Multimedia Animation

Multimedia Animation was an American animation studio founded in 1978 by animator Michael Wildshill. Wildshill and a few CalArts graduates and former Disney animators left Disney in 1978 to form Michael Wildshill Productions, which produced the short films A Tiny Bite and Stan & Sam, commercials and other work, and later negotiated with Universal Pictures to make the animated feature The Master of Colors.

After the release of the studio's second feature film Gools, Wildshill severed his connection with Universal and negotiated with Paramount Pictures, which invested in and distributed two additional features, Biancabella and the Snake and The Workers. In 1988, the studio was bought by media company Multimedia, where it was split into two teams: Multimedia Animation and the television animation unit Gingo Animation.

Wildshill was later drawn away from the studio when he was approached in early 1993 to set up a new animation studio for Universal. Multimedia Animation's films continued to suffer losses at the box office, and the studio was closed down in 1996 after the release of their final feature, Ghost Vision, which ended up being their highest-grossing film, following Multimedia's merger with Universal's then-parent company MCA Inc. Wildshill and much of the staff went on to head up Universal Feature Animation in Universal City, California to work on Ama and the Mysterious Crystal. As of 2020, Universal currently owns the rights to most of Multimedia Animation's back catalog.

Early founding / Wildshill and Universal (1978–1984)
After leaving Walt Disney Productions in late 1978 due to disagreements with the studio, animator Michael Wildshill, who wanted to realize his dream of producing an animated feature-length film on his own, established an independent animation studio called Michael Wildshill Productions and recruited some of the fellow CalArts graduates and other animation staff whom Wildshill worked with. Employees from Walter Lantz Productions and The Animated Feature Film Company also came to the studio. In its early days, the studio worked on short films such as A Tiny Bite and Stan & Sam, undeveloped projects and commercials while seeking a suitable feature film project.

In 1979, Wildshill was approached by Universal Pictures, a studio who would ultimately become his most important partner in the later years, with an idea for a feature film about a teenage girl whose magical hair expresses her feelings, The Master of Colors. Wildshill wrote early story treatments, and production began a year later, with a release date set for December 1981. In May 1981, Wildshill and Universal signed a $30 million deal to produce four animated feature films that were estimated to be completed during the next 12 years. Along with the deal their first project was announced, titled Hansel and Gretel. Intended to be based on the German fairy tale, it was put on hold two years later because of script issues. In December 1981, The Master of Colors was released to generally positive reviews by critics, who praised the richness and fluidity of the animation, though some found the narrative unsatisfying. The Master of Colors returned only a modest box office performance, which was blamed on distributor Universal's poor promotion, regionally staggered releases, and competition from Chariots of Fire, which had been released on the same week.

Early ideas for a green blob who tries to fit in with the humans had been mooted during the production of The Master of Colors in 1979 and developed into a feature-length story, titled Gools. Because of the 1982 animators' strike, the film did not enter full production until 1983 and was completed in late 1984, opening in December. The main animators consist of Geo G., Jay Mastori and Terry Ward, who were one of the first major contributions in film. Critics gave the film mixed reviews and it fell short of the studio's previous feature, grossing $25 million domestically.

The studio made its foray into television animation in 1982, beginning with the Christmas special Bright Christmas. This was followed by a Saturday morning cartoon series Muzy two years later.

Split-up with Universal (1984–1988)
Right before the December 1984 release of Gools, there were reports that due to creative differences Universal and Wildshill would not be extending their contract. The deal was officially terminated in February 1985. Unofficial reasons for departure were weak performances of the last two movies, for which Universal had to take writedowns.

With Universal's withdrawal, the future of Wildshill was uncertain. Three further films were already well into development; Biancabella and the Snake had been in production since mid-1983, The Workers since 1984 and Liche's Wish since late 1984. The studio also had another film in development, Elements of Light, which had began development in early 1985 alongside Liche's Wish and was originally intended to be released by Warner Bros. Pictures. Due to production difficulties with that project, Wildshill had no choice but to leave Elements of Light ' s development to Bill Kroyer, a fellow animator of Wildshill, as they were unable to produce two films at the same time. Elements of Light was later solely produced by Kroyer Films with backing from Universal and released in September 1989. Meanwhile, Sammy and the Sing-Along Gang, the studio's first new straight-to-video series, debuted.

Paramount Pictures picked up Biancabella and subsequent films for worldwide distribution. The film was released in July 1986, going head-to-head against Disney's newest release, The Great Mouse Detective. Critical reception was generally indifferent to mixed, and the film performed poorly at the box office, grossing just over $13 million. Meanwhile, Wildshill finally unveiled the newest series yet in its cycle, and the first in their successful long-time line of syndicated animated shows, The Spacebots. Airing from 1986 to 1989, the show's success led to Wildshill seeking to produce more animated series on their own in syndication.

The studio's next feature suffered a much weaker commercial performance. The Workers was given a release in November 1987. When the film was nearing completion, 20th Century Fox purchased the Europe distribution rights, while Paramount obtained the distribution rights in North America, United Kingdom and international. Like Biancabella before it, The Workers performed poorly at the box office, grossing just $9.6 million. While its poor financial performance led the studio to declare bankruptcy in early 1988, the film performed better on home video in later that year, becoming a fast seller alongside other animated films released in the same month.

Multimedia Animation (1988–1993)
On February 13, 1988, Michael Wildshill Productions was purchased by Multimedia, dividing into two new animation divisions oversaw by Wildshill: Multimedia Animation for feature animation and a television animation division of Multimedia Entertainment to produce high-quality Saturday morning cartoons for its announced animation-focused cable channel. Multimedia also invested a further $8 million to acquire the rights to partially completed film Liche's Wish with Multimedia Motion Pictures co-producing and co-financing. A condition of the investment was that Multimedia would have a close involvement in the management of Wildshill's financial operations, following reports of the studio's past mismanagement.

Multimedia launched the Gingo channel on September 10, 1988 with The Toon Hour, an animation showcase led by Wildshill, premiered and featured new creator-driven shorts developed for Gingo by Multimedia/Wildshill's in-house staff. Several new original animated series emerged from it, including Gabriel Garza, Ray Eilo, BJ and Wally, Metro Cone, and The Whackems.

In April 1989, Multimedia signed a three-year deal with Orion Pictures to finance, co-produce, and distribute animated feature films.

TriStar Pictures, who planned to distribute Liche's Wish, had already backed off in the wake of Michael Wildshill Productions' bankruptcy, doubtful that the picture would ever be completed. Universal Pictures stepped in to become the U.S. distributors for the film while Multimedia Motion Pictures Worldwide handled international distribution, planning to release it in November 1990 rather than its initially planned Christmas 1989 release. Directed by former Disney animator Audel LaRoque, Liche's Wish was a critical and commercial failure, grossing over $17 million, but was a great success when released on home video; accompanied by a $20 million advertising campaign, the video sold over three million copies in the first month alone, topping the charts and becoming one of the top-selling VHS releases of all time. This success helped Universal discover its potential in building an in-house feature animation division with support from Wildshill.

Shortly after the Multimedia buyout during the production of Liche's Wish, development work was already beginning on the studio's next feature. Early ideas for an adaptation of the Norwegian fairy tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon date back to the early 1980s at Don Bluth Productions, and was almost in production at the time, but was never produced due to a loss of financial backing. It was not until the late 1980s that Wildshill, a fellow rival of Don Bluth, revived the adaptation and East of the Sun and West of the Moon entered production in late 1988. Another film in development, The Three Princes and Their Beasts, began when Wildshill's younger sister Cynthia Marion expressed interest in writing the story treatment for an adaptation of the Lithuanian fairy tale The Three Princes and Their Beasts, which eventually began production in 1989 for an initial release in 1991 from Orion Pictures.

Following complete work on Liche's Wish in 1990, Audel LaRoque began writing a film treatment that pays homage to Tales from the Crypt that LaRoque is a fan of. He immediately pitched it to Wildshill, also a Crypt fan, and the film, titled Ghost Vision, began production the following year. At the same time, Wildshill conceived early ideas for an animated adaptation of the William Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet as he wanted to make it as a suitable animated musical.

During production of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, the studio found itself in difficulties again. Orion Pictures, who was set to distribute the film worldwide alongside The Three Princes and Their Beasts, had also produced several major flops which ate up the studios' funds, leading Orion to sell East of the Sun and West of the Moon, while still in production, to Universal Pictures. In exchange, Universal would own the domestic rights, though the international rights to the film were retained by Orion. East of the Sun and West of the Moon was released in November 1992 and was a minor flop at the box office, grossing just $53 million, losing to its apparent competitor, Disney's Aladdin (which grossed over $504 million). However, much like Liche's Wish, the film performed better on home video.

As a result of Orion's bankruptcy in 1991, their next animated feature The Three Princes and Their Beasts was not released until May 1993, where it vying for box-office receipts with Filmation's Happily Ever After. Despite receiving a mixed reception, The Three Princes and Their Beasts was a modest box office success, performing much better than Multimedia Animation's previous films by grossing $82 million.

Closure / The rise of Universal Animation (1993–1996)

 * See also: Universal Animation

During the production of The Three Princes and Their Beasts in early 1993, Wildshill met with then-President of Universal's then-parent MCA Sid Sheinberg to discuss the creation of a feature animation division. While Wildshill wanted to remain at the Multimedia studio, arguing that because Universal effectively had a working animation studio already, Sheinberg wanted Wildshill to head up a new studio in Universal City, California instead. Universal had learned that Wildshill's Multimedia animation studio had a ten-year distribution contract with Columbia Pictures, meaning that they would have to give up their distribution fee to a competitor, and it was thus decided to shut down Multimedia Animation entirely instead of waiting for the Columbia contract to expire. Wildshill intended to remain in North Hollywood to complete work on Romeo and Juliet and Ghost Vision, but when he was forced to make changes to the film he left the studio and began working with Sheinberg and John Cohen to set up Universal Feature Animation. As a result, Cynthia Marion was named head of animation for Multimedia.

The studio's eighth feature film, Romeo and Juliet, was released in December 1994 by Universal after its initial distributor Columbia Pictures put the film in turnaround from its original autumn 1993 release. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $186 million worldwide. Michael Wildshill wrote, produced and directed the film, but because he was busy working at the new Universal animation studio by the time Romeo and Juliet was in production, Cynthia Marion took full control for the rest of the film's production. Ghost Vision, the last project from Multimedia Animation, was set for release in late 1994 for distribution by Columbia Pictures, but due to production issues, it was moved back to October 1995 with Warner Bros. Pictures taking over the film's distribution rights, though Columbia retained its international rights under Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International. Upon its release, Ghost Vision grossed $324 million, becoming the highest-grossing film produced by Multimedia Animation.

After Multimedia was sold to MCA in 1996, operations at the Multimedia animation studio wound down. Many of the staff moved to the new Universal Feature Animation studio, and the studio closed its doors later the same year. Working at the new Universal City animation facility, Wildshill worked on Universal Feature Animation's first film, Ama and the Mysterious Crystal, which was released on December 19, 1997. The studio's most recent film, Imagimals 2, was released on September 18, 2020.

Short films

 * A Tiny Bite (1978)
 * Stan & Sam (1979)
 * Bright Christmas (1982; TV short)
 * Lo and the Short Island (1993)
 * Tifi (1995)

Other
Coming soon!

Cancelled projects

 * The Little Mermaid - During the production of The Master of Colors in late 1979, Michael Wildshill began work on an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Little Mermaid, which was closer to Andersen's story, notably in its preservation of the original and tragic ending. However, production was canceled in favor of Gools. Some of the film's concepts later went into Liche's Wish.
 * Hansel and Gretel - In May 1981, Michael Wildshill Productions announced they were developing a film adaptation of the German fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel, with Universal Pictures. In February 1983, it was announced that they had postponed production on the film as they continued to rework the script.
 * The Loathsome Dragon - In 1989, an animated feature film adaption of the children's book The Loathsome Dragon by David Wiesner and Kim Kahng was in the works at Multimedia Animation, but was canceled when Multimedia decided to make East of the Sun and West of the Moon as their next movie instead.
 * Arzach - In 1993, an adult animated film was in the works at Multimedia Animation that was based on the French Arzach comic book series by artist/author Jean 'Moebius' Giraud, which was originally published in the French sci-fi/fantasy comics magazine Métal Hurlant. However, its production was shut down after no news came and due to problems at Multimedia.
 * The Snowman - Around this time, Multimedia considered making a feature-length animated film adaptation of the children's picture book The Snowman by English author Raymond Briggs.
 * Tarzan of the Apes - In early 1994, Gabriel Garza writer Dianne Dixon was hired by Multimedia to write the screenplay for an animated film adaption of the story Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, but it was canceled when Multimedia heard the news of Disney making an animated film adaption of Tarzan. After that, Multimedia Animation was folded into Universal Feature Animation.
 * Vixa and the Beast Hunters - This proposed concept was to be Multimedia's first computer-animated feature, but the film did not get beyond its planning stage. The canceled project was revealed 19 years after the film's conception.
 * Galaxy Melody - Took inspirations from Star Wars and Disney's Fantasia, this proposed CGI film was intended as a sci-fi comedy musical film, and to prove Multimedia's ability to create CGI films other than hand-drawn films. Multimedia spent six months on the project, developing several concept art and animation tests. However, most staff members, besides Michael Wildshill, were not passionate about the project, and thought it was "one-dimensional". As a result, Galaxy Melody was scrapped. According to Wildshill, Galaxy Melody is a lesson for Multimedia and its first failure.

Gallery
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Trivia
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