Technicolor's closure takes down MPC, The Mill and Mikros Animation – but is AI the answer?

Technicolor has finally succumbed. Citing “severe financial challenges”, the VFX giant is shutting down all operations with immediate closures of The Mill, Mikros Animation (Plankton: The Movie, Orion and the Dark) and MPC Advertising. If you’re anything like me, that news will take a while to settle in. I’ve never known a time without these major players and it’s sad to think they’ll no longer be around.

MPC and The Mill are incredible companies who have provided the world with an unbelievable array of ground-breaking VFX work. It was only last year that we covered the making of MPC's out-of-this-world VFX work on the Netflix hit Spaceman and the making the VFX for Halo Season 2.

I’ve personally loved MPC’s ability to generate stunning space environments and life-like character animation; it's worked on movies including The Lion King, The Jungle Book, Justice League, Blade Runner 2049, X-Men, Prometheus, Dumbo, and Guardians of the Galaxy. And let’s not forget The Mill is (was) a VFX Oscar winning studio, for its work on Gladiator.

With the impact of Covid, a declining VFX market, and a low-margin business, it was hard to imagine how Technicolor was ever going to climb out of its well publicised financial struggles. It appears that the straw has finally broke the camel’s back.

It's not all bad news, though

Even though these companies are ceasing to exist in their current form, it’s not all bad news. There are already reports of The Mill in the US joining forces with Dream Machine FX to launch a new agency, Arc Creative. That means that many of the talented people who have treated us to such outstanding VFX work will continue to deliver. It has been reported that their focus will be on “short-form work including high-end advertising, game cinematics and trailers".

The challenges facing the VFX industry are not just going to disappear. Those within the industry will need to continue to find ways to harness the incredible talent contained within and pivot to provide creative solutions to long-standing problems.

Some, like Chaos' Kam Star, believe "AI has the potential to revolutionise VFX" while AI is being used more in visual effects in focused ways, such as in how DNEG created the 'melty' transitions in Here, the millennium spanning movie starring Tom Hanks. But let's also not forget other VFX studios such as ILM and Framestore have hired and expanded in recent months.

Despite seeing an end to Technicolor, I’m heartened to see The Mill pivot so quickly and I hope that’s just the beginning of a turning tide. But what does the future hold for VFX studios, and is AI the answer? Let us know what you think in the comments below.