“The Lion King,” the Disney “live-action” remake that is made up almost entirely of computer-generated characters and backgrounds, has won three awards at the Visual Effects Society’s 18th annual VES Awards, which were handed out Wednesday night in Los Angeles.
The film won for its virtual cinematography and created environment, and also took the award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, the VES category that corresponds most closely to the Academy Awards’ Best Visual Effects category.
“The Irishman,” with its extensive use of de-aging technology, won two awards, including Outstanding Supporting Effects in a Photoreal Feature. “Missing Link” was the top animated feature with two awards.
In the television categories, “Stranger Things” and “Game of Thrones” each received a pair of awards. So did “The Mandalorian” — including one for “The Child,” the episode built around the year’s most viral CG character, Baby Yoda.
The film that wins the VES award in the Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature category (or its predecessor, Outstanding Visual Effects in an Visual Effects-Driven Motion Picture) has gone on to win the VFX Oscar 10 times in the last 17 years, but only once in the last five. The Outstanding Supporting Effects winner has won the Oscar twice in that time, including last year with “First Man.”
Oscar nominees in the category this year include the two top VES winners, “The Lion King” and “The Irishman,” as well as “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” which won one VES award, and “Avengers: Endgame” and “1917,” which did not win any.
Also at the show, Sheena Duggal received the VES Award for Creative Excellence, Roland Emmerich was given the Visionary Award and Martin Scorsese received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Scorsese could not attend and accepted the award via video.
The show took place at the Beverly Hilton and was hosted by Patton Oswalt.
The winners:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature: “The Lion King”
Robert Legato
Tom Peitzman
Adam Valdez
Andrew R. Jones
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature: “The Irishman”
Pablo Helman
Mitchell Ferm
Jill Brooks
Leandro Estebecorena
Jeff Brink
Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature: “Missing Link”
Brad Schiff
Travis Knight
Steve Emerson
Benoit Dubuc
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode: “The Mandalorian”: “The Child”
Richard Bluff
Abbigail Keller
Jason Porter
Hayden Jones
Roy K. Cancino
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode: “Chernobyl”: “1:23:45”
Max Dennison
Lindsay McFarlane
Clare Cheetham
Paul Jones
Claudius Christian Rauch
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project: “Control”
Janne Pulkkinen
Elmeri Raitanen
Matti Hämäläinen
James Tottman
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial: Hennessy: “The Seven Worlds”
Carsten Keller
Selçuk Ergen
Kiril Mirkov
William Laban
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project: “Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance”
Jason Bayever
Patrick Kearney
Carol Norton
Bill George
Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature: “Alita: Battle Angel”: Alita
Michael Cozens
Mark Haenga
Olivier Lesaint
Dejan Momcilovic
Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature: “Missing Link”: Susan
Rachelle Lambden
Brenda Baumgarten
Morgan Hay
Benoit Dubuc
Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode or Real-Time Project: “Stranger Things 3”: Tom/Bruce Monster
Joseph Dubé-Arsenault
Antoine Barthod
Frederick Gagnon
Xavier Lafarge
Outstanding Animated Character in a Commercial: “Cyberpunk 2077”: Dex
Jonas Ekman
Jonas Skoog
Marek Madej
Grzegorz Chojnacki
Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature: “The Lion King”: The Pridelands
Marco Rolandi
Luca Bonatti
Jules Bodenstein
Filippo Preti
Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature: “Toy Story 4”: Antiques Mall
Hosuk Chang
Andrew Finley
Alison Leaf
Philip Shoebottom
Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project: “Game of Thrones”: “The Iron Throne”: Red Keep Plaza
Carlos Patrick DeLeon
Alonso Bocanegra Martinez
Marcela Silva
Benjamin Ross
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project: “The Lion King”
Robert Legato
Caleb Deschanel
Ben Grossmann
AJ Sciutto
Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project: “The Mandalorian”: The Sin; The Razorcrest
Doug Chiang
Jay Machado
John Goodson
Landis Fields IV
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature: “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”
Don Wong
Thibault Gauriau
Goncalo Cababca
François-Maxence Desplanques
Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature: “Frozen II”
Erin V. Ramos
Scott Townsend
Thomas Wickes
Rattanin Sirinaruemarn
Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project: “Stranger Things 3”: Melting Tom/Bruce
Nathan Arbuckle
Christian Gaumond
James Dong
Aleksandr Starkov
Outstanding Compositing in a Feature: “The Irishman”
Nelson Sepulveda
Vincent Papaix
Benjamin O’Brien
Christopher Doerhoff
Outstanding Compositing in an Episode: “Game of Thrones”: “The Long Night”: Dragon Ground Battle
Mark Richardson
Darren Christie
Nathan Abbott
Owen Longstaff
Outstanding Compositing in a Commercial: Hennessy:” The Seven Worlds”
Rod Norman
Guillaume Weiss
Alexander Kulikov
Alessandro Granella
Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal or Animated Project: “The Dark Crystal: The Age of Resistance”: “She Knows All the Secrets”
Sean Mathiesen
Jon Savage
Toby Froud
Phil Harvey
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project: “The Beauty”
Marc Angele
Aleksandra Todorovic
Pascal Schelbli
Noel Winzen