HOT Animation
HOT Animation was a British animation studio owned by HIT Entertainment that specialized in stop motion animation. It was established on 1 April 1998 by Jackie Cockle, Brian Little, and Joe Dembinski.
 | |
| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media Television production |
| Founded | 1 April 1998 |
| Founder | Jackie Cockle Brian Little Joe Dembinski |
| Defunct | 18 August 2012 |
| Headquarters | Manchester, England |
Key people | Jackie Cockle Brian Little Joe Dembinski |
| Products | Children's television series Stop motion |
| Total assets | $1,119 million |
Number of employees | 67 (2007) |
| Parent | HIT Entertainment |
They started with producing the later four episodes of Brambly Hedge, a series of 25-minute episodes based on the eight illustrated children's books by Jill Barklem.
Their worldwide success did not follow until the creation of Bob the Builder, a British animated television series which follows construction builder Bob and the Can-Do-Crew of building vehicles. The theme tune was released as a single, "Can We Fix It?" with an accompanying promo produced at HOT, which beat Kylie Minogue's "Please Stay", Eminem's "Stan", and Westlife's "What Makes a Man" to become the Christmas number-one single.
The company then made Rubbadubbers, a series about bath toys that come alive. Pingu, a Swiss-British animated series about a family of penguins, was recreated with great success from 2003 to 2006.
HOT ceased to produce the main series of Bob the Builder after 2008 when the studio announced that jobs would be cut, and opted to produce a direct-to-DVD series called Bob the Builder: On Site, using stop motion from Bob's world and live action from real world construction sites.
On 18 August 2012, the studio collapsed, months after its parent company HIT was purchased by Mattel, and its building was taken over by Chapman Entertainment. A year later, Chapman Entertainment was acquired by DreamWorks Animation, and the building permanently shut down.
Productions
Television
- Brambly Hedge (1998–2000, episodes 5–8 only)
- Bob the Builder (1999–2008, seasons 1–16 only)
- Rubbadubbers (2002–2005)
- Pingu (2003–2006, seasons 5–6 only)
Feature-length specials
- Bob the Builder: A Christmas to Remember (2001)
- Bob the Builder: The Live Show (2002)
- Bob the Builder: The Knights of Can-a-Lot (2003)
- Bob the Builder: Snowed Under - The Bobblesburg Winter Games (2004)
- Bob the Builder - Project Build It: When Bob Became a Builder (2005)
- Bob the Builder - Project Build It: Built to Be Wild (2006)
- Bob the Builder - Project Build It: Scrambler to the Rescue (2007)
- Bob the Builder - Project Build It: Race to the Finish (2008)
Direct-to-home video
- Bob the Builder: On Site (2008–2011)
Music videos
- "Can We Fix It?" (2000)
- "Mambo No. 5" (2001)
- "Eskimo Disco - 7-11" (2006)
- "Big Fish, Little Fish" (2008)
Other
- Dinosaur Roar (1999, pilot for HIT Entertainment)
- Gina and Stella (2001, short film)
- Bitziboos (2004, pilot for HIT Entertainment)
- Life on Mars (2007, Camberwick Green parody sequence for season 2 episode 5)