Hasbro buys Irish animation company Boulder Media

Irish animation firm Boulder Media, the company behind the reboot of Danger Mouse for the BBC, has been acquired by US toymaker Hasbro for an undisclosed sum.

Hasbro said Dublin-based Boulder will make animated series for Hasbro’s own brands and continue to produce shows for “third-party clients”.

Boulder, founded in 2000 by Emmy-nominated director Robert Cullen, has produced several award-winning series for Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney and the BBC and has about 150 full-time employees.

Other shows made by the company include The Amazing World of Gumball and Wander Over Yonder.

Mr Cullen described Hasbro as an emerging “entertainment powerhouse” and said the deal would lead to a substantial expansion of its team and business.

The company will retain the brand Boulder and will report to Stephen Davis, who leads the entertainment and consumer products licensing division at Hasbro, the multinational behind Transformers, My Little Pony and board game Monopoly.

Mr Davis said the time was right for Hasbro to acquire its own animation studio. “We are thrilled to partner with Rob Cullen, Pete Lewis, Jenni MacNeaney and the entire Boulder team,” he said.

The deal comes a year after another award-winning Dublin-based animation studio Brown Bag Films was acquired by 9 Story Media Group, one of North America’s largest animation studios.

"At Hasbro, we're building our brands through storytelling, and today, we're telling richer stories across more platforms than ever before," said Hasbro's chief executive and chairman Brian Goldner.

“With Boulder, we will deliver the highest quality animation that will engage our audiences with deep storytelling and great characters in a very cost-efficient manner.”