DreamWorks Animation is set to layoff up to 400 staff according to multiple reports after a difficult year of lacklustre releases.

Film production personnel from animators to storyboard artists are set to lose their jobs in a painful restructuring to reduce costs after a terrible year for the studio where 3 out of 4 releases according to Variety, missed their financial mark.

With more competition at the box office and on VOD, audiences are becoming more selective when it comes to choosing which films to watch. This has been one of the major issues that the film industry has faced in the last year. With the domestic box office down 5% year-on-year and a slate of films under-performing, there was a real sense of an emerging crisis, particularly as the economy was improving considerably.

Sony was the first big studio to make a VOD theatrical release in 2014 with 'The Interview' but it is set to lose $30 million, which may leader to further film production job cuts in the coming year.

Can DreamWorks Animation come back after losing over $80 million on 'Rise of the Guardians'?