Atkinson Film-Arts was an

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

studio based in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. The company is best known for producing the first two

Care Bears Care Bears are multi-colored bears, painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. They were turned into plush teddy bears and featured in ''The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings'' (1983) and ...

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

s – ''

The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings ''The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings'' is the first animated television special to feature the Care Bears characters. It was made by Ottawa's Atkinson Film-Arts studio, and premiered in syndication on April 22, 1983. The special feature ...

'' and ''

The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine ''The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine'' is the second animated television special to feature the Care Bears characters. It was made by Ottawa's Atkinson Film-Arts studios, and premiered in television syndication, syndication in April 1984. ...

'' – and the four syndicated specials that inspired ''

The Raccoons ''The Raccoons'' is a Canadian animated television series that ran on CBC from November 11, 1985, to March 19, 1991, in Canada and on Disney Channel from July 4, 1985, to August 28, 1992, in the U.S., with three preceding television specials ...

'' (as well as first-season episodes of the show itself). Atkinson also produced the Christmas specials ''The Little Brown Burro'', '' Tukiki and His Search for a Merry Christmas'' and '' The Trolls and the Christmas Express'' and the 1986–87 series '' The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin'' (with

DIC Entertainment DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions, sometimes stylized as DİC) was a French American film and television production company that ...

). They also worked on the 1981 science fiction anthology movie '' Heavy Metal'' and ''The Body Electric'', an animated movie featuring music composed by the Canadian rock band Rush.

History

Vic Atkinson founded the company. Atkinson was hospitalized after overseeing the production of two segments for '' Heavy Metal''. He recovered and oversaw '' The Christmas Raccoons'' before leaving the company and selling his share to Bill Stevens. Atkinson did not like the direction the company was heading in and stated that "I won't produce garbage" while Stevens says he left over disagreements regarding growth and

financial risk Financial risk is any of various types of risk associated with financing, including financial transactions that include company loans in risk of default. Often it is understood to include only downside risk, meaning the potential for financi ...

. ''The Christmas Raccoons'' cost $700,000, '' The Raccoons on Ice'' cost $850,000 and the episodes of ''

'' cost up to $415,000. F. R. Crawley, who was $1.2 million in debt, sold his company to Stevens for $1. Merilyn Read acquired the rights for ''

Babar the Elephant Babar the Elephant ( , , ) is an elephant character named Babar who first appeared in 1931 in the French children's book ''Histoire de Babar'' by Jean de Brunhoff. The book is based on a tale that Brunhoff's wife, Cécile, had invented for ...

'' and discussed creating a special with Atkinson-Crawley. ''Babar and Father Christmas'' was one of the most expensive specials at the time, with a budget of $600,000. Sheldon Wiseman and Kevin Gillis formed Hinton Animation Studios, which recruited from Atkinson-Crawley's employment. In 1987, Stevens attempted to aid the financial ailing company by raising $6 million through a public offering under the name The Crawley Group, but the stock market crashed three days before his presentation. The company had $4 million in debt by 1988, and owed a large amount of unpaid wages causing more employees to join Hinton Animation.

Filmography

Television specials

Television series

Direct-to-video films

Feature films

Short films

References

Works cited

External links

* {{Animation industry in Canada Canadian animation studios Companies based in Ottawa Defunct film and television production companies of Canada Mass media companies established in 1974 Mass media companies disestablished in 1989 1974 establishments in Ontario 1989 disestablishments in Ontario