Zoe Saldaña and Sam Worthington in 'Avatar: Fire and Ash.' 20th Century Studios Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment The Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced the nominees for the 2026 VES Awards, recognizing excellence in the craft across 25 categories, including film, television, special venue projects, technological innovation, student projects and more. Lightstorm Entertainment and 20th Century Studios' Avatar: Fire and Ash leads nominations with 10 overall, including outstanding visual effects in a photoreal feature. Other nominees in the society's top award category are F1: The Movie (Warner Bros. Pictures and Apple Original Films), Jurassic World Rebirth (Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment), The Lost Bus (Apple Original Films, Apple Studios, Blumhouse Productions and Comet Pictures) and How To Train Your Dragon (DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures). Related Stories Movies Jon M. Chu to Receive Art Directors Guild Cinematic Imagery Award THR Digital Cover "Man, the Next Movie I Do May Be My Last": Six of the World's Greatest Filmmakers Dish on THR's Directors Roundtable Among animated features, Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation's KPop Demon Hunters, Disney and Pixar's Elio, and Disney's Zootopia 2 each received five nominations, putting them in a three-way tie for leading nods. In the episodic categories, Netflix's Stranger Things, HBO's The Last of Us, and Apple TV+ and BBC Studios' Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age received four nominations each. Nominees for this year's awards were selected by VES members over the weekend via the Society's Global Nomination Event, which hosted 46 in-person and 14 virtual judging panels. Winners will be honored at the 24th annual VES Awards, held on Feb. 25, at The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. As previously announced, Jerry Bruckheimer will receive the VES Lifetime Achievement Award, and Weta Workshop co-founder and chief creative officer Sir Richard Taylor will receive the VES Visionary Award. "Visual effects artists and producers are at the forefront of cinematic artistry and technological innovation, whether their work is being seen on the big screen in a movie theater, on the device in your pocket, or in a special venue setting," said VES board chair Kim Davidson in a news release. "We're thrilled to celebrate all of this year's nominees, and we're grateful to our member volunteers from around the world who make our rigorous peer review process possible." See the full list of nominations below. OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE F1: The Movie Ryan Tudhope Nikeah Forde Robert Harrington Nicolas Chevallier Keith Alfred Dawson Jurassic World: Rebirth David Vickery Carlos Ciudad Steve Aplin Charmaine Chan Neil Corbould, VES The Lost Bus Charlie Noble Gavin Round David Zaretti Russell Bowen Brandon K. McLaughlin Avatar: Fire and Ash Richard Baneham Peter Litvack Eric Saindon Nicky Muir Steve Ingram How To Train Your Dragon Christian Manz Christopher Raimo Glen McIntosh Glenn Melenhorst Terry Palmer OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE Dongji Rescue Tim Crosbie Celeste Chen Christian Sjöstedt Lea Benjovitz A House of Dynamite Chris Harvey Dione Wood Jon Mitchell Matthew Lane Warfare Simon Stanley-Clamp Kaley Edwards Andrew Kinnear Samir Ansari Ryan Conder Sinners Michael Ralla James Alexander Nick Marshall Espen Nordahl Donnie Dean After the Hunt Fabio Cerrito Virginia Cefaly Marco Fiorani Parenzi Maura Manfredi OUTSTANDING ANIMATION IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE The Bad Guys 2 Pierre Perifel Damon Ross Matt Baer Benjamin Willis KPop Demon Hunters Joshua Beveridge Jacky Priddle Benjamin Hendricks Clara Chan Zootopia 2 Gregory Smith Laurie Au Marlon West Shweta Viswanathan In Your Dreams Sacha Kapijimpanga Carey Smith Nicola Lavender Steve Pilcher Elio Claudia Chung Sanii Mary Alice Drumm Harley Jessup Dave Quirus OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE Andor; "Who Are You?" Mohen Leo TJ Falls Scott Pritchard Olivier Beaulieu Luke Murphy It: Welcome to Derry; "Winter Fire" Daryl Sawchuk Steve Dellerson Pier Lefebvre Steven Tether Darcy Callaghan The Last of Us; "Through the Valley" Alex Wang Fiona Campbell Westgate Nick Epstein Philip Engström Joel Whist Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; "The Big Freeze" Russell Dodgson Tracey Gibbons Francois Dumoulin Gavin McKenzie Stranger Things; "Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up" Betsy Paterson Tessa Roehl Michael Maher Jr. Martin Hill OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE Man vs Baby; "Chapter One" Rob Duncan Ashlee Turner Jean-Nicolas Costa Adrian Eugene Daniel Williams The Residence; "The Fall of the House of Usher" Seth Hill Tesa Kubicek John Nelson Gabriel Vargas The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon; "Costa Da Morte" Jao M'Changama Justine Paynat-Sautivet Sébastien