Go Behind the Scenes of Some of 2020's Most Popular Movies

This was such a strange year—I feel like the times I wanted to feel normal I'd put a movie on, open my bag of popcorn, and just try to escape. One of my favorite yearly roundups is the one done by Insider where they show you the movie magic behind this year's hits.

It has all the stunts, camera trickery, and stars your heart desires.

Check out this video from Insider and let's talk after the jump.

Go Behind the Scenes of Some of 2020's Most Popular Movies

This was the year of the COVID compliance officer, but it also brought its own set of breakthroughs in the world of special effects. I know I'm still reeling after that Mandalorian reveal last week.

But that was TV.

Cinema really tried to engage in some interesting trends across imaginative animation, digital effects, lifelike practical effects, and cutting-edge stunt sequences. We saw incredible framing out of movies like Onward, which was a new spin on the buddy adventure from Pixar. But we saw leaps and bounds out of other companies who want to compete with Disney's animation domination.

3D-animated films found innovative ways to animate and light their worlds like in Netflix's Over the Moon.

This was also the year of the CGI animal, with Dolittle and The Call of the Wild answering the question of what it's like for huge stars to play across from people pretending to be dogs.

My favorite Hollywood story of the year is all the fans rebelling when they saw the original Sonic plans and getting them to reanimate the character. Sonic the Hedgehog used VFX technology to combine CG animals with live-action human characters and environments. And then did it all over again to make it look like the game...

Which felt like exactly where they should have started!

I loved seeing The Invisible Man. I thought it was such a smart use of the green screen and camera trickery to build scares. Everything felt like it was carefully planned and built suspense.

Of course, it's not all cameras and computers. The stunts in Mulan and Birds of Prey were really fluid. I have watched that Mulan spin-move so many times. Really interesting cinematography there. The fight scenes did a lot to accentuate the style and separate themselves from comparisons to other films. And the roller skating in Birds of Prey remains my favorite part of that movie.

Lots of cool stuff here.

What are your favorite VFX moments from this year? Let us know in the comments!

Still feeling nostalgic about 2020? Then check out the rest of our Year in Review 2020 coverage for more of our top picks, industry trends, and end-of-year takes.

Source: Insider