 Font used since 2004 | |
| Formerly | Le Studio Ellipse (1987–1990) Ellipse Programme (1990–2000) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Division |
| Industry | Animation |
| Founded | 1987; 38 years ago (1987) |
| Founder | Philippe Gildas Robert Réa |
| Headquarters | Paris, France |
Key people | Caroline Duvochel (managing director) |
| Products | Animated television series Animated feature films |
| Parent | Canal+ (1987–2000) Expand SA (2000–2003) Dargaud (2003–2022) Ellipse Animation (2022–present) |
| Website | www |
Ellipsanime Productions (formerly known asLe Studio Ellipse andEllipse Programme) is a Frenchanimation studio that producestelevision programs. It was founded in 1987. In February 2000 it merged with Expand SA; Expand sold the company toDargaud in 2003, and it became Ellipsanime in 2004. In 2014, Ellipsanime bought the assets ofMoonscoop SA.[1]
Ellipse has worked with many other animation companies, with the most reputable beingNelvana andNickelodeon. Ellipse was best known in North America for co-producing seasons 2-4 of Nickelodeon'sDoug; it did not return to the series afterThe Walt Disney Company bought theDoug intellectual property andJumbo Pictures.
On the occasion of theAnnecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2022, theMédia-Participations group announced the creation of an umbrella brand Ellipse Animation which brings together its production labels in France Ellipsanime Productions,Dargaud Media andDupuis Edition & Audiovisual.[2]
In 1987, the company was founded byPhilippe Gildas and Robert Réa under the nameEllipse Programme withCanal+ as their first owner. Three years later in 1990, Ellipse Programme entered the animation production genre by launching their own animation division.
In February 2000, Canal+ announced that they've merged their subsidiary Ellipse Programme with French television production outfit Expand Images into one group under the Expand name with Ellipse Programme becoming Expand Group's own division alongside Canal+ holding a 35% stake in the Expand Group.[3][4]
In January 2003, Ellipsanime had announced that they were shutting down their executive production facility Ellipse Studio and had absorbed most of their studio's production activity including their storyboarding and 3-D rendering work under the main animation production company. A month later in February of that same year, Ellipsanime's then parent companyCanal+ Group and its film production and distribution companyStudioCanal under their subsidiary StudioExpand announced that they were planning to sell its animation studio Ellipsanime along with 19 other production companies that made up StudioExpand with Ellipsanime cutting down their annual series output.[5]
On July 22, 2003, Ellipsanime announced that their previous parent companyStudioCanal under their division StudioExpand had sold their animation production subsidiary Ellipsanime to French media entertainment conglomerateMédia-Participations and their French-Belgian publishing companyDargaud, thrus marking Dargaud assuming ownership all of Ellipsanime's production activities and gave Dargaud another animation production studio with Ellipsanime's animated production portfolio joining Dargaud's own animation production portfolio as Dargaud's other animation and production unitDargaud Marina became the largest animation production studio in France.[6][7]
In January 2014, Ellipsanime announced that under the Paris bankruptcy court they've acquired the assets of French animation and production groupMoonScoop which went into bankruptcy administration back in July 2013 with Ellipsanime retaining two of MoonScoop's then-remaining employees and taken over MoonScoop's production library under Dargaud's international distribution division Mediatoon Distribution except their American division which was spliten.[8]
In October 2017, Ellipsanime announced that they had partnered with independent game publishing and digital entertainment companyAnkama to launch a joint venture 2D animation production studio based in Roubaix, Hauts-de-France named MadLab Animations to handle the two animation studios' own production services.[9]
In June 2022 during the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Ellipsanime Productions alongside their parent company Dargaud and its ownerMedia Participations announced that they were bringing their French animation production labels (which were Ellipsanime Productions,Dargaud Media andDupuis Edition & Audiovisuel) under one umbrella group named Ellipse Animation, returning to the Ellipse Animation name after 24 years with Ellipsanime Productions being placed under Ellipse Animation as their production label.[10]
In January 2024, Ellipsanime Productions's parent company Ellipse Animation announced that they have acquired a majority stake in Milan-based Italian production company Studio Campedelli, expanding Ellipse Animation's production activities for the first time and their first expansion into the Italian animation production services with Studio Campedelli being placed under Ellipse Animation as their own subsidiary with Studio Campedelli CEOs Anne-Sophie Vanhollebeke and Valeria Brambilla continued leading the Italian animation studio under Ellipse giving them an Italian animation production company outside of France.[11] A week later in that same month, Ellipse Animation announced that they've expanded their operations into webtoons by launching a production division dedicated to animated series based on digital comics and will sit under Ellipse Animation's own animation production studio Ellipse Studio Angoulême.[12]
| Title | Years | Network | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zorro | 1990–1993 | The Family Channel | co-production withNew World Television, Zorro Productions and Goodman/Rosen Productions |
| Doug | 1991–1994 | Nickelodeon | co-production withGames Animation andJumbo Pictures continued and owned byDisney Television Animation |
| The Adventures of Tintin | 1991–1992 | France 3 Global Television Network (Canada) | co-production withNelvana |
| The Neverending Story | 1995 | HBO (United States) Family Channel (Canada) | co-production withNelvana andCineVox |
| Blazing Dragons | 1996–1998 | Canal+/France 3/M6 Teletoon (Canada) CITV (United Kingdom) | co-production withNelvana andCarlton Television |
| Blake and Mortimer | 1997 | Canal+ | co-production withDargaud Films and Cactus Animation |
| Fennec | 1997–1998 | France 3 | co-production with Cactus Animation and Motion International |
| Bob Morane[13] | 1998 | Canal+ Super Écran (Canada) | co-production with Cactus Animation |
| Pirate Family | 1999–2004 | France 3 Radio-Canada (Canada) | |
| Kong: The Animated Series | 2000–2001 | M6 | co-production withBKN International |
| Nick & Perry | M6 Kika (Germany) | co-production with Victory Media Group | |
| Babar[14] | 2001 | France 3 TVOntario (Canada) | co-production withNelvana andKodansha |
| The Funny Little Bugs[15] | 2001 | France 3 | |
| Xcalibur | 2001–2002 | Canal+ France 2 YTV (Canada) | co-production withTVA International (episodes 1–25) andTooncan Productions (episodes 26–40) |
| Agrilppine | 2001 | Canal+ | |
| Corto Maltese | 2002 | Canal+/France 2 Rai 3 (Italy) | co-production withRai Fiction and Pomalux |
| The Frog Show | 2003–2005 | M6 | co-production with D'Ocon Films and Agogo |
| Potlach | 2006 | France 3 | co-production withRai Fiction |
| Miss BG[16] | 2005–2006 | France 5 Tiji TVOntario (Canada) | co-production withBreakthrough Films & Television andDef2shoot |
| The Magic Roundabout[17][18][19] | 2007–2009 | M6 Playhouse Disney France Nick Jr. (United Kingdom) | co-production with Films Action and Play Production |
| Inami[20] | 2007–2008 | TF1 | co-production with Seahorse Animation |
| Bird Squad[21] | 2008–2009 | Rai 2 (Italy) | co-production with Toposodo, Araneo andRai Fiction |
| Taratabong[22][23] | 2009 | Rai 3 | co-production with Toposodo andRai Fiction |
| Chumballs | France 5 | co-production with Les Films de la Perrine | |
| Contraptus[24] | 2009–2010 | Canal J Gulli | co-production withLe Lombard |
| The Jungle Book[25] | 2010–2020 | TF1/Piwi+ Nickelodeon India (India) ZDF (Germany) | inherited fromMoonScoop co-production with Les Cartooneurs Associés, DQ Entertainment and ZDF Enterprises |
| Chicken Town[26][27] | 2011 | Canal+ Family OCS | co-production with 1st Day Studios and Araneo Based on the short of the same name byKlasky Csupo |
| Kinky and Cosy | 2015 | OCS | co-production with Belvision |
| Boule et Bill | 2016–2018 | France 3/Piwi+ RTBF (Belgium) | co-production withDargaud Media and Belvision |
| The Fox/Badger Family | 2018–2022 | France 5 | co-production with Dargaud Media and Philm CGI |
| Kid Lucky[28] | 2020 | M6 Rai Gulp (Italy) | co-production withDargaud Media, Belvision andRai Ragazzi |
| The Smurfs[29] | 2021–present | TF1 La Trois (Belgium) Ketnet (Netherlands) Nickelodeon (International) | co-production withDupuis Edition & Audiovisuel and Peyo Productions season 3 onwards |
| Living with Dad[30] | 2022–present | M6 Canal J Gulli La Trois | co-production withDupuis Edition & Audiovisuel and Belvision Based on the comic book seriesDad by Nob |
