Disney Expected to Close Florida Animation Unit

Walt Disney Studios is expected to shutter its Orlando, Fla.-based feature animation unit Monday amid an effort to rein in costs and concentrate production around its Burbank headquarters.

Most of the Orlando studio’s nearly 260 artists are expected to lose their jobs, although some will relocate to Burbank, sources familiar with the matter said Friday.

Disney executives declined to comment.

The action would close the chapter on a unit that had evolved from an animation showcase attraction in 1989 to a key production center for some of Disney’s major feature animation projects, including “Brother Bear,” “Lilo & Stitch” and “Mulan.”

David Grasso, a 10-year veteran of the Florida animation unit, said employees were bracing for the worst when executives are expected to break the news at a Monday meeting with staff. “We’re not expecting any glorious news that we’re still employed,” he said.

Disney abruptly halted work on Orlando’s only project in November, raising doubts about the facility’s fate. The company said at the time that it was scrapping “A Few Good Ghosts,” a film about star-crossed lovers reunited by a family of ghosts who inhabit the bodies of folk-art dolls. Shortly afterward, recruiters from DreamWorks SKG and other major animation and special effects studios descended upon the central Florida city.

Grasso said the studios were looking for artists who could help create cartoons using computers rather than old-fashioned pencils and paint.

The anticipated shutdown is the last phase in a nearly three-year effort to cut overhead and consolidate production by closing satellite operations.

Walt Disney Co. last year laid off 50 animators in Orlando, closed its Paris animation studio and shuttered its animation unit in Tokyo, laying off more than 100 employees. Disney has slashed more than 700 jobs in recent years and cut animators’ salaries by as much as 50%. The most recent cuts would leave Disney’s animation division with a core staff of 600 to 700.

Disney, which pioneered the art of hand-drawn animation, is trying to rejuvenate the high-profile unit creatively, while accommodating an emerging audience preference for cutting-edge 3-D computer-generated movies over traditionally drawn cartoons.

For the first time in decades, Disney does not have any major 2-D animated features in production. But company executives have stressed that they are not giving up on traditional animation -- two projects are in development -- contending that audiences ultimately care more about good stories than movie formats.

The executives cite the recently released traditional animated feature “Brother Bear,” which was a modest hit, grossing more than $80 million domestically. However, it’s unclear whether the film, which cost about $100 million to make and faced stiff competition over the holidays, would make much profit for Disney.

The company has high hopes for its next major animated release, “Home on the Range,” which premieres in April.

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Orlando Sentinel staff writer Todd Pack contributed to this report.