Fatkat Animation Studios was a Canadian animation studio, originally founded in Halifax by former Helix Animation employee Gene Fowler in 2002. It later moved to Miramichi, New Brunswick. At one point, Fatkat was considered the largest animation studio in Canada and the fastest growing animation studio in the country.
But however, after government funding for the studio dried up under the Harper government (as well as the company going overbudget for Three Delivery), the 2007-2010 economic crisis occurred and the fact that the business plan didn't actually set a goal of making money, Fatkat eventually dwindled until its closure was announced in May 2009. At the time of closure, the company was down to employing only 3 people, even though it had received $1 million in government grants since 2005 under the government.
At the same time during its closure, Fowler later formed a much smaller company known as Loogaroo and several other former Fatkat staff later moved to Oasis Animation.
Not to be confused with FatCat Animation.
Shows worked on by Fatkat:
- Chaotic (season 1 only) (additional animation for Bardel Entertainment; with Huminah Huminah Animaiton, Monkey Paw Media, Copernicus Studios and Animation Brewery)
- Happy Tree Friends (TV series only)
- Skunk Fu! (with Top Draw, Studio B Productions, Monkey Paw, Ka-Ching Cartoons and Rocket Fish Studios)
- Supernormal
- Three Delivery (with Animation Collective)
Tropes associated with Fatkat:
- What Could Have Been: After their contract with AKOM ended after season 11, Cookie Jar was looking for a new production company to handle animation services for the later seasons of Arthur. They commissioned Fatkat to reanimate a scene from the episode "Swept Away" as an animation test to see if they can take over the animation services for the series. However, they were rejected and instead used Animation Service (HK) to provide the animation services for seasons 12-15.
