'Avatar: Fire and Ash' Tops Visual Effects Society Awards With Seven Trophies
Avatar: Fire and Ash dominated the feature competition at the 24th Visual Effects Society Awards, winning seven trophies including the top award for outstanding VFX in a photorealistic feature. (A complete list of winners follows.)
Wednesday night at the Beverly Hilton, Avatar: Fire and Ash also won awards for character (Varang), CG cinematography, environment, FX simulation, model, and emerging technology (Weta’s Kora fire toolset).
“This has happened because of the amazing crew,” said VFX supervisor Richie Baneham, as the team accepted the top award of the evening. Visual effects is a team effort and he thanked the team at lead VFX company Weta FX—an estimated 1,200 artists from Weta collaborated to make Avatar: Fire and Ash—along with teams at Lightstorm and Industrial Light & Magic.
In giving their acceptance speeches, multiple winners from Fire and Ash remembered producer Jon Landau, who died in 2024. Weta senior VFX supervisor Eric Saindon called Landau the “heart and soul” of the film.
Oona Chaplin as Varang in 20th Century Studios’ AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
The VES Awards attracted a capacity crowd of 1,200 at the Beverly Hilton.
Also in the photoreal feature categories, Sinners collected the VES Award for supporting VFX; and F1 earned a VES award for compositing (VFX were led by Framestore). Avatar: Fire and Ash, Sinners, F1, Jurassic World: Rebirth; and The Lost Bus are nominated for the Oscar in VFX.
Competitive award winners included KPop Demon Hunters, created by Sony Pictures Animation, which led the animated feature competition with three trophies including outstanding animation in an animated feature; Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age, with VFX led by Framestore, which earned two awards including outstanding VFX in a photoreal episode; and Andor, with VFX from ILM, which also grabbed two awards.
The Wizard of Oz at Sphere collected a VES Award for a special venue project. Producer and Magnopus CEO Ben Grossmann received applause when, acknowledging the anxiety surrounding new tech, he reminding artists that “if you look at our history, VFX has always been the pioneers of innovation in cinema [using tech] in the hands of people.”
The Avatar: Fire and Ash team accepted the award for outstanding VFX in a photoreal feature.
The Weta FX team gathered before the start of the 24th VES Awards.
Wētā Workshop co-founder and chief creative officer Sir Richard Taylor —whose remarkable body of work ranges from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to the Planet of the Apes films—accepted the VES Visionary Award to a standing ovation. Called a “builder of dreams” by presenter Adam Savage, Taylor saluted artists in practical VFX around the world, saying such work is “built on trust, camaraderie, and teamwork.”
He concluded, “if I can leave one thought with you, as I say to our team, there's only four tenets by which I operate, and that is simply: love of oneself, love of what you do, love of who you do it with, and love of who you do it for. If you can strike those four in your life, you're doing pretty well.”
From left: Adam Savage, Sir Richard Taylor and VES executive director Nancy Ward
F1 director Joseph Kosinski presented the VES Lifetime Achievement Award to veteran producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun, F1), who received a standing ovation. “You create the magic. You create the things that people go to theaters for,” Bruckheimer told the VFX community as he accepted the award, thanking the community for “all you have done for cinema.”
Jerry Bruckheimer (left) with Joseph Kosinski
Below is the full list of winners for the 24th Annual VES Awards:
1. OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Richard Baneham
Peter Litvack
Eric Saindon
Nicky Muir
Steve Ingram
2. OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Sinners
Michael Ralla
James Alexander
Nick Marshall
Espen Nordahl
Donnie Dean
3. OUTSTANDING ANIMATION IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters
Joshua Beveridge
Jacky Priddle
Benjamin Hendricks
Clara Chan
4. OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; “The Big Freeze”
Russell Dodgson
Tracey Gibbons
François Dumoulin
Gavin McKenzie
5. 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
6. OUTSTANDING VISUAL ARTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT
Ghost of Yōtei
Jason Connell
Matt Vainio
Joanna Wang
Jasmin Patry
7. OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL
BMW; “Heart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus”
Tom Raynor
Helen Tang
Jack Harris
Alex Kulikov
8. OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT
The Wizard of Oz at Sphere
Ben Grossmann
Tamara Watts Kent
Dr. Irfan Essa
Matt Dougan
Glenn Derry
9. OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Avatar: Fire and Ash; Varang: Leader of the Ash Clan
Stephen Clee
Stuart Adcock
Keven Norris
Joseph Kim
10. OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters; Rumi
Sophia (Seung Hee) Lee
Andrea Matamoros
Marc Souliere
Joshua Beveridge
11. 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
12. OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Avatar: Fire and Ash; Bridgehead Industrial City
Gianluca Pizzaia
Steve Bevins
Dziga Kaiser
Zsolt Máté
13. OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Zootopia 2; Marsh Market
Limei Z. Hshieh
Alexander Nicholas Whang
Joshua Fry
Ryan DeYoung
14. 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
15. OUTSTANDING CG CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Steve Deane
A.J. Briones
Zachary Brake
Andrew Moffett
16. OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT
Avatar: Fire and Ash; The Windtraders’ Gondola
Michael Smale
Sam Sharplin
Joe W. Churchill
Jacqi Dillon
17. OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Avatar: Fire and Ash; Simulating Pandora
Nicholas James Illingworth
Sarah C. Farmer
James Robinson
Ryan Bowden
18. OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters
Filippo Maccari
Nikolaos Finizio
Daniel La Chapelle
Srdjan Milosevic
19. 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
20. OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE
F1: The Movie; Modern Race and POV Footage
Hugo Gauvreau
Chris Davies
Raushan Raj
Amaury Rospars
21. 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
22. OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL
BMW; “Heart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus”
Alex Kulikov
Jack Harris
Adam Chabane
Nicola Borsari
23. OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT
Andor; “Who Are You?”
Luke Murphy
Dean Ford
Jody Eltham
Darrell Guyon
24. EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD
Avatar: Fire and Ash; Kora Fire Toolset
Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin
John Edholm
Murali Ramachari
Aleksandr Isakov
25. OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT
Azimuth
Thomas Teisseire
Cassandre Cinier
Martin Bluy
Mathis Giraudeau