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The Visual Effects Society bowed before The Creator tonight. New Regency’s sci-fi flick scored a leading five trophies including Outstanding VFX in a Photoreal Feature at the 35th annual VES Awards. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — hot off dominating the Annie Awards over the weekend — picked up four awards including Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Movie.
See the full list of winners below.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was the night’s only other multiple winner on the film side, and Nyad swam home with the other marquee film prize — Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature. Best Picture Oscar favorite Oppenheimer won for Special (Practical) Effects.
The Creator also is up for Best Visual Effects at next month’s 96th Academy Awards, vying against Godzilla Minus One, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Napoleon. The latter two also are nominated for top VES film awards. Across the Spider-Verse will compete for the Animated Feature Oscar.
The VES Awards and Movie Academy haven’t exactly seen camera eye-to-eye during the past decade, with only five of the Visual Effects Society’s marquee winners going on to score Oscars since 2013. They did agree on Avatar: The Way of Water and Dune in the past two years but differed in the previous three. Blade Runner 2049 (2107), The Jungle Book (2016) and Gravity (2013) also turned both tricks in the past 10 years.
HBO’s The Last of Us came into the ceremony with a TV-leading half-dozen nominations and won four. Disney+’s The Mandalorian and HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty also scooped trophies tonight, but no other program has won than one.
The cellphones were came out as William Shatner beamed in to accept the 2024 VES Award for Creative Excellence. “I’m falling out of airplane!” he exclaimed in Kirkian fashion, then added, “and then I realized it was a special effect. … I accept this award for those great [VFX] artists, men and women.”
The award was presented by lifelong Star Trek fan Seth MacFarlane, who noted that the Beverly Hilton is the place “where agents bring hookers.” He later said he “asked AI to write a pilot, and it was so bad, Fox ordered 10 episodes.
Avatar and Titanic VFX producer and three-time VES Award winner Joyce Cox received the VES’ Lifetime Achievement Award tonight.
Accepting the award, she referred to her career as “a circuitous path of happy accidents” and talked about how “girls like me weren’t mentored for a career — especially not a a career in film.” She ended with, “I’m very proud to have been chosen for this — thank you.”
A VES Fellow, Cox also has worked on such live-action blockbusters as Disney’s The Lion King and The Jungle Book, along with Superman Returns, X2, The Great Gatsby and Men in Black 3. VES also recognized her dedication and vision in working to create a unified visual effects budgeting system, through her work on the Curó VFX budgeting tool.
Comic and SNL alum Jay Pharoah is hosting the show after serving as a presenter last year. “Ironically, the strikes ended just in time for awards season,” he quipped early on.
Said VES Chair Kim Davidson: “As we celebrate the 22nd annual VES Awards, we’re honored to shine a light on outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation. The honorees and their work represent best-in-class visual effects – work that engages audiences and enhances the art of storytelling. The VES Awards is the only venue that showcases and honors these outstanding global artists across a wide range of disciplines, and we are extremely proud of all our winners and nominees.”
Here are the 22nd annual VES Awards winners:
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Alan Hawkins, Christian Hejnal, Michael Lasker, Matt Hausman
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
The Last of Us; Season 1; Infected
Alex Wang, Sean Nowlan, Stephen James, Simon Jung, Joel Whist
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Nyad
Jake Braver, Fiona Campbell Westgate, R. Christopher White, Mohsen Mousavi
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty; Season 2; BEAT LA
Raymond McIntyre Jr., Victor DiMichina, Javier Menéndez Platas, Damien Stantina
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Spot
Christopher Mangnall, Craig Feifarek, Humberto Rosa, Nideep Varghese
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
The Last of Us; Endure & Survive; Bloater
Gino Acevedo, Max Telfer, Dennis You, Fabio Leporelli
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3; Rocket
Nathan McConnel, Andrea De Martis, Antony Magdalinidis, Rachel Williams
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
The Creator
Ludovic Ramisandraina, Raul Essig, Mathieu Chardonnet, Lewis Taylor
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Pav Grochola, Filippo Maccari, Naoki Kato, Nicola Finizio
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
The Mandalorian; Season 3; Lake Monster Attack Water
Travis Harkleroad, Florian Witzel, Rick Hankins, Aron Bonar
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE
The Creator; Bar
Phil Prates, Min Kim, Nisarg Suthar, Toshiko Miura
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL
Coca-Cola; Masterpiece
Ryan Knowles, Greg Mckneally, Taran Spear, Jordan Dunstall
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE
The Last of Us; Endure and Survive; Infected Horde Battle
Matthew Lumb, Ben Roberts, Ben Campbell, Quentin Hema
OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT
Oppenheimer
Scott Fisher, James Rollins, Mario Vanillo
OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT
The Creator; Nomad
Oliver Kane, Mat Monro, Florence Green, Serban Ungureanu
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT
Silhouette
Alexis Lafuente, Antoni Nicolaï, Chloé Stricher, Elliot Dreuille
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD
The Flash; Volumetric Capture
Stephan Trojansky, Thomas Ganshorn, Oliver Pilarski, Lukas Lepicovsky
OUTSTANDING VIRTUAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A CG PROJECT
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Joanna Davison, Cheyana Wilkinson, Michael Cozens, Jason Desjarlais
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT
(Tie)
Postcard From Earth
Aruna Inversin, Eric Wilson, Corey Turner, William George
Rembrandt Immersive Artwork
Andrew McNamara, Sebastian Read, Andrew Kinnear, Sam Matthews
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT
Alan Wake 2
Janne Pulkkinen, Johannes Richter, Daniel Kończyk, Damian Olechowski
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL
Coca-Cola; Masterpiece
Ryan Knowles, Antonia Vlasto, Gregory McKneally, Dan Yargici
OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
The Creator; Floating Village
John Seru, Guy Williams, Vincent Techer, Timothée Maron
OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Taehyun Park, YJ Lee, Pepe Orozco, Kelly Han
OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
The Last of Us: Post-Outbreak Boston
Melaina Mace, Adrien Lambert, Juan Carlos Barquet, Christopher Anciaume
