Ellipse Programmé

Ellipsanime Productions (formerly known as Le Studio Ellipse and Ellipse Programme) is a French animation studio that produces television programs. It was founded in 1987. In February 2000 it merged with Expand SA; Expand sold the company to Dargaud in 2003, and it became Ellipsanime in 2004. In 2014, Ellipsanime bought the assets of Moonscoop SA.

Ellipse has worked with many other animation companies, with the most reputable being Nelvana and Nickelodeon. Ellipse was best known in North America for co-producing seasons 2-4 of Nickelodeon's '' Doug''; it did not return to the series after The Walt Disney Company bought the ''Doug'' intellectual property and Jumbo Pictures.

On the occasion of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2022, the Média-Participations group announced the creation of an umbrella brand Ellipse Animation which brings together its production labels in France Ellipsanime Productions, Dargaud Media and Dupuis Edition & Audiovisual.

History

In 1987, the company was founded by Philippe Gildas and Robert Réa under the name ''Ellipse Programme'' with Canal+ as their first owner. Three years later in 1990, Ellipse Programme entered the animation production genre by launching their own animation division.

In 1997, Ellipse Programme had merged together their animation production subsidiaries which were Ellipse Animation, Alya Animation, Elma Animation and Studio Ellipse into one animation production division under the name of Ellipse Animation.

In February 2000, Canal+ announced that they've merged their subsidiary Ellipse Programme with French television production outfit Expand Images into one group under the Expand name with Ellipse Programme becoming Expand Group's own division alongside Canal+ holding a 35% stake in the Expand Group.

In January 2003, Ellipsanime had announced that they were shutting down their executive production facility Ellipse Studio and had absorbed most of their studio's production activity including their storyboarding and 3-D rendering work under the main animation production company. A month later in February of that same year, Ellipsanime's then parent company Canal+ Group and its film production and distribution company StudioCanal under their subsidiary StudioExpand announced that they were planning to sell their animation studio Ellipsanime along with 19 other production companies that made up StudioExpand with Ellipsanime cutting down their annual series output.

On July 22, 2003, it was announced that French media entertainment conglomerate Média-Participations alongside their French publishing house Dargaud had brought Ellipsanime from its previous parent company Canal+ through their division StudioExpand, the acquisition gave both Dargaud and its parent Média-Participations and another animation production studio with Dargaud assuming all ownership of Ellipsanime's production activities alongside its animated programming portfolio which joined Dargaud's own largest animation and production division Dargaud Marina with its distribution division Dargaud Distribution (now Mediatoon Distribution) taking over Ellipsanime's production library along with their future projects.

In January 2011, Ellipsanime was planning to produce a new adaptation of the French/Belgian comic book series Cubitis with Média-Participations another animation production studio Storimages according to Ellipsanime's former website with the titular character being placed onto the background of another show ''The Garfield Show'' with him doing the video but the two companies since then had no plans to produce the new adaptation of Cubitis.

In January 2014, Ellipsanime announced that under the Paris bankruptcy court they've acquired the assets of French animation and production group MoonScoop which went into bankruptcy administration back in July 2013 with Ellipsanime retaining two of MoonScoop's then-remaining employees and taken over MoonScoop's production library under Dargaud's international distribution division Mediatoon Distribution except their American division which was spliten.

In October 2017, Ellipsanime announced that they had partnered with independent game publishing and digital entertainment company Ankama to launch a joint venture 2D animation production studio based in Roubaix, Hauts-de-France named MadLab Animations to handle the two animation studios' own production services.

In December 2019, following the departure of Média-Participations' previous CEO & president of its animation production companies and their Paris and Angoulême-based animation production studio Ellipse Studio Maïa Tubiana back in September of that same year, Ellipsanime Productions's parent company Média-Participations announced that they've hired Caroline Duvochel as their new CEO of Média-Participations' animation production activities namely Ellipsanime Productions along with its Paris-based in-house animation production studio Ellipse Studio alongside their Angoulême-based animation production service division Ellipse Studio Angoulême, Dargaud Media and French/Belgian audiovisuel production company Dupuis Edition & Audiovisuel. Former Tele Images Productions & Zodiak Kids director of animation productions and former Watch Next Media studio director Jules Garcia became Ellipsanime Productions's in-house animation division Ellipse Studio's newly created position of directors

In May 2021, Ellipsanime Productions's parent company Média-Participations announced that they've hired former Cyber Group Studios executive Caroline Audebert as their deputy head of Média-Participations' new division Média-Participations Development and Innovation which was being headed by Julien Papelier with Caroline Audebert overseeing Média-Participations' own animation production subsidiaries including Ellipsanime Productions alongside their in-house Paris and Angoulême-based animation production studio division Ellipse Studio, Dargaud Media and French/Belgian audiovisuel production company Dupuis Edition & Audiovisuel.

In June 2022 during the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Ellipsanime Productions alongside their parent company Dargaud and its owner Media Participations announced that they were bringing their French animation production labels (which were Ellipsanime Productions & their in-house Paris and Angoulême-based animation production division Ellipse Studio, Dargaud Media, French/Belgian audiovisuel production company Dupuis Edition & Audiovisuel and Les Cartooneurs Associés) under one umbrella group named Ellipse Animation, returning to the Ellipse Animation name after 24 years with Ellipsanime Productions being placed under Ellipse Animation as their production label.

In January 2024, Ellipsanime Productions's parent company Ellipse Animation announced that they have acquired a majority stake in Milan-based Italian production company Studio Campedelli, expanding Ellipse Animation's production activities for the first time and their first expansion into the Italian animation production services with Studio Campedelli being placed under Ellipse Animation as their own subsidiary with Studio Campedelli CEOs Anne-Sophie Vanhollebeke and Valeria Brambilla continued leading the Italian animation studio under Ellipse giving them an Italian animation production company outside of France. A week later in that same month, Ellipse Animation announced that they've expanded their operations into webtoons by launching a production division dedicated to animated series based on digital comics and will sit under Ellipse Animation's own animation production studio Ellipse Studio Angoulême.

Filmography

TV series

Films

Films, TV shows, and specials

* ''Akissi''
* ''Aliens Love Underpants''
* ''Alta Donna''
* ''Dream Land''
* ''Sullivan'' (a.k.a. ''Clorophylle'')
* ''The Marsupilamis''
* ''The Garfield Show''
* ''Trotro and Zaza''
* ''Yummy Toonies'' (a.k.a. ''Petit Creux'')
* ''Wonder Wai''

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellipse Programme
French animation studios
Mass media companies established in 1987
Television production companies of France
2003 mergers and acquisitions
Dargaud