Rhythm and Hues Studios explained

Rhythm & Hues Studios
Type:	Subsidiary
Status:	Paused, Covid 19, industry strikes
Fate:	Bankruptcy
Location:	El Segundo, Los Angeles, California, United States^[1]
Locations:	United States, Canada, India, Malaysia, Taiwan
Num Employees:	1,400
Industry:	Visual effects, CGI animation
Parent:	Prana Studios

Rhythm & Hues Studios was an American visual effects and animation company that received the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 1995 for Babe, in 2008 for The Golden Compass, and in 2013 for Life of Pi. It also received four Scientific and Technical Academy Awards.^[2]

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early 2013. It was then purchased by an affiliate of Prana Studios, 34x118 Holdings, LLC, but retained the same name.

History

1987–2008

Rhythm & Hues Studios was established in Los Angeles, California in 1987 by former employees of Robert Abel and Associates (John Patrick Hughes,^[3] Pauline Ts'o, Keith Goldfarb, Cliff Boule, Frank Wuts and Charles Gibson).^[4] The company used its own proprietary software for its photo-realistic character animation/visual effects—as well as for those that are more stylized.

In 1998, Rhythm & Hues Studios developed a video game titled for the PlayStation.

In 1999, Rhythm & Hues Studios acquired visual effects house VIFX from 20th Century Fox.^[5]

2009–2020

Director Ang Lee approached Rhythm & Hues in August 2009 to discuss a planned film adaptation of the fantasy novel Life of Pi.^[6] ^[7] R&H VFX (Visual Effects) Supervisor Bill Westenhofer noted that Lee "knew we had done the lion in the first Narnia movie. He asked, 'Does a digital character look more or less real in 3D?' We looked at each other and thought that was a pretty good question."^[8] He also stated that during these meetings, Lee said, "'I look forward to making art with you.' This was really for me one of the most rewarding things I've worked on and the first chance to really combine art with VFX. Every shot was artistic exploration, to make the ocean a character and make it interesting we had to strive to make it as visually stunning as possible."^[9]

By 2012, the company had become a global one, with offices and artists in India (the Mumbai suburb of Malad and HITEC City which is a part of Hyderabad), Malaysia (Cyberjaya just outside Kuala Lumpur), Canada (Vancouver), and Taiwan (Kaohsiung).^[10] ^[11] ^[12] ^[13] ^[14] ^[15]

Rhythm & Hues spent a year on research and development, "building upon its already vast knowledge of CGI animation" to develop the tiger.^[16] Artist Abdul Rahman in the Malaysian branch underscored the global nature of the effects process, saying that "the special thing about Life of Pi is that it was the first time we did something called remote rendering, where we engaged our cloud infrastructure in Taiwan called CAVE (Cloud Animation and Visual Effects)".^[17]

The resulting film, Life of Pi, was released in theaters in November 2012, and was a critical and commercial success. The British Film Institute's Sight & Sound magazine suggested that, "Life of Pi can be seen as the film Rhythm & Hues has been building up to all these years, by taking things they learned from each production from Cats & Dogs to Yogi Bear, integrating their animals in different situations and environments, pushing them to do more, and understanding how all of this can succeed both visually and dramatically."^[18]

On February 11, 2013, Rhythm & Hues Studios filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11, three months after Life of Pi was released.

On March 29, 2013, an affiliate of Prana Studios, 34x118 Holdings, LLC, won the bidding on Rhythm and Hues in a bankruptcy auction.^[19] The sale was "valued at about $30 million".^[20] In February 2015, founders Hughes, Goldfarb, and Tso were sued for having “pillaged” the VFX house, including conflicted technology and real estate transfers.^[3] As of January 2024, the outcome of the lawsuit hasn't been made public.

After the bankruptcy and sale, Rhythm and Hues continued to successfully work on award-winning film, television, and themed entertainment projects, winning multiple Emmy and Visual Effects Society awards for their work on Game of Thrones.