by Iain Blair
The VFX biz is so competitive and over the years many companies have dropped by the way. But CIS is definitely flourishing, thanks to high quality work and canny management decisions. Founded back in 1984, CIS is one of the industry’s most respected visual effects facilities and in early 2008, the company expanded by acquiring Rainmaker Visual Effects and is now comprised of CIS Hollywood, CIS Vancouver and CIS London. Recently, CIS Hollywood was the sole VFX vendor on “Leatherheads,” completing 237 effects shots that included stadium shots, crowd replications, environmental clean up (building, tree and pole removals) and set extensions. Even if the film didn’t do great in the box office, the FX were impressive.

Meanwhile, up in Vancouver, Dennis Hoffman, a 20-year production veteran, has been named Senior Vice President and General Manager of CIS Vancouver. He comes with a great pedigree, as he was formerly Vice President/Head of Production at Digital Domain, Vice President/Executive Producer at Dream Quest Images and Vice President/Head of Production at Cinesite. CIS Vancouver is hard at work doing FX for a bunch of upcoming releases, including “Tropic Thunder,” “Changeling,” “Twilight,” “Space Buddies” and “The Nutcracker.” The early buzz on “Tropic Thunder,” the war comedy starring Ben Stiller, Tom Cruise, Robert Downey Jr. and Matthew McConaughey, is very strong.

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