From the very early days of VFX magicians likeGeorges Méliès, visual effects have always been an essential part of cinema. Through highs and lows, they have evolved greatly over the decades. It’s beyond astonishing to compare how movies looked a few decades ago, relying mostly on practical effects on an impressive scale, to how they look today thanks to cutting-edge CGI technology.
Throughout the years,there have been plenty of VFX-centric movies that have done nothing short of revolutionizing the industry. From revolutionary minds, these pictures marked a distinctive before and after in cinematic history. Whether they generated sharp technological advancements likeThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towersor used existing technology in innovative ways, likeStar Wars, these groundbreaking films have defined what a film can look like.
10The ‘Lord of the Rings’ Trilogy
Visual Effects by Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, Richard Taylor, Mark Stetson, and Alex Funke
It’s not just because it’s so visually stunning thatPeter Jackson’sThe Lord of the Ringsis generally regarded as one ofthe best trilogies of all time. Reaching triumphant narrative heights at an unprecedented scale, it tells the thrilling and enrapturing story of the war against the evil tyrant Sauron and the hobbits who set out to destroy the one object that will decide the future of Middle-Earth.
The trilogy was far grander and more ambitious than anything that had ever been done before,so its visual effects needed to be up to that same standard. With clever camera tricks, impressive technical effects, and revolutionary CGI (most notably “the first true CG superstar” inAndy Serkis’s Gollum), Jackson and his dedicated team upped the ante when it came to VFX in massive blockbuster franchises. Particularly,Gollum marked a before-and-after for motion capture, raising the technique’s profile and launching a new dawn for VFX throughout the 2000s.
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9’The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' (2008)
Visual Effects by Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, and Craig Barron
David Fincherhas done it all, from subversive political thrillers to complex fantasy dramas likeThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The latter tells the story of the titular character, a man born under unusual circumstances, who springs into being as an elderly man and starts aging backward.
The movie is easily one ofthe bestF. Scott Fitzgeraldmovie adaptations.Benjamin Button’s success comes thanks in no small measure tothe astonishing VFX that made Benjamin’s face fully animated for the first hour of the movieand helped makeBrad Pittlook more convincing in the remaining runtime. For the movie,a new technique called Emotion Capturewas created, allowing filmmakers to make digitally-aided creations like Benjamin Button far more expressive and real. The film’s stunning VFX were widely lauded, with the team behind them winning the 2009 Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
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8’Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope' (1977)
Visual Effects by John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, Grant McCune, and Robert Blalack
George Lucas’sStar Warsmay just be the most iconic movie franchise of all time, and for good reason. Though it has expanded across all kinds of films and media, the original trilogy will perhaps always be the most treasured part of the franchise by fans. Thus,Episode IV — A New Hopewill always have the honor of having had the biggest impact on the film industry at large.
The film had memorable characters, a terrifically paced story,and visual effects that were far ahead of their time.It was technologically innovative, using existing techniques and tools in ways so creative that only a mind like George Lucas’s could have come up with such ideas. More impressively,A New Hopelooked so good in every aspect that it remains the secondhighest-grossing movie of all time adjusted for inflation. The original film launched not only a massively successful franchise but an entirely new generation of fans who experienced the magic of cinema in new and awe-inspiring ways.
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
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7’Metropolis' (1927)
Visual Effects by Eugen Schüfftan
Even though the concept of VFX-centric movies is typically associated with modern blockbusters, there are plenty of visually stunning films back in cinema’s silent era that re-defined the visual effects game. One such achievement wasFritz Lang’s iconic German sci-fi epicMetropolis, about the rich son of a futuristic city’s mastermind who falls in love with a working-class prophet.
Metropolisis aboutas close as sci-fi movies come to perfection, andEugen Schüfftan’s incredible visual effects play a large part in that. Schüfftan createda process that now carries his name, which employs mirrors to craft clever compositions and blend live-action material with miniatures and paintings.Metropolisis widely considered a milestone in science fiction, but its influence is equally powerful behind the scenes.Without Schüfftan’s work as a visual magician, the sci-fi genre would probably not be what it is today.
Metropolis
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6'2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968)
Visual Effects by Stanley Kubrick
It’s hard to believe that the legendaryStanley Kubrickonly won one Oscar. More incredibly, his victory came for something no one would expect. Kubrick claimed the golden statuette for the visual effects of2001: A Space Odyssey, his seminal sci-fi masterpiece about a spacecraft sent to Jupiter to investigate the origins of a mysterious artifact that’s been found buried under the Moon’s surface.
Engineered by visual effects masterDouglas Trumbulland spearheaded by Kubrick himself,2001took nascent CGI technology and mixed it with traditional practical effectson a scale that had never been seen before. The filmpushed the envelopeon what films in the genre could look like, creating a shockingly immersive depiction of space that remains as spectacularly mind-blowing today as it was back then. Pretty much every subsequent space-set film, fromRiddley Scott’sAlientoAlfonso Cuarón’sGravity, is indebted to Kubrick’s achievement in2001.
2001: A Space Odyssey
5The New ‘Planet of the Apes’ Trilogy
Visual Effects by Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, Daniel Barrett, Erik Winquist, and Joel Whist
The rebootedPlanet of the Apestrilogy is one ofthe best modern action franchises. It tells the story of the chimpanzee Caesar and how he leads his fellow apes to a new era. From the sci-fi spectacle ofRise of the Planet of the Apesto the post-apocalyptic tension ofDawn of the Planet of the Apesto the grand conclusion ofWar for the Planet of the Apes, this remains one of the most consistently great movie series of the 2010s.
As motion capture becomes increasingly common in the modern blockbuster landscape,celebrating the work of the massively talented team behind the VFX of this trilogy becomes even more important. ThePlanet of the Apesreboot trilogybroke new ground in this state-of-the-art techniquewith each new installment, bringing future filmmakers an invaluable tool for generating digitally-produced characters that look just like the real thing. At the heart of it all is mo-cap maestro Andy Serkis, whose portrayal of Caesar ranks among the finest acting achievements of the 2010s.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
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4’Jurassic Park' (1993)
Visual Effects by Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett, and Michael Lantieri
Steven Spielberghas made many of the most iconic films in American cinema’s history, and one of the most popular and influential is undoubtedlyJurassic Park. Based onMichael Crichton’s sci-fi novel of the same name, the film follows pragmatic paleontologist Alan Grant, who is touring a near-complete theme park with live dinosaurs and is tasked with protecting two kids after a power failure unleashes the island’s many dangerous predators.
Jurassic Parksparked a prolific franchiseand influenced most sci-fi blockbusters that were released after it. Although its use of practical effects is some of the most incredible of the ’90s, the thing that’s most famous about its visuals isits use of cutting-edge CGItech to create some of the most imposing and convincing dinosaurs the silver screen has ever seen. Spielberg invented the concept of the summer blockbuster withJaws—another groundbreaking achievement in practical effects—but he doubtlessly perfected it withJurassic Park, the godfather of many of the 21st century’s most ambitious films.
Jurassic Park
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3’Tron' (1982)
Visual Effects by Richard Taylor and Harrison Ellenshaw
Nobody had ever seen anything likeSteven Lisberger’s underappreciated cyberpunk triumph,Tron. A sci-fi action film starring Oscar winnerJeff Bridges, it centers on a computer hacker who’s abducted into the digital world and forced to participate in games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.
Even over four decades after its release, the movie is still remembered as one ofDisney’s most underrated live-actionoutings.Tronwas the first to have lengthy sequencescomprised almost entirely of CGI, which was unheard of back at the start of the ’80s. The film is not only elevated by these dazzling sequences, which have aged beautifully, but it often places the whole weight of its narrative on them. As the years go by and a larger number of CGI-heavy movies get made,Tron’s legacy becomes all the more valuable.
2The ‘Avatar’ Movies
Visual Effects by Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andrew R. Jones, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett
It’s fair to say that audiences back in 2009 had never seen visual effects that looked even remotely as impressive as the ones inJames Cameron’sAvatar. The original film follows a Marine torn between following his orders and protecting the world he’s been dispatched to. Cameron then tooka whopping 13-year breakto make sure that existing technology allowedAvatar: The Way of Waterto look like he envisioned. The result was a sequel that’s even more visually breathtaking than its predecessor.
Avatarchanged the gamewhen it came to real-time motion capture and 3D visuals, andWay of Watercame up with even moretechnological and practical innovations. Cameron has been at the forefront of VFX advancements ever since the start of his career,and his work on theAvatarmovies is perhaps the most admirable of his filmography. The firstAvatarlaunched the 3D craze of the early 2010s, with many movies attempting to imitate its spectacular visuals; however, few, if any, can hold a candle to Cameron’s Herculean achievement.
1’A Trip to the Moon' (1902)
Visual Effects by Georges Méliès
From 1896 to 1912, Georges Méliès made hundreds upon hundreds of short films that kept pushing the envelope in the VFX industry. This was back when cinema was more of a cool visual trick than a narrative art form, yet Méliès still found ways to tell entertaining stories through his pictures. His most famous work, and arguably his best, isA Trip to the Moon, about a group of astronomers who go on an adventure to the Moon.
Without Méliès’s work, and particularlyA Trip to the Moon,the world would probably not have sci-fi filmsor VFX-heavy blockbusters.Méliès was a magician, both literally and figuratively, and this thrilling, wildly imaginative and original movie is the pinnacle of his work in terms of direction, storytelling, and visual effects, which still look great even well over a century later. The director’s craftsmanship and sheer visionary mind have made him a titan of the silver screen, whose work keeps inspiring entire generations of artists over a century later.
