Laff Arts Michael Hirsh and
Patrick Loubert first met as friends and partners at
York University,
Canada in 1967. They made films with other students. This was Loubert's first experience with filming; he recalled: The fledgling Canadian television and film industry was developing 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 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 '' (1978) Nelvana was founded by Hirsh, Loubert, and Smith in 1971. Hirsh recalls: 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 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 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. In the area of science fiction, Nelvana co-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, 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 co-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 co-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 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 co-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 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, a facility for producing television commercials that lasted until 1993. Three of 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 co-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 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 co-production, doubling what the first
Care Bears Movie received during its original release. In 1993, Nelvana along with Galaxy Films and De Souza Productions co-produced
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs for 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 co-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, 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 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 co-produced by Nelvana and Rainbow Animation. The game 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 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 co-produced. 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 the
CBS Kidshow. The block would feature
Franklin and the new series
Anatole,
Flying Rhino Junior High,
Dumb Bunnies,
Birdz, and
Mythic Warriors; all six shows were billed as complying with 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
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 (with Medialab) and
Rolie Polie Olie (with Métal Hurlant Productions and Paris-based
Sparx*), premiered on U.S. television in 1998. In March 1999, Nelvana reported 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 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).
2000s 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 have presented 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 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 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". On November 5, 2001, Nelvana purchased all propetiary rights to
Babar, excluding the franchise's publishing rights from the de Brunhoff family. 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 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. US-based
FUNimation, along with British company
Maverick, has distributed titles from the studio with this label, including
Redwall,
Pecola,
Tales from 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 co-produced an animation
anthology, which included 10 recurring shorts. Titled
Funpak, it aired on
YTV for 13 weeks starting in February 2005, with 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,
NBC Universal 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, a major split for Nelvana was announced: the company's studio operations (under the Nelvana Studios name) was integrated into Corus' children's television division, headed by executive vice-president and general manager Scott Dyer who, in addition to Nelvana, oversaw YTV, Treehouse and
Discovery Kids Canada while Nelvana Enterprises, was created in the process, handling international distribution of the company's library as well as licensing for Nelvana's properties and Corus' properties outside of Canada.
Doug Murphy became president of the new distribution and licensing unit. In October 2006, Nelvana announced 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 the channel in February 2008. The initial incarnation of the franchise ran for four seasons, spanning 189 episodes and stimulated billions in merchandise sales.
2010s 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 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 a digital platform provided by Cartoon Network. In 2012, Corus Entertainment acquired Canadian animation software developer
Toon Boom. Nelvana had already used the company's software on projects like
6teen,
Ruby Gloom as well as the aforementioned
Detentionaire. Going forward, all of the studio's internally animated 2D productions would utilize their sister company's suite of products. After Murphy had been appointed as CEO of Corus Entertainment, Scott Dyer was named president of Nelvana in 2015. The next year, Pam Westman became head of Nelvana. On October 19, 2016, Nelvana redesigned their logo to mark the studio's 45th anniversary, as well as take part in Corus' brand refresh following latter's acquisition of
Shaw Media. According to Dyer, this also symbolized a strategic shift from merchandise-based properties to more creator-driven projects, as well as a return to international co-productions. At that year's
MIPCOM, the studio showcased new shows
Esme & Roy (with
Sesame Workshop),
Hotel Transylvania: The Series and
Mysticons. Nelvana also presented
Bravest Warriors, a pre-existing series from
Frederator Studios that they were now producing and
Corn & Peg, a co-production with the US
Nickelodeon. The following October, Nelvana announced the launch of a new
joint venture with
Discovery Communications to create children's content for Canada, Latin America and the rest of the world. Later named "redknot", the division's first two projects include
The Dog & Pony Show and
Agent Binky: Pets of the Universe. In 2018, Nelvana appointed
Cinedigm as the company's new U.S. home video partner. In late 2018, the company relaunched
Bakugan with
Bakugan: Battle Planet, a co-production between Nelvana,
Spin Master Entertainment, TMS Entertainment and
Man of Action Studios. The studio launched its first short film,
The Most Magnificent Thing, in 2019 to showcase its technical abilities. Later that year, Dyer announced his retirement, with Westman named as his replacement.
2020s In October 2020, Nelvana agreed to co-produce
Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go (with
Mattel Television), a re-imagined revival of the original
Thomas & Friends series, marking the franchise's first 2D-animated television series. That same month, the company entered an agreement with Duncan Studio to produce animated feature films. The first project announced from this collaboration was a feature film adaptation of the Ryan Andrews novel
This Was Our Pact. Written by Will Collins and starring
Peter Dinklage as "a mysterious and charismatic bear", the film will be co-produced by Dinklage through his production company, Estuary Films. In July 2024, as a result of budget cuts and layoffs across Corus Entertainment, a number of positions at Nelvana were eliminated, including that of Vice President Athena Georgaklis, and all development of new projects was paused. Corus co-CEO John Gossling announced: "We're making tough decisions to shutter areas of the business we can no longer sustain and pause longer-term development activities while we implement efficiency initiatives". The year prior, Corus sold its software subsidiary Toon Boom Animation to Integrated Media Company, a portfolio company of
TPG Inc. for $111 million to help the company pay down its debt. On September 2, 2025, Corus announced that future production at Nelvana would be temporarily halted and that any current projects would be winding down. This comes after Corus announced plans to focus on maintaining better-performing properties. However, Corus would continue to operate the licensing, distribution and library unit. ==Franchises==