Saito Laboratories Animation
| ISIN | 🆔 |
|---|---|
| Genre | CGI animation, Feature films |
| Predecessor | Pacific Data Images |
| Founded 📆 | June 15, 2005 |
| Founder 👔 | Iwato Saito,
Jirachu Hiroshulack, Shigeru Miyamoto |
| Headquarters 🏙️ | Japan, Tokyo |
Area served 🗺️ | |
| Owner | Shochiku |
| Members | |
Number of employees | 750 |
| 🌐 Website | [Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 665: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). ] |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
Saito Laboratories is a Japanese film company founded in 2005 in Japan, Tokyo. The company's first films were Horton Hears A Who and Planet 51. Their most recent release was Paper Mario: Journey To The Caves, with the company's upcoming films being a sequel to Horton Hears A Who (2022) and Saito 9/11 (2023).
History
Saito Labs. was founded in 2005 by Iwato Saito, Jirachu Hiroshulack and Shigeru Miyamoto. The company's first release was Horton Hears A Who! (2008).
Early years (2005-2012)
In January 2005, Iwato Saito announced plans to form his own studio which would produce CGI animated films. The company opened in June 2005. In December 2005, Saito Labs brought 49% of Spanish studio Ilion Animation Studios and reformed it as Ilion Inc., this new unit would provide animation for their films. In January 2006, Iwato Saito acquired the film rights of Horton Hears A Who. In 2007, they announced a movie called Planet 51 starring Dwayne Johnson.
In March 2008, Horton Hears A Who! was released and received positive reviews, despite grossing $450 million worldwide. Due to this success, Saito Laboratories announced Hotel Transylvania later that year.
In November 2009, Planet 51 was released and received mostly negative reviews and was a box office failure, only grossing $36.4 million worldwide, losing the company $125 million.
In February 2010, Ilion Inc. was renamed to Ilion/Saito Laboratories.
In July 2010, Iwato Saito announced a film called The Croods.
In December 2010, Japanese studio Shochiku acquired ownership of the company.
In May 15, 2011, Saito announced that Shigeru Miyamoto was hired as CEO of the company. In September 2012, Hotel Transylvania was released and received mixed reviews, though was a commercial success grossing $344 million worldwide. In November 7, 2012, Saito announced a sequel to Hotel Transylvania. In December 2012, Saito announced a Trolls movie.
Expansion and Kris Zhai's arrival (2012-2017)
In January 2013, Shigeru announced that Kris Zhai joined the company as co-CEO of the company. In March 2013, The Croods was released and received positive reviews and grossed $411 million worldwide. In July 2014, Saito announced that they will be expanding employees to Saito Laboratories' non-US divisions. In December 15, 2014, Saito announced plans for a Hotel Transylvania franchise.
In September 2015, Hotel Transylvania 2 was released. The film received mixed reviews, though was a commercial success grossing $443 million worldwide. In November 2016, Trolls was released and received positive reviews, while having a gross of $604 million worldwide.
In December 2016, Kris Zhai announced that Miyamoto became both CEO and co-president of the studio.
Box office disasters and reorganization (2017-2020)
In July 2017, Saito announced a sequel to Trolls. In July 2018, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation was released and received positive reviews, though unfortunately failed at the box office, only grossing $192.3 million worldwide, causing Saito to lose $57 million.
Due to this, Saito Laboratories announced that they will no longer work with Sony Pictures Animation on the franchise, with Sony only producing Hotel Transylvania: Transformania.
In December 2018, Saito announced a Croods sequel.
In May 15, 2019, Saito announced a Paper Mario movie.
In April 2020, Trolls World Tour was released and received positive reviews, but like Hotel Transylvania 3 and Planet 51, it was a commercial failure, only grossing $26.1 million worldwide, though that did not hurt Saito at all for making Trolls 3.
In November 2020, The Croods: A New Age was released and received positive reviews, but was a box office failure only grossing $211 million. In December 1, 2020, Saito announced a major reorganization: such as laying off a few employees, changing up management, shutting down the Glendale studio, and the most infamous of them all the sacrifice of Ilion/Saito Laboratories and over 500 jobs, with Tony Leondis also being laid off from Saito Laboratories, he was directing a film adaptation of Call Of Duty, but due to the reorganization, he later shopped the project to Blue Sky Studios in June 2021.
In December 4, 2020, it was announced that just 1-2 films a year would result in disappointing consequences, so Saito decided to move it up to 2-3 films a year, the company had to go under new management.
In December 10, 2020, Saito's laid off employees filed lawsuits for going under new management, one of those lawsuits was about the laid off employees as one of them said "Hey! This would cause serious consequences."
Reorganization completion (2020-present)
In December 29, 2020, The lawsuits were over, and Saito Laboratories won the lawsuit count, so due to this, the laid-off employees moved to Pacific Data Images.
In July 2021, Saito announced a film called Saito 9/11.
In January 13, 2022, Paper Mario: Journey To The Caves was released and received widespread acclaim, also grossing $704 million worldwide.
Animation process
Most of Saito's films, starting with Horton Hears A Who! are animated by Ilion Animation Studios, which Ilion/Saito Laboratories was folded in 2020, most films include Horton Hears A Who!, Planet 51, the Hotel Transylvania film series and Trolls and its sequel, before its closure in 2020.
Their first film not animated by Ilion was Paper Mario: Journey To The Caves, which was animated by Pacific Data Images, while additional animation was provided by Mikros Image.
Filmography
Films
| Release Dates | Movie title(s) | Box Office | RT | Metacritic | Distributor | Co-production with | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | March 26, 2008 | Horton Hears A Who! | $450 million | 80% | 76 | 20th Century Fox | Blue Sky Studios, |
| 2 | November 11, 2009 | Planet 51 | $36.4 million | 21% | 14 | Tristar Pictures | Ilion Animation Studios |
| 3 | September 22, 2012 | Hotel Transylvania | $344 million | 45% | 54 | Columbia Pictures | CD-i/Sony, |
| 4 | March 15, 2013 | The Croods | $414 million | 72% | 72 | 20th Century Fox | DreamWorks Animation |
| 5 | September 27, 2015 | Hotel Translvania 2 | $436 million | 56% | 40 | Columbia Pictures | Sony Pictures Animation,
CD-i/Sony |
| 6 | November 4, 2016 | Trolls | $604 million | 78% | 71 | 20th Century Fox | DreamWorks Animation |
| 7 | July 13, 2018 | Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation | $192.3 million | 63% | 52 | Columbia Pictures | Sony Pictures Animation,
CD-i/Sony, |
| 8 | April 17, 2020 | Trolls World Tour | $26.1 million | 71% | 61 | Universal Pictures | DreamWorks Animation |
| 9 | November 25, 2020 | The Croods: A New Age | $211 million | 77% | 73 | Universal Pictures | DreamWorks Animation |
| 10 | January 13, 2022 | Paper Mario: Journey To The Caves | $704 million | 97% | 97 | The Weinstein Company | Summit Entertainment, |
| Release dates | Movie title(s) | Distributor(s) | Co-production with | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | November 23, 2022 | Untitled Horton Hears A Who! sequel | 20th Century Fox | 20th Century Animation |
| 12 | May 15, 2023 | Saito 9/11 | The Weinstein Company. | N/A |
| 13 | November 8, 2023 | Trolls 3 | Universal Pictures | DreamWorks Animation |
| Release dates | Short film titles/Special titles | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | July 27, 2017 | Puppy |
| 2 | December 22, 2021 | Trolls: Holiday In Harmony (special) |
| 3 | January 7, 2022 | Beggers |
References
This article "Saito Laboratories" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Saito Laboratories. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
