Nelvana facts for kids
Logo used since 2016
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| Subsidiary | |
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| Predecessor | Laff Arts |
| Founded | July 1971 |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters |
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Canada
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Key people
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| Products | Consisting mainly of children's animation; see also list of Nelvana programs |
| Revenue | C$600 million (2001) |
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Number of employees
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200+ (2021) |
| Parent | Corus Entertainment (2000–present) |
| Subsidiaries | Redknot (50%) |
Nelvana Limited is a Canadian animation and entertainment company. It is owned by Corus Entertainment. Three friends, Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert, and Clive A. Smith, started the company in July 1971. They named it after Nelvana of the Northern Lights, Canada's first national superhero. Nelvana's logo shows a polar bear looking up at Polaris, the North Star.
The company is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They also have offices in other countries like France, Ireland, and Japan. Nelvana makes many films, TV shows, and specials based on popular books and characters. They also create their own original shows. While they mostly make shows for kids, Nelvana has also helped produce some cartoons for adults.
Nelvana International helps share some popular shows around the world. These include The Fairly OddParents and The Backyardigans. By 2001, Nelvana had created over 1,650 half-hours of original shows.
Contents
History of Nelvana
How it All Started: Laff Arts
Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loubert met in 1967 at York University in Canada. They enjoyed making films with other students. This was a new experience for Loubert. He remembered being inspired by an Italian film director he met while traveling.
At that time, the TV and film industry in Canada was quite small. Loubert, Hirsh, and their friends Jack Christie and Peter Dewdney started a small company called Laff Arts. They made short, experimental films. Later, Vitaphone animator-designer Clive A. Smith joined them in Toronto, Ontario. Smith loved rock n' roll music. He had even helped make the Beatles' animated series and the 1968 film Yellow Submarine.
The company Laff Arts eventually closed. An advertising agency told them their company name was not professional enough.
Nelvana is Born
Hirsh, Loubert, and Smith founded Nelvana in 1971. Hirsh said that back then, there wasn't much of an animation or TV production industry in Canada. They decided to start their own company in Toronto, not fully knowing how much work it would be.
They bought the rights to old Canadian comic books from the 1940s. Then, they made a TV documentary about Canadian comics for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). They also toured art from the National Gallery of Canada. This tour showed people Canada's history in comics. During this time, the new company was named Nelvana. It was named after the World War II-era Canadian comic book superheroine Nelvana of the Northern Lights.
Their first office was an old apartment in downtown Toronto. They even used a homemade wooden stand over a toilet for their camera! Hirsh remembered piling up phone books under artwork to make zooms. For their first year and a half, the three friends used a credit card to pay for things. They spent about C$7,500 before making their first big sale. In the early 1970s, Nelvana made documentaries and live-action films. They also made short animated films for the CBC.
One of their first shows was Small Star Cinema for the CBC. This series mixed live-action and animation to tell stories from a child's view. After that came Nelvana's first TV special, Christmas Two Step, in 1975. This special was about a girl trying to be a lead dancer at a Christmas pageant.
Nelvana then worked on several TV specials. These included A Cosmic Christmas (1977) and The Devil and Daniel Mouse (1978). In 1978, George Lucas, who liked A Cosmic Christmas, asked Nelvana to create a 10-minute animated part for the Star Wars Holiday Special. This short scene was called "The Faithful Wookiee". It featured the original voices of the Star Wars characters. It also introduced the famous villain Boba Fett for the first time! Boba Fett later appeared in The Empire Strikes Back. This animated appearance created a lot of excitement for the new character. Nelvana also started using the polar bear as its mascot around this time.
The 1980s: Big Shows and Movies
In the early 1980s, Nelvana decided to make its first full-length movie, Rock & Rule. This movie was inspired by The Devil and Daniel Mouse. It took five years and $8 million to make. The film was released in 1983 but did not do well at the box office. To keep going, the company focused on making children's TV series.
Some of their early TV series included live-action shows like The Edison Twins. They also helped with the first season of Inspector Gadget.
Nelvana also made four TV specials based on American Greetings characters. These included three specials about Strawberry Shortcake. They also made shows based on AmToy toys, like Madballs and My Pet Monster.
One of Nelvana's biggest successes came with the Care Bears. Nelvana got the rights to these popular characters from American Greetings. In 1985, the first movie, The Care Bears Movie, earned US$23 million in the U.S. This huge success led to two more Care Bears movies and a TV series called The Care Bears Family.
Nelvana also produced two Saturday-morning cartoon series based on Star Wars: Droids and Ewoks.
In 1987, Michael Hirsh produced Nelvana's first live-action comedy film, Burglar.
In 1988, Nelvana and Scholastic Corporation made a video series called The Video Adventures of Clifford the Big Red Dog. This was based on the popular book.
Nelvana faced money problems again when a U.S. distributor for their show T. and T. went out of business. But they found a new distributor quickly and were saved. Also in 1988, Nelvana started BearSpots, a place to make TV commercials, which lasted until 1993.
As the 1980s ended, Nelvana had another big hit with a film and a TV show based on the Babar book series. This show, Babar, was their first international co-production. It won many awards. In September 1989, ABC started showing Beetlejuice, a cartoon based on the movie by Tim Burton.
The 1990s: More Popular Shows and Films
After Babar became popular, Nelvana got the rights to make animated series based on other famous books. These included The Adventures of Tintin, Little Bear, The Magic School Bus, and Rupert Bear. Nelvana also created its own successful shows like Eek! The Cat, Dog City (with Jim Henson Productions), and Ned's Newt.
In 1993, Nelvana signed a deal to make five feature films for Paramount Pictures. However, none of these films were fully completed. During the 1990s, Nelvana also had other films released by different companies. A live-action thriller called Malice came out in 1993. In 1997, they released an animated version of Pippi Longstocking. Babar: King of the Elephants was released in Canada in 1999. Malice was the most successful at the box office.
In 1993, Nelvana also produced Cadillacs and Dinosaurs for CBS. This show was based on a comic book.
In September 1995, Nelvana produced TV series based on the popular Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys book series. These shows were not widely distributed and were cancelled in December.
In 1997, a small computer animation company called Windlight Studios joined Nelvana. Its co-founder, Scott Dyer, later became a senior leader at Nelvana.
In late 1997, Nelvana and the United Kingdom's Channel 4 started working on Bob and Margaret. This was Nelvana's first animated show for adults since Rock & Rule.
In 1998, Nelvana made a deal with the U.S. network CBS to create a new Saturday morning cartoon block called CBS Kidshow. This block featured six new series based on children's books. All of them had to meet U.S. rules for educational programming. In August 1998, Nelvana bought Kids Can Press. This company published children's books like Franklin and Elliot Moose. This helped Nelvana create shows based on these books.
Nelvana's first two computer-animated shows, Donkey Kong Country and Rolie Polie Olie, started airing in the U.S. in 1998.
In March 1999, Nelvana reported a big increase in earnings. This was thanks to more original shows, sales of their older shows, the deal with CBS, and buying Kids Can Press. In August 1999, Nelvana announced a US$40 million deal to make six new series for a PBS Kids block. These shows, like Timothy Goes to School and Seven Little Monsters, started in September as part of the Bookworm Bunch. That same month, Nelvana got the North American rights to its first anime show, Cardcaptor Sakura. It was renamed Cardcaptors for its English version.
The 2000s: New Ownership and Anime Hits
In April 2000, Nelvana planned to launch two new digital cable channels. One was "The Nelvana Channel," which would show the company's library of material. The other was "Booknet," focusing on book adaptations. These channels were approved but never launched.
On April 14, 2000, Nelvana bought Palo Alto-based children's book publisher Klutz for US$74 million. This was their biggest purchase at the time.
In September 2000, Corus Entertainment bought Nelvana for $540 million. Corus saw this as a good fit for its children's TV networks, like YTV and Treehouse.
A year after Corus bought Nelvana, co-founders Loubert and Smith left the studio. In October 2002, Corus announced that Hirsh was also leaving.
In 2001, Nelvana got the rights to the English version of another anime series, Medabots. The next January, Beyblade became its third anime property.
In September 2003, Corus launched their home entertainment division for Nelvana shows. Later, in 2007, Shout! Factory took over distributing Nelvana's shows on home video.
In 2004, Nelvana produced an animation show called Funpak. It had 10 short cartoons and aired on YTV. One of the shorts, Sidekick, later became a successful cartoon series from 2010-2013.
In May 2006, NBCUniversal teamed up with Nelvana and other companies to create Qubo. Qubo was a children's educational TV brand in the U.S.
In September 2006, Nelvana became part of Corus's children's TV division. A new part, Nelvana Enterprises, was created to focus on sharing the company's shows around the world.
In October 2006, Nelvana announced a partnership to create a new anime show called Bakugan Battle Brawlers. This show became very popular. Merchandising rights were sold to Cartoon Network in the U.S. The show ran for four seasons and made billions in merchandise sales.
The 2010s: More Anime and New Shows
After Bakugan, Nelvana worked on another anime show, bringing back the Beyblade series with other partners. Beyblade: Metal Fusion started in 2010 and ran for 167 episodes. It also led to other shows like BeyWheelz.
Detentionaire was produced between 2011 and 2015. This show was made for Teletoon and also aired internationally.
In 2012, Corus Entertainment bought Toon Boom, a Canadian company that makes animation software. Nelvana already used Toon Boom's software for shows like 6teen and Ruby Gloom. Now, all of Nelvana's 2D animated shows use their sister company's software.
In 2016, Nelvana changed its logo to celebrate its 45th anniversary. This also showed a new focus on creator-driven projects and working with international partners again. At MIPCOM that year, they showed new shows like Esme & Roy and Hotel Transylvania: The Series. Nelvana also presented Bravest Warriors and Corn & Peg.
In October 2017, Nelvana announced a new partnership with Discovery Communications to create children's content. This new division was later named "redknot." Its first projects included The Dog & Pony Show and Agent Binky: Pets of the Universe.
In 2018, Nelvana brought back Bakugan with Bakugan: Battle Planet. This was a new co-production with Spin Master Entertainment and other studios.
The studio released its first short film, The Most Magnificent Thing, in 2019. This film showed off their technical skills.
The 2020s: New Adventures
In October 2020, Nelvana agreed to help produce Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go with Mattel Television. This was a new, 2D-animated version of the classic Thomas & Friends series. That same month, the company partnered with Duncan Studio to make animated feature films. Their first announced project is a movie based on the novel This Was Our Pact.
Nelvana's Popular Shows and Movies
Many of Nelvana's TV shows are based on characters and stories from other companies. Most of these started as books or comics. Some examples include The Adventures of Tintin, Babar, Franklin the Turtle, Little Bear, The Magic School Bus, and Rupert. They also made shows like Beetlejuice and Sidekick.
Nelvana has also had great success with cartoons based on toys. The Care Bears are a very famous example. They also made shows and specials based on Strawberry Shortcake, Madballs, My Pet Monster, and Rescue Heroes.
The company has also turned big movies into TV shows. These include Star Wars (with Droids and Ewoks), An American Tail (with Fievel's American Tails), and Free Willy. They even made a show based on a video game, Donkey Kong Country, from Nintendo.
In the world of anime, Nelvana has the North American rights to Cardcaptor Sakura. They also have international rights to Beyblade, Medabots, and the Bakugan series.
Nelvana also has many popular original shows and characters. Some of their well-known original animated series include 6teen, Clone High, Birdz, Corn & Peg, and Eek! The Cat.
By 2008, the studio had made almost 25 feature films for theaters, home video, and TV. Famous films include Rock & Rule, the first five Care Bears movies, two Babar films, and the 1997 Pippi Longstocking.
Live-action projects have been a part of Nelvana since its early days. The company made its own live-action films like Burglar and Malice. They also helped with live-action parts of the Star Wars Holiday Special and Three Amigos. On TV, Nelvana has made live-action shows such as The Edison Twins, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and Life with Boys.
On February 5, 2013, Nelvana launched the Treehouse Direct channel on YouTube. Later, they launched a YouTube channel called "YTV Direct" in 2016, which was renamed Keep it Weird to include more content.
Nelvana Around the World
The Fairly OddParents, created by animator Butch Hartman, was shared by Nelvana outside the U.S. from 2001 to 2004. This show was very popular on Nickelodeon, YTV, and the BBC. It was also successful in Europe, Latin America, Australia, and Canada. Nick Jr.'s The Backyardigans was also co-produced and distributed by Nelvana outside the U.S.
In the United States, Nelvana's shows have been shown on TV channels and streaming services. Around the world, their shows have been broadcast on over 360 TV stations in more than 180 countries and about 50 languages.
People Who Worked at Nelvana
Many talented people have worked at Nelvana. Some well-known animators include Wayne Gilbert and Vincenzo Natali. Famous voice actors who have worked for the studio include Tara Strong, Cree Summer, Maurice LaMarche, and Michael Cera.
Some former Nelvana employees went on to work at big animation studios like Walt Disney Feature Animation and DreamWorks Animation. For example, Roger Allers worked on The Lion King and Cars. Lenora Hume, who worked at Nelvana early on, is now a senior leader at DisneyToon Studios and Pixar.
Images for kids
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Nelvana's current logo
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Nelvana's polar bear mascot
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Nelvana logo used from 2004-2016
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See also
- Cinema of Canada
- History of Canadian film
- History of Canadian animation
- List of Nelvana programs
Related Canadian companies
- National Film Board of Canada
- Cookie Jar Group (now part of WildBrain)
- CinéGroupe
- WildBrain
Related International companies
