Matt Reeves’s War for the Planet of the Apes won four trophies at the Visual Effects Society Awards held on Tuesday, including for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature. The science-fiction film also bagged awards for outstanding effects simulation, compositing and animated character (Caesar).
Other nominees for the top visual effects category included Blade Runner 2049, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Kong: Skull Island and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
The award for Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature was won by Disney/Pixar’s Coco, which also won three other trophies. Game of Thrones won the most awards for any project this year with five trophies, including outstanding visual effects in an episodic series.
War for the Planet of the Apes has also been nominated under the visual effects category for the 2018 Oscars. The Hollywood Reporter noted that six of the last 10 winners in top category at the Visual Effects Society Awards went on to win the Oscar for visual effects. However, the previous two films in the Planet of the Apes franchise that won the top Visual Effects Society award – Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) – did not go on to win the Oscar.
At the Visual Effects Awards, Blade Runner 2049 claimed two trophies (Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature and Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project), while Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 won for best virtual cinematography.
Four-time Oscar winner Joe Letteri, who was the senior visual effects supervisor of War for the Planet of the Apes, won the society’s Georges Melies Award for “significant and lasting contributions to the art and science of the visual effects industry.” Jungle Book (2016) director Jon Favreau won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the event.