Thilo Kuther, founder of Oscar- and Emmy -winning virtual production, visualization and VFX company Pixomondo, died Tuesday, November 29 due to cancer. The 58-year-old Frankfurt, Germany native died at home in Marina del Rey, California, according to his nephew Niklas Fissel.
Kuther set up Pixomondo in Stuttgart in 2001, and the studio built a reputation on video installations and 3D CG animation for corporate clients before moving into feature film work in 2005.
Over the following decades, the company racked up 20-plus industry awards and nominations, with standout credits including Martin Scorsese’s quintuple Oscar winner Hugo (2011), which snagged the year’s Academy Award for Visual Effects. Pixomondo has also helped bring entries in the Fast & Furious and Hunger Games franchises to the big screen, as well as multiple projects with German director Roland Emmerich such as Independence Day: Resurgence (2016), Midway (2019) and Moonfall (2022).
Pixomondo’s episodic projects include high-profile titles like Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for Paramount+, seven-time VFX Emmy winning HBO epic Game of Thrones as well as its follow up, House of the Dragon, The Mandalorian for Disney+, Prime Video’s The Boys, and Apple TV+ dystopian drama See.
Today, the studio group employs more than 600 people across seven studios and three LED volumes in Los Angeles, Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and London.
In October, Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired Pixomondo from Mayfair Equity Partners, which had taken a majority stake in 2018. The Mayfair deal, which was finalized under Kuther’s tenure as CEO and Executive Producer, valued the group at $65 million.
Most recently, Kuther was running a themed entertainment and design firm out of Marina del Rey dubbed Xmachina, a callback to the first company he ever founded. Kuther’s nephew Fissel works there as well. The talented executive is also survived by his wife, Claudia.
[Source: The Hollywood Reporter]
