‘First Man’, ‘MI:6’ and ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ all in the running for the VFX Oscar®

Academy publishes VFX Oscar® longlist

The Academy of Motion Pictures and Science has revealed its long-list of shows that are in the running for the Best Visual Effects Award at next February’s Oscar® ceremony.

And we’re proud to say that DNEG has contributed VFX to six of them!

The long-list for the 91st Oscar® award for VFX was revealed earlier this week and of the 20 blockbusters named, DNEG contributed to the following:

  • First Man – We were the lead VFX partner and DNEG’s Paul Lambert was the overall production VFX Supervisor
  • Mission: Impossible – Fallout – We were the lead VFX partner and DNEG’s Jody Johnson was the overall production VFX Supervisor
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp – We were the lead VFX partner
  • Avengers: Infinity War
  • Black Panther
  • Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald

Earlier this year, DNEG picked up its fourth Oscar® for work on sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner 2049. Our previous Academy Award® wins were for Inception, Interstellar and Ex Machina.

What happens next

Over the coming weeks, Academy judges will take a closer look at all 20 and reveal a shortlist of 10 finalists later this month. These will then go through to the ‘bake-off’ to determine the five finalists. The results of the ‘bake-off’ will be revealed on January 22nd.

And the overall winner of the Best VFX category will be announced at the Oscars® ceremony on February 24.

Versatile VFX

The 20-strong list showcases the best in VFX innovation and the versatility of VFX techniques that enable filmmakers to tell the stories they want to tell.

For Damien Chazelles’s biopic First Man, DNEG’s VFX Supervisor Paul Lambert took the use of in-camera VFX to a new level, using huge HD LED screens and scale models to achieve an immersive and stylised ‘cinéma vérité’ look for the movie.

While spectacular VFX and stunning visuals brought to life the superpowers of the Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes in Ant-Man and the Wasp and Avengers: Infinity War.

Both of these approaches contrast with the near-invisible VFX of Mission: Impossible – Fallout, which was used to powerful effect to enable moviegoers to ‘join’ Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt as he carried out a thrilling and daring Special Forces-style free-fall jump over Paris and a death-defying helicopter flight through a canyon – just two of many exciting action sequences in the movie.

The other contenders

The other 14 contenders are listed below:

  • Isle of Dogs
  • Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
  • Mary Poppins Returns
  • Mortal Engines
  • The Nutcracker And The Four Realms (DNEG provided Stereo-3D conversion services).
  • Paddington 2
  • A Quiet Place
  • Ready Player One
  • Solo: A Star Wars Story
  • Welcome To Marwen
  • Aquaman
  • Christopher Robin
  • Bumblebee
  • Incredibles 2

Good luck to everyone involved in all of the nominated movies!

London

Vancouver

Mumbai

Los Angeles

Chennai

Montréal

Mohali

Bangalore

Toronto

Sydney