Nitrogen Studios
Cinesite Vancouver (formerly known as Nitrogen Studios Canada, Inc., commonly referred to as Nitrogen Studios) is a Canadian animation company founded by husband and wife duo Greg Tiernan and Nicole Stinn. The company was founded in October 2003, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
 | |
| Industry | Computer animation |
|---|---|
| Founded | October 2003 |
| Founders | Greg Tiernan Nicole Stinn |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Nicole Stinn (President and CEO) Greg Tiernan (CCO) |
| Owner | Greg Tiernan Nicole Stinn |
Number of employees | 51 - 200 |
| Parent | Cinesite |
Cinesite Vancouver was best known for animating the long-running British television series Thomas & Friends, which first began in the 12th season in 2008. The show was still using models up until 2009, and Nitrogen Studios would animate CGI faces onto the models using tracking tools. The company would later take over for full computer-animation in 2009 with the 13th season, and followed with seasons 14, 15 and 16, before Arc Productions (now Jam Filled Entertainment) took over in the animation department. Along with animating the 4 seasons, came 4 feature-length specials, including Hero of the Rails (2009), Misty Island Rescue (2010), Day of the Diesels (2011), and Blue Mountain Mystery (2012). Greg served as a unit director, and Nicole served as a unit producer. All seasons and films were co-produced with HIT Entertainment.
Nitrogen had also provided CGI animation and concept art for a planned second theatrical Thomas & Friends film with the title The Adventures of Thomas.[1]
Before animating Thomas & Friends, they animated the 2006 CGI family comedy film Happily N'Ever After, distributed by Lionsgate, and co-produced with Odyssey Entertainment and Vanguard Animation, only for it to perform as a box office flop, earning $37 million on a $47 million budget. In 2016, Greg Tiernan, along with Conrad Vernon, directed the highest-grossing R-rated CGI adult comedy film, Sausage Party, distributed by Columbia Pictures, co-produced with Annapurna Pictures and Point Grey, earning $140 million on a $19 million budget.
Greg and Conrad then produced and directed The Addams Family (2019), a film co-produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, The Jackal Group, and Bron Creative, distributed by United Artists Releasing in the US, and Universal Pictures internationally, and The Addams Family 2 (2021), a film co-produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, BermanBraun, Glickmania, and Bron Creative, distributed by United Artists Releasing in the US, and Universal Pictures internationally. The Addams Family earned $203 million on a $24 million budget, and The Addams Family 2 earned $110 million on a $47 million budget.
For television, they also produced Dan Vs., an American animated television series created by Dan Mandel and Chris Pearson, produced by Film Roman and The Hatchery, and distributed by Starz Distribution. They provided lip-sync for 27 episodes, spanning from February 26, 2011, to June 23, 2012. They animated two episodes of the Netflix series Trollhunters, co-produced with DreamWorks Animation and Double Dare You, with the first airing on December 23, 2016, and the 2nd airing on May 25, 2018.
The company's other projects are God of War, a 2005 action-adventure game developed by Santa Monica Studio, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, a 2008 role-playing game developed by BioWare, published by Sega for the Nintendo DS, and Kodee's Canoe, a 2010 interactive app series.
On March 7, 2017, it was acquired by British visual effects and feature animation studio company Cinesite, becoming their Vancouver operations.[2]
Filmography
Theatrical
| Year | Title | Co-production | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Happily N'Ever After | Vanguard Animation Berlin Animation Film Berliner Film Companie Odyssey Entertainment Lionsgate |
Additional animation with The LaB Sydney Mr. X Bardel Entertainment Elliot Animation Quadriga FX |
| 2016 | Sausage Party | Point Grey Pictures Annapurna Pictures Columbia Pictures |
[3] |
| 2019 | The Addams Family | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Cinesite Studios The Jackal Group United Artists Releasing Bron Creative United Artists Releasing |
|
| 2021 | Extinct | Netflix China Lion HB Wink Animation Huayi Brothers Huayi Tencent Entertainment Tolerable Entertainment Cinesite Timeless Films |
Additional animation |
| 2021 | The Addams Family 2 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer BermanBraun Glickmania Bron Creative Cinesite United Artists Releasing |
|
| 2022 | Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank | Paramount Pictures Nickelodeon Movies Aniventure Align Brooksfilms Flying Tigers Entertainment GFM Animation Cinesite HB Wink Animation |
Additional pre-production |
| 2023 | Hitpig | Aniventure Cinesite |
Additional animation |
| TBA | Animal Farm |
Aniventure |
Additional pre-production |
Direct-to-Video
| Year | Title | Co-production |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Hero of the Rails | HIT Entertainment |
| 2010 | Misty Island Rescue | |
| 2011 | Day of the Diesels | |
| 2012 | Blue Mountain Mystery |
Television
| Premiere Date | End Date | Title | Channel | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 9, 2008 | December 25, 2012 | Thomas & Friends | PBS Kids Channel 5 Treehouse TV |
100 episodes: CGI series; co-produced with HIT Entertainment |
| February 26, 2011 | June 23, 2012 | Dan Vs. | Hub Network | 27 episodes: lip sync; co-produced with Film Roman, The Hatchery, and Starz Media |
| December 23, 2016 | May 25, 2018 | Trollhunters | Netflix | 2 episodes: co-produced with DreamWorks Animation and Double Dare You |
| 2023 | Iwájú | Disney+ | animation service work: co-produced with Walt Disney Animation Studios, Kugali and Cinesite |
Other projects
| Year | Title | Medium |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | God of War (uncredited) | Video game with Santa Monica Studio, Sony Computer Entertainment, and JP: Capcom |
| 2008 | Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood | Video game with Bioware and Sega |
| 2010 | Kodee’s Canoe | Interactive app series |
| 2021 | Mila | Short with Peppermax films, Pixel Cartoon, IbiscusMedia, Cinesite, and Aniventure |
Controversy
Several days after the release of Sausage Party, allegations of poor treatment of Nitrogen Studios employees surfaced in the comments section of an interview with Tiernan and co-director Conrad Vernon, featured on the website Cartoon Brew.[4] Various anonymous posters, purporting to be animators who worked on the film in question, made claims including that Nitrogen forced them to work overtime for free and that some employees were threatened with termination. Some animators who complained or left due to stress went uncredited in the film. One poster stated that Tiernan had developed a reputation for "disturbing behaviour and abusive management style".[5] Publications such as the Washington Post[6] the Los Angeles Times[7] and /Film[8] have picked up the story.
References
- Fleming, Mike Jr. (June 8, 2011). "'9' Helmer Shane Acker Boards Feature Based On The Thomas The Tank Engine Toys". Deadline. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Regan Reid (March 7, 2017). "Cinesite Studios acquires Nitrogen". Kidscreen. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
- Burns, Elias; Vlessing, Etan (August 16, 2016). "'Sausage Party' Animators' Pay Dispute Surfaces After Big Opening". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
- Sausage Party's Animators Were Treated Like Shit
- 'Sausage Party' Directors Conrad Vernon & Greg Tiernan On Making 2016’s Most Outlandish Animated Film
- The working conditions for some ‘Sausage Party’ animators were pretty terrible
- 'Sausage Party' anything but a good time at work, some animators say
- 'Sausage Party' Allegedly Forced Animators to Work Overtime for Free, Refused to Credit Artists