Boom time for Boulder as Disney calls

A DUBLIN animation company has been commissioned by Disney to make a new cartoon series that will be broadcast in 129 countries.

Boulder Media, based in Hawkins Street, will start production this week on Randy Cunningham: Ninth Grade Ninja, about a schoolboy who saves the world in every episode from imminent destruction using an 800-year-old Ninja manual.

A total of 70 animators are being employed on the project which is due to air on the Disney high-definition channel from autumn, with Boulder hiring 50 animators to produce the series.

Boulder Media, founded in 2000, has a track record of service work in the animation industry, bringing the creative ideas of others to the screen. It has offered contracts to animators straight out of Ballyfermot and Dún Laoghaire colleges, including a six-week training course. All 12 who were trained-up were hired full-time for the duration of a two-year contract.

It has already been an outstanding year for Boulder, which won two children's Baftas for The Amazing World of Gumball.

Creative director Robert Cullen said previous work for Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and the BBC had helped them secure the contract for Disney. “We were pretty much the frontrunners from the start, because we had the connections and the track record on previous shows,” he said.

“It’s a big, chunky hunk of work for us.”