Mercury Filmworks is a Canadian independent animation studio based in Ottawa, Ontario. The studio was originally founded in Vancouver by Clint Eland, the current CEO, in 1997. Mercury Filmworks has produced animated television series and feature films for a variety of companies, including Disney, Netflix, Amazon Studios, and Warner Bros. Its recent projects include Kid Cosmic, Centaurworld, Hilda, The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse, and The Ghost and Molly McGee. The studio has won Emmy Awards for its work in several categories, most recently for Hilda.
Mercury has over 340 employees employed at its Ottawa location, and continues to show steady growth. In 2020, it was named one of the best offices in Ottawa by the Ottawa Business Journal.
History Mercury Filmworks was founded in 1997 in Vancouver by current chief executive officer Clint Eland. The studio started with a small investment from friends and family, including Reg Eland, who became a partner overseeing finances from 1997 to 2002 and managing partner of the Vancouver studio from 2003 to 2006.
In the late 1990s, technology was evolving to allow artists to paint and render images at a much faster pace and with greater and more consistent results. Mercury Filmworks was one of the first companies in North America to specialize in digital ink and paint services in Canada.
In 2000, Mercury opened a studio location on King Street East in Toronto to satisfy a multi-year output deal for its services. Meanwhile, in its Vancouver studio, they produced D'Myna Leagues using digital ink & paint plus CG integration, creating the first Canadian animated television series to integrate 3D locations in a 2D series.
In 2004, Mercury moved its Toronto studio to Ottawa, where local animation director, Jerry Popowich, joined the company as a partner.
The studio was already a leader in the field of computer assisted traditional animation. However, in its Ottawa studio with the help of people like Director Christian Larocque, Rob Buchanan, Anthony Ng, Dave Merrit, Phil Lafrance, Graham Macdonald, Emma Gignac, and Craig Berry, it leveraged this to become one of the world's first companies to produce an animated television series entirely in one studio using the beta version of Toon Boom Animation's Harmony software. Using this software, they produced the series Mischief City for Shaftesbury Films and YTV.
The following year, the studio animated Gerald McBoing-Boing. This production was widely regarded as a new benchmark for quality in digital animation.
In 2007, the studio developed and co-produced Toot & Puddle with National Geographic for the Nick Jr. Channel. This was the first use of advanced builds and rigging techniques resulting in a level of animation that was indistinguishable from hand drawn. This series set the new world bar for digital animation. Toot & Puddle was also one of Mercury's first proprietary series.
In 2008, Mercury Filmworks collaborated with Walt Disney Television Animation on Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil. The series was the first full television series project with Disney and one of Mercury's first hybrid productions where characters were animated interchangeably and indistinguishably in both 2D and 3D. The series was one of the first examples of character-based CG Assists in a long form series. The studio collaborated with Disney once more with Fish Hooks.
The studio again collaborated with Disney on Jake and the Never Land Pirates in 2009. The animation project pushed advanced builds and rigging techniques to a new level.
From 2013 to 2019, Mercury Filmworks animated the Mickey Mouse shorts and television specials for Disney Television Animation, once again collaborating with Disney and Director Paul Rudish on the award-winning reinvention of the character. The shorts have been widely regarded as the new benchmark when it comes to making digital animation look indistinguishable from the highest-quality hand-drawn animation.
2013 brought the fourth Disney-Mercury production, The Lion Guard, based on the theatrical animated film The Lion King (1994). The series involved advanced builds and rigging and heavy use of CG integration techniques for character and location assists. The series set the standard for feature-quality animation in long form television animation.
Two years later, the studio produced Disney's Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, a television adaptation of another Disney theatrical animated film, Tangled. The methodologies used in the production were built upon the innovative techniques developed for The Lion Guard, and was to push animation and character performance levels to a new high. Mercury continued to collaborate with Disney for the first season of Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Legend of the Three Caballeros, and The Ghost and Molly McGee.
Mercury Filmworks produced Hilda, an adaptation of the graphic novels of the same name, for Silvergate Media and Netflix from 2018 to 2023. The series is one of the first that did not push the bar in terms of process or technology, with its artists involved focused on art, craft, and storytelling. The series has gone on to attain critical acclaim and is one of Netflix's most widely renowned and successful animated series. It is widely referenced as a benchmark in storytelling.
Mercury began to collaborate with Apple Studios to produce content for Apple TV+ in 2022, producing the show Interrupting Chicken. This partnership continued into two further series: Strange Planet and Goldie, all based on existing media.
On January 31st, 2026, animator Kiana Mai, also known as Kiana Khansmith, revealed that Mercury would animate the first episode of Pretty Pretty Please I Don't Want to be a Magical Girl.
Television series Show Year(s) Co-production with Notes The Harveytoons Show 1998 Harvey Films Intro and film restoration Ned's Newt 1998–1999 NelvanaStudio B Productions Season 2 Yvon of the Yukon 2000–2004 Studio B Productions Digital ink and paint Mega Babies 2000 CinéGroupe Rainbow Fish 2000–2001 Decode Entertainment Rescue Heroes 2000–2002 Nelvana Seasons 2–3 D'Myna Leagues 2001–2002 Studio B Productions Digital paint Undergrads 2001 Decode Entertainment Digital ink and paint Maggie and the Ferocious Beast 2002 Nelvana Season 3 The New Woody Woodpecker Show Universal Cartoon Studios Season 3 (digital ink and paint) Dark Oracle 2004–2005 Cookie Jar Entertainment Season 1 6teen 2004–2006 Nelvana Seasons 1–2 Mischief City 2005 Shaftesbury Films Krypto the Superdog Warner Bros. Animation Compositing, ink and paint Gerald McBoing-Boing 2005–2007 Cookie Jar EntertainmentClassic Media Class of the Titans 2005–2008 Studio B ProductionsNelvana Digital ink and paint Grossology 2006–2007 Nelvana Season 1 Ruby Gloom 2006–2008 Additional animation services Weird Years 2006 Lenz Entertainment Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs 2007–2008 CCI Entertainment Season 2 Wilbur Chilco Productions Wayside 2007 Nelvana World of Quest 2008–2009 Cookie Jar Entertainment Toot and Puddle 2008 National Geographic Kids Jimmy Two-Shoes 2009–2012 Breakthrough Entertainment Season 2 co-animated with Elliott Animation Producing Parker 2009–2011 Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil 2010–2012 Disney Television Animation Doodlebops Rockin’ Road Show 2010 Cookie Jar Entertainment Fish Hooks 2010–2014 Disney Television Animation Jake and the Never Land Pirates 2011–2015 Seasons 1–3 Bad Seeds 2013 Nickelodeon Animation Studio Pilot Mickey Mouse 2013–2019 Disney Television Animation Stella and Sam 2013–2014 Radical Sheep Productions Season 1 and specials Wander Over Yonder Disney Television Animation Pilot and Season 1 Fangbone! 2014 Radical Sheep Productions Pilot Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero 2014–2015 Disney Television Animation Pilot and Season 1 Star vs. the Forces of Evil 2015 Pickle and Peanut "Greg" If You Give a Mouse a Cookie 2015–2021 Amazon Studios Season 2 co-animated with Lighthouse Studios Atomic Puppet 2016–2017 Gaumont AnimationTechnicolor The Lion Guard 2016–2019 Disney Television Animation Tangled: The Series 2017–2020Also animated the TV Movie/Pilot Legend of the Three Caballeros 2018 Disney Digital Network Co-animated with Atomic Cartoons and Six Point Harness Hilda 2018–2023 Silvergate Media Season 1 co-animated with Atomic Cartoons Guardians of the Galaxy 2019 Marvel Animation "Black Vortex, Part 1" The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse 2020–2023 Disney Television Animation Centaurworld 2021 Netflix Animation Animation services Kid Cosmic 2021–2022 The Ghost and Molly McGee 2021–2024 Disney Television Animation Interrupting Chicken 2022–2023 Apple Studios Strange Planet 2023 Badjelly2025 Mukpuddy Animation Goldie Apple Studios Pre-production and Post-productionThe Proud Family: Louder and Prouder2025–2026Disney Television AnimationAnimation services; Season 3-4 Rick and Morty2026–present Williams Street Season 9 co-animated with Lighthouse Studios Pretty Pretty Please I Don't Want to be a Magical GirlKiana Khansmith Get Jiro Warner Bros. Animation Animation services Octicorn & FriendsTBA Stim Studio Pangors of Puddle Peak TBA
Lighthouse Studios Show Year(s) Client Notes The Bug Diaries 2019 Amazon Studios If You Give A Mouse A Cookie 2019–2021 Season 2 Little Ellen 2021–2022 Warner Bros. Animation The Cuphead Show! 2022 Netflix Animation El Deafo Apple Video Programming Rick and Morty 2023–present Williams Street Season 7–present
Specials/shorts Feature Year(s) Client Notes Little Witch 1999 Sony Wonder Digital paint and effects Something Else 2000 Pearson Television Pilot short Santa Mouse and the Ratdeer Sony Wonder Digital ink and paint Timothy Tweedle the First Christmas Elf Evening Sky Animated American 2008 James Baker and Joe Haidar Short filmUncookedland 2011Disney Television AnimationPilot Shred Force 2012 The Thunderbeards The Rapscallions The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar 2015 Duck the Halls: A Mickey Mouse Christmas Special 2016 Tangled: Before Ever After 2017 The Scariest Story Ever: A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular! Oh Canada! A Coast to Coast Celebration of 150 Years Short film The Lion Guard: The Rise of Scar Disney Television Animation Canticos 2018–2020 Encantos Media Mercury Shorts 2021–present Katz Café 2023Disney Television AnimationAnimation test Once Upon a Studio Walt Disney Animation Studios additional animation services (uncredited) A Mouse Called Julian TBA Flying Eye Books
Films Film Year Client Notes The Tigger Movie 2000 Walt Disney Television Animation "Someone Like Me" sequence Joseph: King of Dreams DreamWorks Animation The Kid 2001 Nelvana The Little Bear Movie The Powerpuff Girls Movie 2002 Warner Bros. PicturesCartoon Network Studios Additional 2D composite and visual effects; Co-animated with Rough Draft Korea Looney Tunes: Back in Action 2003 Warner Bros. Feature Animation Additional digital ink and paint, animation Fat Albert 2004 20th Century Studios animation The Legend of Frosty the Snowman 2005 Classic Media Additional digital ink and paint, compositing Curious George 2006 Universal Animation Studios Digital ink and paint services Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright 2013 Warner Bros. Animation main title animation Team Hot Wheels: The Origin of Awesome 2014 MattelTangled: Before Ever After2017Disney Television Animation Hilda and the Mountain King 2021 Silvergate Media The Bob's Burgers Movie 2022 20th Century StudiosBento Box EntertainmentWilo Productions Co-animated with Lighthouse Studios Once Our Land TBA Goodbye Productions
Theme parks Attraction Year Client Notes Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway 2020 Walt Disney Imagineering Animated sequences
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