DNEG Acquires Metaphysic, Firm Responsible For AI De-Aging In ‘Here’
DNEG Group, parent company of the visual effects and animation studio whose work has recently included the Oscar-nominated Dune: Part Two, the animated features The Garfield Movie and That Christmas, and the upcoming hybrid remake of How to Train Your Dragon, has announced the acquisition of the artificial intelligence software development company Metaphysic (formerly known as Metaphysic AI).
The technology adds to DNEG’s rapidly-growing AI group called Brahma, after the Hindu god of creation. The studio characterizes Brahma’s suite of tools as “AI-powered products for enterprise, IP rights-holders, and content creators across industries, empowering them to create the highest quality content at scale.” More succinctly, it has said it wants to develop “the industry’s leading photorealistic AI video creator.”
When the deal is done, DNEG’s Brahma division will employ over 800 engineers and creative technologists. The company has been able to aggressively pursue AI since last year thanks to a $200 million investment from the Arab investment firm United Al Saqer Group.
The announcement of the Metaphysic’s acquisition arrives one week after the Visual Effects Society Awards gave its ’emerging technology award’ to the Metaphysic’s team responsible for the ‘neural performance tools’ developed for de-aging effects on characters seen in the 2024 Robert Zemeckis drama Here. The tools were also used to animate a likeness of actor Lee Perry in Mad Max: Fury Road and for the animation of the robot Rook in Alien: Romulus.
Metaphysic CEO Thomas Graham will serve as president of Brahma, and upon integration of Metaphysic with Brahma’s technology and team, Graham will transition to become CEO of Brahma. Graham said in a statement:
Brahma offers every business a strategy for generative AI content creation, from owning their data to delivering amazing, user-customized AI content across video, image, and audio. By bringing together the incredible teams at Brahma and Metaphysic, we can deliver an operating system for generative AI content that starts with securing your IP and ends with new revenue streams built on a suite of products that deliver Hollywood-quality content and experiences at unprecedented scale.
Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but an article in Variety shed some light on some of the financial elements at play in this deal:
According to today’s announcement, UASG [United Al Saqer Group] and DNEG Group intend to invest a further $25 million into Brahma. Per the agreement, Metaphysic’s existing investors, including Liberty Global, S32, TO Ventures and 8VC will become shareholders in Brahma. In today’s announcement, privately-held DNEG Group reported a post-transaction value of Brahma at $1.43 billion.
DNEG Groups various other AI products include Prime Focus’s Clear asset management tools and Ziva technology for digital human and character simulations. Ziva recently received a 2025 SciTech Academy Award, for its simulation of “muscles, fat, fascia, and skin for digital characters,” as seen in The Garfield Movie, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, and the streaming series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.