As Iron Maiden mark their 50th anniversary with the global Run For Your Lives world tour and the upcoming release of Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition, Partizan Studio has created the animated visual world behind one of the most ambitious celebrations in rock history.
Following the recent release of the studio’s work on the Run For Your Lives tour, which transformed Iron Maiden’s classic 80s and 90s artwork into over two hours of immersive stadium-scale animation, Partizan Studio was invited back to create original animated sequences for Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition, extending the band’s mythology from the live stage to the cinema screen.
Produced by Partizan Studio and directed by Pete Candeland and Rick Thiele of Red Knuckles, the Run For Your Lives visuals were developed over 14 months with a global team of more than 50 artists, reimagining five decades of Iron Maiden iconography as high-definition animated worlds. Spanning moving matte paintings, traditional keyframe animation and Unreal Engine sequences, the work formed a complete visual language for the band’s landmark anniversary tour, which played to over a million fans across its first European leg.
Now, in Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition, that collaboration continues with newly created animation by Partizan Studio, produced specifically for the feature-length documentary. Directed by Malcolm Venville and produced by Dominic Freeman, the film traces Iron Maiden’s journey from the pubs of East London to the world’s biggest stadiums, combining unprecedented access to the band’s official archives with exclusive interviews, rare performance footage, and new animated sequences of their legendary mascot, Eddie.
Created in close collaboration with Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson, and manager Rod Smallwood, Partizan Studio’s work across both tour and film forms a unified visual chapter in Iron Maiden’s 50-year legacy.
Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition opens in cinemas worldwide from May 7.
CREDITS
Partizan — Production Company
Animation Director: Rick Thiele
Animation Director: Mario Ucci
Executive Producer: Jenny Beckett
Executive Producer: Duncan Gaman
Producer: Leo Green
Production Assistant: Sharlene Oola
Red Knuckles — Animation Studio
CG Supervisor: Jason Nuttall
Executive Producer At Red Knuckles: Malu Marquez
Executive Producer At Red Knuckles: Pedro Lino
Production Manager: Ocean Barrington-Cook
Production Manager: Giovanna Lucena
Creative Editor: Brian Raess
Storyboard Artist: Warwick Johnson-Cadwell
Previsualisation Artist: Hoops Kwok
Previsualisation Artist: Rodrigo Da Costa
Motion Capture Technician: Andrew Knight
Get Set Hire
Crash Mat Hire: Get Set Hire
Keeley Hire
Prop Hire: Keeley Hire
Costume Studio
Straitjacket Hire: Costume Studio
The Shiflett Bros
Eddie Sculpture Artists: The Shiflett Bros
Sculpture Photography / Photogrammetry: Matt Mrozek
Modeller: Eduardo Porceli Barbosa
Modeller: Matt Martins
Generalist: Moises Gomes
3D Animator: Marcelo Chiquillo
3D Animator: Ivan Xavier
3D Animator: Remy Herisse
3D Animator: Henrique Montanari
3D Animator: Aman Bhanot
3D Animator: Joshua Delaney
Mocap Retargeting: Micha Boström
FX: Wanderson Ferreira
FX: Gabriel Marcondes
Lead Lighting Artist: Andre Miranda
Matte Painter: Alan Marson
Assembly Editor: Leire Mugika
Dogzilla — 2D Concepts & 2D Animation Studio
2D Director: Marcio MOA Perrella Jr.
2D Line Producer: Ricardo Sardinha
2D Executive Producer: Antonio Eder
2D Executive Producer: Walkir Fernandes
2D Animator: Marcio MOA Perrella Jr.
2D Animator: Leo Moore
2D Animator: Deco Daviola
2D Animator: Thiago Geremias
2D Animator: Fernando Rangel
2D Clean / Colour: Ulisses Jucá
2D Clean / Colour: Brenda Maryan
2D Illustrator: André Stahlschmidt
2D Colour Concept: Thyago Macson
