UK post-production company Cinesite has been struck a major deal for visual effectswork on New Line's forthcoming The GoldenCompass.

TheGolden Compass is New Line's first in a planned trilogy based on PhillipPullman's His Dark Materials books.Chris Weitz will direct the story of a young girl whotravels through parallel universes.

TheUK shoot starts in Septemberand Cinesite is already working on characters andenvironments. Mike Fink, who has worked on X2and Road ToPerdition, is serving as visual effects supervisor.

TheCinesite deal is the largest body of work theproduction has awarded to any single facility. Cinesitehas expanded its 3D team in the past two years.

"Thishas been a major development for Cinesite," saidmanaging director Antony Hunt. "We have made majorinvestments in handpicking the best talent in order to grow our highly skilledexisting team of 3D artists and as a result have won this significant Dark Materials contract."

Cinesite is also currently working on visual effectsfor Miss Potter and Disney's Underdog. The company recently worked onThe Omen, Stormbreakerand X-Men: The Last Stand.