Los mejores estudios de animación de Madrid (2026)

Introduction

Madrid is home to two of Europe’s best-known feature animation studios, Skydance Animation Madrid and The SPA Studios, both based in Las Rozas, along with a wider set of series producers, commercial studios and small teams working for games and music. The 10 studios below were chosen for recent work, the strength of their credits and evidence of an active Madrid studio in 2026.

It has been a busy year for the city’s animators. Skydance Animation Madrid’s film Swapped arrived on Netflix in May 2026, and Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn, which the studio is animating with Cinesite, is due in December. Lightbox Animation Studios opened the fourth Tadeo Jones film in Spanish cinemas in August, and DNEG bought the series studio Ánima Kitchent in June. Madrid also draws on a large commercials market, as most of Spain’s big advertisers are headquartered here.

Every studio on this list has a working studio in Madrid or the wider Comunidad de Madrid in 2026. The list is unranked: a preschool series, a game trailer and a brand film call for very different partners, so the right choice depends on the brief.

The best animation studios in Madrid

1. Skydance Animation Madrid

Part of Skydance Animation (Paramount Skydance) · Las Rozas · skydanceanimation.com

Skydance Animation Madrid began in 2002 as Ilion Animation Studios, founded by Javier and Ignacio Pérez Dolset, and made Planet 51 and Wonder Park before Skydance bought it in 2020. It is one of Skydance Animation’s three locations, alongside Los Angeles and Connecticut, and continued to run separately after the Paramount and Skydance merger closed in August 2025.

Recent features include Luck (2022, for Apple), Spellbound (2024) and Swapped, the film formerly known as Pookoo, released on Netflix on 1 May 2026. Ray Gunn, directed by Brad Bird and animated with Cinesite, is listed for Netflix on 18 December 2026. In September 2026 Netflix and Paramount Skydance said their deal would end after Ray Gunn and a Jack and the Beanstalk project, with later films going to cinemas first.

2. The SPA Studios

Independent · Las Rozas · thespastudios.com

Sergio Pablos, a former Walt Disney Feature Animation animator, founded The SPA Studios with Marisa Román in Madrid in 2004. For about 15 years it worked as a high-end animation and visual development service for Disney, Universal, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures Animation and Blue Sky, and it developed the original concepts behind Despicable Me and Smallfoot.

Its first original feature, Klaus, was Netflix’s first original animated film and won a BAFTA, seven Annie Awards and two Quirino Awards, along with an Academy Award nomination. The studio is now working on Ember, a prehistoric feature. It is a strong reference for hand-drawn 2D with a lit, dimensional finish.

3. Lightbox Animation Studios

Independent · Madrid · lbox.es

Lightbox Animation Studios is the Madrid studio behind the Tadeo Jones films, directed by Enrique Gato. The fourth feature, Tad and the Magic Lamp (Tadeo Jones y la lámpara maravillosa), opened in Spanish cinemas on 26 August 2026, following films in 2012, 2017 and 2022, two shorts and a series.

The new film was produced with Telecinco Cinema, Ikiru Films and Anangu Grup, with Movistar Plus+ involved and Paramount Pictures Spain distributing. Lightbox also runs a training arm, Lightbox Academy.

4. Ánima Kitchent

Owned by DNEG · Madrid · animakitchent.com

Ánima Kitchent is a Madrid-based series studio that spent most of its life as the Spanish production arm of Mexico’s Ánima. DNEG bought it in June 2026, according to Cartoon Brew. Its credits include Cleo & Cuquin, Brave Bunnies and PINY: Institute of New York.

In 2024 Warner Bros. Discovery commissioned a second season of the preschool series Cuquin, and the studio set up Monkeys & Dinos, an animation service studio in the Canary Islands, with Able & Baker. A partnership with Indonesia’s Mocca Studio on Tippi T-Rex (2025) grew into a co-production deal for the preschool series Baby Zu in February 2026.

5. Zinkia Entertainment

Privately held · Salamanca · zinkia.com

Zinkia is the Madrid company that created and owns Pocoyo, the preschool series that passed 40 million YouTube subscribers in 2023. It works from Calle José Picón and also manages Shuriken School and Mola Noguru.

Its catalogue includes the Pocoyo spin-off Muchoyó, which won awards in 2023, and Ghost Bros, an animated series co-produced with RTVE. Zinkia licenses Pocoyo widely, which makes it a useful partner for brands that want character-led content for young children.

6. Final Frontier

Independent · Justicia · finalfrontier.tv

Final Frontier is an animation production company for advertising, entertainment, gaming and the arts, with studios in Madrid, Barcelona, Los Angeles, New York, Buenos Aires, Shanghai and Singapore. The Madrid studio is on Calle Pelayo and is led by Juan Manuel Freire. Its work covers 2D and 3D characters, motion graphics, stop motion, mixed media and series.

Recent projects include Pepsodent “Smile Bigger”, Novartis “The Guide” directed by Andrea Devia-Nuño, MLB “Hometown Heroes” with BluBlu, and Spotify Tunetorials. Coca-Cola, Tencent and Adult Swim also appear in its portfolio. Final Frontier works with a roster of directors, so ask which one, and which studio, will lead a given job.

7. El Guiri Studios

Independent · Madrid · elguiristudios.com

El Guiri Studios is an independent Madrid animation studio covering creation and direction, development, and full production through to delivery. It has used Unreal Engine in its pipeline since 2023 and combines real-time work with conventional linear CG.

Its portfolio includes the opening for Comic Con Málaga and the projects Duende, Sith, Alma and One Morning. Teams weighing a real-time pipeline for a short, a series pilot or an event opener will find it a good studio to talk to.

8. Alkimia Animation Studio

Independent · Madrid · alkimiastudio.com

Alkimia is a Madrid 2D studio working across advertising, film and video game cinematics, with character design, concept art and storytelling in-house. Much of its recent output is for games: the Starfinder: Afterlight cinematic, trailers for Wizard of Legend 2, Hotel Galactic and Wonder Wars, and work on The Spell Brigade.

Outside games it has worked with the musicians Aitana and Nicki Nicole, and with Puma, BMW and Universal Studios. Its game clients include 11 bit studios and Chibig Studio.

9. Mr. Klaus Studio

Independent · Chamberí · mrklausstudio.com

Mr. Klaus Studio is a Chamberí development and pre-production studio covering storyboards and animatics, production design, visual development and animation. It lists Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, Canal+, BRB International and The Mill among past clients.

The studio also develops its own properties, including the series concepts Bento and My Brother is a T-Rez, and has added Renato Roldán’s short The Last Spitfire to its IPs. It suits producers who need boards and visual development before committing to a full animation partner.

10. Quan Studios

Independent · Madrid · quanstudios.com

Quan Studios is a Madrid motion design studio on Calle de Sagasta. Most of its output is motion graphics, with 3D animation, live-action footage and video podcasts alongside.

It focuses on turning complex information into clear visual content, working mainly for finance, health and pharmaceutical, video game and sustainability clients. It is a practical fit for explainer films, product launches and internal communications where accuracy matters as much as style.

What to look for in a Madrid animation studio

Start with the kind of studio you need. Madrid’s feature studios, such as Skydance Animation Madrid and The SPA Studios, are built around long productions and rarely take short commercial jobs. Series studios such as Ánima Kitchent and Zinkia work to broadcaster schedules and formats. Commercial and motion design studios turn work around in weeks and are used to agency feedback cycles.

Look at the pipeline as well as the reel. A studio working in Unreal Engine will handle changes and versions differently from one rendering conventional CG, and 2D studios vary a lot in how far they push compositing and lighting. Ask what software the studio uses, who owns the rigs and source files at the end, and how many rounds of animation notes are included.

Spain’s tax incentives for audiovisual production, including the higher rate in the Canary Islands, shape how many larger projects are structured, and some Madrid studios split work with partner studios there or abroad. If that matters to your budget, ask early how the work will be divided and where each stage will be done.

Finally, agree how review will run. Animation moves through boards, animatics, layout, blocking, final animation and render, and each stage produces large files and many versions. Studios that share work from one organised place, with clear version names and feedback kept against each shot, save weeks over a production.

How Fabric helps animation teams

Fabric gives an animation studio one workspace for production files, client feedback and team knowledge, with AI search across all of it. The setup for creative teams suits studios running several productions at once, with a space for each project holding scripts, boards, references, renders and call notes.

Scene files, caches and image sequences sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space. Artists can open heavy files without waiting for a full download, which helps as Blender files keep getting bigger and as render output piles up (there is more on that in where rendering files should live). Search works by meaning across documents, images and transcribed recordings, colour search finds frames and style frames by shade, and similar search surfaces related designs or references from a single image.

For pre-production, the canvas works as an infinite board for moodboards and storyboards, with Vimeo and YouTube embeds alongside stills. A Kanban board can turn a folder into a pipeline whose cards are the shot files themselves, moving from layout to final.

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Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What are the biggest animation studios in Madrid?

Skydance Animation Madrid and The SPA Studios are the largest feature studios, both in Las Rozas. Skydance Animation Madrid made Spellbound and Swapped and is animating Ray Gunn with Cinesite, while The SPA Studios made the Oscar-nominated Klaus.

Which Madrid studio makes the Tadeo Jones films?

Lightbox Animation Studios, with director Enrique Gato. The fourth film, Tad and the Magic Lamp, opened in Spanish cinemas on 26 August 2026.

Who owns Ánima Kitchent now?

DNEG bought Ánima Kitchent in June 2026, according to Cartoon Brew. The studio was previously the Spanish production arm of Mexico’s Ánima and remains based in Madrid.

Which Madrid studios handle commercials and motion design?

Final Frontier, Alkimia Animation Studio and Quan Studios all take brand and commercial work, from character-led adverts to motion graphics explainers. For live-action shoots with animated elements, the video production studios in Madrid list covers the production side.

Do Madrid animation studios work for international clients?

Yes, regularly. The SPA Studios has worked for Disney, Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures Animation, Skydance Animation Madrid’s films are released worldwide on Netflix and Apple, and Final Frontier works from studios on three continents.

Related lists

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

More in Madrid: Creative agencies · VFX · Post-production · Video production · Sound design · Design agencies

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for creative teams · Fabric for motion design studios · Fabric for designers