Cinesite

History

Foundation

Cinesite opened its doors in Los Angeles in 1991 to help with the digital restoration of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The restoration was released in 1993, and Cinesite opened a division in London in 1994. There, it originally operated as a service bureau for Kodak's Cineon digital film system. Both locations subsequently evolved to become full service visual effects facilities. In 2003, Kodak merged the Cinesite Hollywood office into LaserPacific.

In May 2012, Kodak sold Cinesite to a UK-based private investor. Current ownership is a combination of its existing management team supported by private investment.

International growth

After Cinesite became independent from Kodak in 2012, it began a sustained period of international growth.

In January 2014, with the support of Investissement Québec, Cinesite announced its opening of 27,000 sq ft studios in Montréal and a feature animation division at that location. Its initial employment target was reached 18 months early, in August 2015.

In July 2015, Cinesite announced its acquisition of Vancouver-based visual effects facility Image Engine, which has won Emmy awards for its visual effects on The Book of Boba Fett and Game of Thrones and also received an Academy Award nomination for District 9 in 2010.

In March 2017, it acquired Vancouver-based animation studio Nitrogen Studios and in August 2018 the German VFX studio TRIXTER.

In June 2018, Cinesite was placed in the annual Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 league table, which ranks the UK's highest performing private firms by international growth.

In 2022, the company announced a series of further acquisitions, beginning with Montreal-based L'Atelier Animation in July which had produced animated films and television series since 2012. Squeeze Studios followed in early August, Balkan-based visual effects studio FX3X later that month and in November, Assemblage Entertainment in Mumbai. In May 2023, Cinesite would purchase a majority stake in Andy Serkis' motion capture production studio The Imaginarium.

In 2024 Cinesite was featured in the first edition of Europe's Long-Term Growth Champions by Financial Times and Statista. The list comprised 300 companies in Europe with the highest disclosed compound annual growth rate over the 10 years to 2023 the company was ranked at number 62.

Visual effects

The Cinesite group of visual effects companies includes its own brand services, along with partner companies Image Engine, TRIXTER and FX3X.

Notable feature film productions Cinesite has created visual effects for include Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical (2022), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), No Time to Die (2021) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Cinesite has completed work on all eight films in the Harry Potter franchise in addition to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and nine films in the James Bond franchise.

Cinesite's episodic work includes, Moon Knight, The Wheel of Time and Emmy nominated The Man Who Fell to Earth. It won a BAFTA craft award in 2022 for the second season of The Witcher as well as Emmy awards for Generation Kill (2008) and Rome (2006). Emmy nominations include American Gods: Season 1 and Band of Brothers (2002).

Cinesite won a Visual Effects Society award in 2021 for its work on Universal Studios' stage-based stunt show The Bourne Stuntacular. The show also won an award from the TEA (Themed Entertainment Association) which stated, "The high level of technical achievement and the creative application in creating a spectacular, immersive experience makes The Bourne Stuntacular a worthy recipient of this honor."

The studio won a BAFTA in Special, Visual and Graphic Effects for its work on The Witcher S2 at the 2022 British Academy Television Craft Awards.

Feature animation

Main article: Cinesite Animation

On 8 February 2016, Cinesite announced the launch of a dedicated feature animation division at its Montréal Studios. Since then, it has worked with production partners to complete Charming (2018), Gnome Alone (2018), Trouble (2019), and Fearless (2020) for 3QU Media, The Star (2017) for Sony Pictures Animation, and Extinct (2021) for Huayi Brothers.

In addition to providing production services for other studios, Cinesite produces its own animated features through Aniventure. Cinesite first collaborated with River Productions to produce Riverdance: The Animated Adventure (2021); an animated version of the Irish stage show of the same name, then took over production on the long-gestating feature Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022). They recently completed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) & Hitpig (2024); a loose adaptation of the Berkeley Breathed book Pete & Pickles. Next set to produce the long in-development adaptation of Animal Farm directed by Andy Serkis and Paramount's untitled Smurfs musical (2025).

Vancouver-based animation company Nitrogen Studios was rebranded under Cinesite soon after its acquisition by the group in March 2017. Since then, it has worked for MGM on The Addams Family (2019) and its sequel. In 2022, Cinesite acquired the Montreal-based L'Atelier Animation, and later in the year, purchased majority stakes in Squeeze Studio and Assemblage Entertainment.

Virtual production

In May 2023, Cinesite agreed to invest in The Imaginarium Studios, a Performance Capture and Virtual Production company with facilities at Pinewood Studios in the UK and at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Immersive

In January 2024, Cinesite announced it was opening an immersive division to create content that will span virtual, physical and mixed realities, location-based entertainment and theme park rides and attractions. The studio also confirmed it had entered a long-term partnership with Frameless Creative, the company behind the UK's largest and London's first permanent multi-sensory art experience.

The company also revealed it had animated Forsaken a short film conceived and directed by award-winning filmmaker Roland Lane and supported by Greenpeace and Arts Council England.  Forsaken played on Outernet London's floor to ceiling wrap around screens to highlight the mass extinction of life on Earth.

The studio created stage-based stunt show The Bourne Stuntacular for Universal Studios Orlando. The project won Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project at the Visual Effects Society awards.

Visualisation

In February 2024, Cinesite announced it was opening a new division 'Cinesite VIS' to expand its previs, virtual production, techvis and postvis services. The newly created division is currently working on feature film projects as part of an integrated offering, but will also operate as a standalone visualisation vendor.

Selected filmography

VFX

1990s–2000s

2010s

2020s

Television

Animation credits

References

References

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17. (20 January 2023). "The Man Who Fell to Earth - Awards & Nominations".
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34. (3 February 2023). "Cinesite Tapped to Animate Upcoming Untitled 'Smurfs' Feature". Animation World Network.
35. (19 April 2022). "Andy Serkis To Direct Animated Adaptation Of George Orwell's 'Animal Farm'". [[Penske Media Corporation]].
36. Amidi, Amid. (April 10, 2025). "Cinesite Is Hiring For Brad Bird's 'Ray Gunn,' Which Is Now In Production". [[Cartoon Brew]].