WildBrain inks $11.4m acquisition of Toronto animation firm House of Cool

What If…?

Canadian kids & family firm WildBrain is to acquire Toronto-based animation company House Of Cool for $15.5m ($11.4m).

Launched in 2004 and led by co-founders Wes Lui and Ricardo Curtis, House Of Cool specialises in pre-production and early planning on animated series and features.

Its series credits include What If…? for Marvel Studios; Gravity Falls for Disney; Maya And The Three, The Magician’s Elephant, Trollhunters, and Dragons: Race To The Edge for Dreamworks and Netflix; and Pretzel And The Puppies for HarperCollins Productions and Apple TV+.

Meanwhile, its feature work includes Despicable Me for Illumination; The Angry Birds franchise for Rovio and Sony Pictures Animation; and The Peanuts Movie, Ferdinand, and the Ice Age and Rio franchises for 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios.

Under the agreement, WildBrain will acquire full ownership of House of Cool, with $5.25m ($3.86m) in cash and rest through issuance of shares. The deal also includes an earn-out of up to $6m ($4.4m) based on collection of Canadian tax credits earned up to closing, which is expected in Q4.

Lui and Curtis will join the WildBrain Studios senior management team in the newly created roles of co-general managers of House of Cool, reporting to Josh Scherba, president of WildBrain, who heads up the company’s content and studio business.

House of Cool will maintain operations at its Toronto facility, working closely with Wildbrain’s Vancouver animation studio. The acquisition “more than doubles WildBrain’s pre-production capacity,” said the company.

Scherba said that House of Cool’s expertise “is highly complementary to our existing business, expanding and enhancing our pre-production capabilities, not only for WildBrain’s proprietary content but also for third-party projects.”

He added: “The acquisition also establishes a new entry point for IP owners to engage with WildBrain’s 360-degree offering across production, distribution and consumer products licensing.”