files/pictures/picture-35.jpgFollowing a failed Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorg, Kerner Optical has been forced to shut down, reports
Variety . The famed models and miniatures company was born out of the original STAR WARS and provided such work for Industrial Light & Magic for decades.
Lucasfilm owned the company up until 2006 when it sold it to model maker Mark Anderson. This move allowed the company to work with other houses, but the firm was losing around one million dollars per year since then. The reorg was derailed when a creditor claimed mismanagement, which spurred ILM to seek model-making work from New Deal Studios, the first time it had used a company other than Kerner Optical.
CEO Eric Edmeades says that Kernercam, which supplies 3D camera rigs, production arm Kerner Pictures and Kernerworks, which makes trauma dummies, are still in business.
