@vicharris no real savior yet. Getting bought by an Indian company is, in this industry, the kiss of death. Only a matter of time from that point that they'd be shuttered. There's little precedent for any foreign investment being more than a speed bump on the way to demise.

This would be the first time a truly significant force in VFX went out of business since the collapse of Robert Abel & Associates / Abel Image Research, which were the ashes that R+H rose out of like a phoenix back in the late 1980s. Other good, talented shops have shut down but PIXAR is the only company with a longer pedigree (by months) in CGI in existence with its core company culture still intact.

If they don't live through this I wonder how long it will be before the techniques developed there filter out to other shops and another studio is capable of creating totally photo-real land animals. Nobody else has come close to what they have busted their asses to achieve.

@DouglasHorn yeah, I'm still waiting for this Claudio guy to do the right thing and give it back. Of course that would never happen but he's basically a thief now. His giving it over to the R+H team to go along with their other rightfully earned trophy would be one option, or just giving it back to the Academy and making them publicly acknowledge their mistake in awarding it to him would be the more appropriate.

PS> my little brother did the layout for a good chunk of this film, most notably on meerkat island, seen in the breakdown video above :)

It's a beautiful movie. But the Cinematography Oscar should have gone to the VFX guys. Or Roger Deakins.

Good one. He should host the next Oscars!