Disney’s ILM To Open New Animation/VFX Studio In Mumbai

The Walt Disney Company’s Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is expanding its international footprint, opening a new facility in Mumbai, India. Kiran ‘KP’ Prasad, former head of studio at DNEG Bangalore and Chennai, will lead the studio, reporting to ILM senior vp and general manager Janet Lewin.

ILM’s Mumbai facility will operate a full vfx and animation services pipeline, working on content for the local market as a means to gain access to the Southeast Asian talent pool. The studio will work on vfx and animation projects of varying size and scale for tv, film, and streaming, as well as in-person attractions.

ILM Mumbai joins the company’s other locations in San Francisco, Vancouver, London, Singapore, and Sydney, the latter of which is the company’s most recent addition having opened in 2019. Its employees will join a global workforce that is soon expected to grow over 2,500 employees. The company will be hiring leadership, technology, support, production, and artist positions in the coming months. Position details can be found on ILM’s careers page.

In a release accompanying the announcement, Lewin said:

With five global studios consistently operating at capacity and continuing to grow, the time was right for ILM to expand once again to meet the industry’s increasing demand for high-caliber visual effects. This new full-fledged visual effects studio in India will allow us to offer even greater capacity while ensuring that we always meet the high-quality bar that our clients expect of us.

Prasad added:

ILM has always been on the forefront of technological and creative innovation in the visual effects industry and there is no better time to start our studio in India than now, as the Indian vfx industry is poised for spectacular growth in the coming years. It is exciting and an honor to be part of the ILM team at such a key moment in the vfx industry with technological developments pushing the boundaries of visual storytelling. I look forward to working with the executive team to set up the studio from the ground up, building a world-class facility and bringing the best of the diverse Indian talent together for an opportunity with endless possibilities.