British visual effects maker Cinesite is entering the feature animation business via its newly launched Montreal studio and a slate deal with 3QU Media.

Cinesite will open a new division at its Montreal facility to produce family-targeted animation features for 3QU Media, a CG-animated feature film producer headed up by Shrek franchise producer John Williams and Henry F. Skelsey, managing partner of Fulton Capital Management LLC.

The first movie from the Cinesite-3QU slate is Charming, directed by Ross Venokur and portraying Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty finding they are all engaged to the same Prince Charming.

Cinesite said the 3QU Media deal expands an overall strategy to create animated feature films and to develop its own IP through its Comic Animations division.

Cinesite and Comic Animations recently released their first animated short, Beans, which generated 11 million YouTube views.

Eamonn Butler, animation executive at Cinesite and managing partner of Comic Animations, is spearheading the British company’s move into animated features at its Montreal and London studios.

Executive producer Warren Franklin formerly led Rainmaker Entertainment as CEO.

Cinesite’s Montreal facility is also completing visual effects for movies like The Man From U.N.C.L.E., X-Men: Days of Future Past and San Andreas.