Disney and Zemeckis Splitting Up

One of Robert Zemeckis's companies, ImageMovers Digital, will be dropped by Disney, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The studio announced on Friday that they will begin closing down operations of ImageMovers' Marin County facility, ImageWorks Digital, after work is finished on the film, Mars Needs Moms. ImageWorks Digital is where Zemeckis directs his motion capture films, like the recent Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey.

Disney also announced that they wish to sign a deal with ImageWorks leaders, Zemeckis, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey, to produce a remake of Yellow Submarine, but have said nothing more on the subject. The studio itself is made up of two converted aircraft hangers taking up about 120,000 square feet. At its most successful period, it employed about 450 people.

"Bob and the entire IMD team successfully built a state-of-the-art studio and produced an amazing film, A Christmas Carol, at a time when the dynamics of the industry are rapidly changing," Disney Studios President Alan Bergman said in a statement. "But, given today's economic realities, we need to find alternative ways to bring creative content to audiences, and IMD no longer fits into our business model."

Zemeckis, writer and director of Back to the Future and director for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, first had IMD under Sony Pictures, and then moved to Disney. It has not been announced as to whether or not the company will move to another film corporation.