Disney Continues Layoffs With Key Production, VFX Executives Let Go

Disney continued layoffs this week, cutting another several dozen employees at the studio and 20th Century Fox, which Disney acquired in March for $71.3 billion, an individual familiar with the layoffs told TheWrap. The layoffs, which happened on Wednesday affected several key executives in the production and visual effects departments. At Fox, head of visual effects John Kilkenny, EVP of feature production Dana Belcastro, vice president of feature production Fred Baron, and EVP of postproduction Fred Chandler were all among those let go. This is the fourth round of layoffs since Disney completed its acquisition of the bulk of Fox’s film and TV assets. In June, a few dozen employees were affected, although details of which departments within the studio’s film arm were hit were unclear. Also Read: Craig Erwich and Hulu Scripted Content Team Move Under Dana Walden, Disney TV Along with this week’s layoffs, Disney told employees it will shut down the Fox Research Library on or before Jan 6, 2020, and plans to fold the library’s contents — which include a valuable collection of 19th-century books, newspapers, 1920s fashion magazines, as well as a World War II materials — into its own archives. Disney leadership has said...