20th Century Animation (feature animation department)

The feature animation department of 20th Century Animation, formerly known as 20th Century Fox Cartoon Studios from 1968 to 1987, 20th Century Fox Feature Animation from 1987 to 2007 and 20th Century Fox Animation from 2007 to 2020, is the in-house animation division of 20th Century Studios, and is based at the Fox Studio Lot in Los Angeles, California. Established in August 1968 by Sean Elliott and Richard Hoffman, as well as some of 20th Century's former animation branch Terrytoons alumni, as well as some of the staff from Walter Lantz Productions, Cambria Productions and MGM Animation/Visual Arts, the division was formerly known as 20th Century Fox Cartoon Studios before being renamed to 20th Century Fox Feature Animation in 1987, was shortened in 2007 and renaming it again in 2020 to avoid confusion with Fox Corporation.

20th Century Animation has produced 72 feature films, its first film The Princess and the Goblin was released on November 5, 1972 and its latest release was Angels Squad on July 30, 2021 with their next release being Nimona on March 25, 2022.

Background
Before it came around, 20th Century Fox Classics Animation first started off with the Educational Pictures. Educational Pictures was built on Terrytoon series, the company both backed and distributed Terrytoons. Farmer Al Falfa was Terry's most familiar character in the 1930s, Kiko the Kangaroo was spun off the Farmer Al Falfa series. Most of the other cartoons featured generic animal characters. One of the stock designs was a scruffy dog with a black patch around one eye; Terry ultimately built a series around this character, now known as Puddy the Pup.

Paul Terry may have realized that Educational was in financial trouble, because he found another lucrative outlet for his product. In 1938, he arranged to release his older cartoons through home-movie distributor Castle Films. Educational went out of business within the year, but 20th Century-Fox continued to release Terrytoons to theaters for the next two decades. With a new emphasis on "star" characters, Terrytoons featured the adventures of Super Mouse (later renamed Mighty Mouse), the talking magpies Heckle and Jeckle, silly Gandy Goose, Dinky Duck, and The Terry Bears.

During the 1940s and early 1950s, 20th Century Fox Classics Animation begun working on Sourpuss, Moddy the Beetle and Telly the Canary. and it continued on with another series like Wacky Toons.

Despite the artistic drawbacks imposed by Terry's inflexible business policies, Terrytoons was nominated four times for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film: All Out for V in 1942, My Boy, Johnny in 1944, Mighty Mouse in Gypsy Life in 1945, and Sidney's Family Tree in 1958. In 1950, after seeing the success of Cinderella, Terrytoons and 20th Century Fox Classics Animation expanded onto feature production.

The studio was sold outright by the retiring Paul Terry to CBS in 1956, but 20th Century Fox (TCF) continued to distribute the studio's releases. It became a division of the CBS Films subsidiary. The following year, CBS put it under the management of UPA alumnus Gene Deitch, who had to work with even lower budgets.

Deitch's most notable works at the studio were the Tom Terrific cartoon segments for the Captain Kangaroo television show. He also introduced a number of new characters, such as Sidney the Elephant, Gaston Le Crayon, John Doormat, and Clint Clobber.

Bill Weiss took complete control of the studio. Under his supervision, Heckle and Jeckle, Puddy the Pup, Telly the Canary, Dizzy the Cat, Nutty the Bear and Mighty Mouse went back into production. Besides the three core directors of the Terry and Fox era who were still involved as animators and directors, two Famous Studios stalwarts joined the crew, Dave Tendlar and Martin Taras. Other new theatrical cartoon series included Hector Heathcote, Luno and Hashimoto San. In addition, the studio began producing the Deputy Dawg series for television in 1959. Another television production for the Captain Kangaroo show was The Adventures of Lariat Sam, which was written in part by Gene Wood, who would later become the announcer for several TV game shows including Family Feud.

Phil Scheib continued as the studio's musical director through the mid-1960s when he was replaced by Jim Timmens and Elliott Lawrence.

The best-known talent at Terrytoons and 20th Century Fox Classics Animation in the 1960s was animator/director/producer Ralph Bakshi, who started with Terrytoons and 20th Century Fox Classics Animation in the 1950s as an opaquer, and eventually helmed the Mighty Heroes series. Bakshi left Terrytoons in 1967 for Paramount, which closed its cartoon unit later that year. He would later go on to produce Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures for television in 1987. Also next year, the 20th Century Fox Classics Animation was closed down after the last Dizzy the Cat short was finished, Dizzy the Cat last short was named, ''That's My Daddy. That's My Daddy'' was completed for a release on September.

On July 4, 1971, Viacom International spun off from CBS; neither Viacom International nor CBS had any interest in Terrytoons. The Terrytoons film library was still regularly re-released to theaters by Fox. The studio's last short was an unsold TV pilot called Sally Sargent, about a 16-year-old girl who is a secret agent. Soon after Sally Sargent was completed, Viacom International ended their relationship with Fox and re-releases ceased. Terrytoons’ existence soon came to an end. After the departure of Bakshi, the studio petered out, and finally closed in 1972.

Early founding (1968–1984)
In early 1968, Sean Elliott and Richard Hoffman, met with 20th Century Fox to discuss the creation of a feature animation division, an offer which Elliot and Hoffman immediately accepted. 20th Century Fox Cartoon Studios was officially established on August 13, 1968, to produce theatrically released animated feature films to rival Disney's animated features. Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg was brought in to head the new division, which was set up in a building on the Fox studios lot. To build the talent base, Elliot brought over artists from Terrytoons, while Eisner and Katzenberg brought over some of the staff from Walter Lantz Productions, Cambria Productions and MGM Animation/Visual Arts.

Some of 20th Century Fox Classics Animation' artists came to 20th Century Fox Cartoon Studios in winter 1968 after 20th Century Fox Classics Animation was shut down by 20th Century Fox and was merged into TCFCS.

The first of 20th Century Fox's animated features was The Princess and the Goblin (1971). The Princess and the Goblin received positive reviews from critics and was a success at the box office. The Princess and the Goblin established 20th Century Fox as Disney's then-first major competitor in feature-film animation. Animation production for The Princess and the Goblin was primarily done at the new 20th Century Fox feature animation studio.

In 1972, Fox signed a co-production deal with Richard Williams and The Bobbs-Merrill Company to co-produce and distribute Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977). The next year, its next film, Castle Knights, as produced with a significantly reduced budget and animation repurposed from the first feature.

Anne of Green Gables, released in 1973, was a success exceeding the achievements of the previous two Fox features. The Princess and the Goblin, Castle Knights and Anne of Green Gables were minor box office and critical successes.

The following year, the fourth animated feature from 20th Century Fox Cartoon Studios, Nancy and the Rainbow Valley (1974), received a positive reception from critics and audiences. The film was a success and end up as the fifth highest-grossing film of the year.

More coming soon!

Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg's departure and "rock bottom" (1985–1989)
In 1985, a years after the released of The Lost Boy, Michael Eisner left Fox and became CEO of The Walt Disney Company, along with Jeffrey Katzenberg who later become chairman of the company as well as the founder of DreamWorks in 1994, while Sean Elliott and Richard Hoffman started as producer of the features.

The studio began the mid-1980s with the release of The Gold of Heaven, the last film project to be approved by Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg. However, the film was received mixed reviews and underperformed at the box office.

The following year, its next film, The Lost City of the Jungle, released in 1986, it received critical acclaim from critics who praised its animation, musical score, and plot and was a modest box office success, making it one of the highest-grossing films of 1986, as well as the highest-grossing 20th Century Fox animated film before Henry's Quest dethroned it in 1995. Due to Its success, They led 20th Century Fox Cartoon Studios to rename 20th Century Fox Feature Animation. In recent years, the film has garnered a cult following.

In 1987, 20th Century Fox released its nineteen film, Hungry Hungry Hippos, which based on the children's board game of the same name by Milton Bradley Company (now owned by Hasbro). Hungry Hungry Hippos opened in the theaters on the same day as Samuel Goldwyn/Bagdasarian's The Chipmunk Adventure, however, the film received negative reviews and it performed poorly at the box office, putting the future of the animation division in jeopardy and losing to its apparent competitor, The Chipmunk Adventure. However, the film became even more successful through merchandising and subsequent home video releases in the 1990s and became into a cult classic. Both The Gold of Heaven and Hungry Hungry Hippos would come to represent what would later be referred to as the "rock bottom" point for Fox animation.

In May 1988, 20th Century Fox released The Adventures of Daisy, the film received positive reviews from critics, with them praising the animation and story.

In 1989, Fox released Ramona and Beezus on December 22, 1989, a month after Disney's The Little Mermaid and United Artists/Bluth's All Dogs Go to Heaven released on the same day. However, the film outgrossed All Dogs Go to Heaven in the US and went on to become the most successful animated feature in the US to that date, until The Little Mermaid beats the record of the film.

Beginning of the 20th Century Fox Animation Legacy, successful releases, returning to compete with Disney (1990–1995)
In 1990, Rock n' Roll 3: Around the World was released, unlike the first two Rock n' Roll film, the film received mixed to negative reviews, with critics praising it's animation but criticising it's story. Despite this, the film eventually received a cult following.

The following film, Three Billy Goats Gruff, which became critical and financial success, grossing over $312 million worldwide, a record for the studio. Three Billy Goats Gruff was the first of a series of blockbusters that would be released over the next decade by 20th Century Fox Feature Animation, a period later designated by the term 20th Century Fox Animation Legacy.

However, Disney's The Rescuers Down Under was released on the same year and received critical acclaim and a commercial success than Three Billy Goats Gruff. To compete with Disney animated films, Fox launched a marketing campaign to challenge Disney head-on and emphasize the more magical/musical-like experience, with slogans including "Fox have more magic than the mouse" and "With more magical, more musical and more entertaining, better than a mouse, Fox have it all".

After the success of Three Billy Goats Gruff, it was reported that 20th Century Fox Feature Animation would make a partnership with Sullivan Bluth Studios on few animated feature films, such as Little Iodine, Henry's Quest, and Helen and the Men from Outer Space.

The next film, Fox released its first sequel Castle Knights: The Power of Universe on the same day of Warner Bros. Rover Dangerfield. However, the film did not duplicate the success of Three Billy Goats Gruff. It was accompanied in theaters by the studio's first non-Calvin the Squirrel animated short, Captain Joyce.

In 1992, Fox released two animated films for the third time, FernGully: The Last Rainforest was released to mainly positive reviews, and was also generally considered a moderate financial success at both the box office and in home video sales, and World of Raccoons, was also released to critical and financial success, grossing over $278 million worldwide. The successes of Three Billy Goats Gruff, FernGully: The Last Rainforest and World of Raccoons established the template for future Fox releases during the 1990s: a musical-comedy format with Broadway-styled songs and tentpole action sequences, buoyed by cross-promotional marketing and merchandising, all carefully designed to pull audiences of all ages and types into theatres to compete with Disney.

In May 1993, Fox agreed to a two-year first-look deal with Nickelodeon for family films. The deal would mostly include original material, though a Nickelodeon executive did not rule out the possibility of making films based on The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rugrats and Doug. However, no films came out of the deal due to the 1994 acquisition of Paramount Pictures by Nickelodeon's parent company, Viacom, and they would distribute the film projects instead.

The following film, The Man and the Lion 2, a sequel to the studio's 1981 The Man and the Lion, it was a critical and commercial success, earning over $303.8 million against its $59 million budget.

Little Iodine, released in November 1993, as a first collaborative project from 20th Century Fox and Sullivan Bluth Studios, earning $168 million worldwide at the box office, which did get slightly better than Sullivan Bluth Studios's previous film Rock-a-Doodle.

In 1994, Fox created a computer animation department at the studio's main headquarters that would produce computer-generated productions, including special effects for some of their films. For then, the studio had the traditional animators working for their main hand-drawn animation department, and the computer animators worked on CG productions, The same year, Dream Toy was released, it received positive reviews from critics, who praised its animation, characters, music, and performances, although some compared it unfavorably to the Disney Renaissance era, such as The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. It was a success at the box office, earning over $266 million worldwide on its $23 million budget, making it the second highest-grossing animated film of 1994.

In November 1994, 20th Century Fox Feature Animation teamed up with Turner Feature Animation to released The Pagemaster, However, unlike its predecessors, it received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $13.7 million from a budget of $34 million. The Pagemaster was the only film to have a live-action scene (beginning and end) in it.

In August 1995, 20th Century Fox and Sullivan Bluth Studios released Henry's Quest, directed by Simon Clark and Eric Taylor. Henry's Quest earned $937 million at the worldwide box office, to this date a record for a traditionally animated film, earning millions more merchandising, promotions, and record sales for its soundtrack. With the success of the film, 20th Century Fox acquired Sullivan Bluth Studios from Don Bluth and renaming it Fox Animation Studios (now 20th Century Fox Feature Animation Phoenix).

In addition, the successes of the animated films from Disney and Fox, such as World of Raccoons, Aladdin, The Lion King and Henry's Quest spurred a significant increase in the number of American-produced animated features throughout the rest of the decade, with the major film studios establishing new animation divisions such as Sullivan Bluth Studios, Universal Feature Animation, Amblimation, Rich Animation Studios, Turner Feature Animation, and Warner Bros. Animation being formed to produce films in a Disney/Fox-esque musical-comedy format such as ''We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993), Thumbelina (1994), The Swan Princess (1994), A Troll in Central Park (1994), The Pebble and the Penguin (1995), Cats Don't Dance (1997), Ama and the Mysterious Crystal (1997), Quest for Camelot (1998), and The King and I'' (1999). Out of these non-Disney/Fox animated features, only Ama and the Mysterious Crystal were a box-office success.

End of the 20th Century Fox Animation Legacy, Sean Elliott and Richard Hoffman's departure, News Corp. era (1995–2000)
In November 22, 1995, Sean Elliott and Richard Hoffman has come to their retirement after the release of Henry's Quest, while Karen Disher has been named president of 20th Century Fox Feature Animation.

The following year, The Ballerina Girl was released on August 23, 1996. However, just like The Pagemaster, it received mixed reviews from critics but proved to be a success at the box office. Helen and the Men from Outer Space, the first film produced primarily at the London studio, was released in summer 1997 as the last collaborative project from 20th Century Fox and Sullivan Bluth Studios. The film earned $836 million in worldwide box office. In the same years, 20th Century Fox started producing computer-animated short films to compete with Pixar, after the success of their short film, including Toy Story. These included Crazy Farms Animals, The True Meaning of Monkeys, Roses Rising and Little Fairies.

Some of Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, Sullivan Bluth Studios and News Corp. Animation artists came to 20th Century Fox Feature Animation in 1997, when Sullivan Bluth Studios closure in 1995 after Henry's Quest was released, along with Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, which was closed in 2001, and News Corp Animation's last feature, Hans in Luck, was completed and the merger with News Corp and 20th Century Fox, with the rest doing so following the studio folded to 20th Century Fox Feature Animation.

In June 1998, 20th Century Fox acquired Blue Sky Studios and Porchlight Entertainment (theatrical films only). This meant that Fox would be able to release as many as three or four animated films in a year divided between the three studios. Many felt that this decision was made to help Fox to establish itself as a competitor to Disney's feature animation group, which consists of Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios.

In 1998, Fox released two animated films for the fifth time, Goldilocks, a animated musical comedy-adventure film in August and Michael & Christopher, a animated musical comedy-buddy film. However, Goldilocks grossed $139 million worldwide, while Michael & Christopher was a disappointment at the box office, possibly due to it being overshadowed by Disney/Pixar's A Bug's Life, which was came out around the same time. It was responsible for beginning the decline of traditional animated films.

In 1999, Rock n' Roll: The Last Song was released, It was a critical and commercial success, earning over $379.7 million against it $30 million budget. It was a final installment of the Rock n' Roll franchise.

The following film, Magicia, the film was a box office success, grossing over $525 million worldwide against a $49 million budget and received positive reviews, with praise toward the cast, screenplay and animation.

The Phoenix studio, which kept the Fox Animation Studios name, laid off 2/3 of its employee workforce in February 2000 before its renaming it in late June of that year, ten days after Titan A.E. was released, eleven days before Totally Spies! and six months before Adventures from the Book of Virtues aired its final episode. Fox Animation looked to produce films at Blue Sky and its Los Angeles headquarters.

The next year's The Tale of Prince Larry, the film received mixed to positive reviews from critics and grossed $475 million worldwide.

Karen Disher's departure, downsizing and conversion to computer animation (2001–2007)
Just after The Tale of Prince Larry's November 2000 release, it was announced that Feature Animation president Karen Disher would be resigning from the studio, before moving on to become VP production at Blue Sky Studios, Chris Meledandri was the successor of Karen Disher.

In August 2001, Mrs. Pepperpot was released, It was directed by Magicia director Mark Oliver, and was a mixed reviews, but a commercial success, grossing $364 million worldwide against a budget of $35 million.

In October 2002, Superbrother was released. It received mixed to positive reviews from critics, earning over $169 million worldwide on its $47 million budget making it a box office bomb. While it did not repeat the box-office success of previous feature films, but it was successful on home video, becoming one of the biggest-selling DVD releases ever.

In February 2003, 20th Century Fox Feature Animation announced a slate of CGI animated feature films in development to be produced by its Digital Images division as a result of the successes of Crazy Farms Animals, The True Meaning of Monkeys, Roses Rising, Little Fairies, and Blue Sky's Ice Age; these films included Charles and the Mouse, Sailor Song, Pussycats, an adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale The Town Musicians of Bremen, Speedy Turtle, The Phantom Tollbooth, and a feature-length film version of Little Fairies.

The Munchkins, an fantasy comedy-adventure directed by David Silverman and Nassos Vakalis, The film received positive reviews from critics who praised the film for its animation. However, while grossing $69 million worldwide on its $65 million budget, the film underperformed at the box office, forcing a writedown of $35.8 million for Fox, despite having a underperformed at the box office, It was also inspired a streaming sequel.

Clark later explained that to maintain the studios' separate identities and cultures (notwithstanding the fact of common ownership and common senior management), he and the 20th Century Fox Feature Animation executives "drew a hard line" that each studio was solely responsible for its own projects and would not be allowed to borrow personnel from or lend tasks out to the other; the rule ensured that each studio would maintain "local ownership" of projects and could "be proud of its own work". Thus, for example, when 20th Century Fox Feature Animation had issues with Charles and the Mouse and Blue Sky Studios with Robots, "nobody bailed them out", and each studio was required "to solve the problem on [their] own", even when they knew there were personnel at the other studio who, theoretically, could have helped.

The studio's another film, Steven's Journey, directed by Tom Sito and Matthew O'Callaghan, It received generally favorable reviews from critics, who praised the film's animation, voice cast and the screenplay and was a critical and commercial success, earning over $280 million worldwide on a budget of $55 million.earning over $295.2 million against its $46 million budget. Upon the unsuccessful release of Superbrother and The Munchkins, Fox laid off most of the employees at the Feature Animation studio in Hollywood, downsizing it to one unit and beginning plans to move into fully computer animated films.

The studio's last hand-drawn animated film, The Last Unicorn, released in May 2004, underwent production difficulties and received mixed reviews from critics and under-performed at the box office which led to a growing perception that hand-drawn animation was becoming outdated and falling out of fashion in favor of the increasing popularity of computer animation. Subsequently, 20th Century Fox Feature Animation officially announced they were becoming a fully CGI studio, now with a staff of 460 people and began selling off all of its traditional animation equipment.

In 2004, Fox released its first fully in-house computer-animated feature film Charles and the Mouse to critical and commercial success. It grossed $862 million worldwide, becoming the third highest-grossing film of 2004. Charles and the Mouse established Fox as the fourth studio after Pixar, DreamWorks Animation and Blue Sky Studios to have launched a successful CGI franchise.

In June 2005, the studio released its second computer-animated film, Sailor Song, which the film received positive reviews and a critical and financial success; it grossed over $724 million worldwide.

In August 2006, the studio released its third computer-animated film Pussycats, which had been in active development since 1998, to generally positive reviews and had grossed over $394 million worldwide at the box office.

In January 2007, Meledandri left for Universal Pictures to set up Illumination there with Vanessa Morrison as his replacement while answering to newly appointed 20th Century Fox Film Group vice chairman Hutch Parker. Morrison moved from the live action division where she handled family-children fare as senior vice president of production.

In February 2007, the studio released its fourth computer-animated film Speedy Turtle, to mixed reviews from critics. However, it was a box office success, earning $587 million worldwide.

Reorganization, renaming (2007–2011)
In 2007, after the released of Speedy Turtle, Fox renamed its Feature Animation unit from 20th Century Fox Feature Animation to 20th Century Fox Animation, and merged its direct-to-video and television animation units with the feature animation. Animators at Hollywood worked on projects based at the Hollywood studio, but also assisted in projects based in the Los Angeles PA studio.

In August 2007, 20th Century Fox Animation released its thirty-third feature and fifth sequel Charles and the Mouse 2 opened in 2007. It earned over $958 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing animated film of the year and breaking a record as the most profitable film from 20th Century Fox Animation. The studio's next feature Towser, a CGI animated comedy based on the Tony Ross book of the same name. The film opened to a much bigger than expected $39 million opening, and ended up with $425 million worldwide.

Bill the Minder, a CGI animated comedy adventure film, was released in September 2008. The film grossed $289.6 million worldwide against a $79 million budget. In June 2009, the studio released The Eagle of the Moon, to generally positive reviews and had grossed over $175 million worldwide at the box office. In August 2010, Charles and the Mouse 3, the third installment in the Charles and the Mouse franchise, was released. The film was a box office success, earning over $752 million worldwide. However, unlike the first two Charles and the Mouse films, Charles and the Mouse 3 was not well-received critically. The following year, The Time Travelers, the studio's thirty-seventh film, was released and became a significant critical and commercial success, earning $642 million worldwide.

21st Century Fox Era (2012–2019)
After The Time Travelers, The Owl in the Day was released, It was a critical and commercial success, earning $595 million worldwide.

In August 2012, The Ladybug Princess, directed by Clark, Allers, Silverman, and O'Callaghan, was the studio's first hand-drawn animated film in eight years. A return to the musical-comedy format of the 1990s with songs by Marc Shaiman and David Newman, the film was released in 2012 to a positive critical reception and was nominated for several accolades; it earned $738 million in worldwide box office revenue, making it the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film of the year, overpowering Laika's ParaNorman.

In the wake of critical and box office success of their animated features, Blue Sky's Ice Age: Continental Drift and 20th Century Fox Animation's The Ladybug Princess, Heavy fan demand about bring back hand-drawn animation, 20th Century Fox announced that they reposition the studio as an animation house that produces both traditional and computer-animated projects, and extended its animation production unit at Los Angeles, devoted to the creation of animated productions. In order to keep costs down on hand-drawn productions, animation, design, and layout were done in-house at Fox Studio while clean-up animation and digital ink-and-paint were farmed out to vendors and freelancers.

In November 2012, While Simon Clark become the CEO of 20th Century Fox Animation and head of animation of Blue Sky Studios, Fox named a former president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, David Stainton, co-president of 20th Century Fox Animation. In March 2013, Stainton resigned for personal reasons, The studio's next feature was Mischievous John, released in August 2013 with mostly positive reviews from critics and grossed $642 million worldwide.

In August 2014, the studio released The Time Travelers 2, a sequel to the studio's 2011 The Time Travelers, to positive reviews and earned over $742 million worldwide, becoming a box office hit. Susan, a CGI comedy film, was released in January 2015 to widespread acclaim and became a blockbuster hit. Directed by Clark and Brad Copeland, it was the first Fox animated film to earn over $1 billion in worldwide box office revenue. It also received two Academy Award nominations.

An animated reboot of the Julie Jackson film series, Julie, opened in theaters in September 2015, earning over $643 million worldwide, but received mixed reviews. In March 2016, Vanessa Morrison resigned after being as a president after 9 years, on the same months, The Owl in the Day 2 was released, It was receives positive reviews for its story, animation and humor. the film grossed over $580 million worldwide.

In July 2016, Fox named another former Disney Animation president Thomas Schumacher as the president of the studio.

In September 2016, the studio released Green Demon, a CGI action adventure film. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $648 million. The studio's head Alan Bailey also left 20th Century Fox Animation that summer.

The Time Travelers spin-off Edward: The Terrified Viking was released on December 9, 2016, and was another commercial and critical success for the studio, grossing over $528 million worldwide and receiving two Academy Award nominations. After the released of The Owl in the Day 2, Green Demon and Edward: The Terrified Viking, Fox became the second studio that released three feature-length CG-animated films in a year, after DreamWorks Animation.

In November 2016, Fox named former Cartoon Network president Jim Samples as the executive vice president of the studio.

In April 2017, the studio released Kelly's World, based on the animated series Bobby's World. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film grossing over $858 million worldwide. Frogger, based on the video game franchise published by Konami, was released on September 8, 2017, the film earned over $831 million worldwide, becoming a box office hit. The studio's next film, James and Suzy, was released on December 2017, The film was a critical and commercial success, with many praising its animation, visuals, humor, characters, and the performances of Ferrell, Gabrielle, Riggle, Rudolph and Kelsey Grammer, and earned a total of $749 million worldwide against its $65 million budget. It was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film, and through home video releases, gathered a cult following.

In September 2017, Locksmith Animation formed a multi-year production deal with 20th Century Fox, who will distribute Locksmith's films, with Locksmith aiming to release a film every 12-18 months. The deal was to bolster Blue Sky's output and replace the loss of distributing DreamWorks Animation films, which are now owned and distributed by Universal Pictures.

On October 30, 2017, Morrison (previous president of 20th Century Fox Animation) was named president of a newly created 20th Century Fox division, Fox Family, which as a mandate similar to this company when it was called Fox Family Films. Andrea Miloro and Robert Baird were named co-president of Fox Animation the same day and would also have direct oversight of Blue Sky and oversee the Locksmith Animation deal and grow Fox Animation with other partnerships and producer deals.

The studio's next film, James and Suzy, was released on December 2017, The film was a critical and commercial success, with many praising its animation, visuals, humor, characters, and the performances of Ferrell, Gomez, Riggle, Rudolph and Grammer, and earned a total of $749 million worldwide against its $65 million budget. It was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film, and through home video releases, gathered a cult following.

The Time Travelers: Next Adventures, the third installment in the Time Travelers franchise, was released on June 2018 and was another commercial and critical success for the studio, grossing over $897 million worldwide and receiving two Academy Award nominations. The Masters of the Defenders, a fantasy comedy adventure animated film was released in December 2018 and was the first Fox animated film to earn over $2 billion in worldwide box office revenue.

Disney Era (2019-present)
On October 18, 2018, it was announced that 20th Century Fox Animation would be added alongside 20th Century Fox to the Walt Disney Studios following their acquisition, with president Thomas Schumacher and co-presidents Andrea Miloro and Robert Baird retaining leadership while reporting to Walt Disney Studios Chairman, Alan Horn and Twentieth Century Fox vice chairman Emma Watts.

On March 21, 2019, Disney announced that the 20th Century Fox Animation label (including Blue Sky Studios) would be integrated as new units within the Walt Disney Studios with Co-Presidents Andrea Miloro and Robert Baird continuing to lead the studio reporting directly to Alan Horn. Miloro step down as co-president in late July 2019. In August 2019, Walt Disney Animation Studios head Andrew Millstein was named as co-president of Blue Sky for day-to-day operations alongside Baird, while Pixar Animation Studios president Jim Morris would also be taking a supervisory role over Millstein. With the Disney take over, the Locksmith deal left 20th Century Fox for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros. Warner Bros.] in October 2019 except for the first and only film under the deal, Ron's Gone Wrong.

In May 2019, The Owl in the Day 3 was released, It received mixed-to-positive reviews, the film grossed over $669 million worldwide.

In September 2019, the studio released Pete, John and Jetty: The Three Animals, starring the ducks trio from various Fox films. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film grossed over $849 million worldwide.

The studio's next feature film was the sequel Susan 2, released on November 2019. The film grossed over $1 billion worldwide. According to Fox (who does not consіder the 2019 The Lion King remake to be an anіmated film), Susan 2 is the highest-grossing anіmated film of all tіme.

On January 28, 2020, Disney dropped the "Fox" name from the two main film studio units acquired from 21st Century Fox, while there were no mention of changes to other lesser feature film units.

In August 2020, 20th Century Animation introduced its new logo for both Hollywood and Los Angeles and new mascot, a teenage boy named Foxy Kipps, while Calvin from Calvin the Squirrel is now the mascot of 20th Century Studios.

The studio's current film Charles and the Mouse: When Squeak Calls was theatrically released first in Canada in October 2020 while in December 2020 was theatrically worldwide and a January 2021 release on Video-On-Demand in United States due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film received positive reviews from critics, and only grossed $8.6 million worldwide with a $468 million budget.

On February 9, 2021, Disney announced that Blue Sky Studios will shutting down and folded into 20th Century Animation on April 2021, Chris Wedge (Co-founder of Blue Sky Studios) officially announced the studio had gone defunct and folded into 20th Century Animation as of April 7, 2021 in a letter to their staff across their social media platforms, Production on a film adaptation of the webcomic Nimona, originally acquired by Blue Sky Studios, was sold to 20th Century Animation.

On June 30, 2021, it was announced that Thomas Schumacher would be leaving 20th Century Animation at mid July 2021. Andrea Miloro will be serving as interim president of 20th Century Animation, with Schumacher helping with the transition.

On the same day, Chris Wedge would be named president of 20th Century Animation. At 20th Century Animation, he reunites with Andrew Millstein and Brian Keane, with whom he worked at his studio, Blue Sky Studios, which is shut down 2 months ago.

"I am thrilled to be joining 20th Century Animation and especially excited to be working with the deeply talented folks at here,” said Wedge. “I’ve been watching their work since I was a child, and it’s thrilling to be part of such a storied group. I’m equally excited to be working with Andrew Millstein and Brian Keane, who remains one of the best people I’ve ever had the privilege to work with." It will be effective in September 28, 2021.

On July 2, 2021, Andrew Millstein and Brian Keane has been named the Co-President of 20th Century Animation. It became effective on September 28, 2021.

On July 30, 2021, Angels Squad was released. It was met with positive reviews from critics, who commended its humor, characters, screenplay, animation, and the vocal performances of Dinklage and Saldana.

On September 28, 2021, Chris Wedge was named his successor as president and general manager of 20th Century Animation.

2 days later, Disney received backlash on Twitter following a post promoting characters from Ice Age, with many replying how Disney closed down Blue Sky Studios and "stole" the franchise.

Upcoming projects
20th Century Animation is currently working on Nimona (March 25, 2022), The Time Travelers: Travacation (June 3, 2022), Horizon (November 4, 2022), Susan 3 (June 23, 2023), The Minecraft‎ Movie (October 20, 2023), Metroid (June 24, 2024), and Skeeter Quest (November 22, 2024). Other 20th Century Animation films in development include Land of the Future, an original film about a boy going into the world where he in the future, Pete, John and Jetty: New York Most Wanted, a computer-animated sequel to Pete, John and Jetty: The Three Ducks, a animated reboot to the Dunston Checks In and a CGI reboot of Calvin the Squirrel, and three animated films based on Strawberry Shortcake, Adventures from the Book of Virtues and Futurama.

Feature films
All films are produced and distributed by 20th Century Studios.

Accolades

 * Main article: List of accolades received by 20th Century Animation

Gallery
Coming soon!

Trivia

 * 20th Century Animation is often described by fans as the 20th Century Studios counterpart of Walt Disney Animation Studios while Blue Sky Studios (pre-2021) and Regency Animation (post-2021) is described as the 20th Century Studios counterpart of Pixar.
 * According to 20th Century Studios and Disney fans, 20th Century Animation is actually true competitor of Walt Disney Animation Studios since 1980.


 * Starting with The Munchkins in 2003, It will reads "20th Century Fox Feature Animation presents" after 20th Century Fox logo is finished, until August 2007, when it replaced to "20th Century Fox Animation presents" after 20th Century Fox Animation logo is finished, instead of 20th Century Fox logo, which came before 20th Century Fox Animation logo, it was also used for Blue Sky Studios films starting in "Adventures of Pearlheart" (first film to have its name in the credits) and was lasted until "Fairytales", which is the final Blue Sky Studios films, before its closed down on April 2021.
 * Starting with Charles and the Mouse: When Squeaks Calls in 2020, the word "FOX" was removed from the logo, making the company known simply as 20th Century Animation.
 * Starting with Charles and the Mouse: When Squeaks Calls in 2020, the word "FOX" was removed from the logo, making the company known simply as 20th Century Animation.