#Cookie jar series#

In 1996, CINAR acquired the library of British animation studio FilmFair, and closed it in 1998. By 1999, CINAR boasted annual revenues of $150 million ( CAD) and owned about $1.5 billion (CAD) of the children's television market. The firm became a public company in September 1993. As a production company, CINAR was also involved in the work of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, The Busy World of Richard Scarry, Madeline (specials 2 to 6), The Real Story of Happy Birthday to You, The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures, The Adventures of Paddington Bear, Space Cases, The Shoe People, and its most well-known work, Arthur, Zoboomafoo, and Caillou.

In 1984, CINAR changed their focus from media distribution to production and moved operations to Montreal, Quebec, where they concentrated on family-oriented television programming, including The Little Lulu Show, Animal Crackers, Emily of New Moon, Mona the Vampire, and The Wombles, as well as the English and French dubs of the anime series Adventures of the Little Koala, Ronin Warriors, The Adventures of Shimajiro, The Adventures of Albert and Sidney, Anpanbread Man, the Saban dub and YTV reruns and airings of Maya the Bee and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Spanish television series The World of David the Gnome, and the English dub of Ultraseven. The couple moved to New York City and formed CINAR, a film and television distribution company. Weinberg organized an event for a women's film festival and worked at distributing foreign films to U.S. History As CINAR CINAR logo used from 1984 to 2004, shown here is the 2001 variant, consisting of the 1992 variant on a blue oval.Īfter their meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1976, Micheline Charest and Ronald A. On August 20, 2012, DHX Media announced its intent to acquire Cookie Jar, in a deal that would make DHX the largest independent owner of children's television programming, and by December 25, 2014, Cookie Jar was folded into DHX Media. In 2008, they agreed to acquire DIC Entertainment, expanding its library. Weinberg and chief financial officer Hasanain Panju.ĬINAR was sold in 2004 for $190 million to a group led by Michael Hirsh, the founder of Nelvana, and changed its name to Cookie Jar Group. Over a decade later, these scandals would result in criminal charges, convictions, and fines for four suspects, which included two executives at the company, co-founder Ronald A. screenwriters in its productions in order to continue receiving Canadian tax credits for domestic productions.

In the 2000s, CINAR became the subject of multiple business scandals, including accusations that the company had used offshore accounts to transfer money out of the company, had plagiarized the concept of one of its series, and had obfuscated the involvement of U.S. The company's business model, which included the licensing of its properties into educational markets, had a significant impact on its success by 1999, CINAR held CDN$1.5 billion of the overall children's television market. The company was first established in 1976 as CINAR Films Inc., a Montreal-based studio that was heavily involved in children's entertainment. (also known as Cookie Jar Group, originally known as CINAR, formerly known as Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc., or simply just Cookie Jar) was a Canadian media production and distribution company owned by DHX Media. Halifax Film becomes Island of Misfits as an independent company by IoM Media VenturesĮpitome Pictures closes, DHX Media rebrands itself as WildBrain, and the WildBrain multi-channel network becomes WildBrain SparkĭHX Cookie Jar Inc. Wildbrain Entertainment closes and DHX Media buys Iconix Brands Entertainment The WildBrain multi-channel network is launched and Studio B Productions merges with Nerd Corps Entertainment to form DHX Studios

Halifax Film Company is founded and CINAR rebrands as Cookie Jar Groupĭecode Entertainment and Halifax Film merge to form DHX Media, DIC Entertainment acquires CPLG, and Ragdoll Productions establishes a joint venture with BBC Worldwide called Ragdoll WorldwideĭHX Media buys Studio B Productions and Wild Brain becomes Wildbrain EntertainmentĭIC Entertainment is acquired by, merged, and folded into Cookie Jar GroupĭHX Media buys Epitome Pictures, Nerd Corps Entertainment, and Echo Bridge Home Entertainment and Cookie Jar Group is merged and folded into DHX itself Wild Brain absorbs Colossal Pictures' employees DIC Enterprises becomes DIC Entertainment

#Cookie jar series#