HEROES star Masi Oka has sold a family adventure idea called THE DEFENDERS to DreamWorks, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci will produce the project and EAGLE EYE director D.J. Caruso is in talks to helm. Gary Whitta (THE BOOK OF ELI) will pen the screenplay.
The story finds teenage multiplayer gamers coming together in the real world to become heroes.
In a chat with Film School Rejects, Kevin Eastman revealed that James Cameron will not only direct a segment of the HEAVY METAL feature, but also co-exec produce the film. Other directors attached to segments include David Fincher, Zack Snyder, Gore Verbinski, and Mark Osborne, whose segment will feature Jack Black. Additionally, Fincher will also co-exec produce.
June 3, 2009 Los Angeles, CA -- The Television Critics Association today unveiled its 2009 TCA Award nominations.
NBC leads the list with 11 nominations including comedies "30 Rock," "The Office" and "Saturday Night Live," which garnered 7 nominations total. "Friday Night Lights," which initially aired on DirecTV, got a nomination along with long-time series "ER." NBC also received a nomination for its coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics.
NEW YORK, NY -- June 8, 2009 -- The lead roles in the four-hour movie event ALICE, have been cast with production just underway in Vancouver, B.C. A December 2009 premiere is slated on SCI FI; RHI Entertainment is internationally distributing this co-production from Reunion Pictures and Studio Eight. In this modern day spin on the classic stories by Lewis Carroll, Academy Award winner Kathy Bates (MISERY) stars as the Queen of Hearts and Caterina Scorsone (CRASH television series) is Alice.
HOLLYWOOD, Calif.-- (June 8, 2009) -- Troika Design Group, a strategic branding and design agency for global entertainment and media companies, has been tapped by NBC Universal's Telemundo to give the Spanish-language TV network a sophisticated new identity. The new look can be viewed at: http://www.troika.tv/work/5.134.
A new strategic partnership has been reached between Lucasfilm and GenArts, the makers of software plug-ins for Autodesk Flame and Inferno and Avid editing products such as Sapphire.
The plan is to not only broaden GenArts software and composting technology across all media, including TV, animation and videogames, but to also penetrate every Lucasfilm division as well. While Lucasfilm already has a strategic alliance with Autodesk, CTO Richard Kerris told VFXWORLD that it is not this deep. And this marks the first such studio agreement for the Boston-based GenArts.
Activision, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) is recruiting gamers to join the battle for world domination in the Battle for the AllSpark V2 web game, available to play now at www.TransformersGame.com, the official web site of the Transformers(TM): Revenge of the Fallen video game, developed under license from Hasbro, Inc. Fans that answer the call can join the AUTOBOTS(R) or DECEPTICONS(R) and compete in real time challenges online against other players worldwide for control of the AllSpark and the fate of the world.
The founders of Storek Studio have entered the visual effects and motion graphics design market with the launch of an innovative new plug in for digital artists and the Apple Final Cut Studio community -- nVeil (www.nveil.com).
Leveraging a sophisticated new SVG file filtering engine, nVeil enables the creation of an entirely new digital art form in which video clips - with full motion and color - are filtered through SVG (Scalable Vector Graphic) 'veils' to create visually immersive and stunning imagery.
Copenhagen, Denmark, 2 June 2009 -- The forthcoming Euromax conference will see the launch of Intensity3D, a radical new concept in multi-dimensional video projection. Intensity3D combines the best in digital cinema and curved screen technology to provide new levels of image quality on a curved screen.
Ben Cole, Landon Bootsma, Tim Mulvihill and Harry Mukhopadhyay will explore how the MPC Vancouver team helped to recreate one of the most acclaimed comic books in history, revealing the challenges they faced in assembling some of the more complex scenes and answering questions surrounding the diverse techniques used at the studio. The event, organized by SIGGRAPH, takes place; Wednesday June 17, 7:30 PM at the Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street (@ Davie). A similar presentation will take place at SIGGRAPH 2009 in New Orleans.
Writer Jeff Bell, who is showrunning ABC's new V series, has inked an overall deal with Warner Bros. TV, reports VARIETY. The two-year seven-figure deal will also see Bell developing shows in the future. Bell's main focus will be planning the future for V over several seasons. ABC hopes to run the series like LOST with a start, middle and ending all worked out from the start. The show will deal with topics such as government, devotion, race and faith.
Zoic Studios confirmed today that visual effects luminary Syd Dutton to help helm the company's digital matte painting and feature film endeavors. Zoic Studios' relationship with Dutton began during Zoic's filming of the feature film SERENITY.
Lionsgate has hired Jose Padilha to direct AGENT IN PLACE from a script by Braulio Mantovani, per VARIETY.
AGENT is based on an upcoming videogame from Flint Dille developed by Union Ent. Lionsgate production president Alli Shearmur and Union Ent. president Richard Leibowitz will produce. Dille and Dan Jevons will exec produce.
Dille's game is a character-driven action thriller. He also created CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK: ESCAPE FROM BUTCHER BAY and DEAD TO RIGHTS.
Taking a break from SPIDER-MAN, Sam Raimi has returned to his horror roots with DRAG ME TO HELL, a decidedly minimal CG movie. However, Tippett Studio, which was tasked with creating the two hellish, set pieces, had a blast. VFX Supervisor Matt Jacob gives us the scoop. And, in the latest excerpt from MAYA PLUGIN POWER, you can read all about liquid sims using Next Limit's RealFlow plug-in.
Bill DesowitzEditor
London, UK, 3rd June, 2009: Leading visual effects software developer, The Foundry (www.thefoundry.co.uk), whose software products have been used to make many of the past year's biggest motion pictures, today announced a management buyout for an undisclosed sum led by Advent Venture Partners.
Advent has backed The Foundry's management team, led by CEO Dr Bill Collis and the original founders, in a transaction that sees the sale of the shareholdings of previous investors, Wyndcrest Holdings.
NEW YORK -- Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), is proud to announce AGENT. Developed by the people behind GRAND THEFT AUTO, Rockstar North, AGENT will be available exclusively for the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system.
E3 Expo 2009AGOURA HILLS, Calif. -- THQ Inc. (NASDAQ:THQI) today announced its Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2009 line-up featuring games for both core and casual gamers across all across all major platforms to be displayed in booth #5300, in the West Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center June 2-4.
Per VARIETY, Columbia Pictures has hired Kurt Wimmer (SALT) to write TOTAL RECALL.
Neal Moritz and Original Films will produce the project, a remake of the 1990 sci-film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and based on the Philip K. Dick story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale." The new film will be updated to modern times.
Columbia got the rights from Miramax, which has the option to co-finance the film. Wimmer wrote the story for upcoming Angelina Jolie thriller SALT with Brian Helgeland.
-- By News Editor Annemarie Moody
Takashi Shimizu has started filming THE SHOCK LABYRINTH, Japan's first digital 3-D film, per VARIETY.
Shimizu directed the Japanese THE GRUDGE series and the two American remakes. LABYRINTH will be distributed by Asmik Ace Ent. in Japan in October 2009.
The story is based on a popular scare house attraction at the Fuji-Q High Land amusement park near Mt. Fuji and is about a group of teens who take a friend to an old hospital that turns out to be a horrific labyrinth. The film will be shot at the actual attraction.
A jury should decide the claims in the suit by heirs of J.R.R. Tolkien against New Line Cinema over profits from the LORD OF THE RINGS film trilogy, ruled Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ann I. Jones on Tuesday (per VARIETY).
The defense had motioned that a judge, not a jury, hear the lawsuit. Jones also denied a defense motion asking that she hear and decide some of the claims before a jury heard the rest.
Tolkien trust attorney Bonnie E. Eskenazi said the case is on track to go to trial on October 19.
Culver City, CA: June 3, 2009 -- Director Sam Raimi and visual effects supervisor Bruce Jones recently turned to Culver City-based I.E. Effects to deliver key visual effects sequences for DRAG ME TO HELL. The horror film, which opened May 29, tells the story of a woman who is subject to a supernatural curse and features stunning visual effects sequences.
Los Angeles, June 3, 2009: Key experts in the field of previsualization will make a presentation entitled "The Collaborative Process of Visual Effects: From Previs to Post" at the first Produced By Conference, organized by the Producers Guild of America at Sony Pictures Studios on June 6-7.
SAN RAFAEL, Calif., June 3, 2009 -- Autodesk, Inc., has launched a new version of the AREA -- the company's online digital entertainment and visualization community. This version provides a more customizable user experience and makes it faster and easier to find and share content. The AREA is also now compatible with all standard browsers running on the Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems.
