Warner Animation Group

The Warner Animation Group (WAG) is the feature animation division of Warner Bros. Animation, established in January 2013. The studio is the successor to traditional-animation department Warner Bros. Feature Animation. Its first film The Lego Movie was released on February 7, 2014, and its latest release was Smallfoot on September 28, 2018 with its next release being The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part on February 8, 2019.

History
In January 2013, Jeff Robinov (then head of the studio's motion picture division) founded a screenplay development department, nicknamed a "think tank" for developing theatrical animated films, known as the Warner Animation Group. The group includes John Requa, Glenn Ficarra, Nicholas Stoller, Jared Stern, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Warner Bros. created the group with the hope that the box office reception of their films will be competitive with other animation studios' releases. The group is reportedly somewhat similar to Pixar Animation Studios' "brain trust" in terms of how its members consult with one another and give feedback on each other's projects.

On February 7, 2014, Warner Animation Group released their first film, The Lego Movie, a film animated by Animal Logic. It was met with positive reviews and proved to be a box office success.

On January 7, 2013, Warner Animation Group announced their second film, Storks, which was originally scheduled for a 2015 release, but was pushed to September 23, 2016. On the same day, they announced their third film, Smallfoot, which was originally scheduled for release in 2016, but was later moved to September 28, 2018. Storks was animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks and was met with mixed reviews from critics. Smallfoot received generally positive reviews from critics and has grossed $110 million worldwide so far.

On February 7, 2014, the same day The Lego Movie was released, it was reported that Jared Stern and Michelle Morgan were hired to write The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. The sequel was announced to be released on May 26, 2017, but later that year, it was reported that a spin-off film featuring Batman from The Lego Movie might take the sequel's release date, pushing the sequel to May 18, 2018. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller returned to script and co-direct the sequel. Rob Schrab was set to direct the film, but was later replaced by Mike Mitchell due to "creative differences". On June 2016, the release date was pushed to February 8, 2019.

On February 10, 2017, Warner Bros. released The Lego Batman Movie, which received positive reviews from critics.

The Lego Ninjago Movie, based on the Lego Ninjago theme of Lego toys, was released September 22, 2017. Upon release, the film was met with mixed reviews from critics and failed to recoup its budget, making it the first Warner Animation Group film to do so.

Upcoming projects
On March 27, 2015, it was reported that Jason Segel and Drew Pearce was going to co-direct and write a script to a new "Lego Movie" spin-off named The Billion Brick Race.

Other WAG films announced are based on Speedy Gonzales and Bone.

In late September 2015, it was reported that Warner Bros. and Warner Animation Group were working on an animated musical called Meet The Beatles based on The Beatles, the film is to be directed by Paul King, who directed Paddington.

In March 2016, Warner Bros. announced plans for a shared universe of animated films based on various Hanna-Barbera characters, starting with a reboot of the Scooby-Doo film series, originally scheduled for September 21, 2018 in the United States. In May 2017, Warner Bros. announced that the film, titled Scooby, to be directed by Tony Cervone and Dax Shepard, would be released May 15, 2020. In October 2018, it was announced that the film is now set to be released in the first quarter of 2020. Another film part of this universe will be based on The Jetsons, with Conrad Vernon set to direct, and Matt Lieberman writing the screenplay. Plus a Flintstones, and a Wacky Races movie are in development.

On January 24, 2018, it was announced that an animated Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat film was in development as part of a creative partnership with Seuss Enterprises.

On May 23, 2018, it was announced that WAG will produce an animated adaptation of The Ice Dragon, a children's fantasy book by George R. R. Martin. Martin will produce and possibly write the script for the film.

On July 12, 2018, it was announced that WAG will produce an animated movie about Toto from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The new film will be based on the children’s book Toto: The Dog-Gone Amazing Story of The Wizard of Oz.

On August 29, 2018, Warner Bros. is developing Coyote Vs. Acme as a Wile E. Coyote animated movie with The Lego Batman Movie director Chris McKay on board to produce.

In October 2018, it was announced that a Tom and Jerry live action/animated movie was in development, and would start shooting the live action segments in 2019.

Process
Following in a similar fashion to other animation studios like Sony Pictures Animation and Paramount Animation, the studio outsources their animated films to different animation and visual effects studios. This would include Animal Logic (The Lego Movie franchise, the upcoming Bone film), Sony Pictures Imageworks (Storks, Smallfoot), and Reel FX Creative Studios (the upcoming Scooby film).

The studio is planning to push for more films that feature both animation and live-action, with Space Jam 2 and Tom and Jerry starting out this tactic.

The budget for their films usually range between $60–80 million dollars.

Films in development

 * Combines live-action with animation.