Top 10 Best Animation Studios

The Top Ten
1 Pixar Pixar, also referred to as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California that is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the Lucasfilm computer division, before its spin-out as a corporation... read more

I like Disney, I like Dreamworks, but I love Pixar.

Pixar, for me, is just a master of original stories.

Disney leans heavily on story adaptations especially fairy tales with some original stories here and there (like Brother Bear, Zootopia, Home on the Range, Dinosaurs, The Emperor's New Groove) that are just hit and miss.

Dreamworks just doesn't have a consistent image. Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon, then there's Home, Shark Tale, Boss Baby, Shrek 3, Bee Movie... You just can't have any clear expectation from Dreamworks, and that is bad.

Pixar however is different. Whatever they come up with will be marked with high, or at least moderate, expectations. Even Cars 2. And I don't even think that Cars 2 is that bad, especially if you compare it to the wreck that other companies have made. And that put Pixar above other else.

2 Walt Disney Animation Studios The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney, is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.

Disney animation studios has been gaining momentum since they released Bolt, This was followed by a stream of new hits including The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Winnie the Pooh, Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, and most recently Big Hero 6. Disney doesn't need Pixar to keep the brand alive anymore because their own animation studios have just entered what many animation fans are calling the new Disney Renascence. We just have to hope Zootopia, Moana, Giants, and Frozen 2 keep the studio producing new and fresh material to entertain and endear people just as much as their golden era and renascence period films.

3 DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a division of Comcast... read more

Only a bunch of complete butthurt Chris Chan-caliber mantoddlers such as Alexis Martinez Jr. and Zander Bird would be stupid enough to call crappy Pixar sequels such as Cars 2, Finding Dory, Incredibles 2, and Toy Story 4 any better than actual works of cinema such as Shrek 2, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and both How to Train Your Dragon sequels. And don't even think about trying to suggest that derivative mediocrities such as Brave, The Good Dinosaur, Onward, Turning Red, Lightyear, and Elemental are any better than those awesome DreamWorks sequels either (they're not).

4 Studio Ghibli Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation film studio founded in 1985. The studio is best known for its animated feature films, and has also created several short subjects, television commercials, and 1 television film. This studio even released the iconic anime film "Spirited Away" in 2001.

I was only introduced to their work in 5th grade but man this studio is amazing. I can even compare their quality to that of Disney but at the same time I cannot. Ghibli does their own thing and their aura is a unique one that while it can compete with Disney's aura and quality it is still much irreplaceable. Not only that but the animation to all of their works I've seen is gorgeous, probably the best that I've ever seen (sorry Disney and Pixar) and easily the most defining trait of their films, but their movies also have relatable characters and well-written plots. Yeah apparently people consider it the Disney Studios of Japan but I honestly don't care because both animation companies are absolutely wonderful.

Also why the heck is DreamWorks ahead of these guys? Yeah DreamWorks has some good films but oi their history is a gruesome and complicated one indeed.

5 Fox Animation Studios

This is the home of many beloved sitcoms such as The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Futurama, American Dad, Family Guy and it's spinoff The Cleveland Show. It's also home to the Ice Age movies, Rio and The Simpsons Movie.

The Simpsons have been on the air for like 24 years and counting. That alone makes Fox worthy of #1 and I haven't even mentioned Futurama and Family Guy.

Fox has such iconic sitcom families like the Simpsons, the Flanders, the Wiggums, the Griffins and the Hills among others.

6 Hanna-Barbera Productions Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc., was an American animation studio that dominated American television animation for three decades in the mid-to-late 20th century, founded in 1957 by former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and live-action director George Sidney... read more

They have more iconic characters than any other animation studios. About 8 of their cartoon characters would make the top twenty list; Scooby-Doo, Fred Flintstone, Tom & Jerry, Yogi Bear, any of the Smurfs, George Jetson, and many others. I think this should be #2; right behind Disney.
P.S. I never really liked Disney anyways.

The animation is so slick it's rivaled only by one guy. The legendary Tex Avery

This is the home of Flintstones, Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, Top Cat, Huckleberry Hound, Tom & Jerry and Wacky Races.

7 Nickelodeon Animation Studio

They gave us Rocko, SpongeBob, Invader Zim AND Avatar. How could you NOT love at least one of those four shows?

This studio deserves higher because of SpongeBob. Band Geeks, Chocolate With Nuts, Pizza Delivery, The Camping Episode, Frankendoodle, Graveyard Shift such as the classics!

Because of Avatar and spongebob I think this should be higher. Like 6

8 Blue Sky Studios Blue Sky Studios was an American computer animation film studio based in Greenwich, Connecticut that has been owned by 20th Century Fox since 1997. The studio was founded in 1987 by Chris Wedge, Michael Ferraro, Carl Ludwig, Alison Brown, David Brown, and Eugene Troubetzkoy after the company they worked... read more

This is the #2 best animation studio after Disney, Whoever works for this masterpiece of a studio is a genius in several ways possible, Their films are SO original! Ice Age was so original in 2002, Robots is ALSO original, Considering Robots was made BEFORE WALL-E! It's also a shame Video Brinquedo had to ruin it with their lack of originality. Horton Hears a Who CGI film was also original, along with the super original Rio, Good luck with Epic, Blue Sky! I hope it's as good as your other films, All and all, Blue Sky is WAY better than Dreamworks and Pixar combined (my opinion) I hope anyone else agress with me!

9 Aardman

This studio was very underrated but I wish Aardman has another Aardman branch at the US instead of just one studio in Bristol, England. This studio was well-known for making such unique stop-motion animation and it's iconic characters like Wallace and Gromit, Shaun The Sheep, and others. And speaking of movies, Early Man will come out this 2018 and I hope it was good.

When it comes to quality stop motion animation, Aardman is superior to the style. In fact Aardman is probably the greatest animation studio regardless.

10 Illumination Entertainment

I know this studio has to pay their dues like Pixar and DreamWorks have, and those studios deserve their perches. But I can see Illumination pouncing on them from behind, especially if they continue to make characters and stories as colorful and creative as The Lorax and Despicable Me. One of their greatest strengths is making characters that appeal to everyone. The character of Gru is truly lovable and relatable to all ages, and the Lorax himself was really a tribute to the work of Seuss. I love the work this studio has done and am so looking forward to their future ventures. Currently I feel they're severely underrated.

The Contenders
11 Warner Bros. Animation

They made Iron Giant and all the DC Animated films. Enough said here.

12 Cartoon Network Studios

Its one of the most watched channels this year and last year than nick.

13 Paramount Animation

To be honest, I think this animation studio is better than Disney Animation Studios. Also this studio puts a lot of effort in their animation. Also the storylines and plots are actually original unlike some other animation studios.

VeggieTales is an Japanese Anime for Tokyo B.I. - Big Idea Limited (Tokyo, Japan) and other anime programming from 20th Century Fox Animation which turned owned by Paramount Animation, a division of Paramount Pictures owned by Viacom

14 Warner Animation Group

The have make masterpieces like The Iron Giant, Batman The Mask of the Phantom, Osmosis Jones, Cats don't Dance and Quest for Camelot. Its kinda sad that almost everyone have forgotten this awesome movies that easily compete with another films of Disney or Fox in terms of quality and originality.

They made the Lego movie, what else not to like?

15 Madhouse

They are in a next level of traditional animation, handmade. The best animated series (One-Punch Man, Death Note, Claymore) and movies (all Satoshi Kon directed movies) are made by these guys.

Parasyte -the maxim-, No Game No Life, Death Note, what else can I say?

16 Universal Animation Studios

I like Universal everything, it should of at least made it in the top ten. This is ridiculous!

Flippy from HTF, is the #1 mascot for Universal Studios better than Minions, Sing, Woody Woodpecker, The Land Before Time, Secret Life of Pets, Despicable Me, Curious George and Balto.

17 MTV Animation MTV is an American basic cable and satellite television channel which is a part of the "Viacom Music and Entertainment Group" which is the flagship Property of the Viacom Media Networks division of Viacom, of which it is a subsidiary.
18 Laika Laika, LLC is an American stop-motion animation studio specializing in feature films, commercial content for all media, music videos, and short films.

Laika has some of the most original and beautiful films I've ever seen, and I don't feel like they receive enough credit for that. They have kept stop motion a wonderful form of animated art, even though no one else attempts to do it anymore. The people at Laika continue to top themselves every time, with Kubo being one of the best films of 2016. Coraline has always been one of my favorite films of ALL TIME, and when you see how much effort they put into their movies, you realize what an amazing and unique animation studio they are.

19 Sony Pictures Animation

Sony should be WAY higher than Illumination. Both areon average bad companies, but Sony not only has more movies in general, but more GOOD movies overall. Only the Despicable Me trilogy and Lorax were good movies from Illumination, whereas in Sony, I can name at least seven decent movies

I've gained major respect for them ever since they released Spider-Verse. Way better than Illumination Entertainment because of that movie alone.

They've had an equal share of good and bad films. They're okay, but still could improve. The Emoji Movie was a disastrously bad movie.

20 Toei Animation
21 DisneyToon Studios

A Goofy Movie was their only truly great work. Everything else they've done can be forgotten.

Those movies aren't very good. I can't believe Disney Fairies even exists.

The makers of Planes and the tinker Bell Movies with endless sequels.

22 Sunrise
23 Sullivan Bluth Studios
24 Ufotable

Their works on the Fate series and The Garden of Sinners film series are some of their best projects yet. God Eater is pretty decent as well and I expect great things from Ufotable when the new Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel movie trilogy comes out in 2017.

Fight scenes are superb, though the monologues between them can get a bit weird. Take Archer vs Lancer church battle in Fate UBW. The pacing was so weird with all those pauses to talk with each other. They took a 2 minute fight in Deen's movie and created a 10 minute one. But I'm not gonna lie. The animation is the best I have ever scene. Especially Shirou vs the last two antagonists.
While I agree quality outweighs quantity, ufotable has done a small amount of significant anime compared to studios like madhouse, bones, and a-1 pictures (though they have a good reason. Doing many anime at once will kill their budget). Also, non-Type Moon works seem to fair not as well (God Eater was meh and Tales of Zestiria the X wasn't very good at explaining the whole story). But the Fate series and Kara no Kyoukai are beyond amazing. Can't wait for the Heaven's Feel movies.
Overall, ufotable is a very good animation studio that has such beautiful colors and backgrounds along with the amazing fluidity in their animations. I want to see what happens if they pick up a lengthy series, like a popular shounen (one can only dream they pick up Fairy Tail...). Will the quality in animation go down? Or get even better? Only time will tell.

25 Little Animator

An open animation company making quality animations serves a better quality to world

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