WarnerMedia resurrects Hanna-Barbera

The Amazing World of Gumball is being developed as a movie

US-based WarnerMedia is launching a new animation studio in Europe under the iconic Hanna-Barbera name.

Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe joins WarnerMedia’s collective of animation studios that includes Warner Bros Animation (WBA) and Cartoon Network Studios (CNS) in the US.

The new outfit will replace CNS Europe, operating from Great Marlborough Productions, and will be WarnerMedia’s flagship television animation studio within EMEA.

Sam Register, president of WBA and CNS, and Vanessa Brookman, head of kids EMEA, will co-head the London-based studio.

Sam Register, president of WBA and CNS, said: “Earlier this year, we aligned two of the industry’s most powerful animation studios in Warner Bros Animation and Cartoon Network Studios and their collaboration is already yielding some very exciting results.

“Now with Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe, these three brands represent some of the most talented artists, iconic characters and properties in the entire history of animation, making us more than formidable in the increasingly competitive global media landscape.”

The original Hanna-Barbera Productions was founded in the US in 1957 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and became the first studio to have significant success with television animation. Characters subsequently created included Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, The Jetsons and Yogi Bear.

Alongside WBA and CNS, Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe will further WarnerMedia’s global kids’ content strategy.

The studio will build on its pipeline of local productions including The Amazing World of Gumball, The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe and Elliott From Earth while seeking new production opportunities.

The studio is currently in development on The Amazing World of Gumball Movie (working title), the forthcoming feature-length TV movie based on the hit Cartoon Network series.