20th Century Fox and Marvel Studios have hired Simon Kinberg to write the script for X3, reports HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The deal will earn the writer a high-six-against-seven-figure sum. Kinberg isnt new to comic book inspired features having done rewrites on ELEKTRA and FANTASTIC FOUR. Details of the plot have not been announced.
Sony Pictures Animation has added LION KING director Roger Allers as a director on its first 3D feature, OPEN SEASON. Additionally, the studio has hired Steve Bencich and Ron J. Friedman (CHICKEN LITTLE) to draft a script. Allers will be joining Jill Culton in the directors chair as well as Anthony Stacchi who will serve as co-director.
As the sole visual effects facility on Working Title Films WIMBLEDON, Moving Picture Co. (MPC) completed 230 vfx shots with a high level of involvement throughout the entire production. The feature was digitally graded in the MPC Digital Lab under the guidance of Martin Kenzie. Australian Wimbledon champion Pat Cash served as tennis advisor on the film, which was granted unprecedented access to 2004s Championships by The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (AELTCC).
Production on the live-action rendition of AEON FLUX will restart on Oct. 4, 2004, reports VARIETY. Due to a back injury suffered by star Charlize Theron, Paramount and MTV had to put the film on hiatus Aug. 31. Karyn Kusama- directed film has Theron performing the action intensive role of an assassin 1,000 years in the future. Valhalla Prods. and Lakeshore Ent. are also producing. Producers are Valhalla head Gale Anne Hurd, MTV Films president David Gale and Greg Goodman. VP Pamela Abdy is sheparding for Paramount.
TOKYOPOP Inc. has inked actress Melissa Joan Hart (SABRINA, THE TEENAGE WITCH) and screenwriter Dan Gordon (WYATT EARP, THE HURRICANE) for a live-action feature film development project inspired by SAMURAI GIRL: REAL BOUT HIGH SCHOOL (SG: RBHS), one of its top manga and anime properties.
In creating the main title sequence for the new Buena Vista Pictures release THE LAST SHOT, yU + co found inspiration in an unlikely place: amid the clutter of a movie theater floor. The design studio designed and produced a magical opener for the film that takes the audience on a looping journey along theater aisles and over seats to discover the names of the films cast and crew written on candy wrappers, woven into upholstery and tattooed to the legs of a patron. The result is a visual tour de force and the perfect set up for the offbeat crime caper that follows.
Sony/Revolutions THE FORGOTTEN thriller grabbed the box office crown for the weekend ended Sept. 26, 2004, taking in $21M in its debut.
Framestore CFC provided a total of 20 vfx shots along with digital mastergrade for the new British thriller, LAYER CAKE, which opens Oct. 1 in the U.K. It stars Daniel Craig, Kenneth Cranham, Michael Gambon, Nathalie Lunghi and Sienna Miller. Based on JJ Connelly's London crime novel, LAYER CAKE marks the directorial debut of producer Matthew Vaughn (LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING GUNS).
According to Avid, five leading Softimage customers Hybride Technologies, Pixel Liberation Front, R!OT, Rising Sun Pictures and Stan Winston
Cult classic animated film FANTASTIC PLANET will be getting a live-action rendition via production companies Circle Of Confusion and newly formed Five Windows Prods., reports VARIETY. The original French animated film won the Grand Prize at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival. The story takes place on an alien planet where giants rule, and humanoids must fight for their lives and equality.
Platinum Studios is teaming with producer Gale Anne Hurd to bring the graphic novel ATLANTIS RISING to the big screen. Platinum will also develop a massively multiplayer online game about on the property with Icarus Studios. Comic creator Scott Mitchell Rosenberg will be producing along with Hurd. Stephen Tao is the exec for Valhalla with the company's Stephen Emery serving as a co-producer. Aaron Severson and Jay Burns are co-producing for Platinum. The story chronicles the ramifications of a land bound civil war on the underwater kingdom of Atlantis.
Paramount Pictures has reached an agreement to acquire the worldwide film rights to Midway Games' FEAR & RESPECT, a videogame based in the urban environment of South Central Los Angeles. Currently being developed in collaboration with writer/director John Singleton (BOYZ N THE HOOD), the urban/action adventure game is scheduled to be available in the fourth quarter of 2005 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Christine Peters (HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS) will be collaborating with the game developer to produce the film.
TERMINATOR 4 is set to begin production in 2005, reports VARIETY. However, it is unknown whether California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will return as his most famous characters. In addition, it is unknown whether T3 stars Nick Stahl and Claire Danes would be asked to return. A script for the fourth installment has been written by RISE OF THE MACHINES scribes John Brancato and Michael Ferris. T3 director Jonathan Mostow helped develop the new idea and is top choice to direct T4.
While promoting the 10th anniversary of THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, director/writer Frank Darabont has said that he will direct screen adaptations of Stephen Kings MIST and Ray Bradburys FAHRENHEIT 451, reports SCI FI WIRE.
Vinton Studios has obtained the rights to Neil Gaiman's Hugo Award-winning children's book CORALINE and has named Henry Selick as the director, reports VARIETY. Co-producing the film with Vinton will be Bill Mechanic's Pandemonium Films. Selick will also adapt the book, which tells the tale of a young girl who views an alternate version of her life after walking through a secret door. HarperCollins published the novel in 2002.
Venice, California-based Exodus Film Group has tapped three-time Oscar-winning visual effects wizard Jim Rygiel to direct the feature film, BUNYAN AND BABE, reports HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Based on the Paul Bunyan legend, the family film follows Paul Bunyan and a group of kids as they attempt to save Bunyans pet ox Babe from an evil circus owner. Eddie Griffin will provide the voice of Babe the Blue Ox. The script was written by Michael A. Nickles (THIS IS NOT A FILM) and Julia A. Wall. Exodus' animation team, ElectroAge, will be handling the CG work.
Paramounts groundbreaking CGI adventure, SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, managed to capture the box office for the weekend ended Sept. 19, 2004, ringing in $15.5M in its debut, but well below expectations.
Bandai Ent. has announced a limited theatrical engagement for Yoshiyuki Tominos MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM F91. The film will begin its run in theaters on Oct. 1, 2004 in New York with a screening at the Festival of Anime to follow soon after on Oct. 10.
Independence Day 2005 is shaping up at a toe-to-toe battle between Foxs tentpole FANTASTIC FOUR and Paramount and DreamWorks event movie of the decade WAR OF THE WORLDS. The Marvel Comics adaptation from 20th Century Fox was first to stake a claim on the lucrative holiday weekend by taking a release date of July 1. However, the Steven Spielberg-directed, Tom Cruise-starring alien invasion flick has now set its sights on June 29. With Spielberg stating that his H.G.
With Universal recently hiring CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE director Andrzej Bartkowiak, the studio has now secured one lead with a second in negotiations to star in its DOOM adaptation. BOURNE SUPREMECY baddie Karl Urban is set to star with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in talks to join the cast. Lorenzo di Bonaventura and John Wells are producing from a script by Dave Callahan. The film will follow the zombie blasting plotline of the recently released DOOM 3 videogame. The film is set to go before cameras in mid October.
DreamWorks Animation credits mental ray for helping it achieve the extremely high visual target for its new 3D-animated feature, SHARK TALE, which recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival and opens Oct. 1, 2004.
Fox 2000 Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Animation and Bagdasarian Productions have announced a live-action/CGI adaptation of ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS. Fox is searching for a comedy writer and director for the film as well as a top comedian to pay the CG Chipmunks dad Dave Seville. Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., and Janice Karman will produce.
IMAX Corp. and Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. will jointly produce their second original IMAX 3D film, DENIZENS OF THE DEEP (working title). This is Warner Bros. Pictures' sixth film commitment to IMAX theaters in the past 18 months, and follows on the successful release of NASCAR 3D: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE, which set opening weekend box office records for an original IMAX film, and has already grossed more than $18 million.
Paramount Pictures has teamed with Archie Comics Ent. to co-produce a live-action film adaptation of comic book character, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, reports THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The comic was previously the basis for the ABC live-action sitcom starring Melissa Joan Hart as well as several animated series produced by DIC Ent.
RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALPSE won the box office derby in its debut for the weekend ended Sept. 12, 2004. The horror flick (with vfx by C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, Mr. X Inc., Animated Extras International Ltd., Fantasy II Film Effects and Soho VFX) took in $23M for Screen Gems.
