As Australia’s highest grossing film of the year, Kangaroo, readies to launch in the UK in January, Stage23, the VFX creatives behind the seamless ‘roo rendering has expanded their footprint to the UK.
The seasoned VFX team were prompted to seek a presence in London as demand in the co-production area grows and the singular expertise that Stage23 offer for mid-tier budget productions with high aesthetic values is increasingly sought out.
“In September we opened a London presence with a growing team, in order to take advantage of the current and emerging co-production opportunities. The Australian and British co-production arrangement is really favourable, reciprocally, and offers compelling opportunities, especially for British productions to also do some of their work here, because they get to take advantage of both the incentives within the UK, and then the slightly healthier incentive offered in Australia.”
Jonathan Hairman, Stage23 VFX Supervisor and Co-Owner
While the London presence is evolving, Stage23 has been working on the official Australian UK co-production of FING!, the feature film adaptation of David Walliams’ bestselling children’s book which has been co-commissioned by Stan in Australia and Sky in the UK. The production is led by Jo Sargent from London-based King Bert Productions, and Todd Fellman from Queensland’s Story Bridge Films with filming taking place in Queensland.
The team are also looking forward to the UK and further European territory releases of Kangaroo which commence from January 30.
Stage23 has prided themselves as the sleight of hand VFX partners for the visually arresting feature film production of Kangaroo which is set and filmed on location in Alice Springs, starring the hypnotic beauty of Arrernte Country, and a cast of scene stealing joeys and mobs of kangaroos.
Kangaroo, directed by Kate Woods, is the first feature from the Australian production arm of Studiocanal, Cultivator Films and is produced in partnership with Bunya Productions and Brindle Films and the support of Screen Territory, Screen NSW Made in NSW Fund and Screen Australia.
Premiering in September, the family film inspired by the life of Chris ‘Brolga’ Barns, founder of The Kangaroo Sanctuary, in Alice Springs has grossed over $8m globally and is retaining the mantle of highest grossing Australian release of 2025.
The iconic imagery that director Kate Woods envisioned for the film’s distinctively Australian essence was shaped by Stage23’s expertise from the early stages. Specifically, the enduring and euphoric opening scene of the film which features lead actor Lily Whiteley running through the red sands of the Alice (Springs) with a mob of kangaroos sets the tone for the ambitious visual rendering of nature, place and culture that the production captures.
“Stage 23 was involved with Kangaroo very early in pre-production, assisting with creative planning and budget. Our director Kate Woods, always knew that the opening of the film needed to be spectacular. The challenge on set was how to film and frame a mob of kangaroos that don’t actually exist in limited takes and with a 12 year old actor that could only run that far and fast in the desert heat. The team committed to countless hours of R&D into kangaroo morphology, skeleton, muscles, fur and how they all interact with each other. Our animation team watched hundreds of hours of kangaroo footage to understand kangaroo behaviour and movement. All to create a CG creature that would sit comfortably in a very naturalistic ‘non -CG’ film.”
Christian Debney, Stage23 Creative Director and Co-Owner
The Stage 23 team also leveraged from the wealth of knowledge provided by Chris Barns and his crew from the Kangaroo Sanctuary on animal behaviour, temperament and stylistic movement.
“We had a direct line to Chris Brolga, and it was very important for him that we got this right, and that people didn’t see it as a bit of CGI. For him, the whole reason he got involved in the project was because he wanted people to love kangaroos. He opened up his sanctuary to us and we could fly up there and he’d give us advice and feedback and talk to us about kangaroo behaviour, because he’s somebody who lives with kangaroos every day and cares for kangaroos and knows a lot about them, and it was a deeply personal thing for him.”
Jonathan Hairman, Stage23 VFX Supervisor and Co-Owner
It is this intense attention to detail wrapped in seasoned technical experience that has allowed Stage23 to garner a reputation for naturalistic creature rendering that is now globally sought after.
