Atkinson Film-Arts was an animation studio based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The company is best known for producing the first two Care Bears television specials – The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings and The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine – and the four syndicated specials that inspired The Raccoons (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).
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. The Christmas Raccoons cost $700,000, The Raccoons on Ice cost $850,000 and the episodes of The Raccoons 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 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 YearTitle1978 The Little Brown Burro1979 The New Misadventures of Ichabod Crane1979 Tukiki and His Search for a Merry Christmas1980 The Christmas Raccoons1981 The Trolls and the Christmas Express1981 The Raccoons on Ice1983 The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings1983 The Legend of Hiawatha1983 The Raccoons and the Lost Star1984 The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine1985 The Body Electric1985 Rumpelstiltskin1985 The Velveteen Rabbit1985 For Better or For Worse: The Bestest Present1986 The Tin Soldier1986 Babar and Father Christmas1987 The Nightingale
Television series YearTitleNotes1985–86 The Raccoons Season 1 (11 episodes)1985–86 OWL/TV animation1986–87 The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin Seasons 1–2 (65 episodes)1988 Dennis the Menace Season 2 (13 episodes)1988 COPS Season 1 (11 episodes)
Direct-to-video films YearTitleDistributor 1984 The Raccoons: Let's Dance! Embassy Home Entertainment 1987 Meerkats Ammex Productions
Feature films YearTitleDistributorNotes 1981 Heavy Metal Columbia Pictures "Harry Canyon" and "B-17" segments
Short films YearTitleCo-production with 1974 Santa 1974 Yesterday's Farm Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada 1975 Camp Roofless Department of National Defence 1975 Amenita Pyramid Films 1976 Let's Talk Business Department of Regional Economic Expansion 1976 Propst[r]ike Transport Canada 1977 Post and Beam Construction (slide film) Canadian Wood CouncilEastern Forest Products Laboratory 1980 Wood Construction (slide film) Canadian Wood CouncilEastern Forest Products Laboratory 1980s Things That Go Bump: Client/Counselor Relationship and Other Things That Go Bump Canadian Employment and Immigration Commission 1981 Groups That Work: Part One Canadian Employment and Immigration CommissionTelescene Productions 1981 Groups That Work: Part Two Canadian Employment and Immigration CommissionTelescene Productions 1983 A Piece of Sunshine Ontario Hydro
See also Nelvana Cookie Jar Group CinéGroupe
References
Works cited
External links