This week The Gnomon Workshop releases a wide range of new titles to help you end 2008 on a very positive note. From THE SKINNED CHARACTER RIG to WATERCOLOR AND GOUACHE PAINTING, these DVDs offer something for everyone.
COLOR THEORY: THE MECHANICS OF COLORAPPLIED AND THEORETICAL COLOR WITH RICHARD KEYES
Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.(Translation: Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.) An abducted soul, a lifetime of sins, a journey to the depths of despair.
DVD and Blu-ray sales for THE DARK KNIGHT have broken records this week with 1.7 million Blu-ray discs sold and more than 13.5 million total DVDs and Blu-ray discs sold so far worldwide.
Global sales include U.S., U.K., Canada, Japan, Benelux and Australia and consist of consumer sales and rental sales in one week. More than one million Blu-ray discs were sold in the U.S. alone.
ACM SIGGRAPH announces the call for Art Papers for SIGGRAPH 2009, taking place August 3-7, 2009 in New Orleans, Louisiana. SIGGRAPH encourages paper submissions on topics that explore the creation of art and its place in society, helping people understand the changing roles of artists and art creation in the increasingly computerized, online world. The papers should present challenging ideas in accessible ways with the goal of informing artistic disciplines, setting standards, and stimulating future trends.
The trial to determine whether rights to WATCHMEN are controlled by Twentieth Century Fox or Warner Bros. has been delayed by a Los Angeles federal judge to January 20, reports VARIETY.
The two-week delay was set by Judge Gary Allen Feess on Monday, who noted that he is required to handle a criminal matter on January 6, the original trial date. Feess refused a pre-trial summary judgment that was requested by both sides because the contracts between Fox and WATCHMEN producer Larry Gordon are so open to interpretation that a trial is required.
Former ILM staffer and Orphanage co-founder Scott Charles Stewart will direct PRIEST, an adaptation of horror Western comicbook from TokyoPop, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Stewart made his directorial debut on Screen Gems' 2010 biblical thriller LEGION, which he also wrote. He, along with Stu Maschwitz and Jonathan Rothbart, co-founded vfx house the Orphanage.
Gore Verbinski (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN) and Universal have bought the rights to a WALL STREET JOURNAL article depicting the detrimental effect that online fantasy role-playing games have on people's real lives, per VARIETY.
The 2007 article, by Alexandra Alter, focuses on a married man who spends upwards of 20 hours a day at his computer, role playing as a muscled entrepreneur, when he is in fact a diabetic, chain-smoking 53-year-old.
Clearview Cinemas will feature a six-day exclusive engagement featuring all five HARRY POTTER films at the legendary Ziegfeld Theatre in New York, from December 19 to 24.
During the event's opening weekend, the HARRY POTTER films will be shown in chronological order, starting at 10 a.m. each day with HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE and concluding with HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX finishing around 12:30 a.m.
The show time schedule for Friday, December 19 through Wednesday, December 24 is as follows:
Midway Games has to lay off 25 percent of its staff and has canceled several projects in early development in order to cut costs as a $150 million debt payment looms, reports VARIETY.
The January deadline for Midway's outstanding notes was triggered when Sumner Redstone sold the videogame publisher to a private investor, Mark Thomas, several weeks ago. Midway is working with advisory firm Lazard to find a way to pay off or renegotiate debt, as it is lacking the cash to pay it off.
Actresses Olivia Wilde and Beau Garrett will portray the female lead characters in Disney's upcoming TRON sequel, TR2N, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Details are sparse on the plot, but Garrett will play a siren in the virtual world and Wilde will portray a worker in the virtual world who tries to help fight Master Control Program, the intelligent computer that was the nemesis in the original film.
The official site for CORALINE, the first 3-D stop-motion animated feature, is now live.
Produced by Oregon-based Laika Ent., directed by Henry Selick (THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS) and based on Neil Gaiman's novella, CORALINE opens Feb. 6, 2009 from Focus Features. It's a Grimm-inspired fairy tale about a melancholy young girl who discovers a hidden passageway in an old house to an opposite world.
GenArts, a provider of visual effects software for the film, broadcast and video industries, announced the addition of Steve Bannerman to its executive team as Chief Marketing Officer. With more than 20 years of experience at companies such as Apple, CastStream and UGOBE, Bannerman will drive the company's brand and marketing strategy worldwide.
Chris Weitz has been hired to direct the second film in Summit Ent.'s TWILIGHT film franchise. The film, NEW MOON, is based on the second book in author Stephenie Meyer's blockbuster book series.
Award-winning Scottish actor Robert Carlyle (TRAINSPOTTING, THE FULL MONTY) has been cast in the leading role of Dr. David Rush on Sci Fi's new original series, STARGATE UNIVERSE, the latest adventure in the Stargate franchise produced by MGM television. Production will begin in Vancouver in February 2009 with an eye toward a summer 2009 premiere. Additional casting is currently underway.
3Dconnexion's line of 3D mice is now supported by e-on software's Vue 7 xStream and Vue 7 Infinite, advanced solutions for creating, animating, rendering, and integrating natural 3D environments. 3Dconnexion 3D mice complement the Vue 7 workflow, providing visual effects studios, animators, illustrators, architects, matte painters, and computer graphics professionals with a high-end 3D scenery solution that enhances design performance and productivity.
With several months to go before TERMINATOR SALVATION his theaters in May, producers are already plotting out the next chapter: a fifth film from Halcyon heads Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek is in development, reports VARIETY.
Director McG, who did TERMINATOR SALVATION, is working with the duo on the fifth installment, tentatively scheduled for a 2011 release. The news came out of the Dubai International Film Festival, which started on Thursday and runs for a week.
Andrew Gumpert has been promoted to President of Business Affairs and Administration for Columbia Pictures.
Gumpert will report jointly to Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Ent. (SPE) and Amy Pascal, Co-Chairman of SPE and Chairman, SPE Motion Pictures Group.
Singapore's visual effects industry is set to receive a huge boost, with the setting up of a studio to train specialists and develop related high-end software technologies.
The NYP-SESI Visual Effects Studio, a collaboration between Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) and Canadian software developer Side Effects Asia Pacific (SESI-AP), will train and produce talent in visual effects, games and interactive digital media for Singapore and the region.
Renowned for a rich culture dating back thousands of years, India is building a new cultural legacy-the movie business. Popularly known as Bollywood, the Indian film industry annually releases 1,000 films, approximately 10 times what Hollywood produces each year.
Starting April 1, 2009, Bradley J. Wechsler, currently co-Chairman and co-CEO of IMAX, will become the sole Chairman of the Board.
U.K. vfx company Double Negative will open an office in Singapore by March of 2009, according to Singapore newspaper THE STRAITS TIMES.
Animators and designers in the Singapore studio will work on projects like HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRICE, and start with a staff of about a dozen. Double Negative's recent credits include THE DARK KNIGHT, QUANTUM OF SOLACE and HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY.
BBC NEWS is reporting that STAR WARS: A MUSICAL JOURNEY will debut in London in April, then tour Europe.
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will play a live score as excerpt from the six films are shown onscreen. The show was put together by Lucasfilm and composer John Williams. It will not have actors playing characters, but will feature live narrators.
The six films in the STAR WARS saga have been edited down to two hours and Williams has "painstakingly rewritten" the music he wrote, said a statement from Lucasfilm.
Paramount Pictures' STAR TREK, from director J.J. Abrams, will be simultaneously released to both IMAX and conventional theatres worldwide on May 8, 2009.
STAR TREK, which chronicles the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members, will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience with proprietary IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering) technology. Paramount Pictures will be the exclusive distributor of the film to IMAX theatres worldwide.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its list of 15 semifinalists for Achievement in Visual Effects for the 81st Academy Awards, with Industrial Light & Magic getting three contenders: IRON MAN, INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL and THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES (along with Tippett Studio). Other anticipated contenders include THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (Digital Domain, Lola/Hydraulx, Asylum and Matte World Digital), THE DARK KNIGHT (Double Negative, Framestore) and THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (Weta Digital, Cinesite).
Cinesite completed a major sequence for the Twentieth Century Fox's THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, which was released Friday in the U.S. and U.K., complete with CG planes, tanks and spectacular explosions.
