Corus closes Nelvana’s production operation, continues sales and merchandising

Nelvana’s library of 5,000 half-hours includes Pinata Smashlings

The production operation of storied Canadian animation studio Nelvana has been closed by its parent company, Corus Entertainment.

While studio production work has been discontinued, Nelvana will remain operational and continue to monetise existing properties through distribution and merchandising.

A Corus representative characterised this latest development as a “pause” of Nelvana’s production activities, rather than a permanent shuttering.

“While we have paused new studio productions at this time, Nelvana will continue, focusing on distribution, merchandising and managing existing properties,” they said.

However, industry sources C21 has spoken with have pushed back on the notion that a resumption is likely, particularly in light of Corus’s ongoing financial struggles and the dire backdrop facing the wider children’s content business in Canada today.

The closure of Nelvana’s production operation, temporary or otherwise, comes 14 months after its original development team was axed. At the time, it said it was pausing development work on new projects but would continue with production of existing projects.

Amid the financial challenges at Corus, several of Nelvana’s top executives have left over the past 20 months, including former president Pam Westman in early 2024.

Mellany Welsh, who took over Westman’s role atop Nelvana, exited earlier this year to join Boat Rocker. Athena Georgaklis, VP of Nelvana Studios, also left last summer when Nelvana ceased new development activities.

The closure of Nelvana’s production operation marks the end of an era for the iconic Canadian studio, which Corus acquired in 2000 for a huge price of C$540m (around US$370m at the time). The studio has produced titles including Franklin the Turtle, Little Bear, Babar and the Care Bears franchise, among many others.

The Nelvana catalogue has been informally up for sale for more than a year, though a deal has yet to come to fruition.

The content library contains more than 5,000 half-hours, including shows such as Millie Magnificent, Piñata Smashlings, Ranger Rob and the live-action adaptation of The Hardy Boys. However, Corus and Nelvana do not own the underlying rights to some of the key characters found in its content library, such as Franklin the Turtle, while it jointly owns Babar with The Clifford Ross Company.

Founded in 1971 by Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert and Clive A Smith, Nelvana helped put Canada on the map as an animation superpower with productions including the Care Bears franchise, the first-ever Star Wars cartoon, Inspector Gadget and Beetlejuice.

The studio went public in 1994 and three years later was part of a consortium of companies that launched the kids’ channel Teletoon. Nelvana’s growth and presence in the international market ultimately set the stage for Corus to acquire the company in one of the biggest deals in the history of Canadian animation.