Melnitsa Animation Studio

Russian animation studio
Melnitsa Animation Studio
IndustryAnimation
Motion pictures
FoundedMarch 26, 1999; 25 years ago (March 26, 1999)
Headquarters
Saint Petersburg
,
Russia
Key people
Aleksandr Boyarsky (CEO)
Sergey Selyanov (chief producer)
Konstantin Bronzit (art director)
ProductsAnimated films
Revenue$1.57 million[1] (2017)
$207,909[1] (2017)
Net income
$84,501[1] (2017)
Total assets$12.9 million[1] (2017)
Total equity$484,653[1] (2017)
Number of employees
325 (2014)
Websitewww.melnitsa.com

Melnitsa Animation Studio (Russian: Студия анимационного кино «Мельница», "melnitsa" meaning "windmill") is one of the largest animation studios in Russia. Deutsche Welle called the studio the Walt Disney of Saint Petersburg.[2] Alongside its animation projects, Melnitsa has an effort devoted to creating digital special effects for both animation projects and live-action films.

History

The studio traces its roots to several animated projects in the late 1990s, including television commercials, the short film Die Hard by Konstantin Bronzit (Grand Prix of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, 1998), and the animated series "Global Bears Rescue" and "Technology", created for Poseidon Film Distributors Ltd.

In 1999, Melnitsa was formally established with backing from STV Film Company's Sergey Selyanov and led by Aleksandr Boyarsky.[3] STV Film Company retains a 50% share of the studio.[4] The newly formed studio's first project was Adventures in Oz (Приключения в Изумрудном Городе) for NTV-film (НТВ-кино), a four-part animation released in 2000.

In 2001, Melnitsa released its first 3D-animated project - the short film Good Morning (С добрым утром) by Denis Chernov. In 2002 Melnitsa released two short films by the famous animator and director Konstantin Bronzit: There Was an Old Lady for Scholastic Entertainment and the 3D-animated film The God.[citation needed]

In 2000, Melnitsa began work on the feature-length animated film Little Longnose (Карлик Нос) directed by Ilya Maksimov, based on the fairy tale of Wilhelm Hauff. The film premiered on March 20, 2003, reportedly becoming one of the first Russian animated feature film released to theatres in nearly 40 years.[5]

On December 23, 2004, the feature film Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin Zmey (Алёша Попович и Тугарин Змей) was released, directed by Konstantin Bronzit. The film was completed on a $4 million budget, and took in about $1.7 million at the box office.[6][7] This marked the beginning of Melnitsa's "The Three Bogatyrs" trilogy, and two more films were planned over the next several years.

In January 2005, at the 10th Open Russian Festival of Animated Film in Suzdal, the new short film by Konstantin Bronzit premiered, called Cat and Fox (Кот и Лиса).[citation needed] Bronzit's film, based on a national Russian tale, was part of the huge government-sponsored project by Moscow-based Pilot studio called "Gora Samotsvetov" (Гора самоцветов)[1]. The project, when complete, will consist of 52 13-minute films based on fairy tales from all of Russia's nationalities.

On March 15, 2006, the second film in the "3 Bogatyrs" trilogy was released, called Dobrynya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych (Добрыня Никитич и Змей Горыныч), directed by Ilya Maksimov. It came on the heels of the animated blockbuster Prince Vladimir, which was released on February 22, 2006.

Luntik, an animated series launched in 2007, gathered a total of over 2 billion views on YouTube.[8]

The third film in the trilogy, Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber (Илья Муромец и Соловей Разбойник), was released on July 7, 2007, grossing $10 million on a $2 million budget and setting a record for Russia's domestic animation industry,[9] later surpassed by the studio's Three Heroes on Distant Shores earning $26 million in 2012.[10] The 2013 film Three Warriors On Far Shores again established a new record for Russian animation, grossing $31.5 million.[8] The release of Krepost in 2015 led to some controversy in Poland, as it depicted a 17th-century battle between Russian and Polish armies.[11]

The studio's 2007 short film Lavatory – Lovestory was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, followed by a nomination for We Can't Live Without Cosmos in the same category during the 88th Academy Awards in 2016.[12]

Filmography

Short Film

Year Production
2021 Boxballet
2019 He Can't Live Without Cosmos
2015 We Can't Live Without Cosmos
2007 Lavatory Lovestory
2003 The God

Full length

Year Title cartoon Director Author(s) script Production Designer Budget Box Office
2003 Little Longnose
Карлик Нос
Ilya Maksimov Aleksandr Boyarsky Aleksandra Averianova $2,5 million $569 837
2004 Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin Zmey
Алёша Попович и Тугарин Змей
Konstantin Bronzit Aleksandr Boyarsky
Maksim Sveshnikov
Ilya Maksimov
Konstantin Bronzit
Ol'ga Ovinnikova $4 million $1 730 000
2006 Dobrynya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych
Добрыня Никитич и Змей Горыныч
Ilya Maksimov Aleksandr Boyarsky
Maksim Sveshnikov
Ilya Maksimov
Ol'ga Ovinnikova $4,5 million $3 620 000
2007 Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber
Илья Муромец и Соловей-Разбойник
Vladimir Toropchin Aleksandr Boyarsky
Maksim Sveshnikov
Ol'ga Ovinnikova
Oleg Markelov
$2 million $9 739 679
2008 The Tale of Soldier Fedot, The Daring Fellow Lyudmila Steblyanko Lyudmila Steblyanko
Roman Smorodin
Anastasia Vasil'eva $2 586 097
2010 How Not to Rescue a Princess
Три богатыря и Шамаханская царица
Sergey Glezin Aleksandr Boyarsky
Ol'ga Nikiforova
Ol'ga Ovinnikova
Elena Lavrent'eva
Oleg Markelov
$2,5 million $19 010 585
2011 Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf
Иван Царевич и Серый Волк
Vladimir Toropchin Aleksandr Boyarsky

Rostislav Khait
Leonid Barats
Sergei Petreykov

Marina Kudryavtseva $3 million $24 830 497
2012 Three Heroes on Distant Shores
Три богатыря на дальних берегах
Konstantin Feoktistov Aleksandr Boyarsky Ol'ga Ovinnikova

Lidiya Savina

$3,5 million $31 505 876
2013 Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf 2
Иван Царевич и Серый волк 2
Vladimir Toropchin Vladimir Toropchin
Aleksandr Boyarsky
Svetlana Sachenko
Svetlana Degtyarёva $20 962 988
2015 Three heroes. Horse Course
Три богатыря. Ход конём
Konstantin Feoktistov Aleksandr Boyarsky
Svetlana Sachenko
Svetlana Degtyarёva $3,5 million $19 390 136
The Fortress
Крепость. Щитом и мечом
Fyodor Dmitriev Aleksandr Boyarsky Oleg Markelov $1 176 906
2016 Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf 3
Иван Царевич и Серый волк 3
Darina Schmidt Rostislav Khait

Leonid Barats

Sergei Petreykov

Svetlana Degtyarёva $10 271 463
2017 The Three Heroes and the Sea King
Три богатыря и морской царь
Konstantin Feoktistov Aleksandr Boyarsky
Svetlana Sachenko
Alena Tabunova (idea)
Andrei Yakobchuk $4 $14 134 274
2017 Fantastic Journey to OZ
Урфин Джюс и его деревянные солдаты
Vladimir Toropchin

Fyodor Dmitriev

Darina Schmidt

Aleksandr Boyarsky
Darina Schmidt
Anatolii Sokolov $3 068 073
2017 Three Heroes and the Princess of Egypt
Три богатыря и принцесса Египта
Konstantin Feoktistov Aleksandr Boyarsky
Svetlana Sachenko
Andrei Yakobchuk $3.5 million $12.6 million
2018 Three Heroes. The Heiress to the Throne
Три богатыря и наследница престола
Konstantin Bronzit Maksim Sveshnikov
Vadim Sveshnikov
Konstantin Bronzit
Yuliya Maslova

Daria Ivanova

$2.5 million
2018 Sadko
Садко
Maksim Volkov

Vitaly Mukhametzyanov

Alexander Arkhhipov
Dmitry Novoselov
Slava Se
Aleksei Motavin
2019 Fantastic Return to OZ

Урфин Джюс возвращается

Fyodor Dmitriev Aleksandr Boyarsky Aleksei Korobkin
2019 Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf 4
Иван Царевич и Серый волк 4
Darina Schmidt
Konstantin Feoktistov
Rostislav Khait
Leonid Barats
Sergei Petreykov
Daria Ivanova
2020 The Barkers: Mind the Cats!

Барбоскины на даче

Elena Galdobina

Fyodor Dmitriev

Aleksandr Boyarsky

Aleksandra Shokha

Oleg Markelov $2 million $951 075
2020 Horse Julius and the Big Races

Конь Юлий и большие скачки

Darina Schmidt
Konstantin Feoktistov
Maksim Sveshnikov
Vadim Sveshnikov

Aleksandr Boyarsky

Andrei Yakobchuk $2.4 million $4 875 202

In Production

Full length

Year Title cartoon Director Author(s) script Production Designer Start of production
2021 Three Heroes and a Horse on the Throne

Три богатыря и Конь на троне

Darina Schmidt
Konstantin Feoktistov
Aleksandr Boyarsky

Aleksandra Shokha

Daria Ivanova 2021

Serial cartoons

Year Title cartoon Directed by of the animated series The main authors of the script Production Designer Number of seasons Number of series
1999—2000 Adventures in the Emerald City

Приключения в Изумрудном городе

Aleksandr Makarov (1-2)

Ilya Maksimov (3)

Denis Chernov (4)

Evgeny Markov (1-2)

Mikhail Bartenev (3-4)

Andrei Usachyov (3-4)

Yuriy Solovyov (1-2)

Ilya Myshkin (3-4)

1 season 4
2006—present Luntik
Приключения Лунтика и его друзей
Darina Shmidt

Elena Galdobina

2008-2015

Ekaterina Salabay

Darina Shmidt
Fyodor Dmitriev
Elena Galdobina
Mariya Domogatskaya
Anna Sosnora
Alexandr Mal'gin
Svetlana Sachenko
Tatiana Gorbushina
Marina Komarkevich (1-2 seasons)
Tatiana Klein (2-6 seasons)
Irina Fёdorova (5-6 seasons)
Vita Tkachёva (7 seasons: series 2012)
Ekaterina Maksimenko (since 7 seasons)
8, in production 9 season 500+
2011—present The Barkers

Барбоскины

Elena Galdobina

Ekaterina Salabay

Elena Galdobina

Fyodor Dmitriev

Konstantin Feoktistov

Vadim Smolyak

Anna Sosnora

Lyudmila Steblyanko (1-100)

Alesya Barsukova (91-130)

Marina Makarova (131-212)

14 seasons 212
2018—present Little Tiaras

Царевны

Konstantin Bronzit

Elena Galdobina

Darina Schmidt

Darina Schmidt

Fyodor Dmitriev

Aleksandr Sinitsyn

Andrei Yakobchuk 2 52

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Бухгалтерская отчётность". Melnitsa Animation Studio. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  2. ^ "The Walt Disney of Saint Petersburg". Deutsche Welle. March 22, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
  3. ^ Giannalberto Bendazzi (6 November 2015). Animation: A World History: Volume III: Contemporary Times. CRC Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-1-317-51988-1.
  4. ^ "Мультяшки на миллиард: кто зарабатывает на героях российских мультфильмов". РБК. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  5. ^ "Alosha Breaks Toon Records in Russia". Animation Magazine. 11 February 2005. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  6. ^ Алеша Попович и Тугарин Змей — кассовые сборы — КиноПоиск. КиноПоиск (in Russian). Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  7. ^ Birgit Beumers (2011). Directory of World Cinema: Russia. Intellect Books. p. 269. ISBN 978-1-84150-372-1.
  8. ^ a b "Russian Animation Rises From Ashes of 1990s". Moscow Times. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  9. ^ "Is Russian ani ready to rise? Stay tooned". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  10. ^ Barraclough, Leo (8 September 2014). "Russian Cinema: Toon Boom Echoes, But Not Far Enough". Variety. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  11. ^ "Rosjanie przygotowali kolejną antypolską produkcję. Tym razem indoktrynują dzieci". naTemat.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  12. ^ "Russian cartoon competing for Oscars". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 4 April 2017.

External links

  • Official website
  • Official website of the "3 Bogatyrs" trilogy (in Russian)
  • Interview with Konstantin Bronzit (in Russian)
  • La monto da gemoj - some Gora samotsvetov (Gem Mountain) series with subtitles in Esperanto.