The Visual Effects Society has released all the nominations for its upcoming seventeenth annual gala and quite unsurprisingly, some big guns of 2018 will be contesting for top honors at the ceremony.
Arguably the biggest release of the year, Marvel’s ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ has bagged six nominations in total, including the best VFX and best mo-cap character for Josh Brolin’s Thanos.
The purple giant’s home planet, Titan and the hermit kingdom of Wakanda too are both nominated for outstanding effect simulations in photoreal feature.
However, Black Panther, another monstrous hit last year, is strangely snubbed in the nominations, something that has left the MCU fandom go bonkers.
The Ryan Coogler-actioner made waves for its cultural phenomenon and not only raked in the cash at the global box-office, but also broke numerous records on its way to a $1.35 billion worldwide gross.
Instead, relatively lesser-VFX featuring production Christopher Robin finds it way into the top five nominees for the best VFX feature as well as Steve Carell’s Welcome to Marwen.
Also, Disney’s Incredibles 2 marked a barnstorming return of the superhero family to the big screen last year after almost decade-and-a-half long hiatus, and there is little to be surprised about its grand success, grossing in $1.24 billion to become the biggest animation hit of 2018.
But looks like it isn’t done yet. Brad Bird’s directorial will contend for prizes in five different categories at the VES Awards, including outstanding visual effects in animated feature.
Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse are some of the other mega releases of 2018 that are in the mix for the awards.
Here’s the list of nominees in full:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
Avengers: Infinity War – Daniel DeLeeuw, Jen Underdahl, Kelly Port, Matt Aitken and Daniel Sudick
Christopher Robin – Chris Lawrence, Steve Gaub, Michael Eames, Glenn Melenhorst and Chris Corbould
Ready Player One – Roger Guyett, Jennifer Meislohn, David Shirk, Matthew Butler and Neil Corbould
Solo: A Star Wars Story – Rob Bredow, Erin Dusseault, Matt Shumway, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy
Welcome to Marwen – Kevin Baillie, Sandra Scott, Seth Hill, Marc Chu and James Paradis
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
12 Strong – Roger Nall, Robert Weaver and Mike Meinardus
Bird Box – Marcus Taormina, David Robinson, Mark Bakowski, Sophie Dawes and Mike Meinardus
Bohemian Rhapsody – Paul Norris, Tim Field, May Leung and Andrew Simmonds
First Man – Paul Lambert, Kevin Elam, Tristan Myles, Ian Hunter and JD Schwalm
Outlaw King – Alex Bicknell, Dan Bethell, Greg O’Connor and Stefano Pepin
Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature
Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch – Pierre Leduc, Janet Healy, Bruno Chauffard and Milo Riccarand
Incredibles 2 – Brad Bird, John Walker, Rick Sayre and Bill Watral
Isle of Dogs – Mark Waring, Jeremy Dawson, Tim Ledbury and Lev Kolobov
Ralph Breaks the Internet – Scott Kersavage, Bradford Simonsen, Ernest J. Petti and Cory Loftis
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – Joshua Beveridge, Christian Hejnal, Danny Dimian and Bret St. Clair
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode
Altered Carbon; Out of the Past – Everett Burrell, Tony Meagher, Steve Moncur, Christine Lemon and Joel Whist
Krypton; The Phantom Zone – Ian Markiewicz, Jennifer Wessner, Niklas Jacobson and Martin Pelletier
Lost in Space; Danger, Will Robinson – Jabbar Raisani, Terron Pratt, Niklas Jacobson and Joao Sita
The Terror; Go For Broke – Frank Petzold, Lenka Líkařová, Viktor Muller and Pedro Sabrosa
Westworld; The Passenger – Jay Worth, Elizabeth Castro, Bruce Branit, Joe Wehmeyer and Michael Lantieri
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project
Age of Sail – John Kahrs, Kevin Dart, Cassidy Curtis and Theresa Latzko
Cycles – Jeff Gipson, Nicholas Russell, Lauren Nicole Brown and Jorge E. Ruiz Cano
Dr. Grordbort’s Invaders – Greg Broadmore, Mhairead Connor, Steve Lambert and Simon Baker
God of War – Maximilian Vaughn Ancar, Corey Teblum, Kevin Huynh and Paolo Surricchio
Marvel’s Spider-Man – Grant Hollis, Daniel Wang, Seth Faske and Abdul Bezrati
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial
Beyond Good and Evil 2 – Maxime Luere, Leon Berelle, Remi Kozyra and Dominique Boidin
John Lewis; The Boy and the Piano – Kamen Markov, Philip Whalley, Anthony Bloor and Andy Steele
McDonald’s; #ReindeerReady – Ben Cronin, Josh King, Gez Wright and Suzanne Jandu
U.S. Marine Corps; A Nation’s Call – Steve Drew, Nick Fraser, Murray Butler, Greg White and Dave Peterson
Volkswagen; Born Confident – Carsten Keller, Anandi Peiris, Dan Sanders and Fabian Frank
Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature
Avengers: Infinity War; Thanos — Jan Philip Cramer, Darren Hendler, Paul Story and Sidney Kombo-Kintombo
Christopher Robin; Tigger — Arslan Elver, Kayn Garcia, Laurent Laban and Mariano Mendiburu
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom; Indoraptor — Jance Rubinchik, Ted Lister, Yannick Gillain and Keith Ribbons
Ready Player One; Art3mis — David Shirk, Brian Cantwell, Jung-Seung Hong and Kim Ooi
Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature
Ant-Man and the Wasp; Journey to the Quantum Realm – Florian Witzel, Harsh Mistri, Yuri Serizawa and Can Yuksel
Aquaman; Atlantis – Quentin Marmier, Aaron Barr, Jeffrey De Guzman and Ziad Shureih
Ready Player One; The Shining, Overlook Hotel – Mert Yamak, Stanley Wong, Joana Garrido and Daniel Gagiu
Solo: A Star Wars Story; Vandor Planet – Julian Foddy, Christoph Ammann, Clement Gerard and Pontus Albrecht
Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature
Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch; Whoville – Loic Rastout, Ludovic Ramiere, Henri Deruer and Nicolas Brack
Incredibles 2; Parr House – Christopher M. Burrows, Philip Metschan, Michael Rutter and Joshua West
Ralph Breaks the Internet; Social Media District – Benjamin Min Huang, Jon Kim Krummel II, Gina Warr Lawes and Matthias Lechner
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse; Graphic New York City – Terry Park, Bret St. Clair, Kimberly Liptrap and Dave Morehead
Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project
Avengers: Infinity War; Nidavellir Forge Megastructure — Chad Roen, Ryan Rogers, Jeff Tetzlaff and Ming Pan
Incredibles 2; Underminer Vehicle — Neil Blevins, Philip Metschan and Kevin Singleton
Mortal Engines; London — Matthew Sandoval, James Ogle, Nick Keller and Sam Tack
Ready Player One; DeLorean DMC-12 — Giuseppe Laterza, Kim Lindqvist, Mauro Giacomazzo and William Gallyot
Solo: A Star Wars Story; Millennium Falcon — Masa Narita, Steve Walton, David Meny and James Clyne
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature
Avengers: Infinity War; Titan – Gerardo Aguilera, Ashraf Ghoniem, Vasilis Pazionis and Hartwell Durfor
Avengers: Infinity War; Wakanda – Florian Witzel, Adam Lee, Miguel Perez Senent and Francisco Rodriguez
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald – Dominik Kirouac, Chloe Ostiguy and Christian Gaumond
Venom – Aharon Bourland, Jordan Walsh, Aleksandar Chalyovski and Federico Frassinelli
Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature
Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch; Snow, Clouds and Smoke – Eric Carme, Nicolas Brice and Milo Riccarand
Incredibles 2 – Paul Kanyuk, Tiffany Erickson Klohn, Vincent Serritella and Matthew Kiyoshi Wong
Ralph Breaks the Internet; Virus Infection & Destruction – Paul Carman, Henrik Fält, Christopher Hendryx and David Hutchins
Smallfoot – Henrik Karlsson, Theo Vandernoot, Martin Furness and Dmitriy Kolesnik
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – Ian Farnsworth, Pav Grochola, Simon Corbaux and Brian D. Casper
Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project
Altered Carbon – Philipp Kratzer, Daniel Fernandez, Xavier Lestourneaud and Andrea Rosa
Lost in Space; Jupiter is Falling – Denys Shchukin, Heribert Raab, Michael Billette and Jaclyn Stauber
Lost in Space; The Get Away – Juri Bryan, Will Elsdale, Hugo Medda and Maxime Marline
The Man in the High Castle; Statue of Liberty Destruction – Saber Jlassi, Igor Zanic, Nick Chamberlain and Chris Parks