subsidiary industry cgi visual effects motion pictures founded january 1 1992 headquarters vancouver british columbia canada number of locations vancouver british columbia canada culver city california united states products visual effects owner sony parent sony pictures entertainment website www.imageworks.com sony pictures imageworks inc. spi is a visual effects and character animation company headquartered in vancouver british columbia canada . 1 spi is a unit of the sony pictures motion picture group . 2 3 the company has been recognized by the academy of motion picture arts and sciences with oscars for their work on spider man 2 and the computer animated short film the chubbchubbs and received many other nominations for their work . spi has provided visual effects for many films most recent include oz the great and powerful the amazing spider man and men in black 3 . they also provided services for several of director robert zemeckis films including contact cast away the polar express monster house and beowulf . since foundation of its sister company sony pictures animation in 2003 spi has also animated all spa s films including open season surf s up cloudy with a chance of meatballs film series the smurfs film series and hotel transylvania film series . contents 1 history 2 technology 3 films 4 references 5 external links history edit sony pictures imageworks was formed in 1992 with five employees to use computers to help plan complicated scenes for live action films . 4 located in the former tristar building their first work was a previsualization for a 1993 film striking distance . 5 to fill the gaps between vfx jobs spi decided to partake in a more profitable animation business . 6 its first independent animated effort was the 5 minute short the chubbchubbs directed by eric armstrong . in 2002 it won the oscar for best animated short . early bloomer released in 2003 was the division s second short film and originally made as a storyboarding exercise . 7 spi completed its first feature animation project in 2006 with the release of open season . in 2007 spi acquired indian visual effects studio frameflow to take advantage of lower labor costs . 6 8 renamed to imageworks india a modern facility was opened in chennai a year later . 9 to leverage new mexico s tax rebates and talent base 10 a satellite production facility was opened in 2007 in albuquerque 11 becoming the largest post production operation in the state . 12 in 2010 spi opened a production studio in vancouver british columbia in order to take advantage of the local talent pool and government film production incentives . 13 two years later the studio doubled its vancouver facilities . 14 at the same time the albuquerque studio was closed down due to declining new mexico s subsidies and difficulty with attracting artist to move there . 10 in the beginning of 2014 as part of sony s cost cutting move spi transferred a portion of its technology team from its headquarters in culver city to vancouver . 6 by may 2014 entire headquarters and production had been moved to vancouver with only a small office remaining in los angeles . 15 at the same time spi closed down its indian studio laying off around 100 employees . 16 a year later over 700 artists moved into a new 74 000 square feet headquarters in vancouver . 17 18 technology edit during 2009 2010 spi made transition from traditional biased multi pass rendering system to a largely singlepass global illumination system incorporating modern ray tracing and physically based shading techniques . they have achieved that with arnold renderer an unbiased stochastic ray tracer . arnold started in 1997 by marcos fajardo was co developed between 2004 and 2009 with spi where marcos was employed and a commercial branch is being developed by marcos madrid based company solid angle sl . arnold was used on projects such as monster house cloudy with a chance of meatballs 2012 alice in wonderland the smurfs arthur christmas and is being used on all upcoming spi s films . 19 films edit sony pictures imageworks has provided visual effects and digital animation for the following films 20 2012 22 jump street 50 first dates alice in wonderland alice through the looking glass america s sweethearts anaconda anger management arthur christmas bad boys ii beowulf battleship blended cast away charlie s angels charlie s angels full throttle christmas with the kranks city of angels click cloudy with a chance of meatballs cloudy with a chance of meatballs 2 contact die hard with a vengeance early bloomer edge of tomorrow emojimovie express yourself fury g force ghost rider godzilla green lantern guardians of the galaxy ghostbusters harry potter and the philosopher s stone hollow man hotel transylvania hotel transylvania 2 hotel transylvania 3 i am legend i spy in the line of fire jumanji last action hero men in black ii men in black 3 michael monster house open season oz the great and powerful patch adams phenomenon pixels popeye sausage party seabiscuit smurfs the lost village snow falling on cedars speed spider man spider man 2 spider man 3 starship troopers storks stuart little stuart little 2 suicide squad surf s up tall tale the amazing spider man the amazing spider man 2 the angry birds movie the aviator the chronicles of narnia prince caspian the chronicles of narnia the lion the witch and the wardrobe the chubbchubbs the ghost and the darkness the interview the star the lord of the rings the matrix reloaded the matrix revolutions the polar express the smurfs the smurfs 2 watchmen what lies beneath wolf zathura zookeeper references edit bruce constantineau may 28 2014 . sony pictures imageworks to move head office to vancouver . the vancouver sun . retrieved may 28 2014 . sony pictures divisions . sonypictures.com . retrieved 7 june 2015 . sony pictures imageworks . imageworks.com . halbfinger david m. october 31 2007 . sony said to be pondering partial sale of movie units . the new york times . retrieved september 12 2014 . failes ian august 30 2012 . from speed to spidey 20 years of vfx and animation . fx guide . retrieved september 12 2014 . a b c s. cohen david january 21 2014 . sony imageworks shifting staff from l.a. to vancouver ; layoffs feared . variety . retrieved august 22 2015 . tito a. belgrave september 8 2003 . making waves with early bloomer . cgsociety.org . retrieved november 5 2010 . sony pictures picks up 51 % in frameflow press release . frameflow via the economic times . february 20 2007 . retrieved november 23 2010 . ians april 11 2008 . sony imageworks opens visual effects studio in chennai . siliconindia.com . retrieved july 9 2011 . a b verrier richard february 29 2012 . sony imageworks to close new mexico viz effects unit . los angeles times . retrieved august 22 2015 . albuquerque studios sees special effects of sony imageworks deal in new mexico press release . albuquerque studios via prweb . may 20 2007 . retrieved november 23 2010 . kamercik megan february 29 2012 . sony pictures imageworks to leave new mexico . new mexico business weekly . retrieved march 1 2012 . macinnis tara august 14 2012 . how sony s vancouver studios give canadian animators home field advantage . national post . retrieved august 22 2015 . etan vlessing february 3 2012 . sony pictures imageworks expands canadian outpost . the hollywood reporter . retrieved august 22 2015 . s. cohen david may 29 2014 . sony imageworks moving hq to vancouver . variety . retrieved august 22 2015 . s. cohen david january 29 2014 . sony imageworks india to shut down exclusive . variety . retrieved january 30 2014 . marchand francois july 10 2015 . sony pictures imageworks unveils new vancouver headquarters . the vancouver sun . retrieved august 22 2015 . lu cecilia july 29 2015 . 12 photos inside sony pictures imageworks new downtown vancouver hq . vancity buzz . retrieved august 22 2015 . haines eric july 20 2010 . marcos and arnold . ray tracing news . retrieved 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