Apr 7, 2021

Cartoon Network Studio Europe renamed Hannah Barbera Studio Europe

Warnermedia has renamed Cartoon Network Studios Europe as Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe. The London-based studio will serve as Warnermedia's flagship tv animation studio for the EMEA region (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa).

The rebrand is a full-circle moment in many ways since Cartoon Network Studios in Los Angeles originally operated as a division of Hanna-Barbera Productions, and early Cartoon Network series like Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, Johnny Bravo, and The Powerpuff Girls were physically produced inside of the Hanna-Barbera studio.

Sam Register, president of Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios, and Vanessa Brookman, head of kids EMEA, will co-lead the studio. Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe will utilize the talent of the animation community in the U.K. and across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

H-B Studios Europe will continue to build on its stable of local productions including The Amazing World of Gumball, The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe, and Elliot from Earth. The studio, which is currently in development on The Amazing World of Gumball Movie (working title), will also develop and produce new originals. Warnermedia has indicated that its European hub will have the “support and resources” of its two U.S. sister studios, Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios.

Both Register and Brookman lauded the original Hanna-Barbera Productions, founded in 1957. Brookman called it “One of the most prestigious and beloved brands in animation history,” while Register said, “Saturday mornings and series animation would not be the same without the work that came out of that studio and, as television is once again evolving, it's only fitting that Hanna-Barbera returns to be an impactful part of it. I cannot wait to get started and I'm humbled at the opportunity to be creating cartoons under this banner again.”

Tom Ascheim, president of Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics, who made the announcement about the studio rebranding today, said in a statement:

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the creators of Tom and Jerry, formed the original Hanna-Barbera studio at the intersection of the death of theatrical shorts and the rise of tv animation. They are best known for shows like The Flinstones, The Jetsons, The Yogi Bear Show, The Huckleberry Hound Show, Johnny Quest, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You- and adapting The Smurfs for tv.

The studio was also known for its tremendous amount of output, made possible by a heavy reliance on limited animation techniques like cycled animation, a system of held cels and levels, and animation reuse. While such techniques had been developed prior to Hanna-Barbera, the studio applied those concepts towards a highly industrialized system of production that enabled them to produce hundreds of hours of animation annually.