Jellyfish Pictures was a British VFX and animation company specialising in the creation of digital visual effects and animation.
History The company was founded in 2001 by Philip Dobree and Will Rockall, with a team of three artists and one producer, moving to their first studio in Soho, Central London in Poland Street in 2003. In 2005, they started their first long form TV series The Story of One, following this with work on the BBC series Fight For Life in 2007, for which they won multiple industry awards including a BAFTA, RTS and VES award for 'Outstanding Visual Effects. Over the next few years they continued to expand, working on the long form CGI series Planet Dinosaur for the BBC and Discovery Channel in 2011, followed by multiple nominations and wins for their work on Inside the Human Body in 2012. In 2017, Jellyfish Pictures launched its own original content division, Jellyfish Originals - focused on the development, distribution, rights management, financing and commercialisation of original animated properties.
Jellyfish Pictures has undergone rapid growth in recent years as the studio joined Key Capital Partners over a minority investment, expediting the global scaling of their VFX and animation teams, and advance the development and production of its original kids and family content through Jellyfish Originals. David Patton joined Jellyfish Pictures as CEO in December 2022 while Mark Warburg joined as COO. The on-location studio locations have also expanded significantly, with a studio division opening in Sheffield in 2020 (overseen by animation director Kevin Spruce), and a new Mumbai studio recently opening in 2023. Operations in Canada were announced in June 2024.
On 11 March 2025, Jellyfish Pictures suspended its operations because of rising costs stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike and others, and announced it was exploring options for sale and investments. Its studio in Mumbai would also be closed with the London studio being on sale.
In June 2025, a new company, JFX (short for Jellyfish FX) was launched by Troubadour Studios.
Production TV series Title Release date Studio(s) Notes The Story of 1 2005 BBC Documentary Fight for Life 9 July 2007 BBC One TV seriesDocumentary2008 winner Bafta special effects prize Planet Dinosaur 14 September 2011 BBCDiscovery ChannelZDF TV animated seriesDocumentary Doctor Who 23 November 2013 BBC OneBBC Wales TV seriesDay of the Doctor SpecialAdditional VFX Your Inner Fish 2014 Tangled Bank StudiosPBS TV animated seriesDocumentary Floogals 15 January 2016-22 March 2020 Nevision StudiosZodiak Kids Studios TV animated series Black Mirror October 2016 NetflixHouse of TomorrowEndemol Shine UK TV seriesHated in the Nation only Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! 6 November 2017 Beano StudiosCBBC TV animated series Bitz & Bob 12 March 2018 BBC Children's ProductionsKnown as CBeebies Production for the first season.FremantleMedia Kids & FamilyBoat Rocker Rights The Innocents 24 August 2018 NetflixNew Pictures TV series Watchmen 20 October 2019 HBOWhite RabbitParamount TelevisionDC EntertainmentWarner Bros. Television TV seriesLimited How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming 3 December 2019 DreamWorks AnimationNBCUniversal TV animated specialProduction services Gangs of London 23 April 2020 Sky AtlanticPulse FilmsSister PicturesSky Studios TV seriesSeries finale only White Lines 15 May 2020 NetflixLeft Bank PicturesVancouver MediaSony Pictures Television TV series Hanna 3 July 2020 NBCUniversal International StudiosTomorrow StudiosWorking Title TelevisionFocus FeaturesAmazon Studios TV seriesSeason 2 only Sex Education 17 September 2021 NetflixEleven Film TV seriesSeason 3 only The Book of Boba Fett 29 December 2021 Disney+Lucasfilm TV miniseries This Is Going to Hurt 8 February 2022 Sister PicturesTerrible ProductionsAMC StudiosBBC Miniseries The Baby 24 April 2022 HBOSister PicturesSky StudiosProverbial Pictures TV series Prehistoric Planet 23 May 2022 Apple TV+BBC DocumentaryConcept art onlyVFX by Moving Picture Company Stranger Things 27 May 2022 Netflix21 Laps EntertainmentMonkey Massacre TV seriesSeason 4 only
Films Live Action VFX Title Release date Studio(s) Notes Kingsman: The Secret Service 13 February 2015 20th Century FoxMarv StudiosCloudy Productions With Prime Focus World, Baseblack, Panton Creative, Doc & A Soc, Peerless Camera Company and BUF Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 16 December 2016 Lucasfilm Ltd. Main VFX from Industrial Light & MagicAdditional VFX with Ubisoft Hybride, Ghost VFX, Whiskytree, Atomic Fiction, Scanline VFX, and Raynault VFX. Star Wars: The Last Jedi 15 December 2017 Main VFX from Industrial Light & MagicAdditional VFX with Ubisoft Hybride, One of Us, Base FX, Rodeo FX, Ghost VFX, Virutos, Animatrik Film Design, Exceptional Minds, Important Looking Pirates, and Yannix. Solo: A Star Wars Story 25 May 2018 Main VFX from Industrial Light & MagicAdditional VFX with Ubisoft Hybride, Raynault VFX, Tippet Studio, Exceptional Minds, Virutos and Lola/VFX Captive State 15 March 2019 Focus FeaturesParticipant Media Fear Street Part One: 1994 2 July 2021 NetflixChernin Entertainment Uncredited Fear Street Part Two: 1978 9 July 2021 Fear Street Part Three: 1666 16 July 2021 Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical 2 December 2022 NetflixTriStar PicturesWorking Title FilmsThe Roald Dahl Story Company
Animation Title Release date Studio(s) Notes Trolls World Tour 10 April 2020 Universal PicturesDreamWorks Animation Marketing custom animation services (with Minimo VFX) Spirit Untamed 4 June 2021 Production servicesAdditional animation services by 88 Pictures The Boss Baby: Family Business 2 July 2021 Asset production services The Bad Guys 22 April 2022 Additional asset production services Kung Fu Panda 4 8 March 2024 Dog Man 31 January 2025 Production services (last films) The Twits 17 October 2025 Netflix Animation StudiosThe Roald Dahl Story Company
Accolades Annie Awards Year Film Category Recipient(s) Result2020How to Train Your Dragon: HomecomingBest Animated Special ProductionDreamWorks AnimationOutstanding Achievement for Animated Effects in an Animated Television / Broadcast ProductionManuel Reyes Halaby, Cristiana Covone, Koya Masubuchi, Jean Claude Nouchy, Dustin Henningrowspan=3 Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production Andrew Muir2022Spirit UntamedBest StoryboardingGary Graham
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