A post on LinkedIn and various reports indicate that Walt Disney Animation Studios is opening a new Vancouver studio in order to increase production volume.

While the company’s Burbank studio will continue to lead feature film projects, the new Vancouver facility will focus on long-form series for Disney+, including the upcoming Moana.

Amir Nasrabadi will lead the Vancouver studio, according to a report in The Hollywood Reporter. He was previously an executive with WildBrain Studios and at one point, oversaw Pixar Canada and held leadership roles with Illumination and Paramount Animation.

Vancouver’s opening is set for January of 2022, with Moana to debut on Disney+ sometime in 2024.

In a statement, Disney Animation president Clark Spencer said: “With Burbank and Vancouver both home to some of the world’s most talented artists and technicians, we believe the storytelling and visual quality created within each location will meet the incredibly high standards we set for ourselves and audiences have come to expect from Disney Animation.”

Disney Animation Studios has created many of the most famous animation films ever, including 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Frozen films, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid and The Lion King.

The comany is hiring for the Vancouver facility immediately in the areas of production, technology and overhead departments.

Disney’s presence is already felt in the city through its business segment Lucasfilm, which oversees VFX studio Industrial Light & Magic, which has an office on Water Street.

The film, television, VFX and animation industries are a major economic contributor to BC, generating $4.1 billion in spending in 2019, according to the Vancouver Economic Commission’s annual film industry research report.

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