Method Animation

Method Animation (formerly known as Method Films) is a French animation studio owned by Mediawan through its Kids & Family division founded in 1998 by Aton Soumache. The studio produces CGI and 2D animated shows. It came together in 2014 as the culmination of a merger of Dimitri Rassam's Chapter 2 and Alexis Vonarb's Onyx Films. In 2018, Mediawan (which was founded by Xavier Niel, Matthieu Pigasse and Pierre-Antoine Capton in 2015) obtained a majority stake in Method Animation through its acquisition of ON Kids & Family and ON Entertainment.

History

In 1996 while during the production of Christian Volckman's short Maaz, producer Aton Soumache and Alexis Vonarb launched his own production company dedicated to short films and feature films named Onyx Films.

Two years later in 1998, Aton Soucmache and Alexis Vonarb entered the TV business by launching Method Animation which was known as Method Films at that time.

In December 1999, It was announced that Method Films had teamed up with Paris-based animation studio Millimages to launch a new stop-motion animation joint-venture studio based in Paris which would be named Gimmick. The new animation studio will work on Method Films in-house projects along with Millimages' works and would work on co-productions as well as outside clients such as TV adverts. Their first programme related to the partnership was Skyland.

In August 2006 Method Films and its CG animation production company Onyx Films announced that they've partnered a joint venture with Indian animation and visual effects company DQ Entertainment to produce its feature films.

In late-February 2008, Method Films announced that their Indian animation production partner DQ Entertainment had acquired a 20% stake in French animation studio Method Films, expanding their partnership with them.

In January 2014, Method Animation along with their feature animation subsidiary Onyx Films (including its post-production & CGI feature studio Onyx Lux) and French live-action film production company Chapter 2 announced that they had merged by their founders Aton Soumache and Dimitri Rassam to form a new leading animation and film audiovisual production group named ON Entertainment with the new company launching its focus on their animated series and feature films along with live-action films. Method Animation and it's feature film subsidiary Onyx Films alongside drama film production company Chapter 2 became labels of the new production and audiovisual group as Method Animation became the parent company of ON Entertainment and was placed under the new company's animation label under their ON Kids & Family division with Method's feature film subsidiary Onyx Films moved from the former to become ON's animated feature film division alongside live-action film production house Chapter 2 which became ON's live-action film production label.

In September 2016, Method Animation's parent company ON Entertainment announced that they've established a North American animation studio based in Montréal, Canada named ON Animation Studios Montréal to increase their film production.

In December 2017, it was announced that a European-based French special-acquisition company named Mediawan was in exclusive talks to buy a majority stake of ON Entertainment along with it's animation label Method Animation under the latter's ON Kids & Family division and their live-action film production house Chapter 2 alongside their feature film division ON Animation Studios, their post-production & CGI feature studio Onyx Lux and their Montreal-based feature animation production studio for about €50 million in order for Mediawan to enter the animation and feature film business. A year later in June 2018, Mediawan announced that they've completed their acquisition of a majority stake in ON Entertainment and renamed it ON Kids & Family after their division with Chapter 2 split from ON and moved under Mediawan's portfolio.

In April 2019 one year after Mediawan's acquisition of ON Entertainment and their division ON Kids & Family, ON Kids & Family and their parent company Mediawan announced that they've established a partnership with world-renowned French producer, illustrator and author Joann Sfar to develop the author's works into film and television adaptations with the acquisition of a majority stake in Joann Sfar's animation production company Nice Pictures and had it placed under ON Kids & Family.

In June 2020, ON Kids & Family and its parent company Mediawan announced that they have rebranded their Joann Sfar's Paris-based production company Nice Pictures as their mini-studio renaming it to Magical Society with Veteran animation producer and founder of Method Animation and producer Aton Soumache and award-winning publisher Joann Sfar heading the rebranded company.

In February 2021, ON Kids & Family announced that they've expanded their TV state into preschool television series and has partnered with Chinese toy manufacturer and global media company Alpha Group Co. Ltd to jointly develop ON's first preschool animated series named Petronix Defenders with Alpha Group develop toys made for the show and will distribute the show in Asia-Pacific and MENA while Mediawan's distribution arm Mediawan Rights will distribute the show worldwide elsewhere.

In June 2022, when ON Kids & Family's parent company Mediawan announced that they're bringing all of their kids and family activities and ramping up their youth entertainment content, it was announced that Mediawan had rebranded ON Kids & Family and relaunching it as a new division under the Mediawan name which was renamed Mediawan Kids & Family, marking the end of the ON name after 7 years with Method Animation, Magical Society, ON Animation Studios and ON Classics becoming part of the newly renamed division with the latter two retaining the ON name. Mediawan Kids & Family and their parent company Mediawan also announced that they've launched two new production labels which was traditional animation production studio Somewhere Animation and live-action studio Elliott Studio along with Mediawan Kids & Family launching their own distribution division that will handle all of their original live action and animated productions along with third-party programmes. Three days later in that same month, Method Animation and their parent Mediawan Kids & Family announced that they've joined forces with ''Miraculous'' creator Thomas Astruc, Shibuya Productions and Japanese animation studio Tezuka Productions to reboot Osamu Tezuka's best-selling manga series ''Astro Boy'' into a new CGI half-hour animated series which will be named ''Astro Boy Reboot''.

In December 2022, Method Animation along with their parent Mediawan Kids & Family announced that they have hired Katell France the founder of her animation studio Onikiri as Chief Content Officer and Managing Director of the Method Animation label.

In February 2023, Mediawan Kids & Family along with their parent company Mediawan had announced that they've acquired a majority stake in Bristol-based British scripted and animation production company Wildseed Studios, marking Mediawan's youth entertainment division Mediawan Kids & Family's first international acquisition with Wildseed Studios becoming part of Mediawan Kids & Family as their own production label. Two months later in April of that same year, Method Animation and their parent division Mediawan Kids & Family had been expanded by their parent company Mediawan when they announced that they've acquired Amsterdam-based Dutch independent film & television production company and animation production studio Submarine, marking Mediawan Kids & Family's second expansion this time into the Netherlands.

In February 2025, Method Animation's parent company Mediawan Kids & Family alongside Mediawan announced that they're shutting down their Montreal-based ON Animation Studios following the collapse of the entire Quebec animation industry effectively ending the ON name entirely after 11 years with Mediawan's divisions Mediawan Kids & Family Cinema and their joint venture production company Miraculous Corp. taken over their animated film production activities in-house and will collaborate with partner studios around the world.

One month later in March of that same year following Method Animation's owner Mediawan acquired German production and distribution company Leonine Studios, Method Animation's parent company Mediawan Kids & Family announced that they've joined forces with Mediawan's German production and distribution company Leonine Studios alongside the latter's animation division Leonine Animation Studuos under it's animation production studio Toon2Tango to interrogate distribution of Toon2Tango's content portfolio into Mediawan Kids & Family's own distribution division Mediawan Kids & Family Distribution with Toon2Tango's future productions will now be distributed under Mediawan Kids & Family distribution services.

Key people

Aton Soumache

Aton Soumache is a producer of animated films. He is the CEO of Method Animation. Soumache is perhaps best known for '' The Little Prince'', for which he, Rassam, Alexis Vonarb, and Mark Osborne won the 2016 César Award for Best Animated Film.

Dimitri Rassam

Dimitri Rassam is a film producer and founder of Chapter 2.

Caroline Guillot

She is the marketing manager of Method Animation.

Alexis Vonarb

He was born in 1970, and is an alumnus of Robert Schuman University, Strasbourg. Then he studied at the University of Leicester in the UK. While working in production at La Fémis in 1995, he got to know Soumache. He founded Onyx Films, which went on to produce 15 films, including ''Renaissance'' (2006) which won an award at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.

Filmography

Television series

Method Animation

Submarine

Somewhere Animation

Wildseed Studios

Films

References

External links

Method Animation
at Mediawan Kids & Family
ON Animation StudiosON Entertainment Studios

{{DEFAULTSORT:Method Animation
French companies established in 1999
Mass media companies established in 1999
Stereoscopy
French animation studios
Television production companies of France
Companies based in Paris
Method Animation