Aroba Animation

Aroba Animation (often shortened to Aroba) is an American animation studio headquartered at Burbank, California. Founded in 1989, the studio creates animated films, short films, and television programs (mainly for ArobaCentral), including the Mercenaries franchise, Keito, and The Necrostaff, among others.

Aroba was formed by college partners, Jeff Raferin and Lance Weltch, who had an idea to make a cartoon akin to those from the 1930s. Since then, they've produced 34 television programs and 14 theatrical animated films. Its first film, Mercenaries, was released on August 13, 2004, whereas its latest release was Project Titanium, which was released on September 9, 2020.

The studio is commonly associated with Paramount Pictures but also has 20th Century Fox and Universal Studios distributing some of its productions.

Pre-1989
Jeff Raferin was the creator of an unproduced comic book series named Daily Wackies. Following many failed attempts to get his comic strip approved, he attended the California Institute for the Arts, where he met with his partner, Lance Weltch. After discussing his ideas, he agreed, and the two eventually shared a dorm with Daniel Logan, who worked in the animation industry since the 1970s, to develop ideas.

1989-2003
The three were later joined with Kevin Coriado, Morty Polenn, Craig Laverti, Ryan Moore, and Terry Finn, thus starting a team. In February 1987, the team was ordered by Daniel Logan to make short films based on their ideas. To make up for this, Weltch acquired a facility for the team to make their pitches in. During this time, Jeff Raferin adapted his comic strip to a short film, nicknamed Wackballs in...the Series of Wacky Events. Following the appearance of the team's short films in Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation, they got into a phone call with CBS, who were willing to adapt their short films into TV series for syndication, to which they gladly accepted. The team started pitching more episodes for their series.

In 1992, Aroba got $60 million in funding from Paramount Communications, Gaylord Entertainment, and Cablevision's Rainbow Media, each taking 12.5% of the studio.

The Animation Invasion block debuted on July 3, 1994, with Wackballs, Intense Phys Ed, and Madmen on both syndication and Gaylord's The Nashville Network and held 3.4 million views overall. Following the surprise launch of the Animation Invasion block, more people came in for Aroba to create more original series. By the end of 1994, the company had 230 employees.

In April 1995, it was reported that Aroba was in production of GUTS, which, according to Jeff Raferin, was 'an attempt to appeal to pre-teens by including a cartoony style accompanied by strange imagery and suggestive humor'. This announcement was a subject of controversy. A month later, Raferin announced the formation of Cartunatics Productions, a pseudonym Aroba will use for shows with more mature subject matter. In 1996, Rainmaker and Ethan's Guide to the World premiered on Animation Invasion to critical and commercial praise. That same year, merchandise featuring Aroba characters were released.

Jeff Raferin and Lance Weltch were secretly working on a short film that utilized CGI. Revealed in 1997, it was a film about spies ran by an amateur, who came up with a plan to stop a seemingly-unstoppable being. Following brilliant feedback, the duo announced that they were adapting the film into a cinematic feature.

More Coming Soon

Theatrical projects
Aroba's first film was Mercenaries (2004), which had been in the production for 6 years. It starred the voices of Debi Derryberry, David Kaufman, Martin Burke, Alan Cumming, and Richard Steven Horvitz. Elite Mercenaries Unit (E.M.U.), who are best known for preventing extraterrestrial lifeforms from committing crimes. They invite an enthusiastic 11-year-old Tim Dreeks, who, during a chat, comes up with his plans of stopping an extraterrestrial cyborg, named Cybernetic Organism of Radical Energy, enhanced to be impossible to defeat. Directed by Jeff Raferin and Lance Weltch, it was a critical and commercial success.

Following Mercenaries was Things Go South, the first of the four films part of the 20th Century Fox deal. The movie follows the story of lowlife Travis Nuckle, who receives a magical orb, and gets mad with power once he starts using it to his advantage. Starring James Arnold Taylor, it was released on March 10th, 2006, and earned $273.4 million in the box office.

The second film part of the deal was Wuthering Heights, based on the 1847 novel by Emily Brontë. It tells the story of how two families fell apart by a vengeful man (voiced by Keanu Reeves) avenging his family who died of measles. The movie was a critical and commercial success.

The third film part of the deal was Because, inspired by the music of The Beatles and, in style, the 1965 TV series, following the band's voyage to the desolate Nowhere Land in the pursuit for the true meaning of music.

The final film part of the deal was Caution: Ego Hazard, which focuses on Leif, whose happy-go-lucky, charismatic personality changed upon participating high school. She is then introduced to an ego-professor, who is currently working on a cure that recovers her original personality.

Upcoming projects
Aroba is currently working on a theatrical adaptation of the TV series Rainmaker, a Sin & Punishment adaptation, and a Mercenaries spin-off film. In October 2019, Aroba announced the release dates for the four aforementioned movies; April 3, 2020, September 25, 2020, August 13, 2021, and April 27, 2023, respectively.

Rainmaker: Revolution was later moved to January 15, 2021, due to the COVID-19 outbreak and its effect on the film industry, and later it was confirmed that Sin & Punishment, and the Mercenaries spin-off were delayed because of competition.