Meteor Studios

in Montreal reported that there was a core group of 80 employees at Meteor Studios, but that projects such as Fantastic Four'' had involved "140 artists working at 'full tilt'". Key employees included head of production François Garcia, and visual effects supervisors Paul Nightingale and Bret St. Clair. == Projects ==

Its highly rated works included When Dinosaurs Roamed America on the Discovery Channel, which had more than 500 scenes integrating CGI into live-action HD. In 2007, Playback reported that Meteor Studios was venturing into 3D VFX for the first time, for Journey to the Center of the Earth to be released the following year. == Bankruptcy and aftermath ==

In November 2007, Meteor Studios shut down after wrapping its work on Journey to the Center of the Earth and filed for bankruptcy, leaving 130 employees and freelancers unpaid after postponing their paychecks for three months. In its bankruptcy filing at Quebec Superior Court, Meteor management blamed the Writers Guild of America strike for halting contracts for new projects. By then, Journey to the Center of the Earth had grossed $102 million at the box office; actor Brendan Fraser, who had starred in the 3D action film, tried to intervene on behalf of the ex-Meteor employees, and made calls to both Evergreen and Discovery. In September 2009, 130 mainly Canadian artists accepted an offer to recoup 70 per cent of compensation owed to them by Discovery Trademark Holding Co. Inc. and Evergreen Digital LLC, Variety magazine noted that Meteor Studios had become "a symbol of the shaky standing of the vfx industry and vfx artists in particular", because they lacked representation by any established union or guild, and the visual effects studios themselves sometimes lacked viable business models. ==Filmography==

• Catwoman (2004) • Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004) • Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) • Elektra (2005) • Fantastic Four (2005) • Final Destination 3 (2006) • Slither (2006) • 300 (2006) • Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008) ==Television==

• When Dinosaurs Roamed America (2001) • Valley of the T-Rex (2001) • Walking With Prehistoric Beasts (2001) • Engineering the Impossible (2002) • Chasing Giants: On the Trail of the Giant Squid (2002) • Island of the Pygmy Mammoth (2002) • What Killed the Mega Beasts? (2002) • Before We Ruled the Earth (2003) • Extreme Engineering (2003) • Giant Monsters (2003) • Dinosaur Planet (2003) • The Dinosaur Feather Mystery (2004) • Alien Planet (2005) • Dino Lab (2006) • T. rex: New Science, New Beast (2006) • Baby Mammoth (2007) ==References==