The Mexican animation industry is a part of Mexico's domestic film industry. It utilizes primarily the flash, CG, and traditional animation formats, typically produced on a small budget. There studios included Ánima Estudios, Animex Producciones, Huevocartoon, among others. It began in 1915 with the first animated film of the country, Mi Sueño, and continues decades later.
History
Early years
The first documented Mexican animation is Mi Sueño. The film was made in 1915 and the author remains unknown. First known Mexican animator is Miguel Angel Acosta, who made more than two-hundred animated films of about thirty seconds each. Other early pioneer of Mexican animation was the painter Juan Arthenack. Salvador Pruneda, Bismarck Mier, and Salvador Patiño, founded an animation studio in Mexico City after taking inspiration from Fleischers and Disney during the 1920s. Pruneda adapted the comic strip Don Catarino y su apreciable familia, which was screened in 1934 despite remaining unfinished. Pruneda tried to make an animated sequence for the film Revista Musical, but the project failed due to financial problems.
In 1934, the otolaryngologist Alfonso Vergara Andrade founded AVA Studios in Mexico City with Antonio Chavira and Francisco Gómez. After three years, the studio produced eight shorts. The first short was Paco Perico en première (Paco Perico’s Premiere, 1935), a gag film according to the American model. In 1936, Los cinco cabritos (The Five Little Goats, 1936), directed by Bismarck Mier, was released. This film was a Mexican version of Disney’s Three Little Pigs (1933), and was the first Mexican colour animated film, using a bichromic Cinecolor or bicolor. The next film was Noche Mexicana (Mexican Night, 1937). In 1939, AVA went out of business.
In 1942 and 1943, Walt Disney and his wife visited Mexico. The Mexican Ernesto ´Ernie´ Terrazas and Edmundo Santos crossed the border with him. After the visit, Disney produced The Three Caballeros, which world premiere was screened at Cine Alameda in Mexico City in 1944. However for unexplained reasons, the Mexican animators didn't receive screen credit. The main Mexican character Pancho Pistolas was invented by Terrazas.
The Mexican advertising agent Santiago Reachi Fayad (aka Santiago Reachi) hired four Californian animators and founded Caricolor studio, a project that was interrupted by the Second World War. The studio only completed the short-film Me Voy de Cacería (I Go Hunting), an homage to Tequila. In 1947, Caricaturas Animadas de México was founded, a study that most prominent work was an animated fly in the first Mexican film that combined live-action and animation, El diablo no es tan diablo (The Devil Is Not So Devil, 1949).
1950s - 1980s
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, animation in Mexico was restricted to short formats. Also around this time, the country was responsible for the Animation services provided in Rocky & Bullwinkle set up by the sponsor to produce the series on a low budget. In 1972, La familia Telemiau ("The Telemiau Family") was the first animated television series to be created in Mexico. It received poor ratings due to competition with more popular American animated shows, such as those of Hanna-Barbera. The country's first feature film, Los tres Reyes Magos ("The Three Wise Men"), was released in 1974, directed by Fernando Ruiz. It was a Mexican adaptation of the Biblical Magi story.
In 1984, the country released its first successful animated film, Katy La Oruga ("Katy the Caterpillar"). It was followed by a made-for-television sequel, Katy, Kiki y Koko. In 1987, Mexico released Las Aventuras de Oliver Twist ("The adventures of Oliver Twist"), a Mexican film adaptation of Charles Dickens Oliver Twist book. It was the second animated film directed by Fernando Ruiz.
2000s - 2010s
After 1987, the creation of animation significantly slowed down, as not much was done in the 1990's, with the exception of advertising. It did not fully restart until 2003, when Mexico City-based animation studio, Ánima Estudios, released Magos y Gigantes (Wizards and Giants). The company later released Imaginum, in 2005. Since then, Ánima Estudios has produced more films and animated content for television.
In 2006, Huevocartoon, a popular multimedia brand focused on eggs, released its first feature film, Una pelicula de huevos. It proved to be a box-office success, grossing $142.3 million pesos. It held the record as the highest-grossing Mexican animated film of all time for nine years. It was followed by two sequels. Founded in 2001, Huevocartoon has produced a lot of animated internet content, funded by its advertising campaign.