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Technicolor Group has been one of the world’s largest employers of VFX and Animation talent for the past two decades.
It’s no secret that the company has been financially troubled for years. Now, an internal memo sent to US staff on Friday warns that “..[d]espite exhaustive efforts—including restructuring initiatives, discussions with potential investors, and exploring acquisition opportunities… [T]he Company may be forced to foreclose.” Operations in the US may cease as soon as Monday, two days from now.
Here are some numbers from the Visual Effects World Atlas dataset, giving perspective on Technicolor's place in the VFX and Animation industry. (These are my estimates based on public data -- not official numbers from the company.)
GLOBAL HEADCOUNT
At the start of 2025, Technicolor employed over 4,500 people globally.
The map shows locations for MPC, The Mill, Mikros Animation, plus service provider Trace VFX, as of mid-2024. Technicolor Games employed around 330 additional people (not shown), almost all in India.
The group’s headcount has been declining for some time. Mikros shed almost 1,000 jobs during 2023, going from a high of over 1,600 in January 2023 to under 700 by December. They added back around 50 jobs during 2024.
MPC saw an even more dramatic change, halving in size between late 2022 — when they employed over 5,000 people — and the end of 2023. Their headcount seemed to stabilize around 2,200 towards the end of 2024.
Before you conclude that MPC's dramatic reduction was part of a general trend affecting the whole VFX industry, none of the four other largest VFX studios in the world saw anything like this kind of reduction. In fact, Framestore, Industrial Light & Magic, and Wētā FX seem to have modestly increased their headcount between late 2022 and the end of 2024.
The Mill's global headcount has been reducing slowly but steadily for at least two years, shedding about 330 jobs between January 2023 and August 2024. They stabilized at around 1,030 people in late 2024.
US HEADCOUNT
Between them, Technicolor’s divisions employed roughly 460 people in the US at the start of 2025. 80% of these US employees were at The Mill.
The majority of Mikros Animation’s staff are in Bangalore, Montreal, and Paris, with only about a dozen in the US (mostly leadership and business development roles).
About 75 of MPC's 2,000+ employees are in the US. In addition to biz dev and production management, it looks like MPC’s LA studio retained previz/postviz and concept design artists.
The Mill is a different story. New York and LA remain major production hubs for advertising, even after the bulk of film and television VFX work left the US. At the end of 2024, The Mill employed approximately 170 people in LA and 180 in New York -- among the largest VFX production facilities remaining in those cities -- plus a small staff in Chicago.
I’m very sorry for everyone affected by closures at Technicolor.
It’s no secret that the company has been financially troubled for years. Now, an internal memo sent to US staff on Friday warns that “..[d]espite exhaustive efforts—including restructuring initiatives, discussions with potential investors, and exploring acquisition opportunities… [T]he Company may be forced to foreclose.” Operations in the US may cease as soon as Monday, two days from now.
Here are some numbers from the Visual Effects World Atlas dataset, giving perspective on Technicolor's place in the VFX and Animation industry. (These are my estimates based on public data -- not official numbers from the company.)
GLOBAL HEADCOUNT
At the start of 2025, Technicolor employed over 4,500 people globally.
The map shows locations for MPC, The Mill, Mikros Animation, plus service provider Trace VFX, as of mid-2024. Technicolor Games employed around 330 additional people (not shown), almost all in India.
The group’s headcount has been declining for some time. Mikros shed almost 1,000 jobs during 2023, going from a high of over 1,600 in January 2023 to under 700 by December. They added back around 50 jobs during 2024.
MPC saw an even more dramatic change, halving in size between late 2022 — when they employed over 5,000 people — and the end of 2023. Their headcount seemed to stabilize around 2,200 towards the end of 2024.
Before you conclude that MPC's dramatic reduction was part of a general trend affecting the whole VFX industry, none of the four other largest VFX studios in the world saw anything like this kind of reduction. In fact, Framestore, Industrial Light & Magic, and Wētā FX seem to have modestly increased their headcount between late 2022 and the end of 2024.
The Mill's global headcount has been reducing slowly but steadily for at least two years, shedding about 330 jobs between January 2023 and August 2024. They stabilized at around 1,030 people in late 2024.
US HEADCOUNT
Between them, Technicolor’s divisions employed roughly 460 people in the US at the start of 2025. 80% of these US employees were at The Mill.
The majority of Mikros Animation’s staff are in Bangalore, Montreal, and Paris, with only about a dozen in the US (mostly leadership and business development roles).
About 75 of MPC's 2,000+ employees are in the US. In addition to biz dev and production management, it looks like MPC’s LA studio retained previz/postviz and concept design artists.
The Mill is a different story. New York and LA remain major production hubs for advertising, even after the bulk of film and television VFX work left the US. At the end of 2024, The Mill employed approximately 170 people in LA and 180 in New York -- among the largest VFX production facilities remaining in those cities -- plus a small staff in Chicago.
I’m very sorry for everyone affected by closures at Technicolor.
Atomic Arts India is expanding, and we’re looking for top talent to join our team! If you’re #passionate about VFX, Virtual Production, and Real-Time Workflows in Unreal Engine, we’d love to hear from you!
Interested? Apply now!
Creative Supervisor :
https://www.careers-page.com/atomic-arts/job/QYY5XWV5
Pipeline TD – Game Engine & VFX :
https://www.careers-page.com/atomic-arts/job/QVRX3W5R
Interested? Apply now!
Creative Supervisor :
https://www.careers-page.com/atomic-arts/job/QYY5XWV5
Pipeline TD – Game Engine & VFX :
https://www.careers-page.com/atomic-arts/job/QVRX3W5R