Deluxe Entertainment Services Group said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Atomic Fiction, the VFX house with studios in Montréal, Québec, and San Francisco, CA.
Some 300 full-time and freelance employees of Atomic Fiction are expected to join Method Studios when the deal closes sometime in the third quarter, Deluxe said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Atomic Fiction co-founders Kevin Baillie and Ryan Tudhope
Atomic Fiction’s co-founders will take new titles at Method Studios, reporting to Deluxe’s president of VFX and VR/AR Ed Ulbrich. Ryan Tudhope will become executive creative director and will continue to be the creative lead for the Montréal team, while Kevin Baillie will become creative director and senior visual effects supervisor based in San Francisco. The Montréal location will become a “flagship studio” for Method, Deluxe said.
“We’ve been fans of Atomic Fiction’s work for a long time — it is outstanding and clients love them,” Ulbrich said in a prepared statement. “When we started talking and met Kevin and Ryan we learned what a great culture they’ve built, and our vision for the business resonated with them as well.”
Deluxe said the acquisition is part of a global expansion strategy that includes an increase in Method’s capacity in the Asia-Pacific hotspot of Pune, India.
Atomic Fiction was founded in 2010 and has contributed to a number of high-profile projects, including Blade Runner 2049, The Walk, Star Trek Beyond, Deadpool, Ghost in the Shell, Stranger Things and Game of Thrones. Baillie and Tudhope are childhood friends who started their careers working on previs for Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace before moving on to The Orphanage. The two also worked together at ImageMovers Digital before that facility was closed at the end of 2010.
