As reported by Orphanage co-founder Stu Maschwitz on his blog, The Orphanage has indefinitely ceased operations. The San Francisco-based visual effects and animation company was founded a decade ago and was most recently the lead house on Frank Miller’s film The Spirit, and in the past had been the lead house on films including The Host and the last half-dozen films by Robert Rodriguez, not to mention major contributions to Hollywood tentpoles Iron Man, Superman Returns, Live Free or Die Hard, Pirates of the Carribean, The Day After Tomorrow, and many, many more.
No direct reason for the sudden announcement was included in the blog post, but it follows on the heels of other recent recession-related announcements, including, also in San Francisco the decision last week by Radium to close its original studio here.
On a personal note, as a onetime Orphan myself, I repeat Stu’s closing “message to the visual effects industry”: “You will never find a better employee than a former Orphan.”