The California-based effects studio has opened its flagship facility in Montreal.

The first project to go at the Montreal hub is The Walk, based on the story of French high-wire artist Philippe Petit that Robert Zemeckis co-wrote, co-directs and co-produces.

“We are excited to be building upon Atomic Fiction’s growth, and evaluated several possibilities for this expansion,” said Atomic Fiction co-founder Kevin Baillie. “There is an incredible talent base of VFX artists in Montreal, which makes it an ideal place to put down roots.”

Baillie said Atomic Fiction has committed to a six-year lease on a customised 15,000 sq ft space.

Atomic Fiction is headquartered in Oakland and is best known for effects work on movies such as Star Trek Into Darkness, Transformers Age Of Extinction and Flight, among others.

“Since our inception, we’ve centralised all of our render farms and core computing power in the cloud, which allowed us to ramp up very quickly in Montreal since both facilities essentially operate under the same infrastructure and pipeline,” said Atomic Ficiton president Marc Sadeghi.