Nitrogen Studios, the Vancouver animators behind the fornicating groceries in Seth Rogen’s raunchy feature hit Sausage Party, has been bought by Montreal-based Cinesite Studios, the two firms announced Tuesday.
Nitrogen, with 70 creative and production staff, is the second Vancouver acquisition for Cinesite, after the Montreal firm’s 2015 merger with local visual effects firm Image Engine (Logan, The Twilight Saga).
“This acquisition delivers to our group the same capacity in Vancouver that we already have in Montreal,” Cinesite CEO Antony Hunt said in a release. “This allows our customers to invest their production dollars in the two best locations for film making in North America.”
Details of the latest deal weren’t released.
Cinesite is developing an untitled feature animation Harold Lloyd project in partnership with the Harold Lloyd Estate, among other projects.
Nitrogen’s animation studio is currently in production on the second series of Dreamworks’ Trollhunters, from creator Guillermo del Toro, which Netflix will release later in 2017. Nitrogen is also co-producing Arkie, a CG-animated feature.
A third-party complaint to B.C.’s Employment Standards Branch against Nitrogen, filed last year by the media union Unifor Local 2000, alleges the non-union studio forced Sausage Party animators to work unpaid overtime. That complaint is still being reviewed.
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