The animation industry in Toronto suffered a pair of major setbacks this week as animation and visual-effects house CORE Digital closed its doors and indie producer Cookie Jar cut 35 animation production jobs, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
CORE Digital had done work on such animated films as The Wild, Ant Bully and Valiant, as well as visual effects on Showtime’s The Tudors series and the indie feature film Splice.
The house, which was founded in 1994 and had a production partnership with Los Angeles-based Radar Pictures, notified Monday its 150 employees of the shut down.
Cookie Jar officials said in a statement that it was re-aligning its priorities more toward live-action series than animation because of difficult economic conditions.
The company, which is known for such animated series as Caillou and The Doodleboops Rockin’ Road Show, also said it will expand its copyright promotions licensing group in London and will maintain all of its international offices.
Both companies cited as a factor in their decisions the economic downtown, such as the rise in value of the Canadian dollar and shrinking margins on film and TV work.
