The Walt Disney Company has announced the closure of its DisneyToon Studios Australia in Sydney, the company's last studio producing hand-drawn animated features.
Disney is set to close it Sydney studio in mid-2006 after completion of work on sequels to the films Brother Bear and Cinderella. Almost 250 Australian animators and other staff are about to lose their jobs.
It is with regret that DisneyToon Studios has decided to close their animation production facility in Sydney in mid-2006," the company officially stated. Disney’s decision is partly based on ‘the changing creative climate and economic environment" of animation, which is now dominated by computer-ganerated and 3D films.
According to producer Tim Brook-Hunt, who represents the animation and new media community on the Screen Producers Association of Australia council, this is a major blow to animation in Sydney.
"We've lost a major source of training and talent in the industry but also for the people involved, it's very difficult to see that all of them can be absorbed into the rest of the industry," said Brook-Hunt.
The Syney studio, which opened in the late 1980s, and has produced films like “The Lion King II”, “The Jungle Book”, “The Lady and the Tramp II” and “Lilo and Stitch II”, is just one of Disney’s animation facilities in the world set to close, as the new Disney unit focuses on computer-animated films, especially those made with Pixar Animation Studios, like “Toy Story”, their first successful collaboration.
Source: Softpedia
Disney is set to close it Sydney studio in mid-2006 after completion of work on sequels to the films Brother Bear and Cinderella. Almost 250 Australian animators and other staff are about to lose their jobs.
It is with regret that DisneyToon Studios has decided to close their animation production facility in Sydney in mid-2006," the company officially stated. Disney’s decision is partly based on ‘the changing creative climate and economic environment" of animation, which is now dominated by computer-ganerated and 3D films.
According to producer Tim Brook-Hunt, who represents the animation and new media community on the Screen Producers Association of Australia council, this is a major blow to animation in Sydney.
"We've lost a major source of training and talent in the industry but also for the people involved, it's very difficult to see that all of them can be absorbed into the rest of the industry," said Brook-Hunt.
The Syney studio, which opened in the late 1980s, and has produced films like “The Lion King II”, “The Jungle Book”, “The Lady and the Tramp II” and “Lilo and Stitch II”, is just one of Disney’s animation facilities in the world set to close, as the new Disney unit focuses on computer-animated films, especially those made with Pixar Animation Studios, like “Toy Story”, their first successful collaboration.
Source: Softpedia
