Digital Dynamos

TBeauty and the Beast Blade Runner 2049 Dunkirk A look back at some of the top vfx contenders of the year

his month, the Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee of the Academy will compile a list of 20 films for consideration for the Oscar. Then, in January, the list will be whittled down to 10 titles that will participate in the annual visual effects bake-off. The final five nominees will be announced on January 23 with the rest of the categories. Here are some of the films that are rating highly on awards watchers’ radars this year, and the vfx supervisors who made them happen: (in alphabetical order) (Disney) Kyle McCulloch, Kelly Port, Glen Pratt, Paul Corbould (Warner Bros/Columbia/Alcon Ent.) Richard Clegg, Paul Lambert, Viktor Muller, John Nelson (Warner Bros.) Andrew Jackson, Andrew Lockley, Tim McGovern, Paul Corbould

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

(Disney/ Marvel Studios) Matthew Crnich, Ray McMaster, Kevin Andrew Smith, Doug Spilatro, Christopher Townsend

Logan

(20th Century Fox) Berj Bannayan, Richard Betts, Chas Jarrett, Doug Spilatro, Chris Spry

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

(Disney) Richard Bain, Ben Morris, Michael Mulholland, Chris Corbould

The Shape of Water

(Fox Searchlight) Dennis Berardi

Spider-Man: Homecoming

(Disney/ Marvel) Theodore Bialek, Lou Pecora, Doug Spilatro, Daniel Sudick

Thor: Ragnarok

(Disney/ Marvel) Jake Morrison, Alexis Wajsbrot, Chad Wiebe, Brian Cox

War for the Planet of the Apes

(20th Century Fox) Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Erik Winquist, Dan Cervin

Wonder Woman

(Warner Bros.) Frazer Churchill, Viktor Muller, Jessica Norman, Bill Westenhofer Alien: Covenant It Justice League Kong: Skull Island The Mountain Between Us (20th Century Fox) Okja (Netflix) Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Disney) Transformers: The Last Knight (Paramount)