Two animation occasions — and the gathering amassed from them — with deep roots in La Jolla have been acquired by a world comics, gaming, tv, movie and digital media firm with plans for a revival.

Going ahead, Beverly Hills-based Skybound Entertainment will current the Spike and Mike Festival of Animation and the supplemental Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation and digitize the content material for broader outreach.

The Festival of Animation was based in 1977 by La Jolla resident Craig “Spike” Decker and Mike Gribble (who died in 1994) and was held for a few years within the Sherwood Auditorium on the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla earlier than the museum was renovated. The Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation was launched in 1990.

Skybound Entertainment was based in 2010 by David Alpert and “The Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman.

“Bringing this iconic brand under the Skybound umbrella is an enormous opportunity to bring Spike and Mike’s rebel origins to the masses and expand upon what we’re already doing in adult animation,” mentioned Rick Jacobs, managing associate of linear content material for Skybound Entertainment. “Gribble once stated that their mission was to find the most original, funniest and weirdest animation in the world and play it. Digitizing the festivals opens the doors for, and to, millions of talented creators across the globe who will shepherd a new generation of animation.”

As a part of the revival, Skybound plans to:

• Relaunch the Spike and Mike animation occasions, inviting creators around the globe
• Distribute content material digitally, making handpicked latest and older animated shorts obtainable on on-line platforms
• Seek collaborations with up to date animation creators throughout quite a lot of media and platforms
• Assess alternatives to rejuvenate previous tales or craft new ones influenced by the festivals’ library

Decker shall be a curator and assistance on the inventive facet.

Decker was paid for the licensing however mentioned he couldn’t disclose the quantity, as most of the execution particulars are nonetheless being labored out. However, he confirmed that the festivals will nonetheless have the Spike and Mike label and be held at school campuses, theaters and museums. Those specifics additionally haven’t but been decided.

“It’s very exciting,” Decker mentioned. “They [Skybound] have the ability to monetize all the rights we have because they work with everything — comics, books, TV. It’s a huge thing to have this kind of relationship with someone that can ramp up what we have and what we built over the years.”

La Jolla resident Craig “Spike” Decker of the Spike and Mike animation occasions lately bought the licensing to Skybound Entertainment.

(Provided by Spike Decker)

“We have had amazing people come through [these festivals] and we are so proud of the talent we were able to have,” he mentioned. “I look back and I have to brag a bit.”

Among those that had early initiatives screened at a Spike and Mike pageant are “Finding Nemo” director Andrew Stanton, who has known as it “crucial to my career,” Mike Judge of “Beavis and Butt-Head,” Brad Bird of “The Incredibles,” Nick Park of “Wallace & Gromit,” comedic performer “Weird Al” Yankovic and movie director Tim Burton.

Park’s brief movie “Creature Comforts” was proven at Spike and Mike’s Festival of Animation and went on to win a 1990 Academy Award. Park thanked Spike and Mike throughout his Oscar acceptance speech.

A documentary about Spike and Mike titled “Animation Outlaws” was launched on Amazon Prime and proven ultimately yr’s San Diego Comic-Con pageant.

Decker acknowledged blended emotions about promoting the Spike and Mike title, however he mentioned “there have been too many balls in the air, and there are areas in which I excel and other areas I don’t, but they do. So it’s nice to have this kind of relationship.” ◆