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| Formerly | Videocraft International (1960–1968, officially till 1974) Rankin/Bass Productions (1968–1983) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Film |
| Predecessor | Arthur Rankin Jr. Associates |
| Founded | September 14, 1960 |
| Founders | Arthur Rankin Jr. Jules Bass |
| Defunct | March 4, 1987 (37 years ago, company) December 17, 2001 (22 years ago, brand) |
| Fate | Folded into Lorimar-Telepictures |
| Successors | Library: Universal Studios (through DreamWorks Animation via Classic Media) (pre-September 1974) Warner Bros. Discovery (through Telepictures) (post-September 1974) |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
| Products | Television specials Television series Feature films |
| Parent | Tomorrow Entertainment (1971–1974) Telepictures (1983–1987) Lorimar-Telepictures (1987) |
Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usually done in stop motion animation. Rankin/Bass's stop-motion productions are recognizable by their visual style of doll-like characters with spheroid body parts and ubiquitous powdery snow using an animation technique called Animagic.
Nearly all of the studio's animation was outsourced to Japanese animation companies such as Toei Animation, MOM Production, Mushi Productions and Topcraft.[1][2] Rankin/Bass was one of the first western studios to outsource their low-budget animated television and film productions to animation studios in foreign countries; the others that already practiced animation outsourcing include Total Television and King Features Syndicate TV in New York City; and Jay Ward Productions and Hanna-Barbera Productions in Los Angeles, California.
- ^ "The Japanese Studios of Rankin/Bass". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
- ^ Clements, Jonathan; McCarthy, Helen (February 9, 2015). The Anime Encyclopedia, 3rd Revised Edition: A Century of Japanese Animation. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 9781611729092. Retrieved March 17, 2018 – via Google Books.