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

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

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), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) 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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