W!ldBrain Entertainment (also known as WildBrain) was an American animation studio. It was originally founded in the Castro District of San Francisco by former Colossal Pictures employees John Hays, Phil Robinson and Jeff Fino in 1994.
The company moved to a 17,000 square foot warehouse in the Mission District in 1996, spearheading the growth of what came to be known in San Francisco as Multimedia Gulch. In 1999, Texas-based Interfase Capital invested almost $17 million in the company. After Colossal was shut down that same year, the company expanded further, providing employment for former Colossal directors and staff.
Over the next few years, WildBrain's staff ballooned from a staff of about 20 to about 250. The company signed deals with Yahoo! and Cartoon Network to produce animated shorts for the web, and also launched a website to produce their own content as well.
In 2004, former Jim Henson Company CEO Charles Rivkin, joined WildBrain as president and CEO of the company. He oversaw the creation and development of Yo Gabba Gabba! for Nick Jr. Three years later, Jeff Fino left the company to start Nuvana, an educational web-based company along with former Colossal producer Joe Kwong.
Rivkin left WildBrain in 2008 after being named U.S. ambassador of France and Monaco, which led to Michael Polis, to become the new CEO for the company. Around the same time, John Hays also left to work on indie features, the last of its original founders that left.
The company expanded its facilities in Sherman Oaks and closed the San Francisco office in June 2009. The company remained independent until Canadian studio DHX Media purchased WildBrain in 2010. Former WildBrain staff, Phil Robinson and Amy Capen started an independent company called Special Agent Productions which took over the Erin Esurance commercials from WildBrain. Robinson died after a short battle with pancreatic cancer in 2015. The company was folded by DHX in 2017.
Not to be confused with the Canadian WildBrain, which DHX was renamed to in 2019.
Shows, films and games worked on by W!ldBrain:
- Acme Hour (main title, bumpers and closing animations)
- Anita Bomba
- Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (2D animation)
- Bubble Guppies (season 1 only)
- Carmen Sandiego: Treasures of Knowledge (character designs)
- Cartoon Network Groovies (1 short)List
- Cats & Dogs (Egypt animation)
- The Chuck Jones Show (main title animation)
- Dopamine (CGI animation)
- Dudley Do-Right (main title animation)
- FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue
- Flying Saucer
- Glue
- Graveyard
- Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown
- The Hard Times of RJ Berger
- Higglytown Heroes
- Howl (CGI animation)
- Hubert's Brain
- Humanstein
- I Am Weasel (pre-production for season 1)
- Joe Paradise
- KaBlam! (The Brothers Tiki segments)
- Living Books: The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight
- Monster High (earlier films only; replaced by Nerd Corps Entertainment)
- NeoHunter (character designs and animation)
- O Canada (main title animation and bumpers)
- The Oregon Trail: 5th Edition (character designs)
- Oh Yeah! Cartoons (1 short)List
- Out to Space
- Pajama Party (main title animation)
- Play-Doh Creations
- Poochini
- A Dog Cartoon
- Rat Race (main title animation)
- The Ricky Gervais Show
- The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (traditional animation and main title design)
- Rugrats Adventure Game (with Heart of Texas and VirtualMagic Animation)
- Sideway: New York
- Space is Dum
- Star Wars: Jar Jar's Journey Adventure Book
- Sheriff Callie's Wild West (season 1 only)
- Team Smithereen
- UMIGO
- Web Premiere Toons
- Yo Gabba Gabba!
