Imagi Shuts Down US Studio

Imagi Shuts Down US Studio Movies

By Rawls — Feb 03, 2010, 02:36 pm CST

It's sad, but this image of Astro waving goodbye has a lot of visual impact on our friends at Imagi.

I knew this was coming for a while, but it never makes it any less disheartening when it happens. I found a write up over at CartoonBrew about the whole event and it's details--

Imagi, the studio responsible for the TMNT and Astro Boy features, has shut down their American studio in Sherman Oaks, California. The company, which is still working on a Gatchaman feature, has been struggling both at the box office and in its financial operations. From HotStocked.com:

Imagi International Holdings Ltd has announced large scale review of operations which has mostly negative effect towards the staff. The company has cut off their US subsidiaries from any funding, the working contracts for 30 employees were terminated and the Los Angeles based office closed. The company was left with only a few important staff members being utilized as consultants and has transferred the functions of the closed office to other contractors . . . With their US office closed the company still has two more in Hong Kong and Tokyo as well as continues trading under the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. Their stock is poorly traded in both the exchanges.

Take-away lesson: artificial Christmas trees are easier to make than animated features.

I actually didn't know what that last statement meant until I clicked on it. You learn something new everyday.