New Zealand's Weta FX studio sets up shop in Vancouver

The Vancouver office will work on a variety of projects including the Avatar sequels

By Melissa Kasule 6 Apr 2022

New Zealand's Weta FX studio sets up shop in Vancouver — Oscar Isaact in Marvel Studios' MOON KNIGHT. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios.

New Zealand based visual effects studios, Weta FX, is set to open a Vancouver office as part of plans for global expansion.

The Vancouver hub will initially house 75 artists with the aim to grow beyond that before the end of the year and is slated to work on a variety of projects including the Avatar Sequels, the first of which will be released in December.

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.

Weta FX has been thriving over the last couple of years with the establishment of Weta Studios to produce original content and Wētā Animated. Vancouver's presence marks the company’s first dedicated visual effects office outside of New Zealand, complementing the executive offices in Los Angeles.

The new office comes following a $1.6bn technology deal with the cross-platform game engine, Unity, late last year.

“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 Weta FX. “Vancouver is an established market for VFX, animation and games talent.”