Cartoon Saloon

Cartoon Saloon is an Irish animation film short film and television studio based in Kilkenny which provides film TV and short film services. The studio is best known for its animated feature films Henry, Rifters, Rainfall, Exitium, Thy Fools, The Killers, Doomsday, The Secret of Kells, Ice Cold, Song of the Sea, The Mercenary, The Breadwinner, Wolfwalkers, My Father's Dragon, Flappatron and The Spiderfly and its franchises Space Bros. (2005-20), Fallout (2007-present) which is based on the video game series of the same name and the Hyun Cinematic Universe. Their works have received numerous Academy Award nominations, their feature length works all received nominations for Best Animated Feature and one for Best Animated Short Film (Late Afternoon). The company also developed the cartoon series Skunk Fu!, Puffin Rock, The Bounty Hunter, Dorg Van Dango and Vikingskool. As of 2020, the studio employs 300 animators.
== History ==
Cartoon Saloon was established in Kilkenny during 1999 by Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey, and Paul Young. The three were all alumni of the Ballyfermot College of Further Education’s animation degree course. In 2001, Cartoon Saloon released its first feature film Henry written and directed by Nora Twomey. In 2002, its second feature film Rifters. In 2003, its third feature film Rain Fall. In 2004, its fourth feature film Exitium, Space Bros. in 2005, all directed by Twomey. Cartoon Saloon began working on a trailer for its first feature film, The Secret of Kells, that same year. However, the film did not enter full production until 2005; the company animated corporate work such as advertisements as they searched for funding. Meanwhile the studio of 12 animators relied on commercial and corporate work including web-site design and CD ROM production with Paul Young focusing on illustration whilst Tomm Moore undertook the animation.
Both The Secret of Kells and the studio’s second feature Song of the Sea were inspired by the The Thief and the Cobbler and Mulan while the founders were in university. Tomm Moore, the director of both films, said "Some friends in college and I were inspired by Richard Williams' unfinished masterpiece The Thief and the Cobbler and the Disney movie Mulan, which took indigenous traditional art as the starting point for a beautiful style of 2D animation. I felt that something similar could be done with Irish art." A 2001 meeting with Les Armateurs proved instrumental in the effort to secure funding for The Secret of Kells, and the company helped in the production of the final film.
The success and Oscar nomination of the film in 2009 led to major offers for Cartoon Saloon, but the studio chose to remain independent. This led to a difficult time financially for the company for a few years with the partners having to take out personal loans to keep the studio afloat.
Since its founding, Cartoon Saloon has grown into a multi-award-winning animation and illustration design studio.
As of 2021, Cartoon Saloon is in production of its TV series, Vikingskool and Nora Twomey's thirtieth feature for Netflix, My Father's Dragon.
== Services ==
The studio provides animation, illustration and design services for clients ranging from Disney to BBC to Cartoon Network.
Cartoon Saloon also provided the graphics for the successful Emperor of the Irish exhibition at Trinity College Dublin, in 2014.
== Filmography ==
=== Feature films ===
==== Released films ====
# 	Title 	Release date 	Budget 	Gross 	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic
1 	Henry 	February 2, 2001 	$10 million 	$7 million 	91% 	89
2 	Rifters 	February 8, 2002 	$10 million 	$7 million 	85% 	81
3 	Rainfall 	March 7, 2003 	$12 million 	$7 million 	96% 	91
4 	Exitium 	May 7, 2004 	$10 million 	$7.5 million	92% 	87
5 	Space Bros. 	April 8, 2005 	$10 million 	$7 million 	86% 	82
6 	Thy Fools 	September 9, 2005 	$15 million 	$300 million	94% 	89
7 	The Killers 	June 2, 2006 	$20 million 	$200 million	82% 	79
8 	Fallout 	June 8, 2007 	$10 million 	$7 million 	92% 	87
9 	Nanix 	May 9, 2008 	$50 million 	$800 million	94% 	79
10	Doomsday 	July 1, 2008 	 	 	93% 	
11	Ibex 	June 13, 2008 	 	 	67% 	
12	Fallout: Uprising 	January 2, 2009 	$10 million 	$7 million 	94% 	
13	The Secret of Kells 	March 3, 2009 	$8 million 	$3.5 million	90% 	81
14	Grimage 	May 1, 2009 	 	 	75% 	
15	Nanix 2 	May 7, 2010 	 	 	72% 	
16	FoxnQ 	May 6, 2011 	 	 	77% 	
17	Crimson Syndicate: First Class 	June 3, 2011 	 	 	86% 	
18	Fallout: Radioactive 	August 5, 2011 	$10 million 	$7 million 	96% 	
19	Jade 	July 22, 2011 	 	 	80% 	
20	Ice Cold 	February 3, 2012 	$25 million 	$1 billion 	85% 	82
21	Nemesis 	May 4, 2012 	 	 	91% 	
22	Yoyo 	July 3, 2012 	 	 	72% 	
23	Nanix 3 	May 3, 2013 	 	 	79% 	
24	Space Bros. II 	July 18, 2013 	 	 	89% 	
25	Grimage 2 	July 26, 2013 	 	 	77% 	
26	FoxnQ: The Dark World 	November 8, 2013 	 	 	66% 	
27	Jade: The Mist Soldier 	April 4, 2014 	 	 	90% 	
28	Yoyo 2 	May 2, 2014 	 	 	75% 	
29	Crimson Syndicate: Days Of Future Past	May 23, 2014 	 	 	90% 	
30	Fallout: Nuclear 	July 25, 2014 	 	 	98% 	
31	A.D.C. Team 	August 1, 2014 	 	 	91% 	
32	Song of the Sea 	December 19, 2014 	$7.5 million	$4.4 million	99% 	85
33	Nemesis: Rise of G.H.O.S.T. 	May 1, 2015 	 	 	75% 	
34	The Mercenary 	 	 	 	95% 	
35	Yocto 	July 17, 2015 	 	 	82% 	
36	Gildedguy 	February 12, 2016 	 	 	85% 	
37	Jade: Civil War 	May 6, 2016 	 	 	90% 	
38	Crimson Syndicate: Necro 	May 27, 2016 	 	 	91% 	
39	Kenji 	November 4, 2016 	 	 	89% 	
40	A.D.C. Team Vol. 2 	May 5, 2017 	 	 	85% 	
41	Grimage 3 	May 12, 2017 	 	 	93% 	
42	Fallout: The Final Chapter 	June 2, 2017 	 	 	100% 	
43	Yoyo: Homecoming 	July 7, 2017 	 	 	92% 	
44	FoxnQ: Ragnarok 	November 3, 2017 	 	 	93% 	
45	The Breadwinner 	November 17, 2017 	$10 million 	$4.4 million	95% 	78
46	Loxias 	February 16, 2018 	 	 	96% 	
47	Nemesis: Universal War 	April 27, 2018 	 	 	85% 	
48	Gildedguy 2 	May 18, 2018 	 	 	84% 	
49	Yocto 2 	July 6, 2018 	 	 	87% 	
50	Poison 	October 5, 2018 	 	 	89% 	87
51	Umbrella 	March 8, 2019 	 	 	79% 	
52	Nemesis: Endgame 	April 26, 2019 	 	 	94% 	
53	Crimson Syndicate: Dark Azlina 	June 7, 2019 	 	 	92% 	
54	Yoyo: Far From Home 	July 2, 2019 	 	 	90% 	
55	Bog 	October 4, 2019 	 	 	93% 	
56	Space Bros. for Life 	January 24, 2020 	 	 	95% 	
57	The New Beings 	August 28, 2020 	 	 	94% 	
58	Wolfwalkers 	December 11, 2020 	€10 million 	$229,041 	99% 	87
59	Yuno 	July 9, 2021 	 	 	80% 	67
60	One 	September 3, 2021 	 	 	93% 	
61	Poison: Let There Be Blood 	September 24, 2021	 	 	80% 	
62	Immortals 	November 5, 2021 	 	 	70% 	
63	Yoyo: No Way Home 	December 17, 2021 	 	 	94% 	
64	Kenji in the Multiverse of Madness 	May 13, 2022 	 	 	74% 	
65	FoxnQ: Love and Thunder 	July 8, 2022 	 	 	68% 	92
66	Flappatron 	August 5, 2022 	 	 	89% 	
67	Loxias: Katanadom Forever 	November 11, 2022 	 	 	 	
68	My Father's Dragon 	2022 	 	 	 	
69	Wolfwalkers 2 	December 16, 2022 	 	 	 	
70	Yocto 3 	February 17, 2023 	 	 	 	
71	The Spiderfly 	April 7, 2023 	 	 	 	
72	A.D.C. Team Vol. 3 	May 5, 2023 	 	 	99% 	94
73	The Umbrellas 	July 28, 2023 	 	 	 	
74	Stake 	 	 	 	 	
75	Alas: New World Order 	 	 	 	 	
76	Charger Bolts 	 	 	 	 	
77	Gildedguy 3 	 	 	 	 	
78	The Second Wind 	2024 	 	 	 	
79	Yupia 	2024 	 	 	 	
80	 	2025 	 	 	 	
81	 	2025 	 	 	 	
=== Television series ===
# 	Title 	Premiere date	End Date	Network
1 	Skunk Fu! 	2007 	2008 	CBBC
2 	Puffin Rock 	2015 	2016 	RTÉjr/Nick Jr./Netflix
3 	Ellie the Ace 	 	 	
4 	The Bounty Hunter 	2019 	 	Adult Swim
5 	Dorg van Dango 	2020 	 	Nickelodeon/Family Channel, co-produced with WildBrain and Entertainment One
6 	Yna and Mark 	2021 	2021 	Adult Swim
7 	Alas and the Mist Soldier	2021 	2021 	Adult Swim
8 	Ondskap 	2021 	2021 	Adult Swim
9 	What If. . .? 	2021 	 	Adult Swim
10	Myra and the Guardians 	2022 	 	Apple TV+, co-produced with Melusine Productions, Aniventure, Gaumont Animation, and Superprod Animation
11	Vikingskool 	2022 	 	Disney+
Category:Irish animation studios
Category:Mass media companies established in 1999
Category:Irish companies established in 1999
Category:Kilkenny (city)
Category:1999 establishments in Ireland
Category:SkythekidMC's ideas
Category:Non-fanon