Breaking News: Disney shut Robert Zemeckis Image Movers performance capture studio

It's a major news: Disney is going to shut the Robert Zemeckis Image Movers "performance capture" studio. Yes, the same one that was used for the making of "A Christmas Carol" and "Polar Express". The closure of the facility in Marin County, north of San Francisco, will be completed by January and result in the loss of 450 jobs, AP announced.

And from Variety: "Move is also a blow to the Bay Area's filmmaking community, which has seen vfx shops The Orphanage and Giant Killer Robots close in recent years as vfx work flows to locales with tax incentives and lower labor costs.

Announcement came as a shock to employees, who had seen no belt-tightening before they were told IMD would be closed.

Zemeckis was close to former Disney Studios topper Dick Cook and IMD was set up while Cook was running the studio. IMD recently moved into a state-of-the-art facility in renovated airplane hangars at the former Hamilton Landing Air Force Base in Novato. Disney has not decided what will become of that plant.

IMD had pitched itself to artists as a long-term career opportunity and a place to settle, have a family and enjoy good quality-of-life. It has also been among the minority of vfx and animation shops where artists are repped by a union, the Animation Guild, and receive union benefits.

Disney's history of closing successful vfx and animation facilities has earned it considerable ill-will among vfx artists and animators. In the 1990s the Mouse acquired respected vfx studio DreamQuest Images, which did "Dinosaurs," then shuttered and disbanded it. Disney opened an animation studio in Florida, which delivered the hit "Lilo & Stitch," then closed that as well. The "Lilo & Stitch" helmers moved on to DreamWorks Animation, where they recently completed "How to Train Your Dragon."

Here is excerpts of the Associated Press article, you can read the full article HERE:

"To further cut costs at its movie studio, The Walt Disney Co. said Friday that it will shut a San Francisco-area facility used to capture the performance of Jim Carrey for his digitally animated character, Scrooge, in "A Christmas Carol."

The facility was built by ImageMovers Digital, a company co-founded by "A Christmas Carol" director Robert Zemeckis and partially owned by Disney. Motion-capture technology in that facility was used to make the movie; Carrey wore sensors as he acted out scenes, and the data were used to recreate his character on the screen.

Before it closes, the complex will continue to be used by Zemeckis and his team to complete production of "Mars Needs Moms!," a 3-D movie set for release in March 2011.

"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 statement, Zemeckis said he was "incredibly proud" of the ImageMovers team and the work it accomplished.

Disney said it hoped to come to a new long-term production deal with Zemeckis and his ImageMovers partners, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey, including one for a future project called "Yellow Submarine."

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."

Text: copyright Associated Press & Variety

" A Christmas Carol " World Premiere in London

Tonight, the World Premiere of A Christmas Carol happened in London. As a matter of fact, at the time i'm writing this article the Premiere is still going on, but D&M have already all the pictures for you - and they're all in high-res size!



The event was located at the Odeon Leicester square, London's legendary theatre and it loks like London's Leicester Square was back to the Victorian era. Children and performers of all ages were dressed in victorian costumes...

















As you can see the Victorian "theming" of the evening was great. On stage, carol singers performed along with Andrea Bocelli, the famous blind singer.









On the red carpet, the cast of A Christmas Carol was there: Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Director Robert Zemeckis - all with their lovely wives - and Disney CEO Bob Iger was there, too!















Well, it looks that it was a nice evening, wasn't it?

Tomorrow, you'll see why, we will be back in London!

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All pictures: copyright Getty Images

D23 EXPO Special Report by Andy Castro : The Walt Disney Studios Exhibit

The Walt Disney Studios had a great exhibit at the D23 Expo where guests could see props, sculptures and paintings that were used in the making of upcoming Disney movies. Thanks to Andy Castro's wonderful pics we will have today a closer look to them.

Let's begin by the items related to the Tim Burton's Alice in wonderland.





















Next, the beautiful paintings for Robert Zemeckis "A Christmas Carol". By the way, i just learned today that the movie will have its world premiere on November 3 in London. regent Street, Oxford street and The "City" will be decorated with the colors of the movie. Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn, Bob Hoskins and director Robert Zemeckis will be there for the celebration.

The world premiere will happen at Leicester Square, and for the first time in history, the three Leicester Square theatres will be part of the premiere, with 4000 seats reserved for this memorable event. tickets will be available for everybody so everyone will be able to be part of the premiere. Christmas carols singers ressed in 19th century costumes, snow falls, shows and giant screens will be all around Leicester Square. The premiere will be at the benefit of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.













Here are pictures of three gorgeous painting - in the grand tradition of Peter Ellenshaw matte paintings. For each painting, you have below the "framed" version and the high-res "flat" picture.









My God, they had the genius idea to show Big Ben while it was in construction! I love this one...





Next pictures are about Jerry Bruckheimer's production, Prince of Persia.







This Chinese Dragon was used in the making of The Sorcerer Apprentice.



Animated movies also had their own exhibit, whether it is 2D animation with Princess and the Frog sculptures...

















...or 3D animation with the highly awaited TRON Legacy. Note that all pictures below of the fantastic TRON lightcycle are in high-res.















This last picture will end this article, but Andy and I will be back soon for a last D23 Expo article, and if you love artwork this next one will be fantastic, so don't miss it!


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All pictures: copyright Andy Castro and Disney and more