Gingo Animation


 * For a more in-depth view of this company, see the Gingo Wiki.

Gingo Animation, LLC (or simply Gingo) is an American animation studio headquartered in North Hollywood, California. Founded on February 13, 1988, the studio is operated as a subsidiary of Gingo Entertainment, and is best known for producing animated television series, feature films, shorts, and video games such as Gabriel Garza, Hatty, BJ and Wally, Niz Chicoloco, Chrysocolla, Jenny Zoom, Planetokio, Critter Mockers, The Pandemoniums, Zina and the Vivid Crew, Metro Cone, Archot, Imagimals, Cool Spot, and Addie. Its first film Paint World was released on December 25, 1999, and its latest release was Addie on March 1, 2019 with their next release being Agent Chrysocolla on February 28, 2020.

Gingo began in 1978 as the Toon Group Inc., formed by a small animation team of several CalArts graduates led by animators Geo G. and Michael Wildshill to make the animated feature film Topia along with Hanna-Barbera. Following the release of Topia, the Toon Group was purchased by Hanna-Barbera and renamed Geo-Wildshill Productions in 1982, before its spin-out as a corporation in 1988 under its current name. The studio was bought by Universal Pictures in 1998 following the merger of the studio's feature animation unit Aleka Productions with Universal Feature Animation two years prior.

On February 21, 2005, Gingo was spun off from Universal, allowing the latter to retain the rights to most of the studio's pre-2005 library. The studio is still associated with Universal, but also has other studios such as DreamWorks, 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures distribute some of its productions. Gabriel Garza, the main character of the studio's animated television series of the same name, is the studio's mascot. As of 2019, Gingo continues to use its back catalogue under license from Universal.