NaturalMotion Ltd. announced that its award-winning endorphin software was used by Giant Killer Robots to create several character animation sequences for POSEIDON. endorphins ability to quickly and easily generate realistic animation allowed the teams to create very demanding and destructive shots that would have been near impossible to achieve using traditional tools.
IDT Ent. has announced the start of production on a new CG-animated feature film, titled SHEEPISH. The film, in production at the companys West Coast headquarters in Burbank, is a comic twist on the old saying beware of wolves in sheeps clothing. Animation will be done at IDT Ent.s studio in Toronto.
Dimension Films has announced that GRIND HOUSE, the highly-anticipated collaboration from directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, will be released in theaters Easter weekend, 2007.
"The Easter holiday was a record-breaking weekend for Dimension this year with SCARY MOVIE 4, and we are confident that GRIND HOUSE will do extremely well in this slot," said Bob Weinstein, co-chairman of Dimension Films.
Guillermo del Toro (HELLBOY) and Alfonso Cuaron (HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN) have been hired by Warner Bros. to make an adaptation of Roald Dahl's 1973 book, THE WITCHES, reports VARIETY. Del Toro will write and direct with Cuaron producing via his New York-based company Esperanto.
In regards to Nicolas Roegs 1989 adaptation, Del Toro said, "The Roeg film is a brilliant movie but certain aspects are a departure from Dahl's original. Dahl had the brilliance of writing children's stories, which shocked adults.
Producer Dean Devlin (INDEPENDENCE DAY and FLYBOYS) will helm his first film as director, GHOSTING, a vfx-filled paranormal thriller, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Devlin will begin shooting early next year after principal photography is complete on his sci-fi adventure, ISOBAR.
Devlin will also produce GHOSTING for his company Electric Ent. with in-house partners Kearie Peak and Marc Roskin.
Stop-motion vet Mike Johnson, who co-directed the Oscar nominated CORPSE BRIDE with Tim Burton, is headed back to London to replace director Sylvain Chomet on Universal Pictures 3D-animated feature, THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX.
Disney has moved THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN from Dec. 14, 2007, to summer 2008, to avoid direct competition with Columbia Pictures fantasy, THE WATER HORSE, which is slated to open Dec. 8, 2007, reports THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Both are produced by Walden Media. The move also gives NARNIA director Andrew Adamson and his crew extra time, according to Walt Disney Studios svp of publicity, Dennis Rice.
Massive Software's artificial life-driven animation system has been adopted by CIS Hollywood to produce digital visual effects for Warner Bros. POSEIDON.
CIS Hollywood acquired single license of Massive to complete a number of POSEIDON shots that required realistic digital characters. These included establishing shots and other sequences showing people in passageways, as well as shots of crewmembers, waiters and cooks in the ships galley and a large party scene.
Focus Features has acquired the world rights to Laika Ent.s stop-motion feature, CORALINE, based on the book by Neil Gaiman, reports VARIETY.
The film features the voice of Dakota Fanning as a young girl who walks through a secret door in her new house where she discovers an alternate version of her life.
Laika supervising director Henry Selick is adapted the script and will co-helm alongside Mike Cachuela. Pandemonium Films head Bill Mechanic is producing with Laika's Mary Sandell. They Might Be Giants will provide the songs.
Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films have grabbed the right to GAME BOYS, an action spec by Tom Ropelewski (LOOK WHO'S TALKING NOW) and Evan Katz (TVs 24), according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Jerry Bruckheimer will produce.
The tale follows two thirtysomething videogame addicts whom are recruited by the Department of Homeland Security to lead a geek army set to battle creatures that have emerged from a videogame they have mastered.
New Line Cinema has obtained domestic rights to writer-director Michel Gondry's next project, BE KIND REWIND, starring Jack Black, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Gondry's partner in Partizan Prods., Georges Bermann, is producing.
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) credits mental ray, the Academy Award-winning high-end rendering software, from mental images, for significant advances in virtual cinematography that ILM achieved in creating the vfx for POSEIDON.
MGA Ent. Inc., Avi Arad Prods. and Crystal Sky Pictures will team to bring MGA's famous BRATZ dolls to the big screen. A screenplay, tentatively entitled BRATZ, is in the process of being written with a targeted production start of late fall 2006 in Los Angeles.
Under the deal, Crystal Sky Pictures will finance a live-action feature film based on the popular BRATZ characters. MGA's founder/ceo Isaac Larian, Avi Arad and Crystal Sky's chairman Steven Paul will produce the picture, and Crystal Sky Pictures president Benedict Carver will exec produce.
The Weinstein Co. (TWC) has acquired all theatrical and video rights in the U.S. to the martial arts epic, SEVEN SWORDS, directed by the master of kung-fu action films, Tsui Hark (ZU WARRIORS, ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA). Cheung ChiSing and Chun TinNam adapted the screenplay based on the original novel, SEVEN SWORDSMEN FROM MT. TIAN, and it was produced by Lee JooIck, Ma Zhongjun and Pan Zhizhong. Richard Wong, Hong BongChul and Zhang Yong serve as exec producers.
Rob Cohen has been tapped the helm ARROW, a martial arts flick being produced by Basil Iwanyks Thunder Road at Warner Bros. Pictures, reports the trades. Details of Brandon Noonans script are being kept secret. Thunder Road's Mary Viola is shepherding the project, along with Marc Pitre for Cohen. Dan Lin and Jess Rosenthal are overseeing for the studio.
The Orphanage recently completed six months of vfx work on THE HOST, South Koreas most ambitious movie to date, which will have its world premiere on May 21 in the Directors Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival (which runs May 18-21).
Paramounts MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III sunk Warner Bros. POSEIDON at the box office for the weekend period ended May 14, 2006. Despite a second-week drop of nearly 48%, M:I:III (with vfx from ILM) posted $25M for a cume of $85.1M. POSEIDON (with vfx from ILM and MPC) debuted with a disappointing $22.1M. Dropping to third place was Sonys RV, with $9.9M and a three-week cume of $43.2M. Foxs romantic comedy, JUST MY LUCK debuted in the fourth spot with $5.6M. Freestyles AN AMERICAN HAUNTING followed in fifth with $3.56M and $10.8M.
The Weinstein Co. will represent all international rights to the CG-animated feature comedy, IGOR, from Exodus Film Group. IGOR is being produced by John D. Eraklis and seasoned animation exec Max Howard, who has collaborated on such animated blockbusters as THE LION KING, ALADDIN, SPACE JAM and THE IRON GIANT. The Weinstein Co. will distribute the film in North America and will begin selling the international territories at the Cannes Film Festival.
There will be a seven-minute clip from X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (opening May 26, 2006, from Fox) going live tonight (May 12, 2006) at midnight EST exclusively at www.dell.com/x-men.
Also on the site is access to a sweepstakes to win Dells XPS X-MEN: THE LAST STAND Collectors Edition computer system. The system, based on a next-generation XPS gaming desktop, is custom painted with images from X-MEN: THE LAST STAND. It is valued at about $10,000. Entries for the sweepstakes will be accepted through June 18.
Walden Media and New Line will begin production on JOURNEY 3-D in Montreal in June, casting Josh Hutcherson (RV, ZATHURA: A SPACE ADVENTURE) opposite Brendan Fraser, reports VARIETY.
Hutcherson will portray the nephew of a geologist (Fraser) who stumbles upon a mystery with strange creatures while on an expedition.
After a jolting first scene, Picture Mill was asked to create an energetic title sequence that reminds the audience of the excitement of the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE franchise. Driven by a new rescoring of the classic Lalo Schifrin theme, the short sequence makes a bridge between the raw energy of the shocking first scene, and a scene that takes place several weeks earlier. The final sequence is a combination of high-speed fuse photography and 3D credits, seamlessly merged in a barrage of sparks, heat and fire.
POSEIDON will be released in IMAX theaters worldwide on Friday (May 12, 2006), in addition to conventional theaters. Poseidon is the second IMAX DMR film release from Warner Bros. Pictures in 2006, in a series of five scheduled for the year. It represents the 10th collaboration between IMAX and Warner Bros., including the IMAX original films NASCAR 3D: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE and DEEP SEA 3-D: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE.
Blizzard Ent. Inc. and Legendary Pictures announced that they have entered into an agreement to develop a live-action film based on Blizzard's award-winning WARCRAFT universe. Based on the terms of the agreement, Legendary Pictures has acquired the movie rights for the best-selling game universe, and both companies are now focused on translating the world to the big screen.
The Weinstein Co. has acquired the rights to develop and produce a feature film based on the original hit television series, KNIGHT RIDER. The rights were purchased from Glen A. Larson (KNIGHT RIDER, MAGNUM P.I., FALL GUY, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA), the original creator of the television show, and he will write the script and exec produce the project through his production company Glen A. Larson Prods. David Price brought the project to The Weinstein Co.'s attention and will co-produce it.
Paramounts MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III (with vfx by ILM) debuted with a less than stellar $47.7M, but still managed to lead the box office for the period ended May 7, 2006. Sonys RV, last weeks leader, slipped to second place with $11M and a two-week cume of $30.9M. Freestyles AN AMERICAN HAUNTING bowed in third with $5.7M. Buena Vistas STICK IT followed in fourth with $5.4M and a two-week cume of $17.9M. Universals UNITED 93 (with vfx from Double Negative) fell 53% in its second week to fifth place with $5.3M and a $20.1M tally.
