Jedi knights and mythical creatures will soon be flooding Vancouver after Industrial Light & Magic announced it's expanding operations north of the border.
ILM, the special effects studio behind the Star Wars franchise, announced February 12 it planned to double the headcount of talent working in the Vancouver offices and move into a new Gastown studio later in the week.
"About four or five months ago, we knew the slate of shows that was coming up and we were looking to expand based on the great talent that's up in Vancouver," said ILM spokesman Greg Grusby.
"We began looking at spaces and (former Pixar Canada studios) became available. And it's a gorgeous space and really suited our needs."
He added the new studio will handle some of the work on the new Star Wars and World of Warcraft films, as well as the Vancouver-filmed Tomorrowland starring George Clooney.
The current roster is working on the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers films.
Grusby said the Vancouver ILM studio will employ about 200 people once expansion is complete.
"We're looking at the entire talent pool that's in Vancouver, which is at a very high level," he said.
"We expect to attract the best talent because we work on some really fantastic projects."
