Best Animation Studios in Auckland (2026)

Introduction

Auckland has a small, capable animation scene, and the eight studios below cover most of what a brand, agency or broadcaster is likely to need: 2D and 3D character animation, series production, motion design, CGI and live projection work. They were chosen for recent credits, 2025 and 2026 recognition, and the range of clients they serve.

Much of the city’s animation work splits between two markets. Series and long-form studios such as Mukpuddy and Yukfoo develop original shows and take service work for international platforms, often with NZ On Air or New Zealand Film Commission support; Mukpuddy’s Badjelly, commissioned by TVNZ and Canada’s Family Channel, is a recent example. Commercial studios make spots, brand films and social content for New Zealand and Australian agencies, and studios such as Creature Post and Moves have had work recognised at the Best Design Awards in 2025 and 2026. The scene has also lost names: Huhu Studios, the Warkworth studio behind Mosley, went into liquidation at the end of 2022.

Every studio here showed an active Auckland base on pages checked in 2026. The list runs in no particular order of merit, because the right studio depends on the style, length and budget of the job.

The best animation studios in Auckland

1. Flux Animation Studio

Independent · Grey Lynn · fluxmedia.co.nz

Flux is a character animation studio founded in 1997 by Brent Chambers, a long-time advocate for the New Zealand animation industry, who died in 2016. It works from Maidstone Street in Grey Lynn and makes animation for advertising, film and television. Its short-form and long-form work has won Gold at the Best Design Awards, including “The Stepdad” in 2022.

Recent credits on its site include Netflix’s Stranger Things Puzzle Tales, Disney’s Frozen Off the Page Adventures and a Disney Christmas series, alongside work connected to The Legend of Vox Machina season three. On the commercial side, it has animated for Meadow Fresh and Whiskas.

2. Mukpuddy

Independent · Auckland · mukpuddy.com

Mukpuddy describes itself as New Zealand’s premier 2D animation studio. Alex Leighton, Ryan Cooper and Tim Evans started it in 2002, and it has built a catalogue of original shows: The Barefoot Bandits (voted best Kiwi show in The Spinoff’s 2017 TV awards), The Adventures of Tumeke Space, Quimbo’s Quest and the te reo Māori web series Pipi Mā.

Its largest current project is the series Badjelly, co-produced with Sphere Animation in Canada and Cantilever Media in the UK. TVNZ and Family Channel commissioned it and WildBrain distributes it. Mukpuddy also offers its pipeline as a service, from visual development and storyboards to rigging, animation and voice production, and lists Gaumont, Mercury Filmworks and Screentime Banijay among past partners.

3. Cirkus

Independent · Auckland · cirkus.nz

Cirkus is an Auckland studio making commercial and narrative animation across mixed media, 3D and stop motion. It has more than 20 years in brand advertising, and members of its team have worked on international productions such as Spartacus and Cowboy Bebop. Executive producer Marko Klijn leads a small core team of directors, animators and illustrators.

Its portfolio includes spots for Airbnb, Honda, Huggies, WWF and Paddle Pop, a film for Auckland Council and work for Dentsu, so it suits brands that want an advertising-trained animation team rather than an agency with an animator attached.

4. Yukfoo

Independent · Auckland · yukfoo.net

Yukfoo is an independent studio focused on original IP, long-form storytelling and high-end animated production. It describes itself as Emmy-nominated, lists Disney, Paramount+, Netflix, Nickelodeon, ABC and Gaumont Animation among the companies it has worked with, and cites Cannes Lions and D&AD recognition.

Service credits include Nickelodeon’s Plankton: The Movie, a tourism film for the Palau Pledge and the documentary Let Me Be Me. Its development slate runs from the tween feature Making Murphy to the anime series AIKO, with support from NZ On Air and the New Zealand Film Commission.

5. Toybox

Independent · Auckland · toybox.co.nz

Toybox has made screen content in Auckland since 1988. It covers animation, VFX and simulation, motion work for TV commercials, film post-production and long-form television, and it has added AI for screen work to that list.

Its “Dry July” film won Gold at the Best Design Awards in 2015. The studio is a good fit for commercials that mix animation with live action or simulation, where one team can handle both.

6. Moves

Independent · Grey Lynn · moves.nz

Moves is an animation and post-production studio on Richmond Road in Grey Lynn, working across motion design, 3D, VFX and edit for brand campaigns and social content. Its CGI work has appeared in the Best Design Awards’ Design Craft categories three years running.

Recent entries include “Moves SHOW by SkyCity” with Special Group in 2025, a product film for Fisher & Paykel Healthcare’s Nova Micro mask in 2024, and work for Selaks in 2023. It is a practical choice for product visualisation and short brand pieces where 3D carries the idea.

7. Creature Post

Independent · Auckland · creaturepost.co.nz

Creature Post combines VFX and motion design with experiential work, light art and extended reality. At the 2026 Best Design Awards it won Silver for projection mapping for New Zealand Music Month with Auckland Live, and Bronze for BNZ’s Auckland Diwali Festival projection.

Screen work includes Asahi “Seek Silence”, Skinny 3.0, Bluebird “Twisties Explosion” and “Worst Children’s Library” for Samsung and Safe Surfer with DDB, plus a Les Mills spot with Motion Sickness. It also hires out activation equipment, which helps when an animated piece has to run on a building or at an event.

8. Motion Jelly

Independent · Auckland · motionjelly.com

Motion Jelly is a 3D animation studio for brand films and product visualisation. It handles the whole job in house: concepts, scripts where needed, storyboards, animatics and style frames, then asset and environment builds, animation, edit, grade and audio.

The studio delivers for social, cinema and out-of-home placements and works remotely with clients in the US, UK, Europe and Australia as well as New Zealand. A client review quoted on its site describes the detail and quality of its work as world-class.

What to look for in an Auckland animation studio

Match the studio to the length and form of the work. Series studios such as Mukpuddy and Yukfoo run pipelines built for dozens of episodes, with development, voice casting and broadcaster delivery in place. Commercial studios are set up for 15 to 60 second spots, tight agency approvals and fast turnarounds. A studio can do both, but ask which one its team does most weeks.

Look at technique before showreel polish. Auckland studios cover 2D character animation, 3D and CGI, stop motion, mixed media and projection mapping, and each has its own cost and schedule curve. Character animation with lip sync takes longer per second than motion design; a 3D product film depends on how good your CAD or reference files are. Ask for a recent piece close to your brief, and who on the current team made it.

Ask about funding and rights early if you are developing an original show. Much New Zealand series animation is financed through NZ On Air, the New Zealand Film Commission and international co-production partners, and those structures shape who owns the IP and where the work is done. A studio that has been through it, as Mukpuddy has with Badjelly, can explain the trade-offs.

Finally, agree how review will run. Animation moves through scripts, storyboards, animatics, style frames and several rounds of renders, and each stage needs clear notes against a specific frame or moment. Studios that keep every version in one place, and take feedback with timecodes rather than in long email threads, spend less time redoing shots that were already approved.

How Fabric helps animation teams

Fabric gives an animation studio one workspace for project files, client feedback and production knowledge, with AI search across all of it. Render passes, animatics and caches are heavy, and Fabric’s cloud drive streams them on demand so they take no local disk space. Artists can open large files without a full download, and shared team folders always show the latest version. There is more on this in your rendering files need a home.

Search works by meaning across scripts, storyboards, images and PDFs, and colour search finds frames and style references by shade. Audio and video transcription makes voice records and animatic cuts searchable, with clickable timestamps that jump to the right line of dialogue.

For client review, share an animatic or render folder with the client as a commenter. The link works without sign-up. Through annotations, the client can leave timestamped comments on a video, draw on the frame to show which character or prop needs to change, and draw on style frames and character sheets with a comment attached. The team marks each comment completed as the fix goes in, so the round works as a checklist. How to get client feedback on a video walks through the steps. When a final cut is ready to show, it can be published as a web page, which is view-only.

Pre-production fits too. Canvas holds moodboards and storyboards on an infinite whiteboard with Vimeo and YouTube embeds, and Kanban turns a shots folder into a board whose cards are the files themselves. On Team plans, per-client pages keep decisions, deliverables and open items up to date from meetings, Slack and the workspace.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans, and per-client pages on Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best animation studio in Auckland?

It depends on the job. For 2D series work, Mukpuddy is producing Badjelly for TVNZ and Family Channel. For character animation for streaming brands, Flux lists Netflix and Disney credits. For projection and live work, Creature Post won Silver and Bronze at the 2026 Best Design Awards.

Is Huhu Studios still operating?

No. Huhu Studios, based in Warkworth in the Auckland region and known for Buzz and Poppy and the feature Mosley, was placed into liquidation in December 2022.

How long does a 30-second animated commercial take in Auckland?

Most studios plan in stages: script and storyboard, animatic, style frames, then animation and finishing. Motion design pieces can turn around in a few weeks, while character animation or detailed 3D usually needs longer. Ask each studio for a schedule against your brief.

Do Auckland animation studios work for overseas clients?

Yes. Yukfoo and Flux list work for Nickelodeon, Netflix and Disney, Cirkus’s portfolio includes work for Australian clients such as Monash Children’s Hospital, and Motion Jelly works remotely with clients in the US, UK, Europe and Australia.

Should I hire an animation studio or a video production company?

If the piece is mainly animated, go to an animation studio. If animation is one element of a live-action shoot, a production company with animation partners may be simpler; see the best video production companies in Auckland.

Related lists

Animation studios in other cities: New York · London · Los Angeles · Toronto · Sydney

More in Auckland: Creative agencies · Video production · Content studios · Design agencies · Advertising agencies · Social media agencies

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for motion design teams · Fabric for creative teams · Best video review software for creative teams