The Story of ILM — The Company That Changed Visual Effects Forever
3rd September 2026
In May 1975, filmmaker and future Disney Legend George Lucas was ready to make his space opera. There was just one Death Star-sized problem: No special effects company in Hollywood was capable of bringing his ambitious vision to life. So, he founded Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), enlisting camera expert John Dykstra and a team of artists, builders, and dreamers to set up shop in an old warehouse in Van Nuys, California, to work on Star Wars (1977) — a film that would reshape an industry and make visual effects history.
“ILM was founded out of necessity,” Janet Lewin, SVP, General Manager, ILM, says in the video above. “There is no Star Wars without ILM — and there is no ILM without Star Wars.”
