ILM is looking to augment its StageCraft system, which was first used in the production of the Disney+ series The Mandalorian and has been installed in London, Sydney and LA, with a new stage near its Vancouver facility, expected to open next spring.
The VFX giant reported Wednesday that it would construct a roughly 20,000-square-foot stage for its StageCraft LED system, which will be its fifth such permanent volume. ILM also maintains two virtual production stages in Manhattan Beach, one at The Walt Disney Studios, and one at Pinewood Studios in London.
“Vancouver is a fantastic production hub where we’ve received a lot of interest from our clients who want a StageCraft volume in British Columbia. It was a natural next step for our expansion,” says Janet Lewin, senior vp and general manager of ILM.
Spencer Kent, executive in charge of ILM’s Vancouver studio, notes that its Canada-based artists have already contributed to digital set construction and virtual art department work on a number of StageCraft projects. “I’m also proud that we are actively recruiting with an eye toward hiring people from underrepresented communities,” he adds. “This effort will be bolstered when we launch our upcoming Jedi Training Academy in January.”
Members of the ILM team won Emmy Awards for the first two seasons of The Mandalorian, which used StageCraft. ILM is currently using its L.A.-based StageCraft systems on Disney+’s season three of The Mandalorian and upcoming series Obi-Wan Kenobi, and its Pinewood stage for Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
ILM, a division of Lucasfilm, which is a Disney subsidiary, also builds temporary bespoke StageCraft volumes, such as the one constructed in Sydney for Taika Waititi’s upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder.
