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Paul Walker's Furious 7 scenes were completed following the actor's death thanks to some help from his family and CGI work. The seventh Fast & Furious movie was rocked with tragedy when Walker was killed in a vehicular crash in November 2013, at which point Furious 7 was only partially done. Having played Brian O'Conner alongside Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) since the original The Fast and the Furious in 2001, Walker's tragic passing left a massive hole in The Fast Saga. Understandably, the movie's creative team gave serious thought to how to continue without a key member of the team.

Eventually, they decided to continue on in the wake of Walker's passing and the movie went on to become a massive box office success, grossing over $1.5 billion in theaters worldwide (via Box Office Mojo), in addition to earning widespread acclaim for the touching and tasteful way it "retires" Brian. In order...

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers may be considered the worst of Peter Jackson's initial trilogy, but it still earned a significant number of Oscar nominations. Much of The Two Towers' legacy is underwhelming only by comparison, but few would ever say that it is not a magnificent movie. The Lord of the Rings timeline is essentially a single, very long adventure, as this is how J. R. R. Tolkien wrote the source material. The result is that the individual movies do not differ much in tone.

While The Two Towers isn't favorably compared to the installments that preceded and followed it, the sequel also faced significant competition from other movies at the 75th Academy Awards. This was a year when one of the best movie musicals to win Best Picture arose, as well as another Martin Scorsese crime drama. Therefore, a handful of movies competed...

The relaxation of a long holiday weekend was shattered today for many, as news spread of the death at 63 of producer Jon Landau.

Landau collaborated with James Cameron on such blockbuster films as Titanic and the Avatar franchise. Other credits included Solaris, Alita: Battle Angel directed by Robert Rodriguez, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Dick Tracy.

“Words are hard to put together right now, your passing is hitting really hard,” Avatar franchise star Zoe Saldaña wrote on Instagram next to photos with Landau. “Your wisdom and support shaped so many of us in ways we will always be grateful for…Your legacy will continue to inspire us and guide us in our journey. Rest in peace, dear Jon. You will be deeply missed.”

Avatar’s Sigourney Weaver said: “There were two poles in our Avatar world that kept it spinning. Jim Cameron was one pole, and the other was Jon Landau.

Jon Landau, the Oscar-winning producer of “Titanic” and both “Avatar” movies, died of cancer on Friday, July 5. He was 63.

Landau, a longtime producing partner to James Cameron, was behind three of the top four highest-grossing movies of all time. Landau helped make history with “Titanic,” the first film to cross $1 billion at the global box office. He topped that movie’s record-breaking grosses twice, with 2009’s “Avatar” and its sequel, 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

Before his death, Landau was deeply involved in the production of the “Avatar” sequels. Cameron is planning to fill his blockbuster sci-fi franchise with five movies in total, with the fifth tentatively coming out in 2031.

Speaking to Variety at the “Way of Water” premiere, Landau recalled screening the movie for the principal cast. “When I saw them tearing up, I had to tear up,” he said.

#AvatarTheWayOfWater producer Jon Landau talks about the long...

Paul Walker’s scenes in Fast & Furious 7 was done with VFX. (Photo Credit – Instagram)

The Fast & Furious franchise faced an unexpected and tragic challenge after actor Paul Walker, who played Brian O’Conner, died in a car accident in 2013. While the actor is still remembered by everyone, his death deeply affected not only the cast and his fans but also the franchise. The filming of the seventh installment was hit with this tragedy but his scenes were completed using CGI technology.

Although the creators of the series thought of canceling Furious 7, they later decided to go through with it in the wake of Walker’s passing and the movie became a massive box-office success, grossing over $1.5 billion in theaters globally.

Following his passing, the storyline of Brian O’Conner was rewritten to include a tribute to Walker. The film’s crew was tasked to produce around 350 additional shots of Walker,...

Avatar: The Way of Water, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Star Trek: Picard were among the main winners Sunday at the 51st Saturn Awards, which honor the best in genre entertainment.

Winners across film, TV and home media were revealed Sunday during a ceremony at the L.A. Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel hosted by Joel McHale. The awards are presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.

James Cameron’s Avatar sequel won a leading four awards on the film side for Best Science Fiction Film, Direction, Screenwriting and Visual Effects after coming in to the night with a leading 12 nominations. Oppenheimer, which had 11 noms, was named Best Thriller and won for Best Editing while the film’s Emily Blunt won Best Supporting Actress. Blunt also presented Nolan with the honorary Saturn Visionary Award.

Other honorary awards went to Life Career honoree Jodie Foster, Keanu Reeves, Seth MacFarlane,...

Sure, 28 Oscar nominations and 17 wins aren’t to be sniffed at. But the remarkable thing about Peter Jackson‘s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy is that it should have been nominated for more. Only one of the cast was nominated for an Oscar across all three films — that was for Best Supporting Actor for Sir Ian McKellen in 2002 for “The Fellowship of the Ring” — while there were a few other curious snubs that, in hindsight, just don’t make sense. So, there was actually more room to nominate this rightly-heralded trilogy of astounding films. With that in mind, here are five more Oscar nominations “The Lord of the Rings” should have landed.

Best Original Score: “The Two Towers”

The music of “The Lord of the Rings” has gone down as one of the best scores ever committed to film. Howard Shore‘s adored score is so top drawer it leaves you clamoring for more.

In 2004, “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” became the film with joint-most Oscar wins of all time with a whopping 11 victories, matching the total tallies of both “Titanic” and “Ben-Hur.” Those 11 Academy Awards capped off a hugely successful trilogy of movies that collectively snagged 28 Oscar nominations and 17 wins in total. But yet… Peter Jackson‘s film series, adapted from the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, is so, so good that, well, it could have won more. That sounds greedy and over the top, of course, but if you take a look at each film’s nominations, it’s actually very feasible that any one of the three films could have turned the bid into a win. So, with that in mind, here are five Oscar nominations that “The Lord of the Rings” films could and perhaps should have turned into victories.

Best Art Direction — “The Fellowship of the Ring...

This year’s edition of the View Conference, an English-speaking event taking place between Oct. 15-20 in the Italian city of Turin, has been greatly influenced by some of the most urgent questions permeating the entertainment industry today.

A world-class event on animation, VFX, games, Ar, VR, Xr, Mr, virtual production, Metaverse and immersive media, the 24th edition of the conference has a heavy focus on animation and artificial intelligence, with a key desire to investigate the future of storytelling.

“The conference is a stage to talk about the impact of innovative technologies on the creative industries, so obviously AI is a big theme,” CEO and executive director of the View conference Maria Elena Gutierrez tells Variety.

Panels such as “AI and Education,” “Out of Distribution: Thriving Creatively in the Age of AI” and “Copyright and How to Secure Your Digital Artworks” invite industry professionals to discuss the current ramifications...

“Avatar: The Way of Water” won Best Visual Effects at the Oscars this Sunday, and the team that brought Pandora to vivid life in James Cameron’s blockbuster took the stage to celebrate. But for one team member, the evening took a turn shortly afterwards, as senior visual effects supervisor Eric Saindon was rushed to the hospital for surgery immediately after his win.

According to a rep from Weta FX, the visual effects production company behind “The Way of Water,” Saindon experienced intense pain throughout the day of the Oscars and checked into a Beverly Hills hospital around noon. After testing negative for appendicitis and kidney stones, Saindon decided to still attend the awards ceremony, and received painkillers from his doctors.

After powering through to winning the Visual Effects award, Saindon experienced more pain, and left his press room interview at the ceremony to return to the hospital. Doctors determined...

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The 2023 Oscars belonged to Everything Everywhere All At Once, which took home the award for best picture. Jimmy Kimmel hosted “incident”-free night (his third time emceeing the ceremony) that aired live on March 12 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.

Eeao also won best directing (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, aka The Daniels), best original screenplay, best lead actress (Michelle Yeoh), best supporting actress (Jamie Lee Curtis) best supporting actor (Ke Huy Quan) and best film editing. Brendan Fraser won best actor for his role in The Whale, while actress-turned-director Sarah Polley won best adapted screenplay for Women Talking. (Read more about all of the 2023 Oscars snubs and surprises here.)

Many of the Oscar-nominated movies are free to watch with a streaming service subscription (including Apple TV+, Disney+,...

The All Quiet on the Western Front cast and crew began trooping into the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts as the clock was about to strike 1 a.m. Monday

They were brandishing gold statuettes. “This is the Vanity Fair Oscar Party. We were were curious about this place,” the partner of one of the movie’s key creatives tells me.

Related: Oscars Analysis: First-Timers Lift Spirits And Emotions In Ceremony That Was Old-School Academy Awards In A Good Way

Related Story Vanity Fair Oscar Party Photos: See Jeff Bezos, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde, Cardi B, Kendall Jenner & Many More On The Red Carpet Related Story Oscars Analysis: First-Timers Lift Spirits And Emotions In Ceremony That Was Old-School Academy Awards In A Good Way Related Story Ke Huy Quan Says He Honored His Mom By Reclaiming Birth Name As An Adult Actor; Declares "Goonies Never Say Die" – Oscars Backstage...

From the electric performances of the nominated songs to all the big stars, The 95th Academy Awards went off without a slap hitch.

The performance of Rrr's hit song Naatu Naatu brought the entire house to their feet, as did the wins for Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh.

So who came out on top?

Everything Everywhere All At Once led the nominations with 11 and led the winners with seven total trophies!

Find out the rest of the winners here!

Best Picture

Everything Everywhere All at Once *Winner*

All Quiet on the Western Front

Avatar: The Way of Water

The Banshees of Inisherin

Elvis

The Fabelmans

Tár

Top Gun: Maverick

Triangle of Sadness

Women Talking

Best Actress

Michelle Yeoh - Everything Everywhere All at Once *Winner*

Cate Blanchett - Tár

Ana de Armas - Blonde

Andrea Riseborough - To Leslie

Michelle Williams - The Fabelmans

Best Actor

Brendan Fraser -...

Oscars 2023In a big moment for India, Naatu Naatu from Rrr won the award for best original song, and The Elephant Whisperers directed by Kartiki Gonsalves won the best documentary short award.Twitter/RRRMovieThe 95th Academy Awards ceremony was held on Sunday, March 12, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Television host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel hosted the ceremony for the third time. Naatu Naatu from Rrr won the award for best original song. The Elephant Whisperers, directed by Kartiki Gonsalves and co-produced by Guneet Monga, won the best documentary short award. Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes, a film about two brothers in Delhi who care for injured black kites, was nominated for best documentary feature but lost to Navalny. Here’s the full list of Oscar nominees and winners: Best Picture Everything Everywhere All at Once — Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, producers - Winner All Quiet on the Western Front...

The team behind Avatar: The Way of Water‘s long-expected Oscar win for Visual Effects learned first-hand how committed Academy officials and show producers are to keeping things moving.

Richard Baneham, one of four winners along with Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett, took the trophy first and thanked director James Cameron, who was not in attendance. He also shouted out producer Jon Landau and a range of technical colleagues. Just as the Academy-allotted 45 second expired, music swelled abruptly and the camera panned away just as Saindon was heard saying, “We need to thank our families–“

As applause died down, the camera found Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel, who appeared to be ready for the play-off. “It’s unfortunate,” he said. “I happen to know before he was cut off, the Avatar visual effects team asked me to announce that if anyone’s interested, the visual effects after-party is at CGI Fridays.

Surprising no one, Avatar: The Way of Water collected the Oscar in visual effects for its jaw-dropping work that helped to propel the movie to more than $2.2 billion at the box office, making it the third highest grossing movie of all time.

In doing so, Weta FX’s production senior VFX supervisor Joe Letteri collected his fifth competitive award in the category at the 2023 Oscars. He now joins Ken Ralston (Forrest Gump) in holding five competitive Oscars apiece in the category. Both trail Denis Murren (Jurassic Park), who holds the category record of eight competitive Academy Awards.

With the win for The Way of Water, visual effects supervisor Richard Baneham accepted his second VFX Oscar, having previously won the trophy for the original Avatar. Weta VFX supervisor Eric Saindon and senior animation supervisor Daniel Barrett each won their first Oscar on Sunday.

Accepting onstage, Baneham thanked director James Cameron “whose...

As Gold Derby predicted, “Avatar: The Way of Water” won the Best Visual Effects Oscar on March 12 over co-nominees “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “The Batman,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and “Top Gun: Maverick.” James Cameron‘s highly anticipated sequel was heavily favorited to claim this trophy on Sunday night, especially considering the original “Avatar” (2009) also won the visual effects category 13 years ago. “The Way of Water” also earned Oscar bids this year in Best Picture, Best Sound and Best Production Design.

Accepting the trophies for “Avatar: The Way of Water” were Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett. Letteri previously won four Oscars for “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” (2002), “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003), “King Kong” (2005) and “Avatar” (2009), while Baneham had a single statue on his mantel for “Avatar” (2009). Today’s Oscars win marks the first Academy Awards for Saindon and Barrett.

The films in the running for the 2023 Best Visual Effects Oscar are “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “The Batman,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” and “Top Gun: Maverick.” Our odds currently indicate that “Avatar: The Way of Water” (31/10) is the frontrunner, followed in order by “Top Gun: Maverick” (39/10), “All Quiet on the Western Front” (9/2), “The Batman” (9/2), and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (9/2).

Included among the 20 individuals in this lineup are 12 past nominees, five of whom have triumphed at least once. The eight first-timers are Geoffrey Baumann (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”), “Top Gun: Maverick” trio Seth Hill, Bryan Litson, and Ryan Tudhope, and “All Quiet on the Western Front” quartet Markus Frank, Kamil Jaffar, Viktor Muller, and Frank Petzold.

The two returning contenders who have already won here multiple times each are Joe Letteri (“Avatar: The Way of Water”), who succeeded on four of his previous 10 bids,...

James Cameron’s sci-fi epic “Avatar” stormed the 2010 Oscars with nine nominations and three wins for Cinematography, Production Design, and Visual Effects. The film lost that elusive Best Picture trophy to the more intimate war drama “The Hurt Locker.” Thirteen years later, Cameron has returned to the Oscars with the sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water.” New filming technology, grand special effects, and an emotional story about familial bonds all come together to form the biggest box office juggernaut of the year. Will that be enough for “The Way of Water” to take the top award that the initial film narrowly lost?

“Avatar: The Way of Water” is one of 10 Best Picture nominees this year. It is nominated alongside “All Quiet on the Western Front,” The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Elvis,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “The Fabelmans,” “Tar,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Triangle of Sadness,” and “Women Talking.” Cameron’s film...

Along with its record setting box office numbers and four Oscar nominations, “Avatar: The Way of Water” brings a “Metkayina” wave of impressive next-gen technology that will undeniably set new industry standards in motion capture, animation and underwater photography.

The original facial motion capture rig that also impressively immersed Andy Serkis as Gollum and Caesar, received an overhaul. Not only physically but also in the way the software replicates a performance.

“We looked at how the muscles in the face, eyes and lips are all related and created a neural network that maps all the connections between them,” says senior VFX supervisor Joe Letteri. “This gave us this sympathetic motion in the actor’s face which allowed us to translate the performance to the character and make each frame more believable.”

Additionally, the single-standard definition camera that recorded facial expressions was replaced by two high-definition versions that provided more data and detail.

The Latino Entertainment Journalists Association (Leja) has handed out its awards for the year, with “Everything Everywhere All at Once” scooping up 10 wins including best picture, director for the Daniels and actress for Michelle Yeoh.

The sci-fi comedy led the nominations with 16, the most in the history of the organization.

Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick” scored the second-most wins with three for best cinematography going to Claudio Miranda, sound and stunt design.

“I am incredibly excited by the selections of our distinguished group of Latino critics, journalists and writers from all over the country,” said Clayton Davis, Leja founder and president. “I applaud our tiny but mighty organization for selecting a respectable group of films from artists we all love and admire.”

“Wakanda Forever” won prizes for costume design (Ruth E. Carter) and original song.

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” won two prizes for animated film and adapted screenplay. In addition,...

“Avatar: The Way of Water” is a sequel, but the VFX team had a mandate far beyond supplying “more of the same.” The follow-up to the 2009 original “Avatar” had many new demands — and these jaw-dropping innovations have helped make the film one of the top box-office films of all time.

Joe Letteri, heading up his team at Weta FX, tells Variety, “We were working on this film since the last one finished, identifying what we could do better. Then there was a big burst of research-and-development” about six years ago, when writer-director James Cameron delivered the scripts for this and three more sequels; that’s when they realized the full scope of the film, which takes place in water about 60% of the time.

For the first “Avatar,” they had developed a tool kit to simulate water.

“But we knew it wasn’t going to be good enough,” says Letteri. “In facial closeups,...

Following the success of 2009’s groundbreaking Avatar, James Cameron began writing a new story that would take Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) and their children on an emotional journey in a new region of Pandora — moving from its bioluminescent forest to its seas in the hopes of protecting their family from the Sky People. “Our family is our fortress,” Jake Sully says in Avatar: The Way of Water, which this past week won a BAFTA for its visual effects and swept the feature competition at the Visual Effects Society Awards.

The director had been working with Weta FX and its senior VFX supervisor Joe Letteri, winner of four competitive Oscars, since they first teamed on Avatar. Letteri emphasizes that everything they do from a VFX standpoint is about supporting the story, but when he saw the new script, he knew they had their work cut out for them.

Key figures in Avatar: The Way of Water's expansive visual effects team reveal the only two shots in the movie that are entirely live-action with no CGI. After James Cameron's original Avatar dazzled audiences with its groundbreaking visual effects back in 2009, the director's long-awaited sequel has done much the same. The sequel features a number of significant leaps forward in terms of its visual presentation, using advanced technology to continue the story of Jake (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and their new children.

In a recent interview with Metro at the 2023 Baftas, at which they won the award for Special Visual Effects, Avatar: The Way of Water VFX artists and supervisors Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, and Eric Saindon reveal that the film only has two shots with no CGI. While the movie features plenty of shots with live-action elements, the vast majority of these shots are enhanced or complemented with VFX in post-production.

2Nd Update: Netflix’s Edward Berger-directed All Quiet on the Western Front triumphed at the BAFTA Film Awards in London this evening, scoring seven wins, including Outstanding Film, Director, Film Not in the English Language, Cinematography, and Adapted Screenplay.

From early on, there was momentum for the World War I drama, while Searchlight’s The Banshees of Inisherin also had a strong showing, converting its 10 nominations to four wins, including Outstanding British Film, Original Screenplay, and the Supporting acting categories.

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis was also a strong performer with four wins, including Best Actor for Austin Butler.

Check out the full list of winners below, and see here for more from the night and here for Pete Hammond’s analysis.

Previous Update : Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western Front, the leading nominee coming into this evening, is currently pulling ahead of the pack with six wins,...

‘Banshees’ duo, ’Navalny’, ’Aftersun’ among early winners.

The 2023 Bafta Film Awards show is taking place today (February 19) from London’s Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank this year (it was previously at the Royal Albert Hall).

The show started at around 18:00 UK time, finishing at approximately 21:00, and will be broadcast with a time delay on BBC One starting at 19:00, with the final four awards broadcast live for the first time.

Richard E. Grant is hosting the ceremony, with presenter Alison Hammond providing backstage and winners access through a new Bafta studio.

Screen is posting all the winners...

The blockbuster took nine of the 14 awards for which it was nominated.

Avatar: The Way of Water emerged as the big winner at the Visual Effects Society’s Ves Awards on Wednesday (February 15) night, taking nine awards including the prize for photoreal feature.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was the most honoured animated film, winning the animated feature award and two other prizes.

The Way of Water had gone into the ceremony, held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, with 14 nominations, and Pinocchio with five.

The Ves Lifetime Achievement award went to producer Gale Anne Hurd and the...

We will update all our Oscar predictions throughout the season, so keep checking IndieWire for the latest news from the 2023 Oscar race. The nomination round of voting will take place from January 12 –17, 2023, with the official Oscar nominations announced on January 24, 2023. The final voting is between March 2–7, 2023. Finally, the 95th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 12, and air live on ABC at 8 p.m. Et/ 5 p.m. Pt.

See our initial thoughts for what to expect at the 95th Academy Awards here.

The State of the Race

James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” swept all nine categories in an unprecedented tsunami February 15 at the 21st annual Ves Awards (held at the Beverly Hilton). This beats the previous record of six prizes that the original “Avatar” earned in 2010. Although its dominance was unanticipated, the record 14 nominations for “The Way of Water” was an early sign, with the film...

James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” swept the 21st annual Ves Awards Wednesday night in an unprecedented wave of dominance in every category, winning nine of its record-breaking 14 nominations, including the top photoreal feature, and the newest category, The Emerging Technology Award, for its innovative water toolset.

Although the prestigious visual effects honorary society has not been a reliable Oscar bellwether in recent years — picking the VFX winner only twice in the last six years — this now looks like a lock for the “Avatar” sequel.

Hosted by Patton Oswalt at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (from Netflix) — the favorite to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar — won the top animation trophy and took home three awards; Amazon’s “Thirteen Lives” snagged the supporting prize, and Amazon Prime Video’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” grabbed the episodic prize and also took home three awards.

“Avatar: The Way of Water” topped the 21st Annual Ves Awards with nine wins, including for photoreal feature.

Meanwhile, Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” was named best animated feature and took home three awards total. On the TV side, Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” won three awards and was named best photoreal episode.

Rian Johnson, Domee Shi, Tig Notaro, Jay Pharoah, Tyler Posey and Randall Park were among the presenters for the night. James Cameron presented the Ves Lifetime Achievement award to acclaimed producer Gale Anne Hurd.

Former Ves executive director Eric Roth received the Board of Directors Award from the current board, which includes Lisa Cooke, current Ves Chair; Jim Morris, Ves, president of Pixar Animation and founding Ves Chair; and former Chairs Jeffrey A. Okun, Ves; Mike Chambers, Ves; Carl Rosendahl, Ves; and Jeff Barnes.

“As we celebrate the 21st Annual Ves Awards,...

“Avatar: The Way of Water” came out on top at the Visual Effects Society’s 2023 Ves Awards, held Wednesday evening at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

The James Cameron epic set a Ves record this year with 14 nominations in nine different categories, and it set a record for wins by coming out on top in every category in which it was nominated. By contrast, the original 2009 “Avatar” received 10 nominations and won five awards. The previous record for wins by a film was set by “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” at the first Ves Awards in 2003, when it won eight awards. (The show had fewer awards then than it does now.)

The nine awards for “Avatar: The Way of Water” included Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, the Ves category that aligns most closely with the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Competing with “Avatar...

James Cameron’s juggernaut Avatar: The Way of Water swept the awards in the feature competition at the 21st annual Visual Effects Society Awards on Wednesday night at the Beverly Hilton.

Its nine wins included one for the top category of outstanding VFX in a photoreal feature. The movie also collected trophies for animated character (for Kiri, played by Sigourney Weaver), practical effects (for the current machine and wave pool), compositing and lighting (water integration), effects simulations (water), model (the sea dragon), environments (the reef) and virtual cinematography. Additionally, its water toolset won the new Ves award for emerging technology. The movie entered the evening with a record 14 noms (it earned multiple nominations in some of the categories that it won).

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was a big winner in the feature animation field, winning a trio of prizes including one for outstanding VFX in an animated feature. Meanwhile...

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages are Davis’ assessment of the current standings of the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any film or performance. Like any organization or body that votes, each individual category is fluid and subject to change. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Last Updated: Feb. 9, 2023

2023 Oscars Predictions: Best Visual Effects Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise, 2020. © Paramount Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

Category Commentary: James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” has led the box office for seven weeks in the U.K. and Ireland and has amassed over 2 billion globally. Does that make the movie too difficult to ignore for visual effects?

There’s still a...

The Oscar for Best Visual Effects is particularly tough to predict because of the complicated system by which the nominees are determined in three stages. The members of the executive committee of the branch cast preferential ballots to determine 20 films for further consideration. These are then winnowed down to 10 semi-finalists, which were announced on December 21, 2022. (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2023 Oscars Best Visual Effects predictions.)

All members of the branch are invited to a virtual screening of excerpts from these 10 films in January at which potential nominees may discuss their work. Ballots are counted using a system of re-weighted range voting to determine the five nominees, which will be revealed on January 24. The entire voting membership of the academy will then vote for the winners, which will be revealed during the 95th Academy Awards ceremony on March 12.

When it comes to picking the winner of Best Visual Effects, you...

At this year’s Oscars, Wētā FX will compete against itself three times over, thanks to its Best Visual Effects-nominated work on “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “The Batman,” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” It’s a feat the effects house pulled off once before: In 2012, Wētā was nominated for “The Avengers,” “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” and “Prometheus,” but lost out to “Life of Pi.”

This time, in an interesting twist, both “Avatar” and “Wakanda Forever” are being honored for their uniquely innovative photorealistic water breakthroughs. While James Cameron’s blockbuster sequel and Oscar favorite (led by four-time Oscar-winning senior visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri) featured groundbreaking underwater performance capture and a rebuilt global simulation tool set for both water and fire, Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther” sequel (supervised by Wētā’s Chris White) created realistic water specifically for the Mayan-influenced underwater city of Talokan.

“The thing that was...

Up until its climax, Brian De Palma's 1996 film "Mission: Impossible," based on the hit TV series, was a largely quiet, steely affair. While the main character, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) was a man of action, much of "Impossible" was devoted more to heists and stealth than fistfights and explosions. At the film's conclusion, however, Ethan Hunt found himself needing to infiltrate a train that was currently scheduled to zip its way through the Chunnel. The usual set of action movie circumstances forced Ethan to bodily cling to the exterior of the train as it plunged underground. And, just to ensure that the mayhem remains at a high level, a high-speed helicopter flew into the Chunnel behind him. This made for a scene where Ethan Hunt is nearly decapitated by an approaching helicopter blade, as well as a fiery explosion when Ethan mashes explosive chewing gum directly onto the helicopter's windshield.

Avatar: The Way of Water — which this week crossed the 2 billion mark at the worldwide box office and is now the sixth highest-grossing movie in history — earned a best picture Oscar nomination this morning, as well as noms for its production design, sound and visual effects.

But James Cameron, who has now directed three of the six highest-grossing movies ever — his 2009 Avatar sits at the top of that chart — was passed over in the directing competition for his groundbreaking film for the 2023 Oscar nominations. (The movie also missed an editing nomination; Cameron edited the movie, along with Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, and the late David Brenner, who died in early 2022).

In this year’s best picture race, Cameron and producer Jon Landau (who together won best picture for Titanic, for which Cameron also claimed the directing trophy) are nominated alongside the producers of All Quiet on the Western Front, The Banshees of Inisherin,...

"Avatar: The Way of Water" is close to a worldwide box office total of 2 billion dollars, according to Box Office Mojo at the time of this writing. The further adventures of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and the family they've created on Pandora have captured moviegoers' imaginations. It sounds like we'll be getting the promised sequels from director James Cameron. Whatever you think of the story and the high frame rate, which I personally found incredibly distracting, it's tough to deny that the visual effects in this film are groundbreaking and spectacular.

The first film really drove home the fact that 3D wasn't dead, and this one did the same, despite some pronounced stick-poking-style effects in the beginning and nausea-inducing moments early on. It's shockingly easy to forget that the creatures we're watching on screen aren't really there and that the actors just don't look like that. Though...

To the surprise of no one, James Cameron’s dazzling Avatar: The Way of Water dominated the 21st annual Visual Effects Society Award nominations, which were announced on Tuesday. The juggernaut earned 14 Ves noms, a record number for a feature film or any single project in the society’s awards history.

That includes a nomination in the top category for outstanding VFX in a photoreal feature. Alongside The Way of Water, the category nominees are Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Jurassic World: Dominion, The Batman and Top Gun: Maverick. Nominees in the category for supporting VFX are Death on the Nile, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, The Fabelmans, The Gray Man, The Pale Blue Eye and Thirteen Lives.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio leads the animated contenders, with six nominations including one for outstanding VFX in an animated feature. Meanwhile The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power...

“Avatar: The Way of Water” has made history once more.

As James Cameron’s long-gestating sequel continues its climb up the all-time box-office charts, “The Way of Water” set a new record for the most nominations for a single project from the Visual Effects Society Awards, announced this morning. The film’s 14 nods highlight achievements that range from VFX to character animation to emerging technology, where it accounts for three of the category’s five nominees. This tally surpasses the previous records set by the 11 nominations for the original “Avatar” in 2010 and the 13 nominations for “The Mandalorian” in 2021.

Joining “The Way of Water” on the Ves leaderboard are “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” which respectively top the animation and TV fields with six and seven nominations. The 21st annual Visual Effects Society Awards will take place February 15 at the Beverly Hilton,...

James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” leads the feature competition at the 21st Annual Ves Awards.

The film earned a total of 14 Ves Awards nominations, setting a new record for record nominations for a feature film. The original “Avatar” was the previous record holder when it received 11 nominations at the 8th Annual Ves Awards held in 2010.

“Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio” received six nominations in the animation category making it the top animated contender.

Ves members selected nominees in 25 categories at 27 in-person and virtual nomination events conducted worldwide. The winners will be announced on Feb. 15 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.

This year marks the presentation of the first Ves Emerging Technology Award, which celebrates the creators of the technology behind the visuals and honors the inventors of a novel and uniquely innovative tool, device, software or methodology of outstanding value to the art and science of visual effects,...

Suffice it to say that Avatar: The Way of Water commanded the Visual Effects Society’s attention. James Cameron box office-smash sequel scored a record 14 nominations for the 2023 Ves Awards, which were announced today.

Helped by three noms in the Emerging Technology category, Disney’s The Way of Water topped the single-year noms haul by Disney+’s The Mandalorian in 2021. It also shattered the old high-water mark for films, set by — no big surprise here — the original Avatar, which amassed 11 noms in 2010.

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The hardware will be doled out at the 21st annual Ves Awards on Wednesday,...

“Avatar: The Way of Water” is too much of a juggernaut to lose the VFX Oscar — and senior VFX supervisor Joe Letteri from Wētā FX made a persuasive case for why it’s the frontrunner during Saturday’s “bake-off” at the Academy Museum, where Visual Effects Branch members watched presentations and Q&a sessions that will help determine the five nominees set to be announced January 24. Instead, the big question surrounding the category has been whether or not the high-flying “Top Gun: Maverick” has the right stuff to get nominated: Its VFX team, led by production supervisor Ryan Tudhope, was under a strict press blackout until the bake-off.

That’s because the marketing campaign (per actor-producer Tom Cruise and director Joseph Kosinski) has stayed on message about the amazing aerial photography and stunt work featuring Cruise flying in the cockpit of Navy fighter jets, with real g-force. The intention of...

“All Quiet on the Western Front” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” are two very different films with very different approaches to visual effects, but their goals were the same. “The effects, really, all it comes down to is it’s serving the story. You can’t have good effects without good stories,” “Avatar” senior visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri tells Gold Derby at our Meet the Experts: Visual Effects roundtable with “All Quiet” VFX supervisor Frank Petzold (watch the exclusive video interview above). Click on each name to watch that person’s individual chat.

“Frank, I love the film because it drew you right into it and the effects, what you guys did, did that,” Letteri continues. “It brought you into that world and that’s what it needed to do. Because at the end, you want to come out of it saying, ‘I love that film,’ and not necessarily know why.

After changing the visual effects and performance capture game with “Avatar” (2009), James Cameron held a summit with his team 13 years ago to discuss how they could make the sequels even better.

“The biggest part of it was since we didn’t really know was the story was, was more about the process,” “Avatar: The Way of Water” senior visual effects supervisor and Weta director Joe Letteri tells Gold Derby at our Meet the Experts: Visual Effects panel (watch the exclusive video interview above). “So the early discussion was highly technical. It was about building out that pipeline. Later on, once we knew what the story was, the discussions became more about, are we gonna achieve the specific effects that we need — water obviously being a big one — but characters? A lot more characters with speaking parts in this film, a lot more varieties of characters — old, new, young, different species.

With so much emphasis on Best Picture and acting races this Oscar season, get ready for some special attention to the crafts and artisans who made these movies possible.

American Cinematheque announced Monday its honorees for its second edition of Tribute to the Crafts, taking place on Thursday, February 9 at the Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. Among the achievements being celebrated are such blockbuster films Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water, Elvis, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, in addition to indie sensations like Everything Everywhere All at Once and Rrr.

After a successful inaugural ceremony last year, once again it is the key goal of Tribute to the Crafts to honor those at the heart of filmmaking, and have exhibited extraordinary work behind the camera over the past year, according to the Cinematheque. The evening will celebrate individuals in 15 categories covering all aspects of filmmaking and...

Four top film visual effects Oscar contenders will reveal secrets behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2023 awards contenders. They will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Tuesday, January 10, at 4:00 p.m. Pt; 7:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Joyce Eng and a roundtable chat with all of the group together.

RSVP today to our entire ongoing contenders panel series by clicking here to book your free reservation. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.

This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following Oscar contenders on the 2023 shortlist:

All Quiet on the Western Front (Netflix)

Synopsis: A young German soldier’s terrifying experiences and distress on the western front during World War I.

Bio: Frank Petzold’s career has included “The Golden Compass,...

This interview with “Avatar: The Way of Water” visual effects supervisors Richard Baneham and Eric Saindon and Weta FX director Joe Letteri first appeared in a special section of the Below-the-Line issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

When James Cameron began working on the story of “Avatar: The Way of Water” and subsequent sequels in the early 2010s, his visual effects team started scripting their own way forward. “At that point it was mostly the functional technical stuff—how do we build a system that Jim could use live?” said visual effects supervisor Richard Baneham, who added that testing on the new systems didn’t start until 2016. “This is coming from Jim’s desire to treat the digital world and the real world the same,” Weta FX director Joe Letteri added. “He wanted to use the camera like a real camera, see his actors, see the lighting, art-direct the shots,...

Director James Cameron and Wētā FX’s senior visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri didn’t waste any time laying the groundwork for “The Way of Water.” After the game-changing “Avatar” revolutionized virtual production and performance capture in 2010, Cameron and Letteri got together at a retreat to assess what they could do better. Fortunately, Wētā was well underway in refining its performance capture and facial animation capabilities, along with writing the software for its physically based rendering engine, Manuka, and real-time pre-lighting tool, Gazebo, innovations that greatly benefited the “Planet of the Apes” and “Hobbit” franchises, as well as “Alita: Battle Angel” and “Gemini Man.”

What Cameron had in mind for “The Way of Water” required even greater innovative tech from Wētā and his own Lightstorm studio. The director wanted the look of a NatGeo doc for his sci-fi sequel, which would expand the world of Pandora to include the Metkayina...

James Cameron is a filmmaker who is constantly pushing the boundaries of special effects for the best visual experience possible. A project like "Avatar," which takes place on an alien planet, could have only come to life through innovation, and it was a massive success. With "The Way of Water," Cameron finally gets to show off the spectacular underwater world of Pandora, having utilized groundbreaking technology that was able to motion capture performances while actors were doused in the drink. It makes you feel as if you're swimming alongside a Tulkun space whale yourself.

Exploring what lies beneath the waters felt like the next logical step, as the first film only provided a glimpse into the reaches of this planet. "Avatar" took place in the jungles with the Omaticaya Na'vi, whereas "The Way of Water" largely takes place in the water with the Metkayina. But before the Sully family adjust...