TORONTO – British digital visual effects company Cinesite is launching a Canadian outpost, and has Guy Ritchie‘s The Man From U.N.C.L.E. for Warner Bros. as its first gig.
London-based Cinesite will open a VFX facility in Montreal’s historic quarter, with a capacity for 250 artists, it was announced on Monday.
The international expansion for Cinesite, starting in Canada, follows the sale last year of the U.K. VFX house to private equity firm Endless LLP as part of a management buyout
Cinesite managing director Anthony Hunt said Montreal’s expanding gaming, software and technology sectors led his company to choose the Canadian city as its first international beachhead.
“This burgeoning creative hub, combined with the investment support offered by the government of Québec, makes it the ideal location for us,” he added in a statement, underlining provincial subsidies to help ease Cinesite into Canada.
U.K.-based digital design studio Framestore unveiled plans for a facility in Montreal a year ago, as generous subsidies continue to draw foreign digital players to set up in Canada.
“I am glad to see that another London studio has chosen Québec as its key partner in North America,” said Quebec premier Pauline Marois, who traveled to London to unveil the Cinesite expansion, on Monday.
Cinesite will share work on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. between London and Montreal, where the Canadian province offers generous tax credits for visual effects and other digital work.
Other upcoming Cinesite movie credits include 300: Rise of an Empire, Robocop, Edge of Tomorrow, Into The Storm and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.
