International Coproduction

Shows or dramas that are produced by two TV companies, each in different countries. Especially in the most recent decades, an animated TV show has always been produced by at least two studios in some way, since animation is expensive and labor-intensive.

Examples of International Coproduction include:

Anime

• The Mysterious Cities of Gold — France (Di C)/Japan (N.H.K., Studio Pierrot)
• Ulysses 31 — a collaboration between Di C and TMS.
• Spider Riders — Made with Bee Train, TV Tokyo and Yomiko Advertising in Japan and Cookie Jar Entertainment in Canada.
• Halo Legends — USA/Japan co-op like Gotham Knight
• The anime of Samurai Gun was co-financed by ADV Films.
• Like Torchwood, the first Bakugan Battle Brawlers series was a fully Japanese production (TMS Entertainment and Japan Vistec along with Sega TOYS Co.), but follow-up series New Vestroia and Gundalian Invaders were made in conjunction with North American licensors Nelvana Enterprises and Spin Master (both Canadian), due to the fact that the original series was far more popular in Canada and the US than it was in Japan and the local numbers weren't good enough to warrant a follow-up.
• The Valérian and Laureline animated series — France/Japan
• Oban Star-Racers — France/Japan
• Ghost in the Shell (1995 film) — Made by Production I.G. (Japan) and produced by Manga Entertainment (UK/USA)
• Dead Leaves — Made by Production I.G. (Japan) and Studio Gainax (Japan), and produced by Manga Entertainment (UK/USA)
• Afro Samurai — Written and animated by Studio Gonzo (Japan); cast, produced and distributed by Funimation Entertainment (USA)
• Rurouni Kenshin Seisohen, a.k.a. Samurai X: Reflections — Made by Studio DEEN (Japan); produced by ADV Films (USA)
• All Yu-Gi-Oh! films and series after the first two have been funded/produced by 4KidsEntertainment
  • GX was a co-production between the Japanese companies and Dong Woo Animation.
• The Animatrix — Features nine segments across which animation, writing and directing duties are handled by American, Korean, and (mostly) Japanese talent.
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Made by Production I.G. (Japan) and produced by Manga Entertainment (UK/USA) and Bandai Entertainment USA.
• Tekkon Kinkreet: Animated by Studio 4°C (Japan), directed by an American living in Japan, and scored by British rock band Plaid.

Films — Animation

• The animated film adaptations of The Hobbit and The Return of the King — USA/Japan; directed and character-designed by Rankin/Bass Productions, animated by Topcraft (the studio that made Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)
• Batman Gotham Knight (2008) — Co-produced by DC Comics and four Japanese animation studios.
• Film/Interstella555 was animated in Japan (Through Toei Animation), with a soundtrack by French band Daft Punk.
• The First three Bionicle films were a collaboration between Creative Capers Animation in America, LEGO in Denmark, and CGCG & Wang Film Productions in Taiwan.

Films — Live-Action

• Mongol — A collaboration between Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Germany, with a significant amount of filming done in China.
• Paris Je Taime — Features segments by filmmakers from around the world, including France, Mexico, the USA, England, and Japan.
• The Three Musketeers 2011 — A co-production between the UK, Germany and France, with talent from all three countries (along with American Logan Lerman in the lead).
  • Similar with Inglourious Basterds, shot in the same studio (Babelsberg), which was a German/American co-production.
• The Harry Potter films — USA (Warner Bros and, for a time, 1492 Pictures)/UK (Heyday Films). 1492 Pictures is Chris Columbus's own production company, which left the series when he did. Heyday Films is David Heyman's production company. The second film added in a German company, MIRACLE Productions GmbH & Co. KG, which never did anything else. And on top of providing effects for all the films, the eighth also had Moving Picture Company co-produce.
• Many blockbusters in The Eighties were this. It started majorly with Star Wars, which had an American studio, director and parts of the cast, but was shot in England with an English crew and using British actors for minor roles and with post-production split between the two. Other films that applies to this model were the first Indiana Jones films, Aliens, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Batman.

Live-Action TV

• The Grid — set and filmed on both sides of the Atlantic.
• Five Days — produced by HBO Films and the BBC. Set in South Hertfordshire.
• The early seasons of the new Doctor Who is technically a CBC production as well as a BBC Wales one (and the leak of "Rose" came from a CBC employee). However, the closing credits in the UK only referenced them during Series 3 and "The Runaway Bride".
  • The 1996 television movie was a co-production between the BBC and Universal.
  • Because of major location filming in America, the two-parter "The Impossible Astronaut"/"Day of the Moon" is listed as a BBC America/BBC Wales co-production instead of just a BBC Wales production at the end of the closing credits.
• K 9 is a co-production between Jetix Europe and Network 10 (an Australian television channel).
• While the first three seasons of Torchwood were 100% BBC productions, the fourth is a co-production between the BBC and the American Starz Entertainment.
• Battlestar Galactica Reimagined — co-produced by the Sci Fi Channel and Sky TV, and filmed in Canada. Sky TV only actually co-produced the first season but their name is still in the credits because the show still uses sets that Sky built during season 1.
• Rome is co-produced by HBO and the BBC.
  • As were The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Little Britain USA and Extras. (Although Band of Brothers carries a credit for the BBC on the opening credits of the UK broadcasts, the BBC isn't mentioned anywhere on the closing credits. Or on the airings on any other channel. Or the DVDs. Or... well, you get the idea.)
• Charlie Jade-- co-produced by the Canadian CHUM Television and the South African Industrial Development Corporation.
• Lexx-- A Canadian and German co-production with additional funding from Britain.
• Shoebox Zoo was a co-production between BBC Scotland and a Canadian company.
• Foreign Exchange — Filmed On Location in both Ireland and Australia.
• Myth Busters — USA/Australia
• Farscape — USA/Australia
• The Worst Witch (TV series) was co-produced with HTV (a UK company) and Gala Films (a Canadian company).
• Defying Gravity — Canada/USA/UK/Germany.
• The Muppet Show — a show featuring American puppeteers, filmed at and produced by an ITV station in the UK.
• Power Rangers — A co-production of the Toei Company in Japan (for the Super Sentai source footage, costumes and concepts), Saban Entertainment/Saban Brands (for the seasons between Power Rangers Wild Force and Power Rangers RPM, make this Disney, under the name of BVS Entertainment) in the United States, and in the later seasons, Village Roadshow Productions (Ranger Productions subsididary) from New Zealand.
• Spectrobes: USA/Japan
• Jason and The Heroes of Mount Olympus was a France/US co-production. And there will be no page for that show, until it is released in some form. So far, only some of the episodes are available on YouTube.
• Friends (not the American sitcom) was a Japanese/South Korean Dorama filmed in both countries.
• She Wolf of London: UK/US. It was moved to Los Angeles and retitled Love and Curses when the UK producers pulled their funding.
• Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac - filmed in Japan, involves both Japanese and American talents.
• Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real: Britain/USA

Toys

• Transformers:
  • The toys for the entire metaseries and the fiction of the Unicron Trilogy are collaborations between Hasbro (USA) and TakaraTomy (Japan).
  • Beast Wars and Beast Machines were co-produced by Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment (Canada).
  • Transformers Cybertron's Anime was co-produced by GONZO and Sunwoo Entertainment.
  • Transformers Go Bots's short-lived cartoon was co-produced by Hasbro and Wang Film Productions.

Video Games

• Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes — co-production between Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (take a guess) and Silicon Knights (Canadian)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 — Japan/USA, with the team collaborating in California.
  • Some other Sonic games have been developed by Traveller's Tales and Sumo Digital in the U.K.
• All games by Retro Studios (USA) so far were done in collaboration with Nintendo EAD (Japan).
• Silent Hill Homecoming — Developed by Double Helix Studios (USA); produced, scored and published by Konami Computer Entertainment (Japan)
• Silent Hill Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories — Developed by Climax Studios (UK); scored and published by Konami (Japan)
• Any video game for which a publisher outsources development to a studio in a different country - which is many these days.
  • Donkey Kong Country is a famous example, being developed by British firm Rare, but based on a Japanese Nintendo character.
• Final Fantasy the Spirits Within — Collaboration between Japanese and American talent
• Many Rockstar Games, due to the company having various studios in Europe and the USA

Western Animation

• Tiny Toon Adventures — USA (Warner Bros)/Japan (T Ms), other studios were used, but only TMS has say on it.
• Animaniacs — USA (Warner Bros)/Japan (TMS), like Tiny Toons, other studios were used, but only TMS has say on it.
• Huntik — An Italian/American co-production which, for some reason, premieres in the UK.
• Inspector Gadget — Co-Production between DiC (US and France), LBS (US), Nelvana (Canada; season 1 only), TMS (Japan) and Wang Film Productions/Cuckoo's Nest (Taiwan; credited as the latter only).
• Sea Princesses — An Australian/Brazilian/Spanish co-production.
• Most Hanna-Barbera were often co-produced between them, Wang/Cuckoo's Nest, Toei and/or Fil Cartoons.
• There's several other shows that TMS also had a hand in producing:
  • Mighty Orbots - With ABC and MGM
  • Visionaries - With Hasbro and Sunbow
  • Bionic Six With MCA/Universal and Intermedia International