Cartoon Saloon is an Irish animation film and television studio based in Kilkenny. The studio began as an informal partnership between a group of animators brought together by Paul Young, Nora Twomey and Tomm Moore in 1999. The studio provides animation, illustration and design services for clients ranging from the BBC to Walker books and advertising agencies as well as creating their own cartoons, shorts and animated films. Among international animation fans, they're famous for being one of very few Anglosphere studios in The Millennium Age of Animation specializing in high-quality traditionally animated feature films even years after most studios transitioned to CGI.
They are most known for their "Irish Folklore Trilogy", consisting of 2009's The Secret of Kells, 2014's Song of the Sea, and 2020's Wolfwalkers. So far, they're three for three on Best Animated Film nominations at the Oscars, although they have yet to win.
Cartoon Saloon's filmography:
- Irish Folklore Trilogy:
- The Secret of Kells (2009)
- Song of the Sea (2014)
- Wolfwalkers (2020)
- The Breadwinner (2017)
- My Father's Dragon (2022)
Films in development:
- Julián (based on Jessica Love's debut picture book, Julián is a Mermaid)
Short films:
- From Darkness (2002)
- Backwards Boy (2004)
- Old Fangs (2009)
- Somewhere Down the Line (2014)
- The Ledge End of Phil: From Accounting (2014)
- Late Afternoon (2017)
Television series:
- Skunk Fu! (2007-2008)
- Puffin Rock (2015-2016)
- Ellie the Ace
- Anam an Amhráin
- Cúl an Tí
- Eddie Of The Realms Eternal
- Dorg Van Dango (2020-2021)
- Vikingskool (2022-present)
Cooperative Works
- The Prophet (2014; "On Love" segment)
- Belle (2021) (2021; background work* , in collaboration with Studio Chizu)
- Star Wars: Visions (2023; "Screecher's Reach" episode)
Tropes associated with Cartoon Saloon
- Creator Thumbprint:
- The studio's first four movies have a protagonist who meets a girl who is not as ordinary as she seems. The Breadwinner is a non-magical variation where Parvana is both parties, but isn't a shapeshifter so much as she is disguised as a boy.
- The episode the studio did for Star Wars: Visions, "Screecher's Reach", is very heavily influenced by Irish folklore to the point of Fantasy Counterpart Culture.
- What Could Have Been:
- There was a film of Skunk Fu! planned called Exit the Dragon, which was intended to be the 'second season' or such and was even promoted on Cartoon Saloon's website. Unfortunately due to the events of the show's first season, the film is either in Development Hell or just canceled.
- Cartoon Saloon originally pitched a Winnie the Pooh series to Disney back in 2014 titled The World According to Winnie the Pooh, which if screenshots
were any indication, would've been a modern reimagining of the series, with the Hundred Arce Woods being reimagined as a gated community and would've had the characters use modern technology. However, while a pilot was produced, Disney rejected the pitch for unknown reasons. - A failed pilot for Amazon Eddie of the Realms Eternal
