Animal Farm is a 1954 film directed by animators John Halas and Joy Batchelor. It was produced by Halas and Batchelor and funded in part by the Central Intelligence Agency. It is based on the 1945 novel of the same name by George Orwell. It is the first British animated feature, and one of the first adult animated feature films. Although the film was a financial failure and took 15 years to generate a profit, it quickly became a staple in classrooms across the United Kingdom and the United States.