Wildbrain Entertainment
Logo used in 2007 as Wildbrain | |
| Formerly | Wild Brain (1994–2007) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Entertainment Animation |
| Predecessor | Colossal Pictures BIG Pictures |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Founders | John Hays Phil Robinson Jeff Fino |
| Defunct | February 24, 2016 |
| Fate | Folded into DHX Media |
| Successors | |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, U.S. New York City, New York, U.S. San Francisco, California, U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Television series, specials, television commercials, licensed merchandise |
| Parent | DHX Media (2010–2016) |
| Divisions | Wildbrain Animation Ghostbot |
| Website | wildbrain.com (archived October 22, 2014) |
| 1968 | FilmFair London is founded |
|---|---|
| 1971 | DIC Audiovisuel is founded |
| 1972 | Strawberry Shortcake brand is first developed |
| 1974 | CPLG is founded |
| 1976 | CINAR and Colossal Pictures are founded |
| 1982 | DIC Enterprises is founded |
| 1984/1985 | Ragdoll Productions is founded |
| 1986/1987 | Andy Heyward takes over DIC Enterprises and renames it DIC Animation City with help from both Bear Stearns & Co and Prudential Insurance Co Jean Chalopin retains DIC Audiovisuel and establishes Créativité et Développement |
| 1988 | Studio B Productions is founded |
| 1992 | Epitome Pictures is founded |
| 1993 | Capital Cities/ABC purchases DIC Animation City, renaming it DIC Entertainment |
| 1994 | Both Wild Brain and Red Rover Studios were founded |
| 1995 | Platinum Disc Corporation is founded |
| 1996 | The Walt Disney Company purchases Capital Cities/ABC, which included DIC Entertainment as well CINAR buys FilmFair's library |
| 1997 | Decode Entertainment is founded |
| 1999 | Wild Brain acquires Colossal Pictures' employee base |
| 2000 | Andy Heyward re-acquires DIC Entertainment from The Walt Disney Company with help this time around from both Bain Capital and Chase Capital Partners |
| 2001/2002 | Nerd Corps Entertainment and Kidrobot are founded FilmFair London closes DIC Entertainment rebrands themselves onscreen as The Incredible World of DIC |
| 2004 | Halifax Film Company is founded Michael Hirsh takes over CINAR and renames it as Cookie Jar Group |
| 2005 | Platinum Disc Corporation merge as Echo Bridge Home Entertainment |
| 2006 | Decode and Halifax Film merge as DHX Media DIC Entertainment acquires CPLG Ragdoll Productions forms a joint-venture with BBC Worldwide called Ragdoll Worldwide Wildbrain acquires stake in Kidrobot |
| 2007 | DHX Media buys Studio B Productions Wild Brain becomes Wildbrain Entertainment |
| 2008 | Cookie Jar Group purchases and folds DIC Entertainment House of Cool absorbs Red Rover Studios |
| 2010 | DHX Media buys Wildbrain Entertainment Peanuts Worldwide is founded Decode Entertainment rebrands as DHX Media Toronto Hailfax Film becomes DHX Media Hailfax |
| 2011 | DHX Media Toronto, Studio B Productions and Red Rover Studios close |
| 2012 | DHX Media buys Cookie Jar Group Wildbrain Entertainment acquires Kidrobot as a whole |
| 2013 | DHX Media acquires Ragdoll Worldwide from Ragdoll Productions and BBC Worldwide; despite that though, Ragdoll Productions themselves remain independent |
| 2014 | DHX Media buys Epitome Pictures, Nerd Corps, and Echo Bridge Home Entertainment's family content library, as well as Family, the Canadian English and French Disney Junior channels, and the Canadian version of Disney XD Cookie Jar Group shuts down National Entertainment Collectibles Association acquires Kidrobot from Wildbrain Entertainment |
| 2016 | The WildBrain multi-channel network launches Studio B and Nerd Corps merge as DHX Studios Wildbrain Entertainment closes |
| 2017 | DHX Media buys Peanuts Worldwide and Strawberry Shortcake |
| 2018 | DHX Media Hailfax becomes Island of Misfits |
| 2019 | DHX Media rebrands as WildBrain Epitome Pictures closes the WildBrain MCN becomes WildBrain Spark |
| 2020 | CPLG becomes WildBrain CPLG |
| 2021 | Echo Bridge folds into SP Distribution |
| 2023 | WildBrain acquires House of Cool |
| 2024 | WildBrain Spark merged into its parent company as WildBrain London |
Wildbrain Entertainment, Inc. (commonly known as Wildbrain, stylized as W!LDBRAIN, formerly known as Wild Brain, and later known as DHX Media Los Angeles) was an American entertainment company and animation studio that developed and produced television programming, motion pictures, commercial content, and licensed merchandise. Established in 1994, it maintained offices in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco.
Its film productions included the Annie Award-winning computer-animated short film Hubert's Brain, while its television work included the Nick Jr. series Bubble Guppies and Yo Gabba Gabba!, and the Disney Channel series Higglytown Heroes. Wildbrain also produced earlier animated shorts and television specials of Monster High for Mattel.
They have produced national commercials for clients such as Esurance, Chiclets, Target, Nike, Honda, Kraft, The Wall Street Journal, and Lamisil (featuring Digger the Dermatophyte). Their ad work has won Clio Awards, ADDY Awards, BDA Awards, and Annie Awards. A subsidiary, Kidrobot, creates limited edition toys, clothing, artwork, and books. It had stores in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami.
The studio was sold to DHX Media in 2010 for US$8 million, and was dissolved in 2012. In 2016, DHX revived the Wildbrain trademark (changing it slightly to WildBrain) for its streaming video network. Following the success of the video network, DHX changed its name to WildBrain in 2019.