Pixar has announced plans to open a 20,000-square-foot satellite studio this fall in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
The Vancouver studio plans to focus on Pixar's short films and other non-feature projects based mostly on legacy characters such as those in Toy Story.
“The operation will be small in size and dedicated to producing short-form quality computer animation for theme parks, DVDs, television and theatrical exhibition … for several different divisions of the Walt Disney Co.,” Disney/Pixar president Ed Catmull told the Hollywood Reporter.
The short films, between three to six minutes in length, will be produced for television, DVD compilations, Internet broadcasting, theme park and theatrical exhibition. The new studio will employ a small number of animators for projects estimated to take six to eight months to produce.
Most of the work for longer films including 3-D and post production would be retained by the Emmeryville campus in California. Vancouver will alow Disney to develop a base in a largely untapped regional market, refuged in the many art schools in the area.
According to The Pixar Blog, the $20-plus million expansion will include a new four-level building, an expansion of the main parking area, a small theate, state-of-the-art recording studio and game rooms, and a coffee shop. The studio is currently scouting locations in the city for the new facility.
