Disney to close Novato's ImageMovers studio
Anim8rFSK
Disney to close Novato's ImageMovers studio, laying off 450 workers
IJ staff and wire reports
Posted: 03/12/2010 03:56:39 PM PST
ImageMovers Digital, co-founded by director Robert Zemeckis in 1997 and
acquired by Disney in 2007, is housed in Hangar 7 in Hamilton Field in
Novato. Disney announced it will close the studio in January. (IJ
photo/Jeff Vendsel)
THE WALT DISNEY CO. announced Friday it will shutter Novato-based
ImageMovers Digital, a 450-employee studio used to capture actors'
images for digitally animated films such as "A Christmas Carol,"
featuring Jim Carrey and Ross resident Robin Wright Penn.
"Given today's economic realities, we need to find alternative ways to
bring creative content to audiences, and IMD no longer fits into our
business model," Walt Disney Studios president Alan Bergman said in a
written statement issued Friday.
Closure of the studio in the hangars at Hamilton Field will be completed
by January 2011.
About 450 people will lose their jobs as their work on the studio's
current project, "Mars Needs Moms," is finished this year, although
workers could move to other jobs within the company if their skills are
needed elsewhere, company officials said. "Mars Needs Moms," a 3-D film
featuring Joan Cusack about a young boy whose mom is kidnapped by
Martians, is set for release in March 2011.
Several ImageMovers employees who were leaving the Hamilton Field studio
Friday afternoon declined comment, saying they were told not to talk
with the press.
The studio at Hamilton was built by ImageMovers Digital, a company
co-founded in 1997 by "Back to the Future" and "Forrest Gump" director
Robert Zemeckis; Disney acquired the company in 2007. It had maintained
a presence at 1 Thorndale Drive in San Rafael, but outgrew the space and
moved to some 90,000 square feet at Hangars 7 and 9 at Hamilton
Advertisement
in 2008.
Motion-capture technology at ImageMovers was used to make "A Christmas
Carol," which featured Carrey as Scrooge. Carrey wore sensors as he
acted out scenes, and the data were used to recreate his character on
the screen. Penn depicted Belle, Scrooge's sweetheart in the days of his
youth.
Other ImageMovers Digital films include "What Lies Beneath," starring
Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer and "Cast Away" with Tom Hanks. The
studio's other animated motion-capture productions include "The Polar
Express," featuring the voice of Tom Hanks in a number of roles, and
"Beowulf" with Angelina Jolie.
"I'm incredibly proud of the talented team that we assembled at IMD and
the fantastic work they have accomplished," Zemeckis said in a
statement. "Their pride and dedication to making quality movies is
evident in everything we have produced."
Disney said it hoped to come to a new long-term production deal with
Zemeckis and his ImageMovers partners, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey.
Disney's studio has been paring costs and decreasing its movie slate,
most recently putting a halt to "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "Wedding
Banned" and "Wild Hogs 2." The cuts have occurred since Rich Ross,
formerly the head of Disney Channels Worldwide, took over the studio in
October following the abrupt resignation of Dick Cook and more than a
year of disappointing results.
Disney is also looking for a buyer of its Miramax Films division, which
it bought from the Weinstein brothers in 1993. It shut down Miramax
offices in January, and Disney CEO Bob Iger said last month that new
investment in the unit would be limited to releasing its six remaining
films through 2011.
--
As Adam West as Bruce Wayne as Batman said in "Smack in the Middle"
the second half of the 1966 BATMAN series pilot when Jill St. John
as Molly as Robin as Molly fell into the Batmobile's atomic pile:
"What a terrible way to go-go"