House of Cool

Last updated
House of Cool Studios
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Animation
PredecessorRed Rover Studios (1994–2011)
Founded1994;30 years ago (1994) (as Red Rover Studios)
July 2008;15 years ago (July 2008) (as House of Cool)
Founder
  • Ricardo Curtis
  • Wes Lui
Defunct2011;13 years ago (2011) (as Red Rover Studios)
Headquarters Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Former headquarters:
London
Key people
  • Ricardo Curtis
  • Wes Lui
Services
  • Animation production
  • Storyboard
  • Design
Parent WildBrain (2023–present)

The evolution of WildBrain
WildBrain logo.svg
1968 FilmFair is founded
1971DIC Audiovisuel is founded
1972Strawberry Shortcake is founded
1974CPLG is founded
1976CINAR and Colossal Pictures are founded
1982DIC Enterprises is founded
1984 Ragdoll Productions is founded
1987DIC Audiovisuel closes
1988 Studio B Productions is founded
1992 Epitome Pictures is founded
1993DIC Enterprises becomes DIC Entertainment
1994 Wild Brain is founded‚ and Red Rover Studios is founded
1995Platinum Disc Corporation is founded
1996CINAR buys FilmFair's library
1997 Decode Entertainment is founded
1999Wild Brain acquires Colossal Pictures' employee base
2002 Nerd Corps Entertainment is founded
2004Halifax Film Company is founded, CINAR rebrands as Cookie Jar Group
2005Platinum Disc Corporation merge as Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
2006Decode and Halifax Film merge as DHX Media, DIC acquires CPLG, and Ragdoll Worldwide is formed with BBC Worldwide
2007DHX Media buys Studio B Productions and Wild Brain becomes Wildbrain Entertainment
2008Cookie Jar Group absorbs DIC and House of Cool absorbs Red Rover Studios
2010DHX Media buys Wildbrain Entertainment‚ and Peanuts Worldwide is founded
2011Decode Entertainment‚ and Red Rover Studios closes
2012DHX Media buys Cookie Jar Group
2013DHX Media buys Ragdoll Worldwide
2014DHX Media buys Epitome Pictures, Nerd Corps and Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, and Cookie Jar Group is absorbed
2016The WildBrain multi-channel network launches and Studio B and Nerd Corps merge as DHX Studios
2017Wildbrain Entertainment closes and DHX Media buys Peanuts Worldwide and Strawberry Shortcake
2018Halifax Film becomes Island of Misfits
2019DHX Media rebrands as WildBrain, Epitome Pictures closes, and the WildBrain MCN becomes WildBrain Spark
2020CPLG becomes WildBrain CPLG
2023WildBrain acquires House of Cool

House of Cool Studios [1] is a boutique animation studio based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and founded as a pre-production studio in 1994 by animation veteran Ricardo Curtis and finance expert Wes Lui, specializing in designing and storyboarding of films, series and commercials.

Contents

On March 29, 2023, Canadian media company WildBrain announced its intent to acquire the company for CA$18.3 million. [2] The acquisition was completed in July 19, 2023. [3]

Red Rover Studios

Red Rover Studios was founded in London by Andy and Linzi Knight in 1994. It was a full production studio that focused on 2D and CGI animation. They later moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. However, in July 2008, Red Rover was acquired by House of Cool after Andy Knight died, three months earlier. [4] [5]

Filmography

As House of Cool

As Red Rover Studios

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cartoon Network (Canadian TV channel)</span> Canadian TV channel

Cartoon Network is a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily broadcasts animated series aimed at children and teenagers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederator Studios</span> American animation television production studio

Frederator Studios is an American animation television production studio which is a division of Frederator Networks, Inc. It was founded by Fred Seibert in 1997 with its first series launching in 1998. Seibert remained at the company until he resigned from Frederator in August 2020 after 22 years and on February 23, 2021 announced a new cartoon production company, FredFilms. The studio focuses primarily on artists who write their own shorts, series, and movies. Their slogan is "Original Cartoons since 1998." The studio has locations in New York City, where Frederator Digital is based, and Burbank, California.

Sony Pictures Animation Inc. is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and founded on May 9, 2002. Most of the studio's films are distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures Releasing under their Columbia Pictures label, while all direct-to-video releases are released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laika (company)</span> American stop-motion animation studio

Laika is an American stop-motion animation studio specializing in feature films, commercial content for all media, music videos, and short films. The studio is best known for its stop-motion feature films Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings and Missing Link. It is owned by Nike co-founder Phil Knight and is located in Hillsboro, Oregon, part of the Portland metropolitan area. Knight's son, Travis Knight, acts as Laika's president and CEO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BRB Internacional</span> Spanish TV producer, distributor and licensing agent

BRB Internacional S.A.U was a Spanish licensing and production company of animated television series as Around the World with Willy Fog, Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds and The World of David the Gnome. On 31 January 2018, WildBrain, a leading digital kids’ network & studio, has been appointed the exclusive global manager of BRB Internacional's extensive catalogue of kids’ content on YouTube. In 2022, the company closed after filing for bankruptcy. DeAPlaneta acquired the company's library in January 2023.

Cuppa Coffee Studios is a Canadian production company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Cuppa Coffee was founded by Adam Shaheen in 1992. It specializes in both stop-motion animation and 2D animation, winning over 150 international awards. Cuppa Coffee is currently developing live-action content through Cuppa Coffee USA.

Wildbrain Entertainment, Inc. was an American entertainment company and animation studio that developed and produced television programming, motion pictures, commercial content, and licensed merchandise. Established in 1994, it maintained offices in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco.

DNEG is a British visual effects, computer animation and stereo conversion studio that was founded in 1998 in London, and rebranded as DNEG in 2014 after a merger with Indian VFX company Prime Focus; it was named after the letters "D" and "Neg" from their former name.

WildBrain Ltd. is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest independent library of children's television programming, including the assets of acquisitions such as Cookie Jar Group, Epitome Pictures, and Wildbrain Entertainment among others, distribution rights to the Jay Ward Productions library, and a stake in the Peanuts franchise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xilam</span> French animation studio

Xilam is a French production company which specializes in making animated television series and feature films. Marc du Pontavice and his wife Alix founded it in 1999 as a replacement for the animation division of Gaumont Multimédia. Gaumont continued to have a deal with Xilam until 2003. Gaumont Multimédia was a video game publisher until closing in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jam Filled Entertainment</span> Canadian animation studio

Jam Filled Entertainment is a Canadian animation studio based in Ottawa, Ontario with additional facilities in Toronto and Halifax and is a division of Boat Rocker Media. It is best known for animating Thomas & Friends between 2013 and 2021 and Nicktoons such as The Loud House, and its spinoff The Casagrandes.

Andrew James Knight was a Canadian animator, film and television director, voice actor, and creator of Ned's Newt, Pig City and Get Ed.

Reel FX Animation, formerly known as Reel FX Creative Studios, is an American Visual effects and computer animation studio with studios in Dallas, Texas, Hollywood, California, and Montreal, Quebec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paramount Animation</span> Animated media production division of Paramount Pictures

Paramount Animation is an American animation studio, serving as the animation division and label of Paramount Pictures, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. The division was founded on July 6, 2011, following the box office success of Paramount's own Rango and the end of their distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">6 Point Harness</span> Production label for Mondo Media

6 Point Harness is an American animation studio and production label of Mondo Media based in Los Angeles. It develops and produces animated television programming, feature films, commercial, music videos and web-based content. Founded by Brendan Burch in 2003, some of the studio's most notable productions include Tom Hanks' Electric City, Fox's Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, MTV's Good Vibes, Nick Jr.'s Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, Nickelodeon's El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, Adult Swim's Apollo Gauntlet and Lazor Wulf, the animated feature The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!, and the web series Dick Figures for the YouTube channel Mondo Media. 6PH also released Dick Figures: The Movie, an in-house production developed from the company's web series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Martino</span> American director and designer (born 1959)

Stephen Michael Martino is an American designer and film director. He is best known for directing the Blue Sky Studios films Horton Hears a Who! (2008), Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012), and The Peanuts Movie (2015).

TVPaint Animation is a 2D paint and digital animation software package developed by TVPaint Developpement SARL based in Lorraine, France. Originally released for Amiga in 1991, version 3.0 (1994) introduced support for other platforms. In 1999, the last Amiga version 3.59 was released as free download. TVPaint Animation currently runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, and Android operating systems.

WildBrain Studios is the in-house television studio arm of Canadian entertainment company WildBrain based in Vancouver, British Columbia, which was established in 2016 as DHX Studios.

This is a list of events in animation in 2022.

References

  1. "House of Cool – Toronto Animation Studio". House of Cool. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  2. Lang, Jamie (March 29, 2023). "Wildbrain Acquires Canadian Pre-Production Studio House Of Cool". Cartoon Brew . Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  3. Ltd, WildBrain. "WILDBRAIN COMPLETES HOUSE OF COOL ACQUISITION, SIGNIFICANTLY EXPANDING AND ENHANCING ITS PRE-PRODUCTION CAPABILITIES". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  4. "Andy Knight, RIP | Cartoon Brew". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  5. "House Of Cool Studios Acquires Red Rover Studios". Awn.com. 2008-07-23. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  6. Hey Arnold Test