Matt Aitken (special effects artist)

Matt Aitken
Matt Aitken
Occupation	Visual effects artist
Years active	1995-present

Last updated May 12, 2025

Matt Aitken is a special effects artist.

He was nominated at the 82nd Academy Awards for his work on the film District 9 . His nomination was shared with Robert Habros, Dan Kaufman, and Peter Muyzers.^[1] In 2020, he received his second Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects on 2019 film, Avengers: Endgame , at the 92nd Academy Awards. His nomination was shared with Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, and Dan Sudick.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Distributor
1996	The Frighteners	Universal Pictures
1997	Contact	Warner Bros. Pictures
2001	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	New Line Cinema
2002	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2003	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2004	I, Robot	20th Century Fox
2005	King Kong	Universal Pictures
2006	X-Men: The Last Stand	20th Century Fox
2007	Bridge to Terabithia	Buena Vista Pictures
2009	Avatar	20th Century Fox
2009	District 9	Sony Pictures
2011	The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn	Paramount Pictures
2012	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	Warner Bros. Pictures
2013	The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug	Warner Bros. Pictures
2013	Iron Man 3	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
2014	The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies	Warner Bros. Pictures
2016	Independence Day: Resurgence	20th Century Fox
2019	Avengers: Endgame	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Awards and nominations


Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
2003	Visual Effects Society Awards	Best Models and Miniatures in a Motion Picture	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	Won
2006	Visual Effects Society Awards	Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Motion Picture	King Kong "New York dawn attack" scene	Won
2010	Academy Awards	Best Visual Effects	District 9	Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Special Effects		Nominated
	British Academy Film Awards	Best Special Visual Effects		Nominated
	Gold Derby Awards	Visual Effects		Nominated
2011	Visual Effects Society Awards	Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project	King Kong: 360 3-D	Won
2012	Saturn Awards	Best Special Effects	The Adventures of Tintin	Nominated
	Visual Effects Society Awards	Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in an Animated Feature Motion Picture		Nominated
		Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture		Nominated
2013		Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	Won
2013	Hollywood Post Alliance Awards	Outstanding Visual Effects – Feature Film	Iron Man 3	Nominated
2015	Hollywood Post Alliance Awards		The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies	Won
2018	Hollywood Professional Association Awards		Avengers: Infinity War	Won
2019	Visual Effects Society Awards	Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature	Avengers: Infinity War	Won
	Saturn Awards	Best Special Effects	Avengers: Endgame	Won
	Satellite Awards	Best Visual Effects		Nominated
	Hollywood Professional Association Awards	Outstanding Visual Effects – Feature Film		Nominated
	Seattle Film Critics Society Awards	Best Visual Effects		Nominated
2020	Academy Awards	Best Visual Effects		Nominated
	British Academy Film Awards	Best Special Visual Effects		Nominated
	Visual Effects Society Awards	Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature		Nominated
	Gold Derby Awards	Visual Effects		Won
	Gold Derby Awards	Visual Effects of the Decade		Nominated
	Hollywood Critics Association Film Awards	Best Visual Effects		Won
2022	Satellite Awards	Best Visual Effects	Eternals	Nominated
	Gold Derby Awards	Visual Effects		Nominated
	Hollywood Critics Association Film Awards	Best Visual Effects		Nominated
2023	Hollywood Professional Association Awards	Outstanding Visual Effects – Feature Film	Transformers: Rise of the Beasts	Nominated
2024	Satellite Awards	Best Visual Effects	Transformers: Rise of the Beasts	Nominated

References

↑ "The 82nd Academy Awards (2010) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. AMPAS. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved April 6, 2014.

External links

Matt Aitken at IMDb

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[Oscars2010-1] "The 82nd Academy Awards (2010) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. AMPAS. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved April 6, 2014.

[1]

v t e Saturn Award for Best Special Effects
1970s	Marcel Vercoutere (1972) Joe Dante and Mark Goldblatt (1973) Douglas Knapp, Bill Taylor, John Carpenter, and Dan O'Bannon (1974/75) L. B. Abbott (1976) John Dykstra and John Stears (1977) Colin Chilvers (1978) Douglas Trumbull, John Dykstra, and Richard Yuricich (1979)
1980s	Brian Johnson and Richard Edlund (1980) Richard Edlund (1981) Carlo Rambaldi and Dennis Muren (1982) Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, and Ken Ralston (1983) Chris Walas (1984) Kevin Pike (1985) Stan Winston, Robert Skotak and Dennis Skotak (1986) Peter Kuran, Phil Tippett, Rob Bottin, and Rocco Gioffre (1987) George Gibbs, Ken Ralston, and Richard Williams (1988) Ken Ralston (1989/90)
1990s	Stan Winston (1991) Ken Ralston, Tom Woodruff Jr., and Alec Gillis (1992) Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett, and Michael Lantieri (1993) John Bruno (1994) Stan Parks (1995) Volker Engel, Clay Pinney, Douglas Smith, and Joe Viskocil (1996) Phil Tippett, Scott E. Anderson, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., John Richardson (1997) Volker Engel, Patrick Tatopoulos, Karen E. Goulekas, and Clay Pinney (1998) Rob Coleman, John Knoll, Dennis Muren, and Scott Squires (1999)
2000s	Scott E. Anderson, Craig Hayes, Scott Stokdyk, and Stan Parks (2000) Dennis Muren, Scott Farrar, Stan Winston, Michael Lantieri (2001) Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll, and Ben Snow (2002) Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke (2003) John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, and John Frazier (2004) Joe Letteri, Richard Taylor, Christian Rivers, and Brian Van't Hul (2005) John Knoll, Hal T. Hickel, Charles Gibson, and Allen Hall (2006) Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl, and John Frazier (2007) Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, and Paul J. Franklin (2008) Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, and Andrew R. Jones (2009)
2010s	Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Paul J. Franklin, and Peter Bebb (2010) Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, R. Christopher White, and Daniel Barrett (2011) Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams, and Dan Sudick (2012) Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, and Neil Corbould (2013) Paul J. Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, and Scott R. Fisher (2014) Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan, and Chris Corbould (2015) John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel, and Neil Corbould (2016) Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, and Dan Sudick (2017) Dan DeLeeuw, Matt Aitken, Russell Earl, and Dan Sudick (2018/19) Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach, and Dominic Tuohy (2019/20)
2020s	John “D.J.” Des Jardin, Bryan Hirota, Kevin Andrew Smith, and Mike Meinardus (2021/22) Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett (2022/23) Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe, and Gerd Nefzer (2023/24)
Note: The years are listed as per convention, usually the year of film release; the ceremonies are usually held the next year.

Matt Aitken (special effects artist)

Contents

Selected filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links