Access Integrated Technologies Inc. has received the commitment of Warner Bros. Studios to release future movies in digital format as part of Christie/AIX's digital cinema nationwide rollout. The sixth studio backing the plan, Warner Bros. will also pay Christie/AIX virtual print fees for each movie booked helping fund exhibitor adoption of digital cinema equipment.
Vivendi Universal Games' Sierra Ent. has announced the development of MIAMI VICE THE GAME, a third-person action shooter inspired by the Universal Pictures crime drama, MIAMI VICE, directed by Michael Mann, in theaters July 28. Set in present-day Miami, players will go deep undercover as narcotic officers Sonny Crockett (Colin Farrell) and Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) in the rich, glamorous and decadent world of Miami Vice, a place where badges don't count.
Spark your creativity with a multitude of valuable resources available from Artbeats during the NAB2006 (booth SL3758). Whether you are watching one of Artbeats many informative demos, taking home a free IdeaDisc or browsing the companys expansive library at one of its many kiosks, attendees will gain essential know-how on using Artbeats royalty-free footage to make their stories come to life. Artbeats is also giving away numerous prizes during NAB, including free royalty-free stock footage, an iPod nano, backpacks and more.
MAXON announced MoGraph, a new module for its flagship 3D animation tool, CINEMA 4D. Offering numerous possibilities for creating vfx using simple primitives, logos and text, MoGraph is the ideal solution for motion graphics artists ready to step into the third dimension.
Filming has begun in Los Angeles on Revolution Studios' NEXT, a science fiction thriller starring Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore and Jessica Biel. NEXT, which is being directed by Lee Tamahori (XXX: STATE OF THE UNION and DIE ANOTHER DAY), will be released domestically by Columbia Pictures in 2007. IEG Virtual Studios, an affiliate of Initial Ent. Group, holds the international distribution rights.
John Cox, who has projects in development at the USA Network and ESPN, has been tapped by by Joel Silver for Warner Bros. Pictures to write SGT. ROCK, an adaptation of DC Comics' World War II adventure comic, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Sgt. Frank Rock was the leader of his infantry unit called Easy Company. He first appeared in a 1959 issue of OUR ARMY AT WAR. As the characters popularity rose, the comic was renamed SGT. ROCK in 1977 and ran until 1988.
The 2006 Festival of Visual Effects has been set for July 7-9, 2006 at the famed Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California.
"We are thrilled to be presenting our eighth annual Festival at the Egyptian for the first time," said Visual Effects Society (VES) exec director Eric Roth. "Each year the Festival has grown in scope and number of attendees. This venue shows how much the VES has expanded as well as the visual effects industry's continually increasing influence on the business of films, animation, games and television."
Extreme Digital Prods., a New York-based effects company, utilized wondertouchs award-winning particleIllusion for a range of provocative vfx on the HBO/Lovett Prods documentary, TOO HOT NOT TO HANDLE: A GLOBAL WARMING PRIMER. The film debuts on Earth Day, April 22, and will air exclusively on HBO.
Autodesk Inc. launched its Academy Award-winning Discreet Inferno visual effects system running on the Linux operating system. The Discreet Inferno system enables the world's top digital artists in broadcast facilities, post-production houses and film studios to deliver extraordinary moving imagery. This system contains a robust creative toolset for high-speed compositing, advanced graphics and interactive design.
IMAX Corp. and Warner Bros. Pictures announced that HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE: The IMAX Experience has grossed more than $20 million, becoming the first digitally re-mastered 2D IMAX release to reach the milestone. The IMAX release has now grossed a total of $20,033,758 million worldwide for a cumulative per screen average of $188,998. The film has shown strong legs since debuting in IMAX theatres, setting numerous records for a Hollywood simultaneous release, including biggest three-day opening weekend and highest per screen average.
RE:Vision Effects now offers RE:Map, the ultimate kit of mapping and distortion tools. RE:Vision Effects will be at NAB, booth SL5138 (the plug-in pavilion) to demo the newly released RE:Map and the rest of their products.
RE:Map is comprised of four plug-ins:
Iridas has released FrameCycler VenueSystem. The new application offers direct-from-disk playback of digital film content at unlimited resolutions, providing venue theaters and museums with higher image quality, and greater playback precision than video codecs will allow.
Sony PCL Inc., a post-production subsidiary of Sony Corp., has launched "Hybrid editing room" combining linear and non-linear editing functionality and utilizing Bluefish444's HD|Lust and HD|Iridium card.
AGEIA Technologies Inc., the pioneer in hardware-accelerated physics for games, has signed pacts with a number of Russian game developers at the recent Russian Developers Conference (KRI). Gaijin Ent., is implementing PhysX SDK into its Dagor game engine, a popular middleware solution for Russian game developers. Gaijin will also provide first-line support for the AGEIA PhysX SDK, an important benefit in the region where English is not widely used.
Disney has moved Mel Gibson's Mayan epic APOCALYPTO from late summer to Dec. 8., reports various media outlets. Some say the chief reason is that extensive rain at the South American locations have created production delays that make a summer release unattainable.
The pushback also gives Disney an opportunity to push the film is a clearer field and for award recognition.
ANGER MANAGEMENT director Peter Segal has been attached to helm New Lines adaptation of the DC comic, SHAZAM!, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Segal also will produce along side Michael Ewing via their Callahan Filmworks.
Emily Watson, Ben Chaplin and Alex Etel (MILLIONS) have signed onto THE WATER HORSE, based on the Dick King Smith novel, reports the trades. Jay Russell is set to direct the film, which is scheduled to start filming in early May in Scotland and New Zealand.
The co-production between Walden Media, Beacon Pictures and Revolution Studios chronicles the tale of a lonely boy in Scotland (Etel) who discovers a mysterious egg on the shore of a lake. When the egg hatches, a mythical sea monster of Scottish legend called the water horse" emerges.
Imagineer Systems announced the immediate availability of monet v2 and mokey v4. monet is a unique tracking and compositing toolset for commercial, film and corporate video post-production work such as virtual product placement and visual effects work. mokey offers an essential toolset for removing wires, rigs, logos, scratches and other undesired elements in commercial, film and corporate video post-production work. Both products will be on display in Las Vegas at NAB 2006 (booth #SL5564).
Envy Post in London has made Fusion 5 from eyeon Software its principal compositing system.
Fusion is a perfect fit in every suite and were very excited to begin working with it, said Dave Cadle, co-owner and managing director, Envy. eyeons pedigree of A-list productions and dedicated support staff effectively made this an easy decision.
Germany's Stallion Film will adapt notorious Japanese manga WICKED CITY into a live-action English-language film, according to VARIETY. SPAWN director Mark Dippe will helm, co-write and co-produce. Hideyuki Kikuchis bestselling manga was adapted into a cult anime film, which introduced demon tentacle sex into the lexicon.
Johnny Hartmann will also co-adapt the story, which tells the tale of demon beasts from a parallel dimension and the secret resistance that fights to prevent the apocalypse.
WalkerFX announced the immediate availability of WalkerFX 2.2, a major point release in the company's advanced, production-proven, suite of visual effects and motion graphics plug-ins for Adobe After Effects.
Paramount Pictures and Xbox have pioneered the first-ever Xbox Movie Showcase cross-platform marketing program between a movie studio and Microsoft's Xbox Live. Launching April 12, the Xbox Movie Showcase will feature free, high-definition, downloadable content from MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III, starring Tom Cruise and directed by J.J. Abrams (the creator of LOST and ALIAS), hitting theaters May 5, and NACHO LIBRE, a comedy starring Jack Black and directed by Jared Hess, NAPOLEON DYNAMITE) in theaters June 16.
Matthew McManus has come aboard RIOT as exec producer for commercials and other short-form work. McManus will oversee sales, marketing and production for the studios Los Angeles and New York facilities as they continue to sharpen their focus on the upper end of the advertising market and visual effects-driven, project-based work.
Anthem Visual Effects has once again been tapped to create visual effects for IDT Ent.s anthology series MASTERS OF HORROR, now in its second season.
This new season, a series of 13 original one-hour movies in HD produced by IDT in association with Industry Ent. and Nice Guy Prods., will feature a creative mixture of both former and new MASTERS directors and writers.
PipelineFX has signed RFX as a North American reseller. Under this agreement, RFX will market Qube! software and PipelineFX consulting services to its customers in California and across the U.S. RFX is a leading software solutions provider and serves a clientele that includes some of the industrys top film studios, post-production facilities and vfx houses.
