History
Foundation
Framestore was founded in 1986 by William Sargent and Sharon Reed, together with three friends. Tim Webber joined Framestore in 1988 and led the company's push into digital film and television, developing Framestore's virtual camera and motion rig systems. In 1992, Mike Milne started the CGI animation, CGI department, adding computer-generated imagery animation to the company's range of facilities.Merger with CFC
In 1997, Framestore acquired the Computer Film Company, which was one of the UK's first digital film visual effects companies, developing technology for digital film scanning, compositing, and output. CFC was founded in London in 1984 by Mike Boudry, Wolfgang Lempp (now CTO at Filmlight) and Neil Harris (Lightworks). CFC's first film was ''The Fruit Machine (1988 film), The Fruit Machine'', in 1988, which utilised early morphing techniques.Rickitt, Richard (2000). ''Special Effects: The History and Technique''. London: Virgin Publishing. In 2004, Framestore opened their first satellite office in New York City, to focus on advertising. This was followed by another office in Iceland in 2008, which has since been closed and has reopened as a local VFX company, RVX. In 2013 Framestore opened an office in Montreal, followed by another in Los Angeles the same year. In 2014, it launched a production arm. Early projects for the company include the delivery of its first feature animation project ''The Tale of Despereaux (film), The Tale of Despereaux'' with Universal; the completion of Europe's first digital intermediate for the film ''Chicken Run'' in 2000; contribution of scenes for the 2009 film ''Avatar (2009 film), Avatar'', and the completion as a production project of four British feature films which opened in theaters between during 2009 and 2010.Acquisition by CIH
In November 2016, Framestore agreed to let the Shanghai-based Cultural Investment Holdings Co acquire 75% of it for £112.50 million. The company worked on projects such as ''Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film), Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'', ''Beauty and the Beast (2017 film), Beauty and the Beast'', and ''Paddington 2.'' In April 2017, Framestore announced that they had opened a third US location, in Chicago, Illinois. The company also worked on the 2017 film ''Darkest Hour (film), Darkest Hour'' directed by Joe Wright, working out of the Montreal facility of Framestore to create historically accurate backdrops for 85 shots in the film, including battle scenes. The team created around 300 shots for the 2017 film ''Blade Runner 2049'', with Framestore winning a special visual effects award at the 2018 British Academy Film Awards. They have also worked on ''Black Mirror'', creating props such as the 60s-style spaceship in the premiere of the fourth season. In November 2020, Framestore announced that they have acquired Deluxe's former creative assets including Method Studios and Company 3 to expand their VFX and post-production landscapes.Reception
Framestore has been awarded two Academy Award, Scientific or Technical, Scientific and Technical Academy Awards, and 14 Primetime Emmys. In 2008, Framestore won their first Academy Award for Academy Award for Visual Effects, Best Visual Effects for the film ''The Golden Compass (film), The Golden Compass''; they also won the BAFTA Award for that film the same year. Framestore was also nominated for Academy Awards in 2009 (''The Dark Knight'') and again in 2010 (''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1''). Tim Webber was the VFX supervisor on ''Gravity (2013 film), Gravity'' (2013), and the techniques involved in the film realised by Webber and the Framestore team took three years to complete."Tim Webber: the man who put Sandra Bullock in space"Advertising and trade characters
Framestore has collaborated with companies and advertising agencies to create trade characters, and also created an attempted Photorealism, photorealistic computer-generated Audrey Hepburn for a Galaxy (chocolate), Galaxy chocolate advert. A combination of elements including body doubles, motion-capture, Facial Action Coding System, FACS and the rendering software Autodesk Arnold, Arnold were used to mimic the appearance of the actress 20 years after her death. The advert drew press attention both for the cutting-edge technology utilized and the ethical implications of using a person's likeness posthumously for commercial purposes.Selected film and TV credits
* ''The Fruit Machine (1988 film), The Fruit Machine'' (1988) * ''Walking with…'' (1999-2005) * ''Chicken Run'' (2000) * ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' (2002) * ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' (2004) * ''Thunderbirds (2004 film), Thunderbirds (2004) * ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' (2005) * ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' (2005) * ''Superman Returns'' (2006) * ''Casino Royale (2006 film), Casino Royale'' (2006) * ''Children of Men'' (2006) * ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' (2007) * ''The Golden Compass (film), The Golden Compass'' (2007) * ''The Dark Knight'' (2008) * ''Quantum of Solace'' (2008) * ''The Tale of Despereaux (film), The Tale of Despereaux'' (2008) * ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' (2009) * ''Avatar (2009 film), Avatar'' (2009) * ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1'' (2010) * ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2'' (2011) * ''Black Mirror'' (2011-) * ''War Horse (film), War Horse'' (2011) * ''Iron Man 3'' (2013) * ''Gravity (2013 film), Gravity'' (2013) * ''RoboCop (2014 film), RoboCop'' (2014) * ''Guardians of the Galaxy (film), Guardians of the Galaxy'' (2014) * ''Dracula Untold'' (2014) * ''Paddington (film), Paddington'' (2014) * ''Avengers: Age of Ultron'' (2015) * ''Poltergeist (2015 film), Poltergeist'' (2015) * ''Everest (2015 film), Everest'' (2015) * ''The Martian (film), The Martian'' (2015) * ''Spectre (2015 film), Spectre'' (2015) * ''Doctor Strange (2016 film), Doctor Strange'' (2016) * ''Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film), Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'' (2016) * ''Beauty and the Beast (2017 film), Beauty and the Beast'' (2017) * ''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'' (2017) * ''King Arthur: Legend of the Sword'' (2017) * ''Kingsman: The Golden Circle'' (2017) * ''Blade Runner 2049'' (2017) * ''Geostorm'' (2017) * ''Paddington 2'' (2017) * ''Darkest Hour (film), Darkest Hour'' (2017) * ''Avengers: Infinity War'' (2018) * ''Christopher Robin (film), Christopher Robin'' (2018) * ''Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald'' (2018) * ''Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle'' (2018) * ''Avengers: Endgame'' (2019) * ''Detective Pikachu (film), Pokémon Detective Pikachu'' (2019) * ''The Boys (TV series), The Boys'' (2019-) * ''The Witcher (TV series), The Witcher'' (2019-) * ''His Dark Materials (TV series), His Dark Materials'' (2019–22) * ''Lovecraft Country (TV series), Lovecraft Country'' (2020) * ''Mulan (2020 film), Mulan'' (2020) * ''The Midnight Sky'' (2020) * ''No Time to Die'' (2021) * ''Invasion (2021 TV series), Invasion'' (2021-) * ''Spider-Man: No Way Home'' (2021) * ''The Matrix Resurrections'' (2021) * ''1899 (TV series), 1899'' (2022) * ''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3'' (2023) * ''Barbie (film), Barbie'' (2023) * ''Deadpool & Wolverine'' (2024) * ''Paddington In Peru'' (2024) * ''IF (film), IF'' (2024) * ''Wicked (2024 film), Wicked'' (2024) * ''Thunderbolts*'' (2025) * ''Lilo & Stitch (2025 film), Lilo & Stitch'' (2025) * ''How to Train Your Dragon (2025 film), How to Train Your Dragon'' (2025) * ''The Fantastic Four: First Steps'' (2025) * ''Wicked: For Good'' (2025)References
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