CinéGroupe Corporation (or simply CinéGroupe and formerly known as Ciné-Groupe, stylized in all caps) is a Canadian animation studio and production company based in Montreal, Quebec. The company was founded in 1974.
Notable franchises from CinéGroupe include: What's with Andy?, The Kids from Room 402, and Pig City (all aired on Fox Family, now known as Freeform); the animated Tripping the Rift (Sci Fi, now known as Syfy); and PBS' Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat. With Sony Wonder, it has produced Mega Babies (also aired on Fox Family), as well as a direct-to-video feature, Lion of Oz (a prequel to both the L. Frank Baum work, and the 1939 film).
In the 2000s, the company produced the animation for a sequel to the 1981 cult classic Heavy Metal for Columbia TriStar Home Video titled Heavy Metal 2000, premiered on Starz in the United States and on Teletoon in Canada from 2001 onwards. In 2004, it made Pinocchio 3000, a sci-fi retelling of the Italian tale. Galidor: Defenders of the Outer Dimension, a live-action fantasy series for teenagers, has also been produced by the company. The company also cooperated with the toy maker MGA Entertainment in the creation of Bratz: Starrin' and Stylin, a 2D-animated direct-to-video film based on MGA's Bratz line of fashion dolls.
History
CinéGroupe was founded in 1974 by Jacques Pettigrew in Montreal, Quebec.
In August 1998, Fox Family Worldwide purchased a 20% minority stake in the company although CinéGroupe remained as a subsidiary of Lions Gate Entertainment, which owned 40% of the studio.
In January 2001, the studio formed a production and distribution joint-venture with Telescene, with the first production under it being the third series of Big Wolf on Campus. CinéGroupe would hold an 80% stake while Telescene would hold 20%. That July, Lions Gate's ownership of the studio was confirmed to have been reduced to 30%, with Lions Gate president Andre Link having 50% of its voting stock, leading to the studio being a partner of Lions Gate instead of a subsidiary. In September, the company formed a division called CinéGroupe Image to expand to live-action programming.
In October 2002, the company united with the music label Les Disques Star Records Inc. to create a home video distributor called CinéGroupe Star. The following month, the company announced the production of Britney Spears cartoon, but the project never came to fruition.
Between 2002 and 2003, CinéGroupe developed three video games for the Game Boy Advance: Tom and Jerry in Infurnal Escape, Dora the Explorer: The Search for Pirate Pig's Treasure (both 2002 and published by NewKidCo), and Dora the Explorer: Super Spies (2003; published by Gotham Games). By December 2003, Lions Gate Entertainment's stake in the studio was reduced further to 29.4%.
In January 2004, the CinéGroupe Star joint venture with Star Records was folded. The same month, in the wake of production cuts, the studio filed for a protection order from its creditors with the Quebec Superior Court.
In 2018, CinéGroupe co-produced Tshakapesh, a 2D-animated series based on an Innu legend, which has aired on APTN and Radio-Canada. Two edutainment IPs are currently being developed by CinéGroupe, aiming at raising awareness about water preservation and environmental protection. CinéGroupe is also viewing revivals and revitalization of their old properties.
Library
Distribution
CinéGroupe is currently partnered with HG Distribution (Henry Gagnon Distribution) for the distribution of its library, but only a portion of CinéGroupe's catalogue is listed for distribution by HG. Several notable titles such as Bad Dog, Daft Planet, and The Tofus are not listed, as are live-action series, such as Big Wolf on Campus.
Series
Released
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Title
! Year(s)
! Production partner
! Network
! Notes
|-
| Ultra 7 || 1985 || CINAR Films, Turner Program Services || TNT || Production services
|-
| Ovide and the Gang || 1987–89 || Odec Kid Cartoons || Télévision de Radio-Canada ||
|-
| Sharky & George || 1990–92 || Label 35, Les Films de la Perrine || Canal+ (France)<br>Canal Famille (Canada) ||
|-
| The Little Flying Bears || 1990–91 || Zagreb Film || Family Channel/Télévision de Radio-Canada (Canada)<br>HRT (Croatia) ||
|-
| Zoe and Charlie || 1993 || Tele Images || ||
|-
| Spirou || 1993–95 || Dupuis || Family Channel/Canal Famille (Canada)<br>Canal J/TF1 (France) ||
|-
| What a Cartoon! || 1995 || Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network Studios || Cartoon Network || Post production sound services on the short The Adventures of Captain Buzz Cheeply in... "A Clean Getaway" for Buzz Image Group
|-
| Sea Dogs: Adventures on the Seven Seas || 1995 || Les Films de la Perrine || Family Channel (Canada)<br>France 2 (France) ||
|-
| The Magical Adventures of Quasimodo || 1996 || Tele Images, Ares Films, Hearst Entertainment || Family Channel/Télévision de Radio-Canada (Canada)<br>France 3 (France) ||
|-
| Princess Sissi || 1997–98 || Saban International Paris || Rai Uno (Italy)<br>France 3 (France)<br>Das Erste (Germany)<br>Télévision de Radio-Canada (Canada) ||
|-
| The Secret World of Santa Claus || 1997 || Marathon Productions || France 3 (France)<br>Télé-Québec (Canada) ||
|-
| Kit and Kaboodle || 1998 || Les Productions Raggamuffins, MC Producciones || Télévision de Radio-Canada ||
|-
| Team SOS || 1998 || Les Films de la Perrine || Télé-Québec ||
|-
| Bad Dog || 1998–2000 || Saban Entertainment || Teletoon (Canada)<br>Fox Family (US) ||
|-
| Mega Babies || 1999–2000 || Landmark Entertainment Group, Sony Wonder Television || Teletoon (Canada)<br>Fox Family (US) ||
|-
| The Kids from Room 402 || 1999–2001 || Saban Entertainment || Teletoon (Canada)<br>Fox Family (US) ||
|-
| Jim Button || 1999–2000 || Saban International Paris || Télévision de Radio-Canada (Canada)<br>TF1 (France)<br>Der Kinderkanal (Germany) ||
|-
| Wunschpunsch || 2000–01 || Saban International Paris || Télévision de Radio-Canada (Canada)<br>TF1 (France) ||
|-
| Big Wolf on Campus || 2001–02 || Saban Entertainment || YTV/Vrak.TV (Canada)<br>ABC Family (US) || season 3, as CinéGroupe Image
|-
| What's with Andy? || 2001–07 || Saban Entertainment (season 1), SIP Animation (season 2) || Teletoon (Canada)<br>ABC Family (US; season 1)<br>Super RTL (Germany; seasons 2–3) ||
|-
| Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat || 2001–02 || Sesame Workshop || PBS Kids (US)<br>TVOKids/Knowledge Network/Télévision de Radio-Canada (Canada) ||
|-
| The Ripping Friends || 2001–02 || Spümcø, Cambium, Animagic || Fox Kids (US)<br>Teletoon (Canada) || Distributor
|-
| Edward || 2002–03 || || Teletoon ||
|-
| Galidor: Defenders of the Outer Dimension || 2002 || Tom Lynch Company, The Lego Group || YTV (Canada)<br>Fox Kids (US) ||
|-
| Pig City || 2002–04 || AnimaKids, Red Rover Studios || Teletoon (Canada)<br>Fox Kids Europe<br>ProSieben (Germany) ||
|-
| Daft Planet || 2002 || || Teletoon ||
|-
| Seriously Weird || 2002 || Granada Kids || YTV (Canada)<br>CITV (UK) ||
|-
| Tripping the Rift || 2004–07 || Film Roman || Sci Fi (US)<br/>Space/Teletoon (Canada) ||
|-
| 11 Somerset || 2004 || || Télé-Québec ||
|-
| The Tofus || 2004–05 || SIP Animation || Jetix<br>France 3 (France)<br>Teletoon (Canada) ||
|-
| Charlie Jade || 2005 || || Space ||
|-
| Wick Wick || 2011 || Rai Fiction || Rai 2 (Italy)
|-
| Tshakapesh Superhero || 2020 || || APTN ||
|}
Upcoming
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Title
! Year(s)
! Co-production with
! Network
! Notes
|-
| #Shared || rowspan="9" colspan="3" || rowspan="6"
|-
| Angry Jesus
|-
| Dark Tales
|-
| Mystery Squad
|-
| Parrot
|-
| Raising Maddie
|-
| Sharky & George reboot ||