Vancouver, British Columbia Toronto, Ontario Los Angeles, California Ottawa, Ontario
Key people
Jennifer Twiner McCarron (president, CEO, and Director); Barb Harwood (CFO); Matthew Berkowitz (CCO); Richard Goldsmith (president, Global Distribution, and Consumer Products); Sarah Nathanson (general counsel)
Thunderbird Entertainment, Inc. is a Canadian television and animation production company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, with offices in Toronto, Los Angeles, and Ottawa. It was founded in 2003 as Thunderbird Films. The company produces scripted, unscripted, and animated programming for domestic and international broadcasters and streaming platforms.
Thunderbird operates several subsidiaries, including Atomic Cartoons, Great Pacific Media, and Thunderbird Releasing.
History
Tim Gamble and Michael Shepard founded the company in 2003 as Thunderbird Films. In its early years, the company focused on television production and international distribution of Canadian programming.[3]
In 2012, Lionsgate founder Frank Giustra invested in Thunderbird.[4] That same year, Thunderbird partnered with Lionsgate to form Sea to Sky Entertainment, a television-focused joint venture named after a Vancouver roadway, in this case the "Sea-to-Sky" stretch of Highway 99.[5] Sea to Sky subsequently made deals with director-producer R.J. Cutler and author Dennis Lehane.[6]
In April 2013, Thunderbird acquired Reunion Pictures, the producer of series such as Alice and Continuum. The studio continued to operate as a subsidiary of Thunderbird.[7]
In September 2014, Thunderbird acquired the British independent film distributor Soda Pictures.[8][9] In December 2014, Thunderbird additionally acquired the Vancouver-based reality television studio Great Pacific Media, producer of the Discovery Channel Canada series Highway Thru Hell. Great Pacific Media continued to operate as a subsidiary, and in 2016, its co-founder Mark Miller was promoted to Thunderbird co-president.[10][11]
In July 2015, Thunderbird acquired the Vancouver-based animation studio Atomic Cartoons.[12] In 2018, Atomic Cartoons CEO Jennifer Twiner McCarron was named president of Thunderbird.[13] In August 2018, it was announced that Thunderbird Entertainment would go public on the TSX Venture Exchange via a reverse takeover by Golden Secret Ventures.[14]
In January 2021, Thunderbird named Richard Goldsmith, formerly of Cyber Group Studios, as its first president of global distribution and consumer products.[15]
In September 2021, Voss Capital acquired a 10.5% stake in Thunderbird.[16]
On November 26, 2025, Blue Ant Media announced its intent to acquire Thunderbird for $63 million.[17]
Miller retained his role as CEO of Great Pacific Media after the acquisition and was subsequently appointed co-president of Thunderbird Entertainment in 2016.[11] In April 2016, it was announced that former Bell Media executive Paul Lewis had been named president of Great Pacific Media.[34] In January 2019, Wendy McKernan was named vice president of Great Pacific Media. Under her leadership, Lindsay Macadam (Motive) became head of a new scripted division that would focus on dramatizations of real events.[35][36] In 2020, it was reported that Simon Barry and GPM were developing a biographical drama based on Wernher von Braun, adapted from Michael J. Neufeld's biography Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War.[37]
Thunderbird Releasing
Thunderbird Releasing (formerly Soda Pictures) is a British film distributor, established in 2002 by Eve Gabereau and Edward Fletcher. It focuses primarily on independent and arthouse films. It was acquired by Thunderbird Entertainment Group in 2014 and renamed Thunderbird Releasing in 2017.[8][9]
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$81.3 million (2020) [1] 