'Alita: Battle Angel,' 'Avengers: Endgame,' 'Gemini Man,' 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' and 'The Lion King' are nominated for VES' top award.

Alita: Battle Angel, Avengers: Endgame, Gemini Man, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and The Lion King are the nominees in the Visual Effects Society’s top category of outstanding visual effects in a photoreal feature.

When the nominees for the 18th annual VES Awards were announced on Tuesday, 1917 and The Irishman were nominated in the category for supporting VFX, alongside Ford v Ferrari, Joker and The Aeronauts.

Alita and Lion King earned a total of five nominations apiece, the most for a photoreal feature (meaning movies that are not nominated in the animated feature categories). Both of these films are also shortlisted for the Oscar in VFX.

Other VFX Oscar shortlisted films include Rise of Skywalker, which earned four VES nominations; Endgame, which earned three; Gemini Man and The Irishman, which earned two apiece; and 1917, Captain Marvel and Terminator: Dark Fate, which earned one apiece. The tenth film shortlisted in the VFX category, Cats, wasn’t nominated though it wasn’t known at press time if it had been entered, as the VFX team was still finishing the film into late December.

In five of the last 10 years, the winner of the top category for outstanding VFX went on to win the Oscar in VFX. In 2011, the Oscar went to the winner of VES’ supporting VFX category (Hugo).

In a year that has seen plenty of attention on VFX topics including de-aging — such as Robert De Niro in The Irishman and Samuel L. Jackson in Captain Marvel — as well as digital humans and virtual production, individual VES category nominations reflect how advancing techniques are evolving.

In the category for outstanding animated character in a photoreal feature, one CG human, the 23-year-old Will Smith in Gemini Man, was nominated. Smith’s “Junior” will face off in the category against Alita, the cyborg in Alita: Battle Angel, “Smart” Hulk, with his resemblance to actor Mark Ruffalo in Avengers: Endgame, and Scar in The Lion King.

Meanwhile some of the work is reflected in other categories including feature compositing, whose nominees include Alita, Endgame, Captain Marvel, Rise of Skywalker and The Irishman.

Another big VFX topic this year was virtual production—largely driven by the techniques used to make Jon Favreau’s photoreal CG retelling of The Lion King and Star Wars-inspired series The Mandalorian. In the VES category for virtual cinematography, both of these productions are nominated, with Alita and Toy Story 4 rounding out the list of contenders.

The Mandalorian and Game of Thrones lead the broadcast field with six nominations apiece. And Toy Story 4 earned five nominations, the most for an animated feature contender.

The VES Awards will be handed out Jan. 29 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The complete list of nominees follows.

• Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

  Alita: Battle Angel,Richard Hollander, Kevin Sherwood, Eric Saindon, Richard Baneham, Bob Trevino
  Avengers: Endgame, Daniel DeLeeuw, Jen Underdahl, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken, Daniel Sudick
  Gemini Man, Bill Westenhofer, Karen Murphy-Mundell, Guy Williams, Sheldon Stopsack, Mark Hawker
  Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Roger Guyett., Stacy Bissell, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan, Dominic Tuohy
  The Lion King, Robert Legato, Tom Peitzman, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones

• Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

  1917, Guillaume Rocheron, Sona Pak, Greg Butler, Vijay Selvam, Dominic Tuohy
  Ford v Ferrari, Olivier Dumont, Kathy Siegel, Dave Morley, Malte Sarnes, Mark Byers
  Joker, Edwin Rivera, Brice Parker, Mathew Giampa, Bryan Godwin, Jeff Brink
  The Aeronauts, Louis Morin, Annie Godin, Christian Kaestner, Ara Khanikian, Mike Dawson
  The Irishman, Pablo Helman, Mitch Ferm, Jill Brooks, Leandro Estebecorena, Jeff Brink

• Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

  Frozen 2, Steve Goldberg, Peter Del Vecho, Mark Hammel, Michael Giaimo
  Klaus, Sergio Pablos, Matthew Teevan, Marcin Jakubowski, Szymon Biernacki
  Missing Link, Brad Schiff, Travis Knight, Steve Emerson, Benoit Dubuc
  The Lego Movie 2, David Burgess, Tim Smith, Mark Theriault. John Rix
  Toy Story 4, Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen, Bob Moyer, Gary Bruins
• Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

  Game of Thrones; "The Bells," Joe Bauer, Steve Kullback, Ted Rae, Mohsen Mousavi, Sam Conway
  His Dark Materials; "The Fight to the Death," Russell Dodgson, James Whitlam, Shawn Hillier, Robert Harrington
  Lady and the Tramp, Robert Weaver, Christopher Raimo, Arslan Elver, Michael Cozens, Bruno Van Zeebroeck
  Lost in Space; "Episode: Ninety-Seven," Jabbar Raisani, Terron Pratt, Niklas Jacobson, Juri Stanossek, Paul Benjamin
  Stranger Things; "Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum," Paul Graff, Tom Ford, Michael Maher Jr., Martin Pelletier, Andy Sowers
  The Mandalorian; "The Child," Richard Bluff, Abbigail Keller, Jason Porter, Hayden Jones, Roy Cancinon

• Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

  Chernobyl; "1:23:45," Max Dennison, Lindsay McFarlane, Clare Cheetham, Paul Jones, Claudius Christian Rauch
  Living With Yourself; "Nice Knowing You," Jay Worth, Jacqueline VandenBussche, Chris Wright, Tristan Zerafa
  See; "Godflame," Adrian de Wet, Eve Fizzinoglia, Matthew Welford, Pedro Sabrosa, Tom Blacklock
  The Crown; "Aberfan," Ben Turner, Reece Ewing, David Fleet, Jonathan Wood
  Vikings; "What Happens in the Cave," Dominic Remane, Mike Borrett, Ovidiu Cinazan, Tom Morrison, Paul Byrne

• Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature

  Alita: Battle Angel; Alita; Michael Cozens, Mark Haenga, Olivier Lesaint, Dejan Momcilovic
  Avengers: Endgame; Smart Hulk; Kevin Martel, Ebrahim Jahromi, Sven Jensen, Robert Allman
  Gemini Man; Junior; Paul Story, Stuart Adcock, Emiliano Padovani, Marco Revelant
  The Lion King; Scar; Gabriel Arnold, James Hood, Julia Friedl, Daniel Fortheringham
• Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project

  Call of Duty Modern Warfare; Charles Chabert, Chris Parise, Attila Zalanyi, Patrick Hagar
  Control; Janne Pulkkinen, Elmeri Raitanen, Matti Hämäläinen, James Tottman
  Gears 5; Aryan Hanbeck, Laura Kippax, Greg Mitchell, Stu Maxwell
  Myth: A Frozen Tale; Jeff Gipson, Nicholas Russell, Brittney Lee, Jose Luis Gomez Diaz
  Vader Immortal: Episode I; Ben Snow, Mike Doran, Aaron McBride, Steve Henricks

• Visual Effects in a Commercial

  Anthem: "Conviction," Viktor Muller, Lenka Likarova, Chris Harvey, Petr Marek
  BMW Legend; Michael Gregory, Christian Downes, Tim Kafka, Toya Drechsler
  Hennessy: "The Seven Worlds," Carsten Keller, Selcuk Ergen, Kiril Mirkov, William Laban
  PlayStation: "Feel The Power of Pro," Sam Driscoll, Clare Melia, Gary Driver, Stefan Susemihl
  Purdey's: "Hummingbird," Jules Janaud, Emma Cook, Matthew Thomas, Philip Child

• Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

  Avengers: Damage Control; Michael Koperwas, Shereif Fattouh, Ian Bowie, Kishore Vijay, Curtis Hickman
  Jurassic World: The Ride; Hayden Landis, Friend Wells, Heath Kraynak, Ellen Coss
  Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run; Asa Kalama, Rob Huebner, Khatsho Orfali, Susan Greenhow
  Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance; Jason Bayever, Patrick Kearney, Carol Norton, Bill George
  Universal Sphere; James Healy, Morgan MacCuish, Ben West, Charlie Bayliss
• Animated Character in an Animated Feature

  Frozen 2; The Water Nokk; Svetla Radivoeva, Marc Bryant, Richard E. Lehmann, Cameron Black
  Klaus; Jesper; Yoshimishi Tamura, Alfredo Cassano, Maxime Delalande, Jason Schwartzman
  Missing Link; Susan; Rachelle Lambden, Brenda Baumgarten, Morgan Hay, Benoit Dubuc
  Toy Story 4; Bo Peep; Radford Hurn, Tanja Krampfert, George Nguyen, Becki Rocha Tower

• Animated Character in an Episode or Real-Time Project

  Lady and the Tramp; Tramp; Thiago Martins, Arslan Elver, Stanislas Paillereau, Martine Chartrand
  Stranger Things 3; Tom/Bruce Monster; Joseph Dubé-Arsenault, Antoine Barthod, Frederick Gagnon, Xavier Lafarge
  The Mandalorian; The Child; Mudhorn; Terry Bannon, Rudy Massar, Hugo Leygnac

• Animated Character in a Commercial

  Apex Legends; Meltdown; Mirage; Chris Bayol, John Fielding, Derrick Sesson, Nole Murphy
  Churchill; Churchie; Martino Madeddu, Philippe Moine, Clement Granjon, Jon Wood
  Cyberpunk 2077; Dex; Jonas Ekma, Jonas Skoog, Marek Madej, Grzegorz Chojnacki
  John Lewis; Excitable Edgar; Edgar; Tim van Hussen, Diarmid Harrison-Murray, Amir Bazzazi, Michael Diprose
• Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

  Aladdin; Agrabah; Daniel Schmid, Falk Boje, Stanislaw Marek, Kevin George
  Alita: Battle Angel; Iron City; John Stevenson-Galvin, Ryan Arcus, Mathias Larserud, Mark Tait
  Motherless Brooklyn; Penn Station; John Bair, Vance Miller, Sebastian Romero, Steve Sullivan
  Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker; Pasaana Desert; Daniele Bigi, Steve Hardy, John Seru, Steven Denyer
  The Lion King; The Pridelands; Marco Rolandi, Luca Bonatti, Jules Bodenstein, Filippo Preti

• Created Environment in an Animated Feature

  Frozen 2; Giants' Gorge; Samy Segura, Jay V. Jackson, Justin Cram, Scott Townsend
  How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World; The Hidden World; Chris Grun, Ronnie Cleland, Ariel Chisholm, Philippe Brochu
  Missing Link; Passage to India Jungle; Oliver Jones, Phil Brotherton, Nick Mariana, Ralph Procida
  Toy Story 4; Antiques Mall; Hosuk Chang, Andrew Finley, Alison Leaf, Philip Shoebottom

• Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

  Game of Thrones; The Iron Throne; Red Keep Plaza; Carlos Patrick DeLeon, Alonso Bocanegra Martinez, Marcela Silva, Benjamin Ross
  Lost in Space; Precipice; The Trench; Philip Engström, Benjamin Bernon, Martin Bergquist, Xuan Prada
  The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance; The Endless Forest; Sulé Bryan, Charles Chorein, Christian Waite, Martyn Hawkins
  The Mandalorian; Nevarro Town; Alex Murtaza, Yanick Gaudreau, Marco Tremblay,  Maryse Bouchard
• Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project

  Alita: Battle Angel; Emile Ghorayeb, Simon Jung, Nick Epstein, Mike Perry
  The Lion King; Robert Legato, Caleb Deschanel, Ben Grossmann, AJ Sciutto
  The Mandalorian; The Prisoner; The Roost; Richard Bluff, Jason Porter, Landis Fields IV, Baz Idione
  Toy Story 4; Jean-Claude Kalache, Patrick Lin

• Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project

  Lost in Space; The Resolute; Xuan Prada, Jason Martin, Jonathan Vårdstedt, Eric Andersson
  Missing Link; The Manchuria; Todd Alan Harvey, Dan Casey, Katy Hughes
  The Man in the High Castle; Rocket Train; Neil Taylor, Casi Blume, Ben McDougal, Chris Kuhn
  The Mandalorian; The Sin; The Razorcrest; Doug Chiang, Jay Machado, John Goodson, Landis Fields IV

• Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

  Dumbo; Bubble Elephants; Sam Hancock, Victor Glushchenko, Andrew Savchenko, Arthur Moody
  Spider-Man: Far From Home; Molten Man; Adam Gailey, Jacob Santamaria, Jacob Clark, Stephanie Molk
  Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Don Wong, Thibault Gauriau, Goncalo Cababca, Francois-Maxence Desplanques
  The Lion King, David Schneider, Samantha Hiscock, Andy Feery, Kostas Strevlos
• Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

  Abominable, Alex Timchenko, Domin Lee, Michael Losure, Eric Warren
  Frozen 2, Erin V. Ramos, Scott Townsend, Thomas Wickes, Rattanin Sirinaruemarn
  How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World; Water and Waterfalls, Derek Cheung Baptiste Van Opstal, Youxi Woo, Jason Mayer
  Toy Story 4, Alexis Angelidis, Amit Baadkar, Lyon Liew, Michael Lorenzen

• Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

  Game of Thrones; "The Bells," Marcel Kern, Paul Fuller, Ryo Sakaguchi, Thomas Hartmann,
  Hennessy: "The Seven Worlds," Selcuk Ergen, Radu Ciubotariu, Andreu Lucio, Vincent Ullmann
  Lost in Space; Precipice; Water Planet, Juri Bryan, Hugo Medda, Kristian Olsson, John Perrigo
  Stranger Things 3; Melting Tom/Bruce, Nathan Arbuckle, Christian Gaumond, James Dong, Aleksandr Starkov
  The Mandalorian; The Child; Mudhorn, Xavier Martin Ramirez, Ian Baxter, Fabio Siino, Andrea Rosa

• Compositing in a Photoreal Feature

  Alita: Battle Angel, Adam Bradley, Carlo Scaduto, Hirofumi Takeda, Ben Roberts
  Avengers: Endgame, Tim Walker, Blake Winder, Tobias Wiesner, Joerg Bruemmer
  Captain Marvel; Young Nick Fury; Trent Claus, David Moreno Hernandez, Jeremiah Sweeney, Yuki Uehara
  Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Jeff Sutherland, John Galloway, Sam Bassett, Charles Lai
  The Irishman, Nelson Sepulveda, Vincent Papaix, Benjamin O'Brien, Christopher Doerhoff
• Compositing in a Photoreal Episode

  Game of Thrones; "The Bells," Sean Heuston, Scott Joseph, James Elster, Corinne Teo
  Game of Thrones; "The Long Night"; Dragon Ground Battle, Mark Richardson, Darren Christie, Nathan Abbott, Owen Longstaff
  Stranger Things 3; Starcourt Mall Battle, Simon Lehembre, Andrew Kowbell, Karim El-Masry, Miklos Mesterhazy
  Watchmen; "Pilot"; Looking Glass, Nathaniel Larouche, Iyi Tubi, Perunika Yorgova, Mitchell Beaton

• Compositing in a Photoreal Commercial

  BMW Legend, Toya Drechsler; Vivek Tekale, Guillaume Weiss, Alexander Kulikov
  Feeding America; "I Am Hunger in America," Dan Giraldo, Marcelo Pasqualino, Alexander Koester
  Hennessy; "The Seven Worlds," Rod Norman, Guillaume Weiss, Alexander Kulikov, Alessandro Granella
  PlayStation: "Feel the Power of Pro," Gary Driver, Stefan Susemihl, Greg Spencer, Theajo Dharan

• Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal or Animated Project

  Aladdin; Magic Carpet; Mark Holt, Jay Mallet, Will Wyatt, Dickon Mitchell
  Game of Thrones; "The Bells," Sam Conway, Terry Palmer, Laurence Harvey, Alastair Vardy
  Terminator: Dark Fate, Neil Corbould, David Brighton, Ray Ferguson, Keith Dawson
  The Dark Crystal: The Age of Resistance; "She Knows All the Secrets," Sean Mathiesen, Jon Savage, Toby Froud, Phil Harvey
• Visual Effects in a Student Project

  Downfall, Matias Heker, Stephen Moroz, Bradley Cocksedge
  Love and Fifty Megatons, Denis Krez, Josephine Rob, Paulo Scatena, Lukas Löffler
  Oeil Pour Oeil, Alan Guimont, Thomas Boileau, Malcom Hunt, Robin Courtoise
  The Beauty, Marc Angele, Aleksandra Todorovic, Pascal Schelbli, Noel Winzen