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The Port St. Lucie, Fla., company’s Digital Domain Productions business has studios in California and Canada that create digital visual effects, animation and digital production for the entertainment and advertising industries.

The company made headlines this year when it created a hologram for the late Tupac Shakur that “performed” at a music festival.

The bankruptcy is a black eye for Florida state and local officials who committed US$135-million to subsidize the construction of a state-of-the-art studio in Port St. Lucie, which the company closed last week.

It was not immediately clear how much of the promised subsidies were paid, but the Associated Press reported on Monday that Governor Rick Scott had ordered a probe into the state incentives.

Digital Domain has worked on more than 90 major motion pictures, including “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “Transformers,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Star Trek” and “X-Men: First Class”.

The company also recently ventured into movie production by co-producing the movie version of the popular science fiction novel “Ender’s Game,” starring Harrison Ford, which is expected to be released next year.

Digital Domain, like other industry players, is struggling with low margins as movie studios can pick from a range of vendors around the world to produce computer-generated images.

The company specializes in creating realistic computer-generated human characters, and said in June it planned to produce virtual Elvis Presley likenesses across various platforms, including live shows, TV and online.