The story
CinéGroupe was founded in 1974 by Jacques Pettigrew in Montreal, Quebec.
In August 1998, Fox Family Worldwide purchased a 20% minority stake in the company although CinéGroupe remained as a subsidiary of Lions Gate Entertainment, which owned 40% of the studio.
In January 2001, the studio formed a production and distribution joint-venture with Telescene, with the first production under it being the third series of Big Wolf on Campus. CinéGroupe would hold an 80% stake while Telescene would hold 20%. That July, Lions Gate's ownership of the studio was confirmed to have been reduced to 30%, with Lions Gate president Andre Link having 50% of its voting stock, leading to the studio being a partner of Lions Gate instead of a subsidiary. In September, the company formed a division called CinéGroupe Image to expand to live-action programming.
In October 2002, the company united with the music label Les Disques Star Records Inc. to create a home video distributor called CinéGroupe Star. The following month, the company announced the production of Britney Spears cartoon, but the project never came to fruition.
Between 2002 and 2003, CinéGroupe developed three video games for the Game Boy Advance: Tom and Jerry in Infurnal Escape, Dora the Explorer: The Search for Pirate Pig's Treasure (both 2002 and published by NewKidCo), and Dora the Explorer: Super Spies (2003; published by Gotham Games). By December 2003, Lions Gate Entertainment's stake in the studio was reduced further to 29.4%.
In January 2004, the CinéGroupe Star joint venture with Star Records was folded. The same month, in the wake of production cuts, the studio filed for a protection order from its creditors with the Quebec Superior Court.
In 2018, CinéGroupe co-produced Tshakapesh, a 2D-animated series based on an Innu legend, which has aired on APTN and Radio-Canada. Two edutainment IPs are currently being developed by CinéGroupe, aiming at raising awareness about water preservation and environmental protection. CinéGroupe is also viewing revivals and revitalization of their old properties.
From Wikipedia’s article on CinéGroupe, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3