WildBrain Ltd.
is a Canadian children's entertainment company, formerly known as DHX Media. It is headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The WildBrain name dates back to 1994 in San Francisco, when John Hays, Phil Robinson, and Jeff Fino began with animating computer games, and later TV animation.
DHX was founded in 2006 by the merger of two pre-existing companies, Decode Entertainment (known for Undergrads and Angela Anaconda) and Halifax Film (of This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Animal Mechanicals fame), hence the abbreviation. DHX is best known in the United States as the company responsible for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, which was animated at its studio (formerly Studio B Productions, aka the creators of Yvon of the Yukon and Kid vs. Kat, which they acquired in 2007) in Vancouver. Its other series include Littlest Pet Shop (2012) and Sheriff Callie's Wild West. In 2012, the company acquired fellow Canadian company Cookie Jar Entertainment, giving them access to its extensive library of children's content (such as Johnny Test), including that of its predecessor CINAR (including Caillou) and DiC Entertainment (like Inspector Gadget).
Other acquisitions have included Epitome Pictures (producers of Degrassi) and competing Vancouver studio Nerd Corps Entertainment (Storm Hawks, League of Super Evil) (which was merged with Studio B Productions), the Strawberry Shortcake franchise, 41% of the Peanuts property (SMEJ owns 39%, while the Charles Schulz estate owns the remaining 20%), and the British company Ragdoll Productions (known for Teletubbies and In the Night Garden...).
In 2013, DHX bought Astral Media's youth channels: Family Channel, and the Canadian versions of Disney Junior (both an English-language multiplex of Family and standalone French-language specialty channel), and Disney XD. They were re-organized into the newly-formed DHX Television division. In 2015, DHX Media decided to not renew their rights to Disney's children's programming (which were later picked up by Corus Entertainment, owners of Teletoon, YTV, and Nelvana). As a result, Disney Junior's English & French channels and Disney XD were re-named Family Jr., Télémagino, and Family CHRGD. CHRGD would later be re-named again to WildBrainTV in March 2022. Most of their properties air on these channels in Canada, although historically Teletoon, YTV, and CBC Kids have aired many of their shows.
In September 2019, the company rebranded as WildBrain, after WildBrain Entertainment (the creators of Yo Gabba Gabba! and Bubble Guppies), which DHX had acquired back in 2010 or the UK-based digital multi-channel network of the same name. That same year, the company sold its Halifax studio (and the rights to 22 Minutes) to IoM Media Ventures (Island of Misfits). In February 2022, WildBrain acquired the distribution rights to Jay Ward Productions' animated library (Rocky and Bullwinkle, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, Dudley Do-Right, George of the Jungle), announcing plans for new series based on these properties. Also in 2022, the company acquired distribution rights to Jungle Beat including its wide library of spin-offs as well as Life with Derek.
Notable television productions from DHX/WildBrain:
- The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (animation services)
- Angela Anaconda (as Decode Entertainment)
- Animal Mechanicals (as Halifax Film Corporation)
- Blaze and the Monster Machines (animation services for season 2 onwards)
- Bob the Builder (2015 series onwards)
- Bo on the Go! (as Halifax Film Corporation)
- Bromwell High (as Decode Entertainment; co-produced with Hat Trick Productions)
- Bubble Guppies (animation services with Nelvana)
- Carmen Sandiego
- Chip and Potato
- Chop Socky Chooks (as Decode Entertainment; co-produced with Aardman Animations)
- Chuck's Choice
- Clang Invasion (as Decode Entertainment; co-produced with Agogo Entertainment and Scrawl Studios)
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2017) (co-produced with Sony Pictures Animation)
- Creeped Out
- Deadtime Stories
- The Deep
- Degrassi (since 2014)
- Degrassi: The Next Generation (the final seasons)
- Degrassi: Next Class
- Delilah & Julius (as Decode Entertainment; co-produced with Collideascope Digital)
- Dorg Van Dango (co-produced with Cartoon Saloon)
- Dr. Dimensionpants
- Ella the Elephant
- Fangbone! (distribution rights)
- Fireman Sam (animation services for season 11 onwards)
- Franny's Feet (as Decode Entertainment)
- Freaky Stories (as Decode Entertainment)
- Girlstuff/Boystuff (as Decode Entertainment)
- Hank Zipzer
- The Hard Times of RJ Berger
- Higglytown Heroes
- How to Be Indie (as Decode Entertainment)
- Inspector Gadget (2015)
- Johnny Test (season 6 and Netflix revival)
- Kate & Mim-Mim (season 2 only)
- King (as Decode Entertainment)
- Kuu Kuu Harajuku (distribution rights)
- The Latest Buzz (as Decode Entertainment)
- Letterkenny
- Little People (2012 webisodes)
- Littlest Pet Shop (2012)
- Looped (co-produced with Neptoon Studios)
- Make It Pop
- Malory Towers
- Massive Monster Mayhem
- Mega Man: Fully Charged
- The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show (animation services)
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (animation services)
- Naturally, Sadie (as Decode Entertainment)
- The Naughty Naughty Pets (as Decode Entertainment)
- Ninjago (Season 11-present)
- Olliver's Adventures (as Decode Entertainment; co-produced with Collideascope Digital)
- The Other Kingdom
- Packages from Planet X (co-produced with American Greetings Corporation)
- Peanuts (since 2017)
- Snoopy in Space
- The Snoopy Show
- Pirates: Adventures in Art
- Planet Sketch (as Decode Entertainment; co-produced with Aardman Animations)
- Polly Pocket (2018 series)
- The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (animation services)
- Radio Free Roscoe (as Decode Entertainment)
- Rainbow Fish (as Decode Entertainment)
- The Ricky Gervais Show
- The Save-Ums! (as Decode Entertainment)
- Saving Me (distribution rights)
- Sheriff Callie's Wild West (animation services for season 1)
- Shimajiro (English dub, co-produced with Funimation and Iyuno Media Group)
- Sonic Prime (co-produced with Man of Action Studios and Sega)
- Strawberry Shortcake (2019 series)
- Summer Memories
- Super Why! (Season 1 done as Decode Entertainment)
- Supernoobs
- Team Smithereen (co-produced with The Dan Clark Company)
- Teletubbies (2015 and 2022 revivals)
- Transformers: Rescue Bots (seasons 3 and 4)
- This Hour Has 22 Minutes (2006 onward)
- Undergrads (as Decode Entertainment; co-produced with MTV Animation)
- Urban Vermin (as Decode Entertainment)
- Watership Down (1999) (as Decode Entertainment; co-produced with Alltime Entertainment)
- Waybuloo (co-produced with The Foundation)
- Weird-Ohs (as Decode Entertainment; co-produced with Mainframe Entertainment)
- What About Mimi? (as Decode Entertainment; co-produced with Studio B Productions)
- Yo Gabba Gabba!
- The Zack Files (as Decode Entertainment)
- The Zoo
Tropes associated with WildBrain:
- Animation Bump: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic keeps increasing the quality every season, and is really good for Flash standards.
- Creator's Oddball:
- You normally wouldn’t associate WildBrain producing shows like This Hour Has 22 Minutes or Letterkenny, both of which are not made for children at all, especially the latter.
- Domestic-Only Cartoon: WildBrain Studios does their own animation for shows, and occasionally outsources their production to other companies. With Top Draw being a regular production partner for their 2D efforts.
