“Dune: Part Two” led all films in nominations for the 233 annual VES Awards, the Visual Effects Society announced Tuesday. Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic earned seven nominations in the VES Awards’ eight non-animated feature film categories, followed by “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” with six, “Better Man” with four and “Mufasa: The Lion King” with three.
In the Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature category, the closest equivalent to Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards, the nominees were “Better Man,” “Dune: Part Two,” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” “Mufasa: The Lion King” and “Twisters.”
All 10 films on the Academy Awards’ Best Visual Effects list received VES nominations. In addition to the five nominees in the VES Outstanding Visual Effects category, “Civil War” and “Gladiator II” received two nominations, and “Alien: Romulus”, “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Wicked” each received one.
The VES Awards have 25 categories covering photorealistic and animated features, episodic work, commercials, games and real-time projects, CG and student projects. The record for VES nominations is 14, which was set by “Avatar: The Way of Water” two years ago.
In the animated feature categories, “The Wild Robot” led with five nominations. In the episodic categories, “Shōgun” and “The Penguin” led with four each.
The nominations were selected by VES members at 49 in-person and virtual panels that took place around the world over a continuous 30-hour period.
Winners will be announced at the VES Awards ceremony on February 11 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Also at that ceremony, “Shōgun” actor-producer Hiroyuki Sanada will receive the VES Award for Creative Excellence; director and visual effects supervisor Takashi Yamazaki will receive the VES Visionary Award; and virtual reality pioneer Dr. Jacquelyn Ford Morie will host VES Georges Méliès Prize.
Here is the full list of nominated films and projects. For a list of the nominated visual effects artists and craftspeople in each category, go to www.vesglobal.org.
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOGRAPHIC FEATURE
Better man
Dune: Part Two
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Mufasa: The Lion King
Twisters
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOGRAPHIC FEATURE
Blitz
Civil war
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1
Nosferatu
Young woman and the sea
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Inside out 2
Moana 2
The wild robot
Transformers One
Ultraman: Rising
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN ONE PHOTO EPISODE
Fall-out; The head
House of the Dragon; Season 2; The Red Dragon and the Gold
Shogun;
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew; Section 5
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Season 2; Oldest
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTO EPISODE
Expats: At home
Lady in the lake; It has to do with the search for the fantastic
Master of the Air; Part Three; Mission Regensburg-Schweinfurt
The Penguin; Bliss
The Tattooist in Auschwitz; Pilot
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT
(REDACTED)
Destiny 2: The Final Shape
Star Wars Outlaws
What if…? – An immersive story
Until Dawn
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL
YouTube TV NFL Sunday Ticket: The Magic of Sunday
Disney; Holidays 2024
Virgin Media; Walrus Whizzer
Coca-Cola; The heroes
Six Kings Slam; Call of the Kings
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL LOCATION PROJECT
D23; Rocket in real time
Goldau Landslide experience
MTV Video Music Awards; Slim Shady Live
Tokyo DisneySea; Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure
The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics; Term
OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN A PHOTOGRAPHIC FEATURE
Better Man; Robbie Williams
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; Noah
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; Shave
Mufasa: The Lion King; Take
OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Inside Out 2; Anxiety
The Wild Robot; Roz
Thelma the Unicorn; Vic Diamond
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl; Gromit
UNIQUE CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, CINEMA OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
Secret level; Armored Core: Asset Management; Mech Pilo
Diablo IV: Ships of Hate; Neyrelle
Disney; Holidays 2024; Octopus
Ronja robber’s daughter; Savage Queen Harpy
UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOGRAPHIC FEATURE
Civil war; Washington, DC
Dune: Part Two; The Arrakeen basin
Gladiator II; Rome
Evil; The Emerald City
UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Kung Fu Panda 4; Juniper City
The Wild Robot; The forest
Transformers One; Iacon City
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl; Aqueduct
UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, CINEMA OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
Dune: Prophecy; Pilot; The Imperial Palace
Dune: Prophecy; Two wolves; Zimia Spaceport
Shogun;
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Season 2; Doomed to die; Eregion
OUTSTANDING CG CINEMATOGRAPHY
Better man
Dune: Part Two; Arrakis
House of the Dragon; Season 2; The Red Dragon and the Gold; Battle at Rook’s Rest
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; Egg climbing
UNIQUE MODEL IN A PHOTO OR ANIMATED PROJECT
Alien: Romulus; Renaissance space station
Deadpool & Wolverine; Ant-Man Arena
Dune: Part Two; Harkonnen Harvester
Gladiator II; Colosseum
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOGRAPHY FEATURE
Dune: Part Two; Atomic explosions and machine riding
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; Burning village, rapids and floods
Twisters
Venom: The Last Dance; Water, fire and symbiote effects
UNIQUE EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Kung Fu Panda 4
Moana 2
The wild robot
Ultraman: Rising
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
Avatar: The Last Airbender; Legends; Koizilla
Shogun; Broken to the fist; Landslide
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew; Pilot; Spaceship Hillside Takeoff
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Season 2; Shadow and flame; Balrog fire and collapsing rock
Three body problems; Judgment Day
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITION & LIGHT IN ONE FEATURE
Better man
Dune: Part Two; Wormriding, Geidi Prime and Final Battle
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
The wild robot
UNIQUE COMPOSITION & LIGHT IN ONE EPISODE
Shogun; Broken to the fist; Landslide
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew; Section 6; Jaws
The boys; Season 4; Life among the septics
The Penguin; After hour
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITION & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL
Virgin Media; Walrus Whizzer
Coca-Cola; The heroes
Corcept; Puppet
Disney; Holidays 2024
UNIQUE SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTO PROJECT
Blitz
Constellation
The Penguin; Secure weapons
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD
Dune: Part Two; Nuke CopyCat
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga; Artist-driven machine learning character
Here; Neural Performance Toolset
Mufasa: The Lion King; Interactive filmmaking in real time, from stage to post
The Penguin; Phase Synchronized Flash-Gun System
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT
Dawn (grant from ESMA – École Supérieure Des Métiers Artistiques)
Student accomplice (Brigham Young University entry)
Pittura (post from ARTFX – Schools of Digital Arts)
Courage (post from Supinfocom – Rubika)
