Lucasfilm’s VFX unit ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) will be expanding their virtual production services, as the unit will support the production of Marvel Studios’ Thor: Love and Thunder.

Director Taika Waititi, who directed and appeared in season one of Lucasfilm’s hit Star Wars series, The Mandalorian, will now have access to the LED virtual production service known as “The Volume” a service he used on the series, for his next installment of the Thor franchise. After being designed, pioneered, and piloted at Disney’s Manhattan Beach Studios by The Mandalorian showrunner Jon Favreau for use on the Emmy-nominated series, the transformative technology will be replicated by ILM at Fox Studios Australia and Pinewood Studios UK, in addition to a second set up being built in Manhattan Beach.

Read: Taika Waititi Shares New Details and Concept Art For ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

The technology is a major step in the movie/TV-VFX industry, as it allows productions to create realistic, immersive, and responsive sets on location. This brings worlds created in post-production to life during filming. Using hundreds of LED screens and a game engine, the VFX setting changes with the movement of the cameras and allows for the virtual creation of locations without the need of any green screen technology, and in turn will make the post-production process faster and easier.

Production on Thor: Love and Thunder is expected to begin early next year in Australia. Chris Hemsworth returns as the titular character, alongside Tessa Thompson as Valkryie, and Natalie Portman, as Jane Foster, who will become the Goddess of Thunder. Also set to return are Korg (played by Waititi) and Miek who are said to play pivotal roles in the film.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter, MCU Cosmic