The Visual Effects Society announced nominees for its 24th Annual VES Awards, with James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash leading all projects with ten nominations across film categories. The ceremony takes place February 25, 2026 at The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, with the Sklar Brothers returning as hosts for the second consecutive year.
Key Takeaways:
Avatar: Fire and Ash dominates with 10 nominations, the most of any project
Three-way tie in animation: KPop Demon Hunters, Elio, and Zootopia 2 each earned 5 nominations
Television heavyweights: Stranger Things, The Last of Us, and Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age tied at 4 nominations each
Special honorees: Jerry Bruckheimer (Lifetime Achievement) and Sir Richard Taylor of Wētā Workshop (Visionary Award)
25 categories span film, TV, special venue, games, and emerging technology
Photoreal Feature Nominees
The Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature category features five contenders pushing the boundaries of visual storytelling:
Avatar: Fire and Ash (20th Century Studios) - Wētā FX, Lightstorm Entertainment
F1: The Movie (Warner Bros.) - DNEG, Framestore
How To Train Your Dragon (Universal Pictures) - Wētā FX, MPC
Jurassic World: Rebirth (Universal Pictures) - ILM, Wētā FX
The Lost Bus (Warner Bros.) - DNEG
Avatar earned additional nominations in nine craft categories including Outstanding Created Environment, Outstanding Virtual Cinematography, Outstanding Model, Outstanding Compositing, and Outstanding Effects Simulations.
Animation Three-Way Tie
The animated feature race is wide open with three films tied at five nominations each:
KPop Demon Hunters (DreamWorks Animation)
Elio (Pixar Animation Studios)
Zootopia 2 (Walt Disney Animation Studios)
Other animated feature nominees include Flow (Dream Well Studios) and Memoir of a Snail (Arenamedia). The animation categories also recognize character animation and effects animation work across these productions.
Television Categories
Episodic VFX work sees a three-way tie at the top:
Stranger Things (Netflix) - 4 nominations
The Last of Us (HBO) - 4 nominations
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age (Apple TV+) - 4 nominations
Other notable TV nominees include Severance (Apple TV+), The Bear (FX), and various entries in the commercial and special venue categories.
Real-Time Projects and Games
The Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project category highlights the growing sophistication of game visuals:
Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions)
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (Kojima Productions)
Doom: The Dark Ages (id Software)
Battlefield 6 (DICE)
This category recognizes the real-time rendering achievements that now rival traditional VFX pipelines in complexity and visual fidelity.
Special Venue Experiences
The Special Venue Project category showcases immersive entertainment:
The Wizard of Oz at Sphere - The ambitious Sphere experience in Las Vegas transforms the classic story into a 360-degree immersive spectacle
Stranger Things: Escape the Dark - A location-based entertainment experience
Other nominees include theme park attractions and large-format experiences pushing the boundaries of where visual effects meet physical spaces
Emerging Technology Innovations
The Emerging Technology Award nominees represent significant advances in VFX tools and workflows:
Avatar: Fire and Ash - BodyOpt (body optimization system) and Kora Fire Toolset (fire simulation technology)
Mickey 17 (Warner Bros.) - REVIZE, a tool developed for Bong Joon-ho's sci-fi film
Elio (Pixar) - Real-Time SDF Animation system pushing Pixar's technical capabilities
These tools represent the ongoing innovation that enables increasingly ambitious visual storytelling.
Special Honorees
The VES will present two special awards at the ceremony:
Jerry Bruckheimer - VES Lifetime Achievement Award
The legendary producer behind Top Gun: Maverick, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the CSI franchise receives recognition for decades of championing visual effects-driven filmmaking. His productions have consistently pushed VFX boundaries while delivering commercial success.
Sir Richard Taylor - VES Visionary Award
The co-founder of Wētā Workshop receives the Visionary Award for his contributions to physical and digital effects. From The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Avatar, Taylor's work at Wētā has defined modern blockbuster filmmaking and earned six Academy Awards.
Nomination Process
The nominees emerged from an extensive global evaluation process:
60 peer-led judging panels across seven worldwide regions
46 in-person panels plus 14 virtual sessions
25 categories covering film, television, special venue, commercials, games, and student projects
This distributed judging approach ensures nominees represent the best work as evaluated by working VFX professionals across the industry.
What's Next
The 24th Annual VES Awards ceremony on February 25, 2026 at The Beverly Hilton will reveal winners across all categories. For media professionals, this year's nominees highlight several trends worth watching:
Avatar's continued technical dominance in pushing real-time and simulation technologies
Animation's competitive depth with major studios delivering technically ambitious work
Gaming's rising production values reaching parity with film VFX
Immersive venue projects becoming a significant category as Sphere and similar venues expand
The full list of nominees is available at vesglobal.org.
