Star Wars director George Lucas's visual effects studio to set up shop in Mumbai with 400 staff

Star Wars director George Lucas-founded Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), which is one of the leading visual effects studios in the world, is looking for places to set up an office in Mumbai.

The studio will be hiring a staff of 400 and is looking for an office space between Andheri and Goregaon. The Mumbai division will be headed by Kiran Prasad.

India will be the sixth country where the San Francisco-based ILM will open a branch after Singapore, Vancouver, London and Sydney.

Lucas is best known for creating the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX.

Corporate office in Mumbai

“The gaming and OTT platforms received a huge boost during the lockdown period and demand for good content has grown exponentially.

"The government has also acknowledged the growing talent pool and unveiled a draft policy to support our industry,” she said.

“We decided to come to Mumbai because 60 to 70 per cent of the talent is here. The skillsets we need are available and of course this is the city of the stars.

“The Mumbai studio will be like any of the other ILM studios globally – a normal corporate office. It will contribute to the VFX work done globally by the company,” said Prasad.

The studio is likely to work on projects from Hollywood including live-action and animated feature films, television and streaming content.