The visual effects industry celebrated its best work of at the held at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash dominated the evening, taking home seven awards, including the prestigious Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature. The film’s success underscores the continuing influence of Cameron’s groundbreaking work in visual storytelling.
The win marks yet another triumph for the Avatar franchise at the VES Awards. The original Avatar secured six prizes in , while The Way of Water raised the bar with nine awards in . With this year’s seven wins, the Na’vi now boast a total of 22 VES statuettes, solidifying their place as a benchmark for visual effects achievement.
Avatar: Fire and Ash’s accolades extended beyond the top prize, recognizing its achievements in Emerging Technology, Outstanding Model, Environment, Character, Effects Simulations, and CG Cinematography. The film, which has grossed over $1.47 billion worldwide, was nominated in a leading ten categories, demonstrating the breadth of its technical artistry.
While Fire and Ash came close to a complete sweep, Apple Original Films’ F1 managed to secure a win for Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in a Feature, marking one of only two categories where Cameron’s film faced competition against itself. This highlights the exceptional quality and depth of the visual effects work within Fire and Ash.
The VES Awards also shone a spotlight on Netflix and Sony Animation’s KPop Demon Hunters, which earned three awards, including Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature and Outstanding Character in an Animated Feature for Rumi. The film’s success is particularly notable given its massive popularity, having been viewed over 482 million times and streamed over 11 billion times on music platforms.
Sinners, currently leading the Oscar race with a record 16 nominations, was also recognized, winning the VES Award for Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature. This win further cements Sinners’ position as a frontrunner in the upcoming Academy Awards.
Beyond the major winners, the VES Awards celebrated excellence across a range of projects. Disney+’s Andor and Apple TV/BBC Studios’ Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age each took home two awards. Other winning projects included The Residence, IT: Welcome to Derry, The Last of Us, and Ghosts of Yōtei, showcasing the diversity of visual effects work in film and television.
The awards also acknowledged innovation in real-time projects and special venue experiences. Ghost of Yōtei won for Outstanding Visual Arts in a Real-Time Project, while The Wizard of Oz at Sphere received the award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project, demonstrating the expanding role of visual effects in immersive entertainment.
This year’s ceremony also honored industry veterans Jerry Bruckheimer and Richard Taylor. Bruckheimer, the prolific film and television producer, received the VES Lifetime Achievement Award, while Taylor, co-founder and COO of Wētā Workshop, was presented with the VES Visionary Award. The recognition of these individuals underscores their significant contributions to the field of visual effects.
The VES Awards often serve as a bellwether for the Academy Awards, though the correlation isn’t always direct. Since , only five winners of the top VES prize have gone on to win the FX Oscar. Last year, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes won at the VES Awards but Dune: Part Two ultimately claimed Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards.
The full list of winners is as follows:
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE: Avatar: Fire and Ash (Richard Baneham, Peter Litvack, Eric Saindon, Nicky Muir, Steve Ingram)
- OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE: Sinners (Michael Ralla, James Alexander, Nick Marshal, Espen Nordahl, Donnie Dean)
- OUTSTANDING ANIMATION IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE: KPop Demon Hunters (Joshua Beveridge, Jacky Priddle, Benjamin Hendricks, Clara Chan)
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE: Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; “The Big Freeze” (Russell Dodgson, Tracey Gibbons, Francois Dumoulin, Gavin McKenzie)
- OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE: The Residence; “The Fall of the House of Usher” (Seth Hill, Tesa Kubicek, John Nelson, Gabriel Vargas)
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL ARTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT: Ghost of Yōtei (Jason Connell, Matt Vainio, Joanna Wang, Jasmin Patry)
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL: BMW; “Heart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus” (Tom Raynor, Helen Tang, Jack Harris, Alex Kulikov)
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT: The Wizard of Oz at Sphere (Ben Grossmann, Tamara Watts Ken, Dr. Irfan Essa, Matt Dougan, Glenn Derry)
- OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE: Avatar: Fire and Ash; Varang (Stephen Clee, Stuart Adcock, Keven Norris, Joseph Kim)
- OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE: KPop Demon Hunters; Rumi (Sophia (Seung Hee) Lee, Andrea Matamoros, Marc Souliere, Joshua Beveridge)
- OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN EPISODIC, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT: IT: Welcome to Derry; “The Thing in the Dark;” The Pickle Monster (Philip Harris-Genois, Pierric Danjou, Chloé Ostiguy, Jonathan Bourdua)
- OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE: Avatar: Fire and Ash; Simulating Pandora (Nicholas Illingworth, Sarah C. Farmer, James Robinson, Ryan Bowden)
- OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE: KPop Demon Hunters (Filippo Maccari, Nikolaos Finizio, Daniel La Chapelle, Srdjan Milosevic)
- OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT: Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; The Big Freeze (Edward Ferrysienanda, Kevin Christensen, Guy Schuleman, Kevin Tarpinian)
- OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE: F1: The Movie; Modern Race and POV Footage (Hugo Gauvreau, Chris Davies, Raushan Raj, Amaury Rospars)
- OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL: BMW; “Heart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus” (Alex Kulikov, Jack Harris, Adam Chabane, Nicola Borsari)
- OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE: The Last of Us; “Through the Valley;” A Storm of Ice, Fire and Flesh (Tobias Wiesner, Mark Julien, Owen Longstaff, Brendan Naylor)
- OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT: Andor; “Who Are You?” (Luke Murphy, Dean Ford, Jody Eltham, Darrell Guyon)
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT: Azimuth (Thomas Teisseire, Cassandre Cinier, Martin Bluy, Mathis Giraudeau)
- EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD: Avatar: Fire and Ash; Kora Fire Toolset (Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin, John Edholm, Murali Ramachari, Aleksandr Isakov)
- OUTSTANDING CG CINEMATOGRAPHY: Avatar: Fire and Ash (Steve Deane, AJ Briones, Zachary Brake, Andrew Moffett)
- OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE: Avatar: Fire and Ash; Bridgehead Industrial City (Gianluca Pizzaia, Steve Bevins, Dziga Kaiser, Zsolt Máté)
- OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE: Zootopia 2; Marsh Market (Limei Z. Hshieh, Alexander Nicholas Whang, Joshua Fry, Ryan DeYoung)
- OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODIC, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT: Andor; “Welcome to the Rebellion;” The Senate District (John O’Connell, Falk Boje, Hasan Ilhan, Kevin George)
