‘The Wild Robot’ VFX Studio STIM Opens Canary Islands Hub,

‘The Wild Robot’ VFX House STIM Opens Canary Islands Studio, Plans 100-Plus Hires

The Spanish visual effects studio behind the acclaimed animated feature The Wild Robot is planting a flag in the Canary Islands, announcing plans for a new production facility that will create upward of 100 skilled jobs over the next two years. STIM, the Barcelona-based VFX and animation house known for its photorealistic creature work and environmental rendering, said the expansion into the archipelago is driven by a need for scalable talent and its desire to tap into the region’s competitive film incentives.

The new operation will be headquartered in Tenerife, with a satellite office on Gran Canaria, according to sources close to the studio. STIM’s leadership views the Canary Islands as an emerging hub for animation and visual effects, thanks to a combination of tax breaks of up to 50% for international productions, a growing pool of local graduates in digital arts, and a time zone that allows seamless collaboration between Europe and the Americas.

A Growing Footprint in European VFX

STIM has spent the past decade building a reputation for high-end animation and creature design, contributing to projects such as the Netflix fantasy series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and the Guillermo del Toro-produced Pinocchio. But The Wild Robot-DreamWorks Animation’s adaptation of Peter Brown’s children’s novel, for which STIM provided key visual effects-has been a breakthrough in terms of studio recognition. The film, which blends hand-drawn-style animation with photorealistic environments, required the studio to develop proprietary tools for rendering fur, foliage, and weather systems that behave organically.

That kind of R&D-intensive work demands a stable, long-term workforce, something STIM’s founders say is harder to sustain in the overheated Barcelona market, where housing costs and competition for senior talent continue to climb. The Canary Islands offer a more affordable base for both the company and its employees, while the local government has aggressively courted tech and creative industries with grants and training programs.

“We’ve been looking at locations where we can grow without compromising on quality or culture,” said STIM’s co-founder and creative director in a statement. “The Canary Islands have a vibrant arts community, a young demographic that’s eager to get into animation, and a government that understands what it takes to build a digital industry from the ground up. This isn’t a satellite office-this is a second home.”

Job Creation and Training Pipeline

The company expects to hire between 100 and 120 people over the next 24 months, with positions ranging from senior animators and lighting technical directors to production coordinators and IT support. STIM has already begun recruiting locally, partnering with the University of La Laguna and the Tenerife Film Commission to design an internship-to-hire pipeline. The studio plans to train new hires in its proprietary pipeline, which emphasizes real-time rendering and AI-assisted animation workflows-two areas where the company believes the Canary Islands can become a European leader.

Local officials are betting that STIM’s arrival will trigger a cluster effect, attracting smaller studios, freelance artists, and tech vendors to the islands. The Canary Islands already host several major film productions per year thanks to their tax incentives, but most VFX work has historically been done off-island. STIM aims to change that by building a permanent infrastructure for post-production and animation.

“We want to be part of the ecosystem, not just a tenant,” the creative director added. “We’re already in conversations with local schools to design curricula that match what the industry actually needs. Five years from now, I want to see a generation of Canarian animators commanding their own projects.”

Industry Context and Competition

STIM’s expansion into the Canary Islands comes at a time when the global VFX industry is under pressure to find new talent pools. Traditional hubs like London, Vancouver, and Los Angeles are facing labor shortages and rising wages, pushing studios to look at secondary markets in Spain, Portugal, and Eastern Europe. The Canary Islands have a particular advantage: they are part of the European Union’s tax regime, meaning productions can claim subsidies while benefiting from a subtropical climate that attracts a mobile workforce.

The move also diversifies STIM’s client base. While the studio has long worked with DreamWorks, Netflix, and the BBC, the Canary Islands operation is expected to pursue independent animation projects, virtual production work for commercials, and even video game cinematics-a growing revenue stream for VFX houses with real-time rendering capabilities.

The first wave of hires is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026, with the office fully operational by early 2027. STIM has not disclosed the total investment for the Canary Islands expansion, but real estate and equipment costs are estimated in the low millions. The studio continues to maintain its Barcelona headquarters and has not indicated any plans to reduce staff there.

For the Canary Islands, the announcement is a validation of a long-term strategy to shift from a purely tax-driven production hub to a center of creative ownership. “STIM isn’t just coming here to do the work-they’re coming here to build the industry,” said a spokesperson for the Tenerife Film Commission. “That’s the kind of investment that changes a region.”

Source: Variety