LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Walt Disney Co. is shuttering its animation studio based in Orlando, Fla., cutting about 258 jobs, as the company shifts from hand-drawn animated films to computer-generated features and videos.
Some of the employees will be offered jobs in Burbank, Calif., Disney said Monday in announcing the move.
The company has been steadily trimming its animation department for the past few years, from a peak of 2,200 employees in 1999 to 600, all based in Burbank after Monday's announcement. Disney has shuttered similar animation outposts in Paris and Tokyo, which were opened at the height of the boom in hand-drawn animation.
Over the past few years, as computer-generated 3-D films proved far more successful at the box office than traditional 2-D films, Disney shifted from having a large number of animators on staff to hiring on a per-film basis.
The move resulted in layoffs and major salary cuts and an emphasis on producing less costly 2-D films. The 2002 success "Lilo & Stitch," for instance, was produced for about $80 million compared with $140 million for the box-office flop "Treasure Planet," released the same year.
Disney has also been releasing a larger number of animated movies and sequels direct to video, a move that boots profits by vastly reducing the cost of production.
The Orlando studio, opened in 1989, has animated some of Disney's more popular films, including "Lilo & Stitch," "Mulan" and this year's "Brother Bear."
But Disney has had its most success with animated films it produces in cooperation with Pixar Animation Studio, which uses computers. Hits produced that way include "Finding Nemo," "Toy Story" and "Monsters Inc."