diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/animation.py b/lib/matplotlib/animation.py
index c1822df960e6..1d935f423920 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/animation.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/animation.py
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ def isAvailable(cls):
 class FileMovieWriter(MovieWriter):
     '`MovieWriter` subclass that handles writing to a file.'
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
-        MovieWriter.__init__(self, *args)
+        MovieWriter.__init__(self, *args, **kwargs)
         self.frame_format = rcParams['animation.frame_format']
 
     def setup(self, fig, outfile, dpi, frame_prefix='_tmp', clear_temp=True):