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New Zealand’s Wētā FX, one of the world’s premiere visual effects studios, announced today that they will be opening a Vancouver office as part of the next phase of the company’s growth following the $1.6 billion technology deal with Unity late last year.
The Vancouver location will initially house 75 artists with a vision to expand beyond that before the end of the year.
Wētā FX was founded by Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, and Jamie Selkirk and went on to produce some of the highest-grossing films ever made, including the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Avatar.
Wētā’s Vancouver presence marks the company’s first dedicated visual effects office outside its home-base of New Zealand, complementing the executive offices in Los Angeles and signalling the beginning of Wētā’s commitment to international expansion and scale.
“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. “Vancouver is an established market for VFX, Animation and Games talent and we look forward to welcoming them into the Wētā FX family.”
The Vancouver office will work on a wide range of shows including the Avatar Sequels, the first of which will hit theatres in December 2022. Wētā FX is also currently also working on a dozen unannounced projects for various studios and has recently completed work on WB’s The Batman and Marvel’s Moon Knight and Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Wētā FX has been on a steady growth trajectory over the last couple of years with the establishment of Wētā Studios to produce original content and Wētā Animated to take advantage of the company’s decades-long legacy of bringing to life some of the industry’s most memorable digital characters.