VFX And Animation Conglomerate Cinesite Reports $29 Million Loss In Annual Report
For its latest financial year, global vfx and animation producer Cinesite operated at a loss of over $29 million dollars (£23,391,367), per recent corporate filings in the U.K.
Cinesite’s losses are for its fiscal year, which ended on April 30, 2024. The company’s gross sales dropped 39% from £175,140,969 in 2023 to £126,149,795 in FY2024, while its debt-to-income ratio increased from 60% to 88%. The company’s total debt is around £111 million.
The company’s various studios provide animation and vfx services for a wide variety of projects. Some recent productions include The Witcher, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Iwájú, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Spider-Man: No Way Home, True Detective: Night Country, and Paramount’s upcoming Smurfs film (pictured at top).
While Cinesite’s report indicated that it isn’t in financial trouble and that it has the support of bankers and shareholders, it said that the results for the current year, ending April 30, 2025, are “still expected to be impacted by the ongoing industry disruption caused by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes.”
The company added that it has diversified into “immersive services” to reduce its reliance on film and tv vfx, and that it expects feature animation “to recover more quickly with higher sales overall than [the previous year] which was heavily impacted by the strikes.”
After Technicolor’s collapse over the past week, the financial health of other vfx conglomerates is likely to be scrutinized more closely. Will Cohen, The Mill’s former managing director, wrote in a commentary this week, “I am concerned about what I fear will happen in the short term, more [vfx] companies may be unable to overcome their challenges…”. Cohen added that he anticipates more mergers and acquisitions in the industry.
Cinesite, like other major vfx producers, operates in multiple countries and owns numerous studios, which makes its continuing stability important to a large global workforce. Here is a list of the studios that Cinesite either owns or in which it holds a majority interest”:
- Cinesite VFX Ltd (United Kingdom)
- Cinesite Inc (Canada)
- Image Engine Design (Canada)
- Cinesite Vancouver (Canada)
- Trixter GmbH (Germany)
- Cinesite LA Inc (United States)
- Assemblage Entertainment (India)
- L’Atelier Animation (Canada)
- Squeeze Studio Animation (Canada)
- Moov Animation (Canada)
- FX3X Cinesite DDO Skopje (North Macedonia)
- FX3X Belgrade (Serbia)
- Creative Capture Studios (United Kingdom)
- Imaginarium Studios (United States)
- Cinesite VIZ (United Kingdom)