Dec 13, 2021

The profit of the cartoon saloon rises sharply during the production of "My Father's Dragon

As Ireland's animation industry booms, its most famous studio is doing a roaring business. Cartoon Saloon has posted a net profit of €1.18 million (USD$1.33 million) for 2020, up from €452,161 in 2019 and €326,442 in 2018.

The value of services it provided last year came to €9.2M, including €5.82M linked to work on its new feature My Father's Dragon, which Netflix is due to release next year. The studio's accumulated profits came to €3.43M and its cash funds jumped to almost €2.6m.

Cartoon Saloon's workforce has grown too, from 142 employees at the end of last year to 176 now. The company had already expanded significantly throughout 2019 as it worked on Wolfwalkers, which Apple TV+ released at the end of last year. The film was critically acclaimed and earned an Oscar nomination - the studio's fifth.

Features aside, Cartoon Saloon's recent work includes the series Dorg Van Dango, which it produced with Wildbrain; the series debuted on RTE in Ireland in 2020, and has aired on Family Channel in Canada. In November, it was announced that Warnermedia has greenlit the studio's series Silly Sundays, which will premiere on HBO Max and Cartoon Network in 2023.