The appeal of modern cinema lies beyond a catching plot and gripping dialogues. It is the awe-inspiring scenes that almost always determine the success of the best visual effects movies. There has been a stark progress and innovation in visual effects over the last 20 years. VFX has been positively bringing meaning to the words ‘movie magic’ for over two decades now; all thanks to the directors who have been accepting challenges ensuring to transform fantastical screenplays by bringing the imaginary world to life.
2021 saw some exceptional work in the VFX department. Tons of good-quality international flicks garnered attention and received appreciation for the superlative usage of VFX. We’ve picked the top 12 movies that became blockbusters and can easily be regarded as VFX game-changers in the film industry.
Here are our favourite picks:
1) Jungle Cruise
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
VFX: ILM, DNEG, Weta Digital, EDI (Effetti Digitali Italiani), Rising Sun Pictures, Rodeo FX, UPP
Box office collection: $220.9 million
Awards won: Favourite Male Movie Star (Dwayne Johnson) at People’s Choice Awards
Disney’s Jungle Cruise, inspired by the theme park ride of the same name, is a family-friendly flick. It is a fantasy adventure story involving conquistadors, adventurers, ancient curses, and flowers with magical healing abilities. Starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, the plot follows Blunt’s botanist Dr Lily Houghton taking a trip to Brazil with her brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall). They hire Johnson’s wisecracking steamboat captain Frank Wolff to search for the mythical Tree of Life. Overall, Jungle Cruise is a fun family movie exactly what the Disney brand is known for.
The scenery in the film is beautiful and fan-favourite actors make the movie an exciting ride. The highly entertaining, full-of-action movie includes some of the best post-production 3D scenes we’ve seen in a long time, which makes it a must-watch and very different from all the other visual effects-heavy escapades we have come across earlier.
2) Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Director: Andy Serkis
VFX: DNEG, Framestore, Image Engine
Box office collection: $501 million
Whether you’ve seen the prequel or not, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is unmissable. The plot is quite straightforward: Eddie Brock is still struggling to coexist with the shape-shifting extraterrestrial Venom. When deranged serial killer Cletus Kasady also becomes host to an alien symbiote, Brock and Venom must put aside their differences to stop his reign of terror. There are lots of powerful action scenes, the cast is brilliantly chosen, and the film is extremely engrossing.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage meets the basic requirements of a comic book movie enjoyment with improved CGI, direction and another very convincing performance by Tom Hardy. The amped humour leaning into the funny and flirtatious dynamic between Venom and Brock is a treat to watch. Sheena Duggal was the overall VFX supervisor. Led by VFX supervisor Chris McLaughlin, DNEG was the lead vendor on the film, delivering over 750 shots across 20 sequences, as well as leading the build of all-hero assets including Carnage.
3) Dune
Director: Denis Villeneuve
VFX: DNEG, Wylie VFX, Rodeo FX
Box office collection: $394.6 million
Awards won: 50 wins, including Movie of the Year at AFI
The film boasts a brilliant plot: Paul Atreides, a gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence, only those who can conquer their own fear will survive.
The action set pieces were phenomenal, but the focus was almost always on the characters. Denis Villeneuve’s new big-screen adaptation underlines why generations have been fascinated by the story. Dune is an absolute feast for the eyes and ears; stunning cinematography accompanied by an immersive soundtrack that fits every scene like a glove. Each ship, device, costume and technology is fantastically realized. While special effects technology has advanced so this can be made possible, Denis Villeneuve and his team deserve kudos for the creative vision in the adaptation from book to screen.
4) Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
VFX: Digital Domain, Fin Design + Effects, Luma Pictures, Method Studios, Rising Sun Pictures, Rodeo FX, Scanline VFX, Trixter, Weta Digital
Box office collection: $432.2 million
Awards won: Favourite Action Movie Star (Simu Liu) at People’s Choice Awards; Best Action Film and Best Stunt Work by Hollywood Critics Association
Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, who must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization. For fans of cinematic spectacle, the film offers some of the best choreographed action sequences of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Strong visuals, excellent acting, and a fresh interesting story that is artfully told, makes it a thoroughly entertaining movie.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the MCU’s introduction to Chinese wuxia fantasy adventure, offered several unique VFX opportunities: manifesting the power of the titular rings, creating Marvel’s first dragons – the Great Protector and the Dweller in Darkness – and conjuring the adorable Morris, the headless, six-legged, furry friend to Ben Kingsley’s court jester, Trevor. Every bit of it was delivered flawlessly and what the audiences witnessed was nothing short of magic. Not to forget the good humour, breathtaking action, and dazzling art direction which added to the success of the blockbuster.
5) Godzilla vs. Kong
Director: Adam Wingard
VFX: Weta Digital, Scanline VFX, MPC, Luma Pictures
Box office collection: $467.8 million
Awards won: Authentic Representation by Ruderman Family Foundation Seal of Authentic Representation
Legends collide in Godzilla vs. Kong as these mythic adversaries meet in a spectacular battle for the ages, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. The film was exactly the blunt, escapist dazzle the audiences needed in the middle of a pandemic! Godzilla vs. Kong looks terrific and includes tons of imagery that will take your breath away. It is perhaps the best of all American Godzilla films as this installment successfully delivers all the spectacle one would expect from a movie that is about giant monsters slugging it out.
The film garnered praise for its intriguing plot, VFX, and the iconic fighting between the two Titans. Godzilla vs. Kong is fun, vibrant, action-packed, energising, and the movie’s amazing visual effects and action sequences are unmatched. It is a visual grandeur with jaw-dropping scenes, gorgeous VFX, intricate world-building, and a breathtaking directing style!
6) Zack Synder’s Justice League
Director: Zack Synder
VFX: DNEG, MPC, Scanline VFX, Weta Digital, Pixomondo, Shade VFX, Method Studios, Rodeo FX, Crafty Apes, Blind Ltd
Box office collection: $657.9 million
In Zack Synder’s Justice League, determined to ensure Superman’s (Henry Cavill) ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) aligns forces with Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions. The film shows Snyder’s evolution from a director known for emphasizing style over substance to a man who understands why we love superhero myths, whether they live in the DC Universe or Marvel.
Led by VFX supervisor Bryan Hirota, Scanline delivered 1,000 visual effects shots across 22 sequences, from Steppenwolf’s complete redo to the Flash’s epic time reversal. The movie is an absolute masterpiece and includes everything a DC fan ever dreamt of! Visually stunning and narratively satisfying from start to finish, it can easily classify as one of the best superhero films of all time. The eye-popping effects, stunning cinematography, eargasmic soundtrack, and stunning action scenes make it a movie worth remembering in years to come.
7) No Time To Die
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
VFX: DNEG, Framestore, ILM, Cinesite, Blind LTD, Territory Studio, TPO VFX
Box office collection: $774 million
Awards won: Best Foreign Film at Hochi Film Awards, Best Stunts or Action Photography at PCA Award, and a couple of awards for Best Song
In No Time To Die, Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. The last with Daniel Craig in the lead, the film brings together the various aspects of his non-conformist interpretation of James Bond in the most satisfying way.
In the film, it was important for the director to complete Craig’s arc as James Bond by tying up all five films. This meant emphasizing the emotional connection to Bond, even during the high-octane action sequences, which impacted the VFX. This included the Aston Martin DB5 gun battle in Matera, the sinking trawler with Bond and Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), and the explosive climax atop the control tower roof of baddie Safin (Rami Malek).
Neatly packaged, full of excitement, and fun; No Time To Die is the best way in which the audiences could say goodbye to Bond in a way that feels undoubtedly earned, triumphant, and bittersweet all at once.
8) Free Guy
Director: Shawn Levy
VFX: Digital Domain, Lola Visual Effects, Mammal Studios, Raynault VFX, Scanline VFX
Box office collection: $331.5 million
Awards won: Best Family Film at SFC Award
The film revolves around a bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game and decides to become the hero of his own story – the one he rewrites himself. Free Guy is Ryan Reynolds’ show and he gives the audiences everything they were expecting and even beyond. The typical character that he played made the audiences laugh with his exceptional wit and humour.
The film has a huge heart, a lot of soul, and a sneakily sly, ingenious subversive plot which is aptly executed in a high-gloss finish. It boasts a lot of technical acumen and is an ideal summer blockbuster that wasn’t bogged down in high expectations.
Digital Domain visual effects supervisor Nikos Kalaitzidis led a team of about 254 artists, creating 347 VFX shots for the film. From replacing actors with digidoubles to creating entire CG cities, Digital Domain was also responsible for the 87 gameplay shots that take place inside of Free City, along with the exciting, action-packed opening sequence that truly sets the tone for the film.
9) Finch
Director: Miguel Sapochnik
VFX: Mill Film and Rising Sun Pictures
In the film, a man, a robot and a dog form an unlikely family in a powerful and moving adventure of one man’s quest to ensure that his beloved canine companion will be cared for after he’s gone. Tom Hanks stars as Finch, a robotics engineer and one of the few survivors of a cataclysmic solar event that has left the world a wasteland. For a movie where just one of the three named characters is an actual person, Finch exists as a surprisingly moving exploration of what it means to be human. It is a winsomely eccentric science-fiction adventure about a quest for a better tomorrow.
With a fascinating pair of lead characters, a small story that feels bigger than it should, and spectacular visual effects that add texture and warmth to its CG co-star, Finch overachieves in all the right ways, and offers another compelling tale about finding light in dark times.
10) Don’t Look Up
Director: Adam McKay
VFX: Scanline VFX and Framestone
Box office collection: $1.4 million
Awards won: Movie of the Year at AFI Award, Best Original Screenplay at DFCS Award, Best Original Score – Feature Film at HMMA Award, Best Comedy Film at Sierra Award
Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), an astronomy grad student, and her professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) make an astounding discovery of a comet orbiting within the solar system. The problem: it’s on a direct collision course with Earth. The other problem? No one really seems to care. The movie strikes a unique tone between comedy and drama and is quite enjoyable from start to finish. A political satire with a gripping plot and a super-impressive cast, Don’t Look Up managed to mix up subtlety with brashness incredibly well while poking fun at modern cultures, celebrities and the absurdities of social media.
McKay’s idea using the hallmarks of blockbusters – big stars, special effects, and thrilling plot twists – to get a message to the widest audience possible worked in his favour. The production VFX supervisor Raymond Gieringer did a commendable job in making the audiences believe that all they are watching is happening for real; from spacecraft scenes to rocket launches, he tackled complex VFX shots exceptionally well; which resulted in beautiful on-screen portrayal of nature, science and people.
11) Eternals
Director: Chloé Zhao
VFX: ILM, Luma Pictures, Scanline VFX, RISE, Weta Digital
Box office collection: $401.3 million
Marvel Studios’ Eternals features an exciting new team of superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ancient aliens who have been living on Earth in secret for thousands of years. Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, an unexpected tragedy forces them out of the shadows to reunite against mankind’s most ancient enemy, the Deviants. The film isn’t perfect, but it pushes the MCU into a promising new territory and feels like an amalgamation of what Marvel does best – splendidly chaotic fight scenes, dazzling special effects, and stories that speak to who we are as human beings.
Marvel knew exactly what it was getting with director Zhao, whose naturalistic aesthetic for Eternals was demonstrated in her Oscar-winning Nomadland. This had a significant impact on the VFX: Zhao avoided green and blue screens for shooting on location in the Canary Islands and England, where the natural light and her anthropological visual style had a direct bearing on full CG shots. Additionally, the epic world-building, the cosmic energy of the superhero Eternals, and the CG character design of the antagonistic Deviants and Celestials were influenced by manga, anime, and Marvel comics. Marvel VFX production supervisor Stephane Ceretti, take a bow!
12) Spider-Man: No Way Home
Director: Jon Watts
VFX: Cinestine, Crafty Apes, Digital Domain, Framestone, Luma Pictures, Sony Pictures Imageworks, SSVFX, Mr. X
Box office collection: $1.2 billion
For the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighbourhood hero’s identity is revealed, bringing his superhero responsibilities into conflict with his normal life and putting those he cares about most at risk. Throughout all of it, the weird and complex history of Spider-Man as a cinematic icon isn’t a hindrance to the story; instead, it’s an enhancement, using the quirks of the character’s legacy as a source of illumination into why he has endured so long. The movie allows for a surprisingly impactful reappraisal of a long-held Spidey franchise consensus.
The visual effects in general have been parceled out and tapered down, so that the audiences don’t have to sift through the effects-heavy murk-storm of Far From Home. The action scenes, featuring hand-to-hand combat, feel more practical and visceral. Humour, heart, history and heft are harmoniously blended together to drive Spider-Man: No Way Home towards the goal that it has set for itself: to be the most complete and most thoroughly entertaining superhero film from the MCU.