Mike Cozens

Between mid 2018 and early 2020 Mike was Head of Weta’s Animation Department, managing the team across multiple films in the facility. He supervised animation on Disney’s Lady and the Tramp (2019), creating the CG dogs’ photoreal performances. He also supervised Alita: Battle Angel (2019), winning a VES Award for the cyborg’s nuanced performance alongside live-action characters throughout the whole movie.

Mike was the Animation Supervisor on The Green Knight (2021), The Suicide Squad (2021), and the VES Award-winning Avatar: Flight of Passage (2017),a 3D flying-simulator ride for Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park.

Working closely with Director David Lowery on Pete’s Dragon (2016), Mike created the animated CG dragon central to the film. He was an Animation Supervisor on Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) and Senior Animator on the first and second Hobbit films. Smaug’s animation and the tissue system used for all of the dragon’s movement, from simple actions to flight launching, were groundbreaking.

Other credits as Animation Supervisor include Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015), The Wolverine (2013), Prometheus (2012) and X-Men: First Class (2011). Mike was a Lead Animator on James Cameron’s Avatar (2009), which won an Oscar for Visual Effects.