An Animation Studio Grows in Budapest

Budapest’s DIGIC moves into the animated feature space with several ambitious projects.

In 2002, Alex S. Rabb and the late Andy Vajna, known for producing blockbusters like First Blood, Total Recall, and Terminator 3, formed DIGIC in Budapest. They shared a common vision that Hungarian CG animation talent could compete on the world stage and be leaders in the arena. “After we established the studio, DIGIC’s focus quickly became fully 3D rendered content, although we occasionally engaged in visual effects work (Terminator 3),” says Alex S. Rabb, the studio’s CEO, and producer. “CG work remains our primary focus, but now it’s on a different scale: Over the past 20 years, we’ve grown to a size of nearly 400 staff.

Rabb, whose many impressive credits include “The Secret War” episode of Love, Death + Robots, Titanic, and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, says moving into animated features has always been a primary goal from the early days. “We have always thought of ourselves as filmmakers—but making that dream a reality, and doing so responsibly, meant steady construction work spanning nearly two decades. So it wasn’t until 2019, with a staff of around 330, that we embarked on developing our own feature.”

“We currently have six IPs in our development portfolio,” shares Rabb. “Four of these target the wider 4Q family space, two are adult IPs—and all are edgy, of course! But seriously, we aim to tell wildly entertaining stories yet also have a heart and a message at their core. We don’t want to preach, we’re not hitting people over the head with it, but the message is always there for those open to it.”

All the Right Tools

The artists at DIGIC use animation tools that are pretty much standard in the animation and VFX industry. “The backbone of our pipeline is Maya, where all our scene assembly takes place,” says the CEO. “It is also where our keyframe animation is done. Modeling can be done using almost any tool the artists are comfortable with; the artistic result matters. For effects, we use Houdini; we render in Arnold and composite in Nuke.”

Rabb says the studio is currently working towards its first greenlight—which may be just a few months away. “That is the nature of the business, and we are learning a lot while we’re pushing our first IP over the line,” he notes.

“It’s important to realize that producing your own IP is more like a marathon to the starting line than a sprint to the finish. Once everything is in place, we can produce a top-quality 90-minute feature in about 18-20 months.”

This year, Rabb and his team plan to continue strengthening their presence in animation, for example, at events like MIFA at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. “I’ll just say that anyone interested in what IPs we’ve been developing should attend our Studio Focus event on Thursday, June 15th at 11:30 am at Annecy’s Salle de la Volière venue,” says Rabb. “Or just stop by to chat with us any time at the market. We’ll be at Booth A.24. Besides the ongoing development work on our IPs, we will continue building upon the exciting relationships and discussions we’ve already established with possible partners. With a bit of luck, we’ll have some fantastic news to share soon!”

Rabb wants the global animation community to know that DIGIC is entering the feature animation industry. “We are now big enough to keep servicing our loyal clients from the games cinematics space while expanding into this exciting and challenging area. We are open to connecting with serious partners who want to be a part of this journey with us,” he says.

“It’s a tremendously exciting time for the industry, all things considered,” he concludes. “Besides the opportunities, there are challenges too, of course. But with the growing demand for quality animated content, we feel we are in a good position to achieve our goals.” ◆

For more info, visit digicpictures.com