The Wild Robot and Dune: Part Two, the two most-nominated films at the 23nd edition of the annual VES Awards, also ended up with winning the most awards at the ceremony, which was held last night in Beverly Hills, California. But there was a big surprise too, with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes taking home the top prize for a live-action film.
While Dune: Part Two won four of its seven nominations, it missed out on the top prize for visual effects in a photoreal feature, which was presented to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, a film that we covered in-depth yesterday on Cartoon Brew. But oddly enough, despite winning the top honor, Apes didn’t win any other awards throughout the evening.
The race for the visual effects Academy Award seems to have come down between these two films, though it should be noted that another Oscar nominee — the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man — also won a VES Award last night for character in a photoreal feature.
On the animation side, only one film won any awards yesterday evening — Dreamworks Animation’s The Wild Robot — which took four of its five nominations, including the top honor for visual effects in an animated feature. Add these VES successes to The Wild Robot’s late-season string of wins at the Critics Choice, Annies, and Producers Guild, and the only thing that could stop the film’s momentum for the Oscar would be the sudden discovery of inappropriate tweets by Chris Sanders.
The Wild Robot also won for animated character in an animated feature, environment in an animated feature, and effects simulations in an animated feature. The only award it didn’t win was for compositing and lighting in a feature, a category open to both live-action and animated films, which Dune: Part Two won.
On the episode side, FX’s historical drama Shōgun won three VES Awards, and the HBO/DC Comics series The Penguin won two. Both projects had received four nominations.
The 2025 VES Awards included nominees in 25 categories that were selected by Society members during 49 in-person and virtual nomination events hosted worldwide over a 30-hour continuous process.
Special honorees this year were actor-producer Hiroyuki Sanada, receiving the VES Award for Creative Excellence; director and vfx supervisor Takashi Yamazaki receiving the VES Visionary Award; and virtual reality/immersive technology pioneer Dr. Jacquelyn Ford Morie receiving the VES Georges Méliès Award.
A complete list of winners is below:
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Erik Winquist, Julia Neighly, Paul Story, Danielle Immerman, Rodney Burke
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Civil War
David Simpson, Michelle Rose, Freddy Salazar, Chris Zeh, J.D. Schwalm
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
The Wild Robot
Chris Sanders, Jeff Hermann, Jeff Budsberg, Jacob Hjort Jensen
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
Shōgun; “Anjin“
Michael Cliett, Melody Mead, Philip Engström, Ed Bruce, Cameron Waldbauer
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
The Penguin; “Bliss”
Johnny Han, Michelle Rose, Goran Pavles, Ed Bruce, Devin Maggio
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT
Star Wars Outlaws
Stephen Hawes, Lionel Le Dain, Benedikt Podlesnigg, Bogdan Draghici
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL
Coca-Cola; “The Heroes”
Greg McKneally, Antonia Vlasto, Ryan Knowles, Fabrice Fiteni
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT
D23; Real-Time Rocket
Evan Goldberg, Alyssa Finley, Jason Breneman, Alice Taylor
OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Better Man: Robbie Williams
Milton Ramirez, Andrea Merlo, Seoungseok Charlie Kim, Eteuati Tema
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
The Wild Robot; Roz
Fabio Lignini, Yukinori Inagaki, Owen Demers, Hyun Huh
OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
Ronja the Robber’s Daughter; Vildvittran the Queen Harpy
Nicklas Andersson, David Allan, Gustav Åhren, Niklas Wallén
OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Dune: Part Two; The Arrakeen Basin
Daniel Rhein, Daniel Anton Fernandez, Marc James Austin, Christopher Anciaume
OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
The Wild Robot; The Forest
John Wake, He Jung Park, Woojin Choi, Shane Glading
OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
Shōgun; Osaka
Manuel Martinez, Phil Hannigan, Keith Malone, Francesco Corvino
OUTSTANDING CG CINEMATOGRAPHY
Dune: Part Two; Arrakis
Greig Fraser, Xin Steve Guo, Sandra Murta, Ben Wiggs
OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT
Alien: Romulus; Renaissance Space Station
Waldemar Bartkowiak, Trevor Wide, Matt Middleton, Ben Shearman
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Dune: Part Two; Atomic Explosions and Wormriding
Nicholas Papworth, Sandy la Tourelle, Lisa Nolan, Christopher Phillips
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
The Wild Robot
Derek Cheung, Michael Losure, David Chow, Nyoung Kim
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
Shōgun; Broken to the Fist; Landslide
Dominic Tiedeken, Heinrich Löwe, Charles Guerton, Timmy Lundin
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE
Dune: Part Two; Wormriding, Geidi Prime, and the Final Battle
Christopher Rickard, Francesco Dell’Anna, Paul Chapman, Ryan Wing
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE
The Penguin; After Hours
Jonas Stuckenbrock, Karen Chang, Eugene Bondar, Miky Girón
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL
Coca-Cola; “The Heroes”
Ryan Knowles, Alex Gabucci, Jack Powell, Dan Yarcigi
OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT
The Penguin; Safe Guns
Devin Maggio, Johnny Han, Cory Candrilli, Alexandre Prod’homme
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD
Here; Neural Performance Toolset
Jo Plaete, Oriel Frigo, Tomas Koutsky, Matteo Oliviero Dancy
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT
Pittura (entry from ARTFX – Schools of Digital Arts)
Lauriol Adam, Lassère Titouan, Vivenza Rémi, Marre Helloïs
