SINGAPORE: Lucasfilm is winding down operations in Singapore after nearly 20 years in the country, with parent company Disney citing economic factors affecting the industry.

Lucasfilm’s visual effects and animation studio, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), has more than 300 employees in Singapore.

The studio has been operating since 2006. It was founded as Lucasfilm Animation Singapore in 2004 to work on the animated TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

In 2013, Lucasfilm moved into the state-of-the-art Sandcrawler building, named after the classic Star Wars transport that inspired its design. Located in Fusionopolis, the nine-storey building houses a 100-seat theatre and production facilities that cater to the company’s global production needs.

The building, which also houses Disney’s offices for Southeast Asia, was sold to the Blackstone Group in January 2021.

“Over the next several months, ILM will be consolidating its global footprint and winding down its Singapore studio due to economic factors affecting the industry,” Disney told CNA on Tuesday (Aug 15).

“ILM is giving employees as much notice as possible and offering opportunities to relocate to one of the company’s growing studios.”

Aside from Singapore and its headquarters in San Francisco, ILM also has studios in Vancouver, London, Sydney and Mumbai.

“ILM will be working with the local business community in Singapore to offer a job fair with companies identified as having a need for talent with similar skill sets,” Disney added.

According to an ILM employee in Singapore, there are 340 staff members in the company and work will continue until the end of the year.

He told CNA that work has been affected by the ongoing Screen Actors Guild strike in the United States calling for higher pay and limits on the use of artificial intelligence.