On January 21, 2026 Epic Games visual effects supervisor Pat Tubach challenged comments from Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski about Unreal Engine and its use in film production. Verbinski had criticised the growing use of Unreal Engine, saying it contributes to “this sort of gaming aesthetic entering the world of cinema” and arguing that real light interaction and hand-crafted in-betweening are lost when productions rely on virtual tools.
Tubach pushed back in a statement provided to VGC, saying it is inaccurate to blame one tool for perceived problems in VFX and CGI. “It’s true that there are a lot more people making computer graphics than ever before, and with that scale comes a range of successes and failures – but aesthetic and craft comes from artists, not software,” he said.
He added that Unreal Engine is commonly used for pre-visualization, virtual production, and sometimes final pixels. Tubach wrote that the artists who worked on big blockbuster VFX films 10 to 15 years ago would have “only dreamt about having a tool as powerful as Unreal Engine on their desks to help them get the job done. And I should know – I was one of them.”
Tubach has more than 20 years of VFX experience. He began at Industrial Light & Magic in 1999 and rose to visual effects supervisor. His team earned Academy Award nominations for visual effects on Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker and Solo: A Star Wars Story. Tubach’s response frames the debate as one about how tools are used rather than an inherent failing of any single engine, and it highlights the gap between available software and the manpower and craft required to deliver high-end VFX.
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