Sam Raimi's WIZARD'S FIRST RULE has been greenlit for 22 episodes by ABC/Disney, VARIETY reports.
The show, based on the SWORD OF TRUTH books by Terry Goodkind, will begin production in May.
RULE is being sold station-by-station, clearing 84 percent of the country in less than six weeks and will be on the air in all top 50 U.S. markets.
In response to consumer demand and requests from key theater chains at the Showest convention in Las Vegas last week, Empire Film Group has announced that it will upgrade its current production of SHADOW VISION to conform with the popular new Real D 3D theatrical format from Real D Cinema.
Recently released films in the Real D 3D format include BEOWULF and HANNAH MONTANA, both of which generated record-breaking per screen averages from 3D locations, eight times greater box office revenues than standard format theaters.
Carla Gugino and Garry Marshall have been added to the cast of RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
They join Alexander Ludwig and AnnaSophia Robb as psychic siblings escaping a group of evil men, helped by Dwayne Johnson as a Las Vegas cab driver.
The Disney film is a reimagining of the 1975 ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN.
Andy Finkman will direct a Mark Bomback script.
Gugino is set to play a discredited astrophysicist and UFO expert who helps the children escape.
HarperCollins Children's Books announces the launch of its "Read It Before You See It" global digital campaign for C. S. Lewis' THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA series.
The massive Web presence focuses attention on the seven books in the series as a lead in to the Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media release of THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN film on May 16.
When Young & Rubicam's John Kyriakou challenged The Juggernaut's Craig Small to develop an updated end tag mnemonic for Advil Liqui-Gels, the project initially seemed straightforward.
The current Advil Liqui-Gel pour shot -- the familiar stream of liquid filling the Advil capsule -- had been around for some years and had been very effective in visually demonstrating the liquid-fast benefit of the product.
But Advil as a brand developed rapidly to become the top pain reliever in Canada andY & R needed an updated visual metaphor.
Brad Bird, recent Oscar winner for Disney/Pixar's RATATOUILLE, will make his live-action feature directorial debut with the financial backing of both Warner Bros. and Disney/Pixar, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
The story is about a college student investigating his father's murder who discovers corruption that will prove devastating for the city of San Francisco when the Great Earthquake and subsequent fire hit in 1906 -- the title of the movie.
Bird is rewriting the script, originally written by John Logan.
Columbia Pictures' UPRISING will be directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher through their Sony-based Red Wagon studio, VARIETY reports.
The sci-fi thriller is about the resistance efforts of citizens after Earth has been occupied by an evil alien race.
BLOOD DIAMOND scribe Charles Leavitt is writing the script.
Petersen has worked with Columbia on DAS BOOT, IN THE LINE OF FIRE and AIR FORCE ONE.
Red Wagon's most recent films with Sony include MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA and RV.
Paramount classic ROSEMARY'S BABY will likely be remade, VARIETY reports.
Horror production company Platinum Dunes (with partners Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller) is in talks with Paramount to bring the Roman Polanski original back.
The 1968 BABY was taken from an Ira Levin novel and follows a young couple (Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes) who move into a gothic New York apartment. The husband allows his wife to become impregnated by the devil in exchange for a lucrative career when he discovers their elderly neighbors are a coven of witches.
Red Magnet, a visual effects boutique catering to the advertising industry, has launched in Venice, California.
Headed by Shira Boardman, former executive producer at Sway Studio, the new company will offer 2D and 3D design and effects, previsualization, project management and supervision, compositing and animation.
Red Magnet has already completed its first project and has two more underway.
Kicking tires and lifting hoods doesn't even begin to describe the experience you get watching the new series of spots for automaker Hyundai.
Two fast-paced, information-packed spots use photoreal CG animation to flip, rotate and spin cars so viewers get an amazingly thorough look.
Motion graphics point out scores of features and by the end of the 30-second spots, you feel like you've actually learned something.
Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products have signed a deal with ZDF Enterprises for licensing and merchandising rights to the hit Australian live action kids' TV show, H20 -- JUST ADD WATER, in France and the UK.
NVCP in France and the UK will exclusively represent the property across publishing, interactive (PC and console games), apparel, accessories, toys, games and paper products.
This month VFXWORLD launches a new book excerpt series from Thomson Course Technology: MAYA 2008 CHARACTER MODELING AND ANIMATION by Tereza Flaxman. In the first of six installments, Flaxman explains how to create a smooth bind. Meanwhile, on Friday, Tom McLean covers Double Negatives recent work on DOOMSDAY, the post apocalyptic horror film from director Neil Marshall. Also, send us links to your VFX shorts to be considered for inclusion in our upcoming feature.
Bill DesowitzEditor
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS will be released as two separate films, Warner Bros. announced Wednesday.
Parts 1 and 2 will be released in November 2010 and May 2011 and will be the final chapter in a decade-long HARRY POTTER film bonanza.
David Yates, director of sixth movie HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, is on board to direct the seventh film - both parts will be filmed consecutively.
Steve Kloves will be returning to write the last two movies, adapting JK Rowling's 784-page book, the longest in the series.
Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine are writing an adaptation of the 1978 cult monster movie ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES!
Sarine and Nichols created the hit Web series ASK A NINJA; and TOMATOES will be Nichols' directorial debut.
Killer Tomato Entertainment sold the rights to the remake to M. Dal Walton III (who remade DAY OF THE DEAD and TERROR TRAIN), who is producing along with co-producer Emmett/Furla Films.
MOON, a new sci-fi thriller starring Sam Rockwell and directed by Duncan Jones, will be sold internationally by Independent, a London-based sales company, VARIETY reports.
The film just finished shooting at UK's Shepperton Studios and is about a lonely man stranded on a moon base, who finds out he's not alone.
MOON is the debut feature for commercials director Jones, formerly known as Zowie Bowie.
Terry Gilliam's THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS has recommenced shooting in Vancouver, VARIETY reports.
The film was put on hold after cast member Heath Ledger's death in New York on Jan. 22. Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law are all replacing Ledger for sections of the film.
The live-action section of the production had just been completed in London at the time of Ledger's death, with several weeks of bluescreen work in Canada about to begin.
Access Integrated Technologies announced commitments from four major motion picture studios, including The Walt Disney Studios' Motion Pictures Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures, to provide movies to up to 10,000 digital cinema systems in the United States and Canada in conformance with the DCI specifications.
These commitments signal the official beginning of AccessIT's "Phase Two" Digital Cinema Program.
AccessIT intends to deploy up to 10,000 systems throughout the U.S. and Canada over the next three years.
Mila Kunis (voice of Meg Griffin in FAMILY GUY) will join Mark Wahlberg in MAX PAYNE, the action adaptation the Rockstar video game, VARIETY reports.
Kunis will play an assassin who teams up with Payne (Wahlberg) to avenge her sister's death. Payne, haunted by the loss of his family, finds himself drawn into a conspiracy as he investigates a series of murders.
John Moore will direct a Beau Thorne script, Julie Silverman and Scott Faye will produce, Tom Karnowski will executive produce.
Justin Long ("I'm a Mac", LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD) is set to star in Sam Raimi's DRAG ME TO HELL, VARIETY reports.
Long will play Alison Lohman's character's boyfriend in the supernatural morality tale.
Raimi and brother Ivan wrote the screenplay, shooting is set to start March 31 in Los Angeles.
The Ghost House Pictures movie is being distributed domestically and in some international territories by Universal, Mandate International will cover all other foreign ground.
Buck, the bi-coastal design-driven creative company specializing in animation, visual effects and live action, recently signed Douglas Wilkinson as VFX Supervisor.
After graduating from Northeastern University in Boston, Wilkinson started his career at Rustmonkey, Inc., serving as Assistant VFX Supervisor. He then joined Digital Domain in 2004 where he worked with heavy hitter directors Brian Beletic, David Fincher and Joseph Kosinski.
John Budion of Click 3X directed a spec spot for Coca-Cola where empty cans and bottles of the delicious beverage that were previously strewn about the city join together in a parade of pride.
The soda vessels traverse the landscape of the city as they travel through the subways and streets to collect in a tree above a sleeping transient. The aluminum and glass containers lovingly spell out the greeting "Happy Holidays" for the entire world to see.
From Director John Budion:
Bicoastal 89 Edit's Chris Davis cut the 'rapalicious' music vid for Missy Elliott, a combination of Elliott's songs CHING-A-LING and SHAKE YOUR POMP POM.
In keeping with her usual flare, Missy is surrounded by hip-hop dancers that twist and curl with the latest moves. Trippy graphics and otherworldly scenery envelops the rap superstar as she works the room with her tasty rhymes.
The booties and the beats pop as Missy schools us with her ways, as images cut and change to illustrate the world that she is rapping about.
NewTek, Inc., manufacturer of industry-leading video and 3D animation products, announced Monday the appointment of Charles Silber to the position of Senior VP, Worldwide Sales.
Most recently the VP of Sales and Service Operations for Avid Technology of Tewksbury, Massachusetts, Chuck is charged with the expansion of NewTek's reseller channel, growing and enhancing its sales organization and increasing revenue in its core video and 3D animation businesses.
He will report directly to NewTek President and CEO Jim Plant.
Take a dog. Put him in the passenger seat of a car. Now get him to sing a full-on version of the Spencer Davis Group's I'M A MAN and you've got one of the cutest, funniest animal-based commercials to be seen in recent years.
Created by DDB London and directed by Noam Murro, VW Polo DOG is a 30-second spot that started airing recently in the UK.
Post production was by Framestore CFC.
THX and Cinemark Holdings announced that Cinemark Theatres will add more than 200 THX Certified screens domestically, bringing the total number of Cinemark screens with THX certification to more than 500.
Cinemark will be rolling out the THX certification program in major metropolitan areas across the United States, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver.
THX Certified cinemas are engineered to meet THX requirements for sound and visual quality, focusing on surround sound and acoustic performance and projection technology.
