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Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; also known as Nelvana Limited, Nelvana International or Nelvana Digital; commonly known as Nelvana; stylized in all lowercase) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment since 2000. Founded in 1971 by Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert, and Clive A. Smith, it was named after Nelvana of the Northern Lights, the first Canadian national superhero, who was created by Adrian Dingle. The company's production logo is a polar bear looking at North Star, the North Star.
The company is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in North America and it maintained international offices in France, Ireland and Japan, as well as smaller offices in the top three cities in the U.S. Many of its films, shows and specials were based on licensed properties and literature, but original programming was also part of its roster. Although the company specializes in children's media, Nelvana has also co-produced like the first season of Clone High, John Callahan's Quads!, Bob & Margaret, and Committed.
Nelvana International distributes five shows― Taina, the first five seasons of The Fairly OddParents, "Corus' Nelvana expands strategic relationship with Nickelodeon for international distribution of "Taina's World" and "The Fairly Odd Parents"". The Free Library. Retrieved January 6, 2014. The Backyardigans (a co-production with Nick Jr.), Mr. Young, and the first season of Horrid Henry from February 22, 2007, to February 2008. , its library comprised more than 1,650 cumulative half-hours of original programming.
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.
They bought ownership rights to a collection of local 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. "Canadian Heroes" page at Internationalhero.co.uk. Retrieved July 10, 2006. 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. Under those conditions, Nelvana was involved in the production of documentaries and live-action films during the early 1970s. In the area of part-time animation work, they made ten C$1,500 fillers for the CBC.
Among the studio's first productions was a low-budget CBC short subject series, Small Star Cinema, which combined live-action and animation to tell stories of ordinary life from a child's point of view. It was followed by Nelvana's first ever television special Christmas Two Step in 1975, a similarly styled special in which a girl tries to be a lead dancer at a Christmas pageant. When Nelvana was founded in 1971, their original goal was to make live-action programs involving animation in them during their early days.
Nelvana worked on their first television specials: A Cosmic Christmas (1977), The Devil and Daniel Mouse (1978), Romie-0 and Julie-8 (1979), Please Don't Eat the Planet (better known by its subtitle, Intergalactic Thanksgiving) (1979), Easter Fever (1980) and Take Me Up to the Ball Game (1980). During that time, George Lucas, who was impressed with A Cosmic Christmas, commissioned the company to work on a 10-minute sequence for the CBS and CTV TV film Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978. This short scene, officially entitled "The Faithful Wookiee", features the voices of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels and James Earl Jones, and introduced the bounty hunter Boba Fett.
Early in the decade, the company worked on four television specials based on American Greetings properties. They were The Magic of Herself the Elf, based on Mattel's toy line; ; Strawberry Shortcake and the Baby Without a Name; and Strawberry Shortcake Meets the Berrykins, the last three of which featured the eponymous doll. There were two shows made by Nelvana based on the AmToy properties, Madballs and My Pet Monster.
Despite the successes of their earlier works, perhaps its greatest success at the time came in the form of the Care Bears, thanks to its acquisition of the character rights from American Greetings, the franchise owners. In early 1985, the first film based on the toy line turned the company's assets around, grossing US$23 million in the U.S., and another Canadian dollar1.5 million in its native Canada. Its tremendous success gave way to two more feature films, and Adventure in Wonderland, as well as a television series.DiC Entertainment also made 22 episodes of the Care Bears series before Nelvana reclaimed the rights for the animated franchise.
In the area of science fiction, Nelvana co-produced 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, 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 The 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, Halcyon Studios (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.
As the decade came to a close, the revived Nelvana had its next big success with and an HBO television show based on Jean de Brunhoff's Babar book series. This franchise, its first international co-production, won many CableACE Award in the U.S. and Gemini Award in Canada. In September 1989, ABC began to air Beetlejuice, a show co-produced by Nelvana and based on Beetlejuice by Tim Burton.
In Autumn 1993, Nelvana signed a multi-year project to co-produce five feature films for Paramount Pictures, with Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall co-producing; the first two began co-production the following summer, at a cost of over US$20 million each.McRoberts, Kenneth (1995). Beyond Quebec: Taking Stock of Canada, p. 175. McGills-Queens University Press. . Retrieved June 22, 2006.Maddever, Mary (September 11, 1995). "Nelvana boosts feature involvement" . Playback. Retrieved July 2, 2006. 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.Tolusso, Susan (March 28, 1994). "Nelvana joins the public procession..." Playback. Retrieved June 30, 2006.
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 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, Box office data for Malice at the IMDb. Retrieved June 22, 2006. 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, Golden Books is Negotiating to Buy Nelvana. (1996, September 26.) New York Times. Retrieved June 29, 2006. 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. Golden Books Withdraws Offer for Nelvana. (1996, November 5.) New York Times. Retrieved June 29, 2006.
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.Maule, Christopher J. and Acheson, Archibald Lloyd Keith (2001). Much Ado About Culture: North American Trade Disputes, p. 122. University of Michigan Press. . Retrieved June 22, 2006.Yaffe, Samatha (November 20, 2001). "Loubert goes solo in wave of consolidation" . Playback. Retrieved July 6, 2006.
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 December 1997, Nelvana began distributing a syndicated programming block, the Nelvana Kidz Klub, through MediaVentures International, a Chicago-based distributor. The block was offered internationally on a barter program distribution model with one–two hours of daily sections or three–four hours of the weekend block.
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 CBS Kidshow. The block would feature six new series based on children's book properties, and all were to comply 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 the 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.Klein, Naomi (2002). No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs, p. 147. Picador. . Retrieved June 22, 2006.
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.Collins, Geneva (August 16, 1999). "Public TV again turns to Canada for kidvid" . Current.org. Retrieved June 23, 2006. 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.Bedford, Karen Everhart (July 31, 2000). "New offerings from PBS and Nick Jr./CBS" . Current.org. Retrieved June 23, 2006. 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).Ross, Carlos (August 9, 1999). Of All Things Nelvana and Cardcaptor Sakura. THEM Anime Reviews. Retrieved June 24, 2006.
On April 14, 2000, Nelvana announced its purchase of the Palo Alto-based children's book publisher Klutz Press in a US$74 million deal—at that time, its largest buyout ever "Nelvana Buys Book Publisher" at AllBusiness.com. Retrieved June 30, 2006.—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.Shirkani, K.D. (April 13, 2000). Nelvana adds Klutz books to kids shelf. Variety Magazine. Retrieved June 30, 2006.
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 TV.
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 CassadayCassaday is the president and CEO of Corus Entertainment. ( NB: His name should not be confused with that of the John Cassaday.) has made that clear, but this makes my job less rather than more".
In 2001, Nelvana acquired the rights to the English-language version of yet another anime series, Medabots. The following January, Beyblade (in association with Hasbro and Mitsubishi) became its third such property. "Nelvana Spins a Deal to Bring Beyblade Phenomenon to North America". 2002, January 10. PR Newswire. Retrieved June 24, 2006.
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.Ball, Ryan (October 23, 2002). "Nelvana CEO Hirsh Steps Down". Animation Magazine. Retrieved June 23, 2006.Ball, Ryan (November 6, 2002). "Corus Ent. Names Hirsh's Nelvana Successor". Animation Magazine. Retrieved June 24, 2006. "Focus on Canada", June 2003. WorldScreen.com. Retrieved July 2, 2006. Corus Entertainment announces fiscal 2002 year-end results; Year-End Debt Target Achieved., Goliath Business News. Retrieved July 18, 2011.
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.Ball, Ryan (September 25, 2003). "Nelvana Home Entertainment Launched". Animation Magazine. Retrieved June 24, 2006. 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 series, 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, NBCUniversal 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.Ball, Ryan (September 12, 2006). " Corus Makes Changes at Nelvana". Animation Magazine. Retrieved October 7, 2006.
In October 2006, Nelvana announced a co-production agreement with Canadian toy maker Spin Master and Japanese partners TMS Entertainment, Sega Fave 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.
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), 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 .
In 2018, Nelvana appointed Cinedigm as the company's new U.S. home video partner. In late 2018, the company relaunched Bakugan with , 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.
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.
Nelvana has also had considerable success with animated fare based on toys; American Greetings' Care Bears has been the most familiar example of this. Also, there have been series and specials based on Strawberry Shortcake (also from American Greetings), Madballs and My Pet Monster (from AmToy) and Rescue Heroes (from Fisher-Price). Nelvana also produced Fresh Beat Band of Spies, an animated revival of The Fresh Beat Band that is produced by 6 Point Harness for Nickelodeon.
It has also adapted big-screen franchises to televised properties, such as Star Wars ( and Ewoks), Beetlejuice, An American Tail ( Fievel's American Tails), Free Willy and The Neverending Story. It has even ventured into the video game world with a show based on Nintendo's Donkey Kong: Donkey Kong Country.
In the field of anime, the company holds the North American rights to Clamp/Kodansha's Cardcaptor Sakura series. Also, it holds international licensing rights to Beyblade and Medabots and the Bakugan franchise.
As with many other animation studios, Nelvana has a wide range of established original series and characters within its roster; 6teen, Clone High, Birdz, Corn & Peg, and Eek! The Cat are some of Nelvana's more notable animated series not adapted from older works.
, the studio has made close to 25 feature films for theatre, home entertainment, and television distribution. Well-known releases include Rock & Rule, the first five Care Bears films, two Babar films, and the 1997 Pippi Longstocking.
Live-action has been a part of its mainstay from its early years. The company has had Burglar and Malice as its own feature projects in that area, and has contributed as such to Star Wars Holiday Special and Three Amigos. On television, 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 TV channel on YouTube.
On April 29, 2015, they launched a YouTube channel promoted by YTV as Nelvana Retro, which was renamed "YTV Direct" in 2016 after also deciding to incorporate non-Nelvana content such as Nickelodeon shows. It was later renamed Keep it Weird to incorporate more content from the company.
In the United States, Nelvana's series have been broadcast on terrestrial, cable and streaming networks, and internationally on over 360 television stations in more 180 countries, in approximately 50 languages. Nelvana information at Corus website. Retrieved June 14, 2006. Nelvana company overview at dfait-maeci.gc.ca. Retrieved June 14, 2006.
Former Nelvana employees Roger Allers, Charles Bonifacio, Ralph Palmer, Kori Rae, Joe Ranft, David Soren, and Ralph Zondag went on to become staff members at Walt Disney Feature Animation and DreamWorks Animation starting in the 1980s. Allers went on to direct The Lion King, The Incredibles, Cars and Open Season. Lenora Hume, from the company's early years, was the senior vice-president of DisneyToon Studios and Pixar.
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