2012 in animation


2012 in animation is an overview of notable events, including notable awards, list of films released, television show debuts and endings, and notable deaths.

Events

February

February 4: The 39th Annie Awards are held.February 7: The Looney Tunes Show concludes its first season on Cartoon Network with the episode "Point, Laser Point". The season's finale was seen by over 1.5 million viewers that night.February 13: Adventure Time concludes its third season on Cartoon Network.February 14: Matt Groening receives a star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame.February 19: The 500th episode of The Simpsons, "At Long Last Leave", is first broadcast, guest starring Julian Assange.February 26: 84th Academy Awards:

March

March 2: The Lorax, based on the Dr. Seuss book of the same name, premieres, receiving mediocre reviews during the release. However, it garnered popularity online as an Internet meme a decade later.March 11: Season 2 of Bob's Burgers begins on Fox with the premiere of the episode "The Belchies"March 13:

April

April 2: Season 4 of Adventure Time begins on Cartoon Network, with the premiere of the episode "Hot to the Touch".April 15: The Simpsons episode "Beware My Cheating Bart" is first broadcast, with the couch gag being animated by Bill Plympton, the first time he did so.April 16: The 3rd & final season of The Penguins of Madagascar begins on Nickelodeon with the premiere of the episode "Feline Fervor".

May

May 3: Carlos Loiseau's Ánima Buenos Aires premieres.May 13: American Dad! concludes its eighth season on Fox with the episode "Toy Whorey". The season's finale was seen by over 4.1 million viewers that night.May 20:

June

June 8: The third Madagascar film, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, is released by DreamWorks.June 15:

July

July 13: Blue Sky Studios releases Ice Age: Continental Drift, directed by Steve Martino and Michael Thurmeier.July 21: Season 9 of SpongeBob SquarePants begins on Nickelodeon with the premiere of the episodes "Extreme Spots/Squirrel Record", the season's premiere was seen by a total of over 3.6 million viewers that night. Beginning with the season, episodes start being produced in High-definition.

August

August 7: Season 2 of The Amazing World of Gumball begins on Cartoon Network, with the premiere of the episode "The Remote".August 20: Cookie Jar Entertainment was acquired by DHX Media for $111 million, which made DHX the world's largest independent owner of children's television programming. Cookie Jar was later folded on December 25, 2014.August 24: Don Hertzfeldt's It's Such a Beautiful Day premiers.August 25: Toonzai is replaced by Vortexx.

September

September 3:

October

October 1: Cartoon Network celebrates its 20th anniversary with a marathon of party-themed episodes, the marathon leads up to Regular Show's Season 4 premiere, the half-hour special "Exit 9B".October 2: The second & final season of The Looney Tunes Show begins on Cartoon Network with the premiere of the episode "Bobcats on Three!".October 7: The 4th & final season of The Cleveland Show begins on Fox with the premiere of the episode "Escape from Goochland". The season's premiere was seen by over 4.4 million viewers that night.October 22: Adventure Time concludes its fourth season on Cartoon Network with the premiere of the episode "The Lich", which leaves the show on a cliffhanger.

November

November 2: The Walt Disney Company releases Wreck-It Ralph.November 7: South Park concludes its 16th season on Comedy Central with the episode "Obama Wins!". It was seen by over 2.1 million viewers that night.November 10:

December

December 7: Season 4 of Phineas and Ferb begins on Disney Channel with the premiere of the episodes "For Your Ice Only/Happy New Year!". The season's premiere brought in a total of 3.7 million viewers that night.

Awards

Television series debuts

DateTitleChannelYear
January 8YooHoo & FriendsCartoon Network Latin America2012
January 15Napoleon DynamiteFox2012
January 19UnsupervisedFX2012
February 18Pokémon: BW: Rival DestiniesCartoon Network2012–2013
February 23MonsunoNicktoons, TV Tokyo2012–2014
March 3The Aquabats! Super Show!The Hub2012–2014
March 23Doc McStuffinsDisney Junior2012–2020
March 30Cartoon PlanetCartoon Network1995–1998; 2012–2014
April 1Ultimate Spider-ManDisney XD2012–2017
April 14The Legend of KorraNickelodeon2012–2014
April 27Wild GrindersNicktoons2012–2015
April 30MotorcityDisney XD2012–2013
May 5KaijudoThe Hub2012–2013
May 18Tron: UprisingDisney XD2012–2013
June 2Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-LotThe Hub2012
June 15Gravity FallsDisney Channel, Disney XD2012–2016
July 15Black DynamiteAdult Swim2012–2015
August 1Ben 10: OmniverseCartoon Network2012–2014
August 4Robot and MonsterNickelodeon2012–2015
August 7DreamWorks DragonsCartoon Network, Netflix2012–2018
August 13Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade NinjaDisney XD2012–2015
September 3Daniel Tiger's NeighborhoodPBS Kids2012–2025
September 25BrickleberryComedy Central2012–2015
September 28Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesNickelodeon2012–2017
October 15SlugterraDisney XD, WildBrainTV, Netflix2012–2016
November 8Bravest WarriorsCartoon Hangover/Teletoon2012–2018
November 10Littlest Pet ShopThe Hub2012–2016
November 18Sofia the FirstDisney Junior2012–2018
November 24The Chica ShowUniversal Kids2012–2014
November 30SuperF*ckersCartoon Hangover2012–2014
December 14Peter RabbitNick Jr., CBeebies2012–2016

Births

February

February 6: Kai Zen, American child actress.

April

April 23: Alan Kim, American child actor.

Deaths

January

January 6:
  • *Tom Ardolino, American rock drummer and member of NRBQ, dies from diabetes at age 56.
  • *Bob Holness, British-South African radio and television presenter and occasional actor dies at age 83.January 14: Star Wirth, American xerographer, dies at age 71.January 16: Efron Etkin, Israeli actor, dies at age 59.January 22: Dick Tufeld, American actor, announcer, and narrator, dies at age 85.January 26: Ian Abercrombie, English actor, dies at age 77.

February

February 6: Peter Breck, American actor, dies at age 82.February 8: Laurie Main, Australian actor, dies at age 89.February 24: Jan Berenstain, American children's book author and illustrator, dies from a stroke at age 88.February 29:

March

March 5: Joaquim Muntañola, Spanish animator and comics artist, dies at age 97.March 6: Robert B. Sherman, American songwriter and composer, dies at age 86.March 10: Jean Giraud, French artist, cartoonist and writer, dies at age 73.March 11: Don Markstein, American comics, cartoons and animation scholar and editor, dies at age 65. March 18: Warren Luening, American musician and trumpeter, dies at age 70.March 20: Noboru Ishiguro, Japanese film director, producer and screenwriter, dies at age 73.March 23: Jim Duffy, American animator, dies at age 74.March 25: Edd Gould, British animator, dies from leukemia at age 23.

April

April 9: Takeshi Aono, Japanese actor, dies at age 75.April 18: Dick Clark, American radio and television personality, television producer and actor, dies from a heart attack at age 82.April 22:

May

May 2: Digby Wolfe, English actor, dies at age 82.May 4: Monty Wedd, Australian comic artist and animator, dies at age 91.May 6: George Lindsey, American actor, dies at age 83.May 8:
  • * Carlos Loiseau, aka Caloi, Argentine comics artist and animator, dies at age 63.
  • * Maurice Sendak, American author and illustrator, dies at age 83.May 17: Geri Rochon, American color stylist, dies at an unknown age.May 20: Marc Strange, Canadian actor, dies from cancer at age 70.May 24: Millie Goldsholl, American film director and producer, dies at age 92.May 29: Dick Beals, American actor, dies at age 85.

June

June 10: Judy Freudberg, American screenwriter, dies from a brain tumor at age 62.June 15: Csaba Varga, Hungarian animator and producer, dies at age 66.June 16: Susan Tyrrell, American actress, dies at age 67.June 19: Victor Spinetti, Welsh actor, author, poet and raconteur, dies from prostate cancer at age 82.June 24:
  • * Lonesome George, Spanish Pinta Island tortoise, dies at age 101–102.
  • * Iwan Lemaire, Belgian comics artist, animator, photographer and painter, dies at age 78.June 27: Don Grady, American actor, composer and musician, dies from myeloma at age 68.

July

July 3: Andy Griffith, American actor, comedian, television producer, singer and writer, dies from a heart attack at age 86.July 4: Gerald Polley, American singer, activist and animator, dies at age 65.July 8: Ernest Borgnine, American actor, dies at age 95.July 12: Kenneth Landau, American comic artist and animator, dies at age 86.July 13: Ginny Tyler, American actress, dies at age 86.July 16: Frank Andrina, American animator and timing director, dies at age 82.July 26:

August

August 2: Mark Klastorin, American voice actor and television writer, dies from cancer at age 61.August 6: Marvin Hamlisch, American composer and conductor, dies from respiratory arrest at age 68.August 14: Ron Palillo, American actor, dies from a heart attack at age 63.August 16: William Windom, American actor, dies at age 88.August 20: Phyllis Diller, American actress and comedian, dies at age 95.August 21: Tissa David, Romanian-American film director, dies from a brain tumor at age 91.August 22: Jeffrey Stone, American model, dies at age 85.August 24: Steve Franken, American actor, dies at age 80.

September

September 3:

October

October 8: Ken Sansom, American actor, dies at age 85.October 12: Břetislav Pojar, Czech puppeteer, animator and film director, dies at age 89.October 18: John Clive, English actor, dies at age 79.October 21: Run Wrake, English animator and film director, dies at age 46.October 22: Russell Means, American activist and actor, dies at age 72.October 27: Bill White, American animator and comics artist, dies at age 51.

November

November 5: Margaret Nichols, American animator and animation director, dies at age 82.November 6: Vladimír Jiránek, Czech animator, illustrator and film director, dies at age 74.November 8: Lucille Bliss, American actress, dies at age 96.November 22: Mel Shaw, American animator, dies at age 97.November 23: Larry Hagman, American actor, director and producer, dies from throat cancer at age 81.November 28: Don Rhymer, American screenwriter and film producer, dies at age 51.

December

December 3: Fyodor Khitruk, Russian animator and film director, dies at age 95.December 4: Gerrit van Dijk, Dutch animator, filmmaker, actor and painter, dies at age 73.December 7: Rusty Mills, American animator, dies from colon cancer at age 49.December 15: Maxine Markota, American animation checker, dies at age 83.December 24:

Specific date unknown