The studio began its work as a division of the Hungarian Film Production Company in the 1950s, becoming independent in 1957. The peak of the studio's work was in the '70s and '80s when it released the films for which it is most remembered. Their animated short The Fly (A légy) won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1981. In the 1990s, when numerous western animated shows were imported to Hungary, the company couldn't keep up with the competition. Since then, they haven't produced any big hit, and struggled with financial problems until going out of business sometime around 2015. They were also notable for producing most Hungarian dubs, many of which are fan favorites.
In 2020, the Hungarian National Film Institution, who owns the rights to Pannonia's works, made many of them available to watch for free
on their YouTube channel.
Animated films and shorts produced by Pannonia Film Studio:
- Five Minutes of Murder (1966)
- The Kidnapping of the Sun and the Moon (1968)
- Johnny Corncob (1973) - directed by Marcell Jankovics. First feature length Hungarian animated movie.
- Hugo the Hippo (1975)
- Kuzdok (1977)
- Lúdas Matyi (1977) - directed by Attila Dargay.
- Panic (1978)
- Foam Bath (1979)note
- The Fly (1980)
- Moto Perpetuo (1981)
- Son of the White Horse (1981) - directed by Marcell Jankovics.
- Vuk the Little Fox (1981) - directed by Attila Dargay, originally a TV Mini Series.
- Háry János (1983)
- Time Masters (1982)
- Heroic Times (1984)
- Hófehér (1984) - directed by József Nepp
- The Treasure Of Swamp Castle (1985) - directed by Attila Dargay
- Long Live Servatius (1986)
- Cat City (1986) - directed by Béla Ternovszky.
- Az erdő kapitánya (1988) - directed by Attila Dargay.
- Willy the Sparrow (1988)
- Felix the Cat: The Movie (1989)
- Dragon and Slipper (Sárkány és Papucs) (1990)
- The Seventh Brother (1991)
- The Princess and the Goblin (1992)
- Song of the Miraculous Hind (2002) - directed by Marcell Jankovics
- Cat City 2 (2007) - directed by Béla Ternovszky.
- The Tragedy of Man (2011) - directed by Marcell Jankovics.
Animated series
- Gustavus (Gusztáv, 1966-1979)
- A Mézga család különös kalandjai (1968-69, 1974, 1978)note - never received an English dub, but was dubbed in French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese among others.
- „Kérem a következőt!” (1974)
- Its Just Fashion (1976)
- Vízipók-Csodapók (1976-1985 as a series, 1982 as a feature-length Compilation Movie)
- Hungarian Folk Tales (1977-2007)
- Misi Mókus kalandjai (released as a series in 1980 and as a feature-length film in 1982)
- The Rabbit with the Checkered Ears (A kockásfülű nyúl, 1978)note
- A nagy ho-ho-ho-horgász (1982-1984)
- Pumuckl (1982-1989; the live-action parts were filmed in Germany but the animation was done in Hungary)
- Leó és Fred (1984)
Pannonia Film Studio provides examples of:
- Canon Discontinuity: Unlike the rest of the films (most of which are beloved classics in Hungary), Felix the Cat: The Movie is based on a franchise almost unknown in Hungary, and it only received a very belated, overlooked release in its country of origin. It is practically never mentioned by its creators.
- Compilation Movie: Often, television series they produced were cobbled together into feature-length films for cinematic release. This happened to Vízipók-Csodapók and to Misi Mókus kalandjai, for example. Vuk the Little Fox was also initially released as a four-episode Mini Series on television in 1981, but then got a feature-length cinematic release the same year.
- Deranged Animation: Anything done by Marcell Jankovics, one of the studio's most prominent directors. The works of György Kovásznai and Sándor Reisenbüchler deserve a mention too.
- Development Hell:
- Their films suffered from this since the 1990s. One of their last releases, The Tragedy of Man, is an especially egregious example, which took 28 years to finish.
- A film based on the literary classic Csongor és Tünde went into pre-production in the 70s but was abandoned. In 2022, seven years after the studio went out of business and thirteen years after the death of director and art designer Attila Dargay, the project was announced to be reworked into a future film release by Cinemon Entertainment.
- International Coproduction: Many of their works. Pumuckl with Germany, The Princess and the Goblin with Wales, Time Masters with France, etc.
- Mind Screw: Hófehér. It makes much more sense if you know about communism and the Hungarian regime, but without it, it's hard to figure out the symbolism.
- Race Lift: The 1951 short A kiskakas gyémánt félkrajcárja is based on a Hungarian folk tale. Traditionally, the main villain of the story is the Turkish Emperor, but in the animated short he's a Hungarian king.
