23rd Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards: ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Take Top Prize; ‘Dune: Part Two,’ ‘The Wild Robot’ Nab Most Wins

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes took home the top award from the 23rd Visual Effects Society (VES), Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, the lone win on six nominations for the 10th film in the franchise.

Dune: Part Two garnered the most photoreal feature wins, with four awards. The Wild Robot was named top animated film, also winning four awards. Civil War won the award for Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature. In television, Shōgun was named best photoreal episode, winning three awards; The Penguin also garnered three awards.

The first Dune led the VES Awards in 2022 and went on to win the Oscar, and War for the Planet of the Apes won the Photoreal Feature category in 2018 but lost the Oscar to Blade Runner 2049.

Alien: Romulus took the VES Award for Outstanding Model for its Renaissance Space Station. and Better Man, which features singer Robbie Williams as a chimp, won for Character in a Photoreal Feature.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Dune: Part Two,Alien: Romulus, Better Man and Wicked are all up for the Visual Effects Oscar next month.

The Coca-Cola commercial titled “The Heroes” also was a double winner Tuesday, picking up trophies for Visual Effects and Compositing & Lighting.

Comedy duo The Sklar Brothers made their debut as VES Awards hosts. Acclaimed actor Keanu Reeves presented Golden Globe-winning actor-producer Hiroyuki Sanada with the VES Award for Creative Excellence. Chief Research Officer of Eyeline Studios Paul Debevec, VES, presented Virtual Reality/Immersive Technology Pioneer Dr. Jacquelyn Ford Morie with the Georges Méliès Award. Writer-director Michael Dougherty presented Academy Award-winning filmmaker and VFX Supervisor Takashi Yamazaki with the Visionary Award. Award presenters included: Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Krys Marshall, Mary Mouser, Russell Hornsby, Tanner Buchanan, Eric Winter, Tia Carrere and Autodesk’s Senior Director, Business Strategy Rachael Appleton presented the VES-Autodesk Student Award.

“As we celebrate the 23rd Annual VES Awards, we’re honored to shine a light on outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation,” said VES Chair Kim Davidson. “The honorees and their work represent best-in-class visual effects – work that engages audiences and enhances the art of storytelling. The VES Awards is the only venue that showcases and honors these outstanding global artists across a wide range of disciplines, and we are extremely proud of all our winners and nominees!”

The VES Awards – which recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in 25 categories spanning features, TV, animation, commercials, games and new media – opened with Visual Effect Society Exec Director Nancy Ward thanking the first responders who risked it all to say lives and property during the devastating Los Angeles wildfires last month.

Here is the complete list of winners of the 23rd Visual Effects Society Awards.

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Erik Winquist
Julia Neighly
Paul Story
Danielle Immerman
Rodney Burke

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Civil War
David Simpson
Michelle Rose
Freddy Salazar
Chris Zeh
J.D. Schwalm

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

The Wild Robot
Chris Sanders
Jeff Hermann
Jeff Budsberg
Jakob Hjort Jensen

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE

Shōgun; Anjin
Michael Cliett
Melody Mead
Philip Engström
Ed Bruce
Cameron Waldbauer

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE

The Penguin; Bliss
Johnny Han
Michelle Rose
Goran Pavles
Ed Bruce
Devin Maggio

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT

Star Wars Outlaws
Stephen Hawes
Lionel Le Dain
Benedikt Podlesnigg
Andi-Bogdan Draghici

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL

Coca-Cola; The Heroes
Greg McKneally
Antonia Vlasto
Ryan Knowles
Fabrice Fiteni

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT

D23; Real-Time Rocket
Evan Goldberg
Alyssa Finley
Jason Breneman
Alice Taylor

OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Better Man; Robbie Williams
Milton Ramirez
Andrea Merlo
Seoungseok Charlie Kim
Eteuati Tema

OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

The Wild Robot; Roz
Fabio Lignini
Yukinori Inagaki
Owen Demers
Hyun Huh

OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

Ronja the Robber’s Daughter; Vildvittran the Queen Harpy
Nicklas Andersson
David Allan
Gustav Åhren
Niklas Wallén

OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Dune: Part Two; The Arrakeen Basin
Daniel Rhein
Daniel Anton Fernandez
Marc James Austin
Christopher Anciaume

OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

The Wild Robot; The Forest
John Wake
He Jung Park
Woojin Choi
Shane Glading

OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

Shōgun; Osaka
Manuel Martinez
Phil Hannigan
Keith Malone
Francesco Corvino

OUTSTANDING CG CINEMATOGRAPHY

Dune: Part Two; Arrakis
Greig Fraser
Xin Steve Guo
Sandra Murta
Ben Wiggs

OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT

Alien: Romulus; Renaissance Space Station
Waldemar Bartkowiak
Trevor Wide
Matt Middleton
Ben Shearman

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Dune: Part Two; Atomic Explosions and Wormriding
Nicholas Papworth
Sandy la Tourelle
Lisa Nolan
Christopher Phillips

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

The Wild Robot
Derek Cheung
Michael Losure
David Chow
Nyoung Kim

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

Shōgun; Broken to the Fist; Landslide
Dominic Tiedeken
Heinrich Löwe
Charles Guerton
Timmy Lundin

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE

Dune: Part Two; Wormriding, Geidi Prime, and the Final Battle
Christopher Rickard
Francesco Dell’Anna
Paul Chapman
Ryan Wing

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE

The Penguin; After Hours
Jonas Stuckenbrock
Karen Cheng
Eugene Bondar
Miky Girón

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL

Coca-Cola; The Heroes
Ryan Knowles
Alex Gabucci
Jack Powell
Dan Yargici

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT

The Penguin; Safe Guns
Devin Maggio
Johnny Han
Cory Candrilli
Alexandre Prod’homme

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD

Here; Neural Performance Toolset
Jo Plaete
Oriel Frigo
Tomas Koutsky
Matteo Olivieri-Dancey

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT

Pittura (entry from ARTFX – Schools of Digital Arts, France)
Adam Lauriol
Titouan Lassère
Rémi Vivenza
Helloïs Marre

SPECIAL AWARDS

VES Award for Creative Excellence: Hiroyuki Sanada

Georges Méliès Award: Dr. Jacquelyn Ford Morie
Visionary Award: Takashi Yamazaki