Search Results - Hanna-Barbera Productions

Hanna-Barbera

Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was active from 1957 until its absorption into Warner Bros. Animation in 2001. Founded on July 7, 1957 by ''Tom and Jerry'' creators and former MGM Cartoons employees William Hanna and Joseph Barbera along with George Sidney, it was headquartered in Los Angeles at the Kling Studios from 1957 to 1960, then on Cahuenga Boulevard from 1960 to 1998, and subsequently at the Sherman Oaks Galleria in Sherman Oaks from 1998 to 2001.

Notable among the cartoons that the company produced include ''The Huckleberry Hound Show'', series incarnations, feature-length films and specials of ''The Flintstones'', ''Yogi Bear'' and ''Scooby-Doo'' franchises, and ''The Smurfs''. With these productions, Hanna-Barbera may have usurped Disney as the most successful animation studio in the world, with its characters becoming ubiquitous across different types of media and myriad consumer products.

But by the 1980's, the company's fortunes were in decline, as the profitability of Saturday-morning cartoons was eclipsed by weekday afternoon syndication. Taft Broadcasting acquired Hanna-Barbera in 1966 and retained ownership until 1991. It was in this year when Turner Broadcasting System acquired the company, using the back catalog to establish Cartoon Network the following year.

But by the time Hanna had died in 2001, Hanna-Barbera as a standalone company and studio were absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation in 2001, but the brand is still active and it is used for copyright, marketing and branding purposes for former properties now produced by Warner Bros. Provided by Wikipedia