Cinesite

**Cinesite Studios** (also known as **Cinesite VFX** or simply **Cinesite**) is an independent, multinational business which provides services to the media and entertainment industries. Its head office in London opened for business in 1994, initially offering services in visual effects for film and television, subsequently expanding to include feature animation.

Divisions of Cinesite and its partner companies Image Engine TRIXTER, L'Atelier Animation, Squeeze and Assemblage Entertainment operate in London, Berlin, Munich, Skopje, Belgrade, Montreal, Quebec City, Vancouver and Mumbai with more than 2,500 employees.

## History

### Foundation

Cinesite opened its doors in Los Angeles in 1991 to help with the digital restoration of *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs*. 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's Cineon 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, 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 for its visual effects on The Book of Boba Fett and Game of Thrones and also received an Academy Award nomination for District 9 in 2010.

In March 2017, it acquired Vancouver-based animation studio Nitrogen Studios 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 L'Atelier Animation in July, Squeeze Animation Studios in early August, Balkan-based visual effects studio FX3X later that month and in November, Assemblage Entertainment in Mumbai.

## Visual effects

The Cinesite group of visual effects companies includes its own brand services, along with partner companies Image Engine and TRIXTER.

Notable feature film productions Cinesite has created visual effects for include *Avengers: Endgame* (2019), *Mary Poppins Returns* (2018), *Avengers: Infinity War* (2018), *The Commuter* (2018), *Ant-Man and the Wasp* (2018), *Independence Day: Resurgence* (2016), *Spectre* (2015) and *The Revenant* (2015), for which it won a Visual Effects Society award in 2015. Cinesite has completed work on all eight films in the *Harry Potter* franchise in addition to *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them* and seven films in the *James Bond* franchise.

Cinesite television work includes *Lost in Space* Seasons 1 & 2 (2019), *The Witcher* (2019), *Raising Dion* (2019), *Outlander: Brave New World* (2019), *Murder Mystery* (2019), *American Gods*: Season 1 (2018) and Tom Clancy's *Jack Ryan* (2018). Cinesite has won Emmy awards for *Generation Kill* (2008) and *Rome* (2006) and nominations include *American Gods*: Season 1 and *Band of Brothers* (2002).

Cinesite won a Visual Effects Society 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) 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."*

## Feature animation

*Main article: Cinesite 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* (2018), *Gnome Alone* (2018), *Trouble* (2019), and *Fearless* (2020) for 3QU Media, *The Star* (2017) for Sony Pictures Animation, and *Extinct* (2021) for Huayi Brothers. Cinesite assisted with the CGI animation for the feature film *Ben 10: The Movie* (2020), based on the reboot of the original television series.

In addition to providing production services for other studios, Cinesite produces its own animated features through Aniventure. 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 *Hitpig* (2023); a loose adaptation of the Berkeley Breathed book *Pete & Pickles*, and are next set to produce the long in-development adaptation of *Animal Farm* directed by Andy Serkis.

Vancouver-based animation company Nitrogen Studios 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* (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 Assemblage Entertainment.

## Credits

* *Locke & Key* (2020)
* *Dark* (2020)
* *Fate: The Winx Saga* (2021)
* *Tribes of Europa* (2021)
* *Space Jam: A New Legacy* (2021)
* *The North Water* (2021)
* *Black Widow* (2021)
* *Respect* (2021)
* *No Time to Die* (2021)
* *Wheel of Time* (2021)
* *Spider-Man: No Way Home* (2021)
* *Cyrano* (2022)
* *Halo* (2022)
* *The Last Bus* (2022)
* *Moon Knight* (2022)
* *The Man Who Fell to Earth* (2022)
* *The CN Movie* (2022)
* *Thor: Love and Thunder* (2022)
* *Black Panther: Wakanda Forever* (2022)
* *Matilda* (2022)
* *Avenue 5* (2023)
* *The Witcher* (2023)
* *Peter Pan & Wendy* (2023)
* *Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom* (2023)
* *American Girl: Corinne Tan* (2024)

### VFX 1996-2019

#### TV series

 2005-2007
 2017-2021

## See also

* Digital Domain
* DNEG
* Framestore
* Industrial Light & Magic
* Moving Picture Company
* Rhythm and Hues Studios
* Sony Pictures Imageworks
* Weta Digital
* Image Engine

## External links

* Cinesite's website
* The UK Screen Association
* Cinesite on the IMDB