60. Prologue Films
This studio is well rounded by creating VFX for not only the film industry, but also contributing to sports commercials, game industry cinematics, and the television industry with their work on series like American Horror Story and Elementary. In the past they’ve worked on films such as Battleship, Total Recall, G.I. Joe Retaliation, and both Breaking Dawn Twilight films.
59. Tippett Studio
This American VFX studio began in 1984 doing mostly stop motion animations using the go motion animation technique on films, and also creating live action props for movies like RoboCop, RoboCop 2, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and Ghost. Then in 1991, they changed to focus on CGI productions and worked on the legendary film, Jurassic Park. As time went on they periodically worked on industry changing films such as Starship Troopers and Hollow Man. Other than Cosmos and the Twilight Breaking Dawn films, Tippett has been mostly quiet lately, but for good reason. Currently they’re working on Ted 2 and coming full circle with their involvement in yet another Jurassic Park film: Jurassic World!
58. Polygon Pictures
This Japanese computer animation studio was founded in 1983 and has worked on dozens of globally successful projects over the decades. Their extensive animations for the show Transformers Prime earned them a Daytime Emmy Award nomination and they also received Annie Award nominations for their work on Tron: Uprising and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Their other recent work includes Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter, Knights of Sidonia, and cinematic sequences for the games Thief, Sacred 3, and Lollipop Chainsaw.
This VFX company was founded in 2002 by directors Greg and Colin Strause. By 2005 they had already completed over 700 VFX shots for feature films and in 2010 they worked on an astounding 13 different films, including their very own in-house feature film, Skyline, which the Strause brothers directed. Their annual work quantity has dipped in recent years in part due to their new approach to the business, but they’ve recently announced that a Skyline sequel is in the works.
56. Titmouse, Inc.
This studio is all over the place, and I love them for that! One month you’ll see their work in a famous music video, the next month you’ll see their work in a Diablo III cutscene, then in an episode of The Venture Bros., then in the 2013 film Her, then in a scene from the TV show Community, then in the video game for The Legend of Korra, and then you turn on Netflix and you see their animations for Turbo FAST, which is the 2D spinoff show that DreamWorks Animation had them animate based on their 3D film. Motorcity came to an end last year, but they’re still working on Breadwinners and Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, with the highly anticipated Moonbeam City coming out soon! Whereas many studios don’t take risks, you never know where you’ll see Titmouse’s work pop up next!
55. Warner Bros. Animation
In January of 2013 they founded the think tank Warner Animation Group with the aim of taking on Pixar and other 3D animated box office legends of recent years. This year they started that journey with The Lego Movie and proved they were on the right track, as the film brought in almost half a billion dollars worldwide. There’s one catch though: they actually hired Animal Logic to create the majority of the animations for the film in a similar way that Illumination Entertainment hired Mac Guff to make most of Despicable Me for them, before turning around and buying the entire studio outright to create a historic 3D animation marriage. Could Warner Bros. and Animal Logic become the next famous marriage in the industry? They didn’t back in 2006 after a similar relationship led to Happy Feet, so perhaps they’ll just remain friends with benefits. The Lego Movie sequel is planned to hit in 2017, but they’ve already began mapping out their future film plans through 2019 with Stork, Smallfoot, and Lego Ninjago to release in the next two years with four more unannounced projects in the works along with Space Jam 2. In other words, Warner Bros. Animation is setting out to start a new era of the company’s longstanding famous existence. In the mean time they’re still dominating living rooms with dozens upon dozens of cartoon and superhero television series and direct to video feature releases. Watch for this studio to gain even more momentum in the coming years, which is scary given how high they’ve already climbed up the charts.
54. The Embassy Visual Effects
This Vancouver VFX studio made a name for itself with its work on Iron Man and District 9, which was nominated for an Academy Award, as well as their series of commercials for French car company Citroën. Their other commercial clients include Nike, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Chevrolet, and GMC, but they’ve also worked on other high profile films in recent years including Elysium, Ender’s Game, and Battleship.
53. Mokko Studio
This Montreal studio began in 2003 and has worked on the TV series The Kennedys and Cosmos, as well as the films White House Down, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Underworld: Awakening 3D, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Riddick. Currently they’re working on VFX scenes for the upcoming 2015 film, Jupiter Ascending.
52. Nvizible
A newcomer in the VFX industry, this studio was formed in 2009 and has locations in both London and Belfast. They’ve already worked on big name blockbusters like Skyfall, John Carter, Wrath of the Titans, and last year did 350 VFX shots for Kick-Ass 2. Recently they contributed scenes to Gravity, Captain Phillips, Edge of Tomorrow, I Give It A Year, Trash, Carrie, and are currently working on scenes for the upcoming film, Kingsman: The Secret Service.
51. Hanho Heung-Up
A few decades ago, this studio and other industry renowned names like Sunwoo Entertainment, Dong Woo Animation, and Wang Film Productions were the outsource animation hubs of the world, and countless legendary cartoon shows like Doug, Rugrats, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were able to flourish thanks to many unsung hero studios from overseas. Whereas many other Asian outsource animation studios have fallen from their greatness over the many years, this South Korean behemoth remains as strong as ever, with their work popping up in series like Family Guy, Dora the Explorer, Bob’s Burgers, Phineas and Ferb, Gravity Falls, Brickleberry, Uncle Grandpa, Rick and Morty, Clarence, and too many others to list here.
