production_company an american tail: the mystery of the night monster
An American Tail : The Mystery of the Night Monster ( also known as An American Tail IV : Fievel meets the Night Monster , and An American Tail 4 ) is the second direct - to - video follow - up to An American Tail and the fourth film in the An American Tail series , starring Thomas Dekker as the young Fievel Mousekewitz . This film was released in Germany December 9 , 1999 and July 25 , 2000 in the USA . ___MASK11___ SKG , Inc . ( known professionally as ___MASK11___ or simply DreamWorks ) is an American animation studio that is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal , a division of Comcast . It is based in Glendale , California and produces animated feature films , television programs and online virtual games . The studio has currently released a total of 33 feature films , including the franchises " Shrek ", " Madagascar ", " Kung Fu Panda ", and " How to Train Your Dragon ". The studio was formed by the merger of the feature animation division of DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images ( PDI ). Originally formed under the banner of DreamWorks in 1997 by some of Amblin Entertainment ' s former animation branch Amblimation alumni , it was spun off into a separate public company in 2004 . ___MASK11___ currently maintains its Glendale campus , as well as satellite studios in India and China . On August 22 , 2016 , NBCUniversal acquired ___MASK11___ for $ 3 . 8 billion , making it a division of the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group . An American Tail is a 1986 American animated musical adventure drama film directed by Don Bluth and produced by ___MASK98___ and Amblin Entertainment . It tells the story of Fievel Mousekewitz and his family as they emigrate from Russia to the United States for freedom . However , he gets lost and must find a way to reunite with them . It was released on November 21 , 1986 , to reviews that ranged from positive to mixed and was a box office hit , making it the highest - grossing non - Disney animated film at the time . The success of it , " The Land Before Time ", and Disney ' s " Who Framed Roger Rabbit ", as well as Bluth ' s departure from their partnership , prompted Steven Spielberg to establish his own animation studio , Amblimation , which would later become DreamWorks Animation after several of Amblimation ' s films weren ' t as successful as Spielberg had hoped . The company was acquired by Universal ' s parent company NBCUniversal for $ 3 . 8 billion in April 2016 . A film , also called a movie , motion picture , theatrical film or photoplay , is a series of still images which , when shown on a ___MASK28___ , creates the illusion of moving images due to the phi phenomenon . This optical illusion causes the audience to perceive continuous motion between separate objects viewed rapidly in succession . The process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry . A film is created by photographing actual scenes with a motion picture camera ; by photographing drawings or miniature models using traditional animation techniques ; by means of CGI and computer animation ; or by a combination of some or all of these techniques and other visual effects . Direct - to - video or straight - to - video ( also known as direct - to - VHS , direct - to - DVD , direct - to - Blu - ray , direct - to - digital , etc .) refers to the release of a film to the public immediately on home video formats rather than a theatrical release or television broadcast . Because inferior sequels or prequels of larger - budget films may be released direct to video , references to direct - to - video releases are often pejorative . Direct - to - video release has also become profitable for independent filmmakers and smaller companies . Home video is pre - recorded media that is either sold , rented or streamed for home entertainment . The term originates from the VHS / Betamax era , when the predominant medium was videotape , but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu - ray Disc and , to a lesser extent , into methods of digital distribution such as ___MASK42___ , Hulu , and Amazon Video . NBCUniversal ( colloquially referred to as NBCU or NBCUni and formerly written as ___MASK12___ ___MASK45___ ) is an American multinational media conglomerate . Headquartered in Rockefeller Plaza ' s Comcast Building ( formerly the GE Building ) in Midtown Manhattan , New York City , the company is one of two successor companies to MCA Inc . ( Music Corporation of America ), the other being Vivendi through its subsidiary ___MASK45___ Music Group . The Video Home System ( VHS ) is a standard for consumer - level analog video recording on tape cassettes . Developed by Victor Company of Japan ( ___MASK84___ ) in the early 1970s , it was released in Japan in late 1976 and in the USA in early 1977 . ___MASK70___ is an American film and television production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981 . The company ' s headquarters are located on the backlot of ___MASK50___ in Universal City , California . ___MASK98___ was an American and Irish animated film production company established in 1979 by animator Don Bluth . Bluth and several colleagues , all of whom were former Disney animators , left Disney in 1979 to form Don Bluth Productions , later known as the Bluth Group . This studio produced the short film " Banjo the Woodpile Cat ", the feature film " The Secret of NIMH ", a brief animation sequence in the musical " Xanadu ", and the video games " Dragon ' s Lair " and " Space Ace ". The Bluth Group went bankrupt in 1984 , and Bluth co - founded ___MASK98___ with American businessman Morris Sullivan in 1985 . DVD ( an abbreviation of " digital versatile disc " or " digital video disc ") is a digital optical disc storage format invented and developed by Philips , ___MASK25___ , Toshiba , and Panasonic in 1995 . The medium can store any kind of digital data and is widely used for software and other computer files as well as video programs watched using DVD players . DVDs offer higher storage capacity than compact discs while having the same dimensions . Steven Allan Spielberg , , ( born December 18 , 1946 ) is an American director , producer , and screenwriter . He is considered one of the founding pioneers of the New Hollywood era , as well as being viewed as one of the most popular directors and producers in film ___MASK17___ . He is also one of the co - founders of DreamWorks Studios . ___MASK97___ was the animation production arm of Steven Spielberg ' s Amblin Entertainment . The studio was shut down in 1997 and some of the ___MASK97___ staff went on to join ___MASK11___ . It was known for its quieter atmosphere , more subdued acting , and more atmospheric pace compared to a great deal of American animated films ; these qualities usually led to underperformance at American box offices and may have factored in the decision to close the studio down . The company ' s mascot , Fievel Mousekewitz (" An American Tail "), appears in its production logo . It only made 3 films . A project to adapt the 1981 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical " Cats " was in the making , but was abandoned with the studio ' s closure .