Asylum Closes After 11 Years In Business

The visual effects house on the recently released runaway train thriller Unstoppable has put the brakes to its operations. Santa Monica-based Asylum closed its doors on Wednesday (11/17), ending an 11-year run which saw it grow from a small boutique to a mid-sized visual effects company spanning high profile commercials and feature films.

Asylum's shuttering came as a surprise to many. The shop was busy, earned numerous accolades over the years, and had maintained enduring working relationships as exemplified by Unstoppable, the latest collaboration between director Tony Scott and Asylum executive creative director/owner/VFX supervisor Nathan McGuinness. Scott and McGuinness first worked on the 2001 action film Spy Game (McGuinness was VFX supervisor) and then teamed on such features as Beat the Devil (2002), Man on Fire ('04), Domino ('05), Deja vu ('06) and The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 ('09).

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