Visual Effects

Rising Sun Pictures recreated huge swaths of Amazon rainforest with photo-real accuracy for Disney’s rollicking adventure film Jungle Cruise. The breathtaking jungle environments are used in several scenes in the film, which follows wisecracking skipper Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson) and intrepid researcher Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) as they pilot a rickety river boat upstream in search of an ancient tree with miraculous healing powers. In all, the studio delivered 300 final visual effects shots.

In the third episode of Marvel Studios’ episodic series Loki, the characters Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) find themselves on the doomed alien moon Lamentis-1 orbiting a planet on the verge of total collapse. The location sets the stage for a photorealistic look at celestial destruction, but it also offers a glimpse of humanity’s all-too-possible future. Created by Oscar-winning visual effects studio Digital Domain, it is unique and visually stunning. [Editor’s Note: Warning. This article contains spoilers.]

The NEP Group has launched a virtual production business segment, to be called NEP Virtual Studios, bringing on board industry leaders in real-time production with the acquisition of Prysm Collective, Lux Machina and Halon Entertainment. As part of this new venture, NEP welcomes a group of experts and world-class talent, including entertainment industry veteran Cliff Plumer to lead this new segment, Jeff Ruggels as senior vice president of finance and operations, Phil Galler and Zach Alexander as co-presidents of the Lux Machina NEP Business Unit, and Daniel Gregoire and Chris Ferriter as executive creative director and president, respectively, of the Halon NEP Business Unit.