On the 25th of February 2025, BBC Headline: “Historic visual effects studio Technicolor collapses in UK”, a report by Chris Vallance and Tom Gerken.

From the article:

Technicolor, the visual effects (VFX) group which has worked on films ranging from Disney’s 1940 classic Pinocchio to 2024 blockbuster Mufasa The Lion King, has collapsed into administration in the UK.

Hi, my name is Terence and I’m the host for the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I connect current events to matters of faith.

I grew up seeing Technicolor on the TV. I never really knew what they did. I assumed they made it possible for colour to exist in my cartoons and movies.

I never gave them much thought until today. When I saw Technicolor was shutting down. Brings back memories of my childhood before everything was brought to me by YouTube and Facebook.

Until I read this article, I did not know Technicolor, or more specifically, the studios inside Technicolor, did the special effects for many movies I enjoyed. One of the studios is Moving Picture Company (MPC). Wikipedia has a long list of projets they have been part of including: Gladiator, Guardians of the Galaxy, the Harry Potter movies, James Bond movies, Batman Begins, and many, many more. It’s a long list!

Now the article did stress that it’s only Technicolor UK that has collapsed. Operations in other countries are not affected. But it is still a surprise to me how a long established company with great big giant success behind it can collapse. Past success does not guarantee that life will be a happily ever after.

And what is true for a visual effects company is also true for any company.

Do people today know Kodak? What scares camera companies is one day people may not know what is Canon or Nikon.

Do people today know Yahoo? Or Nokia?

So the Googles and Samsungs of today can never rest on their success. At any time, somebody from somewhere in the world may produce something that just destroys your business, even your industry. Strike the sort of terror that Deepseek from China did to all the AI companies in the US.

And what is true for companies is also true for Christians.

We cannot rely on our past victories and just coast our way forward.

We cannot rely on everything that we learnt: the knowledge, skill and connections that we have made, and think we can succeed tomorrow without God.

We definitely cannot rely on who we were before in order to stand before God today and when we see him face to face.

This keeps Christians humble and hungry. Humble that our greatest achievements is by grace. Hungry for more of God and his righteousness.

Those who forget this collapse and make a crater bigger than the fall of Technicolor, Kodak, Nokia and every other company put together. For what is the loss of a little money compared to the loss of one eternal soul?

But here is the difference. Technicolor collapsed because it could not find a buyer. No one was willing to come in and save the company.

But for the Christian. We always have a saviour. And no matter how bankrupt we are, when we turn to God, he swoops in and restores us to full spiritual health.

This is the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I connect current events to matters of faith. All ye who are bankrupt, come and let the Lord Jesus revive thee. Thanks for listening. Bye bye.