An animation studio is a company producing animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales or rentals of the media produced. They also own rights over merchandising and creative rights for characters created/held by the company, much like authors holding copyrights . In some early cases, they also held patent rights over methods of animation used in certain studios that were used for boosting productivity. Overall, they are business concerns and can function as such in legal terms.
73-451: Nelvana Limited ( / n ɛ l ˈ v ɑː n ə / ; sometimes known as Nelvana Enterprises or Nelvana International and commonly known as Nelvana ; stylized as " nelvana ") is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment since 2000. Founded in July 1971 by Michael Hirsh , Patrick Loubert , and Clive A. Smith , it was named after Nelvana of
146-459: A television series . In the area of science fiction, Nelvana produced Droids and Ewoks , two Saturday-morning series based on Star Wars . At one point, there was talk of an animated CBS show from the studio, based on the BBC 's Doctor Who ; the plan never came to fruition, but concept art was created by Ted Bastien . For Orion Pictures ' 1986 live-action western comedy , Three Amigos ,
219-498: A 75% increase in earnings in 1998, credited to increased original production and sales of its library programming, the deal with CBS, and the addition of a publishing business with the acquisition of Kids Can Press. In August 1999, Nelvana announced a US$ 40 million deal to produce six new series based on popular children's books for a planned PBS block. The six series— Corduroy , Elliot Moose , Timothy Goes to School , Seven Little Monsters , George Shrinks , and Marvin
292-408: A C$ 200 million writedown for the company; by next August, it planned to reduce the staff down to 200. Hirsh has also taken an advisory role in the studio. The following September, Corus launched their home entertainment division . Texas-based FUNimation , along with British company Maverick , has distributed titles from the studio with this label, including Redwall , Pecola , Tales from
365-483: A Chicago-based distributor. The block was offered internationally on a barter program distribution model with one–two hours of daily sections or three–four hours of the weekend block. In 1998, Nelvana entered into an agreement with U.S. network CBS to program a new Saturday morning animation block for the 1998-99 television season, which would be branded as CBS Kidshow . The block would feature six new series based on children's book properties, and all were to comply with
438-484: A chance to revisit the country's past heritage in that field. Meanwhile, Hirsh and Loubert collaborated on a related primer from Peter Martin and Associates, The Great Canadian Comic Books . During this time the new company was named Nelvana after World War II -era Canadian comic book superheroine Nelvana of the Northern Lights . A derelict apartment in downtown Toronto served as the company's first building, and
511-503: A co-production agreement with Canadian toy maker Spin Master and Japanese partners TMS Entertainment , Sega Toys and Japan Vistec to create the new anime property Bakugan Battle Brawlers . The series debuted in Canada on Teletoon the following summer and became a quick success. In 2008, merchandising rights were sold by Nelvana to Cartoon Network in the U.S., and the series began airing on
584-490: A digital platform provided by Cartoon Network. Animation studio The idea of a studio dedicated to animating cartoons was spearheaded by Raoul Barré and his studio, Barré Studio , co-founded with Bill Nolan , beating out the studio created by J.R. Bray , Bray Productions , to the honor of the first studio dedicated to animation. Though beaten to the post of being the first studio, Bray's studio employee, Earl Hurd , came up with patents designed for mass-producing
657-414: A facility for producing television commercials that lasted until 1993. As the decade came to a close, the revived Nelvana had its next big success with a film and an HBO television show based on Jean de Brunhoff 's Babar book series. This franchise, its first international co-production , won many ACE Awards in the U.S. and Geminis in Canada. In September 1989, ABC began to air Beetlejuice ,
730-472: A homemade wooden stand mounted over a toilet was among its first camera equipment. "To create zooms," Hirsh recalled of his early experience with this machine, "we would pile up phone books under the art work." During their first year and a half, the trio lived off a superfluous Chargex credit card that Loubert received at university, spending up to C$ 7,500 on it before they reclaimed double that cost as their first ever transaction. Under those conditions, Nelvana
803-511: A long time afterwards, as can be seen with their achievements . In 1941, Otto Messmer created the first animated television commercials for Botany Tie ads/weather reports. They were shown on NBC-TV in New York until 1949. This marked the first forays of animation designed for the smaller screen and was to be followed by the first animated series specifically made for television, Crusader Rabbit , in 1948. Its creator, Alex Anderson , had to create
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#1733085281048876-598: A longer running manga or animated series. As the OAV market is not adapted to the rigors that are faced by television shows or feature films, they have been known to show gratuitous amounts of violence and/or pornography. Some OAV's have registered such strong acclaim that they have been remade as anime television series as well as theatrical releases. Since most new OVA's are derived from other animated media, many animation studios that have previously worked on animated series or movies, and adaptations of Japanese manga, have now entered
949-506: A new animation studio, Studio Ghibli , which would be used for the personal works of Miyazaki and his close friend, Isao Takahata . Many of Ghibli's works have become Japan's top-grossing theatrical films, whether in live-action or animated form. The market for 'OAV's or ' Original Anime Video ' later the acronym would be better known as 'OVA' meaning 'Original video animation' as the term 'OAV' could often be misunderstood for 'Original Adult Video', began in 1984. These are often tended towards
1022-558: A show produced by Nelvana and based on the film by Tim Burton . Following Babar 's success, the studio acquired the rights to animated series based on Hergé 's The Adventures of Tintin , Maurice Sendak 's Little Bear , Joanna Cole 's The Magic School Bus and the British comic strip Rupert Bear . Nelvana had self-made successes of its own during the 1990s, such as Eek! The Cat , Dog City (with Jim Henson Productions ) and Ned's Newt (with TMO Film GmbH). Less successful
1095-410: A similarly styled special in which a girl tries to be a lead dancer at a Christmas pageant. When Nelvana was founded in 1971, their original goal was to create live-action productions involving animation in them during their early days. Nelvana worked on their first television specials: A Cosmic Christmas (1977), The Devil and Daniel Mouse (1978), Romie-0 and Julie-8 (1979), Please Don't Eat
1168-480: A sub-franchise consisting of BeyWheelz , BeyWarriors: BeyRaiderz and BeyWarriors: Cyborg . Their next program Mike the Knight debuted in 2011, a co-production between HIT Entertainment aired on Treehouse TV and CBeebies later in the year. Detentionaire was produced between 2011 and 2015. Created for Teletoon, the show has also been aired internationally, including on ABC3 , and has been released on
1241-550: A very small core group. After being bought out or sold to other companies, they eventually consolidated with other studios and became larger. The drawback of this setup was that there was now a major thrust towards profitability with the management acting as a damper towards creativity of these studios, continuing even in today's scenario. Currently, the independent animation studios are looking to ensure artistic integrity by signing up with big animation studios on contracts that allow them to license out movies, without being directed by
1314-473: Is a 1971 book from Peter Martin Associates . It was written by Nelvana founders Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loubert , with partner Clive Smith as designer and illustrator. It looks at the " Canadian Whites " series of comic books made during World War II, with some focus on Nelvana of the Northern Lights , the genre's first superheroine , and Johnny Canuck , as well as their publisher, Bell Features . It
1387-682: Is also part of its roster. Although the company specializes in children's media, Nelvana has also co-produced adult animations like the first season of Clone High , John Callahan's Quads! , Bob & Margaret , and Committed . Nelvana International distributes three Nickelodeon shows: Taina , the first five seasons of The Fairly OddParents , and The Backyardigans (a co-production with Nick Jr. ). As of 2001, its library comprised more than 1,650 cumulative half-hours of original programming. Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loubert first met as friends and partners at York University , Canada in 1967. They made films with other students. This
1460-576: Is dated around 1917, but it would take until 1956 for the Japanese animation industry to successfully adopt the studio format as used in the United States. In 1961, these productions began to be aired in the US. Toei Animation , formed in 1948, was the first Japanese animation studio of importance and saw the reduction of animators as independent anime artists. After the formation of Toei Animation Co. Ltd. in 1948,
1533-601: Is subject to local intellectual property rights. The animators must also be aware of the contracts laws and labour laws prevalent in the jurisdiction to which the animation studio is subject to. There have been numerous legal battles fought over the copyright of famous franchises, such as Kung Fu Panda and SpongeBob SquarePants . This has come about as a result of the clause in Copyright contracts that states that an idea cannot be protected, only an actual piece of work can be said to be infringed upon. This means that though
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#17330852810481606-729: The Columbia Pictures banner; 1997 saw the studio's retelling of Pippi Longstocking from Warner Bros. ; and Babar: King of the Elephants was released in Canada by Alliance Atlantis in 1999. Among them, only Malice would go on to achieve box-office success in North America. Its US$ 46 million gross was the highest ever attained by a Nelvana production, doubling what the first Care Bears Movie received during its original release. In 1993, Nelvana along with Galaxy Films and De Souza Productions produced Cadillacs and Dinosaurs for
1679-539: The Palo Alto -based children's book publisher Klutz in a US$ 74 million deal—at that time, its largest buyout ever—and integrated it into its Branded Consumer Products division. The company, founded in 1977, was best known for its children's series, Books Plus . Nelvana's separate subsidiary, Kids Can, began taking advantage of the acquisition by making its output available through Klutz merchandise. In September 2000, Corus bought Nelvana for $ 540 million. The company saw
1752-610: The United Kingdom 's Channel 4 began work on Bob and Margaret , the company's first animated franchise for adults since Rock & Rule . It was based on the National Film Board of Canada 's Bob's Birthday , an Academy Award winner for Best Short , which Channel 4 also produced. In December 1997, Nelvana began distributing a syndicated programming block, the Nelvana Kidz Klub, through MediaVentures International,
1825-731: The CBS network, based on the comic book of the same name (formally known as Xenozoic Tales ) by Mark Schultz . It only lasted one season. In September 1995, Nelvana produced Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys based on the popular well-known book series. Tracy Ryan portrayed Nancy Drew while Colin Gray and Paul Popowich portrayed Frank and Joe Hardy , respectively. In addition, Jehene Erwin and Joy Tanner portrayed Bess Marvin and George Fayne , respectively, on Nancy Drew , while Fiona Highet played new character Kate Craigen. The series were based on The Nancy Drew Files and The Hardy Boys Casefiles . However,
1898-603: The Cryptkeeper , Timothy Goes to School and the holiday special The Santa Claus Brothers . Nelvana's newer titles have been distributed by MGM, Lionsgate and ADV Films , which have no involvement with the label. In 2007, home video distribution rights for the company's catalogue were transferred to Shout! Factory . In 2004, the studio produced an animation anthology , which included 10 recurring shorts. Titled Funpak , it aired on YTV for 13 weeks starting in February 2005, with
1971-633: The Elf , based on Mattel 's toy line ; Strawberry Shortcake: Housewarming Surprise ; Strawberry Shortcake and the Baby Without a Name ; and Strawberry Shortcake Meets the Berrykins , the last three of which featured the eponymous doll . There were two shows from Nelvana based on the AmToy properties, Madballs and My Pet Monster . Despite the successes of their earlier works, perhaps its greatest success at
2044-708: The Japanese studios churned out minor works of animation. But with the release of Toei's first theatrical feature, The Tale of the White Serpent released in October 1958, the animation industry in Japan came into the eye of the general public. The success of Alakazam the Great led to the finding of the artist Osamu Tezuka , who would go on to become the father of Japanese manga with his brand of modern, fast-paced fantasy storylines. He became influenced by Hanna-Barbera productions of
2117-708: The Northern Lights , the first Canadian national superhero, who was created by Adrian Dingle . The company's production logo is a polar bear looking at Polaris , the North Star. The company is based in Toronto , Ontario , Canada in North America and it maintains international offices in France, Ireland and Japan, as well as smaller offices in the top three cities in the U.S. Many of its films, shows and specials are based on licensed properties and literature, but original programming
2190-459: The OVA market, looking to capitalize on the popularity of their flagship shows. Studios participating in such circumstances include Production I.G and Studio Deen . Although there are permanent/full-time positions in studios, most animators work on a contract basis. There are some animators that are considered to be in the core group of the studio, which can either be as a result of being there since
2263-588: The Planet (better known by its subtitle, Intergalactic Thanksgiving ) (1979), Easter Fever (1980) and Take Me Up to the Ball Game (1980). During that time, George Lucas , who was impressed with A Cosmic Christmas , commissioned the company to work on a 10-minute sequence for the CBS and CTV TV film Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978. This short scene, officially entitled "The Faithful Wookiee", would not only feature
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2336-793: The Tap-Dancing Horse —were launched the following September as part of the PBS Kids Bookworm Bunch line-up. That same month, it acquired the North American rights to its first anime property, Clamp 's Cardcaptor Sakura (which was renamed Cardcaptors for its English dub). In April 2000, Nelvana announced that it had filed for two category 2 television licences from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to launch digital cable channels. The first, titled "The Nelvana Channel", would've presented
2409-496: The U.S. and was a financial failure. The company survived by working full-time on children's television series. These included its first three live-action franchises ( The Edison Twins , 20 Minute Workout and Mr. Microchip ), the first season of Inspector Gadget with DIC Entertainment , and the pilot episode of The Get Along Gang . Early in the decade, the company worked on four television specials based on American Greetings properties. They were The Magic of Herself
2482-912: The U.S. government's educational programming guidelines . In April 1998, Nelvana entered into an agreement with ITV franchise Scottish Television to co-produce these new series, and hold distribution rights to them in the United Kingdom. In August 1998, Nelvana acquired Kids Can Press , publishers of the Franklin and Elliot Moose children's books upon which the Franklin and Elliot Moose were based. This turned them into an "integrated company" in which Kids Can's subsequent publications would begin with Nelvana's franchising of those works. The company's first two computer-animated shows, Donkey Kong Country and Rolie Polie Olie (with Paris-based Sparx* and distributed by Disney Channel ), premiered on U.S. television in 1998. In March 1999, Nelvana reported
2555-463: The Westernized title of direct-to-video animations, the OVA market has spread to American animation houses. Their popularity has resulted in animated adaptations of comic characters ranging from Hellboy , Green Lantern and Avengers . Television shows such as Family Guy and Futurama also released direct-to-video animations. DC Comics have continually released their own animated movies for
2628-477: The animators may have forwarded ideas to the animation studios about certain characters and plots, these ideas alone cannot be protected and can lead to studios profiting on individual animator's ideas. However, this has not stopped many independent artists from filing claims to characters produced by different studios. Due to the wide range of animation techniques and styles, many animation studios typically specialize in certain types. Traditional animation employs
2701-547: The bigger studios. Examples of such co-operation are the joint ventures between DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures and that of Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Studios . On August 22, 2016, Comcast's NBCUniversal acquired DreamWorks Animation , appointing Meledandri oversee Comcast's Universal Animation/DreamWorks/Illumination, Disney's Disney Animation/Pixar/20th Century Animation, & Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Animation/Warner Bros. Pictures Animation. The first known example of Japanese animation, also called anime ,
2774-466: The channel in February 2008. The initial incarnation of the franchise ran for four seasons, spanning 189 episodes and stimulated billions in merchandise sales. Following Bakugan , Nelvana entered into another anime co-production, this time reviving the Beyblade property with d-rights , Takara Tomy and Hasbro . Beyblade: Metal Fusion debuted globally in 2010, running for 167 episodes before inspiring
2847-624: The company made use of lip-sync animation for a musical sequence in which the main characters sing a song at a campfire, with their horses singing along. In 1987, Michael Hirsh produced Nelvana's first self-made film of this calibre, the comedy feature Burglar , which was the first live-action feature film the company had ever produced. Also in 1987, the company, along with independent filmmaker Pierre David , film, video, and television production company Malofilm Group , and home video distributor New Star Entertainment, formed Image Organization, an independent production company that mainly specialized in
2920-512: The company's business card ; on the front was a suited businessman, and inside was the businessman with the pants down. The company was dissolved after an ad agency advised them that the company's name was unprofessional. Nelvana was founded by Hirsh, Loubert, and Smith in 1971. Hirsh recalls: At the time, there was no production industry per se in Canada, either in animation or in television production. There were stations making local shows, but you didn't have people making programs for sale around
2993-466: The company's library of material alongside related information in a picture-in-picture format. The second, "Booknet", was to be focused on adaptations of adult and children's literature, and would have been a 60/40 joint venture between Corus Entertainment and Nelvana. The channels were approved that following November. Both licences expired as neither launched by the required date of November 24, 2004. On April 14, 2000, Nelvana announced its purchase of
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3066-508: The first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature . Since then, Disney / Pixar have produced the most number of movies either to win or be nominated for the award. Though the term "direct-to-video" carries negative connotations in the North American and European markets, direct-to-video animation has seen a rise, as a concept, in the Western markets. With many comic characters receiving their versions of OVA 's, original video animations , under
3139-566: The first Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film . This period, from the 1920s to the 1950s or sometimes considered from 1911 to the death of Walt Disney in 1966, is commonly known as the Golden Age of American Animation as it included the growth of Disney, as well as the rise of Warner Bros. Cartoons and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio as prominent animation studios. Disney continued to lead in technical prowess among studios for
3212-414: The home video market, while not tending to the television or theatrical audience as such. They refer to those movies that are launched as direct-to-video releases and not meant to be released in theatres. Video productions can run from half an hour productions to well over two hours. They require that premise or story be original in order to be counted as an OVA, though sometimes, the story can be derived from
3285-421: The inception of the company or being talented recruits from other animation studios. These are the more secure positions in an animation studio, though the studio might have policies concerning the possible tenure of animators. Since studios can hire animators on a work for hire basis nowadays, many artists do not retain rights over their creations, unlike some of the early animators. The extent of these copyrights
3358-575: The late 1950s and made Japan's first made for television animation studio, Mushi Productions . The success of the studios' first show in 1963, Astro Boy , was so immense that there were 3 other television animation studios by the end of the year and Toei had opened their own made for television division. The greatest difference between Japanese studios and North American studios was the difference in adult-themed material to make way in Japan. Tezuka's thought that animation should not be restricted to kids alone has brought about many studios that are employed in
3431-424: The original character's voices including Harrison Ford , Mark Hamill , Carrie Fisher , Anthony Daniels and James Earl Jones , but also introduce audiences to the villainous bounty hunter Boba Fett , who would not make his first theatrical appearance until two years later in 1980's The Empire Strikes Back . This first animated appearance created a great buzz around the new character. Nelvana also started to use
3504-532: The output for the studio. As Hurd did not file for these patents under his own name but handed them to Bray, they would go on to form the Bray-Hurd Patent Company and sold these techniques for royalties to other animation studios of the time. The biggest name in animation studios during this early time was Disney Brothers Animation Studio (now known as Walt Disney Animation Studios ), co-founded by Walt and Roy O. Disney . Started on October 16, 1923,
3577-428: The polar bear as its mascot. At the beginning of the 1980s, Nelvana chose to produce its first feature film, Rock & Rule , over working on Heavy Metal , internationally-produced animated science fiction anthology. Rock & Rule was inspired by The Devil and Daniel Mouse and cost five years and $ 8 million using all of the studio's resources. The film was released by MGM/UA in 1983 with little promotion in
3650-548: The production of adult-themed adaptations of classic stories such as Heidi ( Heidi, Girl of the Alps ), One Thousand and One Nights and The Diary of a Young Girl and many more. In the 1980s, animation studios were led back to their theatrical roots due to the success of Hayao Miyazaki 's film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind , which led publishing house Tokuma Shoten to finance
3723-574: The projects were based on books by E. B. White ( The Trumpet of the Swan ), Clive Barker ( The Thief of Always ) and Graeme Base ( The Sign of the Seahorse ); an original production called Mask Vision was also in the works. However, none of those films ever made it past the finishing stage. During the 1990s, another set of features from Nelvana was distributed by various companies. A 1993 live-action psychological thriller called Malice came out under
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#17330852810483796-490: The proposition. But Hirsh went up against it, arguing with then COO Eleanor Olmsted about its possible effects on his institution. Two months later Golden Books withdrew from the deal stating that they would concentrate more on children's entertainment. In November 1996, Virgin Interactive released Toonstruck , a PC -based adventure game featuring animation and artwork produced by Nelvana and Rainbow Animation. The game
3869-540: The purchase as being a complement to its children's television networks, including YTV and Treehouse . A year after Corus' purchase, co-founders and co- CEOs Loubert and Smith left the studio. Loubert voluntarily left in November after Corus eliminated 50 positions from the staff, saying "The time has come that Corus will stop acquiring for a while and start operating. John Cassaday has made that clear, but this makes my job less rather than more". In 2001, Nelvana acquired
3942-592: The resulting frames are played back. Notable studios specializing in this style of animation include Aardman Animations , Laika and ShadowMachine . 3D animation is the newest of the animation techniques, using the assistance of computers and software, such as Houdini , to create 3D models that are then manipulated and rendered to create movement. Notable studios include Pixar Animation Studios , Sony Pictures Imageworks , Blue Sky Studios , Illumination , DNEG and Marza Animation Planet . The Great Canadian Comic Books The Great Canadian Comic Books
4015-500: The rights to the English-language version of yet another anime series, Medabots . The following January, Beyblade (in association with Hasbro and Mitsubishi ) became its third such property. In October 2002, Corus announced Hirsh's resignation; the following month, Paul Robertson , former president of Corus Television and head of YTV , became leader of the studio's senior management. With Hirsh's departure, Corus announced
4088-506: The series was not distributed well, mostly due to it being in first-run syndication, and both series were cancelled in December. In September 1996, Golden Books Family Entertainment was in talks to acquire the company for US$ 102 million, just after having purchased the family video library of Broadway Video Entertainment, a subsidiary of Broadway Video . Many of the company's staff members, including Smith and Loubert, expressed interest in
4161-417: The sole purpose of sale in the direct-to-video market. With growing worries about piracy, direct to video animation might become more popular in the near future. With the growth of animation as an industry, the trends of ownership of studios have gradually changed with time. Current studios such as Warner Bros. and early ones such as Fleischer Studios , started life as small, independent studios, being run by
4234-448: The studio 'Television Arts Productions' specifically for the purpose of creating this series as his old studio, Terrytoons , refused to make a series for television. Since Crusader Rabbit, however, many studios have seen this as a profitable enterprise and many have entered the made for television market since, with Joseph Barbera and William Hanna refining the production process for television animation on their show Ruff and Reddy . It
4307-497: The studio went on to make its first animated short, Steamboat Willie in 1928, to much critical success, though the real breakthrough was in 1937, when the studio was able to produce a full-length animated feature film i.e. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , which laid the foundation for other studios to try to make full-length movies. In 1932 Flowers and Trees , a production by Walt Disney Productions and United Artists , won
4380-591: The thriller genre and tied itself to over 100 films in the international market by 1996. Nelvana and New Star would sell their shares in the company to David and Malofilm in 1989. In 1988, Nelvana and Scholastic Corporation produced a video series of The Video Adventures of Clifford the Big Red Dog based on the 1962 book. It was also distributed by Family Home Entertainment on the video releases. The company's fourth live-action series, T. and T. , premiered in 1988 on Canada's Global network. The show's titular duo
4453-557: The time came in the form of the Care Bears , thanks to its acquisition of the character rights from American Greetings, the franchise owners. In early 1985, the first film based on the toy line turned the company's assets around, grossing US$ 23 million in the U.S., and another $ 1.5 million in its native Canada. Its tremendous success gave way to two more feature films, A New Generation and Adventure in Wonderland , as well as
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#17330852810484526-513: The use of hand-drawn frames, and is used in the world of cartoons, movies and anime. Notable studios that specialize in this style include Studio Ghibli , Cartoon Saloon , Nickelodeon Animation Studio , Disney Television Animation , 20th Television Animation , Warner Bros. Animation , Cartoon Network Studios , Titmouse , Ufotable , Studio Chizu and CoMix Wave Films . Stop-motion animation uses objects that are incrementally moved and photographed in order to create an illusion of movement when
4599-517: The winning short announced to be greenlit in May of that year. One of the shorts, Sidekick , was the one adapted into a successful cartoon series from 2010–2013 . In May 2006, NBCUniversal announced a joint venture with Nelvana, Ion Media Networks , Scholastic , and Classic Media , known as Qubo , which aimed to operate a multi-platform children's educational television brand in the U.S. featuring programming from its partners. In September 2006, Nelvana
4672-634: The world. So, blissfully unaware of all it would involve, we decided to start a company in Toronto. They bought ownership rights to a collection of local comic books from the 1940s and then produced a half-hour television documentary focused on Canadian comics for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Their two-year travelling tour of the art from the National Gallery of Canada , "Comic Art Traditions in Canada, 1941–45", gave locals
4745-437: Was Mr. T of A-Team fame, playing a former boxer named T.S. Turner, and Canadian actress Kristina Nicoll as an East Coast lawyer by the name of Terri Taler. Nelvana faced bankruptcy for the second time when the show's original U.S. distributor, Qintex Entertainment (formerly Hal Roach Studios) was going out of business; in six weeks, they were saved when they found a replacement. Also that year, Nelvana established BearSpots,
4818-476: Was Loubert's first experience with filming; he recalled: I had been hitchhiking in Europe during the previous summer, and I got a ride with an Italian film director visiting locations. I hadn't heard of him. When I got home I looked up his films – it was Gillo Pontecorvo , a brilliant political filmmaker who had directed The Battle of Algiers . That was the beginning for me. The Canadian television and film industry
4891-568: Was accompanied by a two-year travelling tour of the art, the National Gallery of Canada 's "Comic Art Traditions in Canada, 1941–45". The book's copyright was originally vested in Nelvana Limited . With the permission of Corus Entertainment , the current copyright holder, Roy Thomas reprinted The Great Canadian Comic Books in its entirety in Alter Ego in August 2007. Along with the book, there
4964-459: Was in 1958 that The Huckleberry Hound Show claimed the title of being the first all-new half-hour cartoon show. This, along with their previous success with the series Tom and Jerry , elevated their animation studio, H.B. Enterprises (later Hanna-Barbera Productions ), to dominate the North American television animation market during the latter half of the 20th century. In 2002, Shrek , produced by DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images won
5037-441: Was integrated into Corus's children's television division, headed by executive vice-president and general manager Scott Dyer who, in addition to Nelvana, oversaw YTV , Treehouse TV , and Discovery Kids Canada . A spin-off unit, Nelvana Enterprises, was created in the process, to focus on international distribution of the company's shows. Doug Murphy became president of the new distribution unit. In October 2006, Nelvana announced
5110-527: Was involved in the production of documentaries and live-action films during the early 1970s. In the area of part-time animation work, they made ten C$ 1,500 fillers for the CBC. Among the studio's first productions was a low-budget CBC short subject series, Small Star Cinema , which combined live-action and animation to tell stories of ordinary life from a child's point of view. It was followed by Nelvana's first ever television special Christmas Two Step in 1975,
5183-509: Was its animated series for children, Roseanne Barr 's Little Rosey , for the American Broadcasting Company , which was cancelled in 1991, after its first season. In Autumn 1993, Nelvana signed a multi-year project to produce five feature films for Paramount Pictures , with Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall producing; the first two began production the following summer, at a cost of over US$ 20 million each. Three of
5256-554: Was set in an animated world using traditional 2D animation, but also featured the digitized likeness of actor Christopher Lloyd as a live-action character trapped in the animated world interacting with the cartoon characters around him. A sequel to the game was planned, but was cancelled due to poor sales. In 1997, a small computer animation company called Windlight Studios was absorbed into Nelvana's assets. Its co-founder, Scott Dyer, became Nelvana's senior vice-president in charge of production in late 2001. In late 1997, Nelvana and
5329-532: Was small at the time. Loubert, Hirsh, and York University friends Jack Christie and Peter Dewdney founded a small company named Laff Arts that produced small experimental films. They were joined by Vitaphone animator-designer Clive A. Smith in Toronto, Ontario ; Smith's interest was in rock n' roll music, and helped produce the Beatles ' animated series and 1968 film Yellow Submarine before moving to Canada to work on short films and commercials. Smith designed
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