'One Battle After Another,' 'Frankenstein,' and 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' won top live-action production design awards
'KPop Demon Hunters' won best production design in an animated film
Apple TV+ dominated television awards with wins for 'Severance,' 'Palm Royale,' and 'The Studio'
The awards celebrate human creativity amid rising AI competition in design
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The Art Directors Guild honored the year's most exceptional production design teams at its 30th annual awards ceremony Saturday night, with 'One Battle After Another,' 'Frankenstein,' and 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' winning the top three live-action film awards while 'KPop Demon Hunters' took the animated prize, recognizing the vital role of human creativity in an era increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence. The three live-action winners claimed awards in contemporary, period, and fantasy categories respectively, positioning them as strong contenders for the upcoming Academy Awards in the production design category, with historical data suggesting that the fantasy winner 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' may have a particular advantage, as fantasy category winners have secured the Oscar in three of the past four years. On the television side, Apple TV+ emerged as the dominant streaming platform, claiming three of the top television production design awards for its shows 'Severance,' 'Palm Royale,' and 'The Studio,' demonstrating the streamer's commitment to high-quality visual storytelling across different formats. The awards come at a significant time for the industry as production designers face increasing competition from AI and computer-generated models, with the Art Directors Guild emphasizing in a statement that these celebrations underscore 'the vital role production designers and art directors play in shaping cinematic storytelling and immersive environments that define today's most celebrated films and television series.'
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Awards, Production Design, Film Industry, Television
The Art Directors Guild (ADG; IATSE Local 800) is a labor union and local of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE) representing 3,278 motion picture and television professionals in the United States and Canada.
The ADG's sponsored activities include the annual ADG Exce...
KPop Demon Hunters is a 2025 American animated musical urban fantasy film co-written and directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans. It was produced by Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix and animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks. It stars the voices of Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong, Ji-young Yo...
Person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event
A production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of a film and television story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the visual media's narrative, tone, setting, time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Working directly with the ...
The Fantastic Four, often abbreviated as FF, is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 (cover-dated November 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first superhero team created by arti...
Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment One Battle After Another , Frankenstein and The Fantastic Four : First Steps were the big winners at the Art Directors Guild awards Saturday night, winning the top three live-action awards in production design . KPop Demon Hunters landed the prize for best production design in an animated film. The three live-action films — which won in contemporary, period and fantasy categories respectively — now have a leg up for the production design award at the Oscars. though Fantastic Four may be in the strongest position: The fantasy winner has nabbed the Academy Award in three of the past four years. Meanwhile, Apple TV+ was the big winner on the television side. The streamer landed three of the top prizes, for episodes of Severance, Palm Royale and The Studio. (They won for one-hour contemporary single-camera, one-hour period single-camera, and half-hour single camera, respectively.) The ADG awards, the organization’s 30th, honor “the visionary production design teams behind the year’s most visually ambitious films, television series and music projects,” according to the organization. At a moment when human-led design is under threat by AI and computer models, the awards stand as a kind of rebuttal for what machines can’t do. “The event underscored the vital role production designers and art directors play in shaping cinematic storytelling and immersive environments that define today’s most celebrated films and television series,” the ADG said in a statement. Below is a complete list of winners: PERIOD FEATURE FILM Frankenstein Production Designer: Tamara Deverell FANTASY FEATURE FILM The Fantastic Four: First Steps Production Designer: Kasra Farahani CONTEMPORARY FEATURE FILM One Battle After Another Production Designer: Florencia Martin ANIMATED...
