Category: Films

When the final box office results were tabulated for the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend (ended Jan. 16, 2006), GLORY ROAD from Buena Vista nudged past HOODWINKED from The Weinstein Co: $16.92M vs. $16.87M. Nonetheless, the fractured riff on LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD exceeded all expectations as the first 3D-animated feature released in 06, with a record dozen or so to come in a single calendar year.

Horror ruled the box office once again with the debut of Lionsgates HOSTEL (with vfx by Precinct 13 Ent.), which captured $19.5M for the weekend ended Jan. 8, 2005.

The final box office numbers for 2005 are in and, not surprisingly, seven of the top 10 finishers were vfx-intensive blockbusters. Foxs STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH led the way with $380.2M. Following in second, third and fourth place were Warner Bros. HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE with $278.6M, Paramounts WAR OF THE WORLDS with $234.2M and Buena Vistas THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE with $232.1M.

Ted Rae will serve as visual effects supervisor on Mel Gibsons APOCALYPTO, the mythic action-adventure set against the turbulent end times of the once great Mayan civilization, now shooting in Mexico and slated for a summer release by Disneys Touchstone Pictures.

One of the seasons top DVD sellers, FANTASTIC FOUR (Fox Home Ent. $29.99) no longer suffers from comparisons to THE INCREDIBLES. Apparently viewers are appreciating the virtues of big screen adaptation of the Marvel Comics first superhero family (with noteworthy vfx from Café FX, Giant Killer Robots, Hydraulx, Kleiser-Walczak Digital Effects, Meteor Studios, Pacific Title & Art Studio, Pixel Magic, SW Digital and Soho VFX).

Bonus features include:* Commentary by: Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis and Ioan Gruffud # 3 * Three deleted scenes

NANNY MCPHEE, the new children's fantasy film, directed by Kirk Jones and starring Emma Thompson and Colin Firth, from a screenplay by Thompson, opens Jan. 27 through Universal Pictures. A team of more than 80 artists and technicians at Framestore CFC in London worked for nine months on the films digital vfx, providing some 150 shots. In addition, Framestore CFC's Digital Lab facility created the film's distinctive Digital Intermediate.