Best VFX Studios in Montreal (2026)

Introduction

Montréal International ranks Montreal among the top 10 metropolitan areas in North America for VFX and animation talent, and the 12 studios below cover most of what a production needs there, from creature and environment work on studio features to invisible effects for Quebec cinema and commercials. They were chosen for recent credits, 2025 and 2026 recognition, and the depth of their Montreal teams.

The city’s scene runs on a mix of homegrown houses and local studios of global groups. Montréal International’s 2025 industry profile puts Quebec’s tax credits at 27 to 41 per cent of eligible expenses and salaries, and counts more than $1.1 billion in VFX and animation projects it supported between 2018 and 2024. The last two years also brought consolidation. Technicolor Group, owner of MPC, The Mill and Mikros Animation, began shutting down in February 2025, and Rodeo FX bought most of Mikros Animation and some Technicolor Canada assets the following month. Technicolor’s former studios are not on this list.

Every studio here has an active Montreal studio in 2026. The list is unranked, since the right partner depends on the type of show, the volume of shots and how closely you want to work with the team.

The best VFX studios in Montreal

1. Rodeo FX

Independent · Griffintown · rodeofx.com

Rodeo FX is one of the largest VFX houses founded in Montreal. Sébastien Moreau founded it in the city in 2006, and it marked 20 years in business in 2026 with more than 1,000 people across North America, Europe and India. Its studios are in Montreal, Québec City, Toronto, Los Angeles and Paris, where it consolidated its European teams into one building in April 2026. In March 2025 it bought most of Mikros Animation from Technicolor.

Feature and episodic credits include Stranger Things (the studio built some of its monsters), The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Dune: Part Two and It: Welcome to Derry. A separate advertising and experiences division works for Apple, Audi, Nike and Hydro-Québec, and the company also offers production services and audio.

2. Framestore Montreal

Part of Framestore · Mile End · framestore.com

Framestore’s Montreal studio sits on Avenue de Gaspé in Mile End, one of seven studios alongside London, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Mumbai and Melbourne. The group counts 7 Academy Awards, 10 BAFTAs, 35 VES Awards and 15 Emmys.

Recent group work includes Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew for Netflix, Coyote vs. Acme for Warner Bros., and art department work on the aliens and ship of Disclosure Day for Universal and Amblin. Ask which parts of a show would be handled in Montreal, as large features are often split across several Framestore sites.

3. DNEG Montreal

Part of DNEG · Downtown · dneg.com

DNEG’s Montreal studio is on Rue Metcalfe downtown, one of 19 studios in the group’s global network. The studio’s own page leads with season 5 of The Boys.

Across the group, recent and current work includes Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, The Angry Birds Movie 3 and Ramayana. DNEG suits productions that want a very large shot count spread over several time zones, with Montreal as one of its main North American sites.

4. Digital Domain Montreal

Part of Digital Domain · Mile End · digitaldomain.com

Digital Domain’s Montreal studio is on Rue Saint-Viateur Est in Mile End. The company also has studios in Los Angeles, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Hyderabad and Shanghai, and its contact page lists a London studio that has yet to open.

Its latest projects include Avengers: Doomsday, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, A Minecraft Movie, Supergirl and Street Fighter. Digital Domain also works on advertising and games, and has built real-time digital humans, which can matter for projects with a digital double or de-ageing.

5. Cinesite Montreal

Part of the Cinesite group · Old Montreal · cinesite.com

Cinesite’s Montreal studio on Rue Saint-Antoine Ouest shares its address with sister companies L’Atelier Animation and Squeeze. The wider group includes Image Engine in Vancouver, Trixter in Germany and FX3X in Skopje, and covers VFX, animation and immersive work.

Cinesite won an Emmy in September 2026 for its visual effects on Spider-Noir. Recent VFX case studies include Warfare, Blitz, KAOS and Nautilus. The shared Montreal building is useful for productions that need both animated characters and live-action effects.

6. Raynault VFX

Independent · Montreal · raynault.com

Raynault VFX is a Montreal visual effects studio working mostly on high-end episodic and feature projects. Yanick Dusseault is its creative partner.

Recent credits include season 2 of Fallout for Amazon, season 2 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians for Disney, Project Hail Mary for Amazon, season 2 of Sugar and Mayday for Apple.

7. FOLKS

Part of Pitch Black · Montreal · folksvfx.com

FOLKS was founded in Montreal in 2012 and has grown to studios in Toronto, Bogotá, Saguenay, Mumbai, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Atlanta and London. Since 2020 it has been part of Pitch Black, a group that also includes RSP and El Ranchito and has more than 1,400 VFX artists. Pitch Black is backed by funds managed by EagleTree Capital.

Its filmography features Wednesday, It: Welcome to Derry, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, season 2 of Twisted Metal, Final Destination Bloodlines, Happy Gilmore 2 and Marty Supreme. Laura Schultz heads the Montreal studio.

8. Hybride

Part of Ubisoft · Piedmont and Mile End · hybride.com

Hybride has its headquarters in Piedmont in the Laurentians and a studio in Montreal on Avenue de Gaspé. It is part of Ubisoft. In 2025 it won an Emmy for its work on season 2 of Andor and a Children’s and Family Emmy for Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Selected work includes The Mandalorian and Grogu, season 2 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and season 1 of The Last Frontier. The studio published a 2026 reel, though its careers page listed no open roles at the time of writing.

9. BUF Montréal

Part of BUF · Montreal · buf.com

BUF is a Paris visual effects company with facilities in Paris and Montreal, and its site lists a separate jobs contact for the Montreal studio.

Recent projects include the French features 13 Jours, 13 Nuits and Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, season 3 of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon and a music video for The Weeknd. It is a natural fit for French and Quebec co-productions that want a single team working in both languages.

10. Pixomondo Montreal

Part of Sony Pictures · Westmount · pixomondo.com

Pixomondo, part of Sony Pictures, runs a Montreal VFX studio in Westmount alongside sites in London, Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver, Frankfurt and Stuttgart. It was hiring Montreal layout and matchmove staff in February 2026.

Featured work includes season 2 of House of the Dragon, The Penguin and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Its PXO Clara division handles virtual production, from LED volume design to on-set supervision, which helps productions that want in-camera effects and post under one roof.

11. Mathematic Studio

Part of Mathematic (Paris) · Plateau-Mont-Royal · mathematic.tv

Mathematic was founded in Paris in 2006 by Guillaume Marien and has a Montreal studio on Boulevard Saint-Joseph Est, alongside Paris, Montpellier and Los Angeles. Art direction leads its VFX, animation and motion design, and most of its output is commercials, music videos and brand content.

Brand clients include Apple, Cartier, Nike, Lancôme and TAG Heuer, and music clients include Coldplay and The Weeknd. Its Mathematic Film arm handles series VFX (The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Constellation), and Player Two makes game trailers for clients such as Ubisoft and Behaviour.

12. Alchemy 24

Part of Rodeo FX · Montreal · alchemy24.com

Alchemy 24 (Alchimie 24 in French) has made visual effects for film and television in Montreal since 2007 and is now a Rodeo FX company. It specialises in invisible effects and 3D environments, handled from concept to final delivery.

The studio’s scale and focus suit Quebec features and series that need invisible effects and digital environments more than large creature work. It publishes making-of material for recent projects on its news page.

What to look for in a Montreal VFX studio

Match the studio to the shot count. The global groups here (Framestore, DNEG, Digital Domain, Cinesite, Pixomondo) can staff hundreds of artists across several countries, which suits tentpole features. Mid-sized houses such as Raynault VFX, Hybride and Alchemy 24 give a supervisor more direct access to senior artists, and often handle a defined set of sequences on a larger show.

Check where the work will be done. Many of these studios split a show across sites, and Quebec’s tax credits apply to eligible expenses and salaries in the province, so it is worth confirming early how much of the work, and which artists, will be in Montreal.

Language and co-production experience matter for local and French projects. Studios such as BUF, Rodeo FX and Mathematic work regularly on French features and Quebec productions, and can run reviews in French or English.

Ask how shots, versions and notes are tracked. A VFX show produces thousands of renders and turnovers, and much of the friction sits in review: notes against the wrong version, feedback lost in email, and no clear record of what was approved. A studio with a tidy review loop and a single place for the latest versions will save time in the final weeks before delivery.

How Fabric helps VFX teams

Fabric gives a VFX team one workspace for its files, client feedback and production knowledge, with AI search across all of it. Renders, plates, reference and turnovers sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space, and heavy files open without a full download. There is more on storing large output in where rendering files should live.

Search works by meaning across documents, images and transcribed recordings, and colour search finds frames and reference by shade. Similar search surfaces related plates or concept art from one selected image, comparing composition, colour and subject.

For shot review, a team shares a file or folder with the client or production as a commenter, and the shared link works without sign-up. Through annotations, reviewers leave timestamped comments on video, draw on a frame and attach a note, or draw on a still image. The artist marks each comment completed as it is addressed, so a round of notes works like a checklist. The review and approval page shows the workflow end to end.

Finished cuts and reels can be delivered as published, view-only pages with password protection, and link analytics shows when each named recipient opened them and for how long.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best VFX studio in Montreal?

It depends on the project. Rodeo FX is one of the largest studios founded in the city, Hybride won two Emmys in 2025, and Cinesite won an Emmy in 2026 for Spider-Noir. For very large features, the Montreal studios of Framestore, DNEG and Digital Domain are the usual options.

Why do so many VFX studios work in Montreal?

The city combines a large pool of trained artists with Quebec’s tax credits, which Montréal International puts at 27 to 41 per cent of eligible expenses and salaries.

What happened to MPC and Mikros in Montreal?

Technicolor Group, which owned MPC, The Mill and Mikros Animation, began shutting down in February 2025. In March 2025 Rodeo FX acquired most of Mikros Animation and some Technicolor Canada assets, and TransPerfect bought other parts of the business.

Which Montreal VFX studios work on commercials?

Mathematic focuses on commercials, music videos and brand content, and Rodeo FX has a dedicated advertising and experiences division. Digital Domain also takes on advertising work. For character-led or motion design spots, see the best animation studios in Montreal.

How should a production share shots with a Montreal VFX studio?

Most productions use a shared workspace with clear versioning, so the studio and the client always look at the same render. Agree early on how notes are given and closed out, whether by timestamped comments, drawn frame notes or a shot tracker, and who signs off each version.

Related lists

VFX in other cities: Toronto · New York · London · Los Angeles · Chicago

More in Montreal: Creative agencies · Animation · Post-production · Video production

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for creative teams · Fabric for video editors · Review and approval