& magic type division industry visual effects computer graphics feature animation television animation founded may 1975 ; 41 years ago 1975 05 founder george lucas headquarters letterman digital arts center presidio of san francisco california united states key people sam mercer head of studio john knoll chief creative officer dennis muren parent lucasfilm the walt disney company divisions ilmxlab 1 subsidiaries ilm london ilm singapore ilm vancouver ilm san francisco 2 1 website www.ilm.com industrial light & magic ilm is an american motion picture visual effects company that was founded in may 1975 by george lucas . it is a division of the film production company lucasfilm which lucas founded and was created when lucas began production of the film star wars . for many years particularly during the widespread inception of computer graphics in film during the 1980s ilm was considered the leading industry standard production house for computer graphics in film ; many studios other than lucasfilm sent scenes to the studio for cg . it is also the original founder company of the animation studio pixar . ilm originated in van nuys california then later moved to san rafael in 1978 and since 2005 it has been based at the letterman digital arts center in the presidio of san francisco . in 2012 the walt disney company acquired ilm as part of its purchase of lucasfilm . 3 contents 1 history 2 milestones 3 ilm filmography 4 television 5 notable employees and clients 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit industrial light & magic original logo designed by drew struzan lucas wanted his 1977 film star wars to include visual effects that had never been seen on film before . after discovering that the in house effects department at 20th century fox was no longer operational lucas approached douglas trumbull famous for the effects on 2001 a space odyssey . trumbull declined as he was already committed to working on steven spielberg s film close encounters of the third kind but suggested his assistant john dykstra to lucas . dykstra brought together a small team of college students artists and engineers and set them up in a warehouse in van nuys california . lucas named the group industrial light and magic which became the special visual effects department on star wars . alongside dykstra other leading members of the original ilm team were ken ralston richard edlund dennis muren joe johnston phil tippett steve gawley lorne peterson and paul huston . in late 1978 when in pre production for the empire strikes back lucas reformed most of the team into industrial light & magic in marin county california . from here on the company expanded and has since gone on to produce special effects for nearly three hundred films including the entire star wars saga the indiana jones series the harry potter series the jurassic park series the back to the future trilogy many of the star trek films ghostbusters ii who framed roger rabbit the pirates of the caribbean series the terminator sequels the transformers films the men in black series nine marvel cinematic universe films wild wild west most of the mission impossible films e.t. the extra terrestrial batteries not included the abyss and flubber and also provided work for avatar alongside weta digital . in addition to their work for george lucas ilm also collaborates with steven spielberg on most films that he directs and for many that he produces as well . dennis muren has acted as visual effects supervisor on many of these films . apart from flashy special effects the company also works on more subtle effects such as widening streets digitally adding more extras to a shot and inserting the film s actors into preexisting footage in films including schindler s list forrest gump snow falling on cedars magnolia and several woody allen films . after the success of the first star wars movie lucas became interested in using computer graphics on the sequel . so he contacted triple i known for their early computer effects in movies like westworld and futureworld which ended up making a computer generated test of five x wing fighters flying in formation . he found it to be too expensive and returned to handmade models . but the test had showed him it was possible and he decided he would create his own computer graphics department instead . one of lucas employees was given the task to find the right people to hire . his search would lead him to nyit where he found edwin catmull and his colleagues . catmull and others accepted lucas job offer and a new computer division at ilm was created in 1979 with the hiring of ed catmull as the first nyit employee who joined lucasfilm . 4 john lasseter who was hired a few years later worked on computer animation as part of ilm s contribution to young sherlock holmes . the graphics group was later sold to steve jobs named pixar and created the first cg animated feature toy story . in 2000 ilm created the openexr format for high dynamic range imaging . 5 ilm operated from an inconspicuous property in san rafael california until 2005 . the company was known to locals as the kerner company . in 2005 when lucas decided to move locations to the presidio of san francisco and focus on digital effects a management led team bought the five physical and practical effects divisions and formed a new company that included the george lucas theater retained the kerner name as kerner technologies inc. and provided physical effects for major motion pictures often working with ilm until its chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2011 . in 2005 ilm extended its operations to lucasfilm singapore which also includes the singapore arm of lucasfilm animation . in 2011 it was announced the company was considering a project based facility in vancouver . 6 in 2006 ilm invented imocap image based motion capture technology . as of 2009 update ilm has received 15 best visual effects oscars and 23 additional nominations . it has also received 24 scientific and technical awards from the academy of motion picture arts and sciences . in 2012 disney bought ilm s parent company lucasfilm and acquired ilm in the process . disney stated that it had no immediate plans to change ilm s operations 7 but began to lay off employees by april of the next year . 8 ilm is currently the largest visual effects vendor in the motion picture industry with regards to workforce with more than 500 artists . it has one of the largest render farms currently available with more than 7500 nodes . following the restructuring of lucasarts in april 2013 ilm was left overstaffed and the faculty was reduced to serve only ilm s visual effects department . 9 10 ilm opened a london studio headquartered in the city s soho district on october 15 2014 . 11 milestones edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message 1975 resurrected the use of vistavision ; first use of a motion control camera star wars episode iv a new hope 1982 first in house completely computer generated sequence the genesis sequence in star trek ii the wrath of khan . previous computer graphics in star wars episode iv a new hope were done outside of ilm . 1985 first completely computer generated character the stained glass man in young sherlock holmes 1988 first morphing sequence in willow 1989 first computer generated 3 d character the pseudopod creature in the abyss 1991 first partially computer generated main character the t 1000 in terminator 2 judgment day 1992 first time the texture of human skin was computer generated in death becomes her 1993 first time digital technology used to create a complete and detailed living creature the dinosaurs in jurassic park which earned ilm its thirteenth oscar 1995 first fully synthetic speaking computer generated character with a distinct personality and emotion to take a leading role in casper 1995 first computer generated photo realistic hair and fur used for the digital lion and monkeys in jumanji 1996 first completely computer generated main character draco in dragonheart 1999 first computer generated character to have a full human anatomy imhotep in the mummy 2000 creates openexr imaging format . 5 2006 develops imocap system which uses computer vision techniques to track live action performers on set . used in the creation of davy jones and ship s crew in the film pirates of the caribbean dead man s chest 2011 first animated feature produced by ilm rango ilm filmography edit year film director s story by screenwriter s distributor s budget gross 1977 star wars george lucas 20th century fox 11 million 775.4 million 1980s 1980 the empire strikes back irvin kershner george lucas leigh brackett and lawrence kasdan 20th century fox 33 million 538.4 million 1981 raiders of the lost ark steven spielberg george lucas and philip kaufman lawrence kasdan paramount pictures 18 million 389.9 million dragonslayer matthew robbins hal barwood and matthew robbins paramount pictures buena vista pictures 18 million 14 million 1982 star trek ii the wrath of khan nicholas meyer harve bennett jack b. sowards nicholas meyer and samuel a. peeples jack b. sowards and nicholas meyer paramount pictures 11.2 million 97 million e.t. the extra terrestrial steven spielberg melissa mathison universal studios 10 million 792.9 million the dark crystal jim henson and frank oz jim henson david odell universal studios columbia pictures 15 million 40 million poltergeist tobe hooper steven spielberg steven spielberg michael grais and mark victor metro goldwyn mayer 10.7 million 121.7 million 1983 return of the jedi richard marquand george lucas george lucas and lawrence kasdan 20th century fox 42.7 million 572.1 million twice upon a time john korty and charles swenson john korty charles swenson suella kennedy and bill couturi warner bros. tba 1984 indiana jones and the temple of doom steven spielberg george lucas willard huyck and gloria katz paramount pictures 28.2 million 333.1 million star trek iii the search for spock leonard nimoy harve bennett 16 million 87 million the neverending story wolfgang petersen wolfgang petersen and herman weigel warner bros. 27 million 100 million starman john carpenter bruce a. evans raynold gideon and dean riesner columbia pictures 24 million 28.7 million 1985 the goonies richard donner steven spielberg chris columbus warner bros. 19 million 61.5 million cocoon ron howard tom benedek 20th century fox 17.5 million 85.3 million back to the future robert zemeckis robert zemeckis and bob gale universal studios 19 million 389.1 million explorers joe dante eric luke paramount pictures 25 million 9.9 million mishima a life in four chapters paul schrader leonard schrader paul schrader and chieko schrader warner bros. 5 million 502 758 young sherlock holmes barry levinson chris columbus paramount pictures 18 million 19 million out of africa sydney pollack kurt luedtke universal studios 28 million 128.5 million enemy mine wolfgang peterson edward khmara 20th century fox 29 million 12 million 1986 the money pit richard benjamin david giler universal studios 10 million 54 million labyrinth jim henson dennis lee and jim henson terry jones tristar pictures 27.68 million 11.6 million howard the duck willard huyck willard huyck and gloria katz universal studios 37 million 38 million star trek iv the voyage home leonard nimoy harve bennett and leonard nimoy steve meerson peter krikes nicholas meyer and harve bennett paramount pictures 21 million 133 million the golden child michael ritchie dennis feldman 25 million 79.8 million 1987 harry and the hendersons william dear william dear william e. martin and ezra d. rappaport universal studios 16 million 49 million the witches of eastwick george miller michael cristofer warner bros. 22 million 63.8 million innerspace joe dante chip proser