Technicolor Group, the parent company of MPC, The Mill, and Mikros Animation, may be shutting down its operations, jeopardizing thousands of jobs across the VFX and animation industries. The financial situation of Technicolor has become critical, pushing the group toward potential bankruptcy.
Financial Trouble
The crisis stems from mounting debt and restructuring issues, with Technicolor Group struggling to sustain its studios. MPC, known for its high-profile VFX work, The Mill, specializing in advertising and real-time content, and Mikros Animation, focused on animated features, are all at risk. This collapse could significantly impact global VFX pipelines, affecting ongoing and future productions.
Maybe someone will step in and acquire the studios, or perhaps Technicolor, which absorbed everything in its path, will now be broken apart. Something will happen for sure, but one thing is certain: this is the end of an era.
If this is the end, then it’s time to celebrate what these studios were and how they revolutionized the industry. Their impact on culture and advertising history is undeniable. The Mill created some of the most iconic commercials of all time—Budweiser’s “What’s up”, a spot so powerful that an entire generation of Indians recognized it, despite the fact that it never officially aired in India (and that was before YouTube). Old Spice? Pure advertising history. In VFX, MPC played a key role in major Hollywood productions, and Gladiator was the first film to bring a VFX Oscar to Europe—fun fact: the birds from the Colosseum scene are still on The Mill London’s server and occasionally find their way into new projects.
More Information
A excellent 3DVF article goes into more detail, and Varieties’s take on the situation (including a focus on Technicolor) is also worth a look. The first thing we heard about it, was from Saltyanimators on Instagram
