Its the proverbial calm before the storm this week as we await the highly anticipated June 15 release of BATMAN BEGINS. Although its vfx are not intended to be as flashy as REVENGE OF THE SITHs, youll soon see how it raises the bar in crafting invisible effects. You can read all about it and much more next Wednesday, when Danny Fingeroth explores the significance of director Chris Nolans back to basics approach to the Dark Knight.
The FIRST EVER INDEPENDENT TELEVISION FESTIVAL is seeking submissions for its Independent Pilot Competition and is currently accepting entries in its ANIMATION category.
Launching in fall of 2005, the NYTVF will pioneer the movement of "Independent Television." Writers, directors and producers will be given the unprecedented opportunity to screen Pilot Programs directly for network and cable executives in a festival competition. What festivals such as Sundance did for film, the NYTVF will do for television.
Continuing our special event specific Flash Newsletters, AWN will again be publishing newsletters for SIGGRAPH. This important event is fast approaching and our editorial and advertising staff is gearing up for the Flash Newsletter series. The news deadline for the first edition is July 13 and for the second edition the deadline is July 20. Please send releases and images to editor@awn.com. Here are the dates for the publications.
SIGGRAPH 2005July 19, 2005July 26, 2005
3Dlabs announced that the Wildcat Realizm 800 professional graphics accelerator has been selected for the HP Tested & Certified graphics program. With the Wildcat Realizm 800 utilizing the PCI Express professional graphics solution, the HP xw4200 and xw8200 workstations can provide considerable power and system throughput that design professionals require.
BOXX Technologies is now shipping its 7400 Series of high-performance workstations featuring Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors. Dual-Core AMD64 technology is a natural extension of AMDs Direct Connect Architecture, directly connecting CPU, memory and I/O resources as opposed to having these resources accessed via a front-side bus.
House of Moves, a division of Vicon Motion Systems, has debuted a new motion capture service that records facial and full-body data. With more directable, holistic and complete performance, it replaces the long-standing process of motion-capturing faces, hands and bodies of performers in separate sessions with a creative and cost-effective workflow that is destined to become the new norm.
Messengers dressed as the lead space marine in Microsoft videogame HALO descended on the studios June 6 with the screenplay based on the bestselling franchise, reports VARIETY. Microsoft and Bungie Studios paid 28 DAYS LATER writer Alex Garland $1 million to pen the script. Microsoft has also tapped former Columbia Pictures president Peter Schlessel to shepherd the project as well as serve as a producer.
Paramount has stopped development on the highly-anticipated film adaptation of the classic comicbook series, THE WATCHMEN, according to VARIETY. The studio has now put the project into turnaround, allowing producers Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin to shop the Paul Greengrass (THE BOURNE SUPREMACY) directed project to other studios.
Joe Dante's PIRANHA will get an update care of new production firm Chiller Films, reports VARIETY. Chuck Russell (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3) is set to rewrite the script, using elements from spec script KILLER FISH by Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger plus the original's script by John Sayles, which was based on a story by Richard Robertson. Chiller will co-produce the film with Intellectual Properties Worldwide.
Sony Pictures Releasing has pushed the release of THE PINK PANTHER from Aug. 5 to Feb. 10, 2006, according to trades. Sony acquired the Shawn Levy-directed/ Steve Martin-starrer through its purchase on MGM.
"With the recent acquisition of MGM, we wanted to give our marketing department the time and opportunity to launch this very important franchise," said Sony Pictures Releasing president Rory Bruer. "We've seen the movie, and we really love this film. It's a franchise we believe in and are really excited about, and Steve Martin is great as Clouseau."
Rendercore announced that RenMan client 2.64 is supporting three new Autodesk products: Autodesk VIZ 2006, 3ds Max 6&7 Service Pack 1 and 3ds Max V-Ray 1.47.03.
Autodesk VIZ 2006 features include:* mental ray 3.3 The latest improvements to the most powerful rendering system are included.* Global illumination It automatically captures subtle lighting effects that add depth and realism to images.* Real-world lighting Viz 2006 supports physically based lighting in your scenes.
With vfx and animation flicks KILL BILL VOL. 2, SPIDER-MAN 2 and THE INCREDIBLES being beat out my indie nerd fest NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, the big vfx winner of the night was THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW for its destruction of Los Angeles sequence as the Best Action Sequence. Other animation related news includes CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK: ESCAPE FROM BUTCHER BAY from Vivendi Universal Games winning the award for Best Videogame Based on a Movie.
With LAYER CAKE director Matthew Vaughn leaving the project, Twentieth Century Fox and Marvel Ent. have hired RUSH HOUR director Brett Ratner to direct X-MEN 3, reports VARIETY. The film is still set to begin filming in August and hit theaters Memorial Day weekend 2006.
In addition, the studios have also confirmed that Kelsey Grammer (TV's FRAISER) will be playing Beast, Vinnie Jones (SNATCH) will be playing Juggernaut and Maggie Grace (TV's LOST) will be playing Kitty Pryde.
Warner Bros. Pictures has announced the lead actors for Wolfgang Petersen's tentpole remake of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Signed cast members include Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, Emmy Rossum (PHANTOM OF THE OPERA) and Mike Vogel (THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE remake). Andre Braugher (TV's HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET) is in negotiations to join the cast.
Leading visual effects studio Digital Dimension completed several dozen visual effects shots for the recent New Line feature MONSTER-IN-LAW. Seamless composites and digital effects created by Digital Dimension in collaboration with director of photography Russell Carpenter are a perfect fit for the film's gorgeous Southern California look and sets.
Vizrt Ltd. has acquired Curious Software, effective June 1, 2005. In consideration for the purchase of the shares or assets, Vizrt will pay $5,000,000 in cash to the Curious shareholders. Up to an additional $4,000,000 is to be paid in Ordinary Shares of Vizrt as an earn-out in four quarterly installments upon reaching certain milestones.
The Access Grid, new cutting edge technology for users and participants of collaborations, makes its debut at SIGGRAPH 2005, the 32nd International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, July 31-Aug. 4, 2005, in Los Angeles. At SIGGRAPH 2005, the Access Grid supports a global collaborative performance piece, international art panels and multi-site community interaction. This emerging, scalable teleconferencing technology enables interaction between individual desktops, 3,000-person theaters and everything in between.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences mailed entry forms on June 1, 2005 for the 2004 Scientific and Technical Awards to more than 850 companies and individuals, including past winners, within the sci-tech community both in the United States and abroad. All entry applications must be submitted to the Academy no later than Aug. 1, 2005.
In response to the changing commercial environment, Rhythm& Hues Studios is evolving its commercial group in the attempt of creating a new production model.
With the hiring of Paul Babb as its new live action exec producer, the studio has refocused its energies to create what it calls The Complete Digital Studio a full service shop for both advertising agencies and production companies.
The result: Rhythm & Hues Commercial Studios.
SCI FI Channel will start production on the six-hour miniseries THE TRIANGLE this week, in Cape Town, South Africa. Starring Eric Stoltz (PULP FICTION, MASK), Catherine Bell (JAG, BRUCE ALMIGHTY), Michael Rodgers (AUTO FOCUS), Bruce Davison (X-MEN) and Sam Neill (JURASSIC PARK), THE TRIANGLE is helmed by Craig Baxley (KINGDOM HOSPITAL). Hollywood's sci-fi standouts Dean Devlin (INDEPENDENCE DAY) and Bryan Singer (X-MEN) will exec produce with Devlin's Electric Ent. producing.
With principal photography set to begin Aug. 2, X-MEN 3 has now lost its director for the second time, reports the trades. Replacing Bryan Singer, director of the first two X-MEN films who left to helm SUPERMAN RETURNS, LAYER CAKE director Matthew Vaughn is now stepping down, citing personal reasons. The director had hoped to commute from his home in London to the shoot in Vancouver, but when that seemed impossible he decided that leaving the film was a better choice than uprooting his family.
Managing editor Rick DeMott reports back from E3 this week with a look at some of the hottest upcoming games, industry buzz (including how movie tie-ins are rapidly changing) and what we can expect from PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the coming year.
Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the team that co-wrote THE ISLAND for Michael Bay, are tinkering on a script to put the Transformer toys on the big screen for what might be Bay's next project, according to SCI FI Wire.
"We're calling it CAMPBELL SOUP: THE MOVIE, because it's the ultimate product placement," Kurtzman told SCI FI Wire. "The big challenge is how do you do it without making it look like it's just about product placement."
The producing duo of Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald are developing a third, scaled-down RING movie, according to SCI FI Wire. The husband-and-wife producing team is planning a different approach and may not need the same mother and son cast of Naomi Watts and David Dorfman, who were in the first two horror movies.
Parkes added, "It's easy to scale down RING 3 as a small picture that's not incredibly expensive. By its very nature it can be a small movie and doesn't need the same cast."
George Lucas has given the greenlight to Jeff Nathanson's recent draft for INDIANA JONES 4, reports VARIETY. Director Steven Spielberg has also given the script a thumbs up and only star Harrison Ford needs to give approval for the film to move into pre-production.
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION director Frank Darabont had previously written a draft of the script, which passed by Spielberg and Ford, but was rejected by Lucas. Spielberg then enlisted Nathanson to pen the screenplay after having worked with the scribe on CATCH ME IF YOU CAN and THE TERMINAL.
