Category: Visual Effects

The music video for My Chemical Romance's "Desolation Row" will make its North American premiere on iTunes on January 30. The video will be available for purchase for $1.99. The song, a reinterpretation of the Bob Dylan classic, was recorded specifically for the upcoming feature film WATCHMEN. WATCHMEN: MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE, which contains the song, is due from Warner Sunset/Reprise Records on March 3, three days before the film hits theaters nationwide.

i3DTutorials has released training for Autodesk Maya 2009, INTRODUCTION TO RENDERING WITH MENTAL RAY IN AUTODESK MAYA 2009.

Twentieth Century Fox has picked up THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER after Disney decided a month ago to pass on the franchise, according to VARIETY.

Fox had first dibs on the project as it has a shared Fox Walden marketing and distribution label with Narnia's owner, Walden Media. Budget and script details are being worked out, but Fox is currently developing the film and is hoping to start shooting at the end of summer. A holiday 2010 release is being eyed through the Fox Walden label. Director will be Michael Apted.

Twentieth Century Fox has hired Joe Carnahan to direct THE A-TEAM, based on the 1980s TV series, with Ridley Scott to produce and Tony Scott to exec produce via their Scott Free banner, per VARIETY.

Set for release next summer, producers also include Jules Daly and Stephen J. Cannell, the latter of whom created the original series that debuted in 1983 and ran for five seasons.

Skip Woods' script will get a polish from Carnahan and Brian Bloom. Production is scheduled to start by June in order to make the June 11, 2010 release date.

Warner Bros. and producer Dan Lin are in the early stages of developing a new TOMB RAIDER film, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

The first two films, starring Angelina Jolie, made $275 million worldwide for LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER in 2001 and a more-modest $157 million in 2003 for LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE.

The property started life as a Eidos videogame in 1996 that chronicled the global adventures of daredevil archaeologist Lara Croft. Spinoffs included a10th-anniversary edition in 2006.

Marc Shmuger and David Linde will continue to serve as the leading executives of Universal Pictures in a new four-year contract extension that also sees Linde elevated to the position of chairman alongside Shmuger.

Digital Video, the R&D branch of the 2D software Toonz, has announced the release of Story Planner and Story Planner Pro. The new application is a tool for creating storyboards with graphical and textual information, and generating animatics with soundtrack and animations.

Developed on the base of expert storyboard artists' suggestions, Story Planner is a fundamental management tool to facilitate the creative thinking process simplifying the workflow in cinema, advertising, animation and videogames industries, increasing the production speed, saving time and costing.

Digimation, a provider of 3D content and related services to the entertainment and defense industries, has opened its new office in Orlando, Florida, and the addition of two key employees.

"After careful consideration, Orlando was the obvious choice for us," said David Avgikos, president of Digimation. "Not only is it the center of the military simulation community, it also offers an extensive talent pool from which to draw, which is of critical importance as we grow our business."

Industry veteran Terry Clotiaux has joined Frantic Films VFX (a division of Prime Focus Group) as SVP/COO, Visual Effects Worldwide for Prime Focus Group, and Senior Exec Producer for North America. Clotiaux will be based out of Frantic's Hollywood facility, and has been tasked with building out the company's international vfx operation and establishing its Los Angeles, Winnipeg and Vancouver offices as the North American front-end for Prime Focus Group's network of global facilities, which spans across North America, India and the U.K.

Tom Ortenberg has joined The Weinstein Company as president of theatrical films. In this newly created position, Ortenberg will be involved in all aspects of domestic theatrical releases, including acquisitions, distribution, marketing and publicity of theatrical motion picture product released by both the TWC and Dimension banners.

Most recently the president of theatrical films for Lionsgate Ent., where he worked for over a dozen years, Ortenberg will begin his new position next week in TWC's Los Angeles office, reporting to Bob and Harvey Weinstein, co-chairmen of TWC.

Per VARIETY, filming will begin in April in Hong Kong on what the producer calls the world's first erotic movie to be made in stereoscopic 3-D. The film, called 3D SEX AND ZEN is produced by Stephen Shiu, Jr. chairman of One Dollar Production, is a sequel to 1991's SEX AND ZEN from Shiu's father, Stephen Siu Yeuk-yen.

LEGEND OF THE SEEKER has been picked up for a second season on Tribune Broadcasting stations, about one third of the stations the first-run syndicated drama runs on, per VARIETY.

Filmed in New Zealand and based on Terry Goodkind's SWORD OF TRUTH book series, SEEKER has gotten a decent 2.0 average household rating in its run so far. Disney and Sam Raimi are producing the series, filling a niche in the kitschy fantasy-action genre that peaked in the late 1990s with shows like HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEY and XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS.