Cinesite acquires majority stake in VFX studio FX3X
Cinesite has acquired a majority stake in Balkan VFX house FX3X.
FX3X has facilities in Skopje (Macedonia) and Belgrade (Serbia), with Skopje including a fully-equipped motion capture stage in addition to VFX services. The studio was founded in 1997 by Milivoje Gjorgjevikj & Kristijan Danilovski, and has since grown to over 200 employees - taking Cinesite’s total filmmakers to over 2000. FX3X has worked with Cinesite on past projects, and the existing managerial team will stay on to lead the company as well as the brand being retained.
Recent credits for FX3X include The Man who fell to Earth, Moon Knight, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and it is currently in production on Indiana Jones 5, Crater, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S02, Star Trek: Picard S03, Peter Pan and Wendy, Vikings Valhalla, and Strays.
Cinesite Group CEO Antony Hunt said: “Working together will allow us to serve our clients even better and on a greater scale in both episodic television and feature films. Having partnered with FX3X over the past couple of years, we have experienced the excellent work ethic and quality of finished shots and we are delighted to add these facilities as an integral part of our client offering to continue to meet the growing demand for high quality visual effects that needs to be serviced.”
Gjorgjevikj added: “Kristijan and I are so proud of where our team’s incredible talent has brought FX3X. We have been creative allies with Cinesite previously, so joining forces with them will allow us to unlock the full potent of our business and the amazing home-grown talent we have access to in our region. Our partnership with Cinesite will have a significant, positive impact on the VFX industry in Macedonia & the Balkans region in general.”
One of the first FX3X initiatives that Cinesite will support is VFX Nest, an entry level paid training program to introduce Macedonian students to VFX techniques and an opportunity to pursue a career in the industry. 60 students will undertake the training which runs from this September until January 2023.