Citing Coronavirus Impact, Technicolor Is Shutting Down Mill Film Brand, Merging Studio With Mr. X

The French conglomerate Technicolor, which owns a number of vfx studios, is merging two of those — Mill Film and Mr. X — under the name Mr. X. The merger is effective immediately.

Here are the details:

• The newly combined studio will handle vfx on both films and series. All facilities remain open in Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles, Adelaide, and Bangalore.
• Laura Fitzpatrick, who was managing director of Mill Film, will become managing director at Mr. X, based in Montreal. Dennis Berardi, founder of Mr. X, will take on the role of creative director at the studio.
• A statement from Mill Film says: “Covid-19 is changing the entertainment industry, the theatrical market is being re-imagined, and many projects are currently on hold indefinitely. The merger is a direct and necessary response to align to the changing needs of the industry and creative partners, as productions begin again, and as the entertainment industry looks to move forward.”
• Last month, labor activists at the Art Babbitt Appreciation Society (ABAS) condemned Technicolor, claiming that it had laid off “hundreds” of Montreal-based staff at Mill Film, Mr. X, and vfx studio MPC. ABAS’s assertion corroborated rumors of job losses.
• Founded in 2001, Mr. X has handled vfx on such high-profile features as Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar-winning The Shape of Water and Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, as well as tv series like FX’s The Strain, Marvel’s Inhumans, and History’s Vikings.
• Mill Film was launched in February 2018 in Adelaide, Australia as a vfx shop specializing in feature productions. The Montreal branch opened a few months later. It shouldn’t be confused with its sister company The Mill, a vfx and creative content studio based in London.
• Between them, Mill Film and The Mill have worked on films including Gladiator (which won the Academy Award for best visual effects in 2001), Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and Dora and the Lost City of Gold.