Animation studios aren’t essentially of common curiosity to the overall viewers. Certainly, greater names like Pixar, Studio Ghibli, Disney, DreamWorks, Warner Bros., and, to a lesser however rising extent, Sony Animation have turn into family names; nevertheless, numerous others go unchampioned. Notably, there are various unsung creatives chargeable for delivering some viewers’ cherished childhood media reminiscences that many people do not give a lot thought to.
The current closure of Nelvana Studios could appear inconspicuous on title worth alone. Nonetheless, when you dig a bit deeper, the announcement is a type of issues that hits you proper within the feels, because the studio was behind a few of the most improbable and beloved children’ tv ever to hit the airwaves.
Nelvana Was Integral To Your Childhood, Even when You Do not Know the Title
First established on July 30, 1971, in Toronto by Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert, and Clive A. Smith, Nelvana was an on the spot love letter to Canadian content material, naming itself after the True North’s first superhero from the ’40s in Nelvana of the Northern Lights. The staff would toil away in a small studio house, engaged on a sequence of smaller tasks earlier than touchdown their large break within the made-for-TV movie A Cosmic Christmas; not a vacation basic within the conventional sense, however a venture that showcased the staff’s potential to ship market-ready content material to American audiences.
The modest success and visible aptitude of A Cosmic Christmas caught the eye of George Lucas, which led to him hiring them for an upcoming venture. Nelvana would ship the one redeemable side of 1978’s Star Wars Vacation Particular, within the animated brief “Trustworthy Wookiee,” which provided the primary onscreen depiction of Boba Fett. The studio would proceed to give attention to made-for-TV movies, notably vacation options, earlier than producing its first theatrical movie, Rock & Rule (1983). Whereas Rock & Rule would flop, the studio would stay vigilant and discover redemption within the theaters with the success of The Care Bears Film in 1985.
Transferring past their made-for-TV and theatrical choices, nevertheless, the true coronary heart of Nelvana would lie on the planet of youngsters’s tv, the place the studio created many beloved titles. Only a small pattern of the titles that the studio labored on consists of:
- Star Wars: Droids (1985–1986)
- Star Wars: Ewoks (1985–1987)
- The Care Bears (1986–1988)
- My Pet Monster (1987)
- Babar (1989–1991; and its revival)
- Beetlejuice (1989–1991)
- Rupert (1991–1997)
- Eek! The Cat (1992–1999)
- Tales from the Cryptkeeper (1993–1999)
- The Magic College Bus (1994–1997)
- The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police (1997–1998)
- Donkey Kong Nation (1997–2000)
- Beyblade (2002–2005)
- The Berenstain Bears (2003–2004)
- The Backyardigans (2004–2010)
The studio additionally labored on quite a few one-season exhibits that won’t have made a splash, however certainly discovered an viewers; these obscure kids’s classics you’re feeling nostalgic for — likelihood is, Nelvana was concerned of their manufacturing. With such a wealthy historical past, why would the studio be closed?
54 Years Later, and Nelvana Studios Is Gone
Regardless of being integral to shaping the trendy panorama of youngsters’s animated programming, Nelvana’s downfall arguably started in 2000 when Corus Leisure acquired the studio for $540 million. Already chargeable for distributing a lot of their applications, they acquired the studio to assist broaden their attain in kids’s content material. The 2000s would mark a fruitful 12 months, with the studio persevering with to thrive and choosing up awards for its TV sequence. But, as is the case with any main firm buying one other, they turn into topic to the underside line, and legacy is much less related.
Whereas Corus Leisure has but to make an official announcement, rumors of the studio’s closure started circulating as early as July 2024, when The Hollywood Reporter famous that Nelvana was dealing with vital layoffs and pausing varied productions. Now experiences from Canadian information shops like Cell Syrup have confirmed that the studio is now solely shut down. 54 years within the trade, crafting a few of the most iconic kids’s TV sequence ever made, solely to be the product of cost-cutting in an evolving market, a tragic destiny for an animation studio that was so important to many childhoods.