Spain Amps Up Animation With Mummies, Arcane

Spain’s animation services and VFX industry is booming as never before, positioning itself as a leading hub in the global landscape.

With tax rebates firing up Spain’s audiovisual industry, the animation sector has produced 16 feature films, 72 seasons of TV series and 156 short films from 2020-2022, according to toon and VFX federation Diboos.

The 2019 Sergio Pablos-directed Netflix feature “Klaus” snagged seven Annie awards, while Alberto Mielgo’s “The Windshield Wiper” won the 2022 Oscar for animated short film.

Spanish animated features have also connected with international audiences: This year, Juan Jesús García Galocha’s “Mummies,” from 4Cats and Atresmedia Cine, grossed $52 million worldwide, handled by Warner Bros.

“The incentives are contributing to the development of a solid offer of animation and VFX services,” says Darío Sánchez at Tenerife-based 3Doubles, producer of Spain-Canada adventure- comedy “SuperKlaus” (formerly known as “4 Days Before Christmas”), pre-sold nearly worldwide by Pink Parrot.

“That’s the first point through which they come into contact with us,” Sánchez says, noting the high quality of production.

“Both points are consolidating our industry and complement each other perfectly,” adds Sánchez, whose studio is working on Sydney and L.A.-based Flying Bark’s project “200% Wolf.”

Animation and VFX represent 20% of Spain’s audiovisual industry jobs, with an annual turnover of €900 million ($990 million) in 2021.

Spain has also generated a large ecosystem of companies that export technology for animation and VFX productions. They include Solid Angle, whose rendering tool Arnold was used in “Iron Man 3” and “Gravity,” and Next Limit, creator of Real- Flow software (“The Lord of the Rings.”), both sci-tech Oscar winners. Madrid-based El Ranchito, known for its visual effects work on fantasy blockbusters such as “The Mandalorian,” “Game of Thrones” and “Stranger Things,” was acquired last year by leading VFX house Fuse Group.

However, some challenges remain. The sector is under- capitalized. Also, there’s a lack of available workforce specialized in animation and CGI technicians. This partially finds an answer in the 3,500 newly trained professionals that Spanish schools yearly bring onto the market.

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Reinaldo Massengill

Update: 2024-08-09

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