Finland’s Aurora Studios Acquires Stake In ‘Moominvalley’ Studio Anima Vitae

Finland’s Aurora Studios Acquires Stake In ‘Moominvalley’ Studio Anima Vitae

Finland’s Aurora Studios has acquired a significant stake in leading Nordic animation studio Anima Vitae.Aurora Studios now owns 40% of Helsinki-based animation studio Anima Vitae, The remaining ownership remains with the company’s founders Antti Haikala, Jani Kuronen, and Olli Rajala. The company’s credits include Gutsy Animation’s Moominvalley, Ubisoft’s Rabbids Invasion, and Rovio’s Angry Birds: Stella.

Since the partners founded Anima Vitae in 2000 it has grown into one of the leading animation studios in Northern Europe and South-East Asia with offices in Helsinki and Kuala Lumpur. The studio produces its own feature films and also works as a service producer or co-producer on premium animation projects.

Anima Vitae produced original features including the 2008 holiday movie Niko & The Way to the Stars (which was released as an abridged tv movie in the U.S. as The Flight Before Christmas) and its 2012 sequel, which together grossed almost USD$46 million worldwide — strong performances for European animated features.

The company is currently working on its next original feature film Fleak that has already gathered international interest at animation markets. Fleak is currently in the financing and pre-sale stage.

Launched last year, Aurora Studios develops, produces, and distributes “high-end quality films with commercial potential” from Finland. It recently launched the Finnish Impact Film Fund, a €5.5M ($6.4M), a private equity fund aimed at financing film and tv content.

Haikala, CEO and co-founder of Anima Vitae, said in a statement: “With this strategic partnership with Aurora Studios we will be able to further develop our capabilities and services and guarantee that our studio stays at the forefront of our industry. The partnership gives us a unique opportunity to develop future success stories. This is the natural next step in the direction we embarked on over 20 years ago.”

“We’re fortunate to add to our team the creative professionals at Anima Vitae and beyond thrilled to be working closely with Anima’s visionaries to create, realize and distribute Nordic IPs together for the international market”, adds Petri Kemppinen, CEO of Aurora Studios.