Sony to shut down its Chennai animation unit by March 31

CHENNAI: The Chennai unit of Sony Pictures Imageworks, the visual effects and animation unit of Sony Pictures Digital Production, is rushing to complete its works on the blockbuster Hollywood franchise Spiderman’s next ‘The Amazing Spiderman 2.’ The animators and their colleagues will also be bracing themselves for another deadline – March 31, by which time the Sony unit in South Chennai will shut down.

Sony Pictures Imageworks entered India in 2007 by acquiring a 51% equity stake in Chennai-based FrameFlow for, it was then reported, $5 million, in what was then seen as a vote of confidence in India’s animation prowess. The company didn’t answer a detailed questionnaire sent by ET on what prompted the decision to exit India.

It, however, did write, “Sony Pictures Imageworks will not renew its lease in Chennai, India when it expires in March. This facility made significant contributions to such productions as ‘MIB3? and the upcoming ‘ The Amazing Spider-Man 2.’ Imageworks is committed to its headquarters in Culver City and facility in Vancouver, BC.”

The shutting down of the Chennai facility, which at its peak had 140 employees, comes nearly 20 months after a similar facility in New Mexico was closed. Many of its employees have already quit, sources close to the development said.

One of them said, “The reason given by the management was that they do not have projects for the next one year.”

In the nearly seven years of its life here, its animators have worked on Hollywood blockbusters such as ‘ Oz the Great and Powerful,’ ‘The Amazing Spider-Man,’ ‘Men in Black 3,’ ‘ The Smurfs 2’ and ‘ Alice in Wonderland.’
Its animators in Chennai primarily performed two functions – rotoscoping and match moving, which are both animation techniques. A few handled modelling and animation. Their monthly salaries ranged between Rs 15,000 and Rs 1.2 lakh; a few were paid over Rs 2 lakh.

The sources also said the employees left with hefty compensations, depending on their salaries. This, however, could not be independently verified by ET.

With the closing down of the animation unit in Chennai, and that too without a stated reason, there are various theories floating around as to what the cause could be.

An industry official, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “Some of the Western countries such as Canada offer tax rebates; India does not. So, I guess this was one the factors why they decided to shut down, though the reasons are not clear.”

Tokyo-based Sony Corp, which has diverse business interests in electronics, entertainment and gaming, recently announced it would incur a $1.1 billion loss during the current year and cut 5,000 jobs as part of a restructuring exercise. Some experts believe this many have had a roundabout impact on the animation business too.

“World-wide, the visual effects industry has been making losses,” said R Kamal Kannan, a Chennai-based visual effects expert, who has worked on animation for Indian movies. As an example, he pointed to Rhythm and Hues Studio, the Oscar winner for visual effects in ‘Life of Pi,’ which went bankrupt and was eventually picked up by Prana Studios.

When Sony took over FrameFlow in 2007, it had spoken about generating $20 million in revenues in 3-5 years from the Chennai unit. FrameFlow was founded in 2003 by Abhaya Kumar. Sony Pictures Imageworks was started 11 years prior to that.