domain mastering see bob katz . digital domain type private industry motion picture founded 1993 ; 23 years ago 1993 founders james cameron scott ross stan winston headquarters playa vista los angeles california united states key people daniel seah amit chopra rich flier o.d. welch erika burton sindy wu joseph gabriel services visual effects advertising owner digital domain holdings limited website digitaldomain.com d2.com digital domain is an american visual effects and digital production company based in playa vista los angeles california . the company is known for creating digital imagery for feature films advertising and games from its locations in california and vancouver british columbia canada including its own virtual production studio . contents 1 history 1.1 bankruptcy 2 new ownership 3 awards 4 references 5 further reading 6 external links history edit the company was founded by film director james cameron stan winston and scott ross . it began producing visual effects in 1993 its first three films being true lies interview with the vampire the vampire chronicles and color of night in 1994 . digital domain produced effects for more than 100 films including titanic apollo 13 what dreams may come the fifth element armageddon star trek nemesis and the day after tomorrow . other films include pirates of the caribbean at world s end the curious case of benjamin button transformers revenge of the fallen g.i. joe the rise of cobra 2012 percy jackson & the olympians the lightning thief tron legacy thor x men first class transformers dark of the moon real steel g.i. joe retaliation oblivion iron man 3 1 x men days of future past into the storm maleficent furious 7 pixels and most recently deadpool the huntsman winter s war and x men apocalypse . from the film stealth the fictional f a 37 talon on uss abraham lincoln . in 2000 digital domain designed the digital character that represented motorola s intelligent assistant mya . 2 in october 2002 digital domain launched a wholly owned subsidiary d2 software inc. to market and distribute its academy award winning compositing software nuke . 3 in 2002 2003 digital domain co produced its first feature film secondhand lions written and directed by tim mccanlies and starring michael caine robert duvall haley joel osment and kyra sedgwick . 4 5 principally due to conflicts over the film titanic the founders of digital domain were known to feud which almost destroyed the company . founder scott ross announced plans to raise 100 million in financing and become more active as a production company . 6 this plan never materialized and the corporate owners forced management to seek a buyer of the company . in may 2006 digital domain was purchased by an affiliate of wyndcrest holdings llc a private holding company whose principals then included wyndcrest founder john textor director michael bay former microsoft executive carl stork and former nfl player and sports television commentator dan marino . 7 wyndcrest acquired the foundry in 2007 which then also took over the development of nuke . this business was then subject to a management buy out in 2009 . 8 in 2009 digital domain parent company ddmg launched tradition studios in florida to develop and produce original family oriented cg animated features . the studio moved on january 3 2012 to the new 115 000 square foot 10 700 m2 facility in port st. lucie built with the city s incentives . 9 the studio attracted a number of talented creators including aaron blaise the director of brother bear and brad lewis co director of cars 2 who together were developing an animated feature film the legend of tembo for a planned 2014 release with aaron blaise and chuck williams directing . 10 11 12 13 in 2011 digital domain media group entered into the film production business with a major investment into the feature film ender s game which was a co production with oddlot entertainment and summit entertainment . the film was released november 1 2013 . 14 in november 2011 parent company ddmg took the company public through an initial public offering ipo and the company was listed on the nyse under the symbol ddmg achieving a market valuation of more than 400 million . 15 that ipo has since triggered a number of investor lawsuits which allege misconduct by john textor the entire board of directors the auditors and others involved in the offering . 16 17 18 19 palm beach capital the largest investor in ddmg identified hedge funds tenor capital et al. as the primary cause of the company s difficulties citing unlawful finance penalties and possible illegal short selling strategies designed to damage the company s public stock price . 20 21 in 2012 ddmg announced initiatives to open vfx studios in beijing china and abu dhabi . 22 also in 2012 subsidiary digital domain created a virtual likeness of the late rap star tupac shakur for dr. dre s and snoop dogg s show at the coachella valley music and arts festival that gained worldwide recognition . digital domain also announced that the company would create virtual elvis presley in partnership with core media group . 23 in 2015 the ufc hired digital domain to create a commercial series for their ufc 189 event . 24 in 2016 the pok mon company hired digital domain to create the visual effects for their train on super bowl ad released to celebrate the pok mon series 20th anniversary . 25 bankruptcy edit ddmg s financial troubles had been ongoing since the acquisition by wyndcrest holdings losing millions of dollars per year . john textor continued his expansion plans by securing financing from the state of florida as well as private investors . unfortunately none of textor s plans ever turned a profit and the efforts continued to drain cash from the company . textor s claims that ddmg s real troubles began when a new york hedge fund that was affiliated with florida power & light acquired ddmg s debt in a private transaction . the hedge fund pushed for early payback . the company contemplated filing felony usury charges against the hedge fund ultimately deciding to refinance the debt with new debt from another hedge fund tenor capital . 26 the company closed on the tenor financing in early may 2012 appearing to have solved its problem with florida power & light with its stock price trading at an all time high . 27 the company continued to need cash to support its venice operations and its florida studio growth . 28 documents and emails provided to the press show that digital domain believed it had options to put cash into the company but were thwarted by tenor capital which had significant weight as a chief lender and according to palm beach capital and the tenor strategy may have been shorting ddmg stock to profit from its failure . 29 when a deal to fund the company was thwarted on july 31 tenor capital demanded 51 million on august 20 as repayment for its 35 million loan made four months earlier . 26 the lenders appointed mike katzenstein as interim chief operating officer of the company who acted without conferring with ddmg senior management 26 deciding to close the florida studio causing chairman john textor to submit a letter of resignation in profound disagreement with this decision . 30 it was announced on september 7 2012 that all of ddmg s port st. lucie s operations including tradition studios were to be shut down laying off nearly 300 employees including 100 working on tembo . 31 on september 11 2012 digital domain media group inc. filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after defaulting on a 35 million loan 31 and reached a deal to sell its operating businesses digital domain and mothership to stalking horse searchlight capital partners l.p. a private investment firm for 15 million . at the public auction on september 21 2012 digital domain s visual effects business in california and vancouver canada and production company mothership were acquired by a joint venture led by beijing galloping horse america llc in partnership with reliance mediaworks usa severing all ties between the new company digital domain 3.0 and subsidiary mothership and former owner ddmg . galloping horse holds a 70 % stake and reliance mediaworks a 30 % stake . the sale was approved on september 24 2012 . 32 new ownership edit in july 2013 majority ownership in digital domain was acquired by hong kong listed public company sun innovation with reliance mediaworks continuing to own the minority stake and a new ceo daniel seah was appointed . 33 awards edit digital domain artists and technologists have been recognized with seven academy awards three for best visual effects titanic what dreams may come the curious case of benjamin button ; 34 and four for scientific and technical achievement for its proprietary technology i.e. for track proprietary tracking software 35 for nuke proprietary compositing software 36 for storm proprietary volumetric renderer 37 and for its proprietary fluid simulation system . 38 the company s work has been nominated for five academy awards for best visual effects apollo 13 true lies i robot real steel and transformers dark of the moon . in addition its excellence in digital imagery and animation has earned digital domain multiple british academy bafta awards . digital domain s advertising division provides digital imagery and animation for television commercials working with top commercial directors . to date it has been awarded 37 clio awards 22 aicp awards 9 cannes lion awards and numerous other advertising honors . the advertising division has also produced multiple music videos working with artists that include the rolling stones faith hill creed janet jackson busta rhymes bj rk celine dion michael jackson and nine inch nails and has earned grammy and mtv music video of the year awards . 39 references edit digital domain announces vancouver leadership team . digital domain . 2010 01 12 . retrieved 2010 02 02 . larsen elizabeth october 2000 . mya way . i.d. f w. 47 6 88 92 . digital domain launches d2 software inc. . fx guide . retrieved 25 may 2013 . expanding horizons for digital domain and stan winston . animation world network . retrieved 25 may 2013 . secondhand lions . imdb.com . retrieved 25 may 2013 . lubove seth 14 november 2005 . sinking ship . forbes inc. digital domain hires three creative senior executives from visual effects industry . computer graphics world . 2006 09 21 . retrieved 2011 05 30 . palmer maija june 3 2009 . the foundry returns to former management . retrieved october 3 2012 . erazo christin december 29 2011 . digital domain ready to open its dazzling tradition studios photo gallery . tcpalm . retrieved december 30 2011 . giardina carolyn 2011 06 29 . cars 2 co director brad lewis joining digital domain s animation studio . the hollywood reporter . retrieved 2011 06 29 . giardina carolyn 2011 08 10 . aaron blaise and chuck williams will direct the film currently in development . . the hollywood reporter . retrieved 2011 08 11 . howk alexi 2011 05 27 . port st. lucie s digital domain positioning itself to rival disney pixar . tcpalm.com . retrieved 2011 06 29 . howk alexi august 11 2011 . digital domain s tradition studios 1st feature film to debut fall 2014 exclusive 1st look . tcpalm . retrieved august 16 2011 . cieply michael january 14 2013 . a movie mogul rising jan. 14 2013 . the new york times . retrieved 25 may 2013 . digital domain media group ipo . october 23 2012 . retrieved october 23 2012 . berman devalerio files securities class action lawsuit against former executives and directors of digital domain media group inc. . business wire . retrieved 25 may 2013 . howk scripps treasure