Cartoon Network Movies

Cartoon Network Movies is the theatrical movie production division of American children's network, Cartoon Network, being owned by WarnerMedia via Warner Bros. Entertainment with most releases being distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Being founded in 1995, alongside rival subsidiary, Nickelodeon Movies (which is owned by ViacomCBS under Paramount Pictures), The division mostly specializes in family-oriented animated films.

1990s
In 1994, it was announced that Turner Entertainment (at the time, owners of Cartoon Network) would launch a film division for said network, scheduled for a launch of 1995. That became true in March 20, 1995 when Cartoon Network Film Productions was launched, with initial distribution of the division's projects through New Line Cinema. But by 1996, Time Warner (parent of Warner Bros) acquired Turner, and it's assets (including Cartoon Network), with the NLC distribution deal being dropped in favor of a new WB distribution deal.

The first film produced by Cartoon Network Film Productions was An Antarctic Adventure, released on April 4th, 1997, being directed and written by acclaimed British children's book writer, Mick Inkpen (who created Kipper The Dog). Despite WB's low expectations on the film, it gained positive reviews, and was a box office success, grossing $68 million out of a budget of $11 million. After the success of said film, Mick was hired onto the studio as vice president of the division, though he still worked on some projects independently.

A year later, On October 27th, 1998, the studio released City Defenders, an action-adventure detective movie created by duo animators, Genndy Tartakovsky and Craig McCracken. The film gained mixed reviews, despite this, it was a big box office success, grossing $98.6 million. This resulted in a multimedia franchise.

On August 6th, 1999, the fantasy film, Promises Of The Universe was released to theaters, being the first film made by Cartoon Network Film Productions, not to be an original IP, and instead being based on a book, in this case, a comic. It received negative reviews, with many people criticizing the loose connections to the comic, the writing, voice acting, and the characters, it also was a box office bomb, grossing only $5.6 million out of a budget of $13 million.

2000s
On September 1st, 2000, in collaboration with Amblin Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (via United Artists), Cartoon Network Film Productions would release The Legend of Zelda, A CGI-live action fantasy adventure film based on the first installment of the video game franchise of the same name created by Nintendo. The film received mixed-to-negative reviews, and only grossed $54 million, over a budget of $36 million.

The company released 2 films in 2002, initially 3, but The Powerpuff Girls Movie was moved over to Cartoon Network's TV series production unit, Cartoon Network Studios (being the only film released by them). The first of the two films was CGI-animated Minors, a comedy film starring Eddie Murphy as the main character, released on January 1st, 2002, the film gained positive-to-mixed reviews, and was a major box office success grossing over $150 million over a budget of $28 million. The other one was The Story of Timothy Dexter, a biographical drama based on the events of historical businessman, Timothy Dexter. Released on October 28th, 2002, The film received mixed reviews and was a moderate box office success, grossing $56 million out of a budget of $27 million, despite the success, it was the last traditionally animated film by Cartoon Network Film Productions as it transitioned into a mostly CGI animation studio.

Around early 2003, Cartoon Network Film Productions changed it's name to Cartoon Network Films. The company wouldn't release a film at that point until February 19th 2005, with the release of Homestar Runner: The Theatrical Movie based on the web-series. The film gained positive reviews from both fans and critics, and was a box office success grossing $130 million out of a budget of $10 million, this is so far the only 2D animated Cartoon Network film to be entirely made using digital software. It also serves as Cartoon Network's first PG rated film.

Cartoon Network Films would start making original films again on March 15th, 2006, with the release of The Green Windows, a fantasy-drama film directed by Fred Seibert of Frederator Studios. The film gained mixed reviews, and grossed $24 million, over a budget of $12.5 million, while not a box office bomb, it was low for the standards of Warner Bros.

On October 8th, 2007, Cartoon Network Films would release it's most successful film that decade, Warrior Cats: The Prophecies Begin, based on the first story arc of the best-selling children's novel franchise Warriors which was created in 2003. Initially known as simply "Warriors", the American movie rights to the name already belong to Paramount Pictures, which owned the 1979 film, The Warriors based on the 1975 novel of the same name, so WB executives changed the name of the film to "Warrior Cats: The Prophecies Begin". It was a co-production with Legendary Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures, and 20th Century Fox. It gained positive reviews, and was a massive box office success, grossing over $195 million over a budget of $30 million.

2 years later on May 23rd, 2009, Cartoon Network Films released Fallen Waves, a romantic-comedy film. The film gained mixed reviews and grossed $92 million out of a budget of $18.4 million.

2010s
On May 29, 2010, Cartoon Network Films changed it's name to Cartoon Network Movies. That year, Cartoon Network didn't release any film that year, as that want to focus on releasing 3 movies in 2011.

The first Cartoon Network film released in 2011 was the CGI-live action fantasy film, The Tiger's Apprentice, based on the novel of the same name. Despite using the Cartoon Network Movies name, it wasn't fully produced by Cartoon Network, with Rainmaker Studios doing the CGI animation while Cartoon Network Movies and Spyglass Entertainment doing the live-action parts. Released on March 5th, 2011, the film gained negative reviews and was a box office bomb, grossing only $21 million out of budget of $30 million.

The second was Warrior Cats: The New Prophecy, the sequel to Warriors Cats: The Prophecies Begin and based on the second story arc of the Warriors franchise released on September 18th, 2011. Unlike the first film, it gained mixed reviews, though it was still a box office success grossing over $210 million over a budget of $25 million.

The third and most successful of the 2011 roster is The Beast: A City Defenders Story, a spin-off and prequel to City Defenders, solely based on the antagonist and villain of said film, the unidentifiable beast. Released on November 31st, 2011, the film was a massive success, grossing $379 million, out of a budget of $5 million.

On April 7th, 2013, the last film in the Warrior Cats franchise, Warriors Cats: The Power of Three was released based on the 3rd story of Warriors, this time Legendary ended co-production with the franchise, and a new upstart film company, Alibaba Pictures, the film division of Chinese multinational media company, Alibaba, who both financed and co-produced this film. The film, much the 2nd installment gained mixed reviews, but like all Warriors film, it was box office success, grossing over $268 million over a budget of $18 million. It was the last film based on Warriors created by Warner Bros, as the company sold the film rights to STX Films in 2016, so far the STX-Alibaba film based on Warriors is in development hell.

On May 9th, 2016, the company produced I Am Weasel, an action adventure comedy film based on the segments in Cow and Chicken and the 1999 to 2000 television series of the same name, it was the first Cartoon Network film based on a Cartoon Network property. The film was used as a kick-starter to a Cartoon Network cinematic universe, by release it gained positive reviews, and became a box office success, grossing $306 million out of a budget of $8 million, officially launching the Cartoon Network Cinematic Universe.

I-Heart Tuesdays premiered on theaters on September 28th, 2018, being an extended adaptation of a rejected pilot Ne-Yo created for Cartoon Network Studios back in 2012. Despite having an all-star cast and a strong advertising campaign, the film gained mixed reviews, and was a box office bomb, grossing only $12.2 million out of a budget of $38 million. Being the lowest ranking Cartoon Network film in the box office.

The second film the Cartoon Network Cinematic Universe was Johnny Bravo, on August 31st, 2019, based on the TV series that ran from 1997 to 2004. An earlier attempt to adapt the TV series into a theatrical movie was in 2002, with a live-action film that never made it out of development. The film gained positive reviews and was a big box office success, grossing over $587 million over a budget of $24 million.

2020s
Though no releases have been out yet this decade, Cartoon Network planned an adaption of Dexter's Lab was set for a release of September 20th, 2021.