45 years ago, a band of misfits was brought together in a warehouse in Van Nuys. Assembled by George Lucas, who was struggling to figure out the ways his visionary Star Wars would be brought to the screen, and led by John Dykstra, the team was dubbed Industrial Light & Magic. Through their mixture of artistry and technical prowess, ILM would wind up changing cinema forever, bringing to the screen ideas that would have never been possible without them – liquid-metal assassins, ghostly pirates, resurrected dinosaurs, and everything in between.
In the decades since Industrial Light & Magic’s formation, they have become the final word on visual effects, constantly innovating and breaking new ground, all the while pushing forward the art of storytelling. It really is astounding to think that so many of your favorite cinematic memories were conjured with the assistance of a single visual effects studio.
Since its inception, ILM has won 16 Academy Awards (and been nominated for 40), opened several satellite studios across the globe (including in Australia and Singapore) and contributed to the worlds of commercials, television shows, theme park attractions, video games and virtual reality. It’s been a productive 45 years.
In celebration of this milestone, here are 45 of the most unforgettable moments from Industrial Light & Magic’s first 45 years. We can’t wait to see what they’ll accomplish in the next 45.
45. Flubber Mambo – Flubber (1997)
Flubber isn’t a very good movie, but it’s probably a better movie than you remember. (Seriously, watch it again – it’s on Disney+ and is pretty weird.) And while not all of the effects Industrial Light & Magic provided for this high-tech update of The Absent-Minded Professor work, there is a moment where they are given the chance to really shine. The moment when the flubber, the flying rubber a wacky professor (Robin Williams) accidentally invents, is left alone … and it has a party. Backed by a killer Danny Elfman musical cue, Flubber mambos around, diving up, dancing, and shaking their goo thing. It’s a totally delightful moment and one that ILM clearly put their heart into, full of wonderful character animation and choreography.
44. Future Chase – Cloud Atlas (2012)
There are some major visual set pieces in the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer’s ambitious, uneven adaptation of David Mitchell’s sprawling Cloud Atlas – a slave revolt, an old folks insurgency, etc. – but none is as jaw-dropping as a chase sequence set in a futuristic megalopolis, beautifully brought to life by ILM. While the future-world aesthetic isn’t super original (lots of flying motorcycles and the like), the way that ILM built the world, through lighting, animation and effects, and the way that the Wachowskis breathlessly stage everything, makes the sequence an absolute stunner. Even with all of the digital elements, both the filmmakers and the artists at ILM never cease to make it tactile, visceral and incredibly exciting.
43. Dragon Speaks – Dragonheart (1996)
Pick a moment – any moment! – from Dragonheart, and chances are, the only reason you remember it is because of ILM’s work on Draco, the giant talking CGI dragon voiced with the Scottish burr of Sean Connery. The next evolution of the company’s work on Jurassic Park, the dragon has fully formed conversations with Dennis Quaid but more importantly this dragon emotes, something that previous ILM-produced dragons (in, say, Dragonslayer or Willow) were never allowed (or required) to do. The dragon doesn’t quite hold up to our more sophisticated 2020 aesthetics (its design is gorgeous but the lip syncing is iffy) and the movie surrounding the dragon is pretty lousy, but that doesn’t take away what an accomplishment the dragon was – in 1996 no less!
42. Planet Hulk – Thor Ragnarok (2017)
Much of the meat of Thor Ragnarok was borrowed from Planet Hulk, a comic book storyline that had Hulk stranded on a wild planet and working his way up from a warrior to a king. So it was a given that, at some point, the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) would step into the intergalactic gladiatorial arena and face off against Thor (Chris Hemsworth). The genius of the scene is that, through their intricate character animation (since Ruffalo was undoubtedly not providing mo-cap for jumping, swinging, smashing Hulk) and enhancement of Hemsworth’s performance, they made a sequence full of drama, danger and stakes when everyone in the audience knew that they would come out of it relatively unscathed and still be “friends from work.” Marvelous indeed.
41. Don’t Get It Twisted – Death Becomes Her (1992)
Robert Zemeckis is a filmmaker that always pushes the envelope when it comes to visual effects (he even turned an episode of Tales from the Crypt into a workshop for new technology), even if the film he was working on was a relatively low stakes dark comedy. For Death Becomes Her, he pushed ILM to create effects that were both horrifying and hilarious – from the hole blown into Goldie Hawn’s stomach to Meryl Streep’s head getting turned all the way around. It would predate the more commonplace digital make-up effects by more than a decade and added some incredible visual oomph to what could have been a by-the-books dark comedy. It was ILM who managed to make the effects funny instead of disgusting, so that we were laughing instead of cringing.
40. The Bridge Attack – Mission: Impossible III (2006)
For Mission: Impossible III, ILM worked on a number of sequences, but the one that was the most impressive is the bridge attack, when Ethan (Tom Cruise) and his confederates are ambushed by men working for the villainous Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). ILM turned a bridge built over a vast field in Calabasas and turned it into a bridge suspended over water near Washington, D.C. They also animated a killer drone and helped with the iconic shot of Ethan getting blown into the side of a car. For the Mission: Impossible movies, the visual effects studio’s work is seamless and mostly invisible. Like Ethan himself, they sneak in, make their mark, and disappear without a trace.
39. Tarkin Returns – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
One of the more controversial triumphs in ILM’s recent history, for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, is when they resurrected one of Star Wars’ most odious villains: Gran Moff Tarkin. The problem, of course, was that Peter Cushing died in 1994. So using the performance of British actor Guy Henry as a base (he also provided the uncanny voice work), they created a “digital mask” that they then placed over him. What makes the magic trick work so well is that ILM wasn’t trying to cross the uncanny valley; they had made another character with just enough otherworldly edge to fit in with the rest of the Star Wars universe. And for a movie set in between other chapters in the saga, it resurrected a character audiences had assumed they had seen the last of.
38. The Bear Attack – The Revenant (2015)
The Revenant follows the fictionalized account of real-life pioneer Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), who after being mauled and left for dead, goes on a vengeful crusade. ILM was responsible for the bear attack sequence, a moment of almost unbearable (pun intended) brutality that sets up the entire rest of the movie. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu staged the action in one unbroken take, which left even less room for ILM to make any mistakes. And this sequence is flawless – the interactivity between the bear and DiCaprio, the animation on the bear (with all of the mud, rain, and atmosphere), the way that it’s always properly staged within the sequence. It’s so savage and bloody and if it hadn’t worked, the rest of the Oscar-winning movie would have probably faltered too.
37. Epilogue – A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Much of A.I.’s magic is utilized through a combination of ILM’s digital effects, Stan Winston’s puppetry and animatronics, and the performances of the actors, many of whom are playing non-human roles. But it’s the controversial and haunting epilogue of A.I., which flashes forward to a future run entirely by sentient computerized beings, that is ILM’s pure, showstopping number. “We got it from here folks,” the digital artists at the company seemed to say. And it’s true – from the animation of the tendril-y creatures to the ability to convey very deep emotions in what is a very far-out concept (one that warrants major debate as to whether Steven Spielberg or Stanley Kubrick came up with the idea), this is a true wonder.
36. Trip to Tomorrowland – Tomorrowland (2015)
One of the major criticisms of Tomorrowland was that we didn’t get to spend that much time in Tomorrowland, a parallel universe where art, science and culture is able to progress without the pettiness and politicization that usually trips up such endeavors. But the sequence where Casey (Britt Robertson) is momentarily transported to the futuristic utopia more than makes up for it. In a single, unbroken take that was, undoubtedly, mind-boggling complex, Casey tours Tomorrowland, hopping onboard a monorail, watching rockets take off and land, and (best of all) gazing out at true Tomorrowland icon Space Mountain. The wordless sequence, accompanied by one of Michael Giacchino’s all-time greatest cues, is a testament to Brad Bird’s storytelling power and the flawlessness of ILM’s execution. Want to go?
35. Cybertron Prologue – Bumblebee (2018)
ILM has contributed memorably to the entire Transformers live-action franchise but in terms of pure joy, it’s hard to beat their entirely animated prologue to 2018’s pseudo-spin-off/prequel Bumblebee. Since this is a prequel, director Travis Knight was able to use the boxier, more classic Transformers designs from the 80s toy line/animated series (in a flashback to this sequence later in the movie, we even see Soundwave eject the little tape Decepticon), and as a filmmaker, Knight stages the action more cleanly than series kingpin Michael Bay. Seeing Cybertron in its heyday has always been something that has been teased but never fully explored. Thanks to Knight and ILM, those dreams came true. Here’s hoping ILM will be coming back for the animated prequel Paramount recently announced.
34. A Face in the Sand – The Mummy (1999)
ILM created a number of truly unforgettable moments for Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy (a remake/reimagining of the entombed Universal Monsters favorite). But the one that probably stands out the most is the moment when fearsome mummy Imotep (Arnold Vosloo) comes after our heroes (led by Brendan Fraser) by transforming himself into a sentient sandstorm – one with a face and a giant, gaping maw. While it might not look as mind-blowing as it did back in 1999, it’s still undeniably impressive, both due to the rudimentary nature of the technology back then and considering how much ILM had on their plate with the movie, including digital make-up effects, animated mummies, and the more. The face in the stand wasn’t just scary good; it was also just plain scary.
33. Truck Assault – Speed Racer (2008)
Speed Racer is a visual effects smorgasbord and a number of different effects studios, from all over the world, helped bring the Wachowskis’ ambitious adaptation of the beloved anime series to life. For their part, ILM worked on the nighttime chase sequence with Taejo Togokahn (Rain) abducted in a villain’s moving lair and Racer X (Matthew Fox) coming to save him. ILM really amped up the day-glo, kaleidoscopic texture of the effects, playing with light and texture in an extreme way (the sequence is set at night and is all streaking missiles and gunfire). It also contains maybe the most beautiful, out-there shot in the entire movie, when, for a moment, everything becomes a kind of phosperescent heat vision. So many times ILM’s work requires them to be nearly invisible; for Speed Racer they were amble to embrace their outrageousness and to blow it out.
32. First Strike – War of the Worlds (2005)
First it was lighting strikes, then seismic activities that decimated whole suburban blocks, and then it was the emergence of huge tripods that shot and killed townsfolk (but not Tom Cruise!), vaporizing them into dust. This is how Steven Spielberg, with the help of ILM, introduces the martians in War of the Worlds. It’s a stunning sequence, and purely exemplifies the collaboration between Spielberg and the geniuses at Industrial Light and Magic, with the director drawing out the suspense to an almost unbearable degree and ILM unleashing their full potential in a way that is gripping and terrifying. (Also fascinating to re-watch and see how much the filmmakers are interpolating imagery cribbed directly from 9/11.) This might be Spielberg and ILM’s scariest moment since the T. Rex got loose in Jurassic Park.
31. Ghosts A-poppin’ – Poltergeist (1982)
Steadily throughout Poltergeist, Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper’s ultimate haunted house movie, the otherworldly manifestations become more and more intense until, during the third act, the gates of hell are seemingly blown open and all matter of paranormal spook attacks our lovely middle-class family. What’s so impressive is the different disciplines ILM had to combine in order to create these ghouls – from advanced puppetry to hand-drawn animation, all composited optically and to great effect. Also, now seems as good a time as any to bring up the fact that somebody told me that the big scary creature with the flowing hair and long appendages is supposed to be the ghost of the bird that the little girl lays to rest at the beginning of the movie.
30. Mars Attacks – Mars Attacks (1996)
ILM is never anybody’s second choice … unless you’re Tim Burton. For his ultra-expensive adaptation of the gory trading card series Mars Attacks, the director, as is his style, wanted to fully embrace the trappings of low-budget sci-fi/horror movies of the 1950s and ‘60s, which meant using stop-motion effects to create the Martian invaders. (If you’ve ever seen the Tim Burton exhibit that toured art museums like MoMA in New York, you saw some of the test footage.) But it would have been time-intensive and added more than $30 million to the budget, so he backed off and hired ILM. Smart move. ILM’s work on the Martians is totally brilliant – fully formed character animation, both realistic and essentially cartoony, that carry a lot of the weight of the movie on their little quacking shoulders. The interludes with the Martians on their spaceship is really the best.
29. Red Matter – Star Trek (2009)
There are a number of truly stunning moments that ILM conjured for J.J. Abrams’ brassy Star Trek reboot, but they really had free rein during the finale, which the filmmakers were putting together during the WGA strike and therefore couldn’t actually come up with any new material. There are huge moments during the finale, with giant, world-class spaceships, but the greatest is probably one of the smallest – a moment when Spock’s enigmatic “red matter” (a JJ-ism if there ever was one) ignites. Everything is super slowed down and the little particles of red matter (perhaps a callback to ILM’s Klingon blood from Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country?) and each bit turns into its own miniature black hole. It’s so cool and something that could have never been accomplished without the storytelling instincts of a great filmmaker and the ingenuity and technical know-how of the artists and technicians at ILM.
28. Agents vs. Edgar – Men in Black (1997)
One of the roles ILM occasionally has to play is first responder, as in the case for the finale of Barry Sonnenfeld’s Men in Black. Originally make-up wizard Rick Baker had designed an elaborate animatronic creature for Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones to battle at the end of the movie. But apparently Baker’s monster didn’t elicit much fear, so an 11th hour call was put into ILM, who handled some of the movie’s other creatures, to step in and help. Their fully CGI creation, which had to throw Smith around and eat Jones, and the level of interactivity, especially at that time, is pretty staggering. (It should be noted that ILM used some design elements from Baker, so his bug lived on … sort of.) Maybe most impressive was the shot that tracks down the tower from the bug to Smith holding on to his butt. At the time the more locked-off the camera was, the better. Not anymore.
27. Jim Carrey, Human Cartoon – The Mask (1994)
For The Mask, ILM was presented with a unique challenge – turn the very live-action actor (Jim Carrey) into a kind of living cartoon, one whose jaw could drop to the table, his eyes could pop out of his head, or he could turn into an animated wolf, howling at the gorgeous blonde (Cameron Diaz in her first role). In an age of animated Snapchat filters, this kind of manipulation might seem commonplace, but at the time it was truly revolutionary. It brought an animated aesthetic to an otherwise gritty crime movie (its source material comic book was more R-rated) and proved that as elastic as Jim Carrey’s face was, ILM could make it even more rubbery.
26. The Shining Clue – Ready Player One (2018)
So much of Spielberg’s Ready Player One is animated that it could probably qualify as an animated movie. He shot the live-action portions then took an extensive amount of time with motion capture and animation; the movie’s post-production process went on for over a year. And while there are a number of unforgettable sequences that could qualify for this list, the most unforgettable, the most how-did-they-do-that-exactly was a sequence that takes place entirely inside Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. While they thought about building sets, it was ultimately created digitally, with our digital heroes (avatars of real-life counterparts) searching through a pitch-perfection recreation. But ILM still had fun – there are moments with Jack Torrance’s giant axe and the ghoul from the bathtub that are purely invented by the studio and Spielberg. Talk about a scream.