| Arcana Studio | |
| Industry: | Comics and animation |
| Founder: | Sean O'Reilly |
| Foundation: | 2004 |
| Location: | Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada |
Arcana Studio is a Canadian animation studio in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Founded as a comic book publisher by former Coquitlam, British Columbia school teacher; Sean O'Reilly in 2004, it opened an animation division in 2012.
Arcana is Canada's largest publisher of comics and graphic novels, with over 300 titles, spanning across a variety of genres, in its library. Arcana titles have been translated into different languages, including French, Italian, Greek, Spanish and Polish. It was formed in 2004 with the publication of the first issue of the comic book series Kade.[1] [2] The issue was written by O'Reilly and illustrated by artist Eduardo Garcia. With Diamond Comics as the distributor, Arcana's first comic went on shelves December 31, 2003.
In 2005, Arcana was presented with the Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Publisher of The Year based on sales during their first year, as voted by the retailers and readers.[3] On April 13, 2005, Kade: Identity become the publisher's first trade paperback book.
The Clockwork Girl #0 published with over 150,000 copies on December 5, 2007. It was written by Sean O’Reilly and Kevin Hanna, with Grant Bond as the drawing and coloring artist. A few months later, The Clockwork Girl won silver medal for The Moonbeam Award for Top Comic/Graphic Novel, as well as the Graphic Novel of the Year.[4]
On October 1, 2009, Arcana bought The Devil's Due library of graphic novels, acquiring characters such as Banzai Girl, Kore, and Blade of Kumori.[5]
Mighty Mighty Monsters was published on September 1, 2010.[6] It was later turned into three 44-minute animated specials.[7]
In 2012, Arcana opened an animation division to develop and produce its content for all platforms including film, television, direct-to-home and digital media. With the opening of its animation division, Arcana Studio released their first animated feature The Clockwork Girl in 2014, based on the graphic novel of the same name. On February 15, 2012, Arcana bought The Blue Water library of graphic novels, which included titles like 10th Muse, Legend of Isis, Leprechaun and Blackbeard Legacy.[8]
Arcana went on to produce , a 13 episode TV mini-series about a First Nations superhero which aired on APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network) and made its debut in 2014.[9] The studio's continued success led to the development of its own intellectual properties like Pixies and the Howard Lovecraft trilogy. Pixies was Arcana's first independently created feature involving well-known actors such as Academy Award winner Christopher Plummer, Alexa PenaVega and Bill Paxton. Pixies was written and directed by Sean O'Reilly, who was nominated at the 2016 Leo Awards for best Direction in an Animation Program for his work on the film.[10]
In 2016, Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom was released, the first in the three part series. It is based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft and the graphic novel created by Bruce Brown. The film features the voices of Christopher Plummer, Jane Curtin, Ron Perlman and Doug Bradley. The film won the Official Selection and the Best in Category Sci-Fi title at the 2016 Hot Springs International Horror Film Festival.[11]
Its sequel, Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom, was released in 2017. Mark Hamill joined the cast as Dr. Henry Armitage. Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom took home the Best of the Festival Sci-Fi title at the 2017 Hot Springs International Horror Film Festival, as well as an Official Selection at FEARNYC and a Best Director win.[12]
The Legend of Hallowaiian had its "orange carpet" premiere in Los Angeles on September 22, 2018, and on DirecTV on the 18th.[13] [14] The film stars Vanessa Williams, Mark Hamill and Noah Schnapp.
| Title | Release Date | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Clockwork Girl | January 2014 | In joint production with Legacy Films and Luximation, based on the graphic novel of the same name by Sean O'Reilly and Kevin Hanna. Features Alexa Vega as Tesla, Jesse McCartney as Huxley, Carrie-Anne Moss as Admiral Wells, Jeffrey Tambor as Wilhelm the Tinkerer, and Brad Garrett as T-Bolt. | |
| Pixies | June 2015 | Arcana's first independently created feature, based on the graphic novel of the same name by Sean O'Reilly. Features Bill Paxton as Eddie Beck, Christopher Plummer as The Pixie King, and Alexa Vega as Michelle. | |
| Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom | October 2016 | Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Bruce Brown. Features Christopher Plummer as Dr. Herbert West, and Ron Perlman as The Shoggoth. | |
| Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom | October 2017 | Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Bruce Brown. Features Mark Hamill as Dr. Henry Armitage, Jeffery Combs as King Abdul, Christopher Plummer as Dr. Herbert West, and Ron Perlman as The Shoggoth. | |
| The Steam Engines of Oz | Late 2017 | Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Erik Hendrix. | |
| The Legend of Hallowaiian | September 2018 | In a joint production with SC Films and Fresh Baked Films. Features Noah Schnapp as Kai, Teilor Grubbs as Leilani, Vanessa Williams as Fire Goddess, Tia Carrere as Nana, Mark Dacascos as Pono, and Mark Hamill as Officer Duke. | |
| Howard Lovecraft and the Kingdom of Madness | December 2018 | Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Bruce Brown. Features Mark Hamill as Dr. Henry Armitage, Christopher Plummer as Dr. Jeffrey West, and Finn Wolfhard as Herbert West. | |
| Go Fish | November 2019 | Go Fish is Arcana's is an animated undersea adventure, following the story of a parrotfish named 'Alex'.[15] [16] | |
| Panda vs. Aliens | 2021 | With original characters from Arcana and alien characters, The Unknowns licensed from Stan Lee's POW! Entertainment.[17] Features Dan Payne as Bruno, Sean O'Reilly as Pandy, Chevy Chase as King Karoth, Scott McNeil as Duke, and Ashleigh Ball as Penny, | |
| Heroes of the Golden Masks | 2023 | Heroes of the Golden Masks is an upcoming action-adventure epic inspired by the ancient masks of Sanxingdui, and tells the story of a contemporary teenager who is magically transported back in time to a mysterious, lost city. The film will star Christopher Plummer as Rizzo, Ron Perlman as Kunyi, Patton Oswalt as Aesop, Byron Mann as Jiahao and Osric Chau as Zhu. |
The Arcanaverse is the world all the Arcana characters live in. Currently over 3000 individual indexed characters and creatures call the Arcanaverse home. From the Arcanaverse stem new stories and adventures, including the comic book series The Intrinsic.
The Intrinsic was debuted on Free Comic Book Day 2012, and was the first Arcanaverse title. The series features hit Arcana characters Kade, Philosopher Rex, Kore, and Candice Crow, as well as cameos by many others. The Intrinsic also made a guest appearance in the animated TV series Kagagi (2014). Volume 2 of The Intrinsic debuted at Free Comic Book Day 2014 and was written by Sean O'Reilly and Chris 'Doc' Wyatt.
Arcana has turned some of its comics and graphic novels into motion comics:
In Arcana's first experience with a crowd-sourcing project, The Steam Engines of Oz was first introduced for Free Comic Book Day, 2013.[27] The idea was to release issues FCBD, 1, 2, and 3 of the collected trade, and then if the Kickstarter campaign proved to be a success, a second volume of the comic would be released.[28] The Steam Engines of Oz: The Geared Leviathan was successful and was produced, thanks to the supporters on Kickstarter.