Vancouver, British Columbia Toronto, Ontario Los Angeles, California Ottawa, Ontario
Key people
Jennifer Twiner McCarron (president, CEO and Ddrector); Barb Harwood (CFO); Matthew Berkowitz (CCO), Richard Goldsmith (president, Global Distribution and Consumer Products); Sarah Nathanson (general counsel)
Thunderbird Entertainment, Inc. is a Canadian film and television production company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, with additional offices in Toronto, Los Angeles, and Ottawa. Founded in 2003 as Thunderbird Films, the company develops and produces scripted, unscripted, and animated content for broadcasters and streaming platforms in Canada and internationally.
Thunderbird operates through several subsidiaries, including Atomic Cartoons, Great Pacific Media, and Thunderbird Releasing. In November 2025, Blue Ant Media announced its intent to acquire Thunderbird Entertainment.
History
The company was founded in 2003 as Thunderbird Films by Tim Gamble and Michael Shepard, initially as a distributor of Canadian television series in the United States.[3]
After Thunderbird acquired a 50% stake in the film rights for a sequel to Blade Runner., Gamble and Shepard were announced as executive producers.[4]
In February 2012, Lionsgate founder Frank Giustra made a major investment in Thunderbird.[5] Soon after, the company announced the formation of Sea to Sky Entertainment, a joint venture with Lionsgate. Like Lionsgate, Sea to Sky was named after a roadway in the Vancouver region, in this case Highway 99, whose Vancouver stretch is locally known as the "Sea-to-Sky Highway".[6]
In April 2013, Thunderbird acquired Reunion Pictures, producer of series such as Alice and Continuum. The studio continued to operate as a subsidiary of Thunderbird.[8]
In September 2014, Thunderbird acquired British independent film distributor Soda Pictures.[9][10] In December 2014, Thunderbird 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.[11][12]
In July 2015, Thunderbird acquired the Vancouver-based animation studio Atomic Cartoons.[13] In 2018, Atomic Cartoons CEO Jennifer Twiner McCarron was named president of Thunderbird.[14] 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,[15]
In January 2021, Thunderbird named Richard Goldsmith, formerly of Cyber Group Studios, as its first president of global distribution and consumer products.[16]
In September 2021 Voss Capital acquired a 10.5% stake in Thunderbird.[17]
On November 26, 2025, Blue Ant Media announced its intent to acquire Thunderbird for C$63 million.[18]
Miller retained his role as CEO of Great Pacific Media after the acquisition, and was subsequently appointed co-president of Thunderbird Entertainment in 2016.[12] In April 2016, it was announced that former Bell Media executive Paul Lewis had been named president of Great Pacific Media.[33] 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.[34][35] 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 book Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War.[36]
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.[9][10]
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$81.3 million (2020) [1] 