Atomic Cartoons Ottawa opens December 3, 2018 with employees working on high quality animation projects, under the leadership of Chris Wightman. Wightman’s experience includes both animated and documentary productions, as well as extensive work on previous Thunderbird productions. One of the first productions at the new studio will be an animated series for Netflix, The Last Kids on Earth, based on the New York Times best-selling book series by Max Brallier.
“We have been looking to expand for some time, and Ottawa is the perfect base for a full-service studio that produces animated, factual and scripted content. The city has an established animation sector and local universities are producing incredible talent at all levels,” says Jennifer Twiner McCarron, chief executive officer, Thunderbird Entertainment and Atomic Cartoons. “It is important we tap into the potential of talent-pools across Canada to support Thunderbird’s plans for the future, and to keep up with the growing number of requests we are getting from partners like Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Discovery and the CBC.”
Twiner McCarron, also recently met with Ottawa’s film commissioner, Bruce Harvey, and Mayor Jim Watson to share the Company’s enthusiasm for its new studio and long-term vision.
Harvey echoes Twiner McCarron’s excitement about the new production hub. “We’re thrilled that Thunderbird has selected Ottawa, the birthplace of Canada’s animation industry, for the first major expansion of its kids’ division,” he says. “Thunderbird’s presence will further distinguish Ottawa as a first-choice destination for talent looking for a career at the highest levels in the animation industry, and it will also strengthen our entertainment industry with production of factual and scripted content. Thunderbird now joins our family of six world-class animation studios, North America’s largest animation festival, and multiple post-secondary animation programs in an affordable, artist friendly, G7 capital city.”
The new production hub will also focus on growing Thunderbird’s factual footprint in Ottawa, where segments of its hit series Heavy Rescue: 401 are already produced.
“Ottawa has the depth of journalistic talent and is a great place to grow Canada’s rapidly expanding factual story telling industry,” notes Mark Miller, president, Thunderbird Entertainment. “It’s exciting to be in Ottawa, where our Thunderbird team has already started to tap into the city’s network of top level story tellers, to create our globally recognized factual content.”
About Thunderbird Entertainment Group Inc.
Thunderbird Entertainment Group is a Vancouver-based global multiplatform entertainment company with offices in Vancouver, Los Angeles, Toronto, Ottawa and London. Thunderbird creates award-winning scripted, unscripted and animated programming for the world’s leading digital platforms, as well as Canadian and International broadcasters. Thunderbird’s vision is to produce high quality, socially responsible content that makes the world a better place. The Company develops, produces and distributes animated, factual and scripted content through its various divisions, including Atomic Cartoons, Great Pacific Television, Thunderbird Productions and Thunderbird Releasing Limited.
About Atomic Cartoons, Thunderbird’s kids division
Atomic Cartoons is a 450+ artist Vancouver-based award-winning animation studio. Atomic is recognized internationally as one of the leading animation studios in North America. Since its founding more than 20 years ago, Atomic has worked with partners such as Marvel Animation, Netflix, Disney, Cartoon Network, Warner Bros., Lego, Mattel, Spin Master and Nelvana to name a few. Atomic’s productions include the Emmy-award winning Beat Bugs, the upcoming Netflix series The Last Kids on Earth, the upcoming Disney show 101 Dalmatian Street, Counterfeit Cat, Minecraft Mini Series, Marvel’s Avengers Assemble, Rocket Monkeys, Max & Ruby and Transformers: Rescue Bots.
Join our crew of
top-notch talent
