Virtuos buys Sparx

BEIJING -- Shanghai-based vidgame company Virtuos has bought the assets and core team of VFX and animation company Sparx, and plans to reopen the company's Vietnam studio. The deal allows Virtuos to further expand the services offered to clients in the movie industry, it said in a statement. Virtuos provides digital entertainment production services and has been involved in movies since 2008, creating high-quality 3D models for films including this year's "Rango." Sparx is the 3D animation and VFX shingle behind movies such as the 2008 feature "Igor," starring John Cusack and Steve Buscemi. Virtuos CEO Gilles Langourieux said bringing together Virtuos' art production infrastructure with Sparx expertise in film-quality animation, cinematics and VFX would allow the company to offer a more fully integrated solution. Our origins in HD game production have afforded us the talents to create extremely high-quality assets, including digital doubles, for the movie industry," said Langourieux. The teams in Shanghai and Vietnam have already begun working together on new projects. After moving into new facilities in November, Sparx Vietnam will be expanded back to its original size of more than 100 staff in 2012. Sparx employs more than 100 animation professionals in Saigon and Shanghai, and aims to employ more than 200 by the end of 2012. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

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