Rainmaker Digital Effects
{{short description|Defunct visual effects company}}
{{other uses|Rainmaker (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Rainmaker Digital Effects
| industry = Visual Effects
Computer Animation
| fate = {{bulleted list
|visual effects and post production divisions sold to Deluxe Media Inc.
|animation division (Rainmaker Entertainment) is now a subsidiary of Wow Unlimited Media, as a result of a triple acquisition and merger with Frederator Studios and Ezrin-Hirsh Entertainment (EHE).}}
| successors = {{ubl|Rainmaker Entertainment (now Mainframe Studios)|Method Studios}}
| founded = {{Start date|1993}}
| founder = {{ubl|Gavin Blair|Ian Pearson|Phil Mitchell}}
| defunct = {{End date and age|2007|11|29}}
| hq_location_city = Vancouver
| hq_location_country = Canada
| parent = {{ubl|Rainmaker Income Fund (1993–2007)|Deluxe Media Inc. (2007–2008)}}
}}
Rainmaker was a visual effects and post-production company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with an office in Los Angeles, California, United States, which contributed to the final works for feature films, television shows, commercials and video games. It acquired and folded into Mainframe Studios in 2007.
History
Vancouver-based post-production firm Rainmaker Income Fund which owned Rainmaker Digital Effects announced its acquisition of a 62% stake in Mainframe Entertainment from IDT Corporation on 20 July 2006 for $13.8 million.{{cite press release|title=Rainmaker to Acquire Mainframe Entertainment, a World Leader in CG Animation; Acquisition Will Create Canada's Largest Animation and Visual Effects Company|date=20 July 2006|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20060720005273/en/Rainmaker-Acquire-Mainframe-Entertainment-World-Leader-CG|location=Vancouver|publisher=Rainmaker Income Fund|access-date=22 April 2018|via=Business Wire}}{{cite web|first=Ilona|last=Beiks|date=7 August 2006|title=Rainmaker looks to rule CG with Mainframe pickup|url=http://playbackonline.ca/2006/08/07/rainmaker-20060807/|access-date=23 April 2018|work=Playback|publisher=Brunico Communications}} The next month, Rainmaker announced it would acquire the remaining 38% of the company.{{cite press release|date=30 August 2006|title=Rainmaker and Mainframe Enter Into Agreement for Rainmaker to Acquire Balance of Mainframe Shares|url=http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/rainmaker-mainframe-enter-into-agreement-rainmaker-acquire-balance-mainframe-shares-609985.htm|access-date=23 April 2018|location=Vancouver|publisher=Rainmaker Income Fund|via=Market Wired}} On 30 January 2007, Mainframe rebranded as Rainmaker Animation.{{cite press release|date=30 January 2007|title=Rainmaker Announces New Animation Division|url=http://mainframe.ca:80/press/4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130032832/http://mainframe.ca:80/press/4|archive-date=30 January 2009|access-date=23 April 2018|location=Vancouver|publisher=Rainmaker Entertainment}} Rainmaker Income Fund announced on 29 August 2006, that RNK Capital L.P. would acquire the remaining 38% stake and merge into Rainmaker Income Fund. After the merger, Rainmaker announced on 31 January 2007 that Rainmaker Animation would rebrand as Rainmaker Entertainment. On November 29, 2007, Rainmaker Income Fund announced the sale of Rainmaker Visual Effects and Rainmaker Post to Deluxe Entertainment Services Group (now Deluxe Media), leaving only the animation business which it would fold into weeks later.
Divisions
The company had three divisions: Rainmaker Animation, Rainmaker Visual Effects and Rainmaker Post.
- Rainmaker Animation (now Mainframe Studios); creation of 3D animation for feature films, television films and outsources CGI animation to film and television studios.
- Rainmaker Visual Effects (now Method Studios Vancouver); provision of CGI effects for feature film, television, commercials and video games.
- Rainmaker Post (now Encore Post Vancouver); provision of post-production services including traditional film lab processes, digital image processing and HD.
Film and television credits
Rainmaker created special effects scenes for films such as I, Robot, Armageddon, and The Da Vinci Code, as well as television series such as Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Smallville.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|https://www.mainframe.ca/}} (for the animation department)
- [https://www.methodstudios.com/en/ Official Website] for Method Studios (formerly Rainmaker Visual Effects)
- [http://www.encorepost.com/ Official website] for Encore (formerly Rainmaker Post) {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220913072833/https://www.encorevfx.com/|date=13 September 2022}}; link currently unresponsive
Category:Visual effects companies