Hollywood-based Look Effects recently completed vfx work on Darren Aronofskys THE FOUNTAIN (Warner Bros., Nov. 22). The film, which takes place over the span of one thousand years, stars Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz.
Switch VFX has completed visual effects production for SAW III (opening Oct. 27 for Halloween from Lionsgate). As the sole effects house, Switch VFX created more than 130 shots under the supervision of vfx supervisor Jon Campfens for the psychologically extreme film.
Visual effects studio Guava made its first foray into effects for feature films with CASPERS SCARE SCHOOL, an entirely CG movie finished in HD that premiered Oct. 20 on Cartoon Network.
Guava vfx supervisor Alex Catchpoole completed 20 shots for the movie, including adding smoke to several shots, digitally re-lighting several scenes, and adding lens distortion and digital broken glass to a telescope shot.
Microsofts feature film adaptation of HALO has lost a lot of its sheen with its studios Fox and Universal backing out, reports VARIETY.
Both studios had agreed to co-finance the film, which had a budget growing north of its initial $135 million pricetag. However, the real reason the studios jumped ship was due to their unsuccessful attempt to get Microsoft and the producers to lower their profit participation.
Dimension Films is in final talks with SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION director Frank Darabont to helm his adaptation of Stephen Kings 1985 short story, THE MIST, reports VARIETY. Thomas Jane is in negotiations to star.
King originally granted the rights to the story to Darabont when the filmmaker had a deal at Paramount. Darabont is in talks to regain the script rights from Paramount.
Dimension co-chairman Bob Weinstein and production president Richard Saperstein hope to start filming in the spring.
This month we turn our focus internationally. Adrian Pennington has a fascinating report on the explosion of 3D character animation among the four leading London vfx studios: Cinesite, Moving Picture Co., Double Negative and Framestore CFC, which has also launched an animation division and is the midst of making THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX.
Citing a shared desire to push the limits of visual effects storytelling, visual effects supervisor Jim Lima has joined the team at Zoic Studios. Lima is known for a unique approach, combining art direction and visual effects to create innovative visual storytelling.
Featuring more than 100 hours of horror and sci-fi movies, miniseries and originals, SCI FI Channels Halloween marathon begins on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006, and wraps up on Halloween night with a special six-hour GHOST HUNTERS LIVE special.
On Wednesday, Oct. 25, at 3:00 pm, SCI FI will air the horror film, ROOM 6. After a tragic accident, a young woman and a fellow victim struggle to track down their loved ones at a mysterious hospital. The feature stars Jerry OConnell and Christine Taylor.
Helena Bonham Carter (THE WINGS OF THE DOVE) will join the cast of SWEENEY TODD, the DreamWorks Studios and Warner Bros. co-production that will star Johnny Depp as The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Tim Burton is set to direct the film based on the award-winning Stephen Sondheim musical.
Carter will play the diabolical Mrs. Lovett who dispenses her victims' bodies in her meat pies and becomes Sweeney's amorous accomplice.
Takashi Shimizu, director of the hit sequel THE GRUDGE 2, exclusively tells VFXWORLD that he used visual effects minimally in order to enhance the haunted house type of scares in the film. While I dont think its a good idea to rely on visual effects too much, I really like using them effectively, the director said. Ever since I was a kid, I have always enjoyed movies with visual effects, and they have given me great inspiration.
NORBIT director Brian Robbins has been tapped to direct Eddie Murphy in STARSHIP DAVE, VARIETY reports. The 20th Century Fox project is in pre-production and will be produced by Deep River Prods. and Guy Walks Into a Bar.
March has been set as the start date for production.
Rogue Pictures has obtained the right to the forthcoming vampire comicbook titled "BLOOD ON THE TRACKS, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Neill Dela Llana and Ian Gamazon (CAVITE) have been hired to adapt and direct the project. Zoom Ent.s Michael Zoumas and Blatant Pictures Barry Levine are the producers.
In BLOOD, a rash of murders in the New York subway system make citizens believe a serial killer is on the loose, but it turns out the killings are the work of a vampire living under the city since the days it was known as New Amsterdam.
Columbia Pictures has hired FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS feature helmer Peter Berg to direct TONIGHT, HE COMES, the 10-years in the making superhero flick starring Will Smith, reports VARIETY. Previously, Jonathan Mostow and Gabriele Muccino were set to helm the picture, but left the project over creative differences.
The schedule sees lensing start in May for a summer 2008 release.
For CHILDREN OF MEN (opening Christmas Day through Universal Pictures), director Alfonso Cuarón approached Framestore CFC to handle the film's most challenging single vfx element: a CG baby, which is first seen actually being delivered.
Terry Gilliams TIDELAND (opening Oct. 13) is a dark and challenging film that looks at an adult world through the eyes of a child. Based on a novel by Mitch Cullin it follows a young girls innocent view of her difficult life as she is exposed to the traumatic and confusing world around her and explores how Jeliza Rose uses her imagination to escape this chaos. Shot on location in Regina, Canada in limited time, director Gilliams approach was to create an ALICE IN WONDERLAND world in reverse with adults peering through a childs view of their surroundings.
Look Effects hosted the first annual VFX roundtable on Sept. 28 at its El Capitan headquarters in Hollywood.
The event attracted a number of top-tier industry professionals, including studio department heads, post-production and vfx supervisors, tax and legal specialists, and representatives from the office of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the California Film Commission, and the Visual Effects Society.
Artist-owned-and-operated visual effects studio Brickyard VFX has wrapped a :30 spot for Timberland via Arnold Worldwide, Boston. The spot, shot and directed by The Cronenweths on a sunny day was turned into a stormy afternoon with the help of Brickyard's talented effects and CGI teams. Broadcast and cinema versions of the spot break nationally on Oct. 24.
Yanick Dusseault, one of the most accomplished visual effects digital matte artists working today, has joined ElementFX as its art director. ElementFX is a digital post-production studio.
In naming Dusseault to the new post, Marjolaine Tremblay, the company's ceo/animation director, said, "Luring Yanick to our studio is a real coup for ElementFX. His expertise and wonderful reputation allow him to be very selective. The fact that he was drawn to our company's philosophy of client and artist collaboration is indicative of who we are and where we are heading."
Electronic Arts will ship SUPERMAN RETURNS: THE VIDEOGAME, licensed by Warner Bros. Interactive Ent., on Nov. 20, 2006. The game, which features storylines from both the Warner Bros. Pictures film SUPERMAN RETURNS and more than 60 years of DC Comics content, is being developed by EAs Tiburon Studio in Orlando, the award-winning studio that develops MADDEN NFL. SUPERMAN RETURNS: THE VIDEOGAME is an open-world superhero title for the Xbox 360, as well as current generation platforms.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA exec producer David Eick and writer Laeta Kalogridis have been tapped to bring THE BIONIC WOMAN back to NBC for a new generation, VARIETY reports. Eick and Kalogridis are set to exec produce the new version.
The original series, which starred Lindsay Wagner as the mechanically enhanced tennis pro turned superhero, started as a spinoff of THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN on ABC, but moved to NBC in 1977 for its third and final season.
Marvel Studios announced that Academy Award-nominee Terrence Howard (HUSTLE & FLOW) has joined the cast of IRON MAN. Howard will take on the role of Jim "Rhodey" Rhodes, Tony Stark aka Iron Man's best friend, in the project slated to launch into theaters May 2, 2008. Previously, Marvel announced that Robert Downey Jr. would be playing the title role and Jon Favreau would be directing.
Animal Logic has adopted a Vicon MX40 system for realtime facial, hand and full-body capture. Animal Logic is already innovating with the capabilities of Vicon MX to create weekly episodes of a primetime talk show, in which a virtual host, driven by realtime performance data, interviews and is viewed by guests and the audience live in the studio.
The Gnomon Workshop welcomes back art director Ryan Church with the release of his new DVD INTRO TO COREL PAINTER. This title will help artists new to digital painting, who are interested in learning Church's workflow and techniques for the creation of amazing concept art for the film and game industries. Assuming no previous experience with the software, this DVD explains the Painter interface, palettes and tools.
Rogue Pictures, Universal-based Focus Features genre division, has inked a three-year first-look deal with Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Forms Platinum Dunes, VARIETY reports. Bay, Fuller and Form will produce horror films, with budgets south of $25 million, for Rogue, which will give the trio as much as 10% of first-dollar gross.
Due to the success of its first two episodes, HEROES has been picked up for a full season by NBC, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The new drama averaged 13.5 million viewers and a 5.7 rating/14 share for adults 18-49. This put it as the #1 new series among that demographic.
Airing on Mondays at 9:00 pm, the show chronicles the lives of ordinary people around the world, who begin to discover that they have superhuman abilities.
