Latest in VFX

DNEG, the visual effects and animation company behind Dune, F9, Venom and other high-profile productions, has agreed to merge with a SPAC called Sports Ventures Acquisition Corp. in a deal that aims to take the group public with a stock listing on the Nasdaq (symbol DNEG). The combined company will be led by Namit Malh…

For Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, VFX supervisor Sean Walker, along with his team at Weta, was tasked with bringing the Great Protector and the Dweller-in-Darkness to life. "The most challenging part with these insane, massive, mystical and mythical creatures, is that the human mind knows that these…

Wonder Dynamics, a startup founded by Ready Player One star Tye Sheridan and VFX expert Nikola Todorovic that aims to lower the cost and level the playing field for visual effects, raised $9 million in a Series A funding round that included Epic Games and Samsung as investors. An initial funding round last spring…

Tenet and Dune VFX firm DNEG has announced plans to pay overtime to its UK employees in what it calls a "transformative move" that is a departure from industry norms. The award-winning visual effects specialist and animation studio's previous overtime policy in the UK mirrored the local industry norm of compensating…

For the second season of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, VFX supervisor Everett Burrell was tasked with not only expanding upon the superpowers of the Hargreeves, but also bringing the viewer into the past to show Dallas, Texas in the 1960s. The Umbrella Academy follows a family of adopted children, now grown up, born…

Unlike most other superhero shows, Amazon Prime's The Boys brings a little more realism to their superheroes, in terms of corruption and powers. That's where VFX supervisor Stephan Fleet comes in. "We always approach everything, no matter how absurd or supernatural,” Fleet says, “with the thought of 'what would make…

Editors' Note: Deadline's Reopening Hollywood series focuses on the complicated effort to get the industry back on its feet while ensuring the safety of everyone involved. Our goal is to examine numerous sides of the business and provide a forum for leaders in Hollywood who have a vision for how production could safely…

The Hollywood industry has seen some huge obstacles — to say the least — since the coronavirus outbreak. Theaters have shut down, productions have halted, movie release dates have been pushed, festivals have canceled, many film and TV staffers have lost their jobs. And all of it is affecting the often-overlooked…

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…