La Jolla-based Spike and Mike festivals are acquired by Skybound Entertainment with plans for a revival The company co-founded by the creator of ‘The Walking Dead’ will present the Spike and Mike Festival of Animation and the Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation and digitize the content. Two animation events — and the collection amassed from them — with deep roots in La Jolla have been acquired by an international comics, gaming, television, film and digital media company with plans for a revival. Going forward, Beverly Hills-based Skybound Entertainment will present the Spike and Mike Festival of Animation and the supplemental Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation and digitize the content for broader outreach. The Festival of Animation was founded in 1977 by La Jolla resident Craig “Spike” Decker and Mike Gribble (who died in 1994) and was held for many years in the Sherwood Auditorium at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla before the museum was renovated . The Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation was launched in 1990. Skybound Entertainment was founded 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,” said Rick Jacobs, managing partner of linear content 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 part of the revival, Skybound plans to: Relaunch the Spike and Mike animation events, inviting creators around the world Distribute content digitally, making handpicked recent and older animated shorts available on online platforms Seek collaborations with contemporary animation creators across a variety of media and platforms Assess opportunities to rejuvenate past tales or craft new ones influenced by the festivals’ library Decker will be a curator and help on the creative side. Decker was paid for the licensing but said he could not disclose the amount, as many of the execution details are still being worked out. However, he confirmed that the festivals will still have the Spike and Mike label and be held at college campuses, theaters and museums. Those specifics also have not yet been determined. “It’s very exciting,” Decker said. “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.” “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.” — Craig “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 said. “I look back and I have to brag a bit.” Among those who had early projects screened at a Spike and Mike festival are “Finding Nemo” director Andrew Stanton, who has called 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 film director Tim Burton. Park’s short film “Creature Comforts” was shown at Spike and Mike’s Festival of Animation and went on to win a 1990 Academy Award. Park thanked Spike and Mike during his Oscar acceptance speech. A documentary about Spike and Mike titled “Animation Outlaws” was released on Amazon Prime and shown at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con festival. Decker acknowledged mixed feelings about selling the Spike and Mike name, but he said “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.” ◆
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