TriStar Pictures Imageworks

TriStar Pictures Imageworks Inc. (TPI) is a visual effects and character animation company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and Culver City, California, United States. SPI is a unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group.
The company has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with Oscars for their work on Spider-Man 2 and the computer-animated short film The ChubbChubbs!, and received many other nominations for their work.
SPI has provided visual effects for many films, most recent include Suicide Squad, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Kingsman: The Golden Circle. They also provided services for several of director Robert Zemeckis' films, including Contact, Cast Away, The Polar Express, Monster House and Beowulf.
Since foundation of its sister company Sony Pictures Animation in 2002, SPI has animated nearly all of SPA's films, including Open Season, Surf's Up, the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films, The Smurfs films, the Hotel Transylvania films and The Emoji Movie, and has also helped animate other animated films such as Arthur Christmas for Aardman Animations (co-produced by SPA), Storks and Smallfoot for Warner Animation Group, The Angry Birds Movie and Birdeo & Juilet for Paramount Animation, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Rovio Animation, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse for Studio 8, Alibaba Pictures and Marvel Studios (co-produced by SPA), Valerian: Far from Alpha for Global Road Entertainment, Global Road Animation, Gozie Agbo, Macro Media, Armory Films, Big Beach, Elevated, Palmstar Entertainment, Fundamental Films, Europacorp, Baozou Studios, Foxtail Entertainment and Original Force.
==History==
Sony Pictures Imageworks was formed in 1992 with five employees to use computers to help plan complicated scenes for live-action films. Located in the former TriStar building, their first work was a previsualization for the 1993 film Striking Distance.
To fill the gaps between VFX jobs, SPI decided to partake in a more profitable animation business. Its first independent animated effort was the 5-minute short The ChubbChubbs! directed by Eric Armstrong. In 2002, it won the Oscar for Best Animated Short. Early Bloomer, released in 2003, was the division's second short film and originally made as a storyboarding exercise. SPI completed its first feature animation project in 2006 with the release of Open Season.
In 2007, SPI acquired Indian visual effects studio FrameFlow to take advantage of lower labor costs. Renamed to Imageworks India, a modern facility was opened in Chennai a year later. To leverage New Mexico's tax rebates and talent base, a satellite production facility was opened in 2007 in Albuquerque, becoming the largest post-production operation in the state. In 2010, SPI opened a production studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, in order to take advantage of the local talent pool and government film production incentives. Two years later, the studio doubled its Vancouver facilities. At the same time, the Albuquerque studio was closed down due to declining New Mexico's subsidies and difficulty with attracting artist to move there.
In the beginning of 2014, as part of Sony's cost-cutting move, SPI transferred a portion of its technology team from its headquarters in Culver City to Vancouver. By May 2014, entire headquarters and production had been moved to Vancouver, with only a small office remaining in Los Angeles. At the same time, SPI closed down its Indian studio, laying off around 100 employees. A year later, over 700 artists moved into a new 74,000-square feet headquarters in Vancouver.
==Technology==
During 2009-2010, SPI made transition from traditional biased, multi-pass rendering system to a largely singlepass, global illumination system incorporating modern ray-tracing and physically based shading techniques. They have achieved that with Arnold Renderer, an unbiased stochastic ray tracer. Arnold, started in 1997 by Marcos Fajardo, was co-developed between 2004 and 2009 with SPI, where Marcos was employed, and a commercial branch is being developed by Marcos' Madrid based company Solid Angle SL. Arnold was used on projects such as Monster House, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 2012, Alice in Wonderland, The Smurfs, Arthur Christmas and is being used on all upcoming SPI's films.
==Filmography==
TrIStar Pictures Imageworks has provided visual effects and digital animation for the following films:
Year	Films
1993	Last Action HeroIn the Line of FireStriking Distance (previsualization only)
The 2ND Man in the Space (Space effects)
1994	SpeedWolf
1995	Tall TaleDie Hard with a VengeanceMoney Train (miniatures only)
1996	James and the Giant PeachPhenomenonThe Ghost and the DarknessMichael
1997	AnacondaContactStarship Troopers
1998	City of AngelsGodzillaPatch Adams
1999	Big DaddyStuart LittleSnow Falling on Cedars
2000	What Lies BeneathHollow ManCharlie's AngelsCast Away
2001	America's SweetheartsHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
2002	Spider-ManMen in Black IIThe ChubbChubbs!Stuart Little 2I Spy'The 2nd Man in the Moon
2003	Anger ManagementEarly BloomerThe Matrix ReloadedCharlie's Angels: Full ThrottleBad Boys IISeabiscuitThe Matrix RevolutionsThe Haunted MansionBig Fish
2004	50 First DatesSpider-Man 2The Polar ExpressChristmas with the KranksThe Aviator
2005	ZathuraThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
2006	ClickSuperman ReturnsMonster HouseOpen Season
2007	Ghost RiderSpider-Man 3Surf's UpThe ChubbChubbs Save XmasBeowulfI Am Legend
2008	The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
2009	WatchmenG-Force'The 2ND Man in the Moon: Go SpaceCloudy with a Chance of Meatballs2012
2010	Alice in WonderlandCats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
2011	Green LanternZookeeperCaptain America: The First AvengerThe SmurfsArthur Christmas
2012	Men in Black 3The Amazing Spider-ManHotel Transylvania
2013	Oz: The Great and PowerfulThe Smurfs 2Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
2014	The Amazing Spider-Man 2BlendedEdge of Tomorrow22 Jump StreetGuardians of the GalaxyFuryAmerican SniperThe Interview
2015	PixelsHotel Transylvania 2
2016	The Angry Birds MovieAlice Through the Looking GlassGhostbustersSuicide SquadStorks
2017	Smurfs: The Lost VillageSpider-Man: HomecomingThe Emoji MovieKingsman: The Golden Circle
===Upcoming===
Year	Films
2018	Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer VacationThe MegSmallfootOnce Upon a Sausage PartySpider-Man: Into the Spider-VerseValerian: Far from AlphaEdTV 2: TV Jerks It
2019	The Em2ji MovieThe Angry Birds Movie 2: Birdeo & JulietThe 2ND Man In The Moon Reborn
==References==
Category:TriStar Pictures Entertainment
Category:TriStar Pictures
Category:Entertainment One
Category:American animation studiosCategory:Pages stolen off Wikipedia