Sony Pictures Imageworks
(also known as SPI or Sony Imageworks) is a visual effects and computer animation company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was formed by Sony Pictures in 1992 to branch out in the booming VFX industry, with its first work being previsualizations for Striking Distance. From that point on, the studio would create visual effects for over 50 films, and would branch out into animation by means of working with sister Sony subsidiary Sony Pictures Animation.* The studio was headquartered in Culver City, California (nearby the Sony lot) until they moved to their current location in 2014.
See also A-1 Pictures, another animation studio established by Sony (but for anime, not big budget films; this company is operated by Sony Music Japan via Aniplex), and Animal Logic, another prominent VFX studio who has also done simultaneous work on live-action and computer-animated movies.
Films that SPI have worked on include:
- 2012
- Alice in Wonderland (2010)
- Alice Through the Looking Glass
- American Sniper
- Anaconda
- Anger Management
- The Angry Birds Movie
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
- Arthur Christmas
- The Aviator
- Bad Boys II
- Beowulf
- Big Fish
- Blade Runner (2007 Final Cut edition)
- The Cable Guy
- Cast Away
- Charlie's Angels (2000)
- The Chronicles of Narnia
- Click
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
- Contact
- Eagle Eye
- The Emoji Movie
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
- Fury
- G-Force
- Ghost Rider (though not the sequel)
- Ghostbusters (2016)
- Godzilla (1998)
- The Green Hornet (3D Conversion)
- Green Lantern (2011)
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Hancock
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (handled the Quidditch match for the film, as well as the Mountain Troll and living chess pieces)
- Hollow Man
- Hotel Transylvania
- I Am Legend
- Independence Day
- The Interview (credited as Imageworks)
- James and the Giant Peach
- Jonny Quest: The Real AdventuresList
- The Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience
- Judge Dredd
- Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
- Kingsman: The Golden Circle
- Last Action Hero
- The Lord of the Rings
- Love, Death & Robots (for Blur Studio, 1 short)List
- The Marvels (2023)
- The Matrix Reloaded
- The Meg
- Men in Black II
- Michael Jackson's This Is It
- The Mitchells vs. the Machines
- Monster House
- Mulan (2020)
- Open Season (First movie solo, second with Reel FX Creative Studios)
- Over the Moon
- Oz the Great and Powerful
- Patch Adams
- Pixels
- The Polar Express
- The Replacement Killers
- The Sea Beast
- Smallfoot
- The Smurfs
- Speed
- Speed Racer
- The Spider-Man films
- Starship Troopers
- Storks
- Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (uncredited)
- Stuart Little and Stuart Little 2. Also did the CGI sequences for the animated TV series, with Wang Film Productions.
- Suicide Squad (2016)
- Surf's Up
- Vivo
- Watchmen
- What Lies Beneath
- Zathura
- Zookeeper 2011
- Zombieland: Double Tap
Tropes associated with their works:
- All-CGI Cartoon: Have made several, including The Angry Birds Movie, Arthur Christmas, Monster House, Beowulf, and nearly all of Sony Pictures Animation's films.
- He Also Did: A couple of their empolyees, including John Dykstra and Ken Ralston, were originally a part of Industrial Light & Magic.
- Live-Action Adaptation: Several of their films, specifically the Spider-Man films, Ghost Rider, Green Lantern, and Stuart Little.
- Medium Blending: Their work on James and the Giant Peach, in which SPI did water effects against Stop Motion.
- Motion Capture: Two of Robert Zemeckis' films, The Polar Express and the aforementioned Beowulf, both utilized this, as well as Monster House (which Zemeckis only produced).
- Production Posse: The company was notably Robert Zemeckis' go-to effects house during the 2000's, having worked on the above-mentioned films he was involved with. In addition, besides working on films produced by their parent company, they have also regularly worked with Warner Bros. and Disney (even after they gained Industrial Light & Magic as part of their acquisition of Lucasfilm) as well.
- What Could Have Been: Were going to be one of the companies behind the effects for Michael Jackson's comeback tour until he died.
