Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana Partners With Duncan Studio For Development Of Original Animated Feature Films

CORUS ENTERTAINMENT’S NELVANA PARTNERS WITH
DUNCAN STUDIO FOR DEVELOPMENT OF ORIGINAL
ANIMATED FEATURE FILMS

Character-Driven Action-Adventure Mother Nature, Created by Ken Duncan, is the First Title to be Developed Under Comprehensive New Agreement

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For Immediate Release

TORONTO, October 21, 2020 – Corus Entertainment has signed a development agreement with Duncan Studio, an L.A. based award-winning independent animation company, to produce original high-quality animated feature films for the global market.

Under the terms of the agreement, Corus’ Nelvana, a world-leading international producer and distributor of children’s animated and live action content, will invest in the development of new content created by Duncan’s in-house production division Duncan Originals as well as from Nelvana’s rich library of award-winning children’s IP, and from select third party properties. The collaboration represents an opportunity for the two companies to capitalize on growing global demand for long-form animation and for Nelvana to move more broadly into high-quality animated feature films.

The first title to be developed is Mother Nature, a character-driven, action-adventure feature film created by Duncan Studio founder Ken Duncan. The CG-animated film is a richly layered sci-fi fantasy set in a futuristic society and explores its relationship to the natural world.

“Our passion for bringing great stories to life is shared equally with our long-standing goal of expanding into animated feature films,” said Doug Murphy, President and CEO, Corus Entertainment. “We are excited to embark upon this new agreement and to leverage the acclaimed creative talents of Duncan Studio together with Nelvana’s robust portfolio of timeless, world-renowned animated characters and stories. Fully maximizing this caliber of premium animation expertise and our well-known IP advances our own more content strategy and provides us yet another path to reach audiences in new ways.”

“We are in a golden age for inventive, boundary pushing animated stories and visual concepts,” said Ken Duncan, Founder, Duncan Studio. “As Duncan Studio continues to imagine and develop new and exciting ideas and projects, our new relationship with Corus Entertainment provides the resources, scope and scale to make our creative vision a reality. As a Canadian myself, this deal is especially significant, having begun my career as an animator at Nelvana. We are thrilled to work together as we develop this slate of original films.”

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About Duncan Studio
Pasadena-based Duncan Studio has established itself as an award-winning powerhouse of creativity, creating animation for some of the biggest entertainment brands on the planet.

Ken Duncan’s 30-year career in animation has made him one of the most versatile and highly regarded character animators working in the industry today. His understanding of character and performance, coupled with an extensive knowledge of art, history and design, imbue his work with a uniquely recognizable sense of humanity and style in an entertaining and compelling way.

In 2019, Duncan Studio announced the launch of Duncan Originals, its new in-house development and production division.

About Nelvana
Entertaining kids for nearly 50 years, Nelvana is a world-leading international producer and distributor of children’s animated and live-action content. Nelvana produces a stable of award-winning and globally renowned brands that focus on comedies, preschool and boys action series and ancillary consumer products programs. Nelvana’s content airs on Corus Entertainment’s kids channels in Canada and in over 160 countries around the world. The Nelvana library has well over 4,400 episodes of programming and has received over 70 major international program awards including Emmys® and Canadian Screen Awards. Visit the Nelvana website at nelvana.com. About

Corus Entertainment
Corus Entertainment Inc. (TSX: CJR.B) is a leading media and content company that develops and delivers high quality brands and content across platforms for audiences around the world. Engaging audiences since 1999, the company’s portfolio of multimedia offerings encompass 34 specialty television services, 39 radio stations, 15 conventional television stations, a suite of digital assets, animation software, technology and media services. Corus is an established creator of globally distributed content through Nelvana animation studio, Corus Studios, and children’s book publishing house Kids Can Press. The company also owns innovative full-service social digital agency so.da, and lifestyle entertainment company Kin Canada. Corus’ roster of premium brands includes Global Television, W Network, HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, HISTORY®, Showcase, Adult Swim, National Geographic, Disney Channel Canada, YTV, Global News, Globalnews.ca, Q107, Country 105, and CFOX. Visit Corus at www.corusent.com.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Stacey Grimshaw, Senior Publicity Manager, Nelvana
Corus Entertainment
(416) 479-6082
stacey.grimshaw@corusent.com

Melissa Eckersley, Corporate Communications Lead
Corus Entertainment
(416) 843-1192
melissa.eckersley@corusent.com

For Duncan Studio:

Alan Winnikoff
Sayles & Winnikoff Communications
212.725.5200 x111
alan@sayleswinnikoff.com