The Disney group announced on Tuesday the closure in the coming months of the Lucasfilm animation studio in Singapore belonging to the company Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), specialized in special effects, for economic reasons.
“Over the coming months, ILM will reorganize its global presence and close its Singapore studio for economic reasons that affect this industry,” Disney said in a statement, without specifying the number of employees that would be affected by this decision. Contacted by AFP, ILM and Disney were not immediately available.
This studio, opened in 2006, was the first outside the United States, according to the ILM website. It is housed in a building with original architecture, called the Sandcrawler -the sand cart from the Star Wars saga that inspired the architects- and which was sold in 2021. ILM is a branch of the Lucasfilm studio (production, post-production and special effects ), founded by American director George Lucas and acquired by Disney in 2002.
“Rapid Technological Advances”
According to its website, ILM currently employs 1,200 people in six studios located around the world (San Francisco, Vancouver, London, Sydney, Mumbai and Singapore). Disney announced in February the loss of 7,000 jobs worldwide due to the erosion of the business in traditional television and amid increased competition and declining subscribers to its Disney+ streaming service.
“Lucasfilm’s decision to halt operations in Singapore stems from changing conditions in the industry,” the city-state’s Media Regulatory Authority (IMDA) and the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) said in a joint statement. ). “The global media industry faces disruption from rapid technological advances, while studios grapple with skills and profitability challenges,” they noted.
The Singapore studio has participated in important Hollywood productions such as “Iron Man”, “Avengers” or the “Star Wars” saga, according to the EDB site.
Source: BFM TV
