Technicolor shuts India operations; over 3,000 staff lose jobs

This image released by Disney shows characters Pumbaa, voiced by Seth Rogen, bottom, and Timon, voiced by Billy Eichner, in a scene from “Mufasa: The Lion King.” | Photo Credit: Disney

Technicolor India, a studio owned by Technicolor Group of Paris, that develops visual effects (VFX) and animation graphics for many full length feature films of Hollywood movie production houses, is shutting down its operations in India, in Bengaluru and Mumbai, as part of the group’s global closure.

The company employs 3,200 people in India of which close to 3000 people are in Bengaluru while it has a global headcount of over 10,000 across France, U.S., Canada and India.

‘’Technicolour India is financially and operationally not moving forward. We reached a state where we are not able to function as an organisation anymore,’‘ said Biren Ghose, Managing Director, Technicolor India in a town hall.

The news of the closure came after Technicolor Group, the parent company, filed for court recovery procedure in France citing its inability to find investors to continue to business further.

The India leadership as well as counterparts in other geographies were not privy to this finality and suddenness of the decision to close down the operations. “India management got to know about it only when we received an email, out of the blue, from Caroline Parot, CEO of Technicolor Group,’‘ Mr. Ghose informed the employees.

Ms. Parot’s email to employees on Monday said the group was unable to find new investors despite extensive efforts and therefore filed for court ‘recovery procedure’ before the French Court of Justice to give a chance to find solutions.

Technicolor employed hundreds of animators, lighting artists, special effects experts, graphic artists, atmosphere and volume metric experts and image rendering specialists in Bengaluru who worked on dozens of Hollywood films by various production houses such as DreamWorks Pictures, Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros, etc. Puss in Boots, Madagascar 3, Kung Fu Panda series include some of the films Technicolor worked from the city and its latest was Mufasa: The Lion King by Walt Disney. Mr. Ghose had earlier said over 70% of the special effects and graphics for Mufasa was developed by his team in the city and the movie so far has collected over $700 million globally.

Technicolor Group has several entities: MPC, a VFX player, another VFX brand The Mill, Mikros Animation and Technicolor Games and all these have presence in India.

‘’It is unfortunate that this has happened to the best in class studio of Technicolor which employed best pool of talent, had best track record and acknowledge globally,’‘ Mr. Ghose further said adding, Technicolor India won’t be able to pay salaries or pay other dues in the future, as remittance for February 2025 has not received from headquarters.

He also said he was in talks with 15 to 20 other studios and industry experts to find out a solution or alternate engagement for all or some of the teams of Technicolor.

Several employees of Technicolor who gathered at Karnataka government sponsored GAFX (games, animation and visual fx conference) on Wednesday told The Hindu that they were under utter shock after the company without any advance notice informed them about their service termination. Many were not even allowed to enter their office premise to take their personal belongings.

AVGC-XR industry shocked

Technicolor’s exit came as a blow to India’s AVGC-XR (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, and Extended Reality) sector.

Ashish S. Kulkarni, Chairman of FICCI for AVGC-XR, Chairman of MCCIA Animation & Gaming committee said, ‘‘The entire industry is certainly shaken by its exit. However, clients, mostly large movie production houses, will now look for other service providers in India. There is no other provider like India.’‘

Technicolor’s exit would also trigger a shakeout and consolidation in the country’s AVGC-XR sector, Mr. Kulkarni opined.

‘’This has come as a shock for the industry globally and more so for India and Bengaluru. But for global production houses, their shows should go on and they will look at other graphic content providers in the country,’‘ said Munjal B. Shroff, director and chief operating officer, Graphiti Multimedia, a production house, animation and VFX studio in Mumbai.

According to industry experts, there has been some slowdown globally, as some global studios and graphics firms are yet to recover from the effects of COVID pandemic. Plus there has been a cascading effect of the writers’ strike in the U.S. Until some months ago, Hollywood writers were on a strike to protect their livelihoods from generative AI. ``When there are no stories, no production happens, and the industry globally suffered for months. This also might have contributed to Technicolour’s decision,’‘ Mr. Shroff added.