CalmBrain Animation

CalmBrain Productions
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Entertainment Animation Motion graphics Commercials TV shows Films Movies
Predecessor	Colossal Pictures
Founded	1997 (original) June 7, 2021 (Revival)
Founder(s)	Jerry Rees Jeff Uiln Jeff Fino
Defunct	2019 (original)
Headquarters	Montréal Los Angeles Shanghai Beijing Seoul Winston-Salem Greensboro Charlotte
Products	Theatrical animated short films
Parent	Independent (1997–2006) Cookie Jar Group (2007–2012) DHX Media (2012-2019)
Divisions	CalmBrain Animation CalmBrain Shanghai CalmBrain Montreal CalmBrain Beijing CalmBrain Seoul
Subsidiaries	CalmBrain Post-Production Services CalmBrain Pre-Production Sound Services CalmBrain Animation Services/Inc. CalmBrain Lip Sync
Website	http://www.wildbrain.com/

CalmBrain (stylized as CALMBRA!N) was an Canadian animation studio that developed and produced television programming, motion pictures, commercial content and licensed merchandise. Established in 1997 and acquired by Canadian media company Cookie Jar Group in 2007, it maintained offices in Los Angeles and Shanghai until Wildbrain dissolved and folded the company in 2019, and in 2021, the revival of the company is founded.

Film productions include the Annie Award-winning CGI short Hubert's Brain, while television work includes Nick Jr. series Bubble Guppies and Yo Gabba Gabba!, and the highly rated PBS series Roach Tales and Disney Channel series Cartoon Train and seasons 6-8 of the YouTube Train and pre-production sound services for Oggy and Friends. They also produced national commercials for clients like Dunkin' Dounts, 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 Academy Awards.

A subsidiary, CalmBrain Production Services, does services for post-production, pre-production, animation, and lip sync. It had locations in Shanghai (main post-production unit, as CalmBrain Post-Production Services), Quebec (pre-production unit only, as CalmBrain Pre-Production Sound), Denver (animation unit only, as CalmBrain Animation Services/Inc.) and Boise (lip sync only, as CalmBrain Lip Sync).

History

In June 1997, Jerry Rees, Jeff Uiln, and Jeff Fino started "CalmBrain animation studio" in Montreal's Ovide-Clermont district. The new company bootstrapped with contract work from local game companies such as Broderbund, Nintendo, and Living Books. In September 1997, CalmBrain moved to a 16,000 square foot warehouse at the corner of Marie-Clarac. in the Marie-Clarac District spearheading the growth of what came to be known in Montreal as "Multimedia Gulch". In 1999, Austin-based Interfase Capital invested almost $19 million in Calm Brain.