The History of Canadian animation involves a considerable element of the realities of a country neighbouring the United States and both competitiveness and co-operation across the border.
[2] Raoul Barré opened an animation studio with William C. Nolan in 1914, and hired Gregory La Cava and Frank Moser.
Norling in Winnipeg, Jean Arsin and Charles Lambly in Montreal, and Harold Peberdy, Bert Cob, Walter H. Swaffield and Bryant Fryer in Toronto, were able to produce short animations, primarily for advertising and educational purposes.
The NFB did not have an internal animation department until Grierson brought Norman McLaren to Canada in 1941, and produced Mail Early, his first film there.
Mackay's Teeth Are to Keep was praised by Stephen Bosustow, co-founder of United Productions of America, as "one of the freshest, best pictures of its kind that we have ever had the pleasure of seeing".
Some examples are The Undersea Adventures of Captain Nemo, and The Toothbrush Family as well as Ukaliq and The Sunrunners all written, produced and directed by Al Guest and his partner Jean Mathieson at their Toronto company Rainbow Animation.
Two new players suddenly appeared in Ottawa, with Atkinson Film-Arts producing TV specials based on the Jean De Brunhoff Babar books and the Lynn Johnston comic strip For Better or For Worse, as well as the series The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin, Dennis The Menace, and animation for the film Heavy Metal and the specials and subsequent series of Kevin Gillis' popular The Raccoons.
Although Caillou initially received positive reviews during its original run,[49][50][51] it has drawn heavy viewer criticism since its cancellation,[52][53] notably for the title character's negative behavior starting in the first and second seasons which resulted in four episodes of the show being banned by PBS Kids.
From Richard Williams directing animation on the Oscar-winning Who Framed Roger Rabbit in the late 1980s in Britain (while also working on his unfinished film The Thief and the Cobbler there as well) to others directing creating and supervising animation in television and commercial studios around the world including many prominent video games such as Halo 2, Rayman and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
Canadians John Kricfalusi and Lynne Naylor were among the founders of the studio Spümcø, creating series such Ren and Stimpy and The Ripping Friends for television, and Weekend Pussy Hunt and The Goddamn George Liquor Program for the emerging web.
From shows as simple as The Simpsons (Harmony), South Park (Maya) and Angela Anaconda (Houdini) to special effects as fantastic and complex as those seen in the Harry Potter films (both software packages) and more.
In September 2000, Corus Entertainment acquired Nelvana for $540 million, complementing its children's television networks, YTV and Treehouse TV.
[55] Flash cartoons, which were originally released on the web, began making their way to television; such as March Entertainment's Chilly Beach (2003-2006),[56] on the CBC, as well as Ocnus Productions' Kevin Spencer (1999-2005) and Smiley Guy Studios' Odd Job Jack (2003-2007)[57] on the Comedy Network; also joined by the puppetry show Puppets Who Kill (2002-2006), which had similarly started as an independent one-man live theatre show.
G4 also launched its own Adult Digital Distraction on June 9, 2009, before being shut down by the CRTC in late 2011 for violating the station's mandate; the block returned again in 2012.
Similar success was attained by Cuppa Coffee Studios working on series like Celebrity Deathmatch, Starveillance, Glenn Martin, DDS, and Ugly Americans.
Nelvana had even experimented in the 1990s with series such as Brad Bird's Family Dog (1993), the British Channel 4 co-production Bob and Margaret (1998-2001), Committed (2001), and John Callahan's Quads!
[60] APTN Kids has also broadcast cartoons such Bizou (2007), Animism (2013), Kagagi (2014), and Lil Glooscap and the Legends of Turtle Island (2022), as well as the stop motion series Wapos Bay (2005-2011) and Guardians Evolution (2014-2015), with the former produced with the assistance of the National Film Board of Canada.
Jennifer Pertsch and Tom McGillis of Fresh TV created a number of popular shows for Teletoon, such as 6teen (2004-2010) and Stoked (2009-2013), as well as a broader franchise with Total Drama (2007-).
10th Ave. Productions would continue releasing features; namely Mission Kathmandu: The Adventures of Nelly and Simon (2017), Felix and the Treasure of Morgäa (2021) and Katak: The Brave Beluga (2023).
[70] In 2014, Canadian animation studio ToonBox Entertainment produced the Canadian-South Korean co-production The Nut Job, directed by Peter Lepeniotis and starring Will Arnett.
[76][77] A co-production between animators in Canada, France and Belgium, the 2015 feature film April and the Extraordinary World released to positive critical reception.
On October 26, 2016, American media company Frederator Networks, Inc. (of The Fairly OddParents and Adventure Time) created a merger with Canadian animation studio Rainmaker Entertainment (of ReBoot and Beast Wars: Transformers) and Ezrin Hirsh, Inc. (partners are producers Bob Ezrin and Michael Hirsh of Nelvana) to form Wow Unlimited Media.
[81] Comic book publisher Arcana Studio opened its animation division in 2012, producing features such as The Clockwork Girl (2014), Pixies (2015), The Steam Engines of Oz (2017), Panda vs. Aliens (2023), and Heroes of the Golden Masks (2023), as well as several films spun from Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom (2016).
(2022) was produced for Netflix based on the Canadian developed video game, Cuphead, inspired by the golden age of American animation.
Alongside domestic productions such as Almost Naked Animals, Camp Lakebottom, Futz!, and Fugget About It; 9 Story has also produced later seasons of Arthur, Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Magic School Bus Rides Again, Creative Galaxy, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, and Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum.
Jam Filled Entertainment took over animation of the British classic Thomas & Friends from 2013 until its conclusion in 2021, while previous series from 2008 on having been produced by Nitrogen Studios.
Notable NFB shorts from this era included Torill Kove's Me and My Moulton and Theodore Ushev's Blind Vaysha, each were nominated for an Oscar.
Canadian music video director Winston Hacking made the satirical 2018 animated collage film Erodium Thunk out of old magazine ads and TV commercials.
[98][99] Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman's Apprentice (2020), featuring Canadian Inuit characters, won Best Independent Short Film at the Festival Stop Montreal.
This effort coincided with the remastering of the series from its original D-1 tapes, with the first episode released on YouTube on September 10, 2024 to mark its thirtieth anniversary.