Photo Credit: Shawn Goldberg

Aircraft Pictures co-founders Andrew Rosen and Anthony Leo (pictured L-R) will once again be the sole owners of their Toronto-based production house. Under a binding agreement that was announced this morning, the partners are repurchasing their shares from Canada’s Corus Entertainment for an undisclosed amount. 

Corus bought a majority stake in Aircraft in February 2022, and Leo expressed his gratitude for the partnership in a release, noting that it “allowed [the company] to take advantage of additional resources and opportunities that have helped position [Aircraft] for growth as we head into our 20th year in business.”

Aircraft recently co-produced K-Pop series Gangnam Project (which launched in March on CBC and CBBC) with Pillango Productions and Geek Girl (a May addition to Netflix and STACKTV) with RubyRock Pictures and Nelvana. 

For much of 2024, Corus has been dealing with market challenges ranging from losing its output deal with WBD to sustaining a 16% year-over-year drop in Q3 revenue (US$242.4 million). Last month, the media giant announced additional cost-cutting measures, eliminating 300 more roles after cutting 500 earlier in the year. Nelvana Studios has also paused all development work, letting VP Athena Georgaklis go two weeks ago (July 26).

“As we continue to refine [our] content business, we look forward to seeing [Aircraft Pictures’] ongoing growth in the global marketplace and wish them well on their next chapter,” said Corus co-CEO Troy Reeb.