We are proud to have our work acknowledged by our peers.
Over the years, Wētā FX artists have received numerous awards and recognitions, and we salute their achievements. While visual effects are more collaborative than they are competitive, everyone enjoys seeing their work celebrated.
7 Academy Awards® for Best Visual Effects
15 Academy Science & Technology Awards,
7 BAFTA Awards for Best Special Visual Effects
8 VES Awards for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
3 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Special Visual Effects
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
NYAD
Jake Braver, Fiona Campbell Westgate, Christopher White - Wētā FX, Mohsen Mousavi
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode
THE LAST OF US; SEASON 1; INFECTED
Alex Wang, Sean Nowlan, Stephen James, Simon Jung - Wētā FX, Joel Whist
Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode, Commercial, Game Cinematic or Real-Time Project
THE LAST OF US; ENDURE AND SURVIVE; BLOATER
Gino Acevedo, Max Telfer, Dennis Yoo, Fabio Leporelli
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Joanna Davison, Cheyana Wilkinson, Michael Cozens, Jason Desjarlais
Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in an Episode
THE LAST OF US; ENDURE AND SURVIVE; INFECTED HORDE BATTLE
Matthew Lumb, Ben Roberts, Ben Campbell, Quentin Hema
Technical Achievement
To Oliver Castle and Marcus Schoo for the design and engineering of Atlas, and to Keith Lackey for the prototype creation and early development of Atlas.
Technical Achievement
To Jeff Lait, Dan Bailey and Nick Avramoussis for the continued evolution and expansion of the feature set of OpenVDB.
Best Special Effects
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett
Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Single Episode
RIPLEY
Christopher White, Libby Hazell, François Sugny
Best Achievement in Visual Effects
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, Daniel Barrett
Special Visual Effects
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
Richard Baneham, Daniel Barrett, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
Richard Baneham, Walter Garcia, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, JD Schwalm
Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER - KIRI
Anneka Fris, Rebecca Louise Leybourne, Guillaume Francois, Jung-Rock Hwang
Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode, Commercial or Real-Time Project
THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY - SEASON 3: POGO
Aidan Martin, Hannah Dockerty, Olivier Beierlein, Miae Kang
Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER - THE REEF
Jessica Cowley, Joe W. Churchill, Justin Stockton, Alex Nowotny
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
Richard Baneham, Dan Cox, Eric Reynolds, A.J Briones
Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER - THE SEA DRAGON
Sam Sharplin, Stephan Skorepa, Ian Baker, Guillaume Francois
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER - WATER SIMULATIONS
Johnathan M. Nixon, David Moraton, Nicolas Illingworth, David Caeiro Cebrian
Outstanding Compositing and Lighting in a Feature
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER - WATER INTEGRATION
Sam Cole, Francois Sugny, Florian Schroeder, Jean Matthews
Emerging Technology Award
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER - WATER TOOLSET
Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin, Steve Lesser, Sven Joel Wretborn, Douglas McHale
Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Live Action Production
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
Daniel Barrett, Douglas McHale, Steve Cullingford, Stuart Adcock, Todd Labonte
Outstanding Achievement for Animated Effects in an Animated Production
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
Johnathan M. Nixon, David Moraton, Nicholas Illingworth, David Caeiro Cebrian, Alex Nowotny
Feature Film Visual Effects
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
Wētā FX - Gold
Feature Film Visual Effects
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: VOL. 3
Wētā FX - Silver
Television Series Visual Effects
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER
Wētā FX - Special Merit Award
Outstanding Special Visual Effects
THE LAST OF US
Alex Wang, Sean Nowlan, Joel Whist, Stephen James, Nick Marshall, Simon Jung (Wētā FX), Dennis Yoo (Wētā FX), Espen Nordahl, Jonathan Mitchell
Best Character Animation - Live Action
SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS
Karl Rapley, Sebastian Trujillo, Richard John Moore, Merlin Bela Wassilij Maertz, Pascal Raimbault
Feature Film Visual Effects
THE BATMAN
Wētā FX - Silver
Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature
MULAN
Jeremy Fort, Matt Fitzgerald, Ben Walker, Adrian Vercoe
Feature Film Visual Effects
Godzilla vs Kong
Wētā FX - Gold
Outstanding Compositing in an Episode
GAME OF THRONES - THE LONG NIGHT; DRAGON GROUND BATTLE
Mark Richardson, Darren Christie, Nathan Abbott, Owen Longstaff
Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature
ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL - ALITA
Michael Cozens, Mark Haenga, Olivier Lesaint, Dejan Momcilovic
Technical Achievement
To Don Parker for the product vision and design, Matt Daw for the core architecture, and Isaac Reuben, Colin Withers and Neil Brandt for the foundational engineering, of the Autodesk Shotgun post-production tracking system.
Technical Achievement
To Niall Ryan, Christoph Sprenger and Gilles Daviet for the Synapse Hair Simulation System.
Technical Achievement
To Babak Beheshti and Scott Robitille for the development of the compact, stand-alone, phase-accurate genlock synchronization and recording module, and to Ian Kelly and Dejan Momcilovic for the technical direction and workflow integration, of the Standard Deviation head-mounted camera system.
Best Character Animation - Live Action
AVENGERS: ENDGAME
Sidney Kombo-Kintombo, Sam Sharplin, Keven Norris, Tim Teramoto, Jacob Luamanuvae-Su'a
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
Daniel DeLeeuw, Jen Underdahl, Kelly Port, Matt Aitken (Weta Digital), Daniel Sudick
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project
CHILDISH GAMBINO'S PHAROS
Keith Miller (Weta Digital), Alejandro Crawford, Thelvin Cabezas (Weta Digital), Jeremy Thompson
Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR - THANOS
Jan Philip Cramer, Darren Hendler, Paul Story, Sidney Kombo-Kintombo
Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project
MORTAL ENGINES - LONDON
Matthew Sandoval, James Ogle, Nick Keller, Sam Tack
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR - TITAN
Gerardo Aguilera, Ashraf Ghoniem, Vasilis Pazionis, Hartwell Durfor
Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR - TITAN
Sabine Laimer, Tim Walker, Tobias Wiesner, Massimo Pasquetti
Feature Film Visual Effects
AVENGERS: ENDGAME
Weta Digital - Gold
TV Series
GAME OF THRONES SEASON 8
Weta Digital - Gold
TV Series
THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY
Weta Digital - Bronze
Outstanding Special Visual Effects
GAME OF THRONES, SEASON 8 'THE BELLS'
Joe Bauer, Steve Kullback, Adam Chazen, Sam Conway, Mohsen Mousavi, Martin Hill (Weta Digital), Ted Rae, Patrick Tiberius Gehlen, Thomas Schelesny
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
Joe Letteri, Ryan Stafford, Daniel Barrett , Dan Lemmon, Joel Whist
Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature "Caesar"
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
Dennis Yoo, Ludovic Chailloleau, Douglas McHale, Tim Forbes
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
David Caeiro Cebrián, Johnathan Nixon, Chet Leavai, Gary Boyle
Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
Christoph Salzmann, Robin Hollander, Ben Warner, Beck Veitch
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project
AVATAR: FLIGHT OF PASSAGE
Richard Baneha, Amy Jupiter, David Lester, Thrain Shadbolt (Weta Digital)
Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Live Action Production
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
Daniel Barrett, Sidney Kombo, Emile Ghorayeb, Luisma Lavin, Alessandro Bonora
Feature Film Visual Effects
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
Weta Digital - Gold
Outstanding Visual Effects - Feature Film
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
Matt Aitken, Charles Tait, Paul Story, Sidney Kombo-Kintombo, Marvyn Young
Outstanding Special Visual Effects
GAME OF THRONES, SEASON 7 ‘BEYOND THE WALL’
Steve Kullback, Joe Bauer, Adam Chazen, Michelle Blok, Sam Conway, Ted Rae, David Ramos, Wayne Stables (Weta Digital), Derek Spears,
Best Visual Effects
THE JUNGLE BOOK
Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon
Achievement in Special Visual Effects
THE JUNGLE BOOK
Robert Legato, Dan Lemmon, Andrew R. Jones, Adam Valdez
Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature
THE JUNGLE BOOK
Christoph Salzmann, Masaki Mitchell, Matthew Adams, Max Stummer
Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature
THE JUNGLE BOOK
Paul Story, Dennis Yoo, Jack Tema, Andrei Coval
Scientific and Engineering Award
To Luca Fascione, J.P. Lewis and Iain Matthews for the design, engineering, and development of the FACETS facial performance capture and solving system at Weta Digital.
Feature Film Visual Effects
WAR FOR PLANET OF THE APES
Weta Digital - Gold
Feature Film Visual Effects
THE JUNGLE BOOK
Weta Digital - Silver
Outstanding Visual Effects - Feature Film
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
Dan Lemmon, Anders Langlands, Luke Millar, Erik Winquist, Daniel Barrett
Scientific and Engineering Award
To Jack Greasley, Kiyoyuki Nakagaki, Duncan Hopkins and Carl Rand for the design and engineering of the MARI 3D texture painting system.
Outstanding Visual Effects Feature Film
THE JUNGLE BOOK
Robert Legato, Andrew R. Jones, Adam Valdez, Charley Henley, Keith Miller
Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Paul Story, Eteuati Tema, Andrea Merlo, Emiliano Padovani
Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Christoph Salzmann, Florian Schroeder, Quentin Hema, Simone Riginelli
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Joe Letteri, Ryan Stafford, Hannah Bianchini, Dan Lemmon, Matt Kutcher
Technical Achievement
To Marco Revelant for the original concepts and artistic vision, and to Alasdair Coull and Shane Cooper for the original architectural and engineering design, of the Barbershop hair grooming system at Weta Digital.
Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Live Action Production
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Daniel Barrett, Paul Story, Eteuati Tema, Alessandro Bonora, Dejan Momcilovic
Feature Film Visual Effects
THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES
Weta Digital – Silver
Outstanding Visual Effects - Feature Film
THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES
Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White, Matt Aitken
Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG
Eric Reynolds, David Clayton, Myriam Catrin, Guillaume Francois
Technical Achievement
To Dr. Peter Hillman for the long-term development and continued advancement of innovative, robust and complete toolsets for deep compositing.
Technical Achievement
To Martin Hill, Jon Allitt and Nick McKenzie for the creation of the spherical harmonics-based efficient lighting system at Weta Digital.
Technical Achievement
To Colin Doncaster, Johannes Saam, Areito Echevarria, Janne Kontkanen and Chris Cooper for the development, prototyping and promotion of technologies and workflows for deep compositing.
Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Live Action Production
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
Jeff Capogreco, Jedrzej Wojtowicz, Kevin Estey, Alessandro Bonora, Gino Acevedo
Feature Film Visual Effects
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Weta Digital - Gold
Outstanding Visual Effects - Feature Film
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Erik Winquist, Keith Miller, Paul Story
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
Matt Aitken, Victor Huang, Christian Rivers, R. Christopher White
Technical Achievement
To J.P. Lewis, Matt Cordner and Nickson Fong for the invention and publication of the Pose Space Deformation technique.
Scientific and Engineering Award
To Simon Clutterbuck, James Jacobs and Dr. Richard Dorling for the development of the Tissue Physically–Based Character Simulation Framework.
Feature Film Visual Effects
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
Weta Digital – Gold
Best Special Effects
THE AVENGERS
Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams, Dan Sudick
Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Daniel Barrett, Florian Fernandez, Matthew Muntean, Eric Reynolds
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Motion Picture
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, Cyndi Ochs, Kurt Williams
Character Animation in a Live Action Production
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Eric Reynolds
Animated Effects in an Animated Production
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
Kevin Romond
Feature Film Visual Effects
THE AVENGERS
Weta Digital - Silver
Feature Films Animation
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
Weta Digital - Winner
Best Special Effects
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, R. Christopher White, Daniel Barrett
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project
KING KONG 360 3D
Matt Aitken, Kevin Sherwood, Eric Reynolds, R. Christopher White
Scientific and Engineering Award
To Dr. Mark Sagar for his early and continuing development of influential facial motion retargeting solutions.
Feature Film Visual Effects
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Weta Digital – Winner
Best Visual Effects
AVATAR
Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
Achievement in Special Visual Effects
AVATAR
Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andrew R Jones
Outstanding Created Environment in a Feature Motion Picture
AVATAR
Eric Saindon, Shadi Almassizadeh, Dan Cox, Ula Rademeyer
Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Feature Motion Picture
AVATAR
Simon Cheung, Paul Jenness, John Stevenson-Galvin, Rainer Zoettl
Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Feature Motion Picture
AVATAR
Yvonne Muinde, Brenton Cottman, Peter Baustaedter, Jean-Luc Azzis
Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
AVATAR
Joe Letteri, Andrew R. Jones, Jeff Unay, Zoe Saldana
Best Single Visual Effect of the Year
AVATAR
Joe Letteri, Joyce Cox, Eileen Moran, Thelvin Cabezas
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Motion Picture
AVATAR
Joe Letteri, Joyce Cox, Eileen Moran, Richard Baneham
Feature Film Visual Effects
AVATAR
Weta Digital – Winner
Outstanding Compositing Feature Film
AVATAR
Erik Winquist, Robin Hollander, Erich Eder, Giuseppe Tagliavini
Best Special Effects
AVATAR
Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andrew R. Jones
Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program, Commercial or Music Video
TRAVELERS - SNOWBALL
Laure Lacroix, Lyse Beck, Steve McGillen, Matt Holland
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial
TRAVELERS - SNOWBALL
Dan Lemmon, Eileen Moran, R. Christopher White, Paul Story
Best Visual Effects
KING KONG
Joe Letteri, Brian Van't Hul, Christian Rivers and Richard Taylor
Achievement in Special Visual Effects
KING KONG
Joe Letteri, Christian Rivers, Brian Van’t Hul, Richard Taylor
Outstanding Performance by an Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture
KING KONG
Andy Serkis, Christian Rivers, Atsushi Sato, Guy Williams
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Motion Picture
KING KONG
Joe Letteri, Eileen Moran, Christian Rivers, Eric Saindon
Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Motion Picture
KING KONG
Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, Matt Aitken, Charles Tait
Best Special Effects
KING KONG
Joe Letteri, Richard Taylor, Christian Rivers, Brian Van't Hul
Best Visual Effects
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING
Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke
Achievement in Special Visual Effects
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING
Joe Letteri, Jim Rygiel, Randall William Cook, Alex Funke
Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Motion Picture
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING
Richard Taylor, Paul Van Ommen, Eric Saindon
Outstanding Visual Effects in an Effects Driven Motion Picture
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING
Jim Rygiel, Dean Wright, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook
Outstanding Character Animation in a Live Action Motion Picture
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING
Steven Hornby, Andy Serkis, Matthias Menz, Greg Butler
Technical Achievement
To Christophe Hery, Ken McGaugh and Joe Letteri for their ground-breaking implementations of practical methods for rendering skin and other translucent materials using subsurface scattering techniques
Feature Film Visual Effects
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING
Weta Digital - Winner
Best Special Effects
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING
Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, Alex Funke
Best Visual Effects
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, Alex Funke
Achievement in Special Visual Effects
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, Alex Funke
Best Visual Effects Photography in a Motion Picture
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
Alex Funke, Brian Van't Hul, Richard Bluck
Best Effects Art Direction in a Motion Picture
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
Alan Lee, Jeremy Bennett, Christian Rivers, Gino Acevedo
Best Visual Effects in an Effects Driven Motion Picture
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, Alex Funke
Best Compositing in a Motion Picture
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
Mark Lewis, GG Heitmann Demers, Alex Lemke, Alfred Murrle
Best Character Animation in a Live Action Motion Picture
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, Ken McGaugh, Bay Raitt
Best Special Effects in a Motion Picture
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
Steve Ingram, Blair Foord, Rich Cordobes, Scott Harens
Best Models and Miniatures in a Motion Picture
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
Richard Taylor, Paul Van Ommen, Matt Aitken
Best Visual Effects
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
Jim Rygiel, Randall William Cook, Richard Taylor, Mark Stetson
Achievement in Special Visual Effects
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
Jim Rygiel, Richard Taylor, Alex Funke, Randall William Cook, Mark Stetson
Feature Film Visual Effects
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
Weta Digital - Winner