In a move that has taken many by surprise, UK-based visual effects and animation studio Jellyfish Pictures has temporarily shut down global operations. The decision, which comes not long after the collapse of Technicolor, raises deeper questions about the current state of the AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics) sector.

A senior source inside Jellyfish Pictures India confirmed to Animation Xpress that investor troubles in the UK are at the heart of the shutdown. Rather than continuing on an uncertain footing, management chose to hit pause—at least for now—and avoid leaving staff in the dark. Employees have been told that salaries for March will be honored, and that updates will come as soon as more is known.

Despite having multiple major VFX projects in development, Jellyfish Pictures India has had to shut its doors along with the rest of the company. The situation is especially difficult given that Jellyfish had been expanding aggressively—setting up shop in India in 2023, bringing on Jasjit Singh as GM to run the Mumbai operation, and hiring over 400 new artists. They even launched a VFX division in Toronto, Canada, last year.

But even with its impressive credits—like Netflix’s The Gentleman, Apple TV’s Constellation, and award-winning work on How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming and Spirit: Untamed—the company has faced declining animation work since last year. That slowdown, combined with financial pressure at the top, has brought everything to a halt.

For Jellyfish’s Indian artists and production teams, many of whom left other jobs to join the rapidly growing studio, the news has left them scrambling. Some have already started looking for new opportunities, even as they wait to see whether Jellyfish will recover.

At its peak, Jellyfish was one of the UK’s flagship VFX houses, with a reputation for high-end work for Disney, HBO, Amazon, and the BBC. The suspension of opeartions comes on the heels of the shutdown of The Mill, MPC Studios, Mikros Animation and their parent company Technicolor Creative. Whether it will survive this crisis—and what that means for its global workforce—remains to be seen.