Weta FX’s 2026 has been one of the busiest stretches in the studio’s history. A visual effects Oscar, an Emmy, a live-action Moana, Netflix’s Narnia, and a slimmer operation back home in Wellington. Here’s where things stand.
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An Oscar and an Emmy in One Year
Weta won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects earlier this year for Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third film in James Cameron’s series.
In September the studio added an Emmy for Stranger Things Season 5, winning Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie. Senior VFX supervisor Martin Hill accepted for the Weta team. As lead vendor, Weta delivered 1,185 shots across every episode, including the feature-length finale. ILM also worked on the season.
That win joins earlier Weta Emmys for Game of Thrones, The Last of Us and Ripley. Taking the top VFX awards in film and TV in the same year is a rare double.
Moana Live-Action Behind the Scenes
On October 30 Weta posted two videos on its work for the live-action Moana. Guy Williams supervised Weta’s share of the film. The headline job was building Te Ka and Te Fiti, the story’s giant island spirits, out of real-world elements so they could live inside a photoreal Pacific Ocean.
The second video brings in the crew. Artists talk through the animation and FX work, filmed at Te Papa, the national museum in Wellington.
Weta shared the show with ILM, Framestore and other vendors. Photoreal water and natural environments have been Weta specialties since the Avatar films, so the assignment fits.
Narnia for Netflix
Weta is contributing VFX to Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew for Netflix. The film opens in IMAX on November 26 and streams on Netflix on Christmas Day. Weta’s slice is reportedly smaller than Framestore’s, which is handling the bulk of the work. Weta last visited Narnia on Prince Caspian, back when it was still Weta Digital.
Three Studios, One Pipeline
Weta now runs VFX studios in Wellington, Vancouver and Melbourne. Vancouver opened in 2022 as its first dedicated effects office outside New Zealand. Melbourne began as a temporary facility for Better Man and became a permanent hub with backing from the Victorian government.
The Money Side
In its latest reported results, covering the year to March 2025, Weta posted a NZ$59.3 million loss. That was an improvement on the NZ$83 million loss the year before, and the company says it remains debt-free.
In mid-2025 Weta also proposed cutting about 100 support roles, mostly in Wellington, and said it expects lower volumes of work through 2026. It’s a leaner shop than the one that peaked on the Avatar sequels. The awards haul and current slate suggest the work is still coming in.
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