Cinesite Studios (also known as Cinesite VFX or simply Cinesite) is an independent, multinational business which provides services to the media and entertainment industries. Its head office in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

opened for business in 1994, initially offering services in visual effects for film and television, subsequently expanding to include feature animation. Divisions of Cinesite and its partner companies

Image Engine Image Engine (also known as Image Engine Design Inc.) is a visual effects and animation studio based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1995, the studio specializes in character/creature design and animation, digital environments, V ...

TRIXTER Trixter is an American glam metal band from Paramus, New Jersey. The band achieved major success in the early 1990s with their top hit, "Give It To Me Good" reaching sixty-five on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1990. The band disbanded for several y ...

, L'Atelier Animation, Squeeze and Assemblage Entertainment operate in London,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, Skopje, Belgrade,

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, Quebec City,

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and Mumbai with more than 2,500 employees.

History

Foundation

Cinesite opened its doors in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

in 1991 to help with the digital restoration of ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...

''. The restoration was released in 1993, and Cinesite opened a division in London in 1994. There, it originally operated as a service bureau for

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

Cineon The Cineon System was one of the first computer based digital film systems, created by Kodak in the early 1990s. It was an integrated suite of components consisting a Motion picture film scanner, a film recorder and workstation hardware with so ...

digital film system. Both locations subsequently evolved to become full service visual effects facilities. In 2003, Kodak merged the Cinesite Hollywood office into LaserPacific. In May 2012, Kodak sold Cinesite to a UK-based private investor. Current ownership is a combination of its existing management team supported by private investment.

International growth

After Cinesite became independent from Kodak in 2012, it began a sustained period of international growth. In January 2014, with the support of

Investissement Québec Investissement Québec is a company established in 1998 under an act passed by the National Assembly of Quebec to favour investment in Quebec by Quebec-based and international companies. Its registered office is located in Quebec City. In December 2 ...

, Cinesite announced its opening of 27,000 sq ft studios in Montréal and a feature animation division at that location. Its initial employment target was reached 18 months early, in August 2015. In July 2015, Cinesite announced its acquisition of Vancouver-based visual effects facility

, which has won Emmy awards for its visual effects on

The Book of Boba Fett ''The Book of Boba Fett'' is an American space Western television series created by Jon Favreau for the streaming service Disney+. It is part of the ''Star Wars'' franchise and a spin-off from the series ''The Mandalorian'', taking place in th ...

and Game of Thrones and also received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nomination for District 9 in 2010. In March 2017, it acquired Vancouver-based animation studio

Nitrogen Studios Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at seventh ...

and in August 2018 the German VFX studio TRIXTER. In June 2018, Cinesite was placed in the annual Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 league table, which ranks the UK's highest performing private firms by international growth. In 2022 the company announced a series of further acquisitions, beginning with L'Atelier Animation in July, Squeeze Animation Studios in early August, Balkan-based visual effects studio FX3X later that month and in November,

Assemblage Entertainment Assemblage Entertainment is an Indian animation studio based out of Mumbai, founded in December 2013, by industry veteran AK Madhavan (fondly known as Madmax). The studio distributes animation productions of major Hollywood studios and other ind ...

in Mumbai.

Visual effects

The Cinesite group of visual effects companies includes its own brand services, along with partner companies Image Engine and TRIXTER. Notable feature film productions Cinesite has created visual effects for include '' Avengers: Endgame'' (2019), ''

Mary Poppins Returns ''Mary Poppins Returns'' is a 2018 American musical fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall, with a screenplay written by David Magee and a story by Magee, Marshall, and John DeLuca. Loosely based on the book series ''Mary Poppins'' by P. L. Tr ...

'' (2018), '' Avengers: Infinity War'' (2018), '' The Commuter'' (2018), ''

Ant-Man and the Wasp ''Ant-Man and the Wasp'' is a 2018 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the characters Scott Lang / Ant-Man and Hope Pym / Wasp. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is th ...

'' (2018), '' Independence Day: Resurgence'' (2016), ''

Spectre Spectre, specter or the spectre may refer to: Religion and spirituality * Vision (spirituality) * Apparitional experience * Ghost Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Spectre'' (1977 film), a made-for-television film produced and writ ...

'' (2015) and '' The Revenant'' (2015), for which it won a Visual Effects Society award in 2015. Cinesite has completed work on all eight films in the ''Harry Potter'' franchise in addition to '' Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'' and seven films in the ''James Bond'' franchise. Cinesite television work includes ''

Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series, created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. The series was inspired by the 1812 novel ''The Swiss Family Robinson.'' The series fo ...

'' Seasons 1 & 2 (2019), ''

The Witcher ''The Witcher'' ( pl, Wiedźmin ) is a series of six fantasy novels and 15 short stories written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series revolves around the eponymous "witcher", Geralt of Rivia. In Sapkowski's works, "witchers" are be ...

'' (2019), ''

Raising Dion ''Raising Dion'' is an American superhero drama streaming television series that premiered on October 4, 2019 on Netflix. It is based on the 2015 comic book and short film of the same name by Dennis Liu. In January 2020, Netflix renewed the ser ...

'' (2019), ''Outlander: Brave New World'' (2019), '' Murder Mystery'' (2019), ''American Gods'': Season 1 (2018) and Tom Clancy's ''Jack Ryan'' (2018). Cinesite has won Emmy awards for ''

Generation Kill ''Generation Kill'' is a 2004 book written by ''Rolling Stone'' journalist Evan Wright chronicling his experience as an embedded reporter with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the United States Marine Corps, during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. ...

'' (2008) and ''

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

'' (2006) and nominations include ''American Gods'': Season 1 and '' Band of Brothers'' (2002). Cinesite won a

Visual Effects Society The Visual Effects Society (VES) is an entertainment industry organization representing visual effects practitioners including artists, animators, technologists, model makers, educators, studio leaders, supervisors, PR/marketing specialists and ...

award in 2021 for its work on Universal Studios' stage-based stunt show The Bourne Stuntacular. The show also won an award from the TEA (

Themed Entertainment Association The Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) is an international non-profit association that represents creators, developers, designers and producers of themed entertainment. It is also noted for its THEA Awards, which were founded in 1995 and ar ...

) which stated, ''"The high level of technical achievement and the creative application in creating a spectacular, immersive experience makes The Bourne Stuntacular a worthy recipient of this honor."''

Feature animation

On 8 February 2016, Cinesite announced the launch of a dedicated feature animation division at its Montréal Studios. Since then, it has worked with production partners to complete '' Charming'' (2018), ''

Gnome Alone ''Gnome Alone'' is a 2017 computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Peter Lepeniotis and written by Michael Schwartz and Zina Zaflow, from a story by Robert Moreland. The film was first released in November 2017 in Cyprus, Greece, Romania ...

'' (2018), '' Trouble'' (2019), and ''

Fearless Fearless or The Fearless may refer to: Psychology * Lack of fear * Courage or bravery Film, television and audio Film * ''Fearless'' (1978 film), an Italian film directed by Stelvio Massi * ''Fearless'' (1993 film), an American drama directed ...

'' (2020) for 3QU Media, '' The Star'' (2017) for

Sony Pictures Animation Sony Pictures Animation Inc. is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and founded on May 9, 2002. The studio's films are distributed worldwide by So ...

, and '' Extinct'' (2021) for

Huayi Brothers Huayi Brothers Media Corp. () is a Chinese multinational entertainment company that owns a film studio, a television production company, a talent agency, a record label, and a movie theater chain founded in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Maca ...

. In addition to providing production services for other studios, Cinesite produces its own animated features through Aniventure. Cinesite first collaborated with River Productions to produce '' Riverdance: The Animated Adventure'' (2021); an animated version of the Irish stage show of the same name, then took over production on the long-gestating feature '' Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank'' (2022). They recently completed ''Hitpig'' (2023); a loose adaptation of the

Berkeley Breathed Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed (; born June 21, 1957) is an American cartoonist, children's book author, director, and screenwriter, known for his comic strips ''Bloom County'', '' Outland'', and '' Opus''. ''Bloom County'' earned Breathed the Pu ...

book ''Pete & Pickles'', and are next set to produce the long in-development adaptation of ''

Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' is a beast fable, in the form of satirical allegorical novella, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to c ...

'' directed by

Andy Serkis Andrew Clement Serkis (born 20 April 1964) is an English actor, director, and producer. He is best known for his performance capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation, and voice work for computer-generated characters such as Go ...

. Vancouver-based animation company

was rebranded under Cinesite soon after its acquisition by the group in March 2017. Since then, it has worked for MGM on ''

The Addams Family ''The Addams Family'' is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 unrelated single-panel cartoons, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' over ...

'' (2019) and its sequel. In 2022, Cinesite acquired the Montreal-based L'Atelier Animation, and later in the year, purchased majority stakes in Squeeze Studio and

Credits

VFX 1996-2019

TV series

Animation credits

References

{{Reflist

External links

Cinesite's website

The UK Screen Association

Cinesite on the IMDB
British animation studios Television and film post-production companies Visual effects companies Mass media companies based in London Entertainment companies established in 1991 1991 establishments in California Companies based in the City of Westminster 2012 mergers and acquisitions Private equity portfolio companies Privately held companies based in London