For as long as there have been moving pictures, there has been Technicolor. It’s a process that dates back more than a century, as STUDIOBINDER.com’s Chris Leckmann lectured in an informative 2021 piece:
Technicolor is a series of processes used to first produce color in motion pictures. From 1916 to 1932, the Technicolor company tinkered with its system so that the process of coloring films became accessible to Hollywood. Today, Technicolor is perhaps more known for the end result of the coloring process than the process itself. Technicolor films are known for their bright, bold, saturated colors.
Indeed, it can be argued that the roots of entertainment as we know it lie in transforming what was a grey and lifeless art form into something vibrant and captivating. If you’ve seen the reaction of a child even today when they first watch THE WIZARD OF OZ when Dorothy awakens in Oz, the point in the film where it shifts from the black and white of Kansas to color, you might be able to grasp how dramatic this was to an audience of theatergoers in the throes of The Great Depression.
So it’s with more that a mere tinge of bitter irony that as we may be on the cusp of another economic calamity (thanks, Fat Orange Jesus and your “lovely” tariffs) that we may be seeing the end of Technicolor, the company. VARIETY’s Carolyn Giadina was among the many that recently broke this news to an already frazzled production community and its fans:
Following a weekend during which it tried to make 11th hour deals to save the company and its brands, Technicolor Group CEO Caroline Parot sent a memo to employees Monday, writing “due to inability to find new investors for the full Group, despite extensive efforts, [Paris-headquartered] Technicolor Group has filed for Court ‘recovery procedure’ before the French Court of Justice to give a chance to enable to find solutions.”
REEL 360’s Colin Costello amplified some details:
In a stunning blow to the visual effects industry, Technicolor Creative Studios will reportedly shutter all U.S. operations of The Mill, MPC Advertising, and Mikros Animation. This abrupt closure, following months of financial turmoil, impacts hundreds of employees across New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
Technicolor has received industry acclaim for its visual effects work, with recent Oscar nominations for Top Gun: Maverick and multiple BAFTA and Emmy nods. While the company generates an estimated $523,225,000 annually, shifting industry trends and increased competition from streaming services have made sustaining profitability increasingly difficult.
So yep, even though we’re a century removed from when color itself was revolutionary, we’re very much still in a world where Technicolor’s ability to make something great even greater–even Tom Cruise flying around decades after he first started with the same degree of intensity and accuracy as he once did–is significant. And it makes Giadina’s follow-up opinion piece released last week all the more poignant:
Disney’s first feature-length color animated movie, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” opened in Technicolor in 1937, and the company came full circle when Technicolor’s flagship visual effects company MPC was called upon to create effects on Disney’s upcoming live-action adaptation of the classic. But the timing now marks the sad end of Technicolor, which was founded in 1915 and went on to become one of Hollywood’s most recognizable brands, working on classic films such as “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gone with the Wind.”
One employee requesting anonymity related that when the WARN notices were sent to U.S. staff, there wasn’t a town hall or other communication from management, and many initially believed the email to be a scam. But as it became apparent that the ship was sinking, there was anger, tears, disbelief, and panic. There was looting of office items ranging from computer monitors to art that hung on the walls to relics of the company’s storied past such as awards, while employees hustled to retrieve their personal belongings. It was a scene that the source described as “madness,” “crazy,” “sickening” and “heartbreaking.”
Questions remain about how studios will finish upcoming projects that are currently housed at MPC, which include Disney’s live-action remake of “Lilo and Stitch” and Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” as well as Mikros’ work, such as Paramount and Nickelodeon’s upcoming “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” sequel.
And the answer that’s the ultimate elephant in the room was one that Giadina saved until the very end of her wail:
(T)oday’s industry has another challenge on the horizon: artificial intelligence. Many suggest AI tools offer opportunities to make VFX companies more time and cost efficient, while others warn that this could come at the expense of jobs. “The clients want it cheaper and fast, and they are looking for any alternative,” cautions Scott Ross, co-founder of Digital Domain, former general manager of ILM, and author of new book “Upstart.” “As soon as AI is able to do all of the tasks of visual effects workers, Game over. … I hope I’m wrong.
Knowing what I know about the priorities and pressures of filmmakers today, I wish I could say I disagree with Ross. But I don’t think he’s wrong; more significantly, those entrusted with the Technicolor brand were apparently even more convinced he’s draconially prescient.
At a time when we’re all still debating the worthiness and cost-effectiveness of producing Oscar-worthy material that caters to an increasingly smaller and elite subset of American consumers the same hue and cry for keeping the word creative in the phrase creative arts front and center, it might be time for those that appreciate such nuance to make their feelings known. When anyone asks you what got you to cough up the kind of dough it takes to go to a movie in a theatre these days, you might want to toss in the fact that the visual experience that is afforded by the likes of IMAX is all the more satisfying knowing that a talented and auspiced human being was behind the decisions that advanced technology has enabled them to make. Pretty much the same argument that are being made for writers and actors needs to be made for those in the post-production community, because their livelihoods are clearly as much at stake as more prominent folks’ are.
Maybe it’s too late to save Technicolor itself, but we might still be able to keep the vision of those who founded it alive.
Until next time…