Building Hong Kong as the “Oriental Hollywood”

Digital Domain, the Oscar award-winning VFX studio from Hollywood, is establishing its Research & Development (R&D) centre at Hong Kong Science Park to shape the future of digital entertainment.

Hong Kong’s unique position as a global innovation and technology (I&T) hub, combined with its vibrant creative industries, has attracted the leading Hollywood VFX studio Digital Domain to establish its Research & Development centre in the city. The new R&D centre will advance the creative frontier through uniting cutting-edge technology in different aspects, including the development of advanced AI-driven virtual human technology, and utilising AI technology in visual effects and 3D asset-based video production.

“Hong Kong has positioned itself from originally being an international financial centre to becoming more of a world-class technology hub and international centre for cultural exchanges. We are so lucky that we are in perfect timing to cooperate with the Hong Kong government,” said Daniel Seah, CEO of Digital Domain. “This is a great beginning as we set up our R&D centre in Hong Kong, allowing us to embrace the amazing Hong Kong market.”

Over the years, we have witnessed Benjamin Button’s journey aging in reverse in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, or superheroes fighting villains from far across the universe in the Marvel series. What you might not know is that the breathtaking visual effects we saw in some of the greatest movies are the result of the effort and time put in by Digital Domain, an Oscar award-winning VFX studio.

Founded in 1993, Digital Domain has been an industry leader in producing visual effects for hundreds of blockbuster films and TV series, commercials, game visuals, as well as experimental and immersive experiences. By combining with deep learning and virtual reality technologies, Digital Domain has iterated the construction process of AI virtual humans to create digital characters with emotional expressiveness and interactive capabilities. By driving the development of “Made in Hong Kong” films, Digital Domain aims to further strengthen Hong Kong’s status as the “Oriental Hollywood”. Powered by its leading advantage in motion-capture databases and AI technology, the studio envisions broader applications of AI virtual humans in other sectors, from Hong Kong’s film industry to education, banking, elderly care, and tourism.

Hong Kong, an Innovative Hub for Digital Entertainment

According to Seah, the presence of top local universities and their abundant resources in technology development played a key role in the decision to establish a presence in Hong Kong. “There are five universities in Hong Kong listed among the top 100 globally, which is why we believe we have the advantage of partnering with the Hong Kong government and universities to create a unique technology development roadmap.”

He added, “We are currently working on a few research projects with local universities. One of our intentions is to transfer those digital assets, including virtual humans, motion capture assets etc., from Hollywood to Hong Kong. By deploying the right resources and partnering with local universities, we start our journey by labeling those assets, followed by proper training of our AI model. Eventually, we will be able to use text to generate 3D models, marking a brand new chapter for Generative AI.”

“This is a great beginning as we set up our R&D centre in Hong Kong. On behalf of Digital Domain, I want to give a special thanks to Invest Hong Kong, who partnered with us from the very beginning and opened doors for us. I hope we can continue to partner together in this creative and innovative journey,” concluded Seah.