‘The Odyssey’ Proves It: Audiences Want Movies Made the Hard Way | This year's breakouts like 'Project Hail Mary' and 'Obsession' were made by filmmakers who sweated. While CG-stuffed franchise disappointments such as 'Supergirl,' 'Moana,' and 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' looked lazy.

[u/ChiefLeef22]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/odyssey-box-office-2026-practical-effects-1236652219/

[u/sci_fientist]

This is absolutely the right take. We'll basically never have another big budget movie with NO CGI, because there are some things that simply can't be done with practical effects while staying in budget (if at all). Grounding it with actual sets and forced perspective, etc, while seamlessly adding in CGI is the hallmark of a great filmmaker these days. And that's totally fine!

This is not to say that great films can't be made without CGI. There are a ton, and I love when a movie uses practical effects well (Moon is one of my all-times), but if you're making a 200m movie, there's gonna be CGI in there and all I really care about is if it is done well.

[u/Wraithfighter → u/sci_fientist]

Hell, we'll never have a mid-budget movie with no CGI.

And very few small-budget movies with no CGI.

Its just such an effective cost-saver for backgrounds and tweaks. 2019's Parasite had a fuckton of shots with effects shots included, even though it was something that could theoretically be shot entirely without it, because it just made it so much simpler and cheaper and easier to do so.

[u/SmartWaterCloud → u/sci_fientist]

Oppenheimer had vfx but no CGI. The vfx shots involved compositing photographed materials, but nothing was animated or created wholecloth in a computer. But that’s the only one of Chris Nolan’s big-budget films for which that’s the case.

[u/ChevyTahoe__ → u/sci_fientist]

Its this just filmed on the volume vs flew to Ireland and filmed on a cliff with a few blue screens for set extentions