Almost a year ago, Rooster Teeth said it was shutting down after 21 years following parent Warner Bros. Discovery‘s failure to find a buyer for the money-losing fandom, gaming and comedy entertainment studio.
On Wednesday, Burnie Burns — one of Rooster Teeth’s co-founders — announced that his independent company, Box Canyon Productions, has acquired the Rooster Teeth brand and its remaining assets including the website and social channels.
“I am excited at the challenge of bringing Rooster Teeth back to its roots,” Burns said in a statement. “The heart of this brand has always been its fans, and I look forward to writing a new chapter together.”
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Financial terms of the sale were not revealed. A WBD spokesperson confirmed the sale but declined to provide further details.
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Under Burns’ ownership, according to Box Canyon’s announcement, “the historic brand plans to renew its focus on innovation, community engagement and the spirit of creativity that first defined its success… With Burns back at the helm, fans can anticipate a renewed dedication to Rooster Teeth’s original mission: to entertain, inspire and connect.”
Burns was one of the original founders of Rooster Teeth in 2003 and was its longtime creative director. In 2020, he left Rooster Teeth and moved to Scotland. The company, a pioneer in online video entertainment, achieved breakout success with sci-fi spoof “Red vs. Blue,” billed as the longest-running web series in history. Over the years, Rooster Teeth expanded and produced hit shows like the anime-inspired “RWBY” and “Achievement Hunter,” as well as the RTX convention series.
Along with the acquisition of Rooster Teeth’s assets, Box Canyon announced a new development slate of productions for 2025, including renewed production of some of the platform’s classic shows, a new original audio adventure titled “Again,” and an untitled reimagining of Burns’ first film, “The Schedule.”
In a video shared on RT’s YouTube channel, Burns is seen pulling up to what looks like the company’s offices in Austin, Texas, swiping in — and entering a dark, cavernous studio. “Guys? Why are the lights off?” Burns calls out. “I’m back from gettin’ milk.” After switching on the lights, he waits a beat and then exclaims: “What the hell happened?!”
Burns founded Box Canyon Productions in 2023, which is “dedicated to innovative storytelling and high-quality content across various media platforms.” The company’s podcast “Morning Somewhere,” co-hosted by Burns and his wife Ashley Burns, debuted in 2024.
On the Feb. 5 episode of “Morning Somewhere,” titled “Homecoming,” Burnie and Ashley discussed the Rooster Teeth acquisition.
“So when we talk about Rooster Teeth, we’re talking about Rooster Teeth the brand, not the company,” Burnie Burns said. “And that’s an important distinction because the company of Rooster Teeth has buildings and contracts and tons of equipment and everything like that. So this is kind of an interesting one in that we have acquired the Rooster Teeth brand.” He said that includes the website, YouTube channel and social channels.
Not part of the deal are certain of Rooster Teeth’s shows like gaming shows “Funhaus” and “Achievement Hunter,” and “RWBY” (which was sold last summer to Viz Media), according to Burnie. Also not coming over are Rooster Teeth shows from creators who were given rights to that IP when the company shut down in 2024.
The plan is to reboot some of Rooster Teeth’s “classic shows,” and those will be announced over the course of the next few months, Burnie said. “The long-range plan here is to have a production slate that is up and running with new shows by summer of 2025,” he said, adding, “If you liked [post-apocalyptic drama series] ‘Day 5’ from Rooster Teeth, it’s very much in that vein.”
“There is a lot of work in front of us, a lot of work,” Burnie Burns said. “As I’m sitting here in this living room I am surrounded by hard drives with literally two decades of content… and I’m going through an archive process with it right now that’s just to get basically to the starting line and then after that the real work begins.”
