Industrial Light & Magic Grows Global Operations Adding Key Talent and New/Expanded Offices
Industry-leading visual effects studio announces key talent hires, a new U.K. office, expansion in Vancouver and a new building in Singapore
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) today announced the expansion of its global operations with the opening of ILM London in the United Kingdom, the growth and relocation of ILM Vancouver and the relocation of ILM Singapore to the newly constructed ‘Sandcrawler’ building located in the Fusionopolis business district. Coupled with the new and expanded facilities, the company has hired key talent to staff the offices. ILM president and general manager, Lynwen Brennan, made the announcement.
“We continue to embrace the global opportunities that have come with advances in technology while maintaining a strong operation here in the U.S.,” noted Brennan, “ILM has always prided itself on having the industry’s top creative talent. The difference now is that we can access incredible talent where they live and countries such as Singapore, Canada and the United Kingdom have a great deal to offer.”
Located in Central London, ILM London’s creative team will be led by creative director Ben Morris and animation director Michael Eames. The studio’s director of operations, Sue Lyster will oversee all London-based operations. ILM London will be working with ILM’s existing offices in San Francisco, Singapore and Vancouver on a number of high profile releases at launch including the highly anticipated Star Wars: Episode VII and Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, the sequel to the 2012 blockbuster film, The Avengers.
Founded in 2006, ILM Singapore is the company’s second largest studio. Recently relocated to the newly constructed Sandcrawler building the location will also serve as the regional headquarters for Lucasfilm Singapore, The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia) and ESPN Asia Pacific. ILM Singapore, under Colin Brown, general manager and former head of the U.K. Film Commission, will continue to work on high profile Hollywood films including the upcoming Star Wars films, regional projects and feature animation.
In 2011, ILM established its second international office in Vancouver, British Columbia. Initially planned as a temporary, production-based facility ILM has seen great success both in terms of attracting high-level talent and producing impressive visual effects work.
This success has led to ILM making Vancouver a permanent studio; one that will soon relocate to a larger facility in the historic Gastown section of the city. Randal Shore has joined the studio as supervising producer and will manage day-to-day operations. The new facility will officially open in March and allow the company to accommodate the planned expansion of its Canadian workforce to meet the needs of future projects including Star Wars, World of Warcraft and Tomorrowland. The studio’s current projects include Transformers: Age of Extinction and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Work created across ILM’s global studios in 2013 has received two Academy Award™ nominations for Star Trek Into Darkness and The Lone Ranger and British Academy Award (BAFTA) nominations for Pacific Rim and Star Trek Into Darkness. Additionally, ILM’s breakthrough technological innovations continue to be recognized within the industry. In February, two of the company’s key technologies will receive Technical Academy Awards in recognition of their impact on the industry at large. The first, ILM Plume, simulates and renders fire, smoke and explosions utilizing cutting-edge GPU technology. The second award recognizes the architecture and development of ILM’s Zeno application framework. For more than a decade, Zeno’s flexible and robust design has allowed the creation of a broad range of Academy Award-winning visual effects toolsets at the company. These two awards mark the company’s 25th and 26th Academy Awards for advances in Science and Technology in its 38-year history.
About Industrial Light & Magic
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), a division of Lucasfilm Ltd, has become synonymous with groundbreaking visual effects work and the company continues to be a recognized leader in the field. ILM, headquartered in San Francisco, also has operations in Singapore, Vancouver and London – the facilities work hand in hand to produce cutting edge visual effects work for feature films and themed entertainment. ILM has been awarded 15 Academy Awards® for Best Visual Effects and 26 Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. To learn more, visit ILM online at http://www.ilm.com.
Lucasfilm Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Industrial Light & Magic, the ILM logo, STAR WARS and related properties are trademarks in the United States and/or in other countries of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. © 2013 Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. or Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved.
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