The Mill (company)

In 1990, Robin Shenfield and Pat Joseph opened The Mill in Soho, London. Starting as a visual effects house for the advertising industry, it was the first VFX company in Europe to use exclusively digital methods.[1][2]

2002 saw The Mill open a studio in New York, becoming the first UK visual effects house to do so. The extension of operations to the US was successful, with the company growing to employ over 100 staff by 2009.

The Mill was also launched in Los Angeles in 2007 – the first UK visual effects house to open on the West Coast – and the new venture was highly successful.

In 2013 The Mill opened a new office in Chicago, sharing its premises with editorial house The Whitehouse in the Courthouse Place building.[3]

In 2022 The Mill opened its studio in Seoul, and because of the unity with MPC Advertising, also expanded to open studios in Paris, Amsterdam and Shanghai.

In 2011 The Mill was acquired by The Carlyle Group, who then sold it to Barclays Private Equity (later rebranded as Equistone Partners Europe).[4] On 15 September 2015, Technicolor SA acquired The Mill for €259 million from Equistone.[5]

In May 2020, the "Mill Film" section of the company was folded into the visual effects firm MR. X (another division of Technicolor - now known as MPC) in response to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, while The Mill continued as a separate entity.[6]

In January 2022, The Mill united with MPC Advertising to create one global studio network under The Mill brand. As a global studio The Mill made this change to scale up for a creative future, investing in new talent, production capabilities, and immersive technologies.

The Mill is involved in a range of visual effects and design projects in the commercial, gaming and music industries. The company's supervisors, producers and artists supported all stages of production, from pre-visualisation and conceptual artwork, shoot supervision, 3D, 2D and color grading through to delivery of the finished project.

Beam.tv was launched in 2002 as an online digital delivery and content management platform.[7] Beam was originally established as an in-house FTP process to allow clients to review and approve visual-effects work being completed by The Mill in London. AdText.tv launched in 2008 for commercial subtitling.[8]

Mill+ launched in 2013 as a creative studio focusing on motion graphics, design and animation.[9]

• Hilary and Jackie (1998)
• Gladiator (2000)
• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
• Black Hawk Down (2001)
• Cats & Dogs (2001)
• The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
• Dredd (2012)
• Ghost In The Shell (2017)
• Bumblebee (2018)
• Detective Pikachu (2019)
• Da 5 Bloods (2020)
• Love and Monsters (2020)
• In The Heights (2021)
• C'mon C'mon (2021)

• Band of Brothers (2001)
• ITV “1” idents (2006)
• BBC Two curve idents (2018–)
• BBC – 2020 Summer Olympics
• Doctor Who (2005-2011)
• Torchwood (2006-2009)
• The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007-2011)
• Atlanta (2016-2022)
• Tales From The Loop (2020-)
• Severance (2022-)

• The Chemical Brothers - Wide Open (2015)
• Jay-Z – The Story of O.J. (2017)
• Cashmere Cat – Emotions and For Your Eyes Only (2019)
• FKA Twigs – Sad Day (2019)
• Dua Lipa – Hallucinate (2020)
• Doja Cat and the Weeknd – You Right (2021)
• Kanye West – Hurricane (2021)
• Calvin Harris, Dua Lipa and Young Thug – Potion (2022)
• Megan Thee Stallion – Plan B (2022)
• Calvin Harris, Justin Timberlake, Halsey, and Pharrell Williams – Stay with Me (2022)

• Bud Light (2011)
• Xfinity – X1 (2015)
• John Lewis – The Boy & The Piano (2018)
• Ridley Scott's Hennessy – Seven Worlds (2019)
• PlayStation – The Last of Us pt. II (2020)
• Burberry – Festive (2020)
• Smart Energy – Einstein (2021)
• Verizon – The Reset (2021)
• Paramount+ – Journey to the Peak (2021)