Lucasfilm shutters its Singapore studio after nearly 2 decades in the country amid Disney’s plan to save $5.5 billion this year.
ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images
Lucasfilm is shutting down its Singapore operations after nearly 20 years in the country.
The shuttering comes amid Disney’s push to save $5.5 billion in costs this year.
Lucasfilm Singapore was the company’s first international studio, located in its Star Wars-inspired “Sandcrawler” office.
Lucasfilm is shutting down its Singapore operations after nearly two decades, the city-state’s government said Tuesday. The move comes amid parent company Disney’s push to save billions in costs this year.
The company’s unit — called Industrial Light & Magic, or ILM, Singapore — is a visual effects and animation studio which recently worked on “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” and “The Mandalorian.”
“Lucasfilm’s decision to wind down its Singapore operations is in response to changes in the industry and business conditions,” Singapore’s economic development board and the Infocomm Media Development Authority said in a joint statement seen by Insider.
Disney CEO Bob Iger had announced in February he would cut 7,000 jobs to achieve $5.5 billion in cost savings in 2023, Insider previously reported.
ILM has 340 employees in Singapore, Channel News Asia reported, citing an employee who told the outlet staff would continue working at the studio until the end of the year. Lucasfilm and relevant government agencies are helping affected employees to find roles in other companies, the two government agencies said.
Lucasfilm Singapore began its operations in 2004 as an animation studio that contributed to the company’s animated shorts, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” for Cartoon Network, per the New York Times.
“By having a base here in Singapore, we can create something new in animation, a style that will blend East and West and offer something not seen before,” George Lucas said back in 2004, the LA Times reported.
The studio was the company’s first overseas campus and used to work out of its iconic Star Wars-inspired Sandcrawler office building, which it sold to the Blackstone Group in 2021.
Lucasfilm and Disney did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider.