PHD, a one-stop shop “collective” founded by visual effects industry veterans John Hughes, Helena Packer and Kevin Donovan, has been launched in Los Angeles. Hughes is best known to the industry as one of the co-founders of VFX company Rhythm & Hues — he led that studio for 26 years. The company, which won three…

In a storied career, involving projects by various leading industry auteurs, Australian visual effects supervisor Chris Godfrey has tended to end up working on either war films or musicals—though he doesn't know exactly why. Teaming up with director Mel Gibson on his triumphant return to filmmaking, harrowing WWII…

God is the holy grail of special effects. Sure, CGI wizards have mastered creating miracles from the diminutive; it's one thing to make Yoda or Gollum unlikely world beaters. But when you're talking about the Almighty, the effects have got to be, well, mighty. For more than half a century in cinema, though, divine…

Producer Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead, Terminator trilogy), cinematographer John Bailey (As Good As It Gets, Ordinary People), Industrial Light & Magic chief creative officer John Knoll (Oscar winner Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest) and editor Michael Tronick (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, 2 Guns) are joining the…

Visual effects house Origin Digital Studios is opening for business in Burbank, even as VFX companies increasingly flee Los Angeles for more enticingly incentivized cities. The new mid-sized indie studio is backed by Miami-based Lincoln Road Advisors and already has a key strategic partnership in place, with Origin HQ…

UPDATED: Warner Bros and Village Roadshow were set to open the Wachowskis’ sci-fier Jupiter Ascending on July 18 after moving it up by a week in the summer 2014 tentpole calendar back in December. Now the actioner starring Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis won’t fly into theaters until February 6, 2015. WB’s action pic Ru…

Sony Pictures Imageworks announced late Thursday that its headquarters will relocate to Vancouver, leaving the fate of its 270 Culver City VFX workers in question. The Oscar-winning VFX and digital animation wing of Sony recently handled effects on WB’s Tom Cruise sci-fier Edge of Tomorrow and Sony-Columbia’s The Amazi…

A year ago yesterday, an estimated 400-plus supporters of the visual effects industry gathered at Hollywood and Vine as the glitterati walked the Oscar red carpet just blocks away. Get ready for Round 2. The Association of Digital Arts and Technicians has announced a VFX rally for the same corner from 1-3 PM Sunday as…

Vancouver-based 3D specialists Gener8 Media is expanding into VFX postproduction with a newly created division called The Feder8tion, to be headed by 20th Century Fox veteran Jennifer Meislohn. She comes to the company after almost a decade at Fox, where she was VP Visual Effects overseeing films like the…

The agency has signed new client Digital Domain 3.0 as the visual effects company continues to bounce back out of a 2012 bankruptcy. Digital Domain’s current iteration was acquired last year by Sun Innovations which appointed Daniel Seah as CEO. WME will advise on continued growth and expansion in visual effects…

EXCLUSIVE: Film producer Cybill Lui (After the Dark) has launched L.A.-based production co. Anova Pictures and struck a strategic partnership with visual effects house Mr. X. The Toronto and NY-based digital studio’s recent projects include Pacific Rim, TRON: Legacy, and upcoming pics RoboCop and Pompeii. As part of…

Thomas J. McLean is an AwardsLine contributor. Expect Gravity to be as powerful and inevitable a force in the visual-effects category at this year's Oscars as, well, gravity. Offering more than just snazzy visuals — about 95% of what's on screen is digital — Gravity's visual-effects supervisor Tim Webber fulfilled…