Legacy Effects, LLC is an American special effects studio specializing in creature design, prosthetic makeup, animatronics, and specialty suits.[1]
Founding partners Lindsay Macgowan, Shane Mahan, John Rosengrant, and Alan Scott supervised projects at Stan Winston Studio for over 20 years before Winston's death in 2008.[2] After his death they formed their own company, Legacy Effects, with their first film being 2012 (2009).
Their first film outside of the United States was the Indian film Enthiran (2010), which was used for prosthetic makeup and animatronics.
The feature films Legacy Effects has contributed practical effects to include Avatar, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and the Huntsman, Life of Pi, Thor, RoboCop, Pacific Rim, Enthiran, 2.0 and X-Men: Days of Future Past.[3] Legacy Effects also provided effects for films in the Terminator and Jurassic Park franchises, Terminator Genisys and Jurassic World.[4][5]
Legacy contributed character design for films including Godzilla, John Carter, The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, Cowboys & Aliens, The Hunger Games and Avatar.
Their work has garnered Best Visual Effects Academy Award nominations for Real Steel and Iron Man.[6][7]
Legacy Effects has created effects for television shows such as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Colony, Agent Carter, Grey's Anatomy and The Big Bang Theory, and contributed work to over 900 commercials. Notable examples of their commercial work include Destiny, Halo, The Aflac Duck, Maxwell the Geico Pig, The KIA Hamsters, Lunchables' Platy the Platypus and Jackie the Jackalope, and the Jack Links Sasquatch campaigns.
Legacy created the iMut8r app, first released in October 2009.[8] A popular Halloween-themed photo manipulation app, iMut8r was named the iPhone App of the Week by Apple October 20, 2010. It is still regularly updated with new features.
Legacy Effects gained attention for a 9'9" (2.97m) cosplay robot that was unveiled at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con. Created through a partnership between Wired magazine, YouTube and Stan Winston School, the robot was built by Legacy over a period of 24 days and interacted with Comic-Con attendees throughout the four-day event, operated by a combination of suit performer and radio controlled animatronics.[9]
For Comic-Con 2014, Legacy designed and built a 13'6" (4.11m) tall animatronic creature called Bodock the Giant Creature.[10] Created through a partnership with Stan Winston School, Stratasys, and Wired magazine, the Giant Creature involved two separate animatronic characters and nine puppeteers.[11] A majority of the hard surfaces were 3D printedbyStratasys.[12] The goal of both events was to celebrate and promote practical special effects.
| Film | Year | Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Scared to Death | TBA | Special effects[13] |
| Alien: Romulus | 2024 | Special effects |
| Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 | 2023 | Special effects |
| Avatar: The Way of Water | 2022 | Special effects |
| Black Adam | 2021 | Special effects |
| Nightmare Alley | 2021 | Special effects |
| Finch | 2021 | Special effects |
| Godzilla vs. Kong | 2021 | Special effects |
| Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin | 2021 | Special effects |
| Antlers | 2021 | Special effects |
| The Suicide Squad | 2021 | Special effects |
| Underwater | 2020 | Special effects |
| The True Adventures of Wolfboy | 2019 | Special effects |
| Dark Phoenix | 2019 | Special effects |
| Terminator: Dark Fate | 2019 | Special effects |
| Captain Marvel | 2019 | Special effects |
| Avengers: Endgame | 2019 | Special effects |
| Indian 2 | 2019 | Special Makeup |
| The Mandalorian | 2019–present | Special effects |
| 2.0 | 2018 | Prosthetics and Animatonics |
| Avengers: Infinity War | 2018 | Special effects |
| Godzilla: King of the Monsters | 2018 | Special effects |
| Pacific Rim: Uprising | 2018 |
Special effects |
| The Shape of Water | 2017 |
Special effects |
| Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul | 2017 | Animatronics |
| Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle | 2017 |
Special effects |
| Power Rangers | 2017 |
Special effects |
| Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | 2017 |
Special effects |
| Spider-Man: Homecoming | 2017 |
Special effects |
| Middle Man | 2016 | Special effects |
| Suicide Squad | 2016 | Special effects |
| Max Steel | 2016 | Special effects |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows | 2016 | Design and Models |
| Alice Through the Looking Glass | 2016 | Special effects |
| Captain America: Civil War | 2016 | Special effects |
| X-Men: Apocalypse | 2016 | Special effects |
| The Jungle Book | 2016 | Special effects |
| The Revenant | 2015 | Special effects and Animatronics |
| Terminator Genisys | 2015 | Special effects and Animatronics |
| Jurassic World | 2015 | Special effects and Animatronics |
| Avengers: Age Of Ultron | 2015 | Special effects |
| The Signal | 2014 | Special effects |
| Godzilla | 2014 | Special effects |
| Wish I Was Here | 2014 | Suit Design and Fabrication |
| Project Almanac | 2014 | Specialty Props |
| Captain America: The Winter Soldier | 2014 | Suit Design and Fabrication |
| Muppets Most Wanted | 2014 | 80s Robot Design |
| X-Men: Days of Future Past | 2014 | Suit Design and Fabrication, Makeup effects |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | 2014 | Design and Models |
| Grudge Match | 2014 | Specialty Puppets |
| RoboCop | 2014 | Robocop Suit and Robotic effects |
| Pacific Rim | 2013 | Pilot Suits and effects |
| World War Z | 2013 | Character Design and Makeup effects |
| Iron Man 3 | 2013 | Prosthetics and Suit effects |
| Oblivion | 2013 | Specialty Costume Accessories |
| The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 | 2012 | Animatronic and Special make-up effects |
| Life of Pi | 2012 | Replica and Animatronic Animals |
| Total Recall | 2012 | Sinth Suits, Animatronics and Prosthetics |
| The Bourne Legacy | 2012 | Animatronic effects |
| Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn (web series) | 2012 | Suits and Weapons Design and Fabrication |
| The Watch | 2012 | Animatronic effects |
| The Amazing Spider-Man | 2012 | Lizard/Lizard Drone Character Designs and Prosthetic make-up |
| Snow White and the Huntsman | 2012 | Specialty Costumes |
| The Avengers | 2012 | Iron Man Suit and Practical effects |
| The Hunger Games | 2012 | Mutation Character Design |
| John Carter | 2012 | Character and Creature Design |
| 7aum Arivu | 2011 | Special effects |
| The Muppets | 2011 | 80s Robot and Muppet Man Design |
| The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 | 2011 | Animatronic and Special make-up effects |
| Real Steel | 2011 | Animatronic effects |
| Cowboys & Aliens | 2011 | Alien Creature effects |
| Thor | 2011 | Frost Giant Prosthetics and Suit effects |
| I Am Number Four | 2011 | Creature Design |
| Enthiran | 2010 | Animatronic effects and Prosthetic make-up |
| Passion Play | 2010 | Animatronic effects |
| Dinner for Schmucks | 2010 | Mechanical Vulture, Animatronic effects |
| Iron Man 2 | 2010 | Suit Construction and Animatronics: Iron Man/Whiplash |
| Alice In Wonderland | 2010 | Special make-up effects: Red Queen courtier characters creation and design |
| Shutter Island | 2010 | Visual and make-up effects |
| Avatar | 2009 | Character Design and Specialty Props Manufacturing (as Stan Winston Studio and Legacy effects) |
| 2012 | 2009 | Animatronic effects |
