Pixar's Up Hoping For a Best Picture Oscar
For the 2010 Oscars, a dramatic change will take effect for the Best Picture Category. The nominees will expand from 5 to 10, giving more movies the opportunity to fight for the night's top prize. Up was one of the best critically reviewed and commercially received films of the year, and with 5 extra slots open, it may find itself fighting against some live action fare.
The first and only time an animated film has been nominated for Best Picture was in 1991 for the Disney classic, Beauty and the Beast. Up is looking to follow in those history making steps to surpass the confines of the Animated Feature category. Up director Pete Docter, told Reuters that his film should be judged in the same way as any other, regardless if it's live action or not.
"We happen to use computers to be telling the story, but it's first and foremost about the storytelling, just like anything else. " he said. "For the world to look at it that way as well, that would be great."
With there being so many Best Picture spots available for the taking this year, many are wondering if there will be enough high quality films available to fill the void. Only time will tell what will make it to the Oscar ballot.
Poll: Has CGI Improved the Movie Industry?
(movies.ie) With the advances made in computer generate imagery, the movie industry has changed greatly within the last 15 years. Each passing year sees the power and beauty of these effects grow, creating vast star systems like those of the Star Wars franchise or the destruction and chaos wracked on the planet Earth as the people try to cling to survival like that of 2012. It seems that technology has become a directors best friend in the movie business - why spend a huge chunk of your budget on creating a set when you can just green scene it and drop the effects in later!
Ask yourself though - does this take from the heart of the cinema? Transformers 2, did you even know Megan Fox was in that movie? When we spend our time staring wide-eyed at the colossal(and super shiny) robots are we missing out on decent plots? What's the point in actually writing a decent movie when a few cheap CGI effects can guarantee a few million return in the box office?
Vote today: http://www.movies.ie/features/Poll___Has_CGI_improved_the_Movie_industry
Sony Imageworks Creates New Digital Sector : Sony ColorWorks
(vizworld.com) Sony is expanding their film business by adding a new business to their collection : Sony Colorworks. A digital post arm to work with their existing Sony Pictures Imageworks, they've already completed work on a few films including "Zombieland", "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs", and "Micheal Jackson's This Is It's in relative silence.
"The idea is if you come here you can have everything done in one place," said Chris Cookson, prexy of Sony Pictures Technologies and onetime tech exec at Warner. Technicolor ran a DI facility in the Stage 6 building but ankled earlier this year. Sony seized the opportunity to set up its own third-party post facility.
The DI field is very competitive, but Sony has a leg up given the tight integration they will have with Sony ImageWorks and Sony's sound department, both already used by several companies.
"Star Trek", "Harry Potter", & "Transformers" Fuel List Of 2010 People's Choice Awards Nominees
The revival of the "Star Trek" film franchise and the runaway comedy hit "The Hangover" were among the nominees for favorite movie announced today for the 2010 People's Choice Awards.
"The Proposal," "Twilight" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" rounded out the category.
FAVORITE FRANCHISE (Mobile Voting Category)
-- "Harry Potter"
-- "Star Trek"
-- "Twilight"
-- "Transformers"
-- "X-Men"
FAVORITE MOVIE
-- "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"
-- "Star Trek"
-- "The Hangover"
-- "The Proposal"
-- "Twilight"
Full Press: http://cbs2.com/tv/2010.Peoples.Choice.2.1304141.html
Hobbit Director Volunteers for Q&A Night
(stuff.co.nz) Robert Pattinson 'heading to NZ' Video: Fang-tastic 'Strong cast' in Kiwi film debut Andrew's classic Kiwi tale Mel Gibson's Mad Max replacement named Taylor Lautner rises in New Moon A Prophet up for six European film awards Del Toro promises 'magic' in Hobbit Digital age new era for film Hugh Grant 'suicidal' over own films
Film director Guillermo del Toro is to take time out from making The Hobbit to help out some other little movie guys in Wellington.
Mexico-born del Toro has given up his valuable time to help independent New Zealander Sam Kelly raise money to make a musical feature film. One For The Road, directed by Kelly, is due to begin filming in January, with just $60,000 of its $1.5 million budget raised so far.
In a bid to close the gap, the film's makers are hoping to sell out Wellington's Paramount Theatre tonight.
If they do, they will raise another $20,000 with An Evening with Guillermo del Toro, a question and answer event from 8pm. This will be facilitated by Jonathan King, director of the New Zealand movie Under the Mountain.
Having del Toro, who directed Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy series, on board was a massive coup, Kelly said.
"It's great that he's taking that first step in the relationship with Wellington because, you know, Peter Jackson had a really strong relationship with Wellington, and Guillermo has been great."
Del Toro will do his best to answer questions about The Hobbit and his past films, along with his intriguing personal history - including the 1997 kidnap of his father in Mexico.
One For The Road producer Bonnie Slater worked with Richard Taylor at Weta Workshop, where she met del Toro and asked for his help.
"She told him about the project, said we were making this film, and 'we need more money to make this happen, would you be interested in supporting us?', and he said he'd love to," Kelly said.
The film is billed as the story of a Palmerston North band made up of close friends and high hopes. It is adapted from the 2005 musical It's a Whanau Thing.
Canada Continues to Draw U.S. VFX Gigs
(variety.com) Although the Canadian dollar is almost at par with the U.S. dollar, federal and provincial incentives continue to attract U.S. and international productions. On the federal level, there is a 16% labor tax credit when using Canadian labor. This year both Ontario and Quebec expanded their existing 25% tax credit that previously only covered labor costs. Now qualifying local spends for goods and services are also eligible for the 25% refundable tax credit.Additionally, government-guaranteed grants offset 14%-23% of all qualified expenses; there is a 1% to 2% bump up if there is Albertan ownership or local key creative personnel. British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Manitoba all have labor tax credits.
Bonus: Post-production expenditures, even for films shot outside the country, also qualify for tax incentives. Ontario offers a 20% vfx tax credit on labor, which can be combined with the 25% Ontario spend credit and the federal labor credit. CGI and shots utilizing greenscreen qualify for an additional 5% tax credit in Quebec. British Columbia offers 15% extra tax credit on digital animation or vfx labor.
Top facilities: Pinewood Toronto Studios; North Shore Studios, Vancouver
Key contacts: Hans Fraikin, film commissioner, Quebec Film and TV Council; Susan Croome, British Columbia film commissioner; Donna Zuchlinski, manager of film, Ontario Media Development; David Carter of Canada Film Capital; Carole Vivier, CEO and film commissioner, Manitoba Film & Music; Jeff Brinton, Alberta film commissioner
Alberta Film Commission: albertafilm.ca
Quebec Film and TV Council: qftc.ca
Toronto Film Office: toronto.ca/tfto
British Columbia Film Commission: bcfilmcommission.com
Ontario Media Development: omdc.on.ca
Manitoba Film & Music: mbfilmmusic.ca/
Clash of the Titans: A Wild Assortment of Creatures
(filmschoolrejects.com) Warner Bros.
has officially unleashed the first teaser trailer for their upcoming epic Clash of the Titans, which comes from The Incredible Hulk director
Louis Leterrier. It is a remake of the 1981 Desmond Davis film of the
same name, which tells the story of Perseus (Sam Worthington), a great
warrior on a quest to save Princess Andromeda (Alexa Davalos). But before he can do that, he will encounter all kinds of wild and dangerous creature.
And that’s the hook — at least for me — in this first trailer. There are some wicked cool creatures in this movie, some whose designs appear borrowed from the likes of Lord of the Rings or Pan’s Labrynth,
but that doesn’t make them any less cool. As we saw with the first set
of leaked posters, the art design in this film looks sharp. The rest of
it is a bit unimpressive — the rock soundtrack keeps things up beat,
the action doesn’t seems stock-and-trade, and I’m still not sold on
that acting ability of Sam Worthington.
However, Louis Leterrier is a good director with an eye for big action
— and this trailer has enough energy to keep me interested.
See for yourself below, followed by some hi-res stills that I grabbed from the HD version (available at Yahoo Movies) of the trailer showing off some of the film’s various creatures. Clash of the Titans hits theaters March 26, 2010.
Creature Stills: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/clash-of-the-titans-trailer-neilm.phpDreamworks, Pixar Artists Come Out For Burbank Animation Expo
• The most influential cartoonist of this century, Ronald Searle Endorses CTN-X. "I am happy for my name to be used in association with the CTN-Xpo. I am very pleased to be honored like this & quite surprised that people still think of me!" ~ Ronald Searle http://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/matt-jones/
• Dreamworks Animation talent goes to CTN-X with Production Designer Kathy Altieri, Animation Supervisor Dave Burgess, 3D animator Jason Ryan and many more.
• Over 300 years of top talent talk casually about their careers and share industry secrets. Peter de Sève, Harald Siepermann, Kent Melton, Mike Mignola, Lou Romano along with live demonstrations from top industry talent maquette artists Kent Melton and Ruben Procopio and many more all weekend long.
• Find out the other secret from "The Secret of the Kells" with creators and moderator Charles Solomon.
• The City of Burbank declares "Animation Week" for the Creative Talent Network.
• Join us in this rare opportunity when leading characters designers from around the world get together for this round table entitled "The Line Kings" sponsored by Character Design Blog. http://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/the-line-kings/
• Over 50 presenters who have contributed to some of the highest grossing films in the history of animation, 60 exhibitors, studio portfolio reviews, after hours networking, screenings and an opportunity of a lifetime to meet and greet in an intimate privileged setting with this group. http://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/schedule/the_crew/
• Special Screenings of “The Secret of the Kells” followed by round table discussions with the Producer and Director moderated by LA Film Critic Charles Solomon. “Banjo the Woodpile Cat” 30 years later with Don Bluth and Gary Goldman moderated by Cartoon Brew Founder and Animation Historian Jerry Beck.
• Recession Buster Raffle. $1000 cash plus prizes. One winner a day.
• Pixar is in the house with Art Director Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi, Animator and founder of Spline Doctors Andrew Gordon, Character Designers Derek Monster, Scott Morse, Bill Presing and more.....click here!
CTN-X takes place at the Burbank Marriott Convention Center with ample discounted parking, conveniently located near the Burbank Airport and Amtrak Station. Early bird pricing and discounted rates are available until Nov 15th for students, active military and professional industry organizations. Have over 100 conversations in one weekend at this very different event. Early bird prices extended to Nov 15th. Prices start at $25 for exhibit floor only. For more information and to register, please visit: www.ctnanimationexpo.com or call, (800) 604-2238.
Don't forget to use your code BLGSX09 for an extra 10% off on any 1-day and 3-day general pass.
"The Dark Tower" Foundation Crumbles
(darkhorizons.com) "Lost" showrunners JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof aren't going to be doing their long talked about adaptation of Stephen King's fantasy saga "The Dark Tower" after all.
Abrams tells MTV that "The 'Dark Tower' thing is tricky. It's such an important piece of writing. The truth is that Damon and I are not looking at that right now. After working six years on 'Lost,' the last thing I want to do is spend the next seven years adapting one of my favorite books of all time. I'm such a massive Stephen King fan that I'm terrified of screwing it up."
By letting it go, the "Star Trek" helmer says he's keen to see someone else's interpretation of the property - "I'd do anything to see those movies written by someone else. My guess is they will get made because they're so incredible. But not by me."
Lindelof adds that the adaptation of "Watchmen" gave him pause - "Having seen Zack [Snyder] go through what he went through on 'Watchmen' in terms of saying where can I digress from the material, I just get headaches thinking about changing anything."
French VFX Startups Buck Bearish Trend
(variety.com) PARIS -- While some of Gaul's biggest, most prestigious vfx and toon companies are feeling the pinch, a new breed of smaller companies -- offering low-cost services, including Indigenes Prods., Supamonks and Wip Studios -- has bucked the trend.
"These companies are banking on the merging of vidgames and films, Web series, TV productions and commercials," says Ile de France Film Commission's marketing topper Yann Marchet, who's one of the organizers of Parisfx -- Creative Ile de France, the showcase of Gallic vfx, which runs Nov. 18-19.
Launched in 2003, Indigenes Prods. has been specializing in compositing, special effects, greenscreen filming and post-production for TV docudramas and toons. Shingle notably co-produced TV hit "Trafalgar," a historical docudrama featuring CGI settings and greenscreen background shooting.
Supamonks was created in 2006 as an animation company, but it quickly diversified and started piling up work on vidgame trailers (notably Ubisoft's), websites and TV commercials to feed the pipeline. Founded by five young filmmakers who previously worked for major French studios, including Mac Guff and Mikros, Supamonks also is actively pursuing animation work. The studio is developing "Les Metiers," a short-format GGI-animated skein, and it has been tapped by the up-and-coming shingle TeamTO to work on "Oasis," a CGI toon co-produced by France's TF1 and Nickelodeon.
"Since we're a small structure, we're cheaper and more flexible than larger groups in France," says Supamonks co-founder Pierre de Cabissole.
Wip Studios, which has hired 10 staffers and roughly 10 freelancers, focuses on visual effects and post-production for TV series and is now starting to work on features. So far this year the company has worked on 88 projects, including commercials, TV dramas and six features.
Wip's co-creator, Damien Maric, says the studio handles between 30 and 200 shots per film and offers highly competitive rates. "There's currently a revival of ambitious French fiction, and more and more TV producers are looking for affordable visual effects," Maric says. "It's a growing market."
"2012" Shows That the End of CGI Marvel Is Over
(browardpalmbeach.com) Completing his multifilm vendetta against the world's tourist trade, German-born director Roland Emmerich sends the mother of all storms to level the Washington Monument, the Eiffel Tower, and a priest-filled Vatican City in his newest end-times thriller, 2012. From Independence Day (1996) to The Day After Tomorrow (2004), taking down famous landmarks has become Emmerich's cinematic signature, but ever since summer audiences cheered the White House being blown to bits by space aliens in the former, demolished historic sites aren't what they used to be.
2012 is alien-free, but there are tidal waves galore, as well as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and blinding dust clouds, all due to a sudden, radical heating of the Earth's core. A planetary realignment and an overstimulated sun are the villains in a scenario that a real-life seventh-century Mayan prophet is said to have predicted. So take note, humans: Life on Earth will end on December 12, 2012. Plan your Christmas shopping accordingly.
"It's kind of galling when you realize the nutbags with the cardboard signs had it right all along," declares Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt), chief of staff to the president (Danny Glover), as he watches news reports of panicked plebeians running from a shaking ground and thundering sky. Anheuser has been planning for the final day since 2009, when Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a midlevel government scientist, thrusts a red-alert report into his hands at a fancy Washington party. Helmsley's dire warnings lead the world's superpowers to band together and secretly build six giant "arks" designed to save the rich, the powerful, and the mostly white from Armageddon. Launch site: China!
As if made by the gods to suffer for its moviemaking sins, Los Angeles is the first city to split apart and slide (literally) into the sea. In a ridiculous but bravura sequence, Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), a failed sci-fi novelist/limo driver, begins his long, convoluted journey to China and those precious arks by dodging crumbling L.A. freeways and falling skyscrapers while his two kids, ex-wife (Amanda Peet), and her new husband (Tom McCarthy) scream in the limousine's back seat. The two-hour-and-40-minute 2012 is overstuffed with special-effects set-pieces, but the Curtis family's mad dash out of town is the closest the movie gets to actually being fun, if only because it's easier to relate to a man navigating bad traffic than one trying to outrun a newly formed volcano.
"How did they do that?" is the question Hollywood always wants moviegoers to ask, but in watching 2012, I couldn't help but wonder if today's audiences, especially the very young, ask that question as often as those of the past. When the ill-fated cruise ship of The Poseidon Adventure (1972) was capsized by a tidal wave, my 10-year-old self may have understood that flesh-and-blood stuntmen, not actors, were hanging off those upside-down cocktail tables, but I still feared for them and, by extension, for the film's characters. Today's CGI effects are undoubtedly more impressive but also more soul-numbing. Millions of people die in this movie, among them a few we've come to know but not one of those deaths is affecting or memorable, even in an overly sentimental, B-movie way. Where is Shelley Winters when we need her?
As with Emmerich's other films, what's likely to linger in the public memory is a singular scene of iconic destruction that has been the centerpiece of the 2012 ad campaign: The aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, after being swept up by a gigantic tidal wave, flips over and comes crashing down " brief pause for irony " onto the White House. Goodbye, Rose Garden. One wonders: Is the disaster king suddenly getting political? Probably not. So for the widest audience possible, we suggest that Columbia Pictures release an alternate take, with the democracy-crushing aircraft carrier this time being the USS Ronald Reagan.
A Fourth Film for 4 Huge VFX Film Franchises?
(latimes.com) Four film franchises. One decade. More than $10 billion worth of theater tickets sold.
In their best moments, the "Lord of the Rings," "Spider-Man,"
"X-Men" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies have delivered
unforgettable adventure and escapism for audiences. Now, though, with
the decade winding down and all four franchises sitting as nice, tidy
trilogies, the question must be asked: Isn't three the magic number? Do
we really need a fourth movie from any of these aging popcorn
enterprises? The answer (in Hollywood, at least) is, of course, yes,
but each franchise faces unique challenges moving forward.
'Lord of the Rings'/ 'The Hobbit'
The story so far:
Director Peter Jackson's majestic and magical interpretation of J.R.R.
Tolkien's epic is arguably the gold standard now for fantasy-film
franchises. The "Rings" film trilogy piled up a staggering $2.92
billion in worldwide box office (plus more than $3 billion in DVD and
other ancillary sales) and also pulled off a magic trick that has
eluded the "Star Wars" or "Harry Potter" franchises -- it cast a spell
over voters in the marquee Oscar categories of best picture, director
and adapted screenplay.
The challenge: The bad news is: Jackson won't be directing this time. The good news, though, is that Guillermo del Toro is his handpicked successor. After the unsettling and singular fairy visions of the Oscar-winning "Pan's Labyrinth," there's plenty of reason to get excited about the Guadalajara, Mexico, native's mighty imagination coming to bear on, say, the black forest of Mirkwood. Still, "The Hobbit," published in 1937, is considered by some to be Tolkien's literary warm-up act for his 1950s "Rings" epic, which is more complex, darker and intended for an older audience. The stakes are high: "The Hobbit" will be told over two films with a combined budget north of $300 million.
The status: Work is well underway in New Zealand on "The Hobbit," although principal photography won't begin until April. Major casting announcements are imminent (Ian McKellen is already in, as are Andy Serkis and Hugo Weaving, according to recent comments by Del Toro in a BBC interview) and there will be plenty of time for fans to debate them -- the first of the two films isn't due until December 2011, with the sequel to follow in December 2012.
Jackson is onboard as co-writer and executive producer and, by all accounts, his working relationship with Del Toro is a supportive and upbeat one. And, miraculously, the film seems to have finally escaped the dreaded pits of litigation; an ugly dispute with the late Tolkien's heirs was settled in September and Jackson's scorched-earth battle with New Line Cinema was somehow resolved in 2007 and now seems like a fading memory -- well, at least to all of us who didn't pay attorney fees.
'Spider-Man'
The story so far: Not that long ago, the standard assumption in Hollywood was that there were only two superheroes with enough general-audience appeal to carry a film franchise -- Superman and Batman. That changed in May 2002 when "Spider-Man" swung into theaters and grabbed $115 million domestically in its opening weekend, a new record at the time. Unlike the majestic Man of Steel of Metropolis or the handsome billionaire prowling Gotham, this hero was a high school nerd bitten by a bug. Not only did he fight villains, he had to contend with homework, money problems and a losing streak with girls.
The franchise, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, has continued to soar commercially -- "Spider-Man 3" in May 2007 again set the mark for the biggest U.S. opening weekend with $151 million (although last year's "The Dark Knight" edged it with $158 million).
The challenge: A fourth "Spider-Man" film is a no-brainer
for Sony -- the web-slinger movies rank as the three highest-grossing
films in the studio's history. But while the first two films were
widely praised for their verve and heart, the third struck many viewers
as noisy, hollow and disjointed. Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan
wrote, "It's as if its plot elements were the product of competing
contractors who never saw the need to cooperate on a coherent final
product." The fourth movie has other challenges: How many other ways
can the relationship between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson be bent
without totally losing its shape? What villain left on the list can
connect with a wide audience?
The status: In May, Raimi told The Times that filming on the
fourth film will start in February. In that interview, he said he has
regrets not just about the third film, but all of them. "What would I
have done differently? I would have done everything differently, every
single shot, I think, in every picture that I've ever made. Everything
that I've done torments me."
'X-Men'
The story so far: With the triumph of comic-book properties in Hollywood today, it's easy to forget how startling Bryan Singer's "X-Men" was when it arrived in 2000. Sleek, sophisticated and respectful of its studied source material, the Fox film ran counter to the then-standard Hollywood approach of turning comic-book adaptations into smirking cartoons that insulted loyal fans of the properties.
The $75-million film made $296 million in worldwide box office. The sequel "X2: X-Men United" arrived as one of the most anticipated releases of 2003 and finished with $408 million worldwide and better reviews than the first one. Singer left the franchise to take on "Superman Returns," so Brett Ratner ("Rush Hour") was brought in for the third movie, "X-Men: The Last Stand," which rolled up $459 million at the box office but suffered some withering reviews.
The challenge: The fact that the franchise's central hero, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), was spun off into a lone-wolf film this year suggested that the Marvel mutant team might be akin to an aging band that just watched its lead singer launch a solo tour. But last month, producer Lauren Shuler Donner, a key figure in the franchise, said that a fourth "X-Men" film remains viable and, more than that, there are efforts moving toward that goal, although they are in very early stages. That may be true, but there have been plenty of mixed signals when it comes to Fox and potential mutant movies; more than a half-dozen different projects have been trumpeted at one time or another, among them a Magneto film, a Deadpool movie and a New Mutants spinoff.
The status: Amid all the noise, the most interesting tidbit in
recent months was the August report in Variety that Singer was flirting
with the idea of directing "X-Men: First Class," which would be a
prequel based on the popular comic book series and the draft script by "The O.C."
creator Josh Schwartz. Later, Donner publicly stated that "First Class"
is not the likely next film, but the linkage of Singer to any Marvel
mutant is big news -- and may signal an effort to have him back in
X-business.
'Pirates of the Caribbean'
The story so far: Back in 2003, in the months before the release of the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" film, few observers thought the venture was seaworthy. It was a $135-million movie based on a Disneyland ride -- a crass approach to filmmaking that had given the world the failure of "The Country Bears" just a year earlier.
On paper, it looked like madness, but, of course, it turned out to be a treasure map. Johnny Depp's blowzy rogue, Jack Sparrow, would become a signature character in modern popcorn-film history, while director Gore Verbinski tapped into a rollicking mix of adventure, supernatural thrills and comedy. The first film pulled in $654 million worldwide. The sequel did even better -- its $1.06 billion worldwide made it the highest-grossing film of 2006. A third film in 2007 brought in $961 million. A fourth installment, "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," is due in 2011.
The challenge: There are plenty. The first film was fresh, fun
and unexpected, but the franchise started to get creaky as soon as it
came back for a second voyage. The third film was oddly long and
labored. Claudia Puig of USA Today called it a "bloated, overwrought
and convoluted three-hour misfire."
Still, Disney wanted to keep this ship afloat, so a new approach was taken with this fourth film: The studio secured the rights to "On Stranger Tides," a 1987 novel by fantasy author Tim Powers that weaves a tale of pirates, voodoo and the Fountain of Youth, making this the first adapted work in the series. That's all to the good, but there's also the question of who will replace Verbinski, who decided that after three films it was time to go ashore. Rob Marshall ("Chicago") is the name that is everywhere, but his hiring has not been confirmed by the studio.
The status: The plan is to start filming in the spring (according to an MTV
interview with costar Geoffrey Rush). The venture got off to a sunny
start when Depp, proving himself a real trouper, showed up at a Disney
convention in Anaheim in his full Sparrow costume and makeup to promote
the film. Depp and Dick Cook, the longtime Disney studio executive who
was a key player in the "Pirates" franchise, smiled, hugged and mugged
for the cameras and fans. Then, just days later, Cook was fired by his
corporate bosses. Depp, in an interview with Claudia Eller of The
Times, said he was "shocked and very sad" and admitted that there was
"a crack in my enthusiasm" for the planned "Pirates" sequel. But a
contract is a contract, and few expect any mutiny from Captain Jack.
Monster Cameo For Hobbit Director
(TheOneRing.net) The Hobbit director confirmed on their message boards that he'll be making a cameo appearance as a small monster:
I had a hand on the design of the creature and I will personally sculpt the appliances that will be applied on my face and hands. I used to sculpt the creatures for NECROPIA (my FX company) and I miss it a bit. I will have a line or two and die quickly.
Fox Moves Up CGI "Chipmunks" Sequel
The move comes in response to figures showing that more than three-quarters of kids will be out of school by the Wednesday of that week and hopes to start cashing in early before the crowded Xmas Day slot takes hold.
The downside however is the studio will open its two big season tentpoles within less than a week of each other (the other is "Avatar" opening December 18th).
Is Avatar Too Expensive To Be Successful?
(nytimes.com)
Avatar will reportedly cost 20th Century Fox, James Cameron and all
subsequent investors a combined total of $500 million to make and
market, leaving, well, MOST OF US wondering if the film based on a
(semi) original story imagined by Cameron) \u2013 has a hope of being a
box office success story, or the fate of being the next Waterworld.
At what point the various partners in “Avatar” would see profit from the film depends on what share of revenue each receives as the movie reaches theaters, then home video and other media around the world. If domestic ticket sales reach $250 million — a level broken in the last year by five films, including “Star Trek” and “The Hangover” — Fox and its allies would appear to be headed into the black.
Mr. Cameron’s “Titanic,” which took in more than $1.8 billion at the worldwide box office after its release in 1997, was a major corporate event for the News Corporation, then about a third the size of the current conglomerate, which has roughly $30 billion in annual sales. Less than a year after the release, the News Corporation raised nearly $3 billion in a public offering of shares in its filmed entertainment group, partly on the strength of “Titanic.” (It bought those shares back four years ago.)
The News Corporation is carrying a much smaller share of “Avatar’s” production cost, as a pair of private equity partners — Dune Entertainment and Ingenious Media — pick up 60 percent of the budget, according to people who were briefed on the economics of the film but spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid conflict with the studio or filmmakers.
Speaking by telephone on Thursday, James Clayton, the chief executive of Ingenious, confirmed his company’s backing for “Avatar,” but declined to discuss the size of its stake. Greg Coote, the chief executive of Dune, declined to be interviewed.
Full Press: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/business/media/09avatar.html?_r=4&src=twr&pagewanted=allPeter Berg's Battleship Adaptation Will Have Aliens!
(screencrave.com) First off all, why are we making a movie based on the board game Battleship? The news has been out for a while, and just when you think you can settle into the ridiculousness that is this adaptation something else comes along that's even more disturbing. According to the folks over at Latino Review a break has been made in the plot of the upcoming Peter Berg film and it's so outlandish yet still predictable.
For the most part, no one had any idea as to how Berg and company would adapt this board game for the big screen. There are some basic ideas about war and ships but who would be the villains? That's where this latest development comes in, we're hearing that the bad guys in question will be ALIENS! That's right, extraterrestrials of the ET/Alien vs Predator kind.
How does the story go from the high seas to space? Perhaps the military needs to find a way to fight off an invasion on their turf? Or maybe these are water based aliens who need the slippery stuff to survive like the squid like monster in The Faculty? Either way, this is not making the film look any better. If anything it makes me want to claw my eyes out in frustration.
Production on Battleship begins next spring, so between now and then lets hope there are some developments regarding the story that can debunk this idea. The film is scheduled to hit theaters on August 5, 2011.
Spielberg's Manga Old Boy DEAD!
(latinoreview.com) You know that OLDBOY remake…well it wasn’t really a remake, anyway (which is a terrible idea by the way) Steven Spielberg and Will Smith were suppose to do a film that was based on the Japanese manga by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya and NOT FROM THE ORIGINAL FILM.
At the time DreamWorks was in the process of securing the rights along with MANDATE, until NOW.
According to a trusted source…
…It’s DEAD!
Mandate and DreamWorks didn’t see eye to eye therefore DreamWorks has apparently walked away.
No Spielberg.
No Will Smith.
THEY’RE OUT!
Hence no stateside Oldboy remake…or whatever you want to call it.
Achieving the Look of Fantastic Mr. Fox
(comingsoon.net) Even among animated films, Fantastic Mr. Fox looks unique. In a field dominated by computer generated animation, Wes Anderson's new film stands apart even from other stop-motion movies.
Anderson began creating this unique look long before a single set was built, or an anthropomorphic fox was posed in front of a camera.
"We started by developing a color theory for the film," explains Nelson Lowery, the film's production designer, "It was a limited color palate, quite unusual for an animated film. There was no blue or green. [It was mostly] autumnal colors."
This posed a slight difficulty for the team. "When you make a palate like that, when you interject grey it would become a new color. While grey would just be grey in any normal movie, once it's against those warm colors it becomes sort of purple, or slightly blue, or cold feeling." Despite this, Lowery is positive about the effect it created: "It was set up at the beginning, and it was very restrictive, so it was quite a challenge at first, but I think it paid off."
With this 'color theory' in place, Lowery began work on the sets. "When you go to design a film, and you have everything to draw upon, it's kind of nice to have a point of reference, and Wes likes to do that for sure."
That point of reference was Great Misenden, the village in which Roald Dahl lived. "We first did a lot of reference gathering on a couple of trips here. Even though the film is wildly stylized it is really based on this landscape. I was just noting on the drive in here, there is a radio tower across the street, and that's in the movie." This influence, Lowery tells us, even went as far as the tree lines. "We ended up making it from reticulated foam from air conditioners. [We] literally traced the shapes of the bushes and the trees here."
In addition to the extraordinary level of work that went into the landscapes, there was similar care and attention paid to the design of the characters. Andy Gent, who was the film's models supervisor explained how the process worked: "The character designers would spend an awful lot of time sketching them out, developing the characters in a 2D form, until Wes was happy with that, then we'd make a sculpt from that."
Full Press: http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=60690
Paris to Host 3rd VFX Confab
(hollywoodreporter.com) PARIS -- French film industry professionals and moviegoers will treat their eyes to a special effects feast as the third edition of two-day VFX conference Parisfx kicks off in the French capital on Nov.18.
The two-day event devoted to special effects and digital technology will feature case studies, round tables and presentation of images from upcoming films.
This year's topics include 3D technology and the convergence of film, video games and new media.
Case studies highlighting these topics will feature visits from Buf Compagnie for Luc Besson's "Arthur and the Vengeance of Malthazar," Eclair VFX for Pierre Morel's "From Paris With Love" and Mikros Image for and Jacques Perrin's "Oceans."
Cube Creative Production will host a discussion on "3D in all its forms" and Digital Banana Studio will focus on "Cartoon characters from 2D to 3D."
A closing night cocktail for industry professionals to mingle will be held on Nov. 19th.
Len Wiseman to Direct The End Of The World
(The Hollywood Reporter) 20th Century Fox has bought an untitled pitch (going by the name "Nocturne") about the end of the world, with Live Free or Die Hard and "Underworld" helmer Len Wiseman in talks to direct and produce.
The project is based on an original idea about a group of people who survive the end of the world and the mystery surrounding how they got to that position. The studio is seeking writers for the project.
Wiseman is attached to Atlantis Rising and Shrapnel but does not have a go picture.
Laika Animation Hires New CFO from DreamWorks Animation
(The Oregonian) Phil Knight's Portland animation studio, named Gary Raksis chief financial officer tonight. Raksis formerly ran strategic planning and corporate finance at DreamWorks Animation SKG.
In February Laika released its first feature, "Coraline," which enjoyed wide critical acclaim and unexpectedly strong box-office results, with receipts topping $120 million.
Knight, Nike's co-founder, named his son Travis chief executive of Laika earlier this year. Together, the Knights are in the final stages of selecting Laika's next feature.
Last month, Laika parted ways with Henry Selick, who was Coraline's director and had been the studio's chief creative visionary.
Star Trek's Abandoned Mos Eisley Cantina Scene
(cinemablend.com) I loved JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot, but if there's a bad scene in the movie's Kirk's rather lame chase sequence with an alien monster on an ice planet. It just doesn't fit in with anything else that's going on in the film and, maybe there's a reason for that. Originally, they had something else in mind.
IO9 has concept art from the sequence they'd originally planned for Jim Kirk after being marooned by his shipmates. The planet was supposed to be a desert planet, and more than that a populated desert planet where he'd encounter alien traders and smugglers. Think Mos Eisley from Star Wars and that seems to be the direction they were thinking in.
Check out the concept: http://io9.com/5400693/the-lost-cantina-scene-from-abrams-star-trek/
(boxofficemojo.com) Walt Disney Pictures' A Christmas Carol topped the box office with an estimated $31 million from 3,683 theaters, for an average of $8,417 per theater. Written and directed by Robert Zemeckis, the motion capture fantasy adventure featured the performances of Jim Carrey in multiple roles. The film reportedly carried a budget of about $175 million.
Joe Johnston Talks Jurassic Park 4
(Ain't It Cool News) Ain't It Cool News got a chance to talk to The Wolfman director Joe Johnston and the interview briefly turned to the possibility of a Jurassic Park 4. Johnston directed the third film in the franchise, which was released in 2001.
"There is a great story for the fourth one that I would be interested in getting involved with and it's nothing like the first three," Johnston told the site, "It sort of takes the franchise off in a completely different direction, which is the only way I would want to get involved."
He added that it likely won't be another storyline about a group of people struggling to survive a dinosaur attack. "We've done that and it's been done three times..."
The site commented that they should stay away from an island setting this time. "Why would anybody go back to that island?" Johnston said. "It was hard enough to figure out the second and third reason for them to go, but it would take it off in a whole other trilogy basically, but when it gets to that level it's sort of about studios and Steven [Spielberg's] thing and who knows. I think we are at that point where we are due for another one if we are going to do it."
Universal Pictures has not targeted a release date for a fourth film.
Real Men Stare At CGI Goats
(blogs.wsj.com) The Men Who Stare At Goats, a comedy based on Jon Ronson's non-fiction book, George Clooney stars as "warrior monk" Lyn Cassady. A former member of the U.S. military's New Earth Army, Cassady goes rogue after "killing" a goat by, yep, staring at it until it keels over.
But animals lovers, rest assured: no actual goats were harmed during the filming of the movie, thanks to the participation of animal trainer Sled Reynolds. The owner of Gentle Jungle, which has provided animal services to TV shows and films that run the gamut from "Out of Africa" and "Dances With Wolves" to "Transformers 2" and the upcoming "Avatar," Reynolds spoke with Speakeasy about working with fainting goats, CGI animation and George Clooney.So how do you fake a fainting goat?
It's not too hard nowadays. It used to be harder, before CGI. The crew had gone out and found some fainting goats which is, inexplicably enough, a real breed; people like to breed them, the same sort of people who breed bulldogs who can't breathe. We would use real goats and film them standing up, then fallen on the floor; the rest is all computer generated.
How common is it to use CGI when shooting animal sequences?
Oh, it's in every movie now. For instance, we worked for two years on "Avatar" [the upcoming James Cameron sci-fi film.] A lot of the monsters in the film are actually horses, with just additional limbs later added in digitally. We were going to use a tiger at one point, but that idea went away. The exact amount of CGI versus live action depends on the film, because they're all so different. We worked two months on "Beowulf," which was all motion capture. They used real horses to capture the motion for the film, and then digitally drew the horses after.
When did you first notice the heavier shift towards CGI?
It's interesting I'd say I first noticed it a little over 10 years ago, on the film "The Ghost and the Darkness" [the 1996 lion hunter drama starring Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer]. We had a whole green screen unit, and were afraid it was going to put us out of business. But in some ways, it's actually created more work. Personally, I think it's better to use real animals when you can, because if you see a lion that you know is not real, you're not going to be afraid of it. But like I said, every movie is different, and there are so many schools of thought on this. Some people prefer the practicality of going digital, others want the real thing. Some want both.
City Lands Digital Effects Giant
Pixel Magic could have opened another digital media studio anywhere. Locations in Pennsylvania and New Mexico were possibilities. Even a spot in Canada was up for consideration.
But in the end, Lafayette had too many strengths to pass up.
While the state's tax-incentive program for those in the film industry was a strong draw, the variety of locations and environments also made it appealing, said Ray Scalice, Pixel Magic vice president and general manager, at a Friday news conference. In addition, the Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise had the kind of features and infrastructure readily available that are needed to create special effects in dozens of movies and television shows.
"LITE has a built-in technology infrastructure — high-speed Internet, high-speed rendering and this screen room," said Raymond McIntyre Jr., the company's vice president and VFX supervisor. "They also have an understanding and skill set, people who know technology and data handling. That immediate availability helped us make our decision."
Beginning next month, Pixel Magic will have a permanent home at the LITE Center and will be one of the first tenants of its business accelerator, created by the Lafayette Economic Development Authority, LITE and UL to encourage the creation of new technology businesses through start-ups, joint ventures and recruiting out-of-state technology companies.
The company plans to create 12 jobs within a year, and 40 positions in three years. It's that kind of permanent infrastructure and workforce development that will be key in enhancing and maintaining Louisiana's economic growth, Gov. Bobby Jindal said.
"Pixel Magic's decision to locate in Louisiana will send a signal to Hollywood and to other leading digital media companies that Louisiana is a major player in the digital media industry," Jindal said. "This win will help accelerate the development of Lafayette as a hub for digital media and film production, and, of course, it will help create more good jobs for our children so that they can pursue their dreams right here in Louisiana."
Full Press: http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20091107/NEWS01/911070306
Monster-Maker Rises to 'New Moon' Challenge
(variety.com) Master creature-maker Phil Tippett has been hard at work on the "Twilight" franchise, especially the werewolves for the upcoming "New Moon," which have proven especially challenging.
"A lot of the stuff we're shooting is in the worst conditions possible for computer graphics," he says. "The skies are overcast, so the lighting is very flat. Unlike something like 'Transformers' or 'District 9' where you have a lot of light kicking off hard-shell candy surfaces, we have ... wolves (with) fur, and fur soaks up light."
The "Twilight" pics are being made at a breakneck pace, with post on one overlapping shooting on the next. But even scrambling with the second unit to make their daily quota, says Tippett, "We just have a blast. We call it doing the Vulcan mind-meld thing, where we're reading each others' minds because we're working so fast."
Tippett gained fame among "Star Wars" fans for his "go-motion" animation for "The Empire Strikes Back" (Remember the Imperial Walkers?), then won an Oscar for "Return of the Jedi."
In 1984, he opened his own shop, Tippett Studios. He switched to digital vfx, won a second Oscar for his digital dinosaurs on "Jurassic Park," and is still going strong as he celebrates his studio's 25th anniversary.
"I never imagined I'd be around this long," Tippett says, "but I did imagine, as a kid growing up in Southern California, that I would have my own visual effects studio in Berkeley, because that's where I was born and that's where my extended family was."
As for his work on "Twilight," Tippett can only smile. "Everybody tries to have fun," he says. "I hope that leaks out on the shots."
The Visual Effects Society Opens Call for Entries for Student Award
(cgw.com) Los Angeles - VES is now accepting submissions for its annual Student Award, exclusively sponsored by Autodesk Inc., maker of popular entertainment software. The deadline for submissions is November 30, 2009, and the winning student will receive the award live at the 8th Annual VES Awards Show, to be held on February 28, 2010 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Beverly Hills.
The student award is to honor outstanding achievement in visual effects on any project that was created by a student or group of students while attending an accredited school. Qualified students at schools from all over the world are encouraged to send in their submissions before the November 30, 2009 deadline.
The winning student will be provided with free airfare from anywhere around the world, two night’s accommodation to attend the show, and one license of Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max, or Autodesk Softimage software, at no cost. Rules and Procedures can be found at www.vesawards.com.
Simon Pegg Issues A VFX Update On "Paul"
(iconvsicon.com) Simon Pegg has issued an update on what is happening with is upcoming film Paul over on the forums of www.peggster.net. Here is what he had to say:"Hi all,
Thought you might like to hear how things are going
on the Paul front. It's been a while since we wrapped now and with the
absence of Lance B's video blogs, I guess things must seem to have gone
very quiet. Rest assured the good (space)ship Paul is progressing
apace. Our venerable and brilliant director Greg Mottola, is currently
ensconced in an edit suite in NYC with Oscar winning editor, Chris
Dickens (Slumdog Millionaire and Spaced, Shaun and Fuzz), putting
together the first pre f/x cut.
The next phase of the process will see Greg and Chris continue to hone and cut the movie and will of course entail the complex process of bringing Paul himself to life, combining the efforts of ace f/x wizards, Double Negative and further work with The Green Hornet himself, Mr. Seth Rogen. Rest assured all is going well and we're all very excited. More news of a kind as we encounter it.
"Moon" Sequel on Hold For Sci-fi "Source Code"
(Variety) Jake Gyllenhaal is in negotiations to star in sci-fi thriller Source Code for Vendome Pictures and The Mark Gordon Co.
Duncan Jones (Moon) will direct and Mark Gordon will produce with Vendome's CEO Philippe Rousselet and Jordan Wynn. The Summit Entertainment release is scheduled to begin filming during the first quarter of 2010. Jones has stated that his planned follow up to Moon, the futuristic Berlin-based sci-fi film Mute, has been put on hold for him to develop this project as his next film.
Source Code centers on a soldier who wakes up in the body of an unknown commuter and is forced to live and relive a harrowing train bombing until he can determine who is responsible for it.
VFX Producers of the Year: The Jackson Hive
(hollywoodreporter.com) Five years ago, while Peter Jackson was immersed in directing his large-scale remake of "King Kong" for Universal, executive Mary Parent mentioned a project the studio was developing based on the wildly popular video game "Halo."
Jackson was intrigued. He loved to play "Halo" with his two teenage children; his special effects company, New Zealand-based WETA, seemed perfect to handle the FX; and a 15% tax rebate made a Kiwi shoot ideal for Universal and co-financier Fox. So Jackson agreed to produce, alongside his lifetime partner Fran Walsh and their colleague Carolynne Cunningham.
Jackson would not direct, but he would find a promising young helmer to work under his supervision. When Parent suggested Neill Blomkamp, based on a short film of his she'd seen, the South Africa-born filmmaker left his home in Vancouver and flew to meet the Jackson team.
"All of a sudden," Blomkamp recalls, "I went from being this lowly commercials director to doing a really high-profile film."
Then things went wrong. Five months after the producers started work on the script, doing digital previsualizations, manufacturing and designing sets, Fox and Universal pulled the plug.
"The studios were saying they had real concerns about a movie of this size in the hands of a first-time director--after they'd suggested it," says Ken Kamins, Jackson and Walsh's longtime rep. "Peter was really aggravated; he felt it was very unfair. So he and Fran said, 'Why don't we do something independent?' "
That was the beginning of "District 9," the South Africa-based sci-fi movie that is among the most acclaimed releases of the year, and a reminder of just how effective Jackson, Walsh and Cunningham are as producers. For this and their upcoming adaptation of Alice Sebold's novel "The Lovely Bones," The Hollywood Reporter has named them Producers of the Year.
Curiously, Jackson doesn't think of himself as a producer. Then again, he doesn't entirely think of himself as a director, either.
"If I have to fill out a passport form or something, in the space to list your occupation I always put 'filmmaker,' " he says by phone from New Zealand as he puts the final touches on "Bones." "I've always thought of myself making films, whether that's directing, producing or writing. It's all part of the same process."
Unlike many producers, the trio -- through Jackson and Walsh's Wellington, New Zealand-based Wingnut Films -- don't seek out projects from others. "We always develop our own," Jackson explains. "We don't regard our company or our activities as having any broader context than just making the films we want to make."
Nor do they have any particular vision for their company: no five-year plan, no detailed strategy for the future. They just take things on as they stumble upon them, as was the case when Walsh read "Lovely Bones."
"I was given the book by Philippa (Boyens), our co-writer," she recalls. "I read it in one day with no real expectations, and by the end of it, I thought it was incredibly visual and interesting and emotionally engaging."
Jackson and Walsh wrote their own check to control the rights. They then wrote the screenplay on spec with Boyens. A complete budget was prepared before the writer-producers sought a studio to finance and distribute the picture. There was immediate interest before DreamWorks and Paramount stepped in.
Jackson, Walsh and Cunningham worked closely with the studio throughout the production, discussing such thorny matters as the need to replace Ryan Gosling with Mark Wahlberg, when Gosling was deemed too young for the part. As Jackson, Walsh and Boyens continued rewriting throughout production, Cunningham handled logistics to keep them on time and on budget.
Paramount's Adam Goodman calls Jackson "incredibly inclusive" during production. "We visited them many times during the course of preproduction and production. From the first day, they were just very unassuming and open to the best ideas from everyone."
Full Press: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i8875589fada415ac073dd3a1bb55a06a
Monsterpalooza Guest List Begins Filling Up
(Facebook,Robg) Although it's still several months away, Monsterpalooza 2010 is already shaping up to be one of the must-hit events of the next year. Mark your calendars, the dates are April 9th-11th at the Marriott Burbank Convention Center in beautiful Burbank, California.
Appearing at the now annual event in April for the FX-laden convention will be Mr. Verne Langdon (Famous Monsters, Decca LP An Evening With Boris Karloff And His Friends), five-time Emmy Award-winning make-up artist Thomas R. Burman, FX artist Michael G. Westmore, Barney Burman of Proteus FX , Rob Burman of Sticks and Stones FX, FX artist Tony Gardner (Michael Jackson's Thriller, Seed Of Chucky), Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff of Amalgamated Dynamics Inc., Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero of KNB EFX, Allan Trautman, Beverly Randolph, Brian Peck, Thom Mathews, John Philbin and Don Calfa of Return Of The Living Dead, illustrator Bernie Wrightson, The Chiodo Brothers (Killer Klowns From Outer Space), Julie Adams (Creature From The Black Lagoon), the Chaney Family, Rondo winning artist Frank Dietz, Nightmare On Elm Street 4's Tuesday Knight and many, many more.They're just getting started here! Check out the initial list of guests at our previous news report here.
Keep up to date on Monsterpalooza 2010 via the official Facebook page here, the official Monsterpalooza website right here and also add the My Space page at: http://www.myspace.com/monsterpalooza.
Fox Hedges James Cameron's Avatar, Pricetag Nears $500 million
(nymag.com) James Cameron’s forthcoming Avatar is terrifying for studio executives, and not just because Cameron himself designed the thanator, the scariest monster in the film which makes the queen from Alien look like a bunny rabbit. Executives at 20th Century Fox and its parent company News Corp. are scared because the movie has no big-name stars and is becoming one of the most expensive feature films ever made. Well, at least they were scared until they hedged hard: turning over a significant part of the films production costs, which could climb as high as $500 million, to other companies and putting Cameron under a contract that holds his share of the film’s income until the studio and others have been paid back.
There’s also one “super secret” hedge:
Taking no chances, Fox is backing up Mr. Cameron’s movie with what an executive recently called the studio’s “secret weapon.” That would be “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel,” set to open just a week after studio marketers get “Avatar” into theaters. It is the relatively safe sequel to a chipper family comedy that cost about $60 million and took in $217 million at the domestic box office when it was released two years ago.
All of these hedges will most likely just spread out the wealth because James Cameron, the man behind Titanic's $1.8 billion box office, is money in the bank. That said, the thanator is going to be really scary. It has two sets of jaws!
J.J. Abrams Producing "Micronauts"
The toys, first released in 1974 and later in 1976 in the US under the 'Micronauts' name, were a mix of 3.75-inch tall action figures, vehicles, robots, play sets, and accessories. All used a universal, five millimeter inter-connective design allowing people to swap around various parts.
Palisades Toys bought the rights to reproduce Micronauts in 2002. Marvel Comics published a tie-in comic book line starting in 1979.
Pixar Settles Luxo Jr. Dispute
(worstpreviews.com) Two decades ago, Pixar's John Lasseter created an animated short, called "Luxo Jr," based on his Luxo desk lamp. The short went on to get an Oscar nomination and the lamp has become an iconic mascot for the studio.
Then two months ago, Disney/Pixar decided to package a limited-edition "Luxo Jr" lamp with the Blu-ray version of "Up." The Norwegian lamp manufacturer Luxa AS wasn't happy that Disney got into the business of selling their lamps and filed a lawsuit against the studio for trademark infringement.
Now, THR has learned that the parties have reached an amicable settlement and the lawsuit has been withdrawn. Disney will stop selling lamps and Luxo AS will continue letting Pixar use the character.
VFX Tentpole "2012" Premieres in LA
(english.cctv.com) Roland Emmerich pushes the special effects envelope in his latest epic doomsday film, "2012." The German born director was joined on the red carpet by stars John Cusack and Amanda Peet at the film's premiere Tuesday night in Los Angeles.
The film's plot blends the idea of the Mayan calendar, which predicts the world ending in 2012. Natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, typhoons and glaciers plague the planet.
A large cast of characters have to deal with the ensuing mayhem. Cusack plays a writer trying to save his family.
Actor John Cusack said, "Because, Roland Emmerich is the best in the world at this, Roland Emmerich the director. We knew going in that he was going to, you remember about 10 years ago when you saw "Terminator" or "Terminator 2," when you knew it was going to set a new standard in special effects. That's what he was going for, so we sort of knew he was going to blow people away."
While "2012" relies heavily on special effects, Emmerich credited the cast with making the film work.
Director Roland Emmerich said, "I think it is my favorite ensemble cast that I have ever had. I always say that. I am not trying to put down the other actors that I worked with, but with this everything worked and they all did and amazing job."
Emmerich's most recent disaster film, 2004's "The Day After Tomorrow," was a smash hit. It brought in more than 542 million at the world-wide box office. Hollywood is hoping for more of the same mayhem with "2012."
Premier Video: http://english.cctv.com/20091106/101051.shtmlThe Software for "2012": http://www.centurycitynews.com/article/MEDIA/New_Media_internet/Victoria_Tech_Company_Destroys_the_World/23420
(californiachronicle.com) When the South Korean-made mega-disaster movie Haeuhdae opened recently, the $18 million film-the country's most expensive to date- became an overnight sensation. The CJ Entertainment feature, about a tsunami that threatens to wipe out a popular beach resort, was directed by Je-Kyoun Youn of JK Rim and is loaded with complex visual effects, courtesy of Polygon Entertainment, based in San Rafael, California. Polygon may have recently cemented its status in South Korea's film industry, but its roots are distinctly Hollywood. Headquartered in the former Industrial Light & Magic building, the company was founded in 2007 by former ILM CG supervisor Hans Uhlig, who is no stranger to the disaster film genre. His credits include The Day After Tomorrow and The Perfect Storm, among others.
Boasting soundstages, construction and model shops, special and visual effects production, and camera, story, and art departments, Polygon is well equipped to take on feature film work of any magnitude-even that of a quake which, in turn, spawns a tsunami. Just before filming began on Haeundae, Polygon wrapped production on another South Korean feature shot in Northern California, Chaw, which opened across Asia on July 16 to great box-office success.
With expertise in both practical and digital water effects, Polygon Entertainment created effects for the South Korean disaster film Haeundae. At top shows the original film plate, while at bottom is the completed shot.
It was Uhlig's expertise in designing complex and beautiful water sequences for Hollywood movies using a combination of practical and digital effects that attracted director Yoon Jekyun to bring the Polygon team on board for Haeundae. Says Youn, who is also head of JK Film, "We wanted to inject the same caliber of film production within Haeundae and set a new film standard by having Hollywood- level production values and special effects in a Korean studio film release. Polygon Entertainment helped us achieve that goal."
Haeundae is about a tsunami set to strike the tranquil beaches of Haeundae, Busan, and chronicles the happenings that surround the event The bulk of the movie was shot in Busan, where Uhlig was overseeing the VFX as the film's visual effects supervisor. However, six action sequences involving heavy visual and special effects- including one in which hotel rooms are flooded with water-weren't possible to shoot in Korea
Under the supervision of producer David Dranitzke, Polygon constructed the multiple sets needed for those shots (for instance, a deluxe beachside hotel room, hotel corridor, bathroom, helicopter, heli tank rescue, boat rescue) and brought the principal actors to the US from Korea for second-unit shooting over a fourweek period.
Over the course of eight months, a team of artists at Polygon worked on the feature film, including veteran visual effects producer Jeff Olson, who joined Polygon after wrapping the hit movie Star Trek at ILM, where he has worked for 23 years. While at ILM, Olson also had the opportunity to work on another film featuring extensive water effects: Poseidon.
Utilizing their expertise in smart, economical sequence production, Uhlig and his team collaborated closely with the filmmakers and talent to produce the action sequences, including the movie's 10-minute opening scene of a large fishing boat being tossed around on violent seas during a storm. This scene was shot using two HD Sony F23 cameras on the studio's backlot in San Rafael inside a 60-foot tank that Polygon designed.
Prior to building the practical boat section that finally made it into the movie, Polygon created a digital model within Autodesk's Maya for approval as well as efficient design planning. The boat model was then brought into Autodesk's AutoCAD, and passed on to the construction team.
The crew then constructed the center part of the ship-a perfect match with the CG versionto work on an underwater gimbal. Back in the computer, the live-action shots integrated seamlessly into the CG scene. Polygon shot extensive storm sequences in the tank, as well as multiple greenscreen scenes that included combining practical and CG water.
A custom water pipeline was developed by Polygon CG supervisor Jay Shin, lead software engineer Erik Krumrey, and shader developer/ sequence supervisor Ken Wesley. The group did extensive water R&D and wrote custom scripts that were plug-ins to Maya. Pre-comping was done in the US with a team of artists using The Foundry's Nuke.
While most of the matchmoving and rotoscope work was done by a Korean vendor, Polygon did some matchmoving using The Pixel Farm's PFTrack and select roto paint work using Silhouette FX's Silhouette. Both programs are accessible off-the-shelf toots, but in the hands of experienced artists, they proved capable of achieving the desired shot outcome.
Polygon Entertainment built a custom water pipeline to handle some of the more challenging fluid effects, which helped augment practical fluid effects. The team also created custom Maya scripts for the water work.
A lot of the film's focus obviously was on water since the story involved a tsunami, although the digital artists also created a number of other effects, including explosions, as seen in this before (top) and after (bottom) shot.
"People we've spoken to are always shocked when they see the film and hear how we completed such sophisticated sequence and effects work, considering we were working with what was essentially an indie film budget compared to Hollywood standards," says Uhlig. "We accomplished this by staffing small teams of highly capable artists who possess wide-ranging skill sets spanning traditional and digital filmmaking."
According to Dranitzke, Polygon Entertainment works closely with its clients to devise the most creative and cost-effective shots possible, "because sometimes it doesn't make sense to allocate three months to R&D when the director's vision can be accomplished through a combination of practical effects [combined] with CG."
Disney Bets $180M on 'A Christmas Carol'
Zemeckis' 3D Dickens adaptation presents studio with high revenue bar at weekend B.O.
Robert Zemeckis has been both a motion capture pioneer and an apostle. "Disney's A Christmas Carol\u201d marks his third movie shot using the technology and he is such a fan that he formed a studio, ImageMovers Digital, devoted to making performance-capture pictures.
With filmmaker Robert Zemeckis spending about $180 million to produce his latest holiday-themed stop-motion animation extravaganza, according to numerous industry distribution executives, producer/distributor Disney can hardly be accused of being a Scrooge.
Of course, how well "Disney's A Christmas Carol" opens playing on a record number of digital 3D screens will determine whether the studio is screwed.
Opening on 2,045 digital 3D screens, 3,683 all told, the movie is widely projected to take in anywhere from $35 million to $45 million its first weekend. Voice-starring Jim Carrey, "A Christmas Carol" is one of four major releases entering the market.
“Christmas Carol” will undoubtedly lead the pack, with no other film predicted to eclipse the $20 million mark this weekend.
“I believe this is going to be that legitimate four-quadrant movie where adults will be as excited as the kids are,” said Disney distribution president Chuck Viane. “And we’re seeing no hot-spots – all parts of the country seem to be interested.”
Finding a comparable business model for “Christmas Carole” is easy, with Zemeckis’ 2004 stop-motion effort, “The Polar Express,” also opening in an early November period and grossing $304.9 million worldwide on a whopping $165 million production budget.
With “Christmas Carol” costing slightly more to produce – and global prints and advertising costs for projects of this profile typically eclipsing $100 million – there is plenty of speculation about the film’s profitability.
One distribution executive for a rival studio believes the movie could premiere to under $30 million, with the dark tones of the film’s Charles Dickens-penned subject matter interfering with its ability to tap into the kids market.
Also for Disney, there's the ghost of 3D movies past to contend with, with the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced "G-Force" last summer not considered profitable despite worldwide box-office revenue exceeding $200 million.
Regardless of how "Christmas Carol" opens, however, Viane believes that it's run will stay relevant throughout the holidays, since pre-sales have extended through December.
Another rival distribution official, meanwhile, noted that the wide 3D distribution should give the movie an advantage.
“Two thousand-plus 3D theaters is very impressive and bodes very well for the weekend,” he noted.
Cape Town VFX Company Builds Animatronic Orca for "Free Willy 4"
(tonight.co.za) Special effects can help make or break a movie, so when a Cape Town company that works in the field was asked to create an orca for Free Willy 4, the pressure was on.
The first movie and its two sequels used animatronics, but Keiko, a real orca, was also available for film shoots, which added a realistic touch.
Seventeen years after the first film, the challenge for those involved in the fourth instalment was to keep the realism without resorting to a live animal.
Cape Commercial and Cine Effects took on the difficult job, and pulled it off in September.
The company mainly works on international films being shot in Cape Town but is also involved in building puppets for live performances, and animation.
Director Rob Carlise said when creating an animatronic Willy, they worked closely with a marine biologist to get the the anatomy and movement of the animal just right.
His team also read up extensively on orcas.
"Our challenge wasn't so much the physical building of the orca, but to make it as lifelike as possible. We wanted to create a character that was real and that viewers could connect with," he said.
Creating a believable character was "all in the eyes", he said, adding that animators used "a bit of poetic licence".
Free Willy 4: Escape from Pirate's Cove, is set for release on DVD next year and was filmed in Cape Town recently.
It tells the story of an orphaned Australian girl, Kirra, who moves to live with her grandfather in South Africa.
He owns a rundown water theme park and when a baby orca, Willy, gets washed ashore, there is conflict over whether the whale should be kept as an attraction or rehabilitated and sent back to sea.
Bringing the orca to life was one of the company's most challenging projects yet, said Carlisle, who started the company nine years ago to fill a niche market when the film industry started to grow here.
Since then the company has garnered experience in special effects and animatronics from a list of major feature films shot here. These include Blood Diamond, Lord of War, Last House on the Left, 10 000 BC, The Poseidon Adventure, King Soloman's Mines and Flight of the Phoenix.
Carlisle is the company's only permanent staff member and he works with a group of 12 freelancers who are specialists in various fields, from graphic design to electronic engineering. The numbers can increase depending on the size of the projects.
They have created an animatronic gorilla, anteater, moose, hippo, elephant, hamster, two-metre Great White shark and tiger sharks - as well as prosthetics, miniatures, costumes, props and gadgets.
Carlisle studied electronic engineering before joining a film school in Pretoria. He then worked as an apprentice in various film departments across the world before ending up in fabrication.
He said he created the fabrication company because there was a need for a company to cater for the international film makers working here.
"My goal is to create a one-stop shop for the film industry and to be involved in as many movies as possible," he said.
"The industry lends itself to creativity but you must also be prepared to work hard, sometimes through the night, to meet what can sometimes be impossible deadlines.
"You need to be able to think out of the box and pay attention to detail. I enjoy pushing the limits. When we created the gorilla it had 26 server motors in its face alone."
He said the job was very satisfying when the creation was successfully used.
Digitizing Faris, Aykroyd and Timberlake For Yogi Bear
(The Hollywood Reporter) Anna Faris, Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake are in talks to star in Yogi Bear, Warner Bros.' big screen adaptation of the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon.
The film is being directed by Eric Brevig and produced by Donald De Line and Karen Rosenfelt as a live-action/CG hybrid.
Faris will play a nature documentarian who follows the antics of a bear in fictional Jellystone Park. Aykroyd will voice Yogi, and Timberlake may voice Yogi's companion, Boo Boo.
The studio hopes to get Yogi Bear under way in New Zealand in December. Brad Copeland penned the current script with Joshua Sternin and Jeff Ventimilia writing the original draft.
Concerned Hindus Worried About James Cameron's "Avatar"
(allheadlinenews.com) James Cameron's highly anticipated film "Avatar" is being questioned by concerned Hindus, who are asking the Oscar Award-winning filmmaker to attach a disclaimer in the film to tell viewers it has nothing to do with Hinduism.
The 3-D sci-fi epic film describes how humans employ Avatars to evacuate aliens from their forests. It is set for December 18 release.
Unfortunately, Avatar, a Sanskrit term meaning descent or incarnation, is also the central theme in Hinduism.
Hindus, led by The Universal Society of Hinduism president Rajan Zed, want Cameron to include a disclaimer in the beginning and end of the film to tell audience that the movie has nothing to do with Hinduism or its concepts.
Jewish leader, Rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich, is supporting the Hindus in this issue, saying Cameron should respect the feelings of the devotees. Nevada Clergy Association has also urged the "Titanic" director to put the disclaimer.
Also: http://www.screendaily.com/news/distribution/asia-pacific/camerons-avatar-forces-chinese-blockbusters-to-shift-release-dates/5007783.article
Will Hasbro's Jem Be a Truly Outrageous Movie?
(latinoreview.com) I know I'm supposed to skeptical regarding all film adaptations of classic toy and TV properties but I can't help the fact that I was once a four-year-old girl enamored with Jem.
Airing during the 80s, the cartoon Jem was about Jerrica, a young woman who balanced her life as rock star Jem, of Jem and the Holograms, with her fight to regain control of her father's record label. Aiding her in this struggle was a supercomputer named Synergy that could not only transform Jerrica and her friends into made-up rock stars, but create duplicates to throw off their enemies, rival rock group The Misfits, as well.
Now Pajiba says that Hasbro is hard at work to resurrect the property, though they're not sure if they should jump directly into a full-length feature or warm the waters a bit with a TV series first. Either way, it looks like Peter Barsocchini, who wrote the High School Musical films, will be on board, either as writer or producer.
Say what you will about bringing back Jem, but I can't knock the idea of kitschy glam-rock making a return to my screen.
Rhythm and Hues India: Not An Outsource Model
(pmstudio.co.uk) Oscar winning Visual Effects company Rhythm and Hues (founded in LA in 1987) set up in Mumbai seven years ago to create the first quality animation/VX studio that could cover the entire production process. This is not an outsourcing model, all the R&H studios have the same departments and when a project comes in staff are assigned based on available resources, irrespective of geography. Staff from across the world have collaborated on films including The Golden Compass, Narnia, Incredible Hulk, Evan Almighty, Babe and Happy Feet.
This distributed working comes from the founders of the company: seeing the failed investments by pioneering VFX studios in main frame computing, R&H sign up to the strength of distributed computing and systems. By spreading the offices across the world it enables them to:
* maintain stability against economic vulnerability in specific parts of the world
* keep a competitive edge within an increasingly globalised business by moving into new markets
* attract talent (a global resource)
R&H also believe that companies of less than 200 people are most efficient (people know each other/less middle management), so instead of staying small they spread their studios.
When the company started global expansion their LA-based staff were concerned that cheaper foreign talent would mean job losses but global expansion has enabled them to be more competitive and increase demand, so jobs in LA have actually doubled too.
We were hosted by Prasad the digital production manager who us an overview of the business and a tour of their rather beautiful offices. Whilst R&H started in Mumbai, the expense and overcrowding soon prompted them to look elsewhere and when staff were offered an opportunity to come to Hyderabad (considered a nuetral choice for launguage and food culture) about 50 people moved.
R&H India started small, producing backgrounds/painting out strings etc whilst they figured out work flow, communication, how to scale up and how to work with the time differences between LA and India.
Initially they found it difficult to get experienced people and unlearn bad habits from elsewhere so they now engage up-and-coming talent on the basis of their potential (IQ tests, passion, problem solving etc) and put them through an apprentice programme.
It is R&H's workflow systems that have enabled them to develop a global business and maintain the same quality levels to be delivered across the globe. Their office is structured to encourage openness and sharing and daily HD video conferences enable communication between teams.
Visiting R&H was great, not only did we see some great 3D animation and VFX, but experienced a company with a caring, open, networked approach to business and their own employees. A commitment to talent and knowledge exchange is to grow the overall ecology of the animation industry in India and their working conditions, salaries and working hours were by far the best we have seen.
France Toasts Tax Rebate for VFX Firms
David Martinon, consul general of France, and Olivier-Rene Veillon, director of the Ile de France Film Commission, hosted Tuesday a gala reception in Los Angeles to announce a tax rebate for international productions, showcase France's world-class visual effects companies and honor the Annecy Animation Festival.
The presenters, many of whom are long established as key production partners on top-grossing Hollywood and French feature films, were enthusiastic about the new incentive to \u201csave money\u201d with a French production partner.
The rebate, worth 20% of all eligible costs, is capped at 4 million euros or about US$6 million, they also control the US$18 million a year Ile de France Film Fund, which is open to foreign productions.
Since 2007, the Ile de France Film Commission has promoted and nurtured the booming French post-production and VFX industry. They organize the event Parisfx, where last year Jeffrey Katzenberg was the guest of honor, showing the first excerpts of Monsters vs. Aliens in 3-D.
The combined years of experience of the seven participating companies, such as ECLAIR Group (100 years), Annecy Animation Festival (50 years), Mac Guff (23 years) and Mikros Image (20 years), along with Buf Compagnie, Duran Duboi and L.E.S.T., totals more than a quarter of a millennium "longevity that is impressive for such technically progressive firms.
You can find information about the film commission and individual companies at www.iledefrance-film.com.
George Lucas Owns the Droid: the Name, Not the Phone
(geeksugar.com) What do George Lucas and the new Droid have in common? More than you'd think! I'm stoked to get my hands on the new device being offered up by Motorola to see if it really can top my iPhone, but when I got an invite to the San Francisco launch party I noticed something interesting at the bottom: the word "droid" is licensed to Lucasfilm LTD, which means Motorola pays a fee to the Star Wars icon to use his trademarked term.
I got the facts confirmed by a friend that works at the Lucas compound, but also found some other interesting tidbits about the name. The same device is being called the Milestone in Italy and Germany, but comes with more advanced multitouch support. Ah, the things you learn!
Cameron's 'Avatar' the Costliest Film Ever At $230 Million
Hollywood filmmaker James Cameron's much anticipated 3-D sci-fi epic "Avatar" is being touted as the most expensive film ever - with a whopping $230 million (Rs.1,200 crore) budget, according to a company statement.
Already being praised as a "fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind" and a "revolutionary technology" that will "alter moviemaking experience" across the globe, "Avatar" has been shot using the Fusion digital 3-D camera developed by Cameron and Vince Pace.
"Short Circuit" Reboot Gets Mall Director
Variety says that "the remake is a robot reboot that brings the iconic Johnny 5 into the 21st century." Built by the military to be a highly sophisticated weapon, Johnny 5 develops a conscience and personality after being hit by lightning. He befriends a lonely boy and his fractured family.
The original was classic because it's a campy 80's kids movie that we all saw as kids.
Video Game Graphics Near Movie Quality
(lfpress.com) The line between movies and video games is steadily disappearing as they converge into a single medium, says a top executive for games publisher Ubisoft.
Yannis Mallat, chief executive for the company's operations in Montreal and Toronto, was the keynote speaker at the London DIG (Digital Interactive Gaming) conference yesterday.
Mallat said the company has always relied on breakthrough technology to keep ahead in the industry, such as the light and shadow graphics that made Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell a runaway hit,
While video games have been spun off from movies and movies have been based on video games, Mallat said the two media are becoming more tightly meshed in the minds of consumers.
"The true convergence is the one that happens in people's minds," he said.
Ubisoft, based in France, recently announced the establishment of a new studio in Toronto that will eventually employ about 800 people.
Ubisoft recently released Assassin's Creed Lineage, a 38-minute movie in conjunction with its Assassin's Creed game franchise. The first instalment of the movie attracted millions of hits on YouTube.
Mallat said the movie is not a promotion for the game, but a stand-alone complementary production. The movie sets up storyline for the game.
"The creative director and the scriptwriter for the game were also at the core of the movie project so that everything makes sense," Mallat said in an interview.
Ubisoft also collaborated with famed Canadian director James Cameron on a game version of his new film, Avatar, which will be released next month.
"The collaboration of the two teams was so tight that some elements that didn't make the movie will be in the game and vice-versa," said Mallat.
Mallat said the graphic quality of video games doesn't quite match movies, but gap is rapidly narrowing.
"The next generation of consoles will have potential to have that quality in real time," he said.
London video game developer Digital Extremes used the DIG conference for a demonstration of its multi-player version of the new BioShock 2 game, which will be released next year.
Digital Extremes chief executive James Schmalz said his has staff spent 18 months developing the multi-player version on contract with developer 2K Games.
"The first game was so well-received it's an honour that 2K put their trust in us," said Schmalz.
The DIG conference, organized by the London Economic
Development Corp. attracted about 700 gaming industry professionals,
academics and students from across Ontario.
(Total Film) In a new interview with director Guillermo del Toro he talks about developing The Hobbit and it's sequel. The interview is broken up into 10 pages, but towards the middle it starts getting interesting when he begins talking about the creatures in the film.
Here's just a sample:
I think one of the designs I'm the proudest of is Smaug. Obviously he took the longest.
It's actually still active: we're finishing his colour palette and a little bit of the texture. But the bulk of the design took about a year, solid. It's because of the unique features of the dragon.
Early in production I came up with a very strong idea that would separate Smaug from every other dragon ever made. The problem was implementing that idea. But I think we've nailed it.
"A Christmas Carol" Looks To $42M Weekend
(cinematical.com) What's It All About: Jim Carey stars in several roles in this 3D animated version of the classic Dickens Christmas tale.
Why It Might Do Well: This Robert Zemeckis guy has got some decent flicks on his resume.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Good lord, how many times has this been adapted before?
Number of Theaters: 3,500
Prediction: $42 million
Exploring the Tech Behind "Where the Wild Things Are"
We all know that technology plays a very big part in most movies we watch today. But some films blur the line between reality and the use of technology so well it's easy to forget how much work is involved after a movie has been shot and before it is ready for our viewing pleasure.
A case in point is the film you see a trailer for above called Where the Wild Things Are. Directed by Spike Jonze and based on the popular 1963 children's picture book, it is a film that uses animatronics which many of us grew up watching. But Jonze took a further step with what is a relatively old technique and updated it by taking advantage of what new technology can provide.
The London-based Framestore landed the job of enhancing the movie shot with animatronics and layering on CGI to add a whole new level of emotion to the creatures in the film. That's 1,500 character appearances across 1,100 shots Framestore had to painstakingly work through adding multiple layers of data on every shot for every character.
The guys who work behind the scenes on these movies really do earn their money every day. To think they spend days and weeks just getting the facial movements right on a single creature only to have the scene last a few seconds must be both rewarding and patience-stretching at the same time. Seeing the finished movie is the big reward, but I don't think I could do what they do day-in day-out.
I think this behind-the-scenes look shows both the good and bad points of technology. On the good side it shows we have the power and tools available to add detail to film and make it look real. It has got to the point now where you just don' realize unless you are told that most of what you are seeing in a film does not exist. The Da Vinci Code is a good example with many of the locations you see in the film not actually existing as seen in the movie, they are computer generated and placed in afterwards.
The bad side of technology is the fact it still takes weeks to get a scene looking perfect with intensive work by an artist or animator. Technology still has a long way to go before it can automate such tasks, but that's as much our fault for continuing to push the quality bar higher and higher. Technology may never catch up with what we desire, but in the process it will still help produce some fantastic movie experiences.
Video Interview: http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/exploring-the-tech-behind-where-the-wild-things-are-2009115/
Mandalay Pictures to Build "Machine Man"
(Variety) Mandalay Pictures is developing "Machine Man," a novel whose pages are being posted online each day by author Max Barry, says Variety. The company has picked up film rights to the thriller that Vantage Books plans to publish in 2011.
The story concerns a tech engineer who's tired of going through life average and unnoticed, so he replaces parts of his body with titanium upgrades of his own design. He then discovers that he isn't the only one with plans for his new body.
As Barry writes the book, he's revealing one page of the tale each day as part of an interactive literary experiment in which suggestions from readers are integrated into the plot as the story unfolds.
Industrial Light & Magic, Pixar, Electronic Arts, and Sony Pictures Imageworks Converge On Italy
(animationmagazine.net) VIEW, Italy's renowned computer conference on digital convergency, will celebrate its 10th anniversary with presentations from the likes of Pixar, Electronic Arts, Industrial Light & Magic, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Rainmaker, Double Negative and Blue Sky Studios.
Set for Nov. 4-7 in Turin, Italy, the conference will feature a keynote address from composer Michael Giacchino, who received an Oscar nomination in 2008 for his score for Ratatouille.
Highlighting the conference are computer graphics pioneers Glenn Entis, who co-founded PDI, was chief visual and technology officer at Electronic Arts, and now heads a digital media business investment fund; and Ken Perlin, 2008 recipient of the computer graphics achievement award from SIGGRAPH and professor in the media research laboratory at New York University.
Other presenters include Industrial Light & Magic's Roger Guyett, who supervised effects for Star Trek; and Jeff White, associate visual effects supervisor for Transformers 2; Henry LaBounta, chief visual officer at Black Box, an Electronic Arts studio; and EA's Jonathan Knight, who will present Dante's Inferno.
Speaking on stereoscopic 3-D are Bob Whitehill, stereoscopic supervisor at Pixar; Jayme Wilkinson, stereoscropic supervisor at Blue Sky Studios; and Rob Bredow, CTO, and Danny Dimian, senior CG supervisor, at Sony Pictures Imageworks.
Details on the program and registration can be found at http://www.viewconference.it/
'Risk' to Become Next Big-Screen Board Game Adaptation
Battleship. Monopoly, Candy Land, and Ouija. A Clue re-do. If it's a board game, chances are it's going to get put into development sometime in the near future. If Hollywood wasn't such a wacky world of insane ideas, I'd be surprised that we hadn't gotten this one earlier. Nikki Finke is reporting that Sony Pictures has bought the rights to Risk, piling more cinematic coin into Hasbro's coffers. The project will be developed by Hasbro in conjunction with James Lassiter and Overbrook Entertainment.
Columbia Pictures pres. Doug Belgrad says audiences have "shown a great desire for films that bring to life everything that has made these franchise properties stand the test of time," and mentioned the likes of Transformers and G.I. Joe. Unsurprisingly then, he says the film will be an exciting movie with "an action-packed, thrilling story." It makes sense -- a game where you roll the dice to world domination is just asking for a big blow-out action flick.
Disney/Weta VFX Pro Has Big Plans For Australia's Coast
(goldcoast.com.au) AFTER working alongside Peter Jackson on the Lord Of The Rings trilogy and King Kong, local filmmaker David Gould has big plans for the Gold Coast.
In fact, the world-class director, animator, producer and screenwriter wants to build an empire on the Coast, similar to how Jackson has made Wellington a base for major international blockbusters.
With his new animated short film, Awaken, gaining momentum overseas and locally through the Gold Coast Film Fantastic, Gould is preparing to head to the American Film Market to pitch three film projects, all to be made at his Burleigh Heads studio.
The projects will be live-action, a combination of actors working with computer animated imagery, with sets being built in his studio and exterior's shot at various Gold Coast locations.
"The three feature film projects we will be presenting over there are different genres and different styles, but always with the main focus to make mainstream international films," said Gould.
"We don't make Australian films, we make international films for a mass audience but we want to shoot it all on the Gold Coast."
Gould and his team built a prison set at the studio for his short film Inseparable Coil which he said is an 'appetiser' for the feature film that looks at the relationship between twin brothers and the events that test their bond.
The film screened at the 29th Breckenridge Festival of Film in Colorado and featured in Digital Media World magazine for its cutting edge technology.
"The film was set in Boston, but we shot it all here on the Gold Coast and you really couldn't tell the difference," said Gould.
Your Say
"The Aussie film industry has been in the doldrums for a decade or more, ever since bureaucrats took over deciding what films we should, and could make. Any venture into the private film making industry is a good one. We can make awesome films, we certainly used to make them. Now we make unwatchable garbage destined for complete failure, on the basis that they are 'socially significant' while being totally opposite what people want to watch. David, I hope it goes well for you. "
Glen Crawford
"That's what we want to do with a lot of our films. There's a lot of potential for films in Australia and we need to attract the talent.
"It's important to have a base, whether we shoot a film in Malaysia and do all the post production here or do the whole process from here."
With more than 15 years in visual effects and computer graphics, Gould has worked for Walt Disney Feature Animation and Peter Jackson's company Weta Digital, where he was the senior technical director on King Kong and 3D lighting technical director on Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers and Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King.
Prime Focus R&D Recruiting VFX Facilities As Beta Testers
(software.broadcastnewsroom.com) Prime Focus Software, the R&D arm of Prime Focus VFX, is actively recruiting visual effects facilities to participate in the Beta Testing program for Deadline 4.0. The soon-to-be-released version of the company's hassle-free administration and rendering toolkit for Windows, Linux and Mac OSX-based render farms features a host of new upgrades, which beta testers will have the opportunity to experience first-hand.
Deadline provides render farms of all sizes a world of flexibility and a wide-range of management options. The latest version, Deadline 4.0, is scheduled for a late November release and will feature improved scalability and stability, an improved Mac OSX experience, and new software support for Autodesk Maya 2010, Autodesk Softimage 2010, Avid MetaFuze, and ffmpeg. Deadline 4.0 will also include customizable themes for the user interface and will be compatible with Prime Focus Software's upcoming Deadline iPhone application, which will be available soon after the release of Deadline 4.0.
To learn more and to join the Deadline 4.0 Beta Program, please contact: deadline-beta@primefocusworld.com
Marvel Profit Plunges 60% - "Iron Man 2" Now A Focus
(RTTNews) - Marvel Entertainment reported Tuesday a large drop in profit for the third quarter, hurt by a decline in feature film activity and related licensing.
Earnings per share for the quarter dropped nearly 60%, but topped analysts' expectations by two cents. Quarterly net sales also dropped and missed consensus estimate.
Marvel is now trying to be more vibrant in the company of Paramount Pictures, which would now distribute five of its movies including Iron Man 2 on May 7, 2010.
On August 31, Walt Disney Co. (DIS) agreed to acquire Marvel, subject to Marvel shareholder approval and other customary closing conditions, in a stock and cash transaction valued at about $4 billion. The company continues to anticipate closure of the deal by calendar year end. Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of more than 5,000 Marvel comic-book characters, including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men and Captain America. The boards of directors of both Disney and Marvel have each approved the transaction.
The company added that Disney is the ideal home to nurture and further develop the distinctive Marvel brands because of its ability to extend the breadth, diversity and global reach of Marvel-branded entertainment and consumer products.
In statement, chairman, Morton Handel said, "Despite the absence of any Marvel Studios feature film releases in 2009, Marvel continued to deliver solid operating performance across all our operating segments. Anticipation for the high profile Iron Man 2 feature film continues to build, and we are focusing our efforts on the film's May 2010 release and the related licensing opportunities."
"Bone" Comic Might See Three Movies from WB
(Comic Book Resources) More than a year ago we reported that Warner Bros had picked up rights to Jeff Smith's independent comic Bone. Not much has happened since then, but Comic Book Resources (via SlashFilm) has a report from Jeff Smith's appearance at the Alternative Press Expo (APE) in San Francisco this last weekend. Good news is that he's "very happy with the progress so far" but no release date has been set yet. Although he did also go on to say that they'll probably end up making not one, but three films based off of Bone. The only other question Smith was asked was if it was a big decision to do a CGI movie instead of a 2D hand-drawn one.
Smith noted he was a huge fan of hand-drawn animation, and had even tried to pull together a "Bone" cartoon with some friends he has in the animation business. "It was just too big, too expensive," he said. "I ended up just spending my time trying to get everyone to get along with everyone else."
Bone (visit boneville.com for more) is a 55-issue comic book series spanning 1991 to 2004 that follows "three cousins from the Bone family who are small, white and bald humanlike creatures with big noses. The trio are run out of their hometown and find themselves in a mysterious valley where they are separated and hunted by other creatures. They are taken in by a girl named Thorn and her grandmother, and find out that the valley is threatened by an evil force called the Lord of the Locusts." Smith drew inspiration from J.R.R. Tolkien among other fantasy and epic story tellers. Looking forward to seeing this actually get under way.
Bruckheimer Readies To Nuke Washington DC
(firstshowing.net) Seems like Jerry Bruckheimer is excited to adapt even more video games. Variety reports that he is set to adapt Shattered Union, published by 2K Games, and has hired screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski to write the script. In the game, states secede from the US and form their own governments that wage a civil war against each other after Washington DC is wiped out in a nuclear blast and chaos ravages the nation. Players control one of the warring group of states, like the California Commonwealth, Republic of Texas and New England Alliance, or a European peacekeeping unit sent to reunify America. Sounds like fun war action.
Nighy Wants in on Pirates 4
(moviehole.net) While talking to the amiable British actor about his role in "Astro Boy", Moviehole managed to ask Bill Nighy about whether or not he'd be keen to reprise his role as Davey Jones in the recently announced "Pirates of the Caribbean :On Stranger Tides".
''Yeah, I hope so. I really do. I mean, I met Geoffrey [Rush] the other day, and he and I were both saying we had a wonderful time, not least, with him, because he's such a nice man, and such a good actor. We'd love to be in it. So I think " Geoffrey said that he was doing a junket, and he said, I've actually resorted to making direct appeals to the camera, to Jerry Bruckheimer. Which was quite funny. No, I'd love to be in it. I'd love to be in Pirates, because it was a great experience to be in the first lot. And you know, those movies are beloved. It's nice to make people happy.''
Though nothing has been confirmed, it's believed that the next "Pirates" flick will feature only Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush's characters from the original trilogy. Rob Marshall is directing the film, due for release July 2011.
JJ Abrams Has a Secret Project Called 500 RADS?
(fusedfilm.com) We all know JJ Abrams is the master of the secret, shrouding mystery around his projects. If you have ever listened to his speech at TED then you know why. Mystery is appealing for sure everyone is curious and sure enough we are curious about this story that just hit rumorville on the internet.
Pajiba has the rumor out telling us that Abrams via his Bad Robot production company is working on a movie called 500 Rads, a film in the vein of both Cloverfield and 28 Days Later.
The film will have a modest budget of $25 million, and they will shoot the film in Europe, which would help keep the production under wraps and away from tons of media. The story is based on an extensive outline by Abrams, and writer Jeff Pinkner has been fleshing out the script for several months. Pinkner is one of Abrams' frequent collaborators, as he has been a writer and producer on Alias, Lost and Fringe. Pinkner, who must return to his duties on Fringe, has yet to complete the script. So Bad Robot is in talks with a couple more of Abrams' usual suspects to finish the script.
A little less than two years ago (Feb 2008) we heard that Abrams was working on a secret project that wasn't Star Trek or Cloverfield 2. That rumor came out of the VES awards. The rumor was that JJ was working with ILM on an undisclosed project and that it was "the most exciting thing to ever happen in the film industry ever ever!"
Not sure if both projects are even related but it is interesting to think about. Certainly the premise sounds great and JJ will make everything about the movie new, exciting and different than anything we have seen before.
Source: http://www.fusedfilm.com/2009/11/jj-abrams-has-a-secret-project-called-500-rads/
"Ghost Rider 2" To Pretend You Didn't See "Ghost Rider"
It was announced not too long ago that "Ghost Rider 2" would be based on a screenplay written a few years ago by "Batman Begins" co-writer David Goyer (the more I see his individual work, the more I'm thinking he's better off with collaborators).
Well, here's what Goyer himself had to say in a recent update:
"It's not exactly a reboot," said Goyer, who's currently hard at work on his "FlashForward" television series. "I hate to say it's more realistic, because he's got a flaming skull for a head, but it's a bit more stripped down and darker. It's definitely changing tone. What 'Casino Royale' was to the Bond movies, hopefully this will be to 'Ghost Rider.' This story picks up eight years after the first film," said Goyer. "You don't have to have seen the first film. It doesn't contradict anything that happened in the first film, but we're pretending that our audience hasn't seen the first film. It's as if you took that same character where things ended in the first film and then picked it up eight years later he's just in a much darker, existential place."
Michael Bay Planning Less Action in "Transformers 3"
"It can't get bigger, we have to figure out to go sideways and I'm wondering where to start. What I'm doing is having Hasbro send me tons of lore and stuff like that, things that we can draw from, and I just have to let it simmer. Definitely more has to be made of Bumblebee in the third one, that's a relationship you want to explore more. And I think we're definitely going to get more into the robot characters.
This movie got very big, very grand, we've covered a lot of ground. The third one doesn't have to be as big, we could go darker. It definitely has to be more emotional, it's not going to be just about action, action, action. And that's where I think T3 might potentially go, where things are more undercover and not as exposed."
Dreamworks Unleashes The "Robopocalypse"
(darkhorizons.com) DreamWorks Studios has picked up the film rights to Daniel H. Wilson's unpublished manuscript "Robopocalypse" reports Reuters.
The cautionary tale explores the fate of the human race after a robot uprising. Wilson, who has a Ph.D. in robotics, has grounded his tale in a heavy degree of authenticity derived from real robot technology.
Dreamworks is fast-tracking development of the project. Wilson also penned 2005's "How to Survive a Robot Uprising" and next year's "Bro-Jitsu" which are being developed into films at Paramount and Nickelodeon respectively.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 4 Update from Producer Jerry Bruckheimer
(collider.com) Last week I went to Producer Jerry Bruckheimer's office in Santa Monica to get an early look at the "Prince of Persia" trailer. Perhaps you read what I wrote. Anyway, after the presentation ended, I walked outside the screening room and Bruckheimer along with "Prince of Persia" creator Jordan Mechner were standing nearby talking. While not wanting to interrupt their conversation, when you have an opportunity to ask one of the biggest producers in Hollywood a question or two, you sometimes have to get aggressive. I walked over to say how much I liked the trailer and how I thought this might finally be the video game based movie that kicks ass.
But once the "Prince of Persia" talk ended, I decided to ask Mr. Bruckheimer what's up with "Pirates of the Caribbean 4". As you might have heard, a management shakeup recently happened at Disney and rumors have been flying that Johnny Depp might not do the film with former Chairman Dick Cook out of the picture. Since no one has been able to confirm or deny the rumor, with my limited time I decided to ask Mr. Bruckheimer three questions: I asked what's up with the script, when are they going to shoot the film, and did the regime change cause any problems. He told me they've gotten the script, the management change will not affect the production, and he believes they'll be filming next year. Of course things change along the way, but the way he spoke to me about the project, I believe the Black Pearl is going to be looking for the Fountain of Youth quite soon.
New Generation of Visual Tech For 3D Arabian Nights
(Variety) Chuck Russell is set to direct a 3D reworking of Arabian Nights, reports Variety. He co-wrote the script with Barry P. Ambrose. The action adventure, with an estimated budget of $70 million, will start production in April.
In a new spin on the classic, the story follows a young commander who, after his king is killed in a palace coup, joins forces with Sinbad, Aladdin and his genie to rescue Scheherazade and her kingdom from dark powers.
"Through the use of a new generation of visual technologies, we will be able to quite literally take audiences around the world on a magic carpet ride," Russell said.
Roger Rabbit 2 to Use Performance Capture Technology?
As he continues the press tour for the imminent release of Disney's A Christmas Carol, director Robert Zemeckis has been adding more detail to his plans for a sequel to his 80s hit, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Zemeckis, as we've already learnt, has hired the writers of the first film - Jeffrey Price and Peter Seaman - to pen the follow-up, but it also seems that he's interested in applying his performance capture work to the project.
Performance capture is the technique he's used across The Polar Express, Beowulf and now A Christmas Carol, where actors become \u2018digital puppets', with their representation coming across as a mix of real life and animation. Talking to MTV about Roger Rabbit 2, Zemeckis revealed that "All the other characters that [the cartoons] would sort of have fun with would be magnificent in performance capture technology."
However, he's resolute that the cartoon characters will stay as they are. "I wouldn't use it for the cartoon characters, because I think they should stay two-dimensional because that's what - I wouldn't dimensonalize Roger. And I couldn't dimensonalize Jessica even if I wanted to because she doesn't have a nose. We wouldn't want to give her a nose."
Should Zemeckis press ahead with using performance capture on Roger Rabbit - and as he revealed when he spoke to us yesterday that he's still not sure which of his projects he'll be filming next - then it'd instantly give the film a marked visual difference from the original. We like the MTV speculation, however, that this would be worked into the story somehow (and there's certainly potential for that to happen), and await further updates on the project with interest.
VFX Tentpoles Cash In On U.K.'s Favorable Exchange Rate
(variety.com) Foreign filming on British soil is booming thanks to a favorable dollar/sterling exchange rate, a tax credit that's particularly generous for Hollywood blockbusters and a strong post-production sector that can provide high-end vfx.
Ridley Scott's untitled Robin Hood project as well as "Clash of the Titans," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," "Gulliver's Travels," "Inception" and "John Carter of Mars" are among the U.S. projects in various stages of shooting, contributing to an estimated $1 billion-plus of inward investment in 2009.
Pinewood and Shepperton remain the leading studios, but a new generation of large-scale facilities is emerging to cope with the demand, offering much cheaper and more basic service; those sites include Longcross, Leavesden, Cardington and Belfast's Paint Hall.
Top facility: Longcross Studios in Surrey, just beyond the southwest fringes of London, hosted Warner's "Clash of the Titans" and is now gearing up for Disney's "John Carter of Mars." Formerly a military research establishment, it has been converted into a bare-bones, cut-rate facility consisting of vast sheds ready to be rigged out by producers.
Key contacts: British Film commissioner Colin Brown and his small team will get involved at early script stage to work on budgets, scout locations, source key services and give advice on what it takes to pass the British culture test in order to qualify for the U.K. tax credit.
Lucas Returns To Court Battle: Are Stormtroopers Works of Art?
(telegraph.co.uk) George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars film franchise, has turned to the Court of Appeal to prevent one of the originators of the Stormtroopers from selling replica costumes.
Prop designer Andrew Ainsworth, who helped manufacture the helmets and suits for the first film in 1977, now sells replicas from his studio in Twickenham, south west London. Lucas, the creator of the sci-fi series, had tried to stop him last year in a multimillion-pound battle at the High Court. But a judge ruled that the suits were not covered by copyright law because they were not works of art and a £10 million damages award against Mr Ainsworth in the US could not be enforced in the UK.
Lucasfilm has now brought an action in the Court of Appeal to try to prove that the Stormtrooper suits are sculptures and therefore works of art covered by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. Lucas's company is also claiming that an English court should allow the US court jurisdiction in cases involving internet trading even though the trader may not have a physical presence in the foreign country.
Michael Bloch QC, representing Lucasfilm, said all the characters in the Star Wars series were conceived by Mr Lucas. Artists used conventional techniques such as drawing, painting and sculpting to give a visual representation for prop makers to construct the finished product. Mr Ainsworth produced the first Stormtrooper helmet in plastic by making a mould using a clay model formed by another prop artist.
The Stormtrooper armour was first sculpted in clay by Brian Muir, a sculptor from the production company's art department. Again, Mr Ainsworth used casts taken from these models to manufacture the plastic suits, said Mr Bloch.
When the first film was a worldwide success, Lucasfilm built up a licensing business for the manufacture of reproductions of the Stormtrooper helmets and armour. Mr Bloch said Mr Ainsworth had kept the original moulds and started selling versions with the US being his largest market. He said the English judge had found that Mr Ainsworth had a defence to breach of copyright because he held that the Stormtroopers were not works of art.
''The question arising on this appeal concerns the scope and meaning of sculpture for the purposes of the Act.'' Mr Bloch said if the High Court judge's approach was right, none of the clay sculptures, plaster shapes or fibreglass tools would qualify as sculptures under the Act.
''He erred in holding that it is an essential requirement of every sculpture that it have artistic character, in that it must have, as part of its purpose, a visual appeal in the sense that it might be enjoyed for that purpose alone.'' Mr Bloch said that this interpretation would lead to the result that statues of the Virgin Mary commissioned by churches and sold throughout the world would not be seen as sculptures because their primary purpose was non-artistic - as a focus for prayer.
''On the erroneous approach of the learned judge, arguably the most famous sculpture in the world, Michelangelo's Pieta in St Peter's Basilica in Rome, would also be disqualified for the purposes of the Act.''
DreamWorks Animation Posts $19.6M
(CGtalk.com) DreamWorks reported net income of $19.6 million, or 23 cents a share, on revenue of $135.4 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30. That compared with net income of $37.4 million, or 41 cents a share, on revenue of $151.5 million during the same quarter in 2008, when the studio benefited from its hit film "Kung Fu Panda.
World Premiere of Disney's 3D "A Christmas Carol"
(newsshopper.co.uk) DISNEY'S latest animated retelling of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol enjoyed its world premiere in Leiscester Square last night.
The famous West End landmark was given a festive makeover, with fir trees and fake snow, especially for the event which saw the 3D animated film screened for the first time in the square's three cinemas.
Stars of the film Jim Carrey, Bob Hoskins and Colin Firth began the celebrations by switching on the Christmas lights in Oxford Street, St. Pauls and Regent Street.
They then walked the red carpet along with other celebrities including pop stars Peter Andre, Little Boots and The Saturdays.
The icing on the Christmas cake was a performance by opera singer Andrea Bocelli who led 14,000 Londoners as they collectively broke the World Record for group carol singing.
Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Iv22h2B08
8th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards Call for Entries
(cgw.com) Los Angeles - VES is now accepting online submissions for the 8th Annual VES Awards Show on February 28, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Beverly Hills. The deadline to send in submissions is November 30, 2009. For the first time this year, the VES will be accepting 3D Stereoscopic submissions and has increased the number of entries that may be nominated in specific categories.
Rules and Procedures can be found at www.vesawards.com.
"The Annual VES Awards have become the gold standard in recognizing the amazing artistry of the visual Effects world. These awards not only recognize that artistry but also the nature of what we bring to the world of Feature Films, Broadcast TV, Commercials, Games, Special Venues and the 'up and comers' in the world of student artists," says Jeffrey A. Okun, chair of the VES. "This is the place to be on February 28th when we unveil the most outstanding work of the year across all categories!"
The annual VES Awards show honors the most outstanding visual effects in film, television, animation, commercials, special venue projects, and video games. The Society is also pleased to once again present the VES/Autodesk Student Award for outstanding visual effects in a student project.
The categories open for submission are: http://www.cgw.com/Press-Center/News/2009/8th-Annual-Visual-Effects-Society-Awards-Call-fo.aspx
VFXmarketplace.com Begins Outsourcing Initiative
(awn.com) VFXmarketplace.com is opening up to supply the the global visual effects industry after a successful beta phase, VFXmarketplace.com makes it easy to outsource basic visual effects. VFX houses post their requirements, and accredited suppliers from around the world compete to win the work.
Tim Webber, Oscar-nominated VFX supervisor and co-founder said: "We created the business when we realised that VFX houses were always struggling to find the right artists and organisations to outsource to. We're a bit like a dating agency. We help match up the organisations who have excess work, with the artists and organisations who have the right skills and want to do the work. We've got artists all over the world, from Australia to the Ukraine, supplying great visual effects."
Suppliers can only access the work once they have passed a strict accreditation process. They are continually rated on their work by the buyers, creating a "SupplierScore" - a high SupplierScore signalling quality and reliability.
Peter Horne, Managing Director and co-founder said: \u201cOur buyers love it. They can find great quality work that is delivered reliably, and our competitive tendering means that they always get the work at a great price. We've been developing the website since January and have built tools to make it easy to outsource visual effects services such as paint, roto, tracking and modelling. VFX houses get flexible capacity on tap."
An artist commented: "I work as a freelance Compositor, but I also have a hell of a lot of experience doing roto and prep to a very high standard for major films. The service your company offers would be perfect for me so I am very eager to join up"
VFXmarketplace is more than just an auction website. It has a robust pipeline, supported by Nuke from The Foundry. This enables the Buyers and suppliers to easily transfer material in a standardised, efficient way. It has also developed web based communication and production tools to help with specifying work, commenting on work-in-progress and tracking the progress of shots.
Buyers and suppliers should register now at http://www.vfxmarketplace.com/register.action
Rodriguez Jets Away From the Jetsons
(latinoreview.com) While director Robert Rodriguez busy himselfs with post-production on Machete and getting things geared up for the Predator remake, there's one film he won't have to be concerned with anymore: The Jetsons movie. If Warner Bros. has their way, Peter Segal (Get Smart) will have that honor.
The live-action film -- think The Flintstones movie only with less hot Halle Berry -- has been floundering in development, with Rodriguez's name attached to direct, for quite some time despite having a script.
According to the folks over at Pajiba, "That\u2019s partly because no talent wanted to sign on, including Jim Carrey, who passed on the role of George Jetson."
Wait, they couldn't get Jim Carrey to sign on? Jim Carrey, who doesn't exactly exercise sound discretion when choosing his projects? Mr. Jim "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" Carrey? If that's the case, then this script is likely worse than the usual remake/haphazard adaptation that we see pushed out by studios. Luckily, word is that Warner Bros. will hire writers to work on new script once they have secured a director to replace Rodriguez. But there's no word yet on whether or not Segal is indeed interested in being that director.
SKYWALKING TO SAN FRANCISCO
(moviesblog.mtv.com) Richard Kelly is the man. Not just because he'll be here all this week, posting as a guest editor for MTV Movies Blog. It helps, sure, but we're talking about the guy who made "Donnie Darko" here. And "Southland Tales." Isn't that enough? Not for Kelly it isn't. His latest brain-twisting tale, "The Box," hits theaters on November 6. And he has a dynamite week of content planned for y'all, so sit back and enjoy!
On Tuesday, I headed north . . . the good people of Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light & Magic hosted a screening of "The Box" an invited me to stay at the legendary Lucas ranch for the night and tour the facilities.
The property itself is everything a fanboy could dream and more - as an alumni of USC and an acolyte in the church of Lucas - I was speechless when I was granted access to the Sergei Eisenstein apartment, a spacious lodge with a vaulted ceiling and fireplace.
I devoured my dinner of chicken, potatoes and vegetables (grown on the ranch) - and before sunset I hopped on one of the many bikes and pedaled my through the winding roads and covered bridge.
The place has a serenity that I didn't expect.
On Wednesday morning, I visited Skywalker Sound, where I met the guys mixing "Prince of Persia," starring my friend and "Donnie Darko" star Jake Gyllenhaal.
In the main house we visited the library (which has a structural resemblance to the Venice library featured in "Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade") - and I got butterflies in my stomach while gazing through Tiffany glass at each artifact from the "Indiana Jones" quadrilogy - not to mention the legendary whip itself.
It was then on to visit the wonderful folks at ILM in San Francisco. We did a post-screening discussion on "The Box" (opening November 6th!) which was moderated by Kate Shaw - Director of Training and Education - who asked a series of insightful and thoughtful questions about the film.
It was an honor to be among fellow artists and technicians who appreciate the art of science-fiction and open to exploring the themes of the film. I have to say it was probably my favorite Q+A that I have ever done.
We had time for a quick lunch and a tour of the ILM facility - a place where I would certainly love to be able to return one day soon and recommend to other filmmakers.
This trip was incredibly inspiring to me as I continue to revise my new script.
Full Press: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/10/29/exclusive-richard-kellys-latest-guest-blog-takes-us-to-skywalker-ranch/Best Visual Effects Oscar "Long List" Taking Shape
As I explained in August, a shortlist of seven films will be announced in December or January. After the branch screens the films, the three nominees will be announced on the same day as all the other categories. We can expect the nominees to be big budget films – and also big hits, which is why how they perform on release is so important.
Summer titles such as “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” and “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” strike me as highly unlikely to survive to the year’s end. Nor do I believe “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” will able to distinguish itself enough from its predecessors, only one of which was nominated here.
Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are” did not have the reliance on visual effects that I thought would be necessary for a nomination and I frankly doubt its chances. “Watchmen,” on the other hand, has slightly more potential in my opinion but still remains almost too innovative for a berth here.
The two summer films which I do fully expect to be in the running had very different critical reception – though I’m not sure if that will determine their fate in this category. I felt significantly dumber after watching “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” That said, the box office was nothing short of massive, as were the effects. It’s certainly still among the top contenders.
J. J. Abrams’s “Star Trek,” on the other hand, managed to successfully reboot a franchise that has previously seen success in this category. Its effects were not as showy as “Transformers” but they were still integral to the film, and very much at the forefront.
The film that came from off my radar to the top tier of contenders, however, is Neil Blomkamp’s “District 9.” Every moment of this South African tale was gripping, due in no short part to the exceptional effects. Blending explosions, the mother ship and convincing aliens at the heart of the film will likely earn it a nomination here in my opinion.So what still has to show itself? I’d primarily look to three films.
Roland Emerich’s “2012” will be arriving shortly. I remain doubtful of the film’s quality (as I’m sure most do). However, there is no doubt that top-notch visual wizardy will be required to create the disasters on display. So if it strikes a chord with the public and the Academy, a nomination is possible.
Fundamentally, however, it is James Cameron’s “Avatar” that, despite remaining unseen, seems almost certain to play a prominent role. From what has been shown, it’s clear visual effects will be at the forefront of the movie and the history of Cameron’s films in this category is impressive, to put it mildly.
Lastly, I’ll speak about “The Lovely Bones.” Like Cameron, Peter Jackson is a master of visual effects. While this latest effort will likely be more akin to “Heavenly Creatures” than “King Kong” in the effects department, if it becomes a major player, I could see Jackson’s crowd in the race once more.
It’s hard to believe we’re two-thirds of the way through October. In a few weeks, we’ll be in the midst of awards season. What are your thoughts on the visual effects race?
Terminator Franchise to be Auctioned Off
(Financial Times) The rights to the "Terminator" franchise will be auctioned this month. The sale has reportedly sparked considerable interest because "Terminator" is a rare example of a blockbuster franchise not controlled by a big studio.
FT says several financial buyers have expressed interest in Terminator, including Platinum Equity, the Beverly Hills firm that owns Delphi, the auto parts maker.
All the big film studios have also registered interest in the rights, with Sony Pictures a leading contender.
Summit Entertainment, the company behind the "Twilight" series, is tracking the sale, as is Media Rights Capital, which produced Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno.
The rights are being sold by Halcyon, the production company behind Terminator Salvation. The auction does not cover earlier Terminator films. The rights will give the buyer to make new films, TV series and other spin-offs.
Jon Favreau Discusses"Tricky" Iron Man 2 CGI-Completion Phase
"It's a tricky phase," Favreau admitted of the sequel, which is expected to arrive in theaters in May 2010. "Unfortunately, it's not like a traditional film where you try to get your cut together and then you try to figure out what's working or not. In the case of a superhero movie, an action movie heavy with CGI, you're turning over sequences and getting shots back. So as we begin to see what the vendors are bringing us, the movie starts to come together."
The new "Iron Man" will introduce a fresh crew of heroes and villains, including Don Cheadle as War Machine and Mickey Rourke as Whiplash. According to Favreau, until he and his team begin to see these characters in completed visual-effects shots, they can't really know what their film will be.
"When we see what War Machine looks like, Iron Man, the way Whiplash moves, the way the action sequences are coming together so that's one thing we're working on now is we're continuing to create and generate dailies and digital shots for our animated portion, which is in essence the action sequences," the director explained.
While Favreau is already in the edit room putting together his director's cut, and Downey, Cheadle, Rourke and the rest of the cast have finished principle photography, shooting continues to take place. "We're also building CG environments where we're shooting smaller sets with green-screen backgrounds. We're starting to see what that all looks like," Favreau said. "But fortunately I have the performances. Those are all in camera because those are the actors and I just have a great, great cast."
A lot may be up in the air, the director conceded, but one thing he's sure of is that new film will aim for the first flick's edgy attitude, emphasizing Stark's familiar sardonic wit maybe even taking it all a little further. "There's that great tone and sense of humor from the first one, and I think we upped the ante a bit in this one," he said.
Sony Pictures Imageworks and The Foundry Share Technologies
(PRNewswire - reuters.com) Sony Pictures Imageworks, the
award-winning visual effects and animation company known for the innovative
digital production tools it provides to its artists and filmmakers, and The
Foundry, a leading developer of visual effects (VFX) software, are embarking
on a reciprocal technology sharing relationship to mutually advance the state
of the art in visual effects and digital production.
In this unique collaboration, The Foundry acquires access to Sony Pictures
Imageworks' highly regarded 2D/3D lighting technology package, Katana, with
which they will be able to collaborate on future developments. As part of the
collaboration, Sony Pictures Imageworks adds The Foundry's industry renowned
compositing software, Nuke, to its existing stable of the company's plug-ins.
Katana is a production-proven toolset that has been used by Imageworks to
facilitate their award-winning VFX work on films such as the Spider-Man(TM)
movies, Superman Returns, I am Legend and, most recently, G-Force,Cloudy with
a Chance of Meatballs and the upcoming Alice in Wonderland. Nuke has most
recently been used on such films as District 9, Transformers, and Terminator
Salvation.
The agreement also involves close cooperation going forward. The two
companies will work together to ensure the successful use and integration of
each other's technology, and exchange updates and new discoveries.
"Artistry enabled by cutting-edge technology is the cornerstone of our
business," said Randy Lake, executive vice president and general manager of
Sony Pictures Imageworks. "This creative relationship with The Foundry brings
great technologies together and places powerful production tools into the
hands of artists."
"Imageworks is taking a far more open approach to its technology. Sharing
software with a progressive company like The Foundry is an important step for
both of our companies," said Rob Bredow, chief technology officer of Sony
Pictures Imageworks. "First, it enables Imageworks to provide the best
compositing tools to our artists today by adopting Nuke widely into our VFX
and animation workflows. And second, The Foundry has a proven track record of
taking production proven software and turning it into industry-leading
solutions. We're looking forward to collaborating with The Foundry to help
create the next generation of tools leveraging the best of our mutual
technologies. We are expecting great things from this relationship to give
artists the tools to create even greater imagery."
Bill Collis, The Foundry CEO, said, "It's highly unusual for software or post
production companies to share technologies and that's what makes our new
relationship with Sony Pictures Imageworks so special. There are some exciting
ideas we can explore over the coming years, building on Imageworks' Katana
technology and The Foundry's customer-driven product focus for Nuke to deliver
the next generation of compositing software. Sony is obviously a highly
respected player in the industry and the fact that they are implementing our
software, and collaborating on future products, is a huge compliment. We are
looking forward to working with Sony, and to seeing what fantastic results we
can achieve together."
Imageworks continues to aggressively advance the company's artist capabilities
and core technology, optimize its production pipeline and processes, and
foster broad-based adoption of formerly proprietary tools.
In June, Imageworks named Rob Bredow, one of the industry's leading visual
effects supervisors, as its Chief Technology Officer. Bredow, who was most
recently the visual effects supervisor on the hit animated movie Cloudy With A
Chance Of Meatballs, brings practical experience and artistic perspective to
this new role. He has been instrumental in optimizing the production pipeline
and improving the company's color, lighting and rendering processes.
The Katana software is an integral component of this strategic partnership
with The Foundry. Katana is a tool developed at Imageworks to aid artists in
look development, lighting, rendering and compositing of digital imagery.
Rather than defining a rigid pipeline for these tasks, Katana provides a
framework for building custom tools tailored to the unique needs of each show.
In development since 2004, this approach has allowed Imageworks to remain
"cutting edge" when "cutting edge" is a constantly moving target. Through the
Foundry relationship, this technology can now become available to the
industry.
In August, Imageworks launched five of its technologies into an open-source
development program. The program initially includes OSL, a programmable
shading language for rendering, Field3d, a voxel data storage library, Maya
Reticule, a Maya Plug-in for camera masking, Scala Migration, a database
migration tool, and Pystring, python-like string handling in C++.
The Twilight Saga's Wolf Pack Sizzle Thanks to CGI
(news.screenstar.com) "New Moon is going to be stepped up a whole nother notch," confidently states star Taylor Lautner. It goes without saying that the werewolves have some great scenes in New Moon and in the latest video to leak from Summit, fans get a behind the scenes look at what went into making the wolf pack sizzle. It is easy to watch the trailer and get caught up in the story, but does anyone stop to think about the work that goes into bringing the werewolves to life?
Director Chris Weitz had a tough task on hand when he signed onto New Moon; how was he going to realistically bring to life the werewolf pack? In the latest video interview, Weitz says, "We introduced the world of the werewolves which is also the world of some amazing CGI stuff." Before New Moon, CGI was on Center Stage with the success of Brad Pitt's The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, the technology allowing Pitt's character to age eighty plus years and then backward through time.
Computer-generated imagery (CGI) was first used in 1973's Westworld but it wasn't until Star Wars in 1977 that fans became enthralled with the application of the field of computer graphics. Since then, CGI has allowed movie directors to dream outside the realm of physical possibilities. In the case of New Moon, CGI has allowed a tale to come alive on the silver screen for all to enjoy.
In the all new wolf pack video Taylor Lautner, Alex Meraz, Chris Weitz, Chaske Spencer, Kristen Stewart, along with the wolf animators, talk about bring the werewolves to life and the tight knit bond they share. All the werewolves are transforming in the new video and it is amazing to see how lifelike the wolf pack really are. Major props to Phil Tipper, Visual Effects Supervisor, and Tom Gibbons, Animation Supervisor.
Take a look (bottom page): http://news.screenstar.com/Article/431
Mark Millar to Direct Superhero Movie
(comingsoon.net) Mark Millar, who created the comic books that Wanted and the upcoming Kick-Ass were based on, has announced that he is lining up a superhero movie that will mark his directorial debut. He posted the following on his official forums:
Bet you didn't see THAT coming, laddies and lassies!
But this is one of several big surprises planned for next year and you'll hear a bit more about this in February when we start to release details. What is it? Who is it about? Well, that's all a secret for now, but I learned a lot from Kick-Ass and love having the same creative freedom I have with comics when I work in cinema. I never want to be a studio bitch and go in there pitching for them to love me. The closest I came to this was a couple of calls regarding Superman, but pretty much none of my plans ever revealed as I didn't like the idea of anyone nicking them.
Similarly, I don't like the idea of asking for funding and justifying scenes with the money-men so I'm doing what Matthew Vaughn did with Kick-Ass and just making it outside the system with private investors. The financing is all secured and the movie stands or falls on how good I can make it, doing what Matthew did and just selling it once completed.
As you can imagine, I couldn't be more excited. More as it happens, but this might just beat out War Heroes and American Jesus as my follow-ups to the Wanted and Kick-Ass movies. Have two other pictures about to go into development (and Wanted and Kick-Ass 2, of course), but I think you need to scare the Hell out of yourself every once in a while and something totally new like directing should do the trick.
Daunting VFX Shot Count For Green Lantern
(Empire) Green Lantern director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, GoldenEye) told Empire magazine (via Coventry Telegraph) they've got their work cut out in bringing the comic book to life.
"It's daunting," he said. "Just the process, something like 1,300 visual effects shots, it's mind-blowing, quite honestly."
Campbell said that a lot of the effects shots work will concentrate on the Green Lantern's power ring. "It's energized by a battery on the planet of Oa, which taps into the willpower of everyone in the universe. From that ring you can form constructs. So if you got into a fight, you could form a giant fist. Or a fighter plane."
Ryan Reynolds will play the title role in the action-adventure, which Warner Bros. Pictures will release on June 17, 2011.
The Next VFX Frontier in Film: GPUs?
(news.bbc.co.uk) Technology and movie-making have always gone hand in hand but the latest breakthroughs are changing the very nature of the process.
Those in the industry say that thanks to the role of graphics processing units (GPUs), the director's vision can be more fully realised.
It also means that special effects teams are involved in the making of the movie at a far earlier stage.
In the past, their creations would be done in post-production and not be seen for weeks or even months after a movie has wrapped.
All that is changing thanks to the GPU, according to leading industry players like Richard Kerris, chief technology officer of Lucasfilm, part of Industrial Light and Magic (ILM).
The GPU is a specialised graphics processor that creates lighting effects and transforms objects every time a 3D scene is redrawn. These tasks are mathematically intensive and in the past were done using the brains of a computer known as the central processing unit or CPU.
ILM was started by Star Wars director George Lucas, and is the biggest special effects studio in the business and behind blockbusters like E.T., Star Trek, Terminator, Harry Potter, Transformers and M Night Shyamalan's soon-to-be-released fantasy The Last Airbender.
"The advent of the GPU is really the next big frontier for us. We have seen hundreds of times improvements over the last few months. This is taking Moore's Law out the window," Mr Kerris told BBC News.
"Back in the day, the simplest of special effects rendering took a lot of computing power and a 500-square-foot room back then that really wouldn't operate our phone systems today.
"But, the talent and the understanding of what could be done out of that was able to produce movies like Terminator. It was cutting-edge stuff and getting a computer that was the size of a small automobile to render out simulations of a twister was pretty groundbreaking then," said Mr Kerris.
Speed is key
At the heart of what the GPU does is speed, according to Dominick Spina, product manager for Nvidia, the company that invented the technology.
First computer generated main character
The Terminator T-1000 liquid metal shape shifter still wows audiences
"This is a big leap and the amount of data that can be crunched, analysed and documented can be done a lot faster on the GPU than the CPU. On certain simulations, we are talking a 100-200 times improvement," said Mr Spina.
With that kind of acceleration, Dr Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research says directors are no longer limited by the technology.
"A movie operates at 24 frames a second, and it takes for one of these extraordinary movies that we see anywhere from as few as 12 to as many as 24 hours for one frame.
"So now you have 24 days for a second's worth of film. By using the GPU for this rendering, you can literally reduce that to one 1,000th of what is was. So if it was say 24 hours to do the job, now you can do it in 24 seconds.
"GPU computing is on the cusp of transforming a major part of the computing industry," claimed analyst Rob Enderle, president of the Enderle Group.
"This is to supercomputers what PC's were to mainframes, and I doubt the world will ever be the same again."
'Making the impossible possible'
From a creative standpoint, studios say the technology has been a real boon.
"With this system, the creative process has been transformed from tedious to fun," said Rob Bredow, chief technology officer for Sony Pictures Imageworks, which used Nvidia's GPU to make "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs."
Cloudy With a chance of Meatballs
Animators created 80 different kinds of food for the movie
"When an artist can do 10 times as many iterations of an effect in the same amount of time, the quality of the end product will be that much better. Renders that would have taken 45 minutes or more to run on a CPU, are now cut down to 45 seconds," he said.
Mr Kerris from LucasFilm is in total agreement.
"In the past, a lot of times the director would say 'I want this kind of effect' and the team would go away, do their work and a year later come back with it and if it wasn't what you as a director wanted, then the whole process had to get re-instated.
"We are just at the tip of the iceberg in terms of experimentation but already we have seen the impact on some of the films we worked on this summer like Harry Potter.
"There was a final scene at the end of the film that had to do with fire and Dumbledore moving the fire around his head. When the director saw that he could actually direct the fire, he expanded that entire scene so it became a much more prominent scene in the film," explained Mr Kerris.
"GPUs are making the impossible possible in movies, bringing anything from swirling tornadoes to fiery infernos to the big screen," said Nvidia's Mr Spina.
"In the past movies dominated by crazy water, weather and fire effects were nearly impossible to make regardless of budget or timeframe; with the advent of the GPU, artists are able to make these visions a reality."
Story telling
So what does the future of this technology hold?
"In the next 6-8 months you will see some major films with some incredibly big scenes that are primarily done through GPU's. We are talking about taking it to a new level and doing it in a way where it won't take two years to do," said Mr Kerris.
Iron Man
Digitally adding Iron Man's armour later let the actor concentrate on acting
"Beyond that, I think GPU's will start to play a part in the home environment. You could hypothesise that a GPU could offload some stuff from the TV processor to give real-time overlays and graphics and data say with a sports game or show.
"You are going to see amazing new amusement centres, virtual reality and augmented reality. All these things will exploit the GPU on a more personal basis," said Dr Peddie.
"We take our mobile phone and with augmented reality we experience the world in a different way. The power of the GPU does that for us. We are at a tipping point," said Dr Peddie.
But at the end of the day, Mr Kerris stressed that when it comes to the movies, all the whizz-bang technology is worth nothing if the story is not up to scratch.
"George Lucas founded the different divisions of Lucasfilm not for technology's sake. In fact he is a very non-tech person. For him technology is a means to an end and it is always the story that counts," stressed Mr Kerris.
Original Roger Rabbit Writers Working on Sequel
(comingsoon.net) MTV talked to Disney's A Christmas Carol writer/director Robert Zemeckis, who revealed that original Who Framed Roger Rabbit screenwriters Jeffrey Price and Peter Seaman are working on the script for the sequel.
Video clip: http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=60518
Watch the Special Effects Guys F*ck Up Optimus Prime
(scifiwire.com) We've got an exclusive behind-the-scenes clip from the new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen DVD/Blu-ray, showing how the visual-effects artists bang the crap out of Optimus Prime.
The DVD and Blu-ray are on sale starting today in two-disc special editions and a single-disc DVD, from DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures in association with Hasbro; distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment.
The two-disc Blu-ray and DVD feature more than three hours of special features, including a multi-chapter documentary, interviews with the cast and crew, an all-access featurette following director Michael Bay through an entire day, a comprehensive exploration of the "confidential files" on a dozen of the characters, multi-angle breakdowns of some of the most sensational action sequences and more.
Take a look: http://scifiwire.com/2009/10/behind-the-visual-effects.php
"Tron" Sequel Writers Pen "Ouija"
(darkhorizons.com) Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz ("Tron: Legacy") have been hired to pen the film adaptation of board game "Ouija" for Universal Pictures and Platinum Dunes reports Heat Vision.
Story details of the supernatural action-adventure movie are being keep under wraps though certain rules of the game such as never use it alone, never use it in a graveyard, etc. will be incorporated. The Hasbro game has been around since 1966 with several million sold worldwide.
Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form will produce.
"Men in Black 3" is Moving Forward
(The Hollywood Reporter, Variety) Columbia Pictures has hired Tropic Thunder writer Etan Cohen to pen the script for Men in Black 3.
There are no deals yet in place for franchise director Barry Sonnenfeld and stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones to return.
The studio is looking to start filming the third installment in 2010, perhaps as early as the spring.
The first two films combined to earn nearly $1.1 billion worldwide.
AVATAR Trailer Gets World`s Largest Live Trailer Viewing
(Business Wire)-- On November 1, one of the biggest sports days of the year (with key NFL
match-ups + Game 4 of the World Series), the AVATAR trailer will get the world`s
biggest live trailer viewing when it debuts on the world`s largest video display
-- Cowboy Stadium`s Diamond Vision Screen - while millions of football fans
watch it at home.
FOX Sports will take the entire country viewing FOX NFL SUNDAY, America`s No. 1
NFL pre-game show, to Arlington, Texas and the new Cowboys Stadium, where the
three minute and thirty second trailer will play live from the enormous
Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Vision screen. The crowd attending the
Cowboys-Seattle Seahawks game will experience the AVATAR trailer live just
minutes prior to the noon (Central) kickoff between the Cowboys and Seahawks, on
the enormous, four-sided, high-definition screen that hangs above the Cowboys
Stadium playing field. At the same time, millions of others watching FOX NFL
SUNDAY will see the trailer on-air - making it the largest live motion picture
trailer viewing in history.
In addition, throughout the day ninety-second AVATAR commercial spots will air
on all regional games carried on the Fox affiliates, the national game on Fox,
and the World Series on Fox.
AVATAR opens in theaters everywhere December 18.
(AP) LONDON — A skeletal figurine used to create one of the 1930s' most memorable movie monsters is going up for sale.
Christie's auction house says the 22-inch (56-centimeter) metal figurine was used to represent King Kong in the climactic scene where the giant ape scales New York's Empire State Building.
"King Kong" wowed audiences with what for the time were astonishingly realistic special effects. The titular monster's movements were created using stop-motion animation.
At time of the 1933 movie's filming the skeleton was clad in cotton, rubber, liquid latex and rabbit's fur. Christie's spokeswoman Jo Swetenham said Friday that the covering had since rotted off.
Christie's says the figurine will go up for sale late next month.
Take a look: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/slideshow/ALeqM5gPsELNGQWeiNDkZ1odEzEcnOcTtwD9B7JO583?index=0&ned=us
Anthony Hopkins to Play Odin in Thor
(The Hollywood Reporter, Variety)
Odin is the father of Thor and Loki, to be played by Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, respectively. Natalie Portman is playing Thor's love interest, Jane Foster.
In the movie, written by Mark Protosevich and Zack Stentz, the powerful but arrogant warrior Thor's reckless actions re-ignite an ancient war. As punishment, Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans. Once here, he learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends dark forces of Asgard to invade Earth.
Paramount Pictures will release the film on May 20, 2011.
How Does Hiring Less Experienced Workers Effect CG Supervisors?
(cgsupervisor.blogspot.com) I believe that the worldwide economic condition is effecting CG workers globally, with large effect on U.S. visual effects CG workers, due to the outsourcing of jobs worldwide. Outsourcing has been on the rise for over 15 years now, and today the effect can be seen looking at job boards like CreativeHeads, where the majority of ads placed are for jobs in England, Canada, and Australia. The U.S. market is still strong in games production, judging by CreativeHeads ads, but ads for non-U.S. jobs now dominate by 2:1 or greater. And that's a job site with HQ in Los Angeles, the historical heart of film making. The job board Smoothdevil caters almost exclusively to the European market and is quite full of offerings.
For single workers with Bachelors degrees under age 30, opportunities abound to work abroad on what are called work-vacation visas. To get one in many countries, you need to declare an intent to vacation in the country where you will work, and the visa you apply for allows you to work to pay for your vacation. Neat legal opportunity to see the world and work abroad, if you are single and 18-30.
After age 30 through 49, you can still get a work visa in many countries. For example, to work in Canada, you need to score 67 points on their qualification test. A Bachelor's degree is worth 20 point, and so on. After age 50, points are subtracted for your age.
Age discrimination is packaged subtly in the U.S. market as well. When an ad suggests "3-5 years experience", you need to understand that 5 years is considered a maximum. Showing more experience will most likely result in your resume being tossed. Employers in this way are limiting the job pool to workers more or less fresh out of college and those with less than five years experience: effectively cutting out most workers over 30.
How does hiring less experienced workers effect the CG supervisor?
First, it means that increasingly, you are working with people who barely will know how to get a shot made. Your crew will comprise relatively green workers with relatively narrow work skills --specialists. Oddly, a specialist used to mean someone who spent years in a craft as a generalist who gradually developed a specialty, for example, in Lighting. Today, it's the opposite: a specialist is someone who after graduation, fell into an entry level job, did mainly lighting, and now does that fairly well, but cannot animate a camera to save his life.
Your CG crew will include a few people who have been around a while, providing some depth of experience, but after a few years these people may be cycled out of the company for younger, lower-paid workers, easy to do as each film wraps. A percentage of experienced workers are retained and paid very well, but in most cases the staff comprises specialists who repetitively do the same sort of shots for months at a time. Some will graduate into "supervision", which means a technical leader to most companies, and the rest will be let go.
The upshot for the CG supervisor is that your pipeline can become less and less flexible if your staff is less and less versatile.
Now a large VFX production company can handle that, but smaller companies need versatile pipelines. Hence the long-term prospects for employment in the VFX business for workers who fall out of the large production houses, is going to be smaller companies and starting their own small companies. Some will freelance for a few years, but if you leave VFX film making for a few years to pursue other interests or opportunities, your reel becomes stale and your skills are questioned. You may be better than before: faster, nimble, experienced, but the VFX world is looking for cheap.
This is odd, because often VFX large houses pay more than the small houses for less qualified workers. When I was hiring for a small CG production department, I was able to find workers with broader skill sets and hire them for less than workers who were specialists. I was able to hire good people at rates below those commonly paid by large studios because I was working with mostly generalists. I hired roughly a third senior people and a third juniors, with a solid core of experienced generalists in the center. A few of our exceptional people had both general and specialized skills, which helped us meet occasional special needs.
Sure, human brains slow down as we age, but they also amass experience and wisdom. Older workers have a lot to offer. It may be true that they can't work through the night as frequently as youngsters or go on so many of those macho programming "death marches". On the other hand, older workers tend to be more reliable and stable.
Perhaps the silliest aspect of age discrimination is that while the skills shortage may not be pressing right now, it hasn't gone away. Many knowledge based industries are finding it hard to recruit enough youngsters, as older people drift away many won't be capable of making a return if industry wakes up and decides it needs them any way.
The loss of efficiency in pipelines due to replacing experienced workers with specialized novices will put more pressure on producers and supervisors to use cheap (inexperienced) labor. Further, the loss of an experienced labor pool will eventually become an issue if not enough generalists and experienced older workers are retained. The abandonment and loss of experience in local markets will drive more and more outsourcing. Good for my non-U.S. readers, bad for the rest.
Or is it good for the non-U.S. vfx workers? Several years ago, the Los Angeles Times published a feature article about visual effects outsourcing to international vendors. The article reported that once vfx was established in a country for a few years, wage and efficiency pressures made outsourcing there less attractive, and the outsourcing was shifted to a country with a lower standard of living. Eventually, your company's new facility in India will exhibit the same inefficiencies as the one in Los Angeles, and management will start looking at China or Nigeria or Kamchatka.
Eventually we will run out of poorer nations, but that will not happen for a long, long time. The message to everyone working in this industry, whether you are in Los Angeles, Melbourne, London, Vancouver, Casablanca, Tel Aviv, Toronto, Singapore, Mumbai, Dubai.... your company can outsource your job, and will, unless it sees working with you is worth their money.
I believe the problem of VFX production costs cannot be solved by continually shopping for an outsource vendor in a cheaper nation. The problem is that we need to embrace experienced workers for the efficiencies they can bring to an operation. Not all older workers will meet the criteria of efficiency I'm talking about, because age does not guarantee experience and skill. But as I have long observed, the challenges in CG-VFX are often how well and how quickly we can solve technical and artistic problems.
An assembly-line mentality is not geared to solving problems- it works by avoiding problems. There are two groups of people who are good at solving problems: young, energized artists with new ideas AND enthusiastic, experienced artists who know how things work. The best is the skillful worker, with youthful energy and years of experience, who keeps his mind and ideas fresh and knows his tools well enough to animate with his eyes shut. I'm saying that to build better pipelines, stop looking for the cheap laborer who can follow a template tutorial: hire the generalist who is specialized. Build better pipelines with pros.
Finding and recruiting experienced workers is one of our key responsibilities as CG Supervisors. Looking for better people and putting them to work is what we need to do to make our pipelines more efficient. It's not easy, and it begins with ourselves. As the saying goes, "wake up and smell the coffee!"
Are we technologists who happen to supervise, or are we supervisors who love the technology and the art? A CG supervisor is one who works with people to get the job done, gives them training and tools, and provides and promotes effective policies and work procedures.
Dinosaurs Resurrected By Cutting-Edge 3D CGI
(Variety) Variety reports that Mike Medavoy and FremantleMedia Enterprises are collaborating on a multiplatform franchise with the working title "Dinosaurs Resurrected."
The project, which melds the latest discoveries by paleontologists with cutting-edge CGI animation, will include a primetime HD series, to be delivered in 2011, and a narrative 3D feature.
FME will handle the sale of the series' international rights and will oversee the exploitation of the franchise in all media, including books, DVDs, merchandising, video games and live events.
Visual effects will be handled by British post-house Zoo, which worked on "Egypt Unwrapped" and "Predator X."
Original Ray Harryhausen Stop Motion Animation Model On Ebay
(blog.mondotees.com) With a little over 3 days left as I write this, this original Ray Harryhausen model from GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD is going for a cool $20,000.
Here are some other pictures. Click on them to take you to the auction link.
Take a look: http://blog.mondotees.com/2009/10/26/original-ray-harryhausen-model-on-ebay/
"Sin City 2" Set To Film in 2010
(darkhorizons) Producer Stephen L'Heureux tells Mania.com that a "Sin City" sequel aims to go into production in the second half of next year.
The sequel will be based on an original script by Miller who co-directs with Robert Rodriguez.
Stan Winston Props And Special Effects Video Excerpt Features Terminator Models Circa 1986
(originalprop.com) William Forsche of Forsche Design has published an excellent video excerpt on YouTube from a long out of print Japanese laserdisc which feature Stan Winston\u2019s special effects work circa 1986. Props/models from the first Terminator film are prominently featured.
Below is the recently published Stan Winston video, described as follows:
This is an excerpt from the very rare 1986 SFX Museum Volume 4: Special Make Up Effects Laserdisc. The disc features master special effects make up artists such as Rick Baker, Stan Winston, and Dick Smith sharing their skill and technique. Narration is in dubbed Japanese over English dialog.
Take a look: http://www.originalprop.com/blog/2009/10/20/stan-winston-props-and-special-effects-video-excerpt-features-terminator-models-circa-1986/
J.J. Abrams Abandons MI4 for Star Trek 2
(darkhorizons.com) For a while its been rumored that J.J. Abrams has been tossing up between directing a "Star Trek" sequel, and a fourth "Mission: Impossible".
Now, the director tells MTV News that the latter isn't likely - "I'm producing with Tom [Cruise]. My guess is, given other things, that I will not be directing the movie."
As for the rumors that Cruise wouldn't star in the film, he's more evasive - "I will say that it's a story that will feel consistent with the world that has been created. It's not a reboot kind of thing."
Analyst States Five Percent Loss For 2009 Games Industry
Wedbush Morgan Analyst Michael Pachter dropped a note stating that they are lowering their 2009 video game sales forecast to reflect weaker than expected video game sales in the U.S. and Europe in the middle part of the year.
* Now forecast combined U.S. and European software sales to be -4% in 2009, +11% in 2010, and +8% in 2011, reflecting slightly stronger sales in Europe than in the U.S.
* Originally forecast sales growth in 2009 and are disappointed by the likelihood that the year will end up showing a decline in sales, they continue to believe that the video game industry will return to sustainable growth in 2010. The decline in 2009 occurred as consumers experienced "console fatigue" in the middle part of the year, and think that the recent hardware price cuts and better release slate will drive double-digit growth in 2010.
* The release schedule over the next eight months gives great confidence in the forward forecast.
* Covered publishers face near-term headline risk from continued uncertainty.
* The big winner from a sales rebound should be GameStop.
So what that comes down to is they think that the industry isn't performing as well as last year. Of course with the "crisis" it's no surprise is it? But a 5% loss for the year isn't horrible even though many lost jobs and some great studios disappeared. But it is my firm belief that the giants must die so that the new studios may be born and create new,
"Ghost in the Shell" Goes Live Action 3D
The story follows the exploits of a member of a covert ops unit of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission that specializes in fighting technology-related crime.
The 1989 manga lead to anime film and TV adaptations, most notably Mamoru Oshii's 1995 film "Ghost in the Shell" which is considered a cornerstone of the genre and one of the first films of the genre to crossover outside Japan.
Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Steven Paul will produce. Jamie Moss penned a previous draft of the script.
Pre-Production Starting on Mad Max 4
(The Daily Telegraph) Just a few days after it was reported that Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy are in the running to star in George Miller's fourth Mad Max movie, The Daily Telegraph says that work on the film will start immediately and that filming will take place in Sydney and Outback NSW.
The newspaper says that a lot of the work will be done at Redfern's CarriageWorks and there will also be 30 weeks of filming in Broken Hill. It is estimated the whole project will take two-and-a-half years to complete.
Miller said: "The production agreements have been a long time in the making and Premier Rees and his team have worked like Trojans to ensure this substantial investment comes into this country. Not only does it help fuel the local economy but it means many talented people get a chance to practice their craft and lift their skills."
CarriageWorks will be used for the development work for the film, as well as Miller's Happy Feet 2.
Filming is expected to start next year.
Pixar Opens Up Animation Doors
(examiner.com) The Cartoon Art Museum, the only museum in the western United States dedicated to all forms of cartoons and comics, is delighted to host its sixth annual benefit on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at Pixar Animation Studios. From Pixar's inception in 1986 with the premiere of its iconic short film, Luxo Jr., to the studio\u2019s latest full-length feature, Disney-Pixar's Up, Pixar has wowed and charmed the world with its incredible computer animated creations. This year, there are two great ways to experience the magic of Pixar up close and personal at the studio's Emeryville home:
The Family Fun Tier
(1:00 4:00 pm)
The Family Fun Tier is designed for families to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the world of Pixar. Entry includes the chance to get up close and personal to rarely seen Toy Story art, sculptures, and other items from the Pixar archives and experience a gallery exhibition featuring stunning pre-production artwork from Up. Family Fun Tier members will also be able to participate in a Silent Auction to bid on original and signed works by Pixar creators. Pixar artists will be on hand to teach kids how to draw Pixar characters. Finally, a selection of Pixar short films (including One Man Band, Lifted, Presto, Burn-E and several Cars Toons) will be showing in Pixar's state-of-the-art screening room in a continuous loop.
For this Tier, doors open at 1 pm. Tickets are $35 for an individual or $100 for a Family Four Pack, which includes entry for 2 adults and 2 children under 18 (or 1 adult and 3 children).
The VIP Screening Tier
(11:00 am 4:00 pm)
The VIP Screening Tier is designed for the biggest fans to help support the Cartoon Art Museum and to experience Pixar\u2019s state-of-the-art digital theater. Entry includes access to everything from the Family Fun Tier plus access to Pixar's Studio Store where guests can purchase Pixar items at employee prices. The centerpiece of the event is a noon time 3D screening that includes the rarely seen Cars Toon Tokyo Mater , and the feature film Toy Story 2. The screening will be hosted by Dr. Michael B. Johnson (Pixarian and CAM board member), who will lead a Q&A session along with several other Toy Story 2 crew members. The VIP Screening Tier also includes an offering of light lunchtime snacks, treats and conversation with the speakers and other Pixar employees.
More: http://www.examiner.com/x-13184-Sacramento-Comic-Books-Examiner~y2009m10d23-Pixar-opens-up-animation-doors
"Predator" Sequel Packed With Kick-ass VFX
(slashfilm.com) News arrived over the weekend that Robert Rodriguez has been given creative carte blanche to make in hopes of a blockbuster. Well, our pals at Latino Review have read the script by Michael Finch, Alex Litvak, and RR and they declare it, "90-page kick-ass sci-fi movie worthy of the original. The script isn't some lame PG-13 follow-up."
More: The Predator planet is a game perserve and our eight humans are the game and are hunted by alien Predator dogs, Predator falcons, and the most cool, the Predator that is orchestistrating everything is a super Predator, think of a normal Predator jacked up on steroids! In the script he is referred to as Black Super Predator.
James Cameron Names Wellington 'the one place'
(stuff.co.nz) Oscar-winning director James Cameron is so taken with Wellington's film industry that "it is the one place in the world" where he wants to make his next movie.
Weta co-founder Richard Taylor said Cameron, who directed Titanic and Avatar, had the choice of going to "the most sophisticated film-making centres with the world's largest sound stages . . . and greatest technology".
"But he comes to Wellington and stands up in front of the crew and says that after searching the world, this is the one place in the world that he wanted to make his next movie.
"That is a signature that something very special is happening in . . . this city and it is an attractor for some of the most powerful business and film-makers that are out there."
Taylor worked with Cameron on the 3D epic Avatar which was shot in several locations including Wellington and Los Angeles, where Cameron has a base.
"Cameron's production office was in Santa Monica, his shooting stages were way over . . . near the airport. You had hours of travel each day just to get your day's work done.
"So having everything small and tight, within one community, makes for an incredibly fluid film-making experience for a client that may turn up in Wellington."
Taylor made his comments at a forum on Friday, organised by business group Enterprise Miramar Peninsula which was looking at the future of the area.
The Special Practical Effects of 2012?
(Columbia Pictures) You've seen the 2012 trailers and clips, but just how much is special effects and what was actually filmed on a stage? This new featurette on Roland Emmerich's November 13 disaster movie shows you how they did the special practical effects, and some of the things might surprise you.
Take a look: http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=60255
John Lasseter to receive PGA's David O. Selznick Award
(latimesblogs.latimes.com) The Producers Guild of America announced today that they will present their 2010 David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Motion Pictures to John Lasseter. The two-time Academy Award-winning director and chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and principal creative advisor of Walt Disney Imagineering, will receive the award at the 21st Annual PGA Awards ceremony on Jan. 24, 2010.
Lasseter's directorial career includes such groundbreaking animated features and short films as "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2," as well as "A Bug's Life," "Cars," and "Tin Toy," the first computer animated film to receive an Oscar. As executive producer, he has overseen such blockbuster projects for Walt Disney and Pixar as "Monsters, Inc.," "Finding Nemo," "The Incredibles," "Wall-E," "Bolt" and "Up," which opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. His next effort is "The Princess and the Frog," which marks Disney's return to hand-drawn animation.
Lasseter is the first producer of animated films to receive the Selznick Award. Previous recipients have included Billy Wilder, Stanley Kramer, Clint Eastwood, Robert Evans, Brian Grazer, Jerry Bruckheimer, Roger Corman and the team of Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, who received the 2009 award. In 2002, Lasseter was the co-recipient of the PGA's first Vanguard Award.
District 9's Blomkamp Sets Up New Sci-Fi Film - Prepping VFX
(Variety) Media Rights Capital (MRC) has come on board for the next film by District 9 writer/director Neill Blomkamp.
The untitled sci-fi project will begin production by the middle of next year. Bill Block will produce.
MRC is giving Blomkamp creative freedom and a production commitment that isn't contingent on domestic distribution. The director and Block will get an ownership stake in the finished product.
The trade adds that Blomkamp will immediately start writing and preparing the visual effects.
Warner Bros. Making Animated Peacock Pic
(The Hollywood Reporter) Warner Bros. is in final negotiations to acquire a pitch centering on a peacock from writers Austin Winsberg and Heath Corson.
Trevor Engleson and Nicholas Osborne will produce via their Underground Management banner; The logline is being kept under wraps.
Winsberg is a veteran TV writer who has worked on shows such as "Jakes in Progress" and "Still Standing."
Orci & Kurtzman Producing Doc Savage
(Ain't It Cool News) Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Star Trek) are producing the adaptation of the Doc Savage comics. Shane Black (Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Lethal Weapon) is set to write the script. The site asked Black about the project:
I asked this with dread in my belly, and Shane passed the test by saying the character can not be separated from the 30s. This is correct. Right now, he is preparing to write the script. He has decided that Doc needs to have his Fabulous Five. It will be an original DOC SAVAGE story that attempts to encapsulate the feeling of the whole collection of Lester Dent's work.
"Doc Savage" was originally published in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. He was created by publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L. Nanovic at Street and Smith Publications, with additional material contributed by the series' main writer, Lester Dent.
DreamWorks Gets Wicked
(Variety) DreamWorks has acquired the film rights to the young adult book series "Wicked," according to Variety. Brothers Aaron and Matthew Benay (Brad Bird's upcoming 1906) have signed on to write the adaptation.
Written by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie, the five-book series centers on a young woman who learns she is a descendant of a powerful coven of witches. Complications arise when she falls in love with a boy who turns out to be a member of a rival coven.
The first two books in the bestselling series, "Witch" and "Curse," were published in 2002, followed by "Legacy" and "Spellbound" in 2003. The fifth book, "Resurrection," was published in July.
Narnia Writer Penning $150 Million Airman
(Variety) Screenwriter Ann Peacock (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe) will pen Airman for Disney and Robert Zemeckis' ImageMovers.
Gil Kenan is directing and Zemeckis, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey are producing the $150 million motion-capture fantasy adventure through their ImageMovers.
Based on the book by Eoin Colfer, the swashbuckling scientific story centers on Conor Broekhart, a young man born in a hot air balloon to a family close to the king who has a penchant for looking to the skies for inspiration.
After his tutor and king are murdered, Broekhart spends two years in prison, escapes and must decide whether to should turn his back on those who abandoned him or fight those who plot to overthrow the government.
Will 2009 Oscar Race Be More Animated?
(cbsnews.com) There may be more cartoon characters walking the red carpet at this year's Oscar ceremony. As Best Picture List Increases to 10 This Year, Number of Nominees for Best Animated Feature May Also Rise to 5.
In a movie year which has seen a surfeit of animation, from CGI and traditional hand-drawn to stop-motion and claymation, competition in the Best Animated Feature category is unusually tight. But there may be room for more.
According to the rules of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, nominations for Best Animated Feature are limited to three if there are fewer than 16 features released theatrically. Since the category was introduced eight years ago, there have been five nominees only once (for 2002).
This year there has been a bumper crop of animated features - and also confusion about how many of these will actually qualify.
Right now 15 features are assumed to be eligible for submission by the Academy's November 2 deadline:
- "Astro Boy," based on the 1960s TV cartoon series;
- "Battle for Terra," a CGI saga of intergalactic war;
- "A Christmas Carol," a 3-D rendition of the Charles Dickens tale from the director of "The Polar Express," using performance capture to re-animate Jim Carrey;
- "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," a popular 3-D comedy combining science with giant foodstuffs;
- "Coraline," a 3-D stop-motion of Neil Gaiman's fantasy/horror tale;
- "Fantastic Mr. Fox," a purposefully retro-looking stop-motion telling of Roald Dahl's charming tale;
- "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," the third of the computer-animated prehistoric comedies;
- "Mary and Max," a claymation feature from Australia about pen pals;
- "Monsters vs. Aliens," another 3-D sci-fi action flick;
- "9," Shane Acker's post-apocalyptic fable;
- "Planet 51," a CGI sci-fi comedy set on a world eerily similar to 1950s suburbia;
- "Ponyo," about a young boy's friendship with a "goldfish princess," from Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki (an Oscar-winner for "Spirited Away");
- The hand-drawn Disney musical "The Princess and the Frog," featuring songs by Randy Newman;
- "Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure," which reveals how Pixies make their magic dust; and
- "Up," Pixar's 3-D adventure and one of the most critically-acclaimed films of the year.
If a 16th feature isn't submitted, or is deemed ineligible, then two prospective Oscar nominees from the above list would be shut out.
The official roster of eligible titles will be revealed in mid-November. Then an Academy screening committee will view and grade the submitted films to determine the three (or five) nominees.
Some films which appeared at first to be in the running are in fact ineligible. "Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone," an anime based on a Japanese TV series, played in North American theatres this summer but originally opened in Japan in September 2007; and the plasticine characters of the French-Belgian "A Town Called Panic," which premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival, will not show up on U.S. screens until January 2010.
There are other animated films (such as the French-Belgian-Irish "The Secret of Kells," "My Dog Tulip," and from Spain, "The Missing Lynx") that have played festivals but lack a distributor or have not had a qualifying run in Los Angeles.
Studios have been jockeying for position, of course, in determining whether they would spring for a theatrical rollout of an animated film with little chance of Oscar gold.
While it is doubtful that Disney's "Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure" (a modestly-budgeted title originally slated to premiere on DVD) would make it to the Academy's short list, its theatrical release could boost the chances for a nomination of the studio's major animated releases, "The Princess and the Frog" and "A Christmas Carol," if the final list were expanded from three to five. With the latter two films' total budgets likely surpassing $250 million, booking Tink into a Los Angeles theatre for an Oscar-qualifying week-long run (which Disney did last Friday) looks like inexpensive insurance.
(Walt Disney Pictures)
Increasing the field to five may also help Miyazaki's "Ponyo" (left), which Disney distributed in an English-language version. Critics raved, but attendance in the U.S. was sparse. An Oscar-nomination could only help.
In judging qualifications there is also the stopwatch to take into account. According to Academy rules, a live-action film with animated characters may jump into the animated feature pool if "a significant number of the major characters" are animated and if such animation figures in at least 75% of the total running time. Therefore, the kids' films "G-Force" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," each starring CGI rodents with live actors, may qualify as well, as might James Cameron's special effect-intensive "Avatar."
Even if the animated feature category itself does not grow this year, the fact that the Academy has bumped up the field of nominees in the Best Picture category to 10 (due, in part, to Pixar's "Wall-E" being snubbed last year) has led some Hollywood watchers to predict an animated film - such as "Up" or "Coraline" - will wind up on the Best Picture list, which has occurred only once before (1991's "Beauty and Beast").
The Oscars' predictable unpredictability only means prognostications are useless. Last year, "Waltz with Bashir," Ari Folman's animated documentary from Israel about the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, seemed a safe bet for numerous nominations after reaping a plethora of year-end critics' awards, but it was shut out of both the animated feature AND documentary races. Still, it did become the first animated picture to receive a Best Foreign Film nomination.
Digital Domain is Expanding its Business to Florida
(forums.cgsociety.org) Following the recent announcement of its new visual effects studio in Vancouver, BC, Academy Award®-winning digital studio Digital Domain announced today that it is expanding its business with plans to develop a digital production studio in Florida.
Digital Domain is working with parent company Wyndcrest Holdings to build a new digital production studio in Port St. Lucie, Florida. The new studio will create original content for animated feature films and video games. Plans are in the early stages, and Digital Domain expects to begin operations in Florida next year. Initial operations include building a creative development team as well as training and recruiting artist and production staff for animation and video game development.
Transformers 2 Transforms Hollywood Revenues
(nbclosangeles.com) Paramount/Dreamworks' "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" added some action to the sagging Hollywood economy. The hit sequel arrived in stores October 20 and within 24 hours sold 2 million discs, according to industry sources cited in the Hollywood Reporter. Sales had been down 13.9% for the year.
Previously, "X-men Origins: Wolverine" had slashed the competition, having sold more than 500,000 Blu-ray copies to fans.
Director Mike Mitchell Boards Monster Squad
(The Hollywood Reporter, ComingSoon.net) Mike Mitchell (Shrek Forever After) will direct Monster Squad, formerly known as "Nightcrawlers," a supernatural action comedy at Warner Bros. Pictures.
The studio picked up "Nightcrawlers" as a spec script by Brian Lynch in 2000. While the title has changed, the film is not a remake of Shane Black's 1987 film of the same name. Brad Copeland wrote the current script. The studio is targeting a shoot in late summer 2010. Donald De Line is producing.
UPDATE: ComingSoon.net has found a number of synopses for the original "Nightcrawlers" pitch around the 'net including one from The Hollywood Stock Exchange, where the movie has been listed since 2000. They describe it as such:
"Nightcrawlers are a group of kids who must battle the dark demons of the night."
On IMDb Pro, the movie is said to be:
"An action comedy about a neurotic father who faces off against monsters from his childhood."
In both cases, they list different producers and writers than The Hollywood Reporter as well as McG as being attached to direct, although there is a chance that the long-in-development project is now being taken in a different direction. Although it's been said that this isn't a remake of the movie by the same name, at least the first description does bear similarities to the plot of the original movie on
'New Moon' Wolf Pack VFX Wow Fans
(mtv.com) "Twilight" fans are nothing if not vocal, reacting with zeal or disappointment as casting developments, actor comments and brand-new footage sneak out. Now only one month stands between the vampire franchise devotees and the second installment in the saga, "New Moon." The passion and the fresh peeks at the film continue apace.
Another clip has hit the Web, this one showing Kristen Stewart's Bella Swan in a confrontation with the wolf pack of Native American shape-shifters and featuring a CGI-fueled transformation from human to fang-bearing beast. And so MTV News hit the streets to find out what you had to say about this latest video.
The overwhelming response from the folks hanging out in our home base of Times Square was that "New Moon" seems like it will deliver cutting-edge thrills. "I think the special effects where he turns into a wolf is actually very cool," Matthew Shait said. "I think that will be one of the things that drives the movie."
Nicholas Guastella seconded that thought and argued, quite humorously, that the clip showed a great leap forward compared to the first film. "I thought it was way cooler than anything I've seen from the first movie," he said. "I think I won't feel as embarrassed taking a girlfriend to this movie, because there's more action and less laying in grass and, like, kissing and stuff. I think it's gonna be awesome."
Frankenweenie Coming in 3D Black and White?
(comingsoon.net0 Despite still being hard at work on Alice in Wonderland, it would appear that Tim Burton is in talks with his collaborators about his next project, a feature-length, stop-motion version of his 1984 short, Frankenweenie.
ComingSoon.net recently spoke with Allison Abbate, the producer behind the forthcoming Wes Anderson film, Fantastic Mr. Fox, as well as Burton's previous stop-motion film The Corpse Bride. During our conversation, she gave us a bit more information how Frankenweenie is shaping up.
According to Abbate, it is possible that the film could well be in black and white, as well as in 3D. Certainly neither option has been ruled out, giving the slimmest of hopes that the film will look like some sort of '50s B-movie.
She did, however, confirm that the film will take around two years to complete, and will be shot in London. This isn't really a surprise, as her previous films, The Corpse Bride and Fantastic Mr. Fox were both shot at Three Mills Studios in the city's 'east end.'
Warcraft Movie Meets Sam Raimi
(MTV) Sam Raimi revealed to them in a phone interview last week that Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot screenwriter Robert Rodat is writing the script for the Warcraft movie, a project Raimi is expected to take on after Spider-Man 4. Here's a clip:
The aim is to adapt the game, rather than a previously conceived story written within that world. "We want to be really faithful to the game," Raimi said. "We would have our writer, Robert Rodat, really craft an original story within that world that feels like a 'World of WarCraft' adventure. Only obviously it's very different 'cause it's expanded and translated into the world of a motion picture."
Sushi People Attack the LucasFilm Halloween Party
(io9.com) The costumed masses were out in full force at last night's LucasFilm Halloween Party. Not only did delicious sushi people grace the dance floor, so did Scott Pilgrim, retro spacemen and monsters, and the floating house from Up.
The always wonderful Bonnie Burton of The Official Star Wars Blog was at last night's LucasFilm Halloween Party and snapped some great photos of the creative costumes crowding the floor.
Take a look: http://io9.com/5389316/sushi-people-attack-the-lucasfilm-halloween-party/gallery/
Warner Bros. Adapting "The Future is Wild"
(Variety)
The animated/live-action/animatronic project involves a group of scientists and zoologists and their projections for what Earth could look like over the next 200 million years.
"It's a freaky, fantastical interpretation but also a scientifically based version of what the evolution of Earth looks like -- with or without us," Williams the trade.
"Zombieland" To Kill The Box Office
(abcnews.go.com) In a world overrun by zombies bands of humans fight for their ability to survive in Zombieland. This isn't as much a horror movie as it is a comedy however, which is a good thing considering all the recent scary movie fare that has come out. Marketing has been strong and it has great word of mouth going for it right now. It currently sits at a sparkling 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. I'm expecting a big opening for Zombieland of around $22 million.
The new picture was modestly budgeted at an estimated $24 million.
'John Carter Of Mars' Begins Alien Makeup Tests
(moviesblog.mtv.com0 From the sound of things, Disney's adaptation of the nearly hundred-year-old sci-fi series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, "John Carter of Mars," is going to start shooting as early as January of next year. The start had previously been pushed back from November. Pre-production continues to move steadily forward nonetheless on the hybrid live action/CGI film.
As co-star Lynn Collins told MTV's Josh Horowitz last week on the New York red carpet for "The Burning Plain," she's already seen workups of fight sequences she'll have to film and, last week, some initial effects work kicked into gear.
"We're actually getting into some hair and makeup tests this week to see what the look is like," said Collins, who plays the humanoid Martian princess Dejah Thoris. "It's really collaborative and really creative and I'm really excited about it."
The preliminary idea is not to bury Collins under prosthetics and heavy-duty makeup but to create a look that would not be out of place on a tropical island. "I think they're going more like a really great tan, like the best-tan-you-can-ever-imagine type of thing," she said. "I've yet to find it. Maybe the makeup team will be able to."
"Toy Story" 3D Reissue Needs $25 Million +
(online.wsj.com) As Walt Disney Co. rereleases "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" this weekend in 3-D, other studios will be watching to see if classic titles in their own vaults might benefit from a 3-D makeover.
While a reissue in 3-D might seem like an easy way to breathe new life into an existing property, the costs and hurdles have led most studios to hold off.
Just a handful of titles would justify the expense of a conversion—titles of the stature of "Star Wars," "Titanic," "Lord of the Rings," and the "Harry Potter" series. All those titles have been tested in 3-D. In 2005, director George Lucas said he aimed to start rereleasing the "Star Wars" movies in 3-D in 2007; the delay underscores some of the complexities at play.
The "Toy Story" reissue will need to take in north of $25 million over its scheduled two-week run to justify the cost of conversion and marketing.
Converting a movie to 3-D currently costs around $10 million. Marketing costs add at least another $15 million.
"The dollars just don't add up at the moment," says Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution for Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros., who has considered everything from "The Wizard of Oz" to "The Matrix" for reissue in 3-D. "Down the road, I'm sure there will be a way."
Legend Films, a San Diego-based 3-D production company, is among those working on less expensive methods to convert existing movies to 3-D that might cost as little as $2 million.
Films that would do well outside the U.S., where an estimated 2,000 3-D screens exist, are also good candidates. Jon Landau, a partner at Lightstorm Entertainment, says the company hopes to bring its 1997 film "Titanic" out in 3-D, but hasn't yet announced a release date. "Titanic," which took in $1.2 billion overseas compared with $600 million domestically, would likely perform strongly in 3-D, executives say.
Titanic producer James Cameron is currently working on his much-anticipated "Avatar," a 3-D fantasy that will be released for the holidays.
Perhaps the biggest hurdle to 3-D releases is finding enough screens. The movies require special projection systems that generally cost about $80,000 each to install. In the U.S., only about 3,000 of the total 40,000 screens are 3-D.
In part that's why the "Toy Story" rerelease is coming out in "shoulder season"—a time when it won't have to compete as hard for space on existing 3-D screens compared with the summer or winter holidays. "We're caught right now in this dilemma where getting off multiple pictures in 3-D at the same time is not optimum," says Chuck Viane, head of theatrical distribution at Disney. Disney's 3-D rerelease could also lay the marketing groundwork for next year's "Toy Story 3."
There are some definite pluses to updating existing movies in 3-D format for theatrical release.
For starters, 3-D movies command a ticket price that's generally $3 higher, even for children.
There's also a chance a rerelease will boost sales of regular two-dimensional DVDs and eventually extend to 3-D versions for home viewing once 3-D TVs become widely available. Currently, few 3-D-ready TVs have been sold in the U.S.
When penetration of 3-D TVs and DVD players reaches 25 million households or so, studios will likely start releasing movies at a rapid clip, studio executives say, the way many dipped back into their catalogs for titles to release in the Blu-ray format.
Some movies would make difficult transitions to 3-D for technical reasons. Newer movies are generally easier to convert, especially animated ones, but tend to have lots of rapid cuts, which can tire the eye unless depths are similar in shot to shot.
The goal of conversion is to create film where "your eyes aren't hunting and pecking, going in and out, trying to find that focal element," says Damian Wader, vice president for business development at conversion company In-Three Inc., of Westlake Village, Calif.
Older movies, in contrast, linger longer on each shot, which "allows you to soak up the 3-D," says Mr. Wader. But many of their effects translate badly.
Rob Moore, vice chairman of Viacom Inc.'s Paramount studio, says he thinks nostalgia can play a large part in building an audience for 3-D rereleases. As the studio mines its vaults for candidates, he said he's hoping the reaction is "Here's a movie I loved, and now I want to share it with my kids."
(Variety) Sam Raimi's genre label Ghost House Pictures is launching Spooky Pictures as a new banner that will produce thrillers for family audiences, says Variety.
The first film will be The Substitute, a remake of the Danish thriller that Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) will direct and Columbia Pictures will co-finance and distribute through a first-look deal with Spooky.
The Substitute revolves around a terrified sixth-grade class as the students race to reveal to their parents that their new substitute teacher is an evil alien being.
Derrickson is writing the script with Paul Harris Boardman, who co-wrote "Emily Rose" with Derrickson. The two also collaborated on the remake The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Double Negative - Working Up From Tea-Maker
(nebusiness.co.uk) Ex-Darlington College TV and interactive media student Terry Marriott secured a job with Double Negative, one the world's most renowned digital special effects specialists.
He returned to deliver a masterclass at the college to TV and film students, presenting a showreel of work that included box office hits including Harry Potter, James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Iron Man II, Hellboy, Twin Towers and Atonement.
Now based in London, Terry outlined his route to securing his big break which involved studying a visual effects degree at Teesside University, before working his way up from tea-maker.
"You have to be really dedicated and it can take a long time," he said. "You have got to network and get to know people. Never give up on your dream and go for it."
He said once you were in the industry it was a very steep learning curve because movie makers worked to very tight time and cost constraints.
Every day all staff received an hour's training to keep them up to date with fast moving technology.
"Any day we can be working on a scene ranging from removing wires to creating
a computer-generated dragon. Sometimes we have to work frame by frame which can take a long time and we have a short turn around. It looks so simple at the cinema but it can take weeks to achieve."
Special effects were often used instead of reshooting a scene as it was a lot cheaper and quicker.
5-Minute Of VFX from 2012 Will Destroy Your World
(slashfilm.com) “California is going down!”
Last night between 10:50 and 11:00 p.m., Columbia Pictures apparently executed the largest American media roadblock ever, airing a 2-minute clip from 2012
on the major broadcast networks, local stations in the top 70 markets,
and nearly 450 television stations in North America. The projected
television audience alone for this project was 110 million, which I
found staggering for its sheer audacity. Subsequently, the conclusion
of that scene can be viewed in an almost-5-minute long clip on the
internet.
Take a look: http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/10/02/this-5-minute-clip-from-2012-will-destroy-your-world/
Fox and EA Adapting Spore Game
(Variety) 20th Century Fox has teamed up with Electronic Arts to turn the publisher's popular "Spore" game into an animated creature feature, with Chris Wedge (Ice Age) attached to direct.
Greg Erb and Jason Oremland, who penned Disney's upcoming The Princess and the Frog and Ben Stiller pic The Return of King Doug at Paramount, will write the script for the movie. It will be produced as a CG-animated toon by EA and Blue Sky Studios.
In the game, which was released in September 2008, players create their own creatures and the worlds they live in and share them with other gamers to create an overall universe.
"I'm always looking for unique worlds to go to in animation," Wedge said. "From every perspective -- visually, thematically and comedically -- the world of 'Spore' provides the potential to put something truly original on the screen."
Last week, the Fox locked down the animated film Leaf Men for Wedge to direct and Blue Sky to produce.
MGM Keeps Its Precious Hobbit
(The Hollywood Reporter) Before we get into "The Hobbit" films, here is the official statement by MGM released today after worries a week ago that the studio could be facing bankruptcy:
MGM is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into a forbearance agreement with its lender group. The Company is appreciative of its lenders' ongoing support. Under the terms of the agreement, MGM's lender group has agreed not to enforce its rights or remedies arising as a result of the Company's request to not currently pay interest due on September 30, October 31, and November 30, 2009.
This agreement, which expires December 15, 2009, provides MGM with additional liquidity as discussions continue regarding the development of an optimal capital structure in support of the Company's long-term business plan. With the agreement in place, MGM has taken an important first step in ensuring that the Company has enhanced financial stability and adequate liquidity to implement its business strategies.
The Hollywood Reporter adds that this gives MGM enough cash to proceed with its participation in The Hobbit and its sequel:
Concern over MGM's hold on "Hobbit" is at the heart of the activity. In a 50-50 rights partnership with Warner Bros.' New Line unit, two "Hobbit" pics are being developed.
The first "Hobbit" aims for theatrical release in 2011, with Guillermo del Toro on board to direct that and a sequel. Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and del Toro are writing scripts for both and are expected to deliver the first screenplay by the end of November.
Warners will lead production and distribute at least domestically. For now, the Burbank studio also is covering any immediate expenses.
A World in Miniature: The Tiny Fantasy Land for 'Where the Wild Things Are.'
(latimes.com) The big-screen cinematic adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved children's book "Where the Wild Things Are" bears the unmistakable stamp of its director Spike Jonze, but Steve Newman played an integral role in helping the hipster auteur realize his creative vision.
The Australian Cinematographers Society member was tasked with filming the miniatures created for the movie -- specifically, a detailed cityscape constructed on a tabletop that depicted one character's idealized vision of an alternate land where he lived with his fellow furry "wild things." It was also up to Newman to figure out a way to share that world with the audience from the point of view of one imaginative boy, played by young actor Max Records.
"It's a miniature city, but instead of roads, it has canals running between the buildings, which look like snow-capped mountains," Newman says. "In the canals are little, tiny boats with little, tiny figures, which are the characters made in miniature. There's a table with the big model on it, and Max sticks his head up through [a hole in the middle of] the table and looks, and we see what he sees."
Born in England and raised mostly in Australia, Newman's fascination with photographing interesting objects began early -- he used to take pictures of airplanes as a boy with a Box Brownie camera. After high school, he continued his large-scale pursuits, studying architecture for seven years. But he found himself incorporating so much film into his design projects that he decided to apply to the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney.
For his first miniatures job, he filmed the most massive creatures ever to walk the Earth -- dinosaurs -- in a stop-motion animation sequence for a documentary. He subsequently worked as miniatures director of photography for films including 2004's "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid," 2005's "House of Wax" and 2006's " Superman Returns."
"The thing that's interesting about the job is that it's always full of incredibly complex challenges and problem solving," he says. "I just love cinematography, but I'm interested in visual effects because I find it a greater challenge."
Thinking small: "Usually on films, I'm shooting miniatures that are supposed to look like the full-sized things," he says. "This particular job was quite different because the miniatures in the film are actually supposed to be small. All the miniatures are a model built by Carol, one of the main characters. It was great to see Spike Jonze sit down with the model makers at a table full of Plasticine and actually start making some of the tiny figures himself."
Size matters: "The problem is, when you film something very small, you don't have a lot of depth of focus," explains Newman, who is currently working as studio director of photography on the long-running Australian soap opera "Neighbours." "So to get enough depth of focus, you have to light up to an incredibly high level. Producers often think, 'Oh, miniatures. That'll be a small unit.' But in fact, the miniature unit has a larger lighting component often than the main unit does. You need bigger lights and more of them."
On the waterfront: Sometimes, Jonze's dictates placed unusual demands on Newman and his team. "Because the boy is putting his head up through a hole in the table, his eye height is very, very low," says Newman. "So Spike wanted the camera to be virtually at water level in these canals, and the whole miniature was built on a table that only had about 4 or 5 inches of water in it. So we hung the camera on a crane and used the snorkel lens. This is a bit like a periscope, but it's like an upside-down periscope. Instead of going up with it, we were going down into the water with it.
"The snorkel lens comes with its own waterproof housing, but the housing was so big that it stopped us getting the lens down into the water. So I got the model makers to make up a little splash box that we could put the lens into so that we could lower the lens right down to the water level."
When worlds collide: Charged with giving each locale a unique feel, Newman often found himself trying to visually distinguish one fantastic setting from another.
"The table with the model on it was inside a cave, but we wanted to try to separate the cave backgrounds a little bit from the actual miniature city," he says. "We used a very large, 20-foot-by-40-foot-wide net. [It was] a bit like stocking material, a white gauze, so that we could diffuse the background and make it feel like it was slightly removed from the world of the miniatures. It makes the things outside the miniature world have less contrast.
"The challenge was creating a world within a world, because the world of the film is a fantasy world anyway.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-workinghollywood4-2009oct04,0,3489799.story
How Bruce Willis got a Celluloid Face-lift for his 'Surrogates' Robot
(latimesblogs.latimes.com) In order to make 54-year-old Bruce Willis' surrogate robot look like a man in his mid-30s in the sci-fi film "Surrogates," Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Mark Stetson oversaw some work worthy of a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon.
"We started out with makeup," Stetson said. Makeup supervisor Jeff Dawn oversaw the application of straightforward cosmetic makeup, which was enhanced by cinematographer Oliver Wood's lighting. Then the digital-effects artists went in to the roughly 200 shots of Willis' surrogate and removed the creases of the actor's face frame by frame.
"It was a lot like doing concept work for a face-lift," Stetson said. And is this kind of digital de-aging popular with stars in non-science-fiction films? "We're getting into an area we really shouldn't be talking about," was all Stetson would say...
Darth Vader Breaks Down on M1 Whilst Driving R2D2's Car
(northamptonchron.co.uk) The force was with Highways Agency traffic officers who came to the rescue of one of the movie world's best known baddies after his car ground to a halt on the M1 in Northamptonshire.
Actor Dave Prowse, best known as Darth Vader in the original Star Wars films, was heading north on the M1 for a role in a film when his car developed problems between junctions 18 and 19.
He pulled onto the hard shoulder and rang through to the East Midlands Regional Control Centre using an emergency telephone and a patrol was dispatched to help.
The star, who educated a generation of children as TV's Green Cross Code Man in the 1970s and 80s, said: "I was on my way to rehearsals and filming and I was also due to attend a reunion of the 501st UK Garrison, which is a Star Wars costumed charitable organisation, at the National Space Centre in Leicester.
"I'm the Commander in Chief worldwide so it was really important that I was there. When I broke down my boot was full of memorabilia and photos."
On-road traffic officers Craig Chapman and Asha-Jayne Neary, based at Watford Gap outstation, and control room traffic officer Jo Li who was gaining experience of life on patrol, were dispatched to the scene. While assisting David the traffic officers realised who he was and also the unusual history of his Mercedes car.
Mr Prowse said: "It has a great provenance as the car was previously owned by my good friend Kenny Baker who was R2D2. Because of Kenny's size he used to keep a little ladder inside the boot so he could climb up and put his suitcases in the back.
"When he had finished, he'd put the ladder back into the car but then he couldn't reach to close the boot, so he had tied a cord to the boot handle.
"I decided to leave the cord there as a reminder of the car's previous owner."
Traffic officer Craig Chapman said: "We meet all kinds of people on the hard shoulder and every day is different. But since I started work for the Highways Agency in January, meeting Darth Vader is definitely one of the strangest situations I've been in, but he was such a nice man and so grateful that we came to help."
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