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

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

opened for business in 1994, initially offering services in visual effects for film and television, subsequently expanding to include animation and immersive services. Divisions of Cinesite and its partner companies Image Engine, Trixter, L'Atelier Animation, The Imaginarium Studios, Squeeze and Assemblage Entertainment operate in London,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

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 cit ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

and

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

with more than 2,500 employees.

History

Foundation

Cinesite opened its doors in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 1991 to help with the digital restoration of ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

''. 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 film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

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 ...

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 Decem ...

, 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 Image Engine, which has won

Emmy awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for its visual effects on The Book of Boba Fett and

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

and also received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

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

Nitrogen Studios Cinesite Vancouver (formerly known as Nitrogen Studios Canada, Inc., commonly referred to as Nitrogen Studios) is a Canadian animation company founded by husband and wife duo Greg Tiernan and Nicole Stinn. The company was founded in October 2 ...

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 Montreal-based L'Atelier Animation in July which had produced animated films and television series since 2012. Squeeze Studios followed 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 in ...

in Mumbai. In May 2023, Cinesite would purchase a majority stake in

Andy Serkis Andrew Clement Serkis (born 20 April 1964) is an English actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his motion capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for computer-generated characters such as Gollum in ''The Lo ...

' motion capture production studio The Imaginarium. In 2024 Cinesite was featured in the first edition o
Europe's Long-Term Growth Champions by Financial Times and Statista
The list comprised 300 companies in Europe with the highest disclosed compound annual growth rate over the 10 years to 2023 the company was ranked at number 62.

Visual effects

The Cinesite group of visual effects companies includes its own brand services, along with partner companies Image Engine, TRIXTER and FX3X. Notable feature film productions Cinesite has created visual effects for include Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical (2022), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022),

No Time to Die ''No Time to Die'' is a 2021 spy thriller film and the twenty-fifth in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series, and the fifth and final to star Daniel Craig as fictional British MI6 agent Portrayal of James Bond in film, James Bon ...

(2021) and '' Avengers: Endgame'' (2019). Cinesite has completed work on all eight films in the ''Harry Potter'' franchise in addition to '' Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'' and nine films in the ''James Bond'' franchise. Cinesite's episodic work includes,

Moon Knight Moon Knight is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Doug Moench and artist Don Perlin, the character first appeared in ''Werewolf by Night'' #32 (August 1975). The son of a rabbi, Marc S ...

The Wheel of Time ''The Wheel of Time'' is a series of high fantasy novels by the American author Robert Jordan, with American author Brandon Sanderson as co-writer of the final three installments. Originally planned as a trilogy, ''The Wheel of Time'' came to ...

and Emmy nominated

The Man Who Fell to Earth ''The Man Who Fell to Earth'' is a 1976 British science fantasy drama film directed by Nicolas Roeg and adapted by Paul Mayersberg. Based on Walter Tevis's 1963 novel of the same name, the film follows an extraterrestrial named Thomas Jerom ...

. It won a BAFTA craft award in 2022 for the second season of

The Witcher ''The Witcher'' (, ) is a series of 9 fantasy novels and 15 short stories by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series revolves around the eponymous witcher, Geralt of Rivia. Witchers are monster hunters given superhuman abilities for the ...

as well as Emmy awards for '' Generation Kill'' (2008) and ''

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

'' (2006). Emmy 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 p ...

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 a ...

) 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."'' The studio won a BAFTA in Special, Visual and Graphic Effects for its work on ''

'' S2 at the 2022 British Academy Television Craft Awards.

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 Charming may refer to: Fiction * ''Charming'' (film), a 2019 animated musical comedy film * Charming, a fictional town where the television series ''Sons of Anarchy ''Sons of Anarchy'' is an American Action film, action crime drama television ...

'' (2018), ''

Gnome Alone ''Gnome Alone'' is a 2017 animated Comedy film, fantasy comedy musical film directed by Peter Lepeniotis and written by Michael Schwartz and Zina Zaflow, from a story by Robert Moreland. Produced by Vanguard Animation and 3QU Media, the film star ...

'' (2018), ''

Trouble Trouble may refer to: Film and television * ''Trouble'' (1922 film), an American silent comedy-drama film directed by Albert Austin * ''Trouble'' (1933 film), a British comedy film * ''Trouble'' (1977 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Trouble'' ...

'' (2019), and '' Fearless'' (2020) for 3QU Media, '' The Star'' (2017) for

Sony Pictures Animation Sony Pictures Animation Inc. (also referred to as Sony Animation Studios and abbreviated to SPA) is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and found ...

, and ''

Extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

'' (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, entertainment theme parks, and a movie theater chain founded in Beijing ...

. In addition to providing production services for other studios, Cinesite produces its own animated features through

Aniventure Aniventure is a British content creation and intellectual property company based in London, England and set up in 2013 to produce family-oriented feature animation. Aniventure works with production partners to take feature film concepts from pit ...

. 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 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)'' & ''Hitpig'' (2024); a loose adaptation of the

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

book ''Pete & Pickles.'' Next set to produce the long in-development adaptation of ''

Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' (originally ''Animal Farm: A Fairy Story'') is a satirical allegorical novella, in the form of a beast fable, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of anthropomorphic far ...

'' directed by

and Paramount's untitled Smurfs musical (2025). 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 standalone single-panel comics, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' between 193 ...

'' (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

Virtual production

In May 2023, Cinesite agreed to invest in The Imaginarium Studios, a Performance Capture and Virtual Production company with facilities at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to t ...

in the UK and at

Trilith Studios Trilith Studios is an American film and television production studio located south of Atlanta, Georgia, Atlanta in Fayette County, Georgia. Originally known as Pinewood Atlanta Studios, the studio has been used to produce many films and televisio ...

in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Immersive

In January 2024, Cinesite announced it was opening an immersive division to create content that will span virtual, physical and mixed realities, location-based entertainment and theme park rides and attractions. The studio also confirmed it had entered a long-term partnership with Frameless Creative, the company behind the UK's largest and London's first permanent multi-sensory art experience. The company also revealed it had animated Forsaken a short film conceived and directed by award-winning filmmaker Roland Lane and supported by Greenpeace and Arts Council England. Forsaken played on Outernet London's floor to ceiling wrap around screens to highlight the mass extinction of life on Earth. The studio created stage-based stunt show The Bourne Stuntacular for Universal Studios Orlando. The project won Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project at the Visual Effects Society awards.

Visualisation

In February 2024, Cinesite announced it was opening a new division 'Cinesite VIS' to expand its previs, virtual production, techvis and postvis services. The newly created division is currently working on feature film projects as part of an integrated offering, but will also operate as a standalone visualisation vendor.

Selected filmography

VFX

1990s–2000s

2010s

2020s

Television

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