Unity Plans To Acquire Avatar VFX Company Weta Digital

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Unity Technologies, creators of the Unity Engine, have announced their plans to acquire Weta Digital for over $1.6 billion. Weta is a New Zealand-based visual effects company that has won multiple Academy Awards for their work on The Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong (2005), Avatar, and 2016’s The Jungle Book (2016). They’re also known for their work on the Planet of the Apes movies and the Adventures of Tintin.

The deal will give Unity access to the VFX company’s array of visual effects tools, technology, talent, and pipeline, as announced during Unity’s Q3 2021 financial call. Once acquired, Weta will function as an independent stand-alone studio called WetaFX and will still be owned by acclaimed film director Peter Jackson who co-founded the company 30 years ago.

“Weta Digital will join Unity’s Create Solutions focused on the continual evolution of Weta Digital’s dozens of proprietary graphics and VFX tools, such as Manuka, Lumberjack, Loki, Squid, Barbershop, HighDef, CityBuilder, and many more. In the future, with Unity’s deep expertise in real-time, these world-class artist tools will be available to creators through an accessible cloud-based workflow.”

“Weta Digital’s tools created unlimited possibilities for us to bring to life the worlds and creatures that originally lived in our imaginations,” said Weta Digital Chairmand and Co-founder Sir Peter Jackson in the official press release. “Weta Digital’s tools created unlimited possibilities for us to bring to life the worlds and creatures that originally lived in our imaginations.”