“Doctor Strange,” “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” “The Jungle Book,” “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” have been singled out by the Visual Effects Society, a professional honorary society for members of the VFX industry.
Those five films will compete at the 15th annual VES Awards in the Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature category, the VES category that most closely corresponds to the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. In the last five years, 21 of the 25 Oscar VFX nominees have first been nominated by the VES, all but three of those in the Photoreal Feature category or its predecessor, Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture.
While the Oscars only give out a single award for effects, the VES Awards have 24 separate film, TV, videogame, commercial and student-film categories. “Rogue One” led all films with seven nominations, followed by “The Jungle Book,” “Doctor Strange” and the stop-motion animated film “Kubo and the Two Strings” with six each.
Overall, the HBO series “Game of Thrones” was the single biggest nominee, with 11 nominations. The only other TV programs with multiple nominations were “Black Sails,” with three, and “The Man in the High Castle,” with two.
“Miss Peregrine” is the only one of the top VES nominees that did not make the Academy’s recent 10-film shortlist in the visual-effects category. Films that did make that Oscar shortlist but were shut out by the VES include “Arrival,” “The BFG,” “Captain America: Civil War” and “Passengers.”
Among the “Rogue One” nominations are ones for the digital re-creations of Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia and Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin. Other nominees include Terrence Malick’s large-format documentary “Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience.”
The VES Awards will take place on February 7 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. At the ceremony, the Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Ken Ralston, and the Visionary Award to Marvel Studios’ Victoria Alonso.
The nominations:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
“Doctor Strange”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
“Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
“The Jungle Book”
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
“Allied”
“Deepwater Horizon”
“Jason Bourne”
“Silence”
“Sully”
Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature
“Finding Dory”
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Moana”
“The Little Prince”
“Zootopia”
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode
“Black Mirror”: “Playtest”
“Game of Thrones”: “Battle of the Bastards”
“Stranger Things”: “Demogorgon”
“The Expanse”: “Salvage”
“Westworld”: “The Bicameral Mind”
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode
“Black Sails”: “XX”
“Penny Dreadful”: “The Day Tennyson Died”
“Roots”: “Night One”
“The Man in the High Castle”: “Volkshalle”
“Vikings”: “The Last Ship”
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project
“Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare”
“Dishonored 2”: Crack in the Slab
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”: Virtual Reality
“Gears of War 4”
“Quantum Break”
“Uncharted 4”
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial
Coke Mini; A Mini Marvel
For Honor
John Lewis; Buster the Boxer
Titanfall 2; Become One
Waitrose; Coming Home
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project
“Dream of Anhui”
“Pirates of the Caribbean”: Battle for the Sunken Treasure
“Soarin’ Over the Horizon”
“Skull Island: Reign of Kong”
“Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience”
Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”: Niffler
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”: Grand Moff Tarkin
“The Jungle Book”: King Louie
“The Jungle Book”: Shere Khan
“Warcraft”: Durotan
Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature
“Finding Dory”: Hank
“Kubo and the Two Strings”: Kubo
“Kubo and the Two Strings”: Monkey
“Moana”: The Mighty Maui
Outstanding Animated Performance in an Episode or Real-Time Project
“Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: Omar
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
“Game of Thrones”: “Battle of the Bastards”: Drogon
“Game of Thrones”: “Home”: Emaciated Dragon
Outstanding Animated Performance in a Commercial
John Lewis: Buster the Boxer
Opel Motorsport: Racing Faces; Lion
SSE: Neon House; Baby Pixel
Waitrose: Coming Home
Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature
“Deadpool”: Freeway Assault
“Doctor Strange”: London
“Doctor Strange”: New York City
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”: Scarif Complex
Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature
“Finding Dory”: Open Ocean Exhibit
“Kubo and the Two Strings”: Hanzo’s Fortress
“Kubo and the Two Strings”: Waves
“Moana”: Motonui Island
Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project
“Black Sails”: XXVIII: Maroon Island
“Dishonored 2”: Clockwork Mansion
“Game of Thrones”: “Battle of the Bastards”: Meereen City
“Game of Thrones”: “The Winds of Winter”: Citadel
“The Man in the High Castle”: Volkshalle
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project
“Doctor Strange”: New York Mirror Dimension
“Game of Thrones”: “Battle of the Bastards”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”: Space Battle
“The Jungle Book”
Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project
“Deepwater Horizon”: Deepwater Horizon Rig
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”: Princess Leia
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”: Star Destroyer
“Star Trek Beyond”: Enterprise
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature
“Alice Through the Looking Glass”: Rust
“Doctor Strange”: Hong Kong Reverse Destruction
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”: Jedha Destruction
“The Jungle Book”: Nature Effects
Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature
“Finding Dory”
“Kubo and the Two Strings”: Water
“Moana”
“Zootopia”
Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project
“Game of Thrones”: “Battle of the Bastards”
“Game of Thrones”: “Battle of the Bastards”: Meereen City
John Lewis: Buster the Boxer
Sky: Q
Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature
“Doctor Strange”; New York City
“Independence Day: Resurgence”: Under The Mothership
“The Jungle Book”
“X-Men: Apocalypse”: Quicksilver Rescue
Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode
“Black Sails”: “XX”: Sailing Ships
“Game of Thrones”: “Battle of the Bastards”: Meereen City
“Game of Thrones”: “Battle of the Bastards”: Retaking Winterfell
“Game of Thrones”: “The Door”: Land of Always Winter
Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Commercial
Canal: Kitchen
John Lewis: Buster the Boxer
Kenzo: Kenzo World
LG: World of Play
Waitrose: Coming Home
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project
“Breaking Point”
“Elemental”
“Garden Party”
“Shine”