Weta FX Moves Into Taiwan With Moonshine Studio Investment
New Zealand's Weta FX, the visual effects company behind The Lord of the Rings and Avatar, will invest in Taiwanese animation and visual effects studio Moonshine Studio. Visual effects, or VFX, is the digital work that builds creatures, worlds and crowd scenes that were never filmed.
The deal sits inside a wider partnership between Weta FX and the Taiwan Creative Content Agency, known as TAICCA, a government-backed body that supports the island's creative industries. The two sides say the aim is to make Taiwan a hub for artificial intelligence in the screen and content businesses across Asia. Variety reported the details on 6 November 2026.
Weta FX chief executive Daniel Seah and TAICCA chair Sue Wang signed a memorandum of understanding, a written statement of intent that is not yet a binding contract, at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest in Taipei. Taiwan's Minister of Culture, Li Yuan, attended the signing. Neither side gave a figure for the Moonshine investment.
Moonshine Studio was founded by Lin Chia-chi. Seah said the investment had been around six months in the making. Wang said Moonshine's team ranked first among Taiwan's VFX houses.
The partnership has three parts. The first is the co-investment in Moonshine. The second is a technology platform that will back Taiwanese film and television projects and use Weta FX's international reach to bring them to wider audiences. The third is a talent programme that lets Taiwanese filmmakers, especially younger ones, come to Weta FX for exchanges and internships, with the possibility of later jobs there.
Seah has spent close to 16 years as a VFX chief executive, including 14 years running Digital Domain. He joined Peter Jackson's Weta FX nearly two years ago. Speaking about artificial intelligence, a field where studios are still working out what works, he said: "On the AI road, nobody is really far, far ahead." He added: "while investing in Taiwan, we're investing in technology."
Variety first reported the partnership as an exclusive on 4 November, two days before the signing, when the companies had planned to unveil it at the Taipei festival. Weta FX executives Kimball Thurston, Sean Noel Walker and Andrew Moffat were also present, along with TAICCA president Erica Wang.
For the wider industry, the story is about where screen technology work is being built. Studios increasingly look beyond their home markets for skilled artists, and a deal that pairs investment with training suggests that Taiwan's VFX teams are being watched closely. Whether the AI platform and the talent programme deliver on their stated aims will show up in the projects that come out of them over the coming years.
