House of Cool

House of Cool Studios^[2] is a boutique animation studio based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and founded as a pre-production studio in 1994 by animation veteran Ricardo Curtis and finance expert Wes Lui, specializing in designing and storyboarding of films, series and commercials.

House of Cool Studios

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Animation
Predecessor	Red Rover Studios
Founded	1994; 31 years ago (1994)[1]
Founder	Ricardo Curtis Wes Lui
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Key people	Ricardo Curtis (president) Wes Lui (CEO)
Services	Animation production Storyboard Design
Parent	WildBrain (2023–present)
Website	www.houseofcool.com

On March 29, 2023, Canadian media company WildBrain announced its intent to acquire the company for CA$18.3 million.^[3] The acquisition was completed in July 19, 2023.^[4]

The evolution of WildBrain

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 Wild Brain 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
v t e

Red Rover Studios

Red Rover Studios was founded in London by Andy and Linzi Knight in 1994. It was a full production studio that focused on 2D and CGI animation. They later moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. However, in July 2008, Red Rover was acquired by House of Cool after Andy Knight died, three months earlier.^[5][6]

Filmography

As House of Cool

• Horton Hears a Who! (2008) (film)
• Ollie & the Baked Halibut (2009) (short)
• Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) (film)
• 9 (2009) (film)
• Ninjamaica (2009) (series)
• Despicable Me (2010) (film)
• Jonah Hex (2010) (film)
• The LeBrons (2011) (series) (Season 1)
• Rio (2011) (film)
• Hugo (2011) (film)
• Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (2011) (short)
• Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) (film)
• Gravity Falls (2012) (TV series, early development)
• Escape from Planet Earth (2013) (film)
• Epic (2013) (film)
• Free Birds (2013) (film)
• Rio 2 (2014) (film)
• The Book of Life (2014) (film)
• DreamWorks Dragons (2015) (TV series)
• The Peanuts Movie (2015) (film)
• Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade (2016) (short)
• Nova Seed (2016) (film)
• The Angry Birds Movie (2016) (film)
• Ice Age: Collision Course (2016) (film)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Pizza Friday! (2016) (short)
• Trollhunters (2016) (series)
• Ferdinand (2017) (film)
• Next Gen (2018) (film)
• 3Below: Tales of Arcadia (2018) (series)
• The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019) (film)
• Spies in Disguise (2019) (film)
• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021) (series)
• Pretzel and the Puppies (2022) (series)
• Untitled CG-animated Peanuts film (TBA)

As Red Rover Studios

• All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996) (film)
• Broken Sword: Circle of Blood (1996) (video game)
• Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (1996) (video game)
• Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997) (film)
• Ned's Newt (1997) (TV series)
• 1001 Nights (1998) (film)
• Bob and Margaret (1999) (TV series)
• Joseph: King of Dreams (2000) (film)
• Snickers (2000)
• The Ripping Friends (2001) (TV series)
• Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie (2001) (film, test footage)^[7]
• Pig City (2002) (TV series)
• Get Ed (2005) (TV series)
• Reefer Madness: The Musical (2005) (film) ("The Brownie Song" sequence)
• Gnomeo and Juliet (2011) (film)