W?t? FX to open Vancouver VFX studio

Credit: Wētā FX. A still from Wētā’s work on the 2019 film Avengers: Endgame

To help meet the growing demand for visual effects, the powerhouse co-founded by film director Peter Jackson will hire 75 local workers to start

The visual effects company behind Avatar, The Batman and the locally filmed Peacemaker series for HBO Max is headed to Vancouver.

Wētā FX, known for creating the worlds of co-founder Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films and the dark domains we’ll see next month when Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opens, will launch its first satellite studio outside of Wellington, New Zealand. Given its reputation as the world’s biggest centre for VFX and animation, Vancouver is Wētā’s location of choice to set up shop. The company’s first step: to hire 75 employees, with plans to add more down the road.

B.C.’s largest city is already home to an impressive collection of studios meeting Hollywood’s cinematic needs for superheroes and spaceships. Power players like Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Digital Domain, Scanline VFX and Technicolor each employ hundreds of local workers.

“The global growth in entertainment content has allowed us the flexibility to really pursue the projects we want and to expand our business model to tap into talent in more locations around the world,” said Prem Akkaraju, CEO of Wētā FX, in a release. “Vancouver is an established market for VFX, animation and games talent, and we look forward to welcoming them into the Wētā FX family.”

Wētā’s announcement comes a few months after the company revealed plans to merge with 3D game engine technology provider Unity, a deal worth US$1.6 billion.