ILM reveals the VFX secrets of Avengers: Infinity War and more 2018 blockbusters

The most ambitious crossover event in history does not simply cross over on the merits of its own ambition.

Gearing up for a competitive Oscar race, Industrial Light & Magic, the visual effects company founded by George Lucas before the making of Star Wars, and a stalwart of the blockbuster industry, has released a series of videos detailing its team’s work in 2018, which includes the mega-sized battle anchoring Avengers: Infinity War.

The competition for Best Visual Effects is tight; 20 films are currently in the running, with Infinity War lording over a pack that includes Aquaman, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Incredibles 2, A Quiet Place and Paddington 2, plus ILM’s own work on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Black Panther, Ant-Man & The Wasp and Ready Player One. To get Academy voters in the head space for casting their votes, ILM’s re-edits strip away the layers of CGI and matte work needed to sell Wakanda and the Avengers’ encounter with the Black Order and hordes of Outrider aliens. The video doesn’t even have room to deconstruct the motion-capture work on Thanos — but we expect that one soon.

Along with the Infinity War deep dive, ILM also spotlighted the process of developing dinosaurs for Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom ...

... and the large amount of environment construction done to rebuild Isla Nublar (then blow it to smithereens).

Other 2018 videos include two scene breakdowns for Solo: A Star Wars Story, a look at the practically-an-animated-film work in Ready Player One and a peek inside the visual marvels of Black Panther:

The 91st Academy Awards will name a Best Visual Effects winner on Feb. 24, 2019.