The story
Founded by James Cameron, Scott Ross and Stan Winston in 1993.1
The company was founded by film director James Cameron, Stan Winston and Scott Ross in 1993. Ross, the former Senior Vice President of LucasArts Entertainment Company had spent several years working for George Lucas, but had grown frustrated that his boss was focusing on theme parks, video games and real estate after the failures of Howard The Duck (1986) and Willow (1988). "I left because I wanted to make movies," he acknowledged. Winston had his own explanation for launching the new company, stating, "There's a reason why I now own Digital Domain with Jim Cameron and Scott Ross, the second largest computer effects company next to ILM. I don't want to become extinct like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park".
They began producing visual effects and animation in 1993 with its first three films, True Lies, Interview with the Vampire, and Color of Night, being released in 1994.
Early 2000s
In October 2002, Digital Domain launched a wholly owned subsidiary, D2 Software, Inc., to market and distribute its Academy Award-winning compositing software, Nuke.
In 2002–2003, Digital Domain co-produced its first feature film, Secondhand Lions, written and directed by Tim McCanlies and starring Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Haley Joel Osment, and Kyra Sedgwick.
The founders were known for feuding, principally due to internal conflicts over the film Titanic. Founder Scott Ross announced plans to raise $100 million in financing to become more active as a production company. This plan never materialized, forcing management to seek a buyer of the company.
2006–present
In May 2006, Digital Domain was purchased by an affiliate of Wyndcrest Holdings, LLC, a private holding company. Wyndcrest's principals then included founder John Textor, director Michael Bay, former Microsoft executive Carl Stork and former NFL player and sports television commentator Dan Marino. The buyers purchased the company for an estimated $35 million. Textor and Bay would become co-chairman of Digital Domain and Stork was named CEO.
In 2007, Wyndcrest also acquired The Foundry which was tasked with taking over the development of Nuke. The Foundry was subject to a management buy-out in 2009.
In 2011, Digital Domain Media Group entered into the film production business with a major investment into the feature film Ender's Game, which was a co-production with OddLot Entertainment and Summit Entertainment. The film was released November 1, 2013.
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In November 2011, DDMG took the company public through an initial public offering (IPO), and the company was listed on the NYSE under the symbol DDMG, achieving a market valuation of more than $400 million.
In 2012, subsidiary Digital Domain created a virtual likeness of the late rap star Tupac Shakur for Dr. Dre's and Snoop Dogg's show at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The performance earned Textor's studio the Titanium Award at the 59th annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Digital Domain also announced that the company would go on create virtual Elvis Presley in partnership with CORE Media Group.
In 2015, the UFC hired Digital Domain to create a commercial series for their UFC 189 event.
In 2016, the Pokémon Company hired Digital Domain to create the visual effects for their "Train On" Super Bowl ad, released to celebrate the Pokémon series' 20th anniversary.
In 2017, Voltron Chronicles, a VR game Digital Domain co-developed with Universal based on Netflix's Voltron Legendary Defender, went live. Fans can play this game on PSVR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive for $15.
In 2018, Digital Domain celebrated its 25th anniversary while announcing the opening of its second Canadian studio in Montreal, Quebec.
In 2019, Digital Domain Head of Software and virtual avatar DigiDoug presented a talk during TED2019 as the first digital human to give a TED Talk in real-time.
In 2020, Digital Domain introduced Masquerade 2.0, the next iteration of its in-house facial capture system, rebuilt from the ground up to bring feature film-quality characters to next-gen games, episodics and commercials. Masquerade 2.0 uses the same tech that was utilized to create Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. The development allows the technology to be applied to smaller projects, bringing the full depth and emotion of an actor’s performance to any screen.
In 2021, Digital Domain utilized its new proprietary face-swapping tool, Charlatan, to create a realistic hologram/digital human combination of Vince Lombardi for Super Bowl LV.
In 2022, Digital Domain announced “Zoey,” an advanced autonomous virtual human. Powered by machine learning and created using an advanced version of the technology and process that helped bring Thanos to the big screen, the Zoey can engage in conversations with multiple participants at once, remember people, access the internet to answer questions and more, paving the way for the next step in the evolution of AI.
Digital Humans Group
The company has a sub-division known as New Media Group, which is currently led by Hanno Basse, the Chief Technology Officer. This sub-division provides machine learning-based scanning and digitization services to create immersive experiences for any screen. The process involves two programs called Masquerade and Direct Drive, which use high-resolution scans and motion capture technology. The data generated by these programs can be mapped and animated to create compelling visual experiences.
From Wikipedia’s article on Digital Domain, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.6