Visual effects are almost a guarantee in movies nowadays. Hell, they're using effects to remove Henry Cavill's mustache in the new Justice League movie.
It wasn't always like this, effects have come a long way from the humble days of camera tricks and stop-motion puppetry. Celebrating its 20th anniversary the Visual Effects Society asked its members to list the 70 most influential VFX movies of all time, and the list is truly extraordinary to see how effects have evolved over the history of cinema.
The list covers 115 years of cinematic history with the oldest entry 'A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune)', Georges Méliès' adaptation of several Jules Verne stories. Méliès was a pioneer when it came to visual effects, basically the granddaddy of all things VFX.
Classics like 'Citizen Kane', '2001: A Space Odyssey', 'Metropolis', 'Godzilla' and 'The Lost World' were joined by movies like 'Mary Poppins', 'The Matrix', 'The Mask' and all of the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy.
According to 'IndieWire' the ballots were limited to movies from 2015 and earlier, but several from that year made the cut, including 'Mad Max: Fury Road' and 'Ex Machina'.
Unsurprisingly the bad boys of blockbusters, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson all had a handful of films on the list with Cameron topping the list with six entries.
You can check out the full list of 72 films (there were some ties!) over at 'IndieWire'.