Avatar: Fire and Ash Dominates 2026 VES Awards

James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash continued its reign in the visual effects world, securing seven awards at the 24th annual Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards held on Wednesday night at the Beverly Hilton. This win solidifies the franchise’s position as a leader in groundbreaking visual effects innovation.

A Near Sweep for Pandora

The film garnered the prestigious Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature award, alongside wins for Emerging Technology, Outstanding Model, Outstanding Environment, Outstanding Character, Outstanding Effects Simulations, and Outstanding CG Cinematography. Avatar: Fire and Ash entered the ceremony with a leading 10 nominations, falling just short of a complete sweep when Apple Original Films’ F1 won Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in a Feature. This marked one of two categories where Fire and Ash competed against itself.

The Na’vi’s Growing Legacy at the VES Awards

The VES Awards have consistently recognized the Avatar franchise for its visual achievements. The original Avatar film won six prizes in 2010, while Avatar: The Way of Water raised the bar with nine wins in 2023. With this year’s seven awards, the Avatar films now boast a total of 22 VES statuettes, cementing their place in VES history.

Remembering Jon Landau

Several winners during Wednesday night’s ceremony paid tribute to the late Jon Landau, the franchise’s producer who passed away in 2024. His contributions to the visual storytelling of the Avatar films were widely acknowledged.

Animation Success for KPop Demon Hunters

Beyond Avatar, Netflix and Sony Animation’s KPop Demon Hunters too enjoyed a successful evening, winning three awards: Outstanding Animation, Outstanding Character (Rumi), and Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature. The anime-inspired film has turn into a streaming phenomenon, garnering over 482 million views and generating 11 billion streams of its soundtrack. The 25 Highest-Grossing Animated Films Of All Time

Oscar Contender Sinners Recognized

Sinners, currently leading the Oscar race with a record 16 nominations, received the VES Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature.

VES Awards and Oscar Predictions

Historically, the VES Awards haven’t consistently predicted the winners of the Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects. Since 2013, only five winners of the top VES prize have gone on to win the Oscar. Last year, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes won Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature at the VES Awards, while Dune: Part Two ultimately claimed the Best Visual Effects Oscar. Dune: Part Two led the live-action film field at the 2025 VES Awards with four wins.

Other Notable Winners

Zoopotia 2 took the award for Outstanding Environment in an Animated Feature, while The Wizard of Oz at Sphere won Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project. On the television side, Disney+’s Andor and Apple TV/BBC Studios’ Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age were the only multiple winners, each taking home two awards. Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age won the marquee prize for Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode.

Honoring Industry Leaders

The ceremony also honored industry veterans Jerry Bruckheimer, receiving the VES Lifetime Achievement Award, and Richard Taylor, co-founder and COO of Wētā Workshop, who received the VES Visionary Award.

2026 VES Awards Winners – Full List

• OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE: Avatar: Fire and Ash (Richard Baneham, Peter Litvack, Eric Saindon, Nicky Muir, Steve Ingram)
• OUTSTANDING ANIMATION IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE: KPop Demon Hunters (Joshua Beveridge, Jacky Priddle, Benjamin Hendricks, Clara Chan)
• OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE: Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; “The Large Freeze” (Russell Dodgson, Tracey Gibbons, Francois Dumoulin, Gavin McKenzie)
• OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE: Sinners (Michael Ralla, James Alexander, Nick Marshal, Espen Nordahl, Donnie Dean)
• OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE: The Residence; “The Fall of the House of Usher” (Seth Hill, Tesa Kubicek, John Nelson, Gabriel Vargas)
• OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE: KPop Demon Hunters; Rumi (Sophia (Seung Hee) Lee, Andrea Matamoros, Marc Souliere, Joshua Beveridge)
• OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN EPISODIC, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT: It: Welcome to Derry; “The Thing in the Dark;” The Pickle Monster (Philip Harris-Genois, Pierric Danjou, Chloe Ostiguy, Jonathan Bourdu)
• OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE: Avatar: Fire and Ash; Varang: Leader of the Ash Clan (Stephen Clee, Stuart Adcock, Keven Norris, Joseph Kim)
• OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE: Avatar: Fire and Ash; Simulating Pandora (Nicholas Illingworth, Sarah C. Farmer, James Robinson, Ryan Bowden)
• OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE: KPop Demon Hunters (Filippo Maccari, Nikolaos Finizio, Daniel La Chapelle, Srdjan Milosevic)
• OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT: Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; The Big Freeze (Edward Ferrysienanda, Kevin Christensen, Guy Schuleman, Kevin Tarpinian)
• OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE: F1: The Movie; Modern Race and POV Footage (Hugo Gauvreau, Chris Davies, Raushan Raj, Amaury Rospars)
• OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL: BMW; “Heart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus” (Alex Kulikov, Jack Harris, Adam Chabane, Nicola Borsari)
• OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE: The Last of Us; “Through the Valley;” A Storm of Ice, Fire and Flesh (Tobias Wiesner, Mark Julien, Owen Longstaff, Brendan Naylor)
• OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT: Andor; “Who Are You?” (Luke Murphy, Dean Ford, Jody Eltham, Darrell Guyon)
• OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT: Azimuth (Thomas Teisseire, Cassandre Cinier, Martin Bluy, Mathis Giraudeau)
• EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD: Avatar: Fire and Ash; Kora Fire Toolset (Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin, John Edholm, Murali Ramachari, Aleksandr Isakov)
• OUTSTANDING CG CINEMATOGRAPHY: Avatar: Fire and Ash (Steve Deane, AJ Briones, Zachary Brake, Andrew Moffett)
• OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT: The Wizard of Oz at Sphere (Ben Grossmann, Tamara Watts Ken, Dr. Irfan Essa, Matt Dougan, Glenn Derry)
• OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT: Avatar: Fire and Ash; The Windtraders’ Gondola (Michael Smale, Sam Sharplin, Joe W. Churchill, Jacqi Dillon)
• OUTSTANDING VISUAL ARTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT: Ghost of Yōtei (Jason Connell, Matt Vainio, Joanna Wang, Jasmin Patr)
• OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL: BMW; “Heart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus” (Tom Raynor, Helen Tang, Jack Harris, Alex Kulikov)
• OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE: Avatar: Fire and Ash; Bridgehead Industrial City (Gianluca Pizzaia, Steve Bevins, Dziga Kaiser, Zsolt Máté)
• OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE: Zootopia 2; Marsh Market (Limei Z. Hshieh, Alexander Nicholas Whang, Joshua Fry, Ryan DeYoung)
• OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODIC, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT: Andor; “Welcome to the Rebellion;” The Senate District (John O’Connell, Falk Boje, Hasan Ilhan, Kevin George)