Wētā FX Opens New Vancouver Office In First Step Of Global Expansion

Wētā FX, one of the world’s premiere visual effects studios, announces the opening of its Vancouver office as part of the next phase of the company’s growth following the $1.6 billion technology deal with Unity late last year. Wētā’s Vancouver presence marks the company’s first dedicated visual effects office outside its home-base of New Zealand, complementing the executive offices in Los Angeles and signalling the beginning of Wētā’s commitment to international expansion and scale.

“The global growth in entertainment content has allowed us the flexibility to really pursue the projects we want and to expand our business model to tap into talent in more locations around the world,” said Prem Akkaraju, CEO of Wētā FX. “Vancouver is an established market for VFX, Animation and Games talent and we look forward to welcoming them into the Wētā FX family.”

The Vancouver office will work on a wide range of shows including the Avatar Sequels, the first of which will hit theatres in December 2022. Wētā FX is also currently also working on a dozen unannounced projects for various studios and has recently completed work on WB’s The Batman and Marvel’s Moon Knight and Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The Vancouver location will initially house 75 artists with a vision to expand beyond that before the end of the year.

“Hiring Wētā crew offshore gives us the ability to rapidly scale to meet the needs of our clients, who are creating more content than ever before. This growth does not come at the expense of jobs here in New Zealand, it's complementary to our ongoing investment here in Wellington,” said Akkaraju.

Wētā FX has been on a steady growth trajectory over the last couple of years with the establishment of Wētā Studios to produce original content and Wētā Animated to take advantage of the company’s decades-long legacy of bringing to life some of the industry’s most memorable digital characters.

About Wētā FX

Wētā FX is the standard-bearer for creativity and innovation in visual effects and animation, attracting talent, partners, and clients that seek to push what is possible in pursuit of their artistic vision. Wētā’s proprietary pipeline continues to evolve and provide artists with the tools they need to create their best work. Based in Wellington, New Zealand, Wētā FX has the largest single-site VFX studio in the world drawing artists from over 40 countries. They are some of the most creative and ambitious artists, engineers, and executives in entertainment and their work has earned six visual effects Academy Awards, 13 Academy Sci-Tech Awards and six visual effects BAFTA Awards in addition to the 34 Visual Effects Society Awards awarded to them by their peers. Their ground-breaking, performance-driven animated characters from Gollum to Caesar, and worlds from Middle-earth to Pandora, are regarded as some of the best visual effects ever to appear on screen. For more information, please visit https://www.wetafx.co.nz and follow Wētā FX on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

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