Minnie the Moocher became a masterpiece of American animation The frist color cartoon Flowers and Trees - a Silly Symphonies was Walt Disney's first Academy Award. The animated short What a Life stars Flip the Frog and is directed by Ub Iwerks. Mary Ellen Bute and Leon Thermin demonstrated the use of electonics for drawing in The Perimeter of Light and Sound and Their Possible Synchronization. Formal art instruction becomes part of Walt Disney's training plan.
1933	Willis O'Brien animates King Kong using a sixteen inch high model, transparency projection, glass mattes, miniatures and slow motion. Popeye The Sailor , created by Elzie Crisler Segar debuts. The animated short Three Little Pigs - a Silly Symphonies was produced by Walt Disney which demonstrated a new emphasis on personality animation. Ladislas Starevich produced The Mascot - considered a masterpeice , a film that used animated paper, straw, dishes and puppets. Max Fleischer filed for a patent on three-dinensional setback which was a device that enhanced the depth in a moving background.
1934	The colour series Cartune Series was introduced to compete with Disney's Silly Symphonies. The color debut of Betty Boop occurs in Poor Cinderella - an animated short by the Fleischers. Ub Iwerks directed the animated short The Brave Tin Soldier. Berthold Bartosch rpoduced the cutout animation film L'idee based on a book of woodcuts with an electronic music score.
1935	Metro-Goldwyn-Meyers (MGM) created the animated characters Porky Pig, Egghead, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny which formed the bases on Happy Harmonies. The Wan brothers made China's first animated sound film The Camel's Dance. Proky Pig appears in the animated short I Haven't Got a Hat produced by Friz Freleng. Ub Iwerks directed the animated short Mary's Little Lamb. Oskar Fischinger produced Kompostion in blau (Compositon in Blue) using the pixilation technique animating cubes and columns Russian Aleksandr Lukich used live actors and puppets to produce The New Gulliver - the first Russian feature fantasy film to use sound..
1936	The animated short The Air Race was directed by Ub Iwerks and was the first of the Willie Whopper series. Porky Pig and Beans ( a black cat) appear in the animation Gold Diggers of '49 by animator Tex Avery Betty Boop and Grampy appear in the animation Be Human by the Fleischers. Andy Panda debuts in the animated short Life Begins for Andy Panda produced and directed by Walter Lantz and was highly successful because of its appeal to children Len Lye used color mattes and an optical printer to produce the abstract animations found in Swinging the Lambeth Walk. Paramount Studios produce the color cartoon series Color Rhapsodies.
1937	Walt Disney releases the animated colour feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first important feature-length cartoon. Ub Iwerks directed Merry Mannequins - considered to be his best work. The film Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves is the best of the Popeye films due to inventiveness and the richness of the drawings and backgrounds. Porky Pig and Daffy Duck appear in the animation Porky's Duck Hunt by produced by Tex Avery. Walter Lantz produces the animated black and white short Boy Meets Dog which is adaptation of Gene Brynes's Reg'lar Fellers. Walt Disney's Silly Symphony - The Old Mill demonstrated the use of the multiplane camera. Mel Blanc began his career of voicing animated characters for the likes of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd. Hal Roach's film Topper incorporated split screen, animated traveling mattes, stop action animation and subtractive matting.
1938	Chuck Jones - an Amercian art school graduate, is responsible for the radical change in Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Daffy Duck and Egghead appear in the animation Daffy Duck & Egghead produced by Tex Avery The Night Watchman is the first Merrie Melody to be directed by Chuck Jones.
1939	The film Peace on Earth, produced by Hugh Harman, is released. It focuses on a Christmas night honoured only by the animals since all humans have been exterminated in war. Betty Boop disappeared from the screen because of censorship by the audience. NBC begins transmitting night boardcasts (New York has 200 television sets) and part of the programming was the premiere of Donald's Cousin Gus. The animated movie Gullivier's Travel is produced by the Fleischers which represents the second of the cel-animated color features produced in the United States. Porky Pig stars in the Merrie Melody Old Glory directed by Chuck Jones. Paul Terry patented an aerial image projector using a stop action camera on a stand with a hand driven projector under the table
	1940 - 1949
1940	Len Lye - a Zelander by birth, produced the film Musicial Poster which was used as a curtain raiser. He is known for making the connection between the roles of filmmaker and kinectic sculptor. MGM releases the adventures of Tom (cat) and Jerry (mouse) in the film Puss Gets the Boot with the credit going to animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The animated Merrie Melody Sniffles Takes a Trip was directed by Chuck Jones and stars Sniffles - a mouse. Fantasia - an animated movie, appears as the first of Disney's anthology series. Pinocchio - a marionette, is an animated movie produced by Walt Disney. Tex Avery's A Wild Hare - an animated short stars Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny (considered the first real appearance of Bugs) The national Film Board of Canada was founded by John Grierson. Walt Disney moves his studio to Burbank. George Pal produces a series of animated puppet cartoons - Puppetoons and Madcap Models.
1941	Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny appear in Wabbit Trouble - an animated short by Bob Clampett. Bugs Bunny appears in All This and Rabbit Stew - an animated short by Tex Avery Superman - an animated short, was produced by the Fleischers. Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy - an animated short, was produced by the Fleischers. Hoppity Goes To Town - an animated movie produced by the Fleischers, stars Honey - a bee and Hoppity - a grasshopper. An animated, live action movie The Reluctant Dragon is produced by Walt Disney. Dumbo - an animated movie produced by Walt Disney stars an elephant that can fly. Woody Woodpecker appears in the first animated short Woody Woodpecker produced by Walter Lantz.
1942	The first performance of Woody Woodpecker created by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway. The character of Mighty Mouse (originally Super Mouse), which followed the structure of relying on suspense, debuts in the animated short The Mouse of Tomorrow. Daffy Duck and Porky Pig star in the animated Merrie Melody short My Favorite Duck directed by Chuck Jones. Bambi - an animated movie produced by Walt Disney stars a baby deer. Beaky Buzzard and Bugs Bunny appear in the animated short Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid produced by Bob Clampett. Tweety - a little yellow bird, appears in A Tale of Two Kitties produced by Bob Clampett. Horton Hatches the Egg - an animated Merrie Melody short produced by Bob Clampett introduces Maisie - a lazy blue bird and Horton - an elephant. The Hep Cat - an animated short, is the first color Looney Tunes produced by Bob Clampett.
1943	Norman McLaren - a Scottish animator was asked to organize a separate department of the National Film Board of Canada that would be dedicated to animation. The Three Little Pigs appear in the animated Merrie Melody short Pigs in a Polka produced by Friz Freleng Daffy - The Commando - an animated short produced by Friz Freleng stars Daffy Duck. Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd appear in the animated Merrie Meldoy short A Corney Concerto produced by Bob Clampett Herbie and Bertie - two mice star in the Merrie Melody The Aristo-Cat directed by Chuck Jones.
1944	Wolf! Wolf! is an animated short starring Mighty Mouse amd was produced by Paul Terry The animated short Happy-Go-Nutty produced by Tex Avery is the second short for Screwy Squirrel. The first digital computer was created,
1945	In the film Anchors Aweigh Gene Kelly dances with the cartoon character Jerry. This dance scene is is considered to be one of the most enjoyable sequences of live action and cartoon mixing. Casper, the friendly Ghost was introduced by animator and script writer Joe Oriolo. Pepe Le Pew appears for the first time in the animated Merrie Melody short Ador-able Kitty directed by Chuck Jones. The animated Merrie Melody short Life with Feathers produced by Friz Freleng marks the first appearance of Sylvester. Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam star in the animated short Hare Trigger produced by Friz Freleng. Disney releases The Three Caballeros which used live action combined with animation. Ub Iwerks amd Eustace Lycett design the first two-head printer.
1946	George Dunning - a Canadian, directed Cadet Rousselle which was one of the first films to use animated cut-outs, created with a magnetized base and metal cuttings Foghorn Leghorn debuts in the Merrie Melody animated short Walky Talky Hawky directed by Robert McKimson. Porky Pig and Sylvester appear in Kitty Kornered - an animated Looney Tunes short by Bob Clampett. The animated Looney Tune short The Great Piggy Bank Robbery stars Daffy Duck and is produced by Bob Clampett. Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd appear in the animated Looney Tunes short The Big Snooze produced by Bob Clampett. The live action and animation movie Song of the South stars Uncle Rimes and was produced by Walt Disney and directed by Ub Iwerks. Droopy - a bloodhound, appears in Northwest Hounded Police which was produced by Tex Avery. Andy Panda stars in the animated short Apple Andy produced by Walter Lantz. Daffy Duck and Porky Pig star in the Merrie Melody short Daffy Doodles and was the first cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. Jerry Oxberry starts the manufacture of the industry standard animation stand.
1947	Friz Freling matched the two characters Tweety and Sylvester in the film Tweety Pie. Tex Avery creates what has been considered as his masterpiece King Size Canary. Norman McLaren painted lengthwise on film instead of frame by frame. His first film using this method was Fiddle-de-Dee.which won an Academy award. Mightly Mouse and the Pirates produced by Paul Terry marks the use of an opera style treatment. A little African boy Inki is introduced in the Merrie Melody animated short Inki at The Circus directed by Chuck Jones. The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) was founded and created a division within it devoted to computer graphics and animation. The boy puppet Howdy Doody, developed for the NBC, started the puppet revival in American fim and television Jordan Belson produced the film Transmutations which was animated from painted scrolls which in turn were broken down into frames and photographed in succession
1948	Chuck Jones developed the series Wile E. Coyote and with Mike Maltese created The Roadrunner which was intended to be a parody on chase films John Hubley directs an animated short Robin Hoodlum starring a fox and a crow. Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda star in the animated short Banquet Busters directed by Walter Lantz.
1949	Mister Magoo made his debut in Ragtime Bear and represents United Production of America's (UPA) most successful character. Crusader Rabbit - a series of brief (4 minute) epsiodes produced by Jay Ward and Alexander Anderson debuted on television. The live action with animation movie So Dear to My Heart is produced by Walt Disney. The animated movie The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is produced by Walt Disney. The animated short The Magic Flute starring a fox and a crow is directed by John Hubley. John Hubley directs the animated short Ragtime Bear which is the first of six Mr. Magoo shorts. The Road Runner and Coyote cartoon Fast and Furry-ous debuts and represents one of Chuck Jones greatest creations. To speed up filming which used frame-by-frame shooting and optical printer procedures John Whitney discovered the process of covering a luminous surface with more or less dense oil and tracing images on it using a stylus or finger which was in turn fimed by a camera in real time.
	1950 - 1959
1950	The animated movie Cinderella is produced by Walt Disney. Curt Oertel's The Titan is released which was based on limited animation achieved by ediitng and selective photographic treatment of static art. A Whirlwind I computer generates simple pictures which used a cathode-ray tube as the output device. Oskar Fischinger invents the lumigraph. Ben F. Laposky generated images electronically (superimposition of electrical oscillations of varying time functions) using an analog computer.
1951	The animated movie Alice in Wonderland is produced by Walt Disney. UPA's Gerald McBoing Boing wins an Academy award for best short subject cartoon.
1952	Terrytoons releases its 1000th cartoon.
1953	A Unicorn in the Garden produced by Bill Hurtz was considered to be the most elitest Amercian cartoon ever released. The animated movie Peter Pan was produced by Walt Disney. Life with Tom is an animated short starring Tom and Jerry and was produced by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny star in Duck Amuck directed by Chuck Jones. Speedy Gonzales debuts in the Merrie Melody animated short Cat-Tails for Two directed by Robert McKimson. The first three-dimensional cartoon Melody was released by Disney. Ray Harryhausen produced The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms using a front projection technique which utilized animated models with live actions backgrounds. George Pal produced War of the Worlds which combined mechanical and optical special effects and miniatures. Disney studios stop production of the Mickey Mouse cartoons. John Fulton begins work on the special effects for the film The Ten Commandments incorporating animation, mattes and matching location shots (of note the parting of the Red Sea)
1954	UPA's release of The Tell-Tale Heart was a non-commercial cartoon which illustrated the work of Edgar Allan Poe and was the first example of an animated horror movie. Animal Farm was released based on George Orwell's novel and was produced by John Halas and Joy Batchelor who insisted that the film be for all ages and represents the first British animated feature film. The Chilly Willy short I'm Cold was directed by Tex Avery. The Tasmanian Devil debuts in the animated short Devil May Hare and was the creation of Robert McKimson. The puppet Howdy Doody reached idol staus with American children The Japanese studio, Toho, releases it first film Godzilla in America. The Michael Myerberg production Hansel and Gretel is considered by many to be the most ambitious puppet animation film ever made. Robert Breer made a stylistic innovation in whihc he made each frame different from the next as shown in Images by Images.
1955	The creation of the first Canadian animated film Le village enchante (The Enchanted Village) resulted from the work of Marcel and Real Racicot and was based on Quebec legends from the colonial days. Chuck Jones's animated short One Froggy Evening stars a singing dancing frog whose perfomance can only be seen by its owner. Chilly Willy appears in the animated short The Legend of Rock-A-Bye Point directed by Tex Avery The animated movie Lady and The Tramp directed by Walt Disney stars a spaniel named Lady and a street mongrel named Tramp. The Merrie Melody short Speedy Gonzales - an Oscar winner, was produced by Friz Freleng. The animated characters Bert and Harry promotion of Piel's Beer sends a strong message of the power of animation in the advertising industry. John Oxberry devised an aerial-image optical printer which provided an easier method of mixing live action with animation. The titles for Otto Preminger's Man with the Golden Arm were animated by Saul Bass which marked the beginning of animating titles which were in turn directed linked to the film
1956	Jean Jabily - a French animator, was a pioneer in the animation of collages which was used in such films as Teuf Teuf and Ballade chromo The Paul Terry creation The Mighty Mouse Playhouse appears on television. M. Klein and D. Bolitho composition Push Button Bertha represents the earliest form of computer generated music. A three-headed printer was developed at the Disney studios. The J. Arthur Rank organization developed the sodium-light travelling-matte process which eliminated the matte-line effect and was first used in Plain Sailing.
1957	Edward Hofman directed the first Czechoslovakin feature film with animated drawings Jak je svetzarizen (The Creation of the World) based on the drawings on Frenchman Jean Effel. The clay animated television series The Gumby Show produced by Art Clokey aired on NBC Speedy Gonzales stars in the Merrie Melody animated short Tobasco Road directed by Robert McKimson. An Oscar winning Merrie Melody short Birds Anonymous stars Tweety and Sylvester and was produced by Friz Freleng. Bugs Bunny finest hour occurs in the animated short What's Opera, Doc? directed by Chuck Jones. Walter Lantz makes his break through into television with The Woody Woodpecker Show. Mountain Music - a stop action animation short produced by Will Vinton is considered a key short in the history of animation. The National Film Board of Canada released City of Gold (based on Dawson City and the Klondike gold rush) created by applying animation techniques to glass plates. Paramount stops production of the Popeye series FORTRAN - a computer language, was developed which allowed engineer-designers to express computations in terms of algebraic formula. This permitted designers to utilize the graphic capabilities of the computer.
1958	A light-blue bloodhound who walked on his hind legs - created by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, became the star of the Huckleberry Hound Show - a combination of three series. An Oscar winning Looney Tune animated short Knighty Knight Bugs stars Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam was produced by Friz Freleng
1959	Yogi Bear and Boo Boo - Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera creations, debut as one of the series on the Huckleberry Hound Show but soon developed as a series of their own. The animated movie Sleeping Beauty was produced by Walt Disney. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera produce Quick Draw McGraw which debuts on television. Disney adapted the Xerox process to animation which allowed the transfer of pencil drawings directly to cels. Charles Schulz's Charlie Brown and Lucy appear in animated form. Rocky and His Friends (a flying squirrel and a moose - Bullwinkle) are part of the ABC televison networks programming. Matsue Jinbo was one of a few Japanese women to assume a director role in a puppet animation studio in the production company Gakken.
	1960 - 1969
1960	The Flintstones- created by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, was the first animated television show to be broadcast in prime time and imitates the live action show The Honeymooners. John Halas and Joy Batchelor produce Britian's first television series Foo Foo. Chuck Jones creates High Notes with the characters being notes written on a staff which act during the performance of Blue Danube. William A. Fetter and Walter Bernhardt create a computer graphic by translating a drawing into mathematics and then into computer language which then produced a computerized drawing of the original. Televison shows such as Peter Gunn, The Twlight Zone and Mr.Lucky used animation in their opening titles. Jules Engel's production company Format Films produced Alvin and The Chipmunks. Television served as the determining factor for Japanese animation.
1961	Jordan Belson's approach to animation was through the use of pure light and pure space on the screen without visible human contribution. Some of his work could be considered as audiovisual, spiritual experiences. In his film Allures John Belson focuses of the unifying characteristic of centrality One Hundred and One Dalmations was an animated movie produced by Walt Disney and introduces the characters Pongo and Perdita. It was the first film to use xerography. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera produce The Yogi Bear Show which debuts on television. Mr. Ed - the talking horse, appears on television and although there is no actual animation the sound track and editing provide the illusion of a talking horse. The Alvin Show featuring three chipmunks appears on NBC television. The film Blazes was produced which shows rapid appearances and superimpositions of abstract drawings and printings accompanied by asynchronous sound tracks. Noburo Ofuji - a Japanese animator used black and white film and transparent figures in the production of Shaka no Shoga (Life of Budda).
1962	The production company Filmation is formed and specializes in documentaries and advertising. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera produce The Jetsons which debuts on television. The animated short The Hole was an Oscar winner for John Hubley. The last animated short that Pepe le Pew stars in is Louvre Come Back To Me was directed by Chuck Jones. The first Greek animated film was a puppet-animation insert produced by Ghiorghios Thisikirikis for the film Marriage, Greek Style.
1963	The Sword in the Stone is an animated movie produced by Walt Disney and introduces the character Wort who becomes King Arthur. Astro Boy (Tetsuwan) was the first half-hour animated television program produced in Japan to air in United States. The first computer animated film was made at Bell Telephone laboratories by E. E. Zajac. The Disney organization developed Audio Animatronics. Photographer Ben Rose created the stroboscopic effect using multiple images and developed the "guillotine" technique (a tiny horizontal slit allowed only a portion of the image to be recorded per unit time) which created the ripple effect in an image. Ivan Sutherland devleoped the computer-design system (Sketchpad) which allowed an artist to draw on the face of the cathode-ray tube in real time. Ernest Pintoff is considered one of the first and best epigrammatists of animation and produced shorts such as The Violinist, The Interview, The Old Man and The Flower and The Critic. Ray Harryhausen created Jason and the Argonauts which includes the famous animated skeleton sequence that took 4 1/2 months to create.
1964	Director Blake Edwards commissioned titles for the film The Pink Panther which lead to a series of shorts featuring the pink cat. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera produce The Adventures on Jonny Quest which debuts on television. Live action and animation are integral parts of the movie Mary Poppins produced by Walt Disney and directed by Ub Iwerks. Yogi Bear and Boo Boo star in Hey There It's Yogi Bear produced by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. Television networks use animated identification. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - an ABC television production which used science-fiction forms and a flying submarine debuts. Eliot Noyes Jr. produced the film Clay in which he used clay animation to tell the story of Evolution. Ryan Larkin - a Canadian, produced Cityscape which was composed of drawings that undergo constant change in front of the camera.
1965	Filmation produces the series Superman. Shocking Pink - an animated short, stars the Pink Panther and was produced by Friz Freleng Richard Williams produced the animated title sequences for the movies What's New Pussycat? and The Liquidator. Computer graphics was introduced into the automotive and aircraft industry for use in design. Bill Melendez animated A Charlie Brown Christmas which won an Emmy. Tony Conrad produced the film The Flicker in which he alternated simple black and white frames with different widths which resulted in the projection of different illusions of light and manipulated the diffusion of light into imaginary forms Al Sens - a Canadian, produced The See, Hear, Talk, Think, Dream, Act Film using a 'split technique' which consisted of drawings and erasing images directly in front of the camera. The Japanese production company Mushi released its first color animated series Jungle Taitei (The Emperor of the Jungle).
1966	The Jungle Book was released one year after the death of Walt Disney The animated television special How the Grinch Stole Christmas was directed by Chuck Jones. Marvel Comics used the Xerox process in the development of Captain America, Ironman, The Incredible Hulk, Sub-Mariner and The Mighty Thor for syndicated television. Star Trek debuts. Ron Baecker developed the Genesys system which could interpret the movement of a light pen as either a shape or the path the shape should follow. The National Research Council of Canada developed a similar system which could perform the inbetweening based on key drawings drawn on the computer display screen. The film Alphabet was produced by Eliot Noyes Jr. using marker drawings on opaque glass. Bernard Longpre - a Canadian, produced Dimensions in which he combines live actors and animation.
1967	Stan Lee's character Spiderman appears on the television screen Cat and Dupli-Cat - an animated short directed by Chuck Jones is his last rather unsuccessful series starring Tom and Jerry. Richard Williams produced the animated title sequences for the movie Casino Royale. Ken O'Connell produced 7362 which included prisms, solarizations and photographic contrasts with black and white used predominantely. Caroline Leaf produced The Street by using animated painting on glass.
1968	Yellow Submarine - an animation with brief live action produced by George Dunning is based on a Beatles song. The New Adventures of Huck Finn - a Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera creation, debuts on television and was among the earliest television series to use live action and animation Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey was the first film to use front projection techniques (created a brighter background image). Permutations was the first film that John Whitney considered to be a complete work which used kaleidoscope movements with color added using an optical printer. Peter Kamnitzers produced City-scapes using the NASA II computer which drew images based on mathematical input but without any input of preexisitng images.
1969	The production company owned by John Halas and Joy Batchelor begins to operate in the field of computer animation - one of the first in the world and produces What is a Computer? Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera create Scooby Doo, a cowardly Great Dane which debuts on television in Scooby-Doo Where Are You? Jim Henson's Sesmae Street debuts on television - a mixture of puppets and animation. John and Faith Hubley produce the animated short Of Men & Demons. The Phantom Toll Booth - an animated live action movie, is directed by Chuck Jones and stars Melo in live action. Ward Kimball - a Disney animator uses cutout collage sequences in the short It's Tough to be a Bird. The SCANIMATE computer animation was unveiled which allowed original art to be transferred to the computer cathode-ray tube by a television camera which permitted images to be resized, rotated, and manipulated. Jacobus Willem 'Co' Hoedeman becomes Canada's leading expert in animated puppets.
	1970 - 1979
1970	Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera produce Wacky Races which debuts on television. Evelyn Lambart - a Canadian produced Paradise Lost which was an ecological pamphlet made with cut-outs. Japanese animators focused on the television market with an orientation towards sports.
1971	Norman McLaren releases the film Synchromy in which the same images that produced the sound on the sound track had been painted on the visual film. Ub Iwerks was considered the technical genius for the animation - live action movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Chuck Jones was the executive producer and Richard Williams was the producer for Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. Lee Harrison developed CAESAR (Computer Animated Episodes Single Axis Rotation) which enabled animators to create short sequences and then review them on a color television monitor. The Learn To Count series of Sesame Street used this process. Charles Vaughn and Gene Nottingham developed a computer-assisted animation stand which made complex calculations which in turn sent instructions to motors which contolled the table and camera movement. Downwind was produced by Ken O'Connell mixing animation, live action, time-lapse photography and an optical printer. Laurent Coderre - a Canadian, produced a short poem on humanity made by animating thousands of pieces of linoleum.
1972	Sinbad the Sailor was produced by Karel Zerman The animated movie Oliver and the Art Ful Dodger is presented as a sequel to Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist and was produced by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. Fritz (a cat) appears in the animated movie Fritz the Cat produced by Ralph Bakshi. In Gulls & Buoys Robert Breer uses the rotoscope to explore the relationship between live action shots and the production of animated figures. Ed Emshwiller used a mix of live action dancers, electronically distorted images and animation om magnetic tape in his production of Scape-mates. Kihachiro Kawamoto - a Japanese animator, produced Oni (The She-Devil) which used puppets based on Japanese Noh masks and the Bunraku puppets.
1973	Animation and live action are part of the movie Heavy Traffic produced by Ralph Bahshi Fern, Wilbur (a pig), and Charlotte (a spider) star in the animated movie Charlotte's Web which was produced by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera produce The Addams Family which debuts on television. Chester C. Cricket stars in the animated television featurette The Cricket in Times Square directed by Chuck Jones. William M. Newman and Robert F. Sproull write the first computer graphics textbook Principles of Interactive Computer Graphics. Rene laloux and Roland Topor produce Fantastic Planet. Eliot Noyes Jr. used sand animation in the production of Sandman. Director and designer Alan Kitching develops Antics for use in computer animation.
1974	The live action animated movie Streetfight (a name change for video release) was produced by Ralph Bakshi The animated short Banjo the Woodpile Cat was produced by Don Bluth and introduces a little kitten named Banjo. Richard Williams produced the animated title sequences for the movie The Return of the Pink Panther. The NBC television production Land of the Lost incorporated animation with live action. Terry Gilliam animates the television program Monty Python's Flying Circus. The Muppets of Sesame Street win an Emmy - for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Children's Programming Jane Aaron produced A Brand New Day - a story drawn entirely on paper. Will Vinton's Closed Monday is an animated clay short that won an Oscar and this represents the birth of claymation - a techinque that he perfected and patented. Caroline Leaf produced The Owl Who Married the Goose - a film of animated sand , while employed by the Canadian National Film Board.
1975	Terry Gilliam served as animator for the animation live action movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Visual Images of Washington D.C. develop an animation system which included an electronic memory system that permitted exact and instant repetition of camera and lens movement. "Laser-light" animation - developed by CPC Associates of Hollywood, utilized overexposed negative images which were combined with laser-like explosions and color filters. Tom Klimek and Richard Brown patent the Video-cel techinque which permitted the inbetweening of key drawings adding color and three dimensions. Space:1999 debuts United States television stations
1976	Everybody Rides the Carousel directed by John Hubley debuts as a made for television animated movie. The Muppets of Sesame Street win a second Emmy - for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Children's Programming The film Earthquake is released which included the use of miniatures, shaker platforms and rotoscoped mattes.
1977	Karel Zerman produced the film The Sorcerer's Apprentice. An animation with live action archive footage called Wizards is produced by Ralph Bakshi. A Doonesbury Special based on Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury comic strip and directed by John Hubley debuts as a made for television animated featurette. Richard williams directed the animated movie Raggedly Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure. Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope is directed by George Lucas and produced by Gary Kurtz and stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher.
1978	The animated movie The Lord of the Rings directed by Ralph Bakshi introduces the viewers to Frodo and Gandolf. Chuck Jones features Bugs Bunny in the television special A Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court. Raggedy Ann and Andy star in the television special The Great Santa Claus Caper produced by Chuck Jones. Alan Kitching developed Antics which allowed a programmer to enter of the coordinates of a drawing into a computer using a light pen and then modify its configuration. Disney Studios produce The Rescurers and re-release The Jungle Book. The Muppet Show was the top syndicated television program in the United States George Griffin draws on a collection of sixty-nine independent animators in the film Frames.
1979	Jim Henson's movie The Muppet Movie debuts. Chuck Jones produced the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie. The Computer-Aided Animation System (CASS) becomes operational at the Computer Graphics Laboratory at the New York Institute of Technology which allows for the production of three dimensional animated features. Star Trek, The Motion Picture debuts and in its production used the Evans and Sutherland Picture System II Vector Display which took individual drawings and turned them into three-dimensional shaded and colored objects which could be manipulated using a joystick. Hayao Miyazaki directs the anime The Castle of Cagliostro.
	1980 - 1989
1980	Marvel Productions is formed as a branch of Marvel Comics. Heathcliff - a fat cunning cat, is brought to the screen by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is directed by Irvin Kershner, produced by Gary Kurtz with the story by George Lucas starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, abd Carrie Fisher.
1981	James Weldon Johnson's The Creation is an animated short produced by Will Vinton featuring the art of Joan C. Gratz. The story of 20th Century pop music is presented in American Pop - an animation with live action archive footage produced by Ralph Bakshi. Friz Freleng's Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie is a celebration of Freleng's work at Warners and is presented as an animation with some live action clips. Jim Henson's movie The Great Muppet Caper debuts. Computer animation becomes a well established graphics medium.
1982	Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is the first feature film to utilize computer animation extensively. Vinny - an Italian gang leader, stars in the animated movie Hey Good Lookin' produced by Ralph Bakshi. The animated movie The Secret of NIMH produced by Don Bluth introduces the characater Mrs. Brisby - a widowed field mouse. Jim Henson's movie The Dark Crystal is a combination of puppetry, animatronics and stop action animation.
1983	The He-Man and The Masters Of The Universe series saves Filmation from a business crisis. The animated movie Fire & Ice directed by Ralph Bakshi introduces the characters Larn, Darkwolf and Princess Teegra. Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock appears on television. Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is directed by Richard Marquand and produced by Howard Kazanjian with executive producer George Lucas and stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher.
1984	Jim Henson's movie The Muppets Take Manhattan debuts.
1985	Bill Phympton produces the animated short Boomtown in which the Android sisters introduce themselves. The Adventure of Mark Twain was produced by Will Vinton as a stop motion animated movie. Starchaser: The Legend of Orin is a 3D film using animation and was directed by Steven Hahn. Tatsuo Shimamura - a Japanese animator produced Kachofugetsu (Japan's Four Seasons) using animated drawings, computer graphics, and plasticine animation.
1986	Don Bluth and Steven Spielberg co-produced An Amercian Tail - the adventures of a little Jewish mouse - Fievel Will Vinton creates the California raisins as part of a television commercial. Jim Henson's The Labyrinth is a movie that combines live action, puppetry, animatronics and stop action animation.
1987	Yogi's Great Escape - an animated movie produced by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera The animated movie The Jetsons Meet The Flintstones was produced by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera Littlefoot, Cera and Petrie, orphaned infant dinosaurs star in the animated movie The Land Before Time directed by Don Bluth Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose is a Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera animated movie that uses mant of their stock characters (Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Augie Doggie, etc.) Herb and Rex, two dinosaurs star in A Claymation Christmas Celebration - a stop motion animation with some conventional animation produced for television by Will Vinton.
1988	Who Framed Roger Rabbit is released, directed by Robert Zemeckis with animation entrusted to Richard Williams. This film represented the first plausible screen relationship between drawn and live actors. The animated movie Yogi and The Invasion of the Space Bears was produced by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. Jan Svankmajer prodices Alice using stop motion animation, live action and puppetry. Meet The Raisins is produced by Will Vinton as a stop motion animation with some conventional animation for television. Will Venton worked on the Speed Demon section of the Michael Jackson music movie Moonwalker. Katsuhiro Otomo direct the high quality anime Akira.
1989	The Little Mermaid directed by John Musker and Ron Clements debuts. All Dogs Go To Heaven is an animated movie starring the mongrel Charlie B. Barkin and was produced by Don Bluth. Wallace and Gromit are introduced as the characters in the stop motion animated short A Grand Day Out produced by Nick Park. John Lasseter produced the film Tin Toy which won the first Oscar ever awarded for a computer animatd film.
	1990 - 1999
1990	The Simpsons debuts as a prime time television cartoon show. The animated movie Jetsons: The Movie was produced by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. Jan Svankmajer uses live action, stop motion animation, photomontage and archival footage in the movie The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia,
1991	Beauty and the Beast directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise debuts and itr became the first and only animated film to be nominated for Best Picture Academy Award and picked up Oscars for Best Score and Best Original Song. Chanticlear - a rooster, is the star of the animated (with some live action) movie Rock-A-Doodle directed by Don Bluth. Nick Park won an Academy Award for Creature Comforts which featured plasticine models of zoo animals involved in 'real' human conversations which had be pre-recorded.
1992	The animated movie Alladin debuts directed by John Musker and Ron Clements The animated live action movie Cool World was directed by Ralph Bakshi. Chuck Jones is responsible for the animated sections in the techno-fantasy movie Stay Tuned. The Tune - an animated movie produced by Bill Phymton, introdiuces the chara cters Mr. Mega and Del.
1993	A Troll in Central Park directed by Don Bluth is an animated movie starring the trolls Gnorga and Stanley. Chuck Jones is responsible for the animation in the film Mrs. Doubtfire. The stop motion animated short The Wrong Trousers stars Gromit and Wallace and was produced by Nick Park. Harry Selick directs the feature length claymation The Nightmare Before Christmas.
1994	Live action, stop motion animation and puppetry are the components of the movie Faust produced by Jan Svankmajer. The animated movie Thumbelina was directed by Don Bluth. Scooby-Doo and Shaggy star in the animated movie Arabian Nights produced by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. The animated short Chariots of Fur is the last in the series of Road Runner and Wilie E. Coyote created by Chuck Jones David Carson directs Star Trek: Generations which stars Patrick Stewart, William Shatner and Jonathan Frakes.
1995	Hubie and Marina are introduced in the animated movie The Pebble and the Penguin produced by Don Bluth. Jonny Quest Versus the Cyber Insects is an animated movie produced by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. Chuck Jones produces Another Froggy Evening Wallace and Gromit star in A Close Shave - a stop action animated short produced by Nick Park. Richard Williams produced the animated movie The Thief and the Cobbler. Toy Story directed by John Lasseter was the first feature-length movie completely done on a computer. Mamoru Oshii directs the anime Ghost in the Shell.
1996	Chuck Jones produces From Hare to Eternity and Superior Duck. The claymation movie James and the Giant Peach is directed by Henry Selick with leading roles by Joanna Lumley, Miriam Nargolyes and Paul Terry. Jonathan Frakes directs Star Trek: First Contact which stars Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart and Brent Spinner.
1997	The animated movie Anastasia was produced by Don Bluth Chcuk Jones produces Pullet Surprise and The Father of the Bird. Will Vinton helps produce The Online Adventures of Ozzie the Elf based on a web site character and done in conjuction with America On Line. Hayao Miyazaki directs the anime Princess Mononoke. Gary Halvorson directs The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland starring Kevin Clash, Vanessa williams and Sonya Manzano.
1998	The film Antz debuts directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson. John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton produce A Bug's Life. Patrick Stewart, Brent Spinner and Michael Dorn star in Star Trek: Insurrection directed by Jonathan Frakes. Barney's Great Adventure - which stars a purple dinosaur - is directed by Steve Gomer.
1999	As a prequel to Anastasia the animated movie Bartok the Magnificient was produced by Don Bluth. Will Vinton produceds The PJs a prime time television series done with Eddie Murphy Fantasia/2000 debuts as an IMAX movie Brad Bird directs The Iron Giant - a movie that uses cel animation and computer graphics. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut is directed by Trey Parker. Chris Buck and Kevin Lima direct Tarzan Toy Story 2 - a sequel debuts directed by John Lasseter, Ash Bannon and Lee Unkrich. Walter Williams produces the claymation movie Saturday Night Live - The Best of Mr. Bill. Mr. Bill can never escape being crushed by something. Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace is directed by George Lucas and produced by Rick McCallum and stars Liam neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman and Jake Lloyd.
	2000 -
2000	The animated movie Titan a.e. was produced by Don Bluth and introduces the character Cale. Nick Park and Peter Lord direct Chicken Run - an animated movie starring Rocky and Ginger in a feature length claymation. Nick Park directs the feature length claymation The Incredile Adventures of Wallace & Gromit. The computer animated movie Dinosaur is directed by Eric Leighton and Ralph Zondag and introduces the character Aladar - an Iguanodon. Dungeons and Dragons is directed by Courtney Soloman and stars Jeremy Irons and Kristen Wilson.
2001	Sully and Boo debut in the movie Monsters, Inc. directed by Peter Docter, David Silverman and Lee Unkrich which stars Billy Crystal, John Goodman and James Coburn, Waking Life - directed by Richard Linklater uses animation in conjunction with live action footage. Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson directed the computer animated movie Shrek with actors Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz. Cats and Dogs is directed by Lawrence Guterman and stars Tobey McGuire, Alec Baldwin and Susan Sarandon and introduces the characters of Mr. Tinkles - a rogue feline and Lou - a puppy. The computer animated movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi and stars Alec Baldwin, Donald Sutherland and James Woods. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is directed by Chris Columbus and stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson. Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius- a computer animated movie - is directed by John A. Davis and stars Patrick Stewart and Martin Short. Peter Jackson directs The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring which stars Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, Sean Astin and Cate Blanchett.
2002	Sam Raimi directs Spiderman starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and Willem Dafoe Scooby Doo, a computer animated movie, is directed by Raja Gosnell and stars Freddie Prince Jr., Matthew Laird, and Sarah Gellar. Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones is directed by George Lucas and produced by Rick McCallum and stars Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman and Hayden Christenson. Star Trek: Nemesis is directed by Stuart Baird and stars Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spinner and Michael Dorn. Rob Minkoff directs Stuart Little 2 starring Michale J. Fox, Geena Davis and James Woods. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle - an adaptation of the 1960s animated television series - is directed by Des McAnuff and stars Rene Russo and Robert DeNiro. Peter Hastings directs the movie The Country Bears - a movie about the greatest bear rock band in history - which stars Christopher Walken, Haley Osment and Charles C. Dutton Peter Jackson directs The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers which stars Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, Sean Astin and Cate Blanchett. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is directed by Chris Columbus and stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson. Chrsi Wedge directs Ice Age starring Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary and introduces the characters of Sid - a sloth, Manny - a woolly mammoth, Diego - a saber-toothed tiger and Scrat - a saber-toothed squirrel. Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie - the first feature length film showcasing the Veggie characters - is directed by Mike Nawrocki and Phil Vischer. The computer animated movie Lilo & Stitch is directed by Chris Sanders and Dean Deblois and stars Daveigh Chase, Jason Lee and Tia Carrere. The characters are Lilo - a lonely Hawaiian girl and Stitch - a dog who is part of an alien genetic experiment.
2003	Aaron Blasie and Rob Walker direct Brother Bear which introduces the characters Kenai - a teenager who is turned into a bear and Koda - a bear cub, and stars Joaquin Phoenix and Rick Moranis. Bo Welch directs Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat - the film adaptation of The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss published in 1957 - and stars Mike Myers, Alec baldwin and Amy Hill. Peter Jackson directs The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King which stars Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, Sean Astin and Cate Blanchett. The computer animated movie Finding Nemo is directed by Andrew Stanton and stars Ellen DeGeneres, Willem Dafoe and Albert Brooks. The film introduces the characters of Marlin and Nemo - both Clownfish and Dory - a Regal Blue Tangfish. The Jungle Book 2 - a computer animated movie - is directed by Steve Trenbirth and rr-visists the characters of Mowgli, Ranjan, Shanti and Baloo. Joe Dante directs Looney Tunes: Back in Action starring Brendan Fraser, Steve Martin and Joan Cusack. A movie set in the live-action world where animated entertainers interact with human characters.
2004	Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed is directed by Raja Gosnell and stars Matthew Lillard, Neil fanning and Sarah Gellar. Andrew Adamson directs Shrek 2 which stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz. The film Garfield is directed by Peter Hewitt and stars Bill Murray, Jennifer Hewitt and intriduces the characters of Garfield and Odie. This film is an adaptation from a syndicated cartoon strip read in 2600 newspapers around the world. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is directed by Alfonso Cuaron and stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson.