Wētā FX, previously called Weta Digital until 2021, is a sibling company of Wētā Workshop founded by Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, and Jamie Selkirk in 1993 for the making of Jackson's Heavenly Creatures. It became crucial in the visualization of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth for Peter Jackson's film trilogies.
Significance[]
Its members worked on most of the animation and computer design for Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, from 1999 to 2002. For these films, it would win three Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects. Notable members were Christian Rivers, Joe Letteri, Matt Aitken, Randall William Cook, and Bay Raitt, who was essential in the rendering of Gollum as performed by Andy Serkis.
In the Extended Edition release of The Fellowship of the Ring, Weta Digital's conception and involvement is covered in the featurette Weta Digital.
Weta Digital was later involved in The Hobbit film trilogy (2012 - 2014), and in numerous other feature films including Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005), I, Robot, District 9, Man of Steel, The BFG, Game of Thrones seasons 7 and 8, The Jungle Book, and numerous Marvel Cinematic Universe installments such as Avengers: Endgame.
The company is based in Wellington, New Zealand, and is currently headed by David Conley (Exevutive VFX Producer) as of June 2024.
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