450 sacked as Disney axes Zemeckisâ??s mocap studio

Some 450 workers are set to lose their jobs with Walt Disney’s decision to close down a huge motion-capture studio.

It will take nine months for the facility – based in Marin County San Francisco – to close completely.

The mo-cap studio was designed by ImageMovers Digital (IMD), a firm partly owned by Disney and co-founded by famed director Robert Zemeckis.

Disney suggested the huge cut was unavoidable.

"Given today’s economic realities, we need to find alternative ways to bring creative content to audiences and IMD no longer fits into our business model," said Walt Disney Studios president Alan Bergman.

The Zemeckis facility has been primarily used for the film industry, though the mo-cap facilities were of use to development studios.