Toronto's C.O.R.E Digital Shuts its Doors
According to Michael Carter, President of CASO, Computer Animation Studios of Ontario, founding member and leading animation and visual effects house C.O.R.E Digital has shut down. Founded in 1994, the Toronto-based C.O.R.E. was a full production and output facility offering a broad range of services such as C.O.R.E. Visual Effects, C.O.R.E. Toons, C.O.R.E. Film Productions and C.O.R.E. Feature Animation. C.O.R.E. Digital’s cg work included Disney's "The Wild," animated features "Ant Bully" for Warner Bros. Entertainment and Walt Disney's "Valiant," the Showtime hit "The Tudors" and Vincenzo Natali's indie film "Splice."
According to The Canadian Animation Resources website, 150 staff members were let go yesterday afternoon and that as of this past Friday had not been paid. The Hollywood Reporter reported that the company’s financial difficulties were caused by a number of factors, including currency valuation changes against the US dollar, decreasing margins on production work, and their failure to secure loan guarantees from the Ontario provisional government, which has previously granted such subsidies to Starz Animation and Ubisoft.
This latest shut down comes on the heels of the just announced upcoming January 2011 closure of Robert Zemeckis’ ImageMovers Digital, The Orphanage in February 2009 and numerous layoffs across the industry in the face of the global economic downturn.
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Poor management shows its consequences in the long run.
More production 'managers' than actual 'workers'
They got rocked by their own doing.
R.I.P C.O.R.E.
You worked there - you know the story.
Greg
harsh words for someone not willing to state their name....
Although it is very hard on the artists who were laid off, I cannot be anything but delighted to hear that c.o.r.e. has shut its door. One of the worst run, abusive, bureaucratically top-heavy companies I ever had the displeasure of working for. And what a piece of crap The Wild turned out to be! Artist opinion were disregarded in favour of the opinions of untalented, friends of..., senior managers. Good bye and happy day!
Starz and Ubisoft both have commitments to spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the next five years in Ontario, esp in job creation. I think that poking blame at the Ontario government is out of line. Nobody - friends, banks - would loan CORE any more money. They were no longer a worthy risk.
CORE was simply unable to compete in the marketplace.
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