Taika Waititi's upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder will utilize the same Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) VFX technology as The Mandalorian, but with groundbreaking improvements from its original stage design.
ILM recently announced that the next phase of its global expansion plan will increase the company's virtual production and StageCraft LED volume services. To do this, ILM will soon construct three more StageCrafts, two StageCraft volume sets -- one in Manhattan Beach to join the already existing set, and one in Pinewood Studios in London -- and a large-scale custom volume stage located at Fox Studios in Australia, which will be used for Taika Waititi's highly anticipated Thor: Love and Thunder.
ILM StageCraft created an end-to-end virtual production process that's has been used for many productions including the hit Lucasfilm's Disney+ original, The Mandalorian. Though ILM's StageCraft design already improved various production elements -- from initial exploration of the film, to the actual filming -- the new planned stages will vastly improve its technology. ILM confirmed that new stages will be much larger, allowing for a greater utilization of LED panels. This scale change -- in addition to higher resolution and smooth wall to ceiling resolutions -- will ensure that movies such as Thor: Love and Thunder will have "higher color, higher scene complexity, and greater control and reliability."
Janet Lewin, SVP, GM of ILM said that StageCraft allows an "end-to-end virtual production service" for key creatives. "Directors, Production Designers, Cinematographers, Producers, and Visual Effects Supervisors can creatively collaborate," she said. "Each bringing their collective expertise to the virtual aspects of production just as they do with traditional production."
Directed by Taika Waititi, Thor: Love and Thunder stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie and Natalie Portman as Jane Foster. The film arrives in theaters Feb. 11, 2022.
(via ILM)