2003 in animation

Events

January

• January 1: Happy Tree Friends Volume 1 - First Blood renews its theatrical release, by adding its pilot and the Special Popcorn episode for the first time.
• January 7: The first episode of Little Robots is broadcast.
• January 9: The first episode of Bounty Hamster is broadcast.
• January 20: The Fairly OddParents concludes its second season on Nickelodeon with the half-hour special "Information Stupor Highway". The season's finale was seen by over 4.2 million viewers that night.
• January 21: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment initially releases 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure, directed by Jim Kammerud and Brian Smith.

February

• February 2: The Simpsons' 300th episode "The Strong Arms of the Ma" premieres on Fox, featuring the return of Pamela Reed as Ruth Powers, the former neighbor of The Simpsons. The episode was seen by over 15.3 million viewers that night.
• February 8: The first episode of the reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is broadcast.
• February 9: The first episode of Monkey Dust is broadcast.
• February 14: The Jungle Book 2, the sequel to the 1967 film, premieres, receiving negative attention for its poor quality in writing and animation. Also, this sequel is infamous for its publicity of Disney's attempt to "bring back" the G-rating this year while competing with Piglet's Big Movie owing to a majority of animated films receiving higher ratings last year. After regarding the film's negative response, subsequent animated sequels would go straight to video until Ralph Breaks the Internet in 2018.
• February 16: The first episode of The Venture Bros. is broadcast.
• February 20: Anime producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki is sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for the illegal possession of firearms, a case which happened in 1999. He is released on 9 December 2007.
• February 21: The first episode of Watch My Chops is broadcast.
• February 24: The first episode of The Save-Ums! is broadcast.

March

• March 4: Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire, the fifth direct-to-video movie of Scooby-Doo, is released, which reverts to its original format while departing from the darker tone of the first four films.
• March 5: The first episode of Odd Job Jack is broadcast.
• March 9: The Simpsons episode "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington" premieres, in which Krusty the Clown becomes a Republican. It became controversial for satirizing Fox News's news ticker.
• March 11: The first two episodes of the reboot of Strawberry Shortcake are released on DVD and VHS.
• March 18: Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure is released, but was panned by critics by its animation and plot.
• March 19: Season 7 of South Park begins on Comedy Central with the premiere of the episode "Cancelled". It was seen by over 2.3 million viewers that night.
• March 21:
• *The Walt Disney Company releases Piglet's Big Movie, directed by Francis Glebas.
• *The SpongeBob SquarePants half-hour lost episode special "The Sponge Who Could Fly" premiered on Nickelodeon. Its premiere was a cable-ratings success, reeling in a total of over 7.6 million viewers that night.
• March 23: 75th Academy Awards:
• * Spirited Away, directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli, wins the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Miyazaki boycotts the event because of the U.S. involvement in the Iraq War and stays at home.
• * The ChubbChubbs!, directed by Eric Armstrong and produced by Sony Pictures Imageworks, wins the Academy Award for Best Animated Short.

April

• April 6: The Futurama episode "The Why of Fry" premieres, guest starring actor and comedian Bob Odenkirk. It reveals that Fry's cryogenic freezing and arrival in the 31st century was not an accident, but a calculated plot by Nibbler to save the universe.
• April 7: Noggin was rebranded.
• * Moose and Zee make their debuts.
• * The first episode of the stop-motion version of Miffy and Friends is broadcast to critical acclaim.
• April 9: South Parks 100th episode "I'm a Little Bit Country" premieres on Comedy Central, Norman Lear guest stars as Benjamin Franklin.
• April 12: The first episode of the Rugrats spin-off, All Grown Up! is broadcast on Nickelodeon. before its regular run began on November 9, 2003.

May

• Unknown date of May: Happy Tree Friends Volume 2 - Second Serving was theatrically released for first time with episodes 16 to 27 of the Internet Season 1, and episodes 1 to 5 of Season 2.
• May 7: Ray Harryhausen receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• May 18:
• * During the Cannes Film Festival Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, a Japanese-French animated feature film directed by Daisuke Nishio, Hirotoshi Rissen, Kazuhisa Takenouchi and Leiji Matsumoto, set to a soundtrack by Daft Punk, is released.
• * King of the Hill concludes its seventh season on Fox with the following episodes:
• ** "Maid in Arlen", guest starring Amy Hill. Was watched by over 4.8 million viewers.
• ** "The Witches of East Arlen", guest starring David Cross. Was watched by over 7 million viewers.
• * The Simpsons concludes its 14th season on Fox with the following episodes:
• ** "The Bart of War"; Was watched by exactly 12.1 million viewers.
• ** "Moe Baby Blues", guest starring Joe Mantegna. Was watched by over 13.4 million viewers.
• May 30: The Walt Disney Company releases Finding Nemo, directed by Andrew Stanton.

June

• June 1: The Futurama episode "The Sting" premieres, in which a mission to collect space honey from deadly space bees leads to Fry's apparent death from bee stings.
• June 10: Larryboy: The Cartoon Adventures releases its final episode.
• June 11: Sylvain Chomet's The Triplettes of Belleville premiers.
• June 13:
• * Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon release Rugrats Go Wild. It became a commercial failure and because of this, Nickelodeon ceased production on The Wild Thornberrys and Rugrats, but continue to focus on the spinoff series All Grown Up!.
• * The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy spins off from Grim & Evil and into its own show on Cartoon Network. Despite being its own show now, episodes from the second season of Grim & Evil would air as part of the show.
• June 15: The Futurama episode "Three Hundred Big Boys" premieres, guest starring actress and comedian Roseanne Barr.
• June 25: Philippe Leclerc's The Rain Children premiers.
• June 26 – July 24: Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon", a darker-toned revival of The Ren & Stimpy Show, is broadcast. However, its negative reception caused it to be cancelled after only a few episodes.

July

• July 2: Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, the final traditionally animated DreamWorks film, premieres but becomes a massive flop which almost caused DreamWorks to shut down.
• July 11:
• * The first episode of Spider-Man: The New Animated Series is broadcast.
• * Evil Con Carne spins off from Grim & Evil and into its own show on Cartoon Network. Despite being its own show now, episodes from the second season of Grim & Evil would air as part of the show. Because of its mild viewership over its sister show The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, it was cancelled the following year.
• July 12: The Fairly OddParents' first TV movie "Abra-Catastrophe!" premieres on Nickelodeon. Its premiere was a cable-ratings success, reeling in a total of over 4 million viewers that night.
• July 19: The first episode of Teen Titans is broadcast. It will become a cult classic.
• July 26: SpongeBob SquarePants concludes its second season on Nickelodeon with the premiere of the episode "Gary Takes a Bath". The episode originally premiered on Nicktoons on June 17, 2002.

August

• August 1: The first episode of My Life as a Teenage Robot premieres on Nickelodeon.
• August 10: Futurama was abruptly cancelled after four seasons on Fox. It would later have a revival on Comedy Central in 2010.
• August 23: The first episodes of Funky Cops and Duck Dodgers are broadcast.
• August 25: The first episode of Martin Morning is broadcast.

September

• Unknown date of September/October: Happy Tree Friends Volume 2 - Second Serving renews its theatrical release by adding episodes 6 and 7 of the Internet Season 2, Intimate Spotlight and the first Buddhist Monkey episode.
• September 1: The first episodes of Clifford's Puppy Days, The Koala Brothers, My Dad the Rock Star and Kid Paddle are broadcast.
• September 2: The first episode of Rubbadubbers is broadcast.
• September 3: The first episodes of Code Lyoko and Chilly Beach are broadcast.
• September 5: The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius concludes its first season on Nickelodeon with the half-hour special "Sorry, Wrong Era".
• September 7: The first episode of Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks is broadcast.
• September 8: The first episode of Connie the Cow is broadcast.
• September 15: The first episode of The Secret World of Benjamin Bear is broadcast.
• September 16: The first episode of Auld Ones is broadcast.
• September 19: Season 2 of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius begins on Nickelodeon with the premiere of the half-hour special "Beach Party Mummy".
• September 21: The first episode of Ratz is broadcast.
• September 28: The first episode of JoJo's Circus is broadcast.

October

• October 1:
• *The first episode of Martin Mystery is broadcast.
• *The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Halloween special "Billy & Mandy's Jacked-Up Halloween" premieres on Cartoon Network. This was the series finale to Billy & Mandy's parent series Grim & Evil, but a stand-alone episode related to Grim & Evil titled "Five O' Clock Shadows" premiered the following year.
• October 10: Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 1 is released, which features an anime sequence, directed by Kazuto Nakazawa and produced by Production I.G.

November

• November 1:
• * The Walt Disney Company releases Brother Bear, directed by Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker. It became Disney's unique animated film for being formatted in two different aspect ratios. While Disney was trying to "bring back" the G-rating for their cartoons regularly starting with Jungle Book 2 this February owing to the majority of releasing PG-rated cartoons last year, this was not a successful approach due to compromising character deaths in this film.
• * The first episodes of Xiaolin Showdown, Kenny the Shark, and Tutenstein are broadcast.
• November 2:
• * Season 8 of King of the Hill begins on Fox with the premiere of the episode "Patch Boomhauer". The episode was watched by over 12.2 million viewers that night.
• * Season 15 of The Simpsons begins on Fox with the latest Treehouse of Horror installment "Treehouse of Horror XIV". The episode was watched by over 16.2 million viewers that night.
• November 7:
• * The first episode of Star Wars: Clone Wars premieres on Cartoon Network.
• * Season 4 of The Fairly OddParents begins on Nickelodeon with the premiere of the episodes "Miss Dimmsdale/Mind Over Magic".
• November 9:
• * Joe Dante's Looney Tunes: Back in Action is released. This film became a financial failure and would not make anymore theatrical films featuring the Looney Tunes until 2021.
• * The Family Guy episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" premieres on Adult Swim. It was pulled from airing on Fox due to them believing the episode is Anti-semitic.
• November 10: The first episode of Sabrina's Secret Life is broadcast.
• November 20: The final episode of Dexter's Laboratory premieres on Cartoon Network. Genndy Tartakovsky, the series' creator for seasons 1 and 2 and the TV movie Ego Trip, later stated in 2023 that there will not be a possibility to reboot the series due to Christine Cavanaugh's death in 2014.
• November 21: The Fairly OddParents concludes its third season on Nickelodeon with the episodes "Chip Off the Old Chip/Snow Bound". The season's finale was seen by over 3 million viewers that night.
• November 27: The first episode of Pororo the Little Penguin is broadcast.

December

• December 3: Jacques-Rémy Girerd's Prophétie des Grenouilles premiers.
• December 16: One Froggy Evening and Tin Toy are added to the National Film Registry.
• December 17: South Park concludes its seventh season on Comedy Central with the Christmas special "It's Christmas in Canada". It was seen by over 2.3 million viewers that night.

Specific date unknown

• Danish animator comic artist Borge Ring is knighted in the Order of the Dutch Lion.

Awards

• Academy Award for Best Animated Feature: Spirited Away
• Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film: The ChubbChubbs!
• Animation Kobe Feature Film Award: Millennium Actress
• Annecy International Animated Film Festival Cristal du long métrage: My Life as McDull
• Annie Award for Best Animated Feature: Finding Nemo
• Goya Award for Best Animated Film: El Cid: The Legend
• Japan Media Arts Festival Animation Award: Winter Days
• Mainichi Film Awards – Animation Grand Award: ''Tokyo Godfathers''

Films released

• January 21 - 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure
• February 11 - Baby Looney Tunes' Eggs-traordinary Adventure
• February 12 - La Légende de Parva
• February 14 - The Jungle Book 2
• March 1 - One Piece: Dead End Adventure
• March 4 - Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire
• March 8 - Doraemon: Nobita and the Windmasters
• March 18 - Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure
• March 20 - Little Longnose
• March 21 - Piglet's Big Movie
• March 27 - The Little Polar Bear: The Dream of Flying
• March 31 - Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids
• April 18 - Hajime no Ippo – Champion Road
• April 19:
• * Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called: Yakiniku Road of Honor
• * Detective Conan: Crossroad in the Ancient Capital
• April 20 - The Cunning Little Vixen
• April 25:
• * Jake's Booty Call
• * Oseam
• May 20:
• * Atlantis: Milo's Return
• * VeggieTales: The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment!
• May 21 - Dominator
• May 28 - Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem
• May 30 - Finding Nemo
• June 3:
• * The Animatrix
• * Rolie Polie Olie: The Baby Bot Chase
• June 4 - Kaena: The Prophecy
• June 5 - Cesante
• June 11 - The Triplets of Belleville
• June 13 - Rugrats Go Wild
• June 25 - The Rain Children
• June 27 - Otherworld
• July 2 - Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
• July 4 - El Embrujo del Sur
• July 17:
• * Werner – Gekotzt wird später!
• * Wonderful Days
• July 19 - Pokémon: Jirachi—Wish Maker
• August 5 - VeggieTales: The Ballad of Little Joe
• August 19 - Back to School with Franklin
• August 20 - Hammerboy
• August 26 - Stitch! The Movie
• August 29 - Son of Aladdin
• September 9 - Elysium
• September 16 - Bionicle: Mask of Light
• September 19 - Little Bee Julia & Lady Life
• September 25 - Jester Till
• September 27 - G.I. Joe: Spy Troops
• September 30:
• * Barbie of Swan Lake
• * Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico
• October - The Legend of the Sky Kingdom
• October 2 - Globi and the Stolen Shadows
• October 10 - Mécanix
• October 21 - Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman
• October 22 - The Dog, the General, and the Birds
• October 31 - Betizu izar artean
• November - A Very Wompkee Christmas
• November 1 - Brother Bear
• November 8 - Tokyo Godfathers
• November 14 - Looney Tunes: Back in Action
• November 18 - Rescue Heroes: The Movie
• November 19 - Wizards & Giants
• November 20 - The Little Polar Bear: Nanouk's Rescue
• November 27 - Winter Days
• November 28 - Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time
• December 2 - The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration
• December 3 - Raining Cats and Frogs
• December 5 - Opopomoz
• December 7 - Más vampiros en La Habana
• December 8 - My Little Pony: A Charming Birthday
• December 9:
• * I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown
• * LeapFrog: The Letter Factory
• * Recess: All Growed Down
• * Recess: Taking the 5th Grade
• December 13 - Hamtaro: Miracle in Aurora Valley
• December 19:
• * The 3 Wise Men
• * El Cid: The Legend
• * Toto Sapore and the Magic Story of Pizza
• December 20:
• * InuYasha the Movie: Swords of an Honorable Ruler
• * Master Q: Incredible Pet Detective
• December 21 - Nasu: Summer in Andalusia
• December 25 - Bolívar: el héroe
• December 26 - Captain Sabertooth
• December 31 - LeapFrog: The Talking Words Factory
• Specific date unknown:
• * The Return of Mushsnail: The Legend of The Snowmill
• * ''The Souricière''

Television series debuts

Births

January

• January 2: Cyrus Arnold, American actor.
• January 24: Johnny Orlando, Canadian actor and musician.

February

• February 1: Sydney Mikayla, American actress.
• February 4: Kyla Kenedy, American actress.

April

• April 3: Elsie Fisher, American actress.
• April 19: Caleel Harris, American actor.

May

• May 24: Cole Sand, American actor.

June

• June 11: Breanna Yde, American actress.

July

• July 1: Storm Reid, American actress.

August

• August 18: Max Charles, American actor.
• August 23: Quvenzhané Wallis, American actress.

September

• September 3: Jack Dylan Grazer, American actor.
• September 5: Philip Solomon, American actor.
• September 8: Nicolas Cantu, American actor.
• September 17: Brianna Denski, American actress.
• September 30:
• * Bella Ramsey, English actor.
• * Lyric Ross, American actress.

Deaths

January

February

March

• * Lynne Thigpen, American actress, dies from cerebral hemorrhage at age 54.
• * Branco Karabajic, Croatian comic book artist and animator, dies at age 77.
• * Thomas Warkentin, American comic book artist, comic book writer and animator, dies at age 67.March 23: Nelda Ridley, American animation checker, dies at age 65.March 28: Bob Matz, American animator, dies at age 90.March 30: Michael Jeter, American actor, dies at age 50.

April

May

• * Dante Quinterno, Argentine animator, comics artist, and publisher, created the first animated color film of Latin America, dies at age 93.
• * Robert Stack, American actor, dies from heart failure at age 84.May 27: Dave Monahan, American screenwriter, dies at age 85.

June

July

August

September

• * Jules Engel, American sculptor, graphic artist, set designer, animator, film director and founder of the Experimental Animation Program at CalArts, dies at age 94.
• * Harry Goz, American actor, dies from multiple myeloma at age 71.September 8: Jaclyn Linetsky, Canadian actress, dies in a car accident at age 17.September 11: John Ritter, American actor, dies at age 54.September 12: Johnny Cash, American country singer, dies at age 71.September 25: George Plimpton, American journalist, writer, literary editor, actor and occasional amateur sportsman, dies at age 76.
• September 29: Wesley Tuttle, American country singer, dies at age 85.September 30: Edwin Gillette, American inventor, cameraman and animator, dies at age 94.

October

• October 27: Rod Roddy, American radio and television announcer, dies from colon cancer at age 66.

November

• * Kay E. Kuter, American actor, dies at age 78.
• * Penny Singleton, American actress and labor leader, dies at age 95.
• * Jonathan Brandis, American actor, dies at age 27.
• November 18: Michael Kamen, American composer, orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, songwriter and session musician, dies from a heart attack at age 55.
• November 30: Kin Platt, American caricaturist, radio writer, television writer, comics artist and animation writer, dies at age 91.

December

Specific date unknown

• Claude Smith, American animator, dies at age 90.