Framestore CFC, who created the vfx for THE GOLDEN COMPASS (and won an Oscar doing it), is wading into film production, VARIETY reports.
The new Framestore Features is getting behind Richard Linklater's ME AND ORSON WELLES, shooting now on the Isle of Man, supernatural thriller TRIANGLE from Chris Smith and five genre movies from Generator Entertainment, an new Irish house.
Framestore will executive produce, but will also serve as technical advisor on films that normally can't afford fancy vfx.
"The idea is to use our vast toolbox of toys in a way that small and medium producers don't normally think is possible for them," Steve Norris, Framestore's managing director of film, told VARIETY. "People think this technology is the prerogative of very large-budget films, and that's not necessarily the case."
Generator's films, for example, have budgets of only around $3 million.
Framestore will continue to create effects for US studios, currently working on PRINCE CASPIAN, THE DARK KNIGHT and their first animated film THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX.
