Vancouver’s top post-production shop, Rainmaker, is buying Mainframe Entertainment for $13.8 million – a move announced July 20 that stands to create the largest animation and visual effects house in Canada.

TV work in British Columbia has bounced back – after taking a heavy hit in 2004 – according to recent stats from the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts and the B.C. Film Commission.

Corus Entertainment is getting more than just 10 new episodes of Studio B Productions’ hit toon Being Ian – it’s also picked up rights to the brand’s online assets.

Terminal City and Corner Gas dominated the podium at the eighth annual Leo Awards earlier this month, edging out the heavily nominated, and cancelled, Godiva’s and The Collector.

L.A.-based Vanguard Animation and IDT Entertainment of New Jersey have launched production of Space Chimps – a US$40-million, CG-animated feature and launching pad of a new 30,000-square-foot studio now under construction in Burnaby, BC.

It’s official: Stargate SG-1 rules the earthly television universe.
Embarking on a record-breaking 10th season of production, the B.C.-shot TV series has entered uncharted territory, laying claim as the longest-running drama series ever produced for cable television, and the longest-running North American science fiction drama of all time, outlasting The X-Files, The Twilight Zone and every installment of Star Trek.

Stargate Atlantis launched into the sci-fi stratosphere in July 2004, premiering on the Sci Fi Channel to nearly 4.2 million viewers – the first sci-fi series ever to surpass the four-million-viewer plateau.

Riding the wave of an Oscar win for Capote, Vancouver-based prodco Infinity Features is back at work shooting Butterfly on a Wheel, a psychological thriller starring Pierce Brosnan, Gerard Butler and Maria Bello – hoping again to turn out a world-class production that garners both critical acclaim and a profit.
Butterfly is a $20-million Canada/U.K. treaty copro between Infinity and Irish DreamTime.

B.C.’s film and television industry staged an economic comeback in 2005, as total spending increased by more than 50% to over $1.2 billion – up from $800 million in the lackluster 2004.

Vancouver: CBC is giving This Space for Rent, a would-be dramedy about twentysomethings living in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, another shot at finding a place to stay.

Some of the latest and greatest work by alums of the National Screen Institute will unspool in Winnipeg next month at the NSI FilmExchange Canadian Film Festival.

The B.C. industry let out a sigh of relief last month when the provincial government announced it is extending its film and TV production tax credits to 2008, contrary to the advice of a recent government report.
The credits, which pay back 18% or 30% of labor costs – to foreign and domestic productions, respectively – were set to expire on March 31, but B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor announced her decision on Jan. 20, well ahead of her upcoming budget.