Sunbow Entertainment

Final logo, used from 1999 to 2004
Formerly	Sunbow Productions (1980–1995)[1]
Industry	Television production Animation production Animated films
Founded	June 23, 1980; 45 years ago (1980-06-23)
Founder	Griffin-Bacal Advertising
Defunct	2009; 16 years ago (2009)
Fate	Dormant
Successor	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Library: Hasbro Entertainment Studio 100
Headquarters	New York City , United States
Key people	Tom Griffin Joe Bacal
Parent	Griffin-Bacal Advertising (1980–1998) Sony Wonder (1998–2000) TV-Loonland AG (2000–2009)
Divisions	Sunbow Productions International

Sunbow Entertainment (formerly known asSunbow Productions until 1995) was an Americananimation studio and distributor, founded on June 23, 1980, and owned until May 4, 1998, byGriffin-Bacal Advertising inNew York City and in theUnited States. Griffin-Bacal's first animations were animated commercials forHasbro'sG.I. Joe toy line. The success of the animated commercials led partners Tom Griffin and Joe Bacal to form the company. Due to their close working relationship with Hasbro, Sunbow came to be recognized as the toy giant's unofficial television arm.

Sunbow is noted for many cartoons aired during the 1980s. Most of their work was co-produced withMarvel Productions. Although it is not limited to Hasbro's various toy lines its reputation is linked to the cartoon series tied to them. Its animation was initially produced by the Japanese animation studioToei Animation, supplemented by the South Korean animation studioAKOM later on.

By 1987, most of Hasbro's toy lines were losing money and internal struggles forced the company to end popular series such asJem,G.I. Joe andTransformers. Two of Sunbow's animated movies,The Transformers: The Movie andMy Little Pony: The Movie, flopped at the box office, forcing a third project,G.I. Joe: The Movie, to be releaseddirectly to video. It also led to end the partnership with Marvel Productions in late 1980s. Sunbow also worked withTMS Entertainment with Hasbro'sVisionaries: Knights of the Magical Light.

In a bid to produce original material, Sunbow produced several cartoons through the early 1990s such asThe Tick andConan the Adventurer. OnlyThe Tick managed to gain popularity and critical acclaim.

On May 4, 1998,Sony Wonder, a division ofSony Music, bought Sunbow Productions^[2] in order to expand to more original programming for their television division. On May 1, 1999, Sunbow took over European distribution of Sony Wonder's TV IPs.^[3][4]

On October 3, 2000, German-based companyTV-Loonland AG purchased Sony Wonder's television business assets including Sunbow Entertainment.^[5][6] In exchange for the purchase, Sony Wonder retained US distribution rights to the Sunbow catalogue. Previously,Rhino Entertainment owned the U.S. home video distribution rights to the Sunbow catalogue. The rights then changed hands to Sony Wonder with its acquisition of the catalogue.

On September 5, 2001, the company announced a co-production deal with Rumpus Toys to produceKappa Mikey, with TV-Loonland holding worldwide and home video distribution rights.^[7] On May 29, 2002, the project was picked up byNoggin for its teen-oriented programming blockThe N.^[8] Noggin/The N signed a co-development deal for the series,^[9] For unknown reasons, Sunbow and TV-Loonland would later silently pull out of the deal, with the final produced show having no involvement with the two companies.

On October 12, 2001, Sunbow announced a co-development deal withNickelodeon to produceSkeleton Key, an animated series based on a comic book of the same name^[10][11] for an initial run of 13 episodes. However, the series never materialized. On November 6, production on TV specialDonner was completed (originally started in June 2001^[12]), and aired as planned on December 1, onABC Family.^[13]

On April 10, 2002, the studio announced two additional projects -The Many Adventures of Johnny Mutton, andMr Stick & Slug Boy.^[14][15] Another pickup came on October 8 with a television adaptation of the bookThe Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish in development;^[15] however, none of these projects would come into fruition.

After the announcement thatThe Cramp Twins' second season would be produced by fellow-Loonland owned studio Telemagination on October 23, 2002,^[16] Sunbow later became dormant after their existing projects were shelved, although they still remained as a company until at least 2009.^[17]

On March 29, 2007, Sony Music Entertainment announced they would shut down Sony Wonder, leaving the US deal under limbo.^[18] However, on June 20, 2007, it was announced that Sony Wonder had been moved intoSony Pictures Home Entertainment, which eventually it renamed as Sony Pictures Family Fun in 2015.^[19][20] However, the Sunbow licenses were not included in the purchase.

On May 14, 2008,Hasbro announced that it had obtained the rights to all the Sunbow Productions animated series based on Hasbro properties for $7 million. This includesTransformers,G.I. Joe,My Little Pony,Jem and the Holograms, and many more.^{[21][22][23][24]} These titles are currently managed as part of theHasbro Entertainment library.

TV-Loonland filed for bankruptcy on December 9, 2009;^[25] its catalogue was acquired by German distributorMade 4 Entertainment on April 5, 2011.^[26] In February 2017, Belgian production companyStudio 100 purchased a majority stake in m4e.^[27]

• G.I. Joe: The Revenge of Cobra (1984) (co-production with Marvel Productions)
• The GLO Friends Save Christmas (1985)
• Transformers: Five Faces of Darkness (1986) (co-production with Marvel Productions andAKOM)
• Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light (1987) (co-production withTMS Entertainment)
• Transformers: The Return of Optimus Prime (1986) (co-production with Marvel Productions)
• Transformers: The Rebirth (1987) (co-production with Marvel Productions)
• Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles (1994) (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero spin-off) (co-production with Graz Entertainment)

Hasbro properties

Note: All programs based onHasbro properties are co-productions with Marvel Productions. These programs are owned byHasbro Entertainment.

• The Secret World of the Very Young (1984)
• Donner (2001, in cooperation withRainbow Studios and TV-Loonland AG)

• Sunbow Entertainment
• 1980 establishments in New York City
• 2004 disestablishments in New York (state)
• American companies established in 1980
• American companies disestablished in 2004
• Mass media companies established in 1980
• Mass media companies disestablished in 2004
• American animation studios
• Marvel Comics animation
• Mass media companies based in New York City
• 1998 mergers and acquisitions
• 2000 mergers and acquisitions
• Television production companies of the United States

• Articles with short description
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