Deluxe has signed a definitive agreement to acquire visual effects house Atomic Fiction, which previously enabled Joseph Gordon-Levitt to walk in the clouds between the Twin Towers in 2015's The Walk. Atomic Fiction will become part of Deluxe-owned VFX brand Method Studios.

The terms of the deal, which is expected to close during Q3, were not disclosed.

Atomic Fiction was founded in 2010 by a couple of alums of Robert Zemeckis' former Imagemovers Digital facility; since then, it has been Zemeckis' go-to VFX house, working on his films The Walk, Flight, Allied and the upcoming Welcome to Marwen.

With bases in San Francisco and Montreal, which will be rebranded as Method, Atomic Fiction also contributed to films such as Star Trek Beyond, Deadpool and VFX Oscar winner Blade Runner 2049. Among TV projects, credits include work on Stranger Things and Game of Thrones.

Atomic Fiction co-founder Kevin Baillie will assume the title of creative director and senior VFX supervisor at Method Studios, and will remain based out of San Francisco. Co-founder Ryan Tudhope will continue to lead the Montreal operation, assuming the new title of executive creative director, Method Studios. Both will report to Ed Ulbrich, president of Deluxe VFX and virtual/augmented reality for Method. According to the companies, Atomic Fiction's approximately 300 full-time and freelance employees are expected to join Method Studios when the transaction closes.

Method has bases in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Vancouver, Melbourne, Sydney and Pune, India. It recently worked on movies including Ant-Man and the Wasp and the upcoming Christopher Robin, Aquaman and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

According to the companies, the deal will enable the combined entity "to take on the biggest VFX sequences and even full features" while offering an "advantageous cost structure through incentives and low-cost production centers." The Montreal location is expected to become a flagship studio for Method as part of a strategy that also includes an expansion in Pune, which is already underway.

"We’ve been fans of Atomic Fiction’s work for a long time — it is outstanding and clients love them," said Ed Ulbrich, president of Deluxe VFX and virtual/augmented reality for Method. " When we started talking and met Atomic Fiction founders Kevin Baillie and Ryan Tudhope, we learned what a great culture they’ve built, and our vision for the business resonated with them as well. It was clear to all of us that we will reach our goals faster together.”

The deal doesn't include Conductor, the cloud rendering technology firm, that was developed by and spun out of Atomic Fiction.