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The Visual Effects Society has chimed in on the awards season conversation.

On Tuesday, the visual effects industry’s global honorary society announced nominees for the 23rd Annual Ves Awards — with top Best Visual Effects Oscar contenders Better Man, Dune: Part Two, and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes among the films recognized.

Dune: Part Two led the way among photoreal features with seven nominations, including Best Feature. The Wild Robot led all animated films with five nominations; Shōgun and The Penguin earned four bids each on the TV side.

Wicked and Gladiator II, which are currently predicted to land among the Best Visual Effects Oscar nominees later this month, were both absent from the Best Feature lineup. Instead, the Ves Awards went with Mufasa: The Lion King and Twisters. Last year, just two of the five Best Visual Effects Oscar nominees were similarly nominated in the Ves Awards...

The Visual Effects Society (Ves) is the entertainment industry’s only official organization representing the extended global community of visual effects practitioners, including supervisors, artists, producers, technology developers, educators, and studio executives. The 5,000-member Ves body has now selected nominees for its 2025 awards honors in features, animation, television, commercials, games, and new media, as well as the VFX supervisors, VFX producers, and hands-on artists who bring their work to life.

“Dune: Part Two” leads the photoreal feature film field with seven nominations, although nominations include character work on “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” as well as “Better Man” and nominations for the virtuosic digital camerawork in Episode 4 of “House of the Dragon” Season 2, “The Red Dragon and the Gold.”

“The Wild Robot” is the top animated contender with five nominations. “Shōgun” and “The Penguin” each received four nominations in the episodic field, with “The Penguin” also nominated for...

The Visual Effects Society (Ves) announced its nominees for the 2025 Ves Awards, a celebration which annually “recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in features animation, television, commercials, games and new media.”

Dune: Part Two led the film nominations with seven nods, while Shogun and The Penguin tie in the episodic field with four each. The Wild Robot led the animation field with five.

“The artistry, ingenuity and passion of visual effects practitioners around the world have come together to create remarkable imagery,” says Kim Davidson, Ves Chair. “We are seeing best in class work that elevates the art of storytelling and exemplifies the spirit of innovation. The Ves Awards is the only venue that showcases and honors these outstanding artists across a wide range of disciplines, and we are extremely proud of our nominees.”

The nominees in 25 categories were selected by Ves members at 49 in-person and virtual panels around the world.

While Ilm was completing the animation and VFX for Netflix‘s “Lost Ollie” (2022), the live-action/CG limited series about a floppy-eared toy trying to find its way back home, creator Shannon Tindle shared with them some of the manga- and anime-influenced artwork for his passion project with Netflix, “Ultraman: Rising” (currently streaming). His plan was to turn the Japanese pop culture phenomenon into an action-packed, heartwarming ode to parenthood and finding balance in life.

Tindle’s hope was to entice Ilm into doing the animation, even though the VFX powerhouse hadn’t made an animated feature since the Oscar-winning “Rango” (2011). Gathered in his Burbank office, Tindle showed off examples of Ultraman’s iconic red and silver look, fighting kaiju in Tokyo and bonding with his adopted 35-foot, fire-breathing baby kaiju girl.

“It looked amazing and I was completely sold,” Ilm VFX supervisor Hayden Jones told IndieWire. “We had some production...

Netflix unveiled the trailer for “Ultraman: Rising” (premiering at Annecy June 12 and streaming June 14), the animated feature from first-time director Shannon Tindle, who re-imagines the legendary anime franchise from Tsuburaya Productions as an action-packed, heartwarming ode to parenthood.

With Tokyo under siege from rising kaiju attacks, Dodgers baseball superstar Ken Sato (Christopher Sean) reluctantly returns home to take on the mantle of rogue superhero Ultraman from his father (Gedde Watanabe) while signing with the Giants. But he has trouble balancing his passion for baseball and his family obligation to be Ultraman. Then, when forced to raise a 35-foot-tall, fire-breathing baby kaiju girl, Sato must confront his huge ego to protect her and Japan from destruction.

Tindle first conceived of his film as an original parental superhero story (“Made in Japan”). That was back in 2001 when he was a character designer on “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.” He later developed it...

Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War” was the big VFX winner at the 17th annual Ves Awards Tuesday at the Beverly Hilton, grabbing four prizes, including photoreal feature. And Sony’s animated Oscar favorite, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” also scored four awards, including animated feature.

While it’s a significant momentum builder for “Infinity War” in its quest to be the first VFX Oscar winner for the McU (and first superhero winner since 2004’s “Spider-Man 2”), there still remains competition from Damien Chazelle’s “First Man,” which won the Ves supporting prize. However, “Infinity War” boasts the stronger CG wow factor in the form of the brilliantly animated Thanos (peformance-captured by Josh Brolin) from Digital Domain and Weta Digital.

“Infinity War” also took home honors for animated character (Thanos), simulations (Titan), and compositing (Titan). “Spider-Verse” additionally snagged animated character (Miles Morales), environment (Graphic New York City), and simulations.

On the TV side,...

It was a great night for Marvel at the 17th annual Visual Effects Society Awards on Tuesday night. The comic book publisher’s wares led the film fields, with “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” nabbing four wins apiece.

“Spider-Verse,” a dominant animated feature on the awards circuit this year, swept each of its categories. “Avengers” nearly did the same, dropping just one to Universal’s “Mortal Engines.”

“Ready Player One” received two prizes, while “First Man” picked up one. They join “Avengers: Infinity War,” along with “Christopher Robin” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” in the Academy’s Oscar lineup of visual effects nominees this year.

On the television side, Netflix’s “Lost in Space” dominated with four wins as well.

“Westworld” co-creator Jonathan Nolan received the Visual Effects Society’s Visionary Award, while “Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss accepted the organization’s...

The 17th annual Ves Awards are being handed out tonight at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, and Deadline will be live-blogging the affair and updating the winners list live. Patton Oswalt is hosting the Visual Effects Society’s gala, which celebrates the best VFX artistry and innovation in film, animation, TV, commercials and video games across 24 categories.

The winner of the Ves Award for Photoreal Feature has gone on to win the Visual Effects Oscar 10 of the 16 times it has been presented, but it hasn’t been much of a harbinger for the past half-decade or so. Last year the Ves Award went to War for the Planet of the Apes, while the Academy Award was claimed by Blade Runner 2049, as Roger Deakins won for the first time in his 14th nominations. The Jungle Book won both in 2017, but Ves and Oscar failed to match up in either of the previous two years.

Today was a busy day for some of the smaller guilds with the Visual Effects Society, the Cinema Audio Society, and the Makeup and Hairstylists Guilds all announcing their nominations for 2013.

First, we have the Ves, whose main category to look at is “Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture,” where we find Gravity and four other nominees that are just going to have to be happy with the fact that they got nominated. This is perhaps the easiest category to call in the entirety of awards season, and I don’t mean just here, but for the Oscar as well (Last year’s winner, Life of Pi, easily took this category before going on to claim the Oscar). It’s true that films like The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and Star Trek Into Darkness had outstanding effects as well, but nothing even came close to the amazing,...

Christopher Nolan's "Inception" dominated the 9th annual Visual Effects Society Awards winning the top prize of Outstanding Visual Effcts in a VFX-driven feature. The mind-bending film won all four categories that it was nominated for.

DreamWorks Animations' "How to Train Your Dragon" also received love from the Ves sweeping the feature animation categories including Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature.

The ceremony, held at the Beverly Hilton, also paid homage to Nolan by giving him the inaugural Ves Visionary Award. The great Ray Harryhausen was given the much-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award.

Here's the complete list of the winners of the 9th annual Visual Effects Society (Ves) Awards (Check our Awards Avenue for complete winners/nominees for all award-giving bodies):

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual-Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture

Inception

Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Mike Chambers, Matthew Plummer

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture

Hereafter

Michael Owens,...

Last night, the Visual Effects Society announced the winners of their 9th annual Ves Awards, recognizing…you guessed it! The best in visual effects for films, television, commercials and video games. The big winner of the night was none other than Inception, which shouldn’t come as a huge shock, winning four awards that include Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture. How to Train Your Dragon was the main victor in the animated film department, a well-deserved win. The big win it nabbed was for Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture. Hereafter and Deathly Hallows: Part 1 also earned some wins; the latter taking something isn’t a surprise, but the dull, uninspired effects of Hereafter getting both this and an Oscar nod is baffling. Where is the love for the incredible work done on Scott Pilgrim?

Christopher Nolan was given the inaugural Ves Visionary Award,...

The Visual Effects Society (Ves) has announced the nominees for the 9th Annual Ves Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry in 24 categories of film, animation, television,

commercials and video games.

Christopher Nolan's "Inception" dominated the nominations receiving four nods. Nolan will also be honored at the event with the inaugural Ves Visionary Award. Ray Harryhausen will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Ves Awards will take place on Tuesday, February 1 and will air exclusively on Reelzchannel Saturday, February 19 at 10p Et/Pt with encore presentations throughout February.

Here's the complete list of nominees for the 9th Annual Ves Awards:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual-Effects Driven Feature Motion

Picture

Inception

Paul Franklin Visual Effects Supervisor

Chris Corbould Special Effects Supervisor

Mike Chambers Visual Effects Producer

Matthew Plummer Visual Effects Producer

Iron Man 2

Ben Snow VFX Supervisor

Ged Wright VFX Supervisor

Janek Sirrs VFX Supervisor

Susan Pickett VFX...