Pixar Canada shuts its doors in Vancouver
Close to 100 employees at Pixar Canada’s Gastown animation studio lost their jobs Tuesday as the company decided to pack up the three-year-old operation and concentrate its operations in Emeryville, California.
“A decision was made to refocus operations and resources under the one roof,” Barb Matheson, a spokesman for Pixar parent company Disney, said from Toronto. “Staff were just told today. Not great news, obviously. It was just a refocussing of efforts and resources to the one facility.”
The Vancouver animation facility opened with much fanfare at 21 Water Street in the spring of 2010, with a mandate to produce short films based on established Pixar characters. The Vancouver crew worked on layout, sets and characters, animation, effects, lighting and rendering departments.
“The team at Pixar Canada has produced a wonderful slate of short films since opening in 2010, including Air Mater, Small Fry and Partysaurus Rex,” read a statement from Pixar. “As the dynamics of the animation industry continue to change rapidly, we continue to fine-tune our studio and its production processes. We have made the determination to refocus our creative and business efforts and resources under one roof. Pixar Canada will cease operations immediately.”
The closure comes at a time when the rest of Vancouver’s computer animation and effects scene is going strong. Among other thriving operations are Sony’s Canadian animation facility, which had a key role in recent features including Hotel Transylvania, The Smurfs 2 and Oz the Great and Powerful.
Also recently in the news were indie Vancouver animators Nitrogen Studios Canada, who are ramping up now for two years work on the adult-themed Seth Rogen-Evan Goldberg animated feature Sausage Party.
The Province le 8 octobre 2013.
Sujet: 
Mer 9 Oct 2013 - 9:51
