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Disney Animation Australia (DAA), also Disneytoon Studios Australia, was a Disney animation studio located in Sydney, Australia.

History[]

In 1988, Taft-Hardie, an Australian joint-venture of Hanna-Barbera Productions who owned an animation studio in St. Leonards, Sydney, was purchased in a management buyout and re-incorporated as Southern Star Productions. Southern Star had very little interest to continue production of animated programming, so they decided sold the studio to The Walt Disney Company in the same year.

With the former Hanna-Barbera studio in their hands, Disney opened up Walt Disney Animation Australia that year. Initially, Animation Australia worked on various television shows, including The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Bonkers, Aladdin, Timon & Pumbaa, Jungle Cubs, and Quack Pack (originally as Duck Daze). As staffing increased, the studio moved to Castlereagh Street.

Disney began producing direct-to-video sequels of its Feature Animation productions, the first of which was the Aladdin sequel The Return of Jafar. When Aladdin was selected as a possible candidate as an animated TV series (before the film's release), as with many animated series, the first three episodes were one multi-part story which Disney used as a potential 'family movie special' for the Friday night before the series' premiere. With work handed out to the Australia animation studio, the opening story was instead greenlit for a direct-to-video release. Thus with "Jafar" and its success, the direct-to-video unit started. A second sequel, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, provided work to both the Australia and Japanese animation units. The studio also provided animation for the theatrical film A Goofy Movie, in conjunction with Walt Disney Animation France.

Walt Disney Australia's expertise was attention to facial expressions and emotion opposed to action scenes. As a result, often on direct-to-video Disney films, Walt Disney Australia would be used for the comedic scenes and Walt Disney Japan would be used for the action sequences.

Australia was assigned additional film sequels: The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, An Extremely Goofy Movie, and Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure. The company's first feature film was Return to Never Land in 2002 grossing over $100 million worldwide at the box office. In 2005, the studio produced three animated movies: Tarzan II, Lilo & Stitch II and Bambi II.

Walt Disney Animation Australia (then commonly-referred to as Disneytoon Studios Australia) was closed in mid-2006 after finishing Brother Bear 2 and Cinderella III. It was the last of the overseas Disney animation studios to close, as the French, Canadian and Japanese studios had already closed by then.

Filmography[]

Films[]

Television[]

Television specials[]

Shorts[]


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The Walt Disney Studios logo
Motion Pictures Production
Walt Disney PicturesWalt Disney Animation StudiosPixarMarvel StudiosLucasfilmDisneynature20th Century Studios20th Century AnimationSearchlight PicturesStar Studios (Indian Independence films) • Blue Sky StudiosFox 2000 Pictures20th Digital StudioWalt Disney Animation FranceWalt Disney Animation CanadaWalt Disney Animation JapanWalt Disney Animation FloridaWalt Disney Animation AustraliaTouchstone PicturesDisneytoon StudiosDIC Entertainment L.P. (Limited Partnership)Dimension FilmsCircle Seven AnimationImageMovers Digital Hollywood Pictures Miramax FilmsPixar CanadaWalt Disney Productions
Distribution Labels
Walt Disney Studios Motion PicturesSearchlight Pictures (United States only) • Buena Vista International (European Independence films) • Star Distribution (Latin American Independence films)
Studio Lots
Walt Disney Studios Burbank Studio Lot • Golden Oak Ranch • The Prospect Studios • Disney Studios Australia
Former Studios
Skellington ProductionsCaravan Pictures
Former Distribution Brands
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution (1956-2007) • UTV Motion Pictures (2013-2017, India) • Miramax Films (1993-2010) • 20th Century Fox (2019-2020)
Current Figures
Bob IgerJennifer LeePete DocterKevin FeigeKathleen Kennedy
Former Figures
Michael EisnerJeffrey KatzenbergJohn LasseterEd CatmullBob ChapekSean BaileyChristine McCarthy
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