Walt Disney Productions will debut a new logo in 1965 to coincide with the tenth anniversary of Disneyland. The studio has two animated films lined up to close out the decade. Chanticleer will see theatres in 1967, followed by Alice in Wonderland in 1969. Outside of animation, Disney narrowly survived a hostile takeover attempt that would've merged the company with DC Comics and Motown Records. The identity of the individual or corporation behind the takeover attempt will be revealed soon.
Famous Studios is pretty much one of the Last of the Mohicans when it comes to theatrical shorts. Hector Heathcote, Woody Woodpecker and Chilly Willy are the last remaining theatrical short series still continuously being produced. Bob Kuwahara, who created Hashimoto-san for the studio, passed away last year at the age of just 63. With Al Brodax in charge of television animation, Famous will launch The Beatles and Cool McCool in 1966. For 1968, Famous will release its first animated feature in 24 years, The Beatles' Yellow Submarine. Another ace in the hole for Famous is a guy named Ralph Bakshi.
Sib Tower 12 is now MGM Animation/Visual Arts. After Chuck Jones's deal with Fox expired, he moved onto MGM, where he has helped revive the Tom and Jerry series for theatrical shorts. Also on the big screen, Jones is hard at work on The Jungle Book, which will debut in 1967 [1]. Other upcoming projects: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966; TV special), The Bear that Wasn't (1967; short).
[1] The Chuck Jones/MGM Jungle Book will be an earlier adaptation of Jones' Kipling material; Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Mowgli's Brothers and The White Seal, which aired on TV in the mid 70's IOTL. It will also be one of the few MGM films to carry the abstract blue and gold lion logo that was used IOTL in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Grantray-Lawrence has been doing commercials for about eleven years now, but now, Marvel has licensed their superheroes for GL to produce two series for Saturday morning TV; The Marvel Super Heroes for Fall 1966 and Spider-Man for Fall 1967.
With the Flintstones and Jetsons both wrapping up their original runs, there's still a ton more projects being churned out by Hanna-Barbera. The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show and Sinbad Jr and the Magic Belt will debut on the small screen in Fall '65. In addition, HB is negotiating with Marge Buell on a possible Little Lulu series for 1968.
Superman makes his return to animation thanks to a new series being produced by Filmation for the Fall '66 season.
After the Rocky and Bullwinke Show wrapped up its original run, Jay Ward has moved on to his newest character, Hoppity Hooper.
Keep an eye out for Hal Seeger's Milton the Monster, coming to ABC-TV in Fall '65. Batfink debuts in Fall '66.
Total Television is going strong with Underdog and Tennessee Tuxedo. Coming in Fall 1966: The Beagles.