Oscar-winning animation studio to close

Moving Picture Company is closing its Academy Award-winning animation and visual effects studio in Vancouver.

News that the company was shuttering its Vancouver location appeared on a Reddit thread on Wednesday. A Reddit user posted a photo claiming to be the letter sent to Vancouver employees.

It says that MPC’s Vancouver studio will “cease operations effective immediately and refocus its geographical presence to other locations.” The letter notes that there are more attractive opportunities in other locations, and that it has become challenging to sustain its Vancouver office.

Messages to MPC and its parent company Technicolor confirming the closure have yet to be returned.

It is unclear how many people have been laid off, but at its height the studio had 800 artists.

Brenda Bailey, executive director of DigiBC, the Interactive and Digital Media Industry Association of B.C., says there is some uncertainty about whether B.C.’s tax credits will be reduced, and visual effects companies don’t like unpredictability.

She said MPC plans to expand its Montreal studio.

Bailey said Vancouver still has a “thriving” film animation and visual effects sector, but a lot of cities, such as Montreal, are offering incentives to build their visual effects sector.

She predicted many of the talented artists will leave for more promising jobs elsewhere.

MPC has worked on films such as The Amazing Spider Man, Bladerunner 2049, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The Vancouver studio opened in 2007 in Yaletown. The studio won an Academy Award for its work on the The Life of Pi and is known for its redesign of Sonic the Hedgehog for an upcoming film.