Category: Visual Effects

The Gnomon Workshop has released its first training titles from Stephen McClure titled, MATCHMOVING 101: FUNDAMENTALS. Matchmoving integrates computer-generated visual effects into a live-action plate for film, television, music videos or commercials. Using real-world situations, MATCHMOVING 101 takes the artist from the set-survey process through recreating camera elements in Maya.

Picturehouse has purchased the North American rights to HELLBOY director Guillermo del Toro's dark fairy tale PAN'S LABYRINTH for nearly $6 million, reports the trades. Picturehouse president Bob Berney and Wild Bunch's Carole Baraton netted the long-in-the-works deal at Sundance.

Set in fascist, 1940s Spain, the story follows Ofelia, a lonely, dreamy child who tries to come to terms with an era of postwar repression by creating a world filled with mythical creatures. Maribel Verdu, Sergi Lopez, Ivana Baquero and Doug Jones star.

DODGEBALL director Rawson Marshall Thurber has inked a deal to write and direct the big-screen adaptation of MAGNUM P.I. for Universal Pictures, reports the trades. Brian Grazer will produce via his Imagine Ent. company.

Ron Howard's THE DA VINCI CODE will open the 59th Festival de Cannes on May 17, 2006. Howards films that previously screened as Cannes include WILLOW, FAR AND AWAY and ED TV.

Based on Dan Browns best-selling thriller, the story chronicles the conspiracy developed to cover-up the true meaning of the Holy Grail. Many historians and religious leaders have criticized the book as pure fiction.

Walden Media and the Walt Disney Co. have hired ZATHURA lead Josh Hutcherson as the lead in the film adaptation of BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA, reports VARIETY. The film will begin production later this month in New Zealand.

Klasky Csupos Gabor Csupo will make his live-action directing debut on the film, which is based on Katherine Paterson's famed novel. The story follows a sad boy who befriends an outsider, who together create the world called Terabithia, which is filled with giants, trolls and other magical beings.

Writer-director Timur Bekmambetov, whose NIGHT WATCH series is a sensation in Russia, has inked a one-year, first-look deal with Rogue Pictures for English-language flicks, reports VARIETY. The second film in his horror/sci-fi series, DAY WATCH, was released on New Years Day and has already become the highest grossing film in Russian history. The first film in the series, NIGHT WATCH, is set to hit theaters in the States Feb. 17, 2006, from Fox Searchlight.

With production starting Jan. 23, 2006, New Line has hired Virginia Madsen to replace Elisabeth Shue in the thriller THE NUMBER 23, which also stars Jim Carrey, reports VARIETY. The film is being directed by Joel Schumacher and also stars Danny Huston and Rhona Mitra. Contrafilms Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson are producing from a screenplay by Fernley Phillips.

The story follows a man who becomes obsessed with a book, featuring the number 23 throughout, which seems to mirror his life, except that it ends with a murder.