Firsts in animation

This list provides an overview of animated productions that can be considered as first-time milestones in the development of animation techniques or in artistic or commercial success. It can be achieved only in animated works (feature films, short films, and television) alongside with live-action animated hybrid and the earliest invention of physical animation technique, but heavily relied of CGI or motion capture in live-action films (e.g. Jurassic Park and Avatar) are excluded.

Early animation

Joseph Plateau's illustration of his invention in Correspondance mathématique et physique (1833)

17th-to-19th-century: Earliest animation, before film

Main article: Early history of animation

Year	Milestone	Notes
1659	Introduction of the magic lantern	by Christiaan Huygens, with moving images
1825	Introduction of the thaumatrope	by John Ayrton Paris
1833	Introduction of the phenakistiscope	The first device used for stroboscopic animation. Invented simultaneously by Joseph Plateau and Simon Stampfer
1866	Introduction of the zoetrope	Similar cylindrical animation devices had already been proposed by Simon Stampfer (1833) and William Horner (1834)
1868	Flip book patented	by John Barnes Linnett, under the name of "kineograph"
1877	Invention of the praxinoscope	by Charles-Émile Reynaud
1892	First theatrical animation in long strips	Reynaud's Théâtre Optique (patented in 1888) at the Musée Grévin

Late-1890s-to-mid-1910s: Silent-era

Main article: History of animation

Year	Milestone	Notes
1900	First hand-drawn animation on film	The Enchanted Drawing
1907	First color on animation in filmstrip	Katsudō Shashin
1915	Cel animation process invented	By Earl Hurd and John Bray
	Rotoscoping technique invented	By Max Fleischer

Countries

Continent	Country		Short Film	Release Date	Medium Film	Release Date	Feature film	Release Date	Television series	Start Date	End Date	Ref.
Europe	France		La Rosace Magique	1877	Un bon bock	1892	The Tale of the Fox	1930	Joe the Little Boom Boom	1960	1963
	United Kingdom	England	The Clown and His Donkey	1910	The Little Island	1958	Handling Ships	1945	A Rubovian Legend	1955	1964
		Wales			The Little Engine That Could	1991	The Princess and the Goblin	1991	SuperTed	1983	1986
		Scotland					Sir Billi	2012	The Family-Ness	1984	1985
		Northern Ireland	Macropolis	2012					Pajanimals	2008	2013
	Germany		Rhythmus 21	1921	Judas & Jesus	2009	The Adventures of Prince Achmed	1926	Die Sendung mit der Maus	1971	Present	[1]
	Latvia		Lietaina diena	1969	The Gold of the Tigers	1995	Ness un Nesija	1991	Fantadroms	1985	1995	[2]
Asia	Japan		Katsudō Shashin	1907	Momotarō's Sea Eagles	1943	Momotaro: Sacred Sailors	1945	The New Adventures of Pinocchio	1961	1961	[3]
	Philippines		A Boy Playing Yoyo and Girl Jumping Rope	1953	Libingan	2007	Tadhana	1978	Poptech Series	1980		[4]
	Bangladesh		The Story of a Village	1970s	Murgi Keno Mutant	2011	Khoka Theke Bangabandhu Jatir Pita	2021	Meena	1991	2010	[5]
	Thailand		The Pumpkin of Nyefar	2004	hesheit	2005	The Adventure of Sudsakorn	1979	PangPond: The Future World Adventure	2002
	Saudi Arabia		World of Twitter	2014	The Land of Khuzama	1999	The Boy and the King	1992	Shadeed and Tammam	2003	2003
America, South	Argentina		La intervención en la provincia de Buenos Aires	1916	Little Red Riding Hood	1965	El Apóstol	1917	The Adventures of Hijitus	1967	1996	[6]
	Brazil		O Kaiser	1917	O Dragãozinho Manso - Jonjoca	1942	Amazon Symphony	1954	Monica and Friends	1982	Present
America, North	Canada		The Wizard of Oz	1933	Stop That Tank!	1942	The Enchanted Village	1955	Cartoon Party	1959	1962
Australia	Australia		Leisure	1976	Australian History	1971	A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court	1970	Arthur! And the Square Knights of the Round Table	1966	1968
Africa	Ivory Coast								Kimboo	1989	1990
Transcontinental	United States		Humorous Phases of Funny Faces	1906	The Einstein Theory of Relativity	1923	Creation[7]	1915	Jim and Judy in Teleland	1949	1950	[8][9]
	Russia		The Cameraman's Revenge	1912	In a Faraway Kingdom...	1957	The New Gulliver	1935	Happy Merry-Go-Round	1969	2001	[10]
	Egypt		Nothing To Do	1936	East West? East West	2009	The Boy and the King	1992	Bakkar	1998	2025
N/A	New Zealand		The Frog, the Dog and the Devil	1986			Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tail Tale	1986	Oscar and Friends	1995	1996

Techniques

Animation

First films/television series to be created using various animation techniques

Type	Form	Media	Title	Release Date
Hand-drawn	Paper	Short film	Fantasmagorie	1908
	Cel	Short film	The Sinking of the Lusitania	1918
		Feature film	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	1937
		Television series	Crusader Rabbit	1950
	Oil-painted	Short film	Conversation in Space	1961
		Feature film	Loving Vincent	2017
	Digital ink and paint	Short film	Off His Rockers	1992
		Feature film	The Rescuers Down Under	1990
		Television series	Pac-Man	1982
Stop-motion	Other	Short film	Matches: An Appeal	1899
	Clay	Short film	The Sculptor's Nightmare	1908
		Feature film	I Go Pogo	1980
		Television series	The Gumby Show	1955[11]
	Puppet	Short film	The Humpty Dumpty Circus	1908
		Feature film	The Tale of the Fox	1930[12]
		Television series	The New Adventures of Pinocchio	1961
	Silhouette	Short film	The Sporting Mice	1909
		Feature film	The Adventures of Prince Achmed	1926
	Cutout	Short film	Die Schöne Prinzessin von China	1917
		Feature film	El Apóstol	1917
		Television series	Captain Pugwash	1957
Rotoscoping		Short film	The Clown's Pup (Out of the Inkwell)	1919
		Feature film	Gulliver's Travels	1939
		Television series	Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle	1976
Digital	CGI	Short film	A Computer Animated Hand	1972
		Feature film	Toy Story	1995
		Television series	ReBoot	1994
	Flash	Feature film	Wizards and Giants	2003
		Television series	¡Mucha Lucha!	2002
	Machinima	Short film	Diary of a Camper	1996
		Feature film	The Seal of Nehahra	2000
		Web series	Red vs. Blue	2003
	Motion capture	Short film	Adam Powers, The Juggler	1981
		Feature film	Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within	2001

Format, process and sound

Year	Milestone	Film	Notes
1907	Animation in celluloid and stenciling process	Katsudō Shashin
1920	Animation produced using a photographic color process	The Debut of Thomas Cat	Using the Brewster Color process.
1923	Synchronized sound animations	N/A	Lee De Forest premiered a program of 18 short films using the Phonofilm sound-on-film process at the Rivoli Theater in New York City.[13]
1928	Fully synchronized sound and post-produced soundtrack	Steamboat Willie	A click track was used to set the same tempo for animation and soundtrack (Mickey Mousing).
1931	Feature-length film with synchronized sound	Peludópolis	Considered lost.
1932	Animation to use the three-strip Technicolor process	Flowers and Trees
1937	Animation to use Disney's multiplane camera	The Old Mill, short film.	A predecessor of the multiplane technique had already been used for The Adventures of Prince Achmed. Ub Iwerks had developed an early version of the multiplane camera in 1934 for his The Headless Horseman Comicolor Cartoon.[14]
	First animated feature film to use three-strip Technicolor	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
1940	Animation to use stereophonic sound	Fantasia	Recorded in Fantasound with 33 microphones on eight channels, but the reproduction of multi-channel Fantasound in theaters was eventually more limited than intended
1951	Stereoscopic 3D animations	Now is the Time & Around is Around	Abstract dual-strip stereoscopic short films by Norman McLaren for the Festival of Britain[15]
1952	Animated feature film presented in 3D	Bwana Devil
1953	Animation presented in widescreen format	Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom	Short film; developed and released in CinemaScope.
1955	Animated feature in widescreen format	Lady and the Tramp
1957	Animated TV series broadcast in color	Colonel Bleep
1959	Syncro-Vox in animation	Clutch Cargo
1960	First animation to use xerography (replacing hand inking)	Goliath II
1961	Animated feature film to use xerography process	One Hundred and One Dalmatians
1978	Animated feature presented in VistaVision	Lupin the 3rd: The Mystery of Mamo	Process adapted for animation as "Anime Vision".[16]
	Animated feature to be presented in Dolby sound	Watership Down
1983	3D feature film - stereoscopic technique	Abra Cadabra
	Animated TV series to be recorded in Stereo sound	Inspector Gadget
1989	TV cartoon to be broadcast in Dolby Surround sound.	Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration
1995	Animated television series to be broadcast in Dolby Surround	Pinky and the Brain
1999	Animated feature presented in IMAX	Fantasia 2000
2007	Animated feature presented in 7.1 surround sound	Ultimate Avengers	Blu-ray release
2008	Animated feature designed, created and released exclusively in 3D	Fly Me to the Moon
2009	Animated feature directly produced in stereoscopic 3D rather than converted in 3D	Monsters vs. Aliens	Completion using InTru3D
2010	Animated feature released theatrically in 7.1 surround sound	Toy Story 3
2022	Animated feature film to aspect ratio opened up in IMAX	Lightyear	It opened up from 2.39:1 to 1.43:1 for select sequences of the film.[17]
2024	Animated series with IMAX aspect ratio	Max & the Midknights	Opened from 2.39:1 to 1.43:1 for select sequences.
	First animated feature film in 2:1 aspect ratio	Moana 2

Reception

Accolades

Year	Milestone	Notes
1933	First animation to win Best Animated Short Film at the Academy Awards	Flowers and Trees
1938	First animated feature to be nominated an Academy Award	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, representing Best Original Score; it also received an Academy Honorary Award for Walt Disney.
1941	First animation to win Best Original Song and Original Score	Pinocchio
1951	First animated feature to win Golden Bear	Cinderella
1961	First animated TV series nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series	The Flintstones. As of 2025, no animated series has won.
1992	First animated feature nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture	Beauty and the Beast. As of 2025, no animated feature has won.
1998	First animated feature to win Japan Academy Film Prize for Picture of the Year	Princess Mononoke[18]
2002	First Academy Award for Best Animated Feature winner	Shrek. Monsters, Inc. and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius were also nominated.
2005	First animated feature to win Academy Award for Best Sound Editing	The Incredibles
2009	First animated feature nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film	Waltz with Bashir.[19] As of 2025, no animated film has won.
2010	First animated feature nominated for the Metro Manila Film Festival Award for Best Picture	RPG Metanoia.[20] As of 2025, no animated film has won, although received a second runner-up prize instead.
2015	First animated feature to win Venice Film Festival for Grand Jury Prize	Anomalisa[21]
2024	First animated feature to win Gawad Urian for Best Film	Iti Mapukpukaw[22]

Box office records

Year	Milestone	Film	Notes
1992	First animated feature to earn $500 million worldwide[23]	Aladdin
1994	First animated feature to earn $750 million worldwide[24]	The Lion King
2010	First animated feature to earn $1 billion worldwide[25]	Toy Story 3	It is currently the highest-grossing G-rated film from 2010 to 2019, only to be surpassed by another sequel, Toy Story 4.
2013	First animated feature to earn $1.25 billion worldwide	Frozen
2019	First animated feature to earn $1.5 billion worldwide	The Lion King (2019)	Walt Disney Pictures, which produced the film, considered it to be live-action despite the entire film (aside from its opening shot) being computer animated.[26] Other sources deemed it to be animated based on specified criteria.[27]
2020	First non-American animated film to topped the annual global box office.	Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train	It also the first R-rated animated film to earn $200 to 500 million worldwide, surpassing the previous R-rated film Sausage Party (2016) with $140 million worldwide, which makes Demon Slayer: Mugen Train three times larger than the former in a box-office gross for a R-rated animated film, making it a rare feat.[28] It only occurs an non-American animated film to topped the global box office for five years.
2024	First animated feature film to earn $1.6 billion worldwide.	Inside Out 2	Currently the highest-grossing Pixar film of all time as well as the second highest-grossing animated film of all time which was surpassed by Ne Zha 2.
	First animated feature film to earn over $200 million at its 5-day opening weekend.	Moana 2	It became the highest-grossing animated feature film of its opening weekend by making over $200 million.
2025	First non-Hollywood animated feature film to earn $1 billion worldwide. First animated feature film to earn $2 billion worldwide.	Ne Zha 2	It earned $2 billion in China and worldwide and is currently the highest-grossing animated feature film of all time.

Other milestones

Year	Milestone	Notes
1924	First pornographic animation	The Virgin with the Hot Pants, opening sequence for a stag film.
1928	Fully pornographic animated film	Eveready Harton in Buried Treasure
1932	First hentai animation	Suzumibune; first established with the term hentai, a Japanese animation and literature pornography. Considered lost.
1942	First film to use limited animation extensively	The Dover Boys at Pimento University
1960	First primetime animated TV series	The Flintstones[29]
1961	First animation to combine various types	Conversation in Space; combines with collage and paint
1962	First animated TV special released on December or use in Christmas-themed	Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol[30][31]
1963	First computer-generated (CGI) moving image	Simulation of a Two-Gyro Gravity-Gradient Attitude Control System by Edward E. Zajac at Bell Labs; animated line drawings for scientific purposes.
1964	First animated feature film based on a TV series	Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!
	First stop-motion television special	Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
1966	First animated TV special released on October or use in Halloween-themed	It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
1969	First X-rated animated feature film	A Thousand and One Nights, Japanese anime hit. Pornographic animations had already been made for the phénakisticope and the short film The Virgin with the Hot Pants (circa 1924)
1972	First CGI character	A Computer Animated Hand by Edwin Catmull and Fred Parke at University of Utah
1973	First PG-rated animated film	Fantastic Planet
	First use of CGI in a feature film	Westworld; used pixelated image processing to simulate robot vision.
1974	First R-rated animated feature film	The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat
1976	First CGI short film	Hunger (La Faim)
1978	First animated feature film to premiere on television	Tadhana. It was broadcast once on Philippine channels GMA 7, RPN 9, and IBC 13 to commemorate the sixth anniversary of martial law, and was never released commercially in theaters until 2020s.[32][33][34][35]
1981	First motion capture character	Adam Powers, The Juggler. The character was motion captured by Ken Rosenthal, a real juggler.[36]
1982	First PG-13 rated animated film	The Plague Dogs
1983	First direct-to-video animated series	Dallos. First original video animation
1986	First non-narrative animated feature film	Sophie's Place
1992	First direct-to-video animated feature film	Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation
1993	First CGI series	VeggieTales
1994	First CGI TV series	Insektors
1995	First CGI feature film	Toy Story
1997	First animated series produced for the Internet[37]	The Goddamn George Liquor Program
	First CGI TV special	Santa vs. the Snowman
1998	First PG-rated CGI animated film	Antz
2004	First cel-shaded 3D animation	Appleseed
2005	First animated feature film shot with digital still cameras	Corpse Bride
2006	First animated feature film combined with stop-motion and computer animation	Flushed Away; produced by Aardman Animations, heavily use with CGI for characters and visual effects in heavily contrast with stop-motion animation.[38]
2007	First animated feature film developed by one person	Flatland. Filmmaker Ladd Ehlinger Jr. animated in Lightwave 3D and edited the film[39] by himself over the course of two years,[40] starting in 2005.[41]
2009	Stop-motion character animated using rapid prototyping	Coraline
2012	Stop-motion film to use color 3-D printing technology for models	ParaNorman
2013	First animated TV series solely created by a non-binary person	Steven Universe on Cartoon Network.[42] Created by Rebecca Sugar, also the first woman to solely created a series on that network.[43]
2016	First R-rated 3D computer-animated film	Sausage Party. While most previous R-rated animated films are 2D traditional, Sausage Party is officially recognized as the first R-rated fully CGI to be rated by MPA in years.[44]
2017	First fully-painted animated feature film	Loving Vincent. 75% of animated using paint and brush to canvas in present after van Gogh's death, while the other 25% also animated using paint and brush through rotoscoping, which only appears in flashback.[45]
2024	First animated feature film made completely with AI	DreadClub: Vampire's Verdict. All visuals, performances, sound, music, and animation are AI. July 2024.[46]
	First animated feature film converted from planned TV series.	Moana 2; Originally planned as Disney+ series, converted to film due to first film's 2023 streaming success.

See also

• History of animation