VFX company Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) has completed its Vancouver relocation, which was initially announced by the Lucasfilm company back in February 2024.

The U.S. company’s Vancouver office, which is known for its work on projects such as Wicked and The Mandalorian, has relocated to The Stack, a zero-carbon building located at 1133 Melville St. in Vancouver, after more than a decade in the city’s Gastown district.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Friday (April 4) with B.C.’s Minister of Finance Brenda Bailey (pictured right) and Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport Spencer Chandra Herbert (pictured left) in attendance.

With over 950 employees, the Vancouver office has the highest headcount of any ILM office globally, a company spokesperson told Playback Daily. The VFX company, which also has offices in San Francisco, London, Mumbai and Sydney, first planted its Canadian roots in the city in 2012.

B.C.’s 2025 budget addressed two of the province’s labour-based basic tax credits. The basic Production Services Tax Credit was proposed to be increased from 28% to 36% while the Film Incentive BC basic credit was proposed to move from 35% to 40%. B.C.’s Digital Animation, Visual Effects and Post-Production bonus tax credit remained at 16%. Creative BC is the administrator for both of the province’s motion picture tax credit programs.

“Vancouver’s talent pool has both grown and matured in recent years, providing a reliable and flexible environment in which a visual effects business like Industrial Light and Magic is able to thrive,” said Spencer Kent, executive in charge of Vancouver and San Francisco, in a statement. “The talent ecosystem, established infrastructure and recent improvements to B.C.’s production incentives enable our full pipeline teams to work on a diverse slate of work across visual effects for film and television, feature animation and immersive entertainment.”

Image courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic/Greg Grusby