About: Tom and Jerry is an American animated franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical shorts produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), the series centers on the rivalry between a cat named Tom and a mouse named Jerry, with many episodes featuring recurring characters.
During its original run from 1940 to 1958, Hanna and Barbera produced 114 Tom and Jerry shorts for MGM. This period saw the series win seven Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film, tying with Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies for the most awards in the category. After the MGM cartoon studio closed in 1957, the series was revived with Gene Deitch directing 13 additional shorts for Rembrandt Films from 1961 to 1962. Tom and Jerry then became the highest-grossing animated short film series of that time, surpassing Looney Tunes. Between 1963 and 1967, Chuck Jones produced 34 more shorts with Sib Tower 12 Productions. Since 2001, five additional shorts have been produced, bringing the total to 166.
The franchise has expanded with several spin-offs, including television series such as The Tom and Jerry Show (1975), The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show (1980–1982), Tom & Jerry Kids (1990–1993), Tom and Jerry Tales (2006–2008), and another series titled The Tom and Jerry Show (2014–2021). The first feature-length film, Tom and Jerry: The Movie, was released in 1992, followed by 13 direct-to-video films starting in 2002. In 2021, a live-action/animated hybrid film was released. Additionally, a musical adaptation, Tom and Jerry: Purr-Chance to Dream, premiered in Japan in 2019, ahead of Tom and Jerry’s 80th anniversary. (From Wikipedia)