The Jungle Book, Deepwater Horizon, Kubo and Game of Thrones Clean Up at VES Awards
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Disney’s The Jungle Book dominated the Visual Effects Society awards for feature films, winning five of its six nominations. The nomination-leader, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, shockingly went home empty-handed. Kubo and the Two Strings went into the night with the most nominations for an animated feature and while it won the top prize, Visual Effects in an Animated Feature, it ended up being the film’s only win. The rest of the animated awards were split between Finding Dory and Moana, making it a huge night for Disney overall.
Deepwater Horizon, a Visual Effects Oscar nominee, won two big awards – Supporting Visual Effects and for its model of the Deepwater Horizon rig and Doctor Strange won for its created environment.
The VES’s top award has a hit and miss history with Oscar’s version. In the last 10 years, they’ve only matched up 50% of the time. While The Jungle Book is still the strong frontrunner to win the Oscar, after last year’s shocking upset of Ex Machina over The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road (breaking a 45-year Oscar stat of a non-BP nominated film beating a Best Picture nominee), anything can happen.
Over on television, Game of Thrones ruled the roost once again, winning five awards. Buster the Boxer won big for Commercials with three.
The full list of winners:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
The Jungle Book
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
Deepwater Horizon
Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature
Kubo and the Two Strings
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode
Game of Thrones; Battle of the Bastards
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode
Black Sails; XX
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project
Uncharted 4
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial
Buster the Boxer
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project
Pirates of the Caribbean; Battle for the Sunken Treasure
Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature
The Jungle Book; King Louie
Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature
Finding Dory; Hank
Outstanding Animated Performance in an Episode or Real-Time Project
Game of Thrones; Battle of the Bastards; Drogon
Outstanding Animated Performance in a Commercial
Buster the Boxer
Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature
Doctor Strange; New York City
Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature
Moana; Motunui Island
Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project
Game of Thrones; Battle of the Bastards; Meereen City
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project
The Jungle Book
Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project
Deepwater Horizon; Deepwater Horizon Rig
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature
The Jungle Book; Nature Effects
Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature
Moana
Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project
Game of Thrones; Battle of the Bastards; Meereen City
Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature
The Jungle Book
Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode
Game of Thrones; Battle of the Bastards; Retaking Winterfell
Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Commercial
Buster the Boxer
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project
Breaking Point
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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