Oscars 2020: Visual Effects Society expresses disappointment over the Academy for their Cats CGI spoof

The Visual Effects Society has lashed out at the Academy after a skit ridiculed the visual effects on the much-critiqued film Cats, reports The Guardian.

Cats stars James Corden and Rebel Wilson arrived on stage dressed as their characters from the film, when presenting the award for best visual effects during the Oscars. Taking a dig at the special effects in the film, the two quipped, “Nobody more than us understands the importance of good visual effects.”

Check out James Corden and Rebel Wilson's video

The BEST! @RebelWilson and @JKCorden "As cast members of the motion picture #Cats, nobody more than us understands the importance of good visual effects" | #OSCARS #Oscars2020 pic.twitter.com/vMAb4IvIXV

— Valery Rose (@VALROSEHEART) February 10, 2020

Even though it evoked the heartiest of laughs from audience members on the day, the joke has not gone down well with the Visual Effects Society, which released a statement in response to Academy's move. Composed of more than 4,000 members, the society's statement read, "The best visual effects in the world will not compensate for a story told badly. On a night that is all about honoring the work of talented artists, it is immensely disappointing that The Academy made visual effects the butt of a joke. It demeaned the global community of expert VFX practitioners doing outstanding, challenging and visually stunning work to achieve the film-makers’ vision" (as quoted by The Guardian). Oscar-winning visual effects animator Hal Hickel also referred to it as a “dumb joke” on social media. Check out Hal Hickel's post

Once again the Academy finds a way to insult VFX artists. Usually it’s a dumb joke about “geeks” or “nerds”, this year it was a dumb joke implying the failure of “Cats” was poor VFX. — Hal Hickel (@halhickel) February 10, 2020

The Tom Hooper adaptation of the popular Andrew Lloyd Webber musical was reportedly one of 2019's worst films in terms of the box office numbers. The Guardian notes Cats cost Universal Studios a loss of $70 million.