Polygon.com / 30.11.24

Wicked tackled one of the most difficult things you can do in CG'

From plucky talking bears to motion-capture apes, from Avatars sentient space whales to Tohos relentless Godzilla, computer generated creatures take center stage in movies more and more often these days. If theres a big-budget film coming out, youll likely find a mountainous sandworm or a sound-hunting alien in it. The growth of visual effects technology has unleashed an entire biosphere of the imaginary, like dinosaurs breaking free of Jurassic World to roam the aisles of our local cineplexes. The Hollywood film adaptation of the first half of the global sensation Wicked adds a few more memorable characters to the digital menagerie, particularly the scholarly goat professor Dillamond (voiced by Peter Dinklage) and the Wizard of Ozs military monkey sergeant Chistery. With so many creatures like these popping up in such tight Hollywood turnover timetables, exactly how VFX teams bring them to life matters more and more. On Wicked, Industrial Light & Magic visual effects supervisor Pablo ...
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