STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH is the winner of the 9th Annual Hollywood Film Festivals "Hollywood Movie of the Year Award." Director George Lucas will be presented with the award at the Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Oct. 24.
"Mr. Lucas is a creative genius, a visionary at its best," said festival founder/exec director Carolos de Abreu.
BATMAN BEGINS swoops onto DVD today (Oct. 18) with a two-disc Deluxe Edition (Warner Home Video, $30.97) featuring Chris Nolans summer smash hit in anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1) and English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. BATMAN BEGINS, which also set an IMAX record for 2D DMR presentation, boasts vfx from The Moving Picture Co., Double Negative, Rising Sun, BUF and The Senate Visual Effects Ltd.
In its first long-term commitment to digital cinema, 20th Century Fox has reached an agreement to supply its feature films to digital cinema projection systems deployed by Christie/AIX, a unit of Access Integrated Technologies (AccessIT). For Fox, this will include an increasing number of feature films from 20th Century Fox, Fox 2000 Pictures, 20th Century Fox Animation and Fox Searchlight Pictures production units.
e-on software announced the immediate availability of Vue 5 Easel, the new entry level version of its award winning Vue product line. Vue 5 Easel will be retailing at $99 for physical products and $89 for electronic download versions with an introductory price tag of $79. At the same time, e-on software also announces an aggressive price drop on the Esprit product line for a limited period of time.
Adapting to an ever-changing media landscape, Concrete Pictures has announced the restructuring of its business development efforts a move that will take operations in-house and ultimately optimize communications between the company and its branding services clients. In making the change, Concrete Pictures has hired Bob Lowery as vp, business development, and has promoted Michele Pew to exec producer/writer. Both will report to Miles Dinsmoor, the companys svp of production.
A52 served as the director for a recent HD spot titled Keyhole, as part of advertising agency RPAs massive year-long multiplatform marketing campaign for the all-new 2006 Honda Civic.
A52s collective features the talents of CG/vfx supervisor Andrew Hall and co-vfx supervisor Pat Murphy, and also relies upon the creative involvement of Rock Paper Scissors editor Angus Wall.
Universal Pictures confirmed today that James Newton Howard has replaced Oscar-winning composer Howard Shore on KING KONG.
eDIT 8. The Filmmakers Festival, which took place Oct. 9-11 in Frankfort, Germany, enjoyed an increased participation of almost 50% over the previous year, a fact that could clearly be seen in the full theaters. In addition to the 2,300 professional visitors there were 350 guests from the media industry, politics and business, along with 130 international speakers and around 120 accredited journalists.
Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, MGM and Sony Pictures Ent. have made it official Daniel Craig has been cast in the role of the legendary British secret agent, James Bond, in the highly anticipated 007 adventure thriller CASINO ROYALE.
Starting Nov. 5, 2005, Studio Arts is conducting a 10-week creature modeling workshop. Luma Pictures creature modeler Miguel Ortega will teach the class, which will cover displacement and normal mapping, natural intuitive approaches to modeling, rendering displacements in Maya and ZBrush as a concept design tool.
Responding to increased demands for its services and the continuing growth of the broadcast and advertising industries in the southeast, R!OT Atlanta has completed a major expansion and reconstruction effort. The work has resulted in a complete makeover of the facility, providing clients and staff with an enhanced creative working environment.
Vicon recently installed a motion-capture rig at London's Moving Picture Co. (MPC), which was put to use on CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, where, thanks to Vicon motion data and MPC's proprietary crowd simulation software, Alice, one single Oompa Loompa character was cloned to create an army of miniature workers in this visually stunning reinterpretation of the 1971 classic.
Ridley Scotts majestic KINGDOM OF HEAVEN arrives on DVD Oct. 11, 2005 (Fox Home Ent., $29.98) with a DVD first: an interactive production grid allowing viewers to tailor the perspective and time-frame of the various making-of materials. This provides 16 permutations of the behind-the-scenes production info for this adventure about the 12th century Crusades. VFX provided by MPC, Double Negative, Framestore CFC and Clear, among others.
Other bonus features include:
NewTek Inc. announced the release of the fifth free update and the 64-bit port for Emmy award-winning LightWave 3D. Version 8.5 offers hardware support of OpenGL 2.0, the new Multishift tool with editable history, Photoshop-style texture blending modes, improved dynamics and easier integration of third-party file formats.
IMAXs new MAGNIFICENT DESOLATION: WALKING ON THE MOON 3D takes viewers back to the United States lunar landings, using the high res, large-screen 3D format for a compelling lunar experience.
Behind the scenes, the format posed challenges for visual effects providers Digital Dimension and Sassoon Film Design. The large screen necessitated a 4K resolution, and the 3D process required that separate images be processed for left and right eyes.
RenderCore announce that RenMan client 2.70 has been launched, which now supports Maya 7.
Integrated Alias MotionBuilder technology, and enhancements to deformers and skinning tools make animating characters faster, easier and more accurate. The industry's leading full-body IK solver makes rigging and posing characters faster and easier, and enables the natural articulation of biped and quadruped models. Deformations are now more flexible.
Rogue Pictures, Universal's NYC-based genre unit, has teamed with L.A.-based Crystal Sky Pictures to produce DOOMSDAY, the next film from DOG SOLDIERS writer-director Neil Marshall, reports VARIETY. This is the first project greenlit from Rogues new president of production Andrew Rona. The film is a futuristic action thriller with political overtones, set in northern England and Scotland. Rogue will hold worldwide rights to the film, which they hope to get into production next spring in the U.K.
Twentieth Century Fox has tapped Shawn Levy and his 21 Laps Ent. to produce the live-action/CG feature, A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM. The deal will see Levy direct the picture as part of a two-year, nonexclusive, first-look production pact with the studio.
The Gnomon Workshop announced Gnomon Workshop: Live!, its first ever workshop weekend, Nov. 12-13, 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, giving artists the opportunity to learn more about cutting edge techniques and processes in the visual arts. The weekend offers classes in concept design, matte painting, 3D modeling, ZBrush, character design, rendering in Photoshop, art direction, production design and more.
Cine-tal, a leading developer of image processing, display and collaboration solutions, and Iridas, which first pioneered non-destructive color grading, announced that the Cinemage Intelligent Display Server product line will include full support for Iridas .look file format. Looks created in SpeedGrade OnSet can now be applied directly in Cine-tals Cinemage calibrated HD display system providing a simple solution for graded shot review and digital dailies during production.
Academy Award-winner Nicolas Cage is set to exec produce THE DRESDEN FILES (working title) for SCI FI Channel. The 2-hour backdoor pilot Cage's first foray into television will be produced by Lions Gate Television, in association with Cage's Saturn Films (THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE, SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE). Production is slated to begin in Toronto this fall with plans for a summer 2006 premiere.
Paramount announced that ELF and ZATHURA director Jon Favreau has been hired to direct the film adaptation of JOHN CARTER OF MARS, reports the trades. Previously, SKY CAPTAIN helmer Kerry Conran was attached to direct after Robert Rodriguez had to step down from the production after he quit the Directors Guild. Exec producer Harry Knowles said on his website Aint It Cool News that Conran left the film to work on another pulp sci-fi project that he was more passionate about.
Top professionals from the U.K.s movie service industry will convene at the second UK Showcase, Nov. 8-9 at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles. CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, V FOR VENDETTA and MATCH POINT will be just a few of the movies discussed as collaborative efforts between the U.S. and U.K.
Industry speakers at UK Showcase 2005 will present seminars and Q&A sessions on finance, production and shooting, post-production, digital distribution and interactive budgeting.
The finishing touches were completed on Warner Bros. DUMA during digital intermediate (DI) timing sessions with director Carroll Ballard (THE BLACK STALLION, FLY AWAY HOME) at LaserPacific in Hollywood. DUMA is an adventure story that revolves around the relationship between a boy and an orphaned cheetah rescued in the wilds of Africa.
Columbia Pictures has tapped INDEPENDENCE DAY director Roland Emmerich to direct 10,000 B.C., a prehistoric epic that depicts tribal life at the dawn of modern man, according to the trades. This film is the first under Emmerich's production deal with Columbia, which he signed in April.
John Orloff (HBO's BAND OF BROTHERS) is writing a new draft of the script, which is based on an idea that Emmerich forged a decade ago. Emmerich and Harald Kloser wrote the original screenplay.
