WETA Digital vs. ILM

[lime]

OK, every hardcore movie fan know who are WETA Digital and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). But for those who don't: They are the two top Visual Effects companies in Hollywood.

Since 2000 who is the better VFX studio? Who have the better effects?

Some background:

WETA Digital's Top Work:

War for the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy. vol 2
The Jungle book
Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice
The Hobbit Trilogy
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
The Avengers
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
District 9
Avatar
King Kong
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
I, Robot

ILM's Top Work:
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Kong: Skull Island
Captain America: Civil War
Doctor Strange
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The Martian
Jurassic World
The Avengers
Pirates of the Caribbean 1, 2, 3 and 4
Transformers - all
War of the Worlds
Star Wars: Episode III
Master and Commander
Jurassic Park III
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Pearl Harbor

 

[NealKenneth]

Can't vote, it's too difficult. And both have had some real duds when the director was unwise about what to do with the effects (like Lucas and Jackson with their prequel trilogies.)

 

[2kt09]

My rule of thumb is WETA for the creature/character vfx and ILM for backdrop/landscape.

 

[Matt]

I give it to WETA. I look at Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and The Jungle Book and it is damn near impossible to distinguish where reality ends and animation begins. The humans blend so seamlessly with the characters. You can barely tell its green screened.

ILM animations are beautiful, don't get me wrong. But they are still very clearly animations.

 

[Boom]

Didn't ILM do Jungle Book?

I'd probably go with Weta personally. Between Gollum, King Kong, the Na'vi, and now Caesar and company, they've yielded some truly memorable CG characters.

 

[Octoberist]

ILM is often reliable but now it's wearing it thin with the amount of projects it has on its slate. So sometimes, certain movies get the B-team. Sometimes C.

WETA has less on its plate and is able to push the envelope.

For whatever reason, I can sorta tell when it's WETA. Like with the Apes movies, and I can't put my finger on it.

 

[Octoberist]

My rule of thumb is WETA for the creature/character vfx and ILM for backdrop/landscape.

Yeah, pretty much.

 

[lime]

It took me 24 hours to make my decision. In the 80s and 90s ILM were kings, gods, titans...but since 2000 WETA really pushed the VFX to a new limit.

In the past 17 years the only truly AMAZING work is Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3. The Kraken and that phenomenal Davy Jones are just perfection in VFX even in today standards. But since then they best work is...well nothing in this caliber. They have some superb films, but WETA have the Planet of the Apes, King Kong, Avatar, the Jungle Book and District 9. All brilliant.

So, yeah. WETA it is.

 

[moviedoors]

ILM for the mechanical, WETA for creatures and characters.

 

[Boom]

Did Weta seriously do The Jungle Book? It being a Disney film, I just assumed it was ILM.

 

[2kt09]

Did Weta seriously do The Jungle Book? It being a Disney film, I just assumed it was ILM.

Moving Picture Company (MPC) and Weta Digital created the film's visual effects. MPC developed new software for animating muscular structure in the animals. Around 1,000 remote jungle locations in India were photographed and used as reference in post-production. Weta was responsible for animating the King Louie sequence

Apparently.

 

[Boom]

Then I've got to give it to Weta, no hesitation. ILM gave us Davy Jones, but Weta's overall body of character work is unrivaled.

 

[redhawk23]

It's difficult to say due to the way effects work gets subcontracted out and divvied up.

For instance, while WETA gets Marquee billing, both companies worked on Avatar, I'll handling most of ships.

Or with District 9, weta only handled the backgrounds, a different company did the characters.

We did a little of work on Godzilla but it was mostly in design. Alot of the actual Godzilla effects were completed by MPC.

I will say though, WETA has definitely taken on the role of being the driving force and setting bench marks for the entire industry. They play the role that ILM did themselves for so long.

 

[psylockolussus]

Mpc.

 

[Drizzle]

I'd have to give it to WETA. As impressive as ILM's work was in Pirates of the Caribbean and even Transformers, WETA's work from Lord of the Rings to King Kong to Avatar to Planet of the Apes has been nothing short of jaw dropping.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

The Avengers shows exactly why ILM is better. All their work in that movie, on the same characters, is much better.

 

[Asr]

OK, every hardcore movie fan know who are WETA Digital and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). But for those who don't: They are the two top Visual Effects companies in Hollywood.

Uh, not to be facetious exactly, but who says they're the top two? And why call out only WETA and ILM when there are other VFX companies that have done equally amazing work? Like Double Negative for example, who just did Wonder Woman: http://www.dneg.com/vfx-category/vfx-shows/

 

[terry78]

I respect Weta and their work which is exceptional but ILM is pretty much been the gold standard for decades and is the house that others took their inspiration from. The quality these days does depend on the resources and talent as they can do anything from a Hulk to Son of the Mask to Rango.

And yeah there are a **** ton of other companies that do work we don't even know about. Framestore, Lola, etc.

 

[henzINNIT]

ILM overall but Weta have been more significant recently.

I will say though, effects are farmed out in pieces nowadays so things have changed.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

My rule of thumb is WETA for the creature/character vfx and ILM for backdrop/landscape.

This

 

[Steyin]

I don't care for WETA much, so ILM.

 

[HBarnill]

ILM can be great but are far more inconsistent. WETA has higher highs and are far more consistent. Justice League aside (they had little time to perfect and most of the blame goes to MPC anyway) their backgrounds, characters, motion capture are jaw dropping, I keep forgetting it’s CG.

 

[Pennywise]

I'll go with WETA.

 

[Reel-Man]

OK, every hardcore movie fan know who are WETA Digital and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). But for those who don't: They are the two top Visual Effects companies in Hollywood.

Since 2000 who is the better VFX studio? Who have the better effects?

Some background:

WETA Digital's Top Work:

War for the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy. vol 2
The Jungle book
Batman vs. Superman: Down of Justice
The Hobbit Trilogy
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
The Avengers
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
District 9
Avatar
King Kong
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
I, Robot

ILM's Top Work:
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Kong: Skull Island
Captain America: Civil War
Doctor Strange
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The Martian
Jurassic World
The Avengers
Pirates of the Caribbean 1, 2, 3 and 4
Transformers - all
War of the Worlds
Star Wars: Episode III
Master and Commander
Jurassic Park III
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Pearl Harbor

What's that movie? First time i hear of it.

 

[lime]

What's that movie? First time i hear of it.

Really? You bring back the thread just to point out my mistake?