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Sparx* Studios (stylized as SPARX*) is a French-Vietnamese animation studio. Originally founded as Sparx Animation Studios in 1995, it initially worked primarily on animated feature films. In 2011, Virtuos purchased the company and reopened in Ho Chi Minh City the same year. The current incarnation of the company primarily works on animation for video games as well as VFX work for feature films.
| Formerly | Sparx Animation Studios (1995–2011) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Animation Video games |
| Founded | June 23, 1995 |
| Founder | Jean Christophe Bernard Guillaume Hellouin Fabrice Giger Didier Montarou |
| Headquarters | |
Key people | Renaud Biscarrat (Chief Executive Officer/President) Samuel Stevenin (General Manager) |
| Owner | Virtuos |
Number of employees | 400+ |
| Website | sparx.com |
History
editSparx* Animation Studios was founded in 1995 and opened in 2002, by Jean-Christophe Bernard, Guillaume Hellouin and Fabrice Giger. They worked on Rolie Polie Olie with Nelvana and which won a Daytime Emmy Award and another Gemini Award for 'Outstanding Special Class Animated Program'.
The company produced the fully computer-animated movie Igor, starring John Cusack and Molly Shannon which was released on September 19, 2008 to mixed reviews and commercial success. They also worked on the last 3 seasons of Star Wars Rebels.
The company would go on a downward spiral in later years, closing down its Paris office in 2008[1] as well as their American and Vietnamese officies in 2010, leaving only the Shanghai offices open. In 2011, Virtuos acquired the company and reopened the Ho Chi Minh City offices the same year.[2]
Film contributions
edit| Title | Type | Release Date | Publisher | ||
| Pierre et le loup | Shorts and Music Videos | 1995 | Canal+ | ||
| Bob & Scott | TV series | 1996 | - | ||
| My Life in Pink | Feature Film | 1997 | La Sept Cinéma | ||
| Rolie Polie Olie (Seasons 1–5) | TV series | 1998 | Nelvana | ||
| Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom | TV series | 2009 | Astley Baker Davies | - | |
| Smart Planet Advance | TV series | 1999-2000 | TPS Animation Studios | - | |
| À deux sur la comète | TV series | 2000 | - | ||
| Bella ciao | - | 2001 | - | ||
| Changing Faces: The Best of Louise | - | 2001 | - | ||
| Grégoire Moulin contre l'humanité | Feature Film | 2001 | Centre Européen Cinématographique Rhône-Alpes | ||
| Jerry | Short Film | 2001 | - | ||
| Le nouveau big bang | Short Film | 2001 | - | ||
| Molly, Star-Racer | TV series | 2001 | Sav! The World Productions | ||
| Purgatoire | TV series | 2001 | - | ||
| R. Mertonensis | TV series | 2001 | C.R.R.A.V | ||
| Thomas in Love | Feature Film | 2001 | JBA Production | - | |
| Robota | Short Film | 2019 | - | ||
| Les filles, l'âne et les boeufs | TV series | 2002 | Centre National du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée | - | |
| Rolie Polie Olie: The Great Defender of Fun | TV series | 2002 | Nelvana | - | |
| The World of Happy Planet | TV series | 2002-03 | EnSky Studios | - | |
| Youri, the Spaceman | Shorts | 2002 | Sparkling | ||
| Dragon Hunters | Short Film | 2003 | - | ||
| Drawing Time with Happy Planet | Video series | 2003 | EnSky Studios | ||
| Summer in the Golden Valley | Feature Film | 2003 | - | ||
| Move with Mimik | Video series | 2003-04 | EnSky Studios | ||
| Around The World with Happy Planet | Video series | 2003-04 | EnSky Studios | ||
| Move and Learn with Happy Planet | Video series | 2003-04 | EnSky Studios | ||
| Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot | DTV Productions | 2004 | Nelvana | ||
| Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas | DTV Productions | 2004 | Walt Disney Pictures | - | |
| Grand Odyssey | Short Film | 2005 | - | ||
| Zoé Kezako | TV series | 2006-2014 | Sparkling | ||
| Argai | Short Film | 2006 | - | ||
| Bedtime Stories | Short Film | 2006 | - | ||
| Gazoon | TV series | 2007 | Sparkling | ||
| Igor | Animated Feature Film | 2008 | Exodus Productions | - | |
| The Avengers | Feature Film | 2012 | Marvel Studios | - | |
| Elmo's Alphabet Challenge | DTV Productions | 2012 | Sesame Workshop | ||
| Fanboy & Chum Chum | TV series | 2013-2014 | Frederator Studios and Sony Pictures Television | for the third season, "Sleepless in West Apetown", "Snowy Mart" "Escape from Camp Catastrophe", "Not So Levitation", and "Conjurer in the Rough" | - |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Feature Film | 2014 | Paramount Pictures | ||
| Zorro: The Chronicles | TV series | 2014 | Cyber Group Studios | ||
| Avengers: Age of Ultron | Feature Film | 2015 | Marvel Studios | ||
| Jurassic World | Feature Film | 2015 | Universal Pictures | ||
| Star Wars: The Force Awakens | Feature Film | 2015 | Lucasfilm | ||
| Star Wars: Rebels (Starting from Season 2) | TV series | 2015–18 | Lucasfilm Animation | ||
| Captain America: Civil War | Feature Film | 2016 | Marvel Studios | ||
| Rogue One: A Star Wars Story | Feature Film | 2016 | Lucasfilm | ||
| Warcraft | Feature Film | 2016 | Universal Pictures | ||
| Kong: Skull Island | Feature Film | 2017 | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| Star Wars: The Last Jedi | Feature Film | 2017 | Lucasfilm | ||
| Transformers: The Last Knight | Feature Film | 2017 | Paramount Pictures | ||
| Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets | Feature Film | 2017 | STXfilms | ||
| Aquaman | Feature Film | 2018 | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| Avengers: Infinity War | Feature Film | 2018 | Marvel Studios | ||
| Black Panther | Feature Film | 2018 | Marvel Studios | ||
| Bumblebee | Feature Film | 2018 | Paramount Pictures | - | |
| Ready Player One | Feature Film | 2018 | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| Solo: A Star Wars Story | Feature Film | 2018 | Lucasfilm | - | |
| Aladdin | Feature Film | 2019 | Walt Disney Pictures | ||
| Captain Marvel | Feature Film | 2019 | Marvel Studios | - | |
| The Addams Family | Animated Feature Film | 2019 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | ||
| Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker | Feature Film | 2019 | Lucasfilm | ||
| Vic & The Magic Sword | Animated Feature Film | 2019 | Studio 100 Animation | ||
| The Mandalorian (Season 1 & 2) | TV series | 2019-20 | Industrial Light & Magic | ||
| Alien Worlds | TV series | 2020 | Framestore | ||
| Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous | TV series | 2020 | Netflix | ||
| Puppy Dog Pals | TV series | 2020 | Rainbow CGI | ||
| Space Jam: A New Legacy | Feature Film | 2021 | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| The Addams Family 2 | Animated Feature Film | 2021 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | ||
| Rumble | Animated Feature Film | 2021 | Paramount Animation | ||
| Sing 2 | Animated Feature Film | 2021 | Universal Pictures | ||
| Minions: The Rise of Gru | Animated Feature Film | 2022 | Universal Pictures |
Game Contributions
edit| Title | Platform(s) | Release Date | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|
| League of Legends | PC | - | Riot Games |
| Smite | PC | - | Hi-Rez Studios |
| Fallout 4 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC | 2015 | Bethesda Softworks |
| Deus Ex: Mankind Divided | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC | 2016 | Eidos-Montréal |
| Farming Simulator | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC | 2016 | Giants Software |
| Killer Instinct 3 | Xbox One, PC | 2016 | - |
| Forza Motorsport 7 | Xbox One, PC | 2017 | Turn 10 Studios |
| NBA 2K18 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC | 2017 | 2K |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC | 2018 | Treyarch |
| Detroit: Become Human | PlayStation 4, PC | 2018 | Quantic Dream |
| The Elder Scroll Online: Summerset | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC | 2018 | Bethesda Softworks |
| Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition | PC | 2019 | Microsoft |
| Borderlands 3 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC | 2019 | 2K |
| Planet Zoo | PC | 2019 | Frontier Developments |
| Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC | 2019 | Respawn Entertainment |
| The Outer Worlds | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch | 2019 | Obsidian Entertainment |
| Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series | Oculus Quest, Microsoft Windows | 2019 | ILMxLab |
| The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC | 2020 | Supermassive Games |
| Demon's Souls | PlayStation 5 | 2020 | Japan Studio |
| Grounded | Xbox, PC | 2020 | Obsidian Entertainment |
| Legends of Runeterra | PC, Apple Store, Google Store | 2020 | Riot Games |
| Marvel's Avengers | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC | 2020 | Crystal Dynamics |
| Microsoft Flight Simulator | PC | 2020 | Asobo Studio |
| Ride 4 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC | 2020 | Milestone |
| Rocket Arena | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC | 2020 | Final Strike Games |
| Star Shaman | Oculus Rift | 2020 | Ikimasho |
| Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge | Oculus Quest | 2020 | ILMxLab |
| Tell Me Why | Xbox, PC | 2020 | Dontnod Entertainment |
| Valorant | PC | 2020 | Riot Games |
| SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake | Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One | 2023 | Purple Lamp |
Commercials
edit| Brand | Product Name | Year |
|---|---|---|
| TF! | Soccer ID | 1997 |
| France 5 | Les Zouzous | 1999 |
| Eurosport | Euro 2000 | 2000 |
| Télétoon | Télétoon Advance | 2000 |
| 13th Street | Reface | 2001 |
| France 3 | T O 3 | 2002 |
| Piwi | Les Vacances de Piwi | 2003 |
| Pepsi | Rapido In the hit TV Show, RATZ | 2005 |
| Pepto Bismol | Eating Much Sweets | 2007 |
| Mountain Dew | Baja Blast | 2009 |
| 7-Up | Razmo In the Hit TV Show, RATZ | 2010 |
| Snuggie | Being Bored | 2017 |
References
edit- ^ Child, Ben (November 19, 2008). "Credit crunch forces animation studio to close Paris base". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
- ^ Arrant, Chris (September 15, 2011). "Virtuos Acquires "Igor" Animation Company Sparx*". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved August 22, 2024.