Stan Lees POW! Entertainment forged two deals to further the companys brands in the consumer product arena. One is for a line of high-tech toys and gizmos, starting with digital jewelry, while the other covers apparel and accessories.
Paramount Pictures announced on Aug. 3, 2005, that its film WAR OF THE WORLDS, starring Tom Cruise and directed by Steven Spielberg, has grossed over $500 million at the worldwide box office, including $218.3 million domestically and $310.7 million worldwide.
The picture has set several box office records for both Paramount and Cruise, including largest opening day, largest single day and largest opening weekend for both star and studio, and has broken several international records. The film is also Cruises biggest hit to date, passing MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: II.
We turn our attention to technology this month good timing with SIGGRAPH 2005 happening this week in Los Angeles (for those attending, please stop by our booth, #1069). Editor Bill Desowitz is making the rounds of the booths and briefings and will have his take on the proceedings soon. Managing editor Rick DeMott opens up the pages of the new coffee table book, THE CINEMA OF GEORGE LUCAS and Mary Ann Skweres will highlight what played at the SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater.
Turbo Squid (SIGGRAPH 2005 booth #1051) has introduced Hairtrix, a 3ds Max plug-in for creating hair and fur.
In an unusual collaboration, Turbo Squid, the publisher and worldwide distributor for the Autodesk Certified Animation Plug-In Program, worked with Dimension dESIGN Animation Group and EPHERE to create an integrated product that combines the features of Dimensions hairfx and EPHEREs Ornatrix packages. Hairtrix offers superior rendering times compared to other 3ds Max hair solutions. Hairtrix offers users:
Luxology took the opportunity at SIGGRAPH 2005 to announce the new version of its flagship modeling product, modo 201, as well as outline its future development plans.
modo 201, which is designed for games, films, TV, print, architecture and Web productions, integrates modeling, painting and rendering and allows artists to focus on more on creating and less on process, said company executives. The new version features advanced modeling technology, integrated painting tools, accelerated rendering technology and workflow boosts.
MAXON has introduced a new MAXON Production Bundle for studio visual effects, along with upgrades to CINEMA 4D (Release 9.5) and BodyPaint 3D (Release 2.5) during SIGGRAPH 2005 at its, booth 913.
One-year-old digital animation studio SciClone Motion Graphics (www.sciclonefx.com) has been adding experience in high-end 3D graphics as of late, reports Anand Gurnani in ANIMATION XPRESS. Focusing mostly on television commercials, SciClones recent clients have included Underground Music Movement, for which it created a high-end TV ad featuring a 3D ant, fluid simulations and a lot of compositing. Other brand clients include Colgate SciClone has animated a dozen commercials for this brand alone as well as Tide, Fair & Lovely, Samsung, Nutrine and ABN Amro Bank.
REALVIZ (SIGGRAPH 2005 booth #1161) is introducing a new range of tracking products employing the companys Scalable Matching Architecture for Tracking (SMART). All will be identified as being Powered by SMART.
Samuel L. Jackson has been signed to star and co-produce a live-action feature to be adapted from the manga property AFROSAMURAI, created by Takashi Okazaki, according to trade reports.
Japanese animation studio GDH K.K. Gonzo, Fuji TV and Mosaic Media in Los Angeles will produce the flick. Jackson will also provide his voice for the animated TV series due out on Spike TV next year.
TiVo, the leading brand of digital video recorder (DVR), announced that five advertisers have agreed to use its new direct-response advertising solution, which lets companies insert a call to action or branded tag into their commercial spots. By clicking on the tag, more than one million TiVo Series 2 subscribers can respond directly to ads while theyre in progress.
Illuminate Labs introduced Turtle 2, the next-generation version of its core renderer, at SIGGRAPH 2005. The technology focuses on the needs of gaming studios and others using Maya it is fully integrated in the Maya GUI and uses native Maya shading networks and allows users to quickly open and render large scenes with advanced lighting effects. Turtle 2 begins shipping worldwide this month.
Fox 2000 Pictures has signed a seven-figure deal with John Fusco (SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON, YOUNG GUNS) to write screen adaptation of WOLF BROTHER, the first book in the CHRONICLES OF DARKNESS books by British author Michelle Paver, VARIETY reported.
HypeFest, a unique festival held July 30-31, 2005, at the CineSpace in Hollywood to unite and showcase independent filmmakers with commercial communities, concluded its weekend-long screenings and festivities with an awards show and party sponsored by the Tucson Film Office. The festival showcased approximately 75 original short-subject works from filmmakers around the world.
MADGA, by Chel White, received STASH MAGAZINE'S Animation Award, which honored the best-animated project.
What do BATMAN BEGINS, LAND OF THE DEAD and CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY have in common? All three summer films employed high-resolution scanning services from Eyetronics to create digital effects in less time.
Eyetronics offers lightweight 3D scanning equipment that can produce a full body scan in 90 seconds, versus the 20 to 30 minutes normally required.
Avid Technology is showcasing its new facial animation technology, Softimage|Face Robot, for the first time publicly this week at SIGGRAPH, where attendees can preview the system at the Avid Computer Graphics booth #1401. Blur Studios, which is using Face Robot, will be at the show exhibiting some of the work it created with the software.
Navarre Corp., a publisher and distributor of a broad range of home entertainment and multimedia software products, has promoted Ward Thomas to svp of sales and operations for FUNimation, a subsidiary of Navarre Corp., and upped Joyce Fleck to vp of sales & marketing for FUNimation.
While head of sales for Navarre Distribution Services, Thomas is credited for leading and developing the distribution sales team so that the division experienced triple-digit growth.
BEN 10 is a new sci-fi action/adventure series set to debut on Cartoon Network in May 2006, featuring Ben Tennyson, a seemingly normal 10-year-old boy who, with a flick of his wrist, can transform into any one of 10 alien beings with amazing superpowers, like the powerful Four Arms or the slime-spitting Stinkfly. Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, California, is producing 26 half-hour episodes of the series, created by Man Of Action (Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau, Steve Seagle).
Toy Play will release a new line of Color-In Cardboard Playhouses featuring many colorful animated cartoon characters. These unique playhouses allow kids to color in their favorite characters and then build their own playhouse, decorated with their designs. These kid-sized playhouses are made of durable cardboard and styled in iconic shapes and come with five colored markers.
wondertouch has released a Mac OS X version of its particle effects creation tool, particleIllusion 3.0. The new version offers the same features as the Windows version of particleIllusion 3.0, including super emitters, forces to improve integration into existing production environments, new color options and rendering engine improvements.
New Lines WEDDING CRASHERS, overtook Warner Bros. CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE for the top spot in the box office for the weekend ended July 31, 2005. The R-rated comedy gathered $20M for a three-week cume of $115.6M. The Tim Burton movie (with delightful vfx from MPC, Framestore CFC, Cinesite and Digital Domain) settled for second place with $16.3M and a total of $148M.
Avid Technology Inc. launched version 5.0 of the companys flagship SOFTIMAGE|XSI 3D animation software. This latest version includes new tools that set industry benchmarks for performance and creative flexibility. As a key component of Avid's integrated computer graphics solutions, SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.5.0 introduces 3D teams to new features, such as Ultimapper, a map generation tool for producing cinema-quality maps in a few clicks; and GATOR, a unique property transfer system for merging fully textured and animated 3D models.
Eric Roth, exec director of the Visual Effects Society (VES), has signed a three-year contract with the organization. Roth joined the VES a little more than a year ago and is responsible for running the day-to-day operations of the organization including strategic planning, fundraising, membership outreach and communications. Said Carl Rosendahl, chairman of the VES Board, The VES has enjoyed tremendous growth under Erics leadership this past year. Were thrilled to have a long term commitment with him in place and look forward to the future.
Massive Software announced Massive Jet, a new autonomous agent 3D animation application that enables the creation of large-scale, believable digital crowd shots "out of the box" with high quality and a low learning curve. A full-functioning package priced under $6,000, Massive Jet leverages the company's Academy Award-winning artificial life-based technology, pre-built Ready-to-Run Agent library and GPU-accelerated rendering support to allow animators and artists at any facility to quickly and easily produce highly realistic Massive scenes.
Autodesk 3ds Max 8 software, the latest version of the award-winning 3D modeling, animation and rendering solution, was announced at SIGGRAPH 2005. Designed to provide the most comprehensive and advanced 3D design tools and pipeline workflow, 3ds Max is one of the industry's most popular solutions for games production, film and video production and design visualization.
NVIDIA Corp. announced three new additions to its suite of professional software products for the film industry:
* Gelato 2.0 rendering software, the latest major release of this product for film studios.* Amaretto, an Autodesk 3ds Max rendering plug-in for Gelato developed by Frantic Films.* Sorbetto lighting technology, an interactive tool that significantly accelerates the creation of realistic lighting.
