Rainmaker Entertainment
 | |
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Computer animation |
| Predecessor | Mainframe Entertainment |
| Founded | 1991 (as Mainframe) |
| Founders |
Ian Pearson Phil Mitchell Gavin Blair John Grace |
| Headquarters | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
Key people | Michael Hefferon, President[1] |
| Products | Television, motion pictures, home video |
| Parent | Wow Unlimited Media |
| Divisions |
Rainmaker British Columbia Rainmaker Los Angeles |
| Website |
www |
Rainmaker Studios (formerly Rainmaker Entertainment, and before that, Mainframe Entertainment Inc.) is a Canadian computer animation and design company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. They are best known for producing the first ever CGI animated series, ReBoot, as well as the Transformers spin-offs, Beast Wars: Transformers and Beast Machines: Transformers. In recent years, they have also become known for producing most of the entries in the Barbie film series for Mattel.
History
Rainmaker Income Fund announced on August 29, 2006, that RNK Capital Limited Partnership would acquire the 38% of shares it didn't own by merging with Rainmaker Income Fund. After the merger, Rainmaker announced on January 31, 2007 that Mainframe Entertainment's name would be changed to Rainmaker Entertainment. On November 29, 2007, Rainmaker Income Fund announced the sale of Rainmaker Visual Effects and Rainmaker Post to Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, leaving only the animation business.
The current Rainmaker name and insignia was adopted from an older division, the DVD encoding company Rainmaker Digital Pictures, which encoded DVDs as early as 1997.
In 2013, Rainmaker relaunched Mainframe Entertainment as its television division, starting with a CG-animated incarnation of Bob the Builder.[2][3]
In 2016, Rainmaker acquired American-based Frederator Networks, Inc. and announced that they have consolidated its divisions (including Frederator Studios) under its new holding company Wow Unlimited Media[4] (TSX:WOW.A). At that time, the company changed the names of its Vancouver divisions to Rainmaker Studios and Mainframe Studios.
Productions
Television series
| Title | Years | Network |
|---|---|---|
| ReBoot | 1994–2001 | YTV ABC Syndication |
| Beast Wars: Transformers | 1996–1999 | Syndication YTV |
| Shadow Raiders | 1998–1999 | YTV Syndication |
| Weird-Oh's | 1999–2002 | Fox Family YTV |
| Beast Machines: Transformers | 1999–2000 | Fox Kids YTV |
| Action Man | 2000–02 | YTV Fox Kids |
| Heavy Gear: The Animated Series | 2001-2002 | Syndication |
| Max Steel (Season 3) | 2001-2002 | Cartoon Network |
| Spider-Man: The New Animated Series | 2003 | MTV |
| Bob the Builder | 2015–present | Channel 5 |
Films
Upcoming works
| Title | Release Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ReBoot: The Guardian Code | 2018 | Live-action/CGI reboot of ReBoot |
References
- ↑ "Rainmaker Entertainment Names Michael Hefferon President". Deadline. November 14, 2012. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
- ↑ Wolfe, Jennifer (October 7, 2013). "Rainmaker Launches TV Division". Animation World Network. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
- ↑ McLean, Tom (April 6, 2014). "Mainframe to Animate HIT’s New ‘Bob’ Series". Animation Magazine. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
- ↑ http://www.awn.com/news/rainmaker-entertainment-acquires-frederator-rebranding-wow
- ↑ MAINFRAME ENTERTAINMENT AND THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY TEAM UP FOR CG ANIMATED THE NUTTY PROFESSOR
- ↑ http://www.awn.com/news/open-season-scared-silly-lands-retail-march-8
