Mainframe Studios

Logo used since 2020
Formerly	Mainframe Entertainment (1993–2007) Rainmaker Entertainment (2007–2016) Rainmaker Studios (2016–2020)
Company type	Division
Industry	Animation Motion pictures
Founded	1993; 33 years ago (1993)
Founders	Christopher Brough Ian Pearson Phil Mitchell Gavin Blair John Grace
Headquarters	Vancouver,British Columbia , Canada
Key people	Michael Hefferon (president and CCO)[1]
Products	Television films Television shows Feature films Animation outsourcing
Number of employees	>650 (2021)[2]
Parent	IDT Entertainment (2003–2006) Rainmaker Income Fund (2006–2008) Wow Unlimited Media (2016–present)
Website	https://www.mainframe.ca

Mainframe Studios is a Canadian animation studio owned byWow Unlimited Media and based inVancouver,British Columbia. Founded in 1993 asMainframe Entertainment Inc. by Christopher Brough, Ian Pearson, Phil Mitchell, Gavin Blair and John Grace, the company established itself as a leading contributor to the introduction ofcomputer-generated imagery (CGI),live-action in animation, film and television.

The company previously operated as a subsidiary ofStarz Inc. (at the time a division ofIDT Corporation) between 2003 and 2007. Localpost-production firm, Rainmaker Income Fund, acquired a majority stake in the company, initially rebranding it in the process asRainmaker Animation and would fold into it in 2008, permanently rebranding it asRainmaker Entertainment. Rainmaker would revive the "Mainframe Entertainment" name for its then-newly-created division meant fortelevision production. On October 25, 2016, the company announced a tripleacquisition and merger ofFrederator Networks and Ezrin-Hirsh Entertainment to create the holding company, WOW! Unlimited Media, and rebrand a second time toRainmaker Studios. In 2020, the company would rebrand a third and final time toMainframe Studios to return to their "Mainframe Entertainment" name roots.

The company is best known for the production of the first fullycomputer-animated half-hour television seriesReBoot;Beast Wars, a reimagined relaunch ofTransformers fromHasbro; andBarbie since 2001, in collaboration with American toy companyMattel —the majority of films which later expanded into other audiovisual media to createa multimedia franchise for the flagshipfashion doll property.

The company was established in 1993 asMainframe Entertainment Inc. by Christopher Brough, a notedLos Angeles-based animation producer and a British animation team known as "The Hub" – Gavin Blair, Ian Pearson, Phil Mitchell and John Grace. They were looking to createReBoot, the first fullycomputer-animated television series, after having used the technology to produce music videos likeMoney for Nothing andLet's Get Rocked. Due to the cost of shipping equipment back home, advantageous tax credits and proximity to Los Angeles, the company set-up shop inVancouver, Canada.^[3]

In 1994,ReBoot launched onABC in the United States andYTV in Canada. The series intermittently ran for four seasons with production ending in 2001. The company's second project was produced for American toy companyHasbro.Beast Wars (known in Canada asBeasties), a relaunch of theTransformers brand, debuted in 1996 and concluded in 1999. A follow-up,Beast Machines was produced between 1999 and 2000. BothReBoot andBeast Wars were produced withAlliance Communications, who had taken a 50% ownership of Mainframe. In 1996, Mainframe paid $17 million to reduce Alliance's share to 15%.^[4]

Mainframe became apublicly traded company with a listing on theToronto Stock Exchange on June 17, 1997. In conjunction with the public offering, Alliance sold 700,000 shares in the company, lowering their ownership to 7.8%.^[5] Christopher Brough became theCEO, Pearson the president, Blair as director of operations and Mitchell as Blair's assistant/vice.^[6] In its first year on the stock exchange, Mainframe posted an $11 million loss despite producing hit multi-award-winning computer-animated shows during this period.^[7]

Mainframe opened its American division in Los Angeles on April 17, 1998, to be led byDan DiDio and oversee content development, production and local distribution.^[8] DiDio previously worked with Mainframe through his stint as executive director of children's programming at ABC.

After having earlier produced twoReBoot themed rides for the company, theIMAX Corporation made a $16 million investment in the company in 1999, which gave IMAX roughly 30% ownership of Mainframe, included the creation of a new joint venture meant to facilitate the creation of animated films based onGulliver's Travels andPied Piper, with a third project titledPandora’s Box.^[9] The films were intended to be stereoscopic, 3D feature-length releases, though none of the three saw completion.^[10]

At the end of the 1999 fiscal year, the company reported a $17 million loss.^[11] Thanks to episode deliveries forBeast Machines,Beast Wars,Shadow Raiders andWeird-Ohs, the company posted its first profit of $1.4 million in fiscal 2000.^[12] Buoyed byHeavy Gear,Action Man and their firstdirect-to-video film,Casper's Haunted Christmas, Mainframe posted another profit of $2.4 million for fiscal 2001.^[13] Despite the success, the company faced a major management shakeup that year.^[14][15][16] Pearson had stepped down as president in June and left the company shortly after, with fellow co-founders Blair and Mitchell also leaving in 2002 and 2005, respectively.

In 2001, American toymakerMattel collaborated with Mainframe to produceBarbie in the Nutcracker. The direct-to-video feature sold more than 3.4 million units in its first year.^[17] The success of the release led to a longstanding relationship between Mattel and the animation studio. Mainframe (and its successors) would later produce the majority ofthe franchise's direct-to-video films, as well as atelevision series.

Following financial losses of $18.9 million and $7.5 million in fiscal 2002 and 2003, the AmericanIDT Corporation announced it would purchase 56% of Mainframe for $14 million on September 16, 2003.^[18][19] After the cancellation ofSpider-Man: The New Animated Series that same year, the company moved away from producing television series. While a number of projects were announced they ultimately did not see fruition, including a pre-school orientedReBoot spin-off calledBinomes as well as Mainframe's first live-action production, an adaptation ofHarriet the Spy.^{[20][21][22][23][24][25]} In 2005, the company acquired the distribution rights to the live-action/CGI-animated television seriesZixx. Mainframe also provided animation for the show's second and third seasons in conjunction withThunderbird Films.^[26] The bulk of the company's work now consisted of direct-to-video projects andtelevision specials.

After producing the visuals for the2003 MTV Movie Awards, Mainframe started acreative services division to produce video game animation, graphic design, motion graphics, titling, show opening sequences and branding in 2005.^[27][28] This branch of the company worked on a number of projects, including cut-scenes forPrototype,50 Cent: Blood on the Sand andGhostbusters: The Video Game, as well as the2006 MTV Movie Awards.^[29]

Finding itself under new ownership, IDT sold its 62% stake in Mainframe to Vancouver-based post-production firm Rainmaker Income Fund on July 20, 2006, for $13.8 million.^[30][31] The next month Rainmaker announced it would acquire the remaining 38% of Mainframe.^[32] On January 30, 2007, Mainframe was renamed toRainmaker Animation.^[33] Later that year, Rainmaker sold itsvisual effects and post-production divisions toDeluxe Entertainment Services Group, leaving only the animation business.^[34]

In June 2012, Chinese animation studioXing Xing Digital announced its intent to purchase Rainmaker, with the company willing to pay off Rainmaker's $7 million debt.^[35] The purchase was called off after Rainmaker and Xing Xing were unable to finalize the sale by September 14, 2012.^[36]

In 2013, Rainmaker completed its first theatrical feature film,Escape from Planet Earth. Directed by Cal Brunker, it received mixed reviews from critics but was a success at the box office, grossing around $75 million worldwide. On October 7 that same year, Rainmaker launched atelevision production division and revived the "Mainframe Entertainment" brand for its title, starting with a CGI-animated incarnation ofBob the Builder.^[37][38]

Rainmaker released its second theatrical feature film,Ratchet & Clank based onthe video game series of the same name byInsomniac Games, in the first quarter of 2016 to financial failure. This poor reception to the film caused Rainmaker to take a $10 millionimpairment charge on their investment in the production^[39] and was later cited as the reason the company abandoned plans to adapt theSly Cooper video game franchise into a theatrical film.^[40][41][42]

Later that year on October 25, Rainmaker announced their intent toacquire and merge Erzin-Hirsh Entertainment and American-basedFrederator Networks (and its main division,Frederator Studios) and consolidate them under its then-new holding company,WOW! Unlimited Media Inc.^[43](TSX:WOW.A)^[44] At that time, the company changed the names of its home-base divisions toRainmaker Studios andMainframe Studios. Since the reorganization, the company has been heavily involved in television production animatingReBoot: The Guardian Code, a live-action/CGI-animated re-imagining of theReBoot brand,Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures, the first-ever full-length TV series inthe "Barbie" media franchise andSpy Kids: Mission Critical, the animated reboot/spin-off of theSpy Kids (franchise) in 2018. In 2019, the studio released its firsttraditionally-animated production, a pilot based onKnowledge Network mascots made inToon Boom Harmony.^[45]

On March 16, 2020, the studio announced it would be rebranding asMainframe Studios and consolidate Rainmaker Studios under the "Mainframe" branding and fully returning the studio to their original "Mainframe" name.^[46][47] Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, Mainframe Studios initiatedremote work measures for its employees.^[48]

On June 24, 2021, the company confirmed that it would develop a 2D-animation pipeline in support of its first production in the medium, an animated series inspired byYouTube personalityGuava Juice.^[49] The following August, Mainframe announced that it would open avirtual studio inToronto in the east of the country, building upon its earlier remote work experience.^[2]

Features/cinematic/theatrical:

Television:

Direct-to-video (DTV):

• 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (video game trailer)
• Ghostbusters: The Video Game^[65] (Pre-rendered cutscenes)
• Ghost Hunter Dax^{[citation needed]}
• Good Boy! (CGI effects)^{[citation needed]}
• Harriet the Spy^{[citation needed]}
• Legion of 5^[66]
• Luna, Chip & Inkie in The Festival of Wishes^[45]
• The Outer Limits (1995-2001) (CGI effects)^{[citation needed]}
• 2003MTV Movie Awards^[67]
• 2006MTV Movie Awards^[68]
• Prototype (video game trailer)^{[citation needed]}
• WET (video game trailer)^{[citation needed]}
• Ratchet & Clank: Life of Pie (2021)^[69]
• Ready2Robot (web-series)^{[citation needed]}
• Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007) (CGI effects)^{[citation needed]}

• Blue Sky Studios
• Nitrogen Studios
• DreamWorks Animation
• Pixar
• Locksmith Animation
• Warner Bros. Pictures Animation
• Paramount Animation
• Sony Pictures Animation
• Reel FX Animation

• Official website

• Canadian companies established in 1993
• Mass media companies established in 1993
• Companies formerly listed on the TSX Venture Exchange
• Canadian animation studios
• American animation studios
• 1993 establishments in British Columbia
• Mainframe Studios
• Wow Unlimited Media
• Companies based in Vancouver
• 2016 mergers and acquisitions

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