Another Upcoming Marvel Movie Is Using The Mandalorian's VFX Technology

By now, many people know that the technology used for the visual effects in "The Mandalorian" represents a giant leap forward in filmmaking. Known as The Volume (or, more formally, StageCraft), the tech advances the well-known green screen technique for dropping actors into far-off landscapes and makes it "smart" through an LED panel system that reacts to on-set cameras by adjusting perspective and lighting using a real-time engine. "Unreal," which gaming fans know all about, is often the engine of choice.

Used to give realism to "The Mandalorian," The Volume (as described by Film Inquiry) is now being embraced by other productions under the Disney fold, as well as elsewhere. One production that has been announced as an adopter of StageCraft is Marvel's "Thor: Love and Thunder," (via The Hollywood Reporter). There's also Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" — when asked about whether or not he'd use the tech in a February tweet, director James Gunn responded, "Yes, some. where it fits." Warner Bros.' "The Batman" is also using VFX's StageCraft tech to complete certain scenes.

Now, Peyton Reed, who previously directed "Ant-Man" and "Ant-Man and the Wasp," and is working on the second season of "The Mandalorian," has indicated that his upcoming Marvel movie will also jump on the VFX bandwagon to take advantage of Stagecraft's features. In a tweet on May 17, Reed was short and to the point. It reads simply, "Welcome to The Volume. QUANTUMANIA Prep Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath May 2021." 

Reed's tweet is a little confusing, if you don't know the context. However, consider that he makes a reference to the StageCraft technology in the very first sentence, then uses the nickname for the movie he's working on now: "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania." As for Pinewood Studios — it is located in Iver Heath, within the county of Buckinghamshire, U.K., and it happens to be the location of ILM's third permanent StageCraft volume (the first and second are at Manhattan Beach Studios, where "The Mandalorian" was filmed; the fourth is in Australia's Fox Studios and will be the site of the visual effects work for "Thor: Love and Thunder" work).

The news isn't at all surprising. With "The Mandalorian" crew members becoming familiar with the technology, then going off to join other projects, word about The Volume is spreading. This may explain why Waititi, who directed the final episode of the first season of "The Mandalorian," is using it for "Thor: Love and Thunder," for example. 

Back in September 2020, The Ronin was already speculating that "Quantumania" would be supported by StageCraft as well, as Reed is another director who has come to know about the VFX advance through "The Mandalorian." The publication also points out that the technique requires fewer production crew members to be put in harm's way for set construction while reducing the need for travel, which are both helpful considerations in a still COVID-19 wary world.

We're not sure if the use of StageCraft means no more cool physical locations at all — the previous film, "Ant-Man and the Wasp," actually featured the largest set built for a MCU movie, Hank Pym's lab (according to Reed on the Digital HD release's audio commentary, as reported by Comicbook.com). But the last line of Reed's tweet also shows that production is finally beginning on the movie, which is great news. The film's official release date of February 17, 2023 seems awfully far off, and this makes us hopeful that there won't be any delays to push it back even further.