- - Industry Veterans Ted Gagliano and Jason Chen Launch Desert Eclipse, a Next-Gen Production Studio Merging Film, Animation and Gaming (EXCLUSIVE)

Jazz TangcayNovember 3, 2025 at 11:54 PM

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Storm Santos

Filmmakers and industry veterans Jason Chen and Ted Gagliano have launched Desert Eclipse, a technology-driven creative production company.

The company merges pioneering animation and virtual production workflows withe film, animation and gaming.

Desert Eclipse’s creative lab and real-time innovation stage is located on the Fox Studios lot in Century City.

The studio’s proprietary Unreal Engine-based, real-time virtual production pipeline allows simultaneous development of premium animated series, features and interactive games, ensuring consistency and cohesion across shared worlds and IP. By building all assets in-engine, Desert Eclipse enables cross-platform storytelling — allowing actors, characters, environments and props to exist fluidly between film, gaming and immersive experiences. This approach enhances production efficiency, cinematic quality and creative flexibility.

Gagliano will serve as the company’s chairman. Previously, he worked as president of feature post-production at 20th Century Fox, overseeing more than 700 films including “Titanic,” “Avatar” and “Planet of the Apes.” He co-founded the Fox Innovation Lab, overseeing production of Wild-The VR Experience (Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern) and The Martian VR Experience.

Chen is taking on the role as CEO, founder and executive producer. His credits include “Avatar,” “Jojo Rabbit” and “Star Trek: Into Darkness.”

Gagliano merged his Bunker Comics label, a catalogue of graphic novels from the Madefire publishing library, into Desert Eclipse – a fusion of comic art and cinematic storytelling. With more than a dozen graphic novel IPs under its umbrella, Desert Eclipse is leveraging this library to drive creative development and expand its slate of animated content.

·Rounding out the executive team is chief operating officer Rachel Pinchbeck. Her background spans Bron Studios, Netflix and Google. Rachel worked as a producer on the series “Beat Bugs.”

In a statement, Chen said, “At Desert Eclipse, our mission is to bridge the artistry of cinema with the innovation of real-time technology. By combining decades of filmmaking craft with cutting-edge tools, we’re building a modular creative ecosystem where storytellers can dream freely – and see those dreams come to life instantly.” He went on to say, “It’s our responsibility to take the art of cinema into the digital future without forgetting the lessons of the past. Creative drives innovation, innovation drives change, change drives art, and art is everlasting.”

Gagliano added, “Being on the historic Fox Studios lot is symbolic for us. It’s where some of the greatest cinematic stories were made, and now we’re carrying that legacy forward – infusing it with real-time innovation that redefine what’s possible for creators from all backgrounds and areas of expertise.” He continued, “We’re building a studio for the future – one that’s filmmaker-first, tech-enabled, and globally connected. By developing our own IP and streamlining real-time production, Desert Eclipse is creating a new model for how stories are told, shared, and experienced.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”