1978 in animation
Events in 1978 in animation.
Events
February
February 23: The Peanuts TV special What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown! premieres on CBS.March
March 1: Karel Zeman's Krabat – The Sorcerer's Apprentice premieres.March 11: Masami Hata's Chirin no Suzu premieres, the first animated feature produced by Sanrio to be aimed more at young adults, and featuring a remarkable tone shift in the second half of the film.March 27: Jannik Hastrup's Danish animated feature The Thralls is first released in theaters.April
April 2: The first episode of Starzinger premieres.April 3: 50th Academy Awards: The Sand Castle by Co Hoedeman wins the Academy Award for Best Animated Short.April 4: The first episode of Hayao Miyazaki's Future Boy Conan airs.May
May 12: Hisayuki Toriumi's Science Ninja Team Gatchaman: The Movie premieres.May 16–30: Jean-François Laguionie's Rowing Across the Atlantic premieres during the 1978 Cannes Film Festival. It will later win a Short Film Palme d'Or.June
June 3: The first episode of Haikara-San: Here Comes Miss Modern airs.June 16: The film Grease premieres which has an animated opening sequence created by John David Wilson.June 23: Lionel Jeffries' The Water Babies which combines animation and live-action, is first released.July
July 6: The first episode of Wattoo Wattoo Super Bird airs.July 14: Leiji Matsumoto's Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato is first released.September
- The first episode of Quaq Quao airs.September 30: The first episode of Il était une fois... l'Homme, the first series in the Once Upon a Time... franchise by Albert Barillé, airs.
October
October 19: Martin Rosen's animated feature film, Watership Down, an adaptation of Richard Adams' novel Watership Down, premieres.October 22: Nelvana releases its first animated Halloween special, The Devil and Daniel Mouse.October 24: René Goscinny and Morris' second animated feature film based on the Lucky Luke series, La Ballade des Dalton, premieres in France.November
November 2: Takashi Masunaga's anthology film Metamorphoses premieres, a retelling of Metamorphoses by Roman poet Ovid set to music by Joan Baez and Mick Jagger.November 6: Eunice Macaulay and John Weldon's Livraison Spéciale is first released.November 13: To celebrate the character's 50th anniversary, Mickey Mouse receives a star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He is the first animated character and general fictional character to receive this honor.November 15: Ralph Bakshi releases his animated film adaptation of the Ring trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings.December
December 16:- * Soji Yoshikawa's The Mystery of Mamo is first released, the first animated film in the Lupin III franchise.
- * Don Bluth's The Small One is first released, produced by Walt Disney Productions.
Specific date unknown
- Ishu Patel's animated short Afterlife premieres.
- Robert Awad, André Leduc and Tim Reid's L'Affaire Bronswik premieres, an animated mockumentary.
- Yefim Gamburg's Ograblenie po... premieres.
- Janet Perlman and Derek Lamb's Why Me? premieres.
Films released
- January 5 - Gold Wing 123
- January 23 - Kongjui & Patchui
- March 10 - The Ballad of the Daltons
- March 11 - Ringing Bell
- March 18 - Thumbelina
- March 27 - The Thralls
- April - Proszę słonia
- May 3 - Metamorphoses
- May 12 - Science Ninja Team Gatchaman: The Movie
- May 15 - Wilhelm Busch – Die Trickfilm-Parade: Max und Moritz und andere Streiche
- June 23 - The Water Babies
- June 30 - Mickey Mouse Jubilee Show
- July 14 - Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato: Warriors of Love
- July 23 - 77 Group's Secret
- July 26 - Robot Taekwon V vs. Golden Wings Showdown
- July 31 - Run, Wonder Princess!
- August 19 - The Phoenix
- August 27 - One Million-Year Trip: Bander Book
- September 23 - King Fang
- October 19 - Watership Down
- October 28 - Black Beauty
- November 2 - Twelve Days of Christmas
- November 4 - Los Supersabios
- November 15 - The Lord of the Rings
- November 25 - Not Everything that Flies is a Bird
- December 7 - Dallyeora Majingga X
- December 16 - Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo
- December 23 - The Stingiest Man in Town
- December 26 - The Talking Parcel
- December 31 - Captain Future: The Great Race in the Solar System
- Specific date unknown:
- * Fantasia's Attic
- * Ferda the Ant. How Ferda Lived in the World and Stories about his Friend Little Back
- * The Magic Flute
- * ''Xigua pao''
Television series
- January 1 - Perrine Monogatari debuts on Fuji TV and Sat.1.
- March 6 - Majokko Tickle debuts on TV Asahi.
- March 14 - Space Pirate Captain Harlock debuts on TV Asahi.
- April 1 - Tosho Daimos debuts on TV Asahi.
- April 2 - Starzinger debuts on Fuji TV.
- April 4 - Future Boy Conan debuts on NHK General TV.
- April 10 - Highschool Baseball Ninja debuts on Fuji TV.
- June 3:
- * Haikara-san ga Tōru debuts on TV Asahi.
- * Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3 debuts on Nagoya TV.
- July 4 - The Adventures of The Little Prince debuts on TV Asahi.
- July 6 - Wattoo Wattoo Super Bird debuts on A2.
- September - Quaq Quao debuts in syndication.
- September 9:
- * Buford and the Galloping Ghost debuts on NBC.
- * Challenge of the Super Friends and Fangface debut on ABC.
- * Crazylegs Crane, Dinky Dog, Manta and Moray, Superstretch and Microwoman, Tarzan and the Super 7, The All-New Popeye Hour, The Freedom Force, and Web Woman debut on CBS.
- * Fabulous Funnies, ''Galaxy Goof-Ups, The Godzilla Power Hour, Jana of the Jungle, The Buford Files, The Galloping Ghost, The New Fantastic Four, and Yogi's Space Race debut on NBC.
- September 12 - Battle of the Planets debuts in syndication.
- September 14 - Galaxy Express 999 debuts on Fuji TV.
- September 30 - Once Upon a Time... Man debuts on FR3.
- October 1 - Gatchaman II debuts on Fuji TV.
- October 8 - Treasure Island debuts on NTV.
- October 14 - Space Battleship Yamato 2 debuts on Yomiuri TV.
- November 7 - Captain Future'' debuts on NHK General TV.
Births
January
January 1: Jose Garibaldi, American animator, illustrator and character designer.January 8: Scott Whyte, American actor.January 9: AJ McLean, American musician and member of the Backstreet Boys.January 24: Kristen Schaal, American actress and comedian.January 25: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian politician and former actor.January 28:- * Stephen Farrelly, Irish pro wrestler.
- * Mark Hildreth, Canadian actor.
February
February 2:- * Eden Espinosa, American actress.
- * Rich Sommer, American actor.February 3: Eliza Jane Schneider, American actress, singer, playwright, and dialect coach.February 7: Matt Warburton, American television writer and producer.February 20: Jay Hernandez, American actor.February 21: Nicole Parker, American actress.February 28: Geoffrey Arend, American actor.
March
March 1:- * Donovan Patton, American actor and television host.
- * Jensen Ackles, American actor.March 17: Patrick Seitz, American actor.March 23: Nicholle Tom, American actress.March 25: Tomohisa Shimoyama, Japanese director and animator.
April
April 20: C. Raggio IV, American animator, character designer and storyboard artist,.April 26: Stana Katic, Canadian actress.May
May 2: Kumail Nanjiani, Pakistani-American actor and comedian.May 4: Daisuke Ono, Japanese voice actor.May 10: Kenan Thompson, American actor and comedian.May 12: Jason Biggs, American actor.May 15: David Krumholtz, American actor.May 22: Ginnifer Goodwin, American actress.May 26: Benji Gregory, American actor,.May 28: Jake Johnson, American actor and filmmaker.June
June 2: Justin Long, American actor.June 5: Nick Kroll, American actor, comedian, writer and producer.June 6:- * Judith Barsi, American child actress,.
- * Dave King, American television producer and writer.June 7: Bill Hader, American actor and comedian.June 12:
- * Jeremy Rowley, American actor.
- * Timothy Simons, American actor and comedian.June 13: Ethan Embry, American actor.June 18:
- * Tara Platt, American actress.
- * Ben Gleib, American actor and comedian.June 19: Zoe Saldaña, American actress.June 29: Nicole Scherzinger, American signer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and television personality.
July
July 6:- * Tia Mowry, American actress.
- * Tamera Mowry, American actress. July 8: Tony Mines, English animator, writer, director and producer,.July 19:
- * R.J. Williams, American actor.
- * Chiara Zanni, Canadian actress.
August
August 3: Tommy Dewey, American actor, producer, and writer.August 8: Brad Breeck, American composer and musician.August 14: Neil Newbon, English actor.August 18: Andy Samberg, American actor and comedian.August 21:- * Christopher Willis, Australian-born English composer.
- * John Disco, Scottish record producer, sound engineer and songwriter.August 22: James Corden, English actor and comedian.August 23:
- * Kobe Bryant, American former professional basketball player,.
- * Andrew Rannells, American actor.August 25: Kel Mitchell, American actor and comedian.August 28: Rachel Kimsey, American actress.August 31: Mike Erwin, American actor.
September
September 4: Wes Bentley, American actor.September 7: Devon Sawa, Canadian actor.September 18: Billy Eichner, American actor.October
October 4:- * Dana Davis, American actress and novelist.
- * Phillip Glasser, American former actor.October 7: Omar Benson Miller, American actor.October 10: Edan Gross, American businessman and former child actor.October 20: Dionne Quan, American actress.October 26: CM Punk, American professional wrestler and actor.
November
November 6: Nicole Dubuc, American actress, and writer.November 12: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Canadian-Pakistani journalist, filmmaker and political activist.November 16:- * Vyvan Pham, American actress.
- * Cal Brunker, Canadian animator, storyboard artist, screenwriter and film director.November 19:
- * Daniel Chong, American animator and producer.
- * Chad Doreck, American actor.November 30: Gael García Bernal, Mexican actor and producer.
December
December 7: Shiri Appleby, American actress.December 10: Rita Rani Ahuja, American actress and producer.December 17: Cav Bøgelund, Danish animator and comics artist,.December 18: Josh Dallas, American actor.December 27: Colin Heck, American animator, storyboard artist, character designer, writer and director.December 28: John Legend, American singer and songwriter.Specific date unknown
- Alessandro Carloni, Italian film director, animator, and art director.
- Dave Creek, American animator and character designer,.
Deaths
January
January 18:- * Clark Haas, American comics artist, animator and animation producer, dies at age 58.
- * Junius Matthews, American actor, dies at age 87.
February
February 9: Woody Gelman, American animator, comics artist, novelist and publisher, dies of a stroke at age 62.February 28: Dorothy Jones, American screenwriter and wife of Chuck Jones, dies at age 70.April
April 3: Winston Sharples, American composer, dies at age 69.April 19: Joe Dougherty, American actor, dies at age 79.April 21: Thelma Boardman, American actress, dies at age 68.June
June 1: John W. Burton, American film producer and cinematographer, dies at age 71.July
- July 26: Mary Blair, American artist, animator and designer, dies at age 66.