The largest animation companies in Iran and the world

Many of us, in our childhood years, lived with characters who never stepped out of the television frame. We shed tears alongside Simba for Mufasa's death. We danced with Disney princesses. Hand in hand with Alice, we got lost in Wonderland. Following Tarzan, we leapt from tree to tree. After watching Toy Story, we hid in a corner of our room to see our toys come to life. The older we grew, the weaker our emotional bond with these cartoon characters became. To the point that now we can sometimes barely believe them or identify with them.

But other pleasures still keep us regular viewers of animation. Now, with a deeper understanding of the art and the wonder of combining animation with visual effects, we watch animated films. Sometimes we sharpen our ears and eyes for the profound points that have been woven into the story with the utmost delicacy. Sometimes, tired of a world of logic and rules, we turn to the colorful, inventive world of fantasy animations and lose ourselves in dreams. But have we ever thought about who created yesterday's delightful memories and today's sweet moments? And which companies we have to thank for the pleasure of watching the world's best animations?

Walt Disney animation company|The Walt Disney Company

Walt Disney Studios opened in 1923, founded by Walt and Roy Disney under the name Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. This company began by creating the animations Mickey Mouse, Snow White, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and Toy Story, and shaped a large part of our childhood world. Aladdin, Zootopia, Frozen, Moana, Mulan, Tarzan, Winnie the Pooh, and Wreck-It Ralph are among Disney's best and most popular animations.

The beloved Disney animation company is now a place for dreaming and taking risks. Walt Disney's products cover every aspect of the film and animation industry. From making films, video games, and television to resorts and amusement parks. Disney's revenue, with 22 percent annual growth, reached 82.7 billion dollars in 2022, placing it on the list of the world's best and highest-earning animation companies.

Disney's 2019 version of "The Lion King," with about 1.66 billion dollars, was for years counted as the highest-grossing (computer-animated) animation film. In 2024 Pixar's "Inside Out 2" reached about the same figure, and in 2025 the Chinese animation "Ne Zha 2," with more than two billion dollars, moved the record. The chart below shows the situation through 2022.

Pixar studio|Pixar Animation Studios

If Walt Disney is the world's most popular and best classic animation company, Pixar is the most important and best modern animation studio. Steve Jobs acquired Pixar animation studio from George Lucas in 1986. The company initially started by selling hardware used to make computer graphics. But it eventually turned to making short computer animations and later feature and series animations. In 1995, with "Toy Story," Pixar made the first fully computer-animated feature and transformed the animation industry. Toy Story was Pixar's first animation that was made entirely on a computer.

Pixar and Disney animations

Pixar animation company was acquired by Disney in 2006. Even so, the animation styles of these two studios are very different from each other. The greatest difference is in the feel of the films and their characters. Disney stories usually revolve around "once upon a time..." While Pixar's animation theory is formed around "wouldn't it be great if..." In addition, Pixar studio films have more realistic textures, expressions, and character flaws; but Disney animations often present more idealized and cinematic stories. Pixar animation company believes that story is the most important aspect of an animation. Its focus is on creating an exciting story with appealing characters.

Pixar's highest-grossing animations

Incredibles 2, Finding Dory, Toy Story, Inside Out, Finding Nemo, Up, Monsters University, The Incredibles, and Monsters, Inc. rank in that order on the list of Pixar's highest-grossing animations. "Inside Out 2" (2024), with about 1.7 billion dollars, is now Pixar's highest-grossing film. On Pixar's history and business model, read Pixar: the creativity factory.

DreamWorks animation company|DreamWorks Animation

A lovable green ogre, an overly optimistic troll with pink hair, a panda obsessed with martial arts and in love with noodles, a business-minded baby, and a shy yet charismatic Viking hero with his pet dragon are popular characters that DreamWorks products have created for us. Films such as Shrek, Trolls, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, Madagascar, and The Boss Baby are among DreamWorks' best animations. DreamWorks animation company's specialty is creating stories of unconventional heroes' journeys with a dash of humor.

DreamWorks company was founded in 1994 by three entertainment-industry executives. Producer and director Steven Spielberg, music producer David Geffen, and former Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg. Since then DreamWorks has become one of the world's largest and best-known animation companies. To date it has won numerous international awards, including Emmys and Oscars.

Since 2016 DreamWorks has been a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, and alongside theatrical films it has made many television series for Netflix and other platforms.

Studio Ghibli|Ghibli

Chihiro is a ten-year-old girl who by chance arrives at an abandoned theme park and later learns it is the realm of spirits and gods. To find a way out, she is forced to work in a bathhouse that serves otherworldly customers. This story is Studio Ghibli's best animation. The feature animation "Spirited Away" (2001) was for nineteen years the highest-grossing film in Japanese box office history, until "Demon Slayer: Mugen Train" surpassed it in 2020. It also won the Golden Bear of Berlin and the Oscar for Best Animated Feature; for years it was the only non-English-language film to win this Oscar, until Miyazaki's "The Boy and the Heron" also won it in 2024. My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Castle in the Sky are among Studio Ghibli's best anime.

Ghibli animation company was founded in 1985 through the collaboration of two Japanese directors and one producer. Passing through a difficult period when anime had no place in that country's film industry, it attained global popularity.

Warner Bros. animation company|Warner Bros

Among the world's best animation companies, perhaps no company has created as many animated characters as Warner Bros. studio. Warner Bros. Animation is a subsidiary of WarnerMedia. It is also considered one of the leading companies in the entertainment and animation industry. This company produces projects for numerous domestic and foreign platforms.

Warner Bros. was founded in 1933. From 1969, because of rising production costs and declining popularity, it stopped producing short animations. After that, Looney Tunes animation continued to exist only as the character Bugs Bunny. This rabbit is now considered a cultural icon and even a member of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Warner Bros. animations Batman, Superman, and The Iron Giant are among the best-known films of the Warner Bros. company.

Iran's animation companies

At present the largest and best animation company in Iran is Saba Animation Center, affiliated with IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting). This company purchases thousands of minutes of anime from animation makers each year. The company was founded in 1374 (1995/96) and now operates in production, research, training, and sales of animation. The cartoon Pahlevanan, the animation Kalileh and Friends, Masal Nameh, Shekarestan, Battle of the Persian Gulf, the cartoon God Loves the Storks, and the beautiful Iranian animation Jamshid and Khorshid are among this company's most popular Iranian animations.

Owj Organization

Owj Arts and Media Organization is a quasi-governmental institute that began its work in 1390 (2011/12). It is now active in producing cultural products in various sectors such as cinema, theater, music, graphic design, and urban advertising.

The Iranian animation The Dolphin Boy is one of this organization's most successful and best Iranian animations, produced at Skyframe studio. The Dolphin Boy cartoon is an animation in the fantasy, adventure, and comedy genres that, after its release in Russia, was released in Iran in 1401 (2022/23) after a two-year pause because of the COVID-19 outbreak. This Iran-made animation in Russia was able to take in the equivalent of 32 billion tomans. In Iran, too, in only the first 3 weeks it had 6 billion in sales. Some time later it succeeded in passing 20 billion in box office revenue. The beautiful Iranian animation The Dolphin Boy was also released in Germany and Turkey in addition to Russia and Iran. Among other animation productions of Owj Organization  one can name the feature animation films The Sacred List, Armen, and Shahr-e Mooshaki.

Soureh Animation Center

The animation center of Soureh Cinema Organization is affiliated with Howzeh Honari of the Islamic Revolution. The cartoon Loperto is this center's first anime, which entered cinemas with the slogan "Happiness is something you make." The Loperto animation, with sales of more than 20 billion tomans, is considered the highest-grossing animation in Iran's history after The Dolphin Boy. The short animation Let's Make Up is also in Soureh Center's record, and together with Loperto it went to the Palm Springs animation festival in the United States. The new Iranian feature animations Unfinished Game, Motors, Dream Thief, Superhero, and Badabad are among other Iran-made cartoons of Soureh Animation Center that are in pre-production and production.

Honar Pouya animation studio

Three well-known, high-grossing Iranian animations—the Iranian cartoon The Last Fiction, the feature animation Prince of Rome, and The Man Who Killed Himself—are products of the Honar Pouya animation group. The Honar Pouya group is a fully private artistic institute that operates in making Iranian animation films.

Among the best Iranian animation companies one can name Bina Film, Jozan Film, Rayaneh Afzar company, Third Wave, and Hoor Institute, which are among other private companies in the anime and animation industry.

Conclusion

The animation industry is considered a large global market that is growing rapidly. In this landscape, dozens of animation companies operate around the world. Walt Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, Ghibli, and Warner Bros. are among the largest and best animation companies, with Walt Disney at the top of them all. But the animation industry in Iran is not in a desirable state. Saba Animation Center is the largest animation company in Iran, operating as an affiliate of IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting). See the list of Iranian feature animations and the sales of each in Iran's highest-grossing animations and introductions to important works in Iran's best animations.

Sources

www.zippia.com