Cinesite Acquires Majority Stake in 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 grown to become one of the largest VFX houses in Eastern Europe, in addition to providing VFX services, the company also has a fully equipped motion-capture stage in Skopje.

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.

FX3X will continue to serve clients across feature films, streaming content and episodic filmed television shows, while being expoed to more opportunities as a Cinesite partner company.

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.”

Cinesite, which recently celebrated its 30-year anniversary, provides visual effects and animation services for film, episodic TV and streamers. Recent credits include Spider-Man: No Way Home, Thor Love & Thunder, Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank and Matilda. Projects currently in production are Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Peter Pan & Wendy, The Witcher S3, Hitpig, Foundation S2, Animal Farm and Aquaman & the Lost Kingdom to name a few.

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.