Category: Visual Effects

Autodesk has announced they will cut 750 jobs, or about 10 percent of their staff, according to wire reports.

A release on iStockAnalyst said Autodesk will "consolidate certain facilities as part of a plan to reduce operating expenses."

The initiatives are in addition to the ongoing actions previously announced that include a hiring freeze, business travel restrictions, and other reductions in its operating expenses.

GenArts Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SpeedSix Software Limited. As of today, all SpeedSix employees will join the GenArts team and remain in the U.K. In addition, SpeedSix's renowned Monsters and Raptors visual effects will be sold and supported in their current form alongside GenArts Sapphire, creating a family of state-of-the-art image processing and synthesis effects software.

Sony is pushing 2012 back from July 10 to November 13, per VARIETY, the same weekend the studio used to launch the last two James Bond films.

Sony's president of worldwide distribution Rory Bruer said the studio has a good summer slate and it makes sense to move 2012, from director Roland Emmerich, to the eve of the crowded Thanksgiving holiday.

Summer tentpoles for Sony include ANGELS AND DEMONS (May 15) and THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE (June 12) with Denzel Washington and John Travolta.

Digital-Tutors, makers of award-winning video-based training for emerging digital artists, announced the continued support of their training solutions by studios and schools around the world and the largest number of training titles released by Digital-Tutors in a single year. With 67 training titles released in 2008 and a library of over 150, Digital-Tutors is now among the largest training resources for Autodesk applications including Maya, 3ds Max, Mudbox, and Softimage.

Scott Griffin, senior producer at MPC London, is moving to MPC's Vancouver location, where he will take the position of Head of Production.

The studio, which focuses on VFX for feature films, has recently completed sequences for Zach Snyder's WATCHMEN and is currently working on Jonathan Mostow's SURROGATES for Walt Disney Studios.

The studio is based in the Yaletown district of Vancouver, central to the vfx industry.

Troika Design Group, a strategic branding and design agency for companies in media and entertainment, has ushered in a bold new graphic design for top-rated cable network TNT. The launch of the Troika redesign coincided with the premiere of TNT's new series LEVERAGE and introduced a rich multi-dimensional world of light and color. TNT's new on-air design was unveiled Dec. 7, 2008.

Orbit Digital/Post Works and Post-Production Supervisor, Stuart MacPhee, recently asked Mechanism Digital for some last minute visual effects with the Fox Searchlight feature, NOTORIOUS, in theaters now. The film tracks the remarkable rise of Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace -- who burst from the tough streets of Brooklyn to the heights of hip-hop legend.

Fox and Warner Bros. have reached a deal at long last to let superhero flick WATCHMEN go forward as planned on March, according to news reports. The two sides have been battling for almost a year on the rights to the film, directed by Zack Snyder and based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Alan Moore.

In an auction that concluded late Thursday, Columbia won the screen rights to FOUNDATION, the sci-fi trilogy by Isaac Asimov, per VARIETY. Roland Emmerich will direct the film.

Emmerich and Centropolis partner Michael Wimer are producing. FOUNDATION was originally published as a series of eight short stories in ASTOUNDING magazine in 1942 and is about humans scattered on planets throughout the galaxy living under the rule of the Galactic Empire.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, THE DARK KNIGHT, INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, IRON MAN and QUANTUM OF SOLACE were nominated for the BAFTA Special Visual Effects Award, announced Thursday.

WALL-E received several BAFTA nominations including Music and Sound, along with Animated Film with WALTZ WITH BASHIR and last year's Oscar nominee for Best Animated Film, PERSPOLIS.

PERSEPOLIS and WALTZ WITH BASHIR also got nods for Film Not in the English Language, which were announced last week.

Warner Bros. Pictures is bringing THE DARK KNIGHT back for a return engagement in IMAX and conventional theaters on January 23, 2009, giving audiences one more chance to see the film on the big screen. The film will re-open nationwide in 500 screens, 143 of them IMAX.

A "Notice Of Settlement Status And Request For Further Hearing" form was filed January 14 in the WATCHMEN case, according to news reports.

A hearing was requested for January 15 at 3:30 p.m. to report the final resolution between Fox and Warner Bros. or alternatively discuss how to proceed on the already-announced January 20 court date with U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess.

A PDF of the court document is available at IESB.net: http://iesb.net/images/stories/Settlement_Status_Report.pdf.