Disney’s Lucasfilm to shutter Singapore ILM animation studio

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Disney-owned Lucasfilm is shuttering the Singapore operation of its Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) VFX and animation studio after almost two decades, putting 300 jobs at risk.

The Mouse House said that economic factors had led to the decision to wind down the Singapore studio, with the move coming amid Disney’s ongoing restructure as it seeks to cut more than 7,000 jobs and make $5.5bn in savings.

Lucasfilm opened the Singapore operation in 2004 to work on CG-animation Star Wars: The Clone Wars, with the company’s ’s ILM expanding into the site as its first international studio in 2006.

The studio has since also worked on visual effects and animation for films such as Jurassic World: Dominion and The Eternals. ILM is based in San Francisco and also has studios in Vancouver, London, Sydney and Mumbai.

“Over the next several months, ILM will be consolidating its global footprint and winding down its Singapore studio due to economic factors affecting the industry,” said Disney.

“ILM is giving employees as much notice as possible and offering opportunities to relocate to one of the company’s growing studios. ILM will be working with the local business community in Singapore to offer a job fair with companies identified as having a need for talent with similar skill sets.”