(Deadline) When news broke last summer that the multi-tiered adaptation of Stephen King's epic The Dark Tower series would not move forward at Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. was named as a potential new home for the project. Today, Deadline reports that WB is, indeed, negotiating to bring the project to the screen.
First announced in the fall of 2010, the saga of Roland Deschain, the Gunslinger, was to be developed as a big-screen trilogy and tie-in television series (to feature the same cast).
Ron Howard was attached to the project to direct at least the first part of the series and would have overseen the rest of the massive adaptation. Javier Bardem was said to have landed the role of the Gunslinger with Akiva Goldsman and Mark Verheiden tackling the writing duties.
If The Dark Tower does, indeed, wind up at Warner Bros., it could potentially connect to the studio's adaptation of King's The Stand, in development to be directed by Ben Affleck as the books share a character in The Stand's chief antagonist, Randall Flagg.
‘The Lorax’ Defeats ‘John Carter’
(awn.com) Universal and Illumination Entertainment's environmentally themed Dr. Seuss' The Lorax held first place at the box office for the second week straight, earning $39.1 million for a total of $122 million.
Disney’s sci-fi epic John Carter, which opened on Friday, opened to an estimated $30.6 million. The 3D feature cost $250 million to produce.
Disney's Avatar World on Hold?
(thedisneyblog.com) Apparently cooler heads are prevailing at Walt Disney Parks & Resorts and the idea of building a themed area dedicated to the worlds created by James Cameron in his Avatar movies at Disney's Animal Kingdom is getting a second look.
The biggest plot of land available at Disney's Animal Kingdom was at one time designated to be built as a new land with animals and culture from Australasia region. The park already has a few animals that fit that mold, but they aren't getting much traffic due to their off the path locations. Plus it would allow them to tie in the popular Finding Nemo movie along with other aquatic beasts, something very much missing from DAK at the moment.
The plans for Australia were pretty much in place before Tom Staggs had his ah-ha moment while walking through DCA. But Staggs had only recently moved into his position above Walt Disney Parks & Resorts and wasn't 100% familiar with the vision and goals of Disney's Animal Kingdom. Staggs only new that the park needs some help with keeping guests attention a full day and that Disney World was getting their pants handed to them by the Boy Wizard up the street. So a giant movie property like Avatar was available and Staggs smartly snagged the themepark rights to it.
However, that's not to say Avatar is a perfect fit for Disney's Animal Kingdom. That seems to be the growing consensus and word is that Avatar could be put on indefinite hold for DAK, perhaps popping up instead for the first time in Shanghai or as a stand alone Location Based Entertainment property in Hawaii near Aulani. The first sign of this would be a move to start construction on Australia at Disney's Animal Kingdom.
French Comics Icon Moebius Dead at 73
(awn.com) The French comics icon, painter and fantasy illustrator Jean Giraud is dead at 73, according a report by the BBC and other news outlets in Europe.
Giraud drew for more than 50 years, under various names, but was most widely known as Moebius, the pen name he began using in the 1960s. According to the Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex, this year marked the 55th anniversary of his first published work.
Last year’s release of Tron: Legacy was a reminder of Giraud’s work and influence among filmmakers; he was responsible for design elements in 1982′s Tron, The Fifth Element, The Abyss and Ridley Scott’s Alien.
In 2010, the Fondation Cartier Pour L’Art Contemporain in Paris staged a lavish five-month exhibit of the artist’s work that included small humble sketches and majestic wall-sized pieces. The exhibition nodded to the some of the characters that he returned to again and again, among them the unspeaking Arzak, who glides above the peaks and canyons of distant worlds, and Michael “Blueberry” Donovan, the peripatetic American Civil War vet who first roamed a Leone-like Old West in 1963.
Digital Domain Institute Begins Inaugural Class
(awn.com) Press release from Digital Domain:
WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- The Digital Domain Institute (DDI) and the Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts (FSU), opened its doors to its inaugural class of students in West Palm Beach.
The Institute, a pioneering public-private collaboration, takes a “best of both worlds” approach to digital arts education by blending creative and professionally-geared technical training, and bringing inspiring filmmakers fresh from blockbuster movies into the classroom to share techniques and experiences.
DDI’s spring session began in the Institute’s temporary facility, co-located with FSU at 477 South Rosemary in City Place, where students began a 10-week Digital Arts Essential Skills program -- comprehensive technical training in foundation digital arts skills. For its summer session, DDI will add new courses and expand its footprint on Rosemary. In preparation for the start of its fall dual-enrollment 3 Year Diploma Program offered exclusively with FSU’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Animation and Digital Arts Program, the school is also expanding into new space nearby, to accommodate more students and additional lab and screening facilities. DDI administrative offices, co-located with FSU, are at 560 Okeechobee.
West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio said, “I am pleased to be a part of the partnerships with Digital Domain and Florida State University. I welcome the first group of students to the area, where the South Florida weather is beautiful and they can benefit from the prestige that an FSU degree carries with it. It is a very exciting time for our City, with many opportunities for our youth in the future.”
“We’re thrilled to be starting classes, and the excitement among our instructors, students, and faculty is super high,” said DDI Director of Education Bruce Bullock. “We’ve been working toward this vision of lifelong learning and practical, professional training for a long time, and we’re grateful to the forward-thinking community of West Palm Beach which has helped us make it a reality. Their generosity is helping us to prepare a generation of students for careers in a growing industry.”
“Our mandate is to prepare students for successful careers in the motion pictures industry, but our vision goes beyond that – to give students opportunity to work on blockbuster films alongside the world’s top digital artists,” said Florida State College of Motion Picture Arts Dean Frank Patterson. “The start of classes at Digital Domain Institute is the beginning of that process. As an educator, these are the kinds of opportunities you dream about for your students.”
How to Create Oscar-Winning VFX
(macworld.co.uk)
Pixomondo's VFX supervisor for Hugo, Ben Grossmann, reveals how effects used for beauty and to subtly affect the audience's emotions took this year's VFX Oscar - and how artistic use of stereoscopic 3D can envelop an audience in a story.
At the Oscars last month, Martin Scorsese's Hugo picked up the prestigious Visual Effects gong - as well as awards for Art Direction, Cinematography, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. The movie is an enchanting tale of a child who lives in a train station in Paris fixing clocks and who goes on to connect with one of the pioneers of early filmmaking and special effects, Georges Mlis. Its creators indulged in a huge amount of experimenting of their own - this being Scorsese's first kids' film and first foray into stereoscopic 3D.
Key to bringing to life the golden hues of the train station, where most of the film is set, were the visual effects created by VFX group Pixomondo across its studios in London, Los Angeles, Toronto, Germany and China. While Hugo's rivals for the VFX Oscar - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 , Real Steel, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Transformers: Dark of the Moon - used visual effects primarily to add excitement, Scorsese's film used them to inspire a much wider range of emotions and wonder, and to subtly enhance the interplay between characters.
We sat down with Pixomondo's VFX supervisor Ben Grossmann (below) to discover how they tapped into the spirit of the film's subject to produce a tribute to cinema's pioneers.
DA: How did it feel to win an Oscar?
BG: "It was quite a surprise, as [the contenders] were such a great body of work. Harry Potter represents work that's gone on for over 10 years. We really expected the Academy to give some recognition [to them]. Any of the other films deserved to win on different merits."
"Quantic Dream" - Real Time CGI Animation Running on a Playstation 3
(forum.nin.com) From the developers of Playstation 3's Heavy Rain.
VIDEO - Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-pF56-ZYkY&feature=player_ embedded
The Garbage Pail Kids Return to the Big Screen
(Deadline) The Garbage Pail Kids are returning to the big screen. Deadline has word that PES, an artist best known for his short films, will direct an all-new feature-length adaptation through The Tornante Company. Relative newcomer Michael Vukadinovich will provide the screenplay.
First released by the Topps Company in 1985, Garbage Pail Kids were a series of trading card stickers that, parodying the popular line of "Cabbage Patch Kids" dolls, offered gross-out character designs based on simple puns.
Great Moments in Computer Generated Imagery
(unrealitymag.com)While I don’t have the problem with CGI that some people do, there are days (and movies) that have me wishing filmmakers would just cut back on it. That said, there are other movies that use it in a truly legitimate way. Smaller movies like Mirrormask are able to bring wild dreams to the screen on a tight budget, and bigger movies like The Dark Knight mix CGI with practical effects to evoke a subtly heightened reality.
And then there are people who put CGI right smack in the middle of the shot and we never notice it. Or I don’t. Well, I do, but only after I have it pointed out to me by a director commentary or something. MOVING ON.
Here are five examples of CGI that totally fooled me.
Take a look: http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/2012/03/13/great-moments- in-computer-generated-imagery/
Digital Frontier Employs ThinkingParticles on ‘Tekken’
(awn.com) Production company Digital Frontier used thinkingParticles, one of the flagship VFX products developed by cebas Visual Technology, to create the visual effects for Japan’s 3D computer-animated CG film, TEKKEN Blood Vengeance 3D.
Based on the successful game franchise TEKKEN from NAMCO BANDAI Games, the movie, directed by Yoichi Mori and written by Dai Sato, is a standout piece of art offering a thrilling storyline and high quality visual effects.
Based in Tokyo, Digital Frontier has been engaged in large-scale production of CG feature films for the movie and game industries since it was founded in 2000.
Digital Frontier’s Senior Designer Yoshiharu Komiya and Designer Gen Ito shared their experiences working on the movie, using thinkingParticles™ and the challenges they faced in creating such compelling scenes.
When asked about the most difficult aspect of the project, Ito explained that simulations were becoming more complex, with much more realistic looking results. “In my opinion, automatically handling secondary fracture effects is one of tP's strengths,” he added.
“I was expecting tP to be difficult to use, however it was not. The FX TD creates a complex setup of multiple nodes then the designers only have to fiddle with object replacement and parameter settings! You can easily create complex effects with tP," Komiya said.
Disney Is Making A Sci-Fi Movie Titled ‘Paladin’
(latinoreview.comJohn Carter opened this weekend, and even though it’s only Saturday it’s not looking good. Early reports have Carter opening at around $28 million for the weekend. While that’s no small amount, considering the budget was somewhere north of $200 million it doesn’t cut the mustard.
Never the less, Disney is pushing forward with another sci-fi flick. This time its an original film called Paladin. Not much is known about the it other than Max Borenstein is writing the script.
I was hoping John Carter would perform better. We need a new sci-fi franchise. One that isn’t Avatar, which borrows heavily from Carter as well as a host of other films.
Whenever I hear Paladin all I can think of is this scene from Stand By Me.
Maguire Produces Alien Tale "5th Wave"
(darkhorizons.com)GK Films has acquired the film rights to Rick Yancey's young adult sci-fi novel trilogy "The 5th Wave" which they will co-produce with Tobey Maguire's Material Pictures reports Variety.
The story follows a teenage girl who survives an alien invasion only to then search for her brother, who may or may not have been abducted by human-looking extra-terrestrials. She is helped by a boy who might also be an alien in disguise.
Maguire, Matthew Plouffe, Graham King and Tim Headington will produce. Sony Pictures will likely co-finance and distribute.
USS Enterprise 1701E Recreated - Beautiful CGI Video
I recommend watching the top quality version.
This looks like it could be cut straight from the movie - even down to the film grain.
VIDEO - Take a look: http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=356681
You Ready for a Film Noir Puppet Comedy From Jim Henson's Son?
(splitsider.com)Yeah, you read that headline right. Jim Henson's son Brian Henson is directing a film noir comedy with puppets called The Happytime Murders. It looks significantly darker than The Muppets (these puppets smoke cigarettes!) but hopefully it'll have the same imaginative sense of world creation. Here's a description:
In a world where puppets co-exist with humans as second class citizens, puppet private eye and disgraced ex-cop Phil Phillips is hot on the trail of the serial killer who murdered his brother and is now targeting the cast members of the famous 80s television show The Happytime Gang. As the killings continue, Phil’s former flame, Jenny, is next on the list. It’s up to Phil and his ex-partner, Detective Edwards, to find the culprit, but as bad blood and old resentments resurface the clues start pointing to the only viable suspect, Phil himself. Now he’s on the run with only his wits and hard headed determination, as he tries to solve The Happytime Murders.
Concept Art: http://www.themoviebit.com/2012/03/concept-art-from- puppet-film-noir.html
What Forces Shape You?! by Lucasfilm Ltd
(dyrmdaily.com) What is it that shapes the characters of the popular Star Wars movies? What makes them into the people that they are? The new exhibition starting April 19 2012 by Lucasfilm Ltd. takes you deeper into the core of Star Wars by bringing you a whole new understanding of it’s world.
The exhibition takes you on an interactive quest in which you explore the origins of the characters, the influences that shape them and the choices they make during their life. There will be shown how subtle changes in the lives of characters, may have changed how they are and act in a huge way. Enemies become allies and friends become foes.
The exhibition goes onder the slogan: “The forces that shape us.” Which targets both you and the characters in the movies. Visitors will be invited to take part in the story of Star Wars in which they will be able to create a character based on themselfes making several choices in life. When you leave the building you will have created your own Star Wars identity by comparing the elements of the saga with your own life.
So if you happen to find yourself in Montreal, Canada , in one or two months, be sure to hop along on a journey through the universe.
Official Website: http://www.starwarsidentities.com/
Bringing Tentpole Productions Back To California - A Study
(headwayproject.org) Reaction: If the analysis had looked at “tent pole” films – the films that the studios spend enormous amounts of money on, they would have found the tax credit has had ZERO effect on these films and where they are produced.
Further investigation would have found the state of California is losing tremendous amounts of tax revenue and jobs as the vast majority of these “tent pole” films are no longer produced in the state of California -
If the study was to look at WARNER BROTHERS, LEGENDARY PICTURES, 20th Century Fox and DISNEY (to name a random few) – thorough research would find that over 80% of these studios 100mil plus budget films are NOT made in California haven’t been made (produced) in California for the past 3 years or even longer.
I work in film and I have worked on 3 films in the past 2 years with combined budgets that total in excess of $750 million dollars – none of these 3 films have been made in California – and that’s ONLY 3 films..there are literally dozens of films in production at any given time and the majority are no longer made in California – the tax revenue and job losses to the state are staggering and going VERY,VERY under reported…this is a huge issue that no single agency or investigator seems to be able to get an accurate handle on
It sure would be nice if your little organization could bring this issue to light….and maybe wake up the legislators in Sacto who seem to believe tax credits for film making is welfare to millionaires..in one sense it is, but its also related to huge losses in tax revenue and jobs in the state economy.
In Responce:
Dear Richard: thank you for your post. The reason that we have not attempted to measure the impact of the California Film & Television Tax Credit program on large films (production budgets above $75 million) is precisely because, as you point out, they are excluded from eligibility from this program. However, while the current tax credit program excludes these “tent pole” productions, our report does address the issue in multiple places. On the very first page of the Introduction I present a list of nine large films with aggregate production budgets in excess of $1 billion that are currently all in production outside of California. On page 31, under the discussion of restricted transfer of tax credits, I point out the irony that big studios are the best equipped to monetize these tax credits but they are excluded from this program because they generally make big movies with budgets greater than $75 million and are ineligible for California’s program. Moreover, the first of our five recommendations, beginning on page 34, specifically addresses this issue and recommends that the size of the program be increased from $100 million to $200 million, with the new $100 million specifically earmarked for large productions so that they can participate. And our next recommendation explains how this would work, and why we think 12% is the right amount of tax credit to offer to such larger productions. Finally, both the LAEDC and The Headway Project reports discuss the benefits in terms of jobs and tax revenues that the bigger productions are able to provide, and that is why both organizations recommend strategies to bring them back to California. In short, you and I are in agreement on the need to focus on the really big productions and develop an incentive program specifically targeted to get them back in California.
Download the full study: http://www.headwayproject.org/downloads/Headway_ Entertainment_Report.pdf
James Cameron Builds Future Tech Submarines for Avatar 2
(pakistantoday.com.pk)LOS ANGELES - It’s not a surprise that James Cameron plans on taking Avatar 23 into the sea, but it news on how he plans to get there. He already has told Sam Worthington that he’ll be filming underwater, and now Sigourney Weaverhas offered more insight on how Cameron plans on shooting under the sea. In an interview with Italian website Bad Taste (via /Film), Weaver dished that Cameron might need to have some special submarines built so he can shoot the upcoming movie. “Cameron will only begin filming the new ‘Avatars’ after having gone underwater in a specially built submarine,” she said. “It is thought that he would like to go to the Mariana Trench.
Re-beginning work on ‘Titanic’ for the 3D version has also given him many inspirations for ‘Avatar’.” This wouldn’t be a first for Cameron. He used submarines to help shoot “Titanic” as well as his nonfiction 3D IMAX projects, “Ghosts of the Abyss” and “Aliens of the Deep.” But it is interesting that he seems to need advanced technology to help him shoot “Avatar 2″ and “3.” Also worth noting is that the Mariana Trench mentioned is the deepest part of the Earth’s oceans. That could explain why “Avatar 2′s” release date is somewhere between 2014 and 2016.
It sounds like Cameron still has a lot of work to be done before filming can begin. Cameron spoke about the ocean world recently and seemed excited about his filming possibilities. “You know, the fictional Na’vi people and I want them to feel that excitement of discovery of a new world that they’re going to see things that they haven’t imagined,” he said. “All that sort of the perk package of the first movie is still going to be there. And the themes will be there and be played out in a way that I think people can accept.”
More States Offer Perks To Attract Video Game Makers
(paidcontent.org)When former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling moved his video game company 38 Studios to Rhode Island in 2010, the decision was not just a snub to the state of Massachusetts. It was also part of a growing rivalry in which states are competing to create a “digital Hollywood” on their soil.
According to lawyer Sean Kane, 21 states and all 10 Canadian provinces are now vying for a slice of the video game pie. He says that many places are retooling incentive packages that were originally put in place to attract movie productions.
SEE ALSO: Curt Schilling's 38 Studios Saves Big Huge Games From Extinction
“A lot of jurisdictions like game companies better than films because the film industry is transient.” said Kane, who advises gaming clients about incentives at Pillsbury. He added that a gaming hub can mean hundreds of very well paid individuals settling down in an area.
While Northern California remains the pre-eminent hub for game developers, places like North Carolina and Rhode Island are creating hubs of their own through aggressive loan and tax incentives. In some states, like Louisiana, the incentives are in the form of cash subsidies that can be redeemed or exchanged.
Kane says the incentive led game giant Electronic Arts (NSDQ: ERTS) to build testing facilities near Louisiana State University that employ 600 people.
The subsidies are not universally popular and one New Orleans study suggested they are not worth it (in the case of films at least). As for Schilling’s 38 Studios, the Rhode Island governor initially questioned the wisdom of offering a $75 million loan guarantee to someone who he said might have faked a famous World Series incident involving bloody sock.
Schilling himself appears to be thriving in Rhode Island. His studio last month released “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning,” a fantasy game designed by industry luminary R.A.Salvatore.
'John Carter': How Big a Bomb is it?
(insidemovies.ew.com)One month ago, Andrew Stanton was optimistic about making a sequel to John Carter, his $250 million sci-fi adventure about a 19th-century outlaw (Taylor Kitsch) who is teleported to Mars in the midst of an alien war. “I’ve been spending the last six months writing the next one with Michael [Chabon],” he told EW in February.
Then John Carter opened to a middling $30.1 million last weekend, making Stanton’s goal seem about as realistic as his movie’s interplanetary premise. Even if the film manages to earn $100 million domestically plus $150 million or so more internationally, John Carter could still end up as a failure for Disney once marketing costs (reportedly $100 million) and distribution fees are factored in. “Moviemaking does not come without risk. It’s still an art, not a science, and there is no proven formula for success,” said Walt Disney Studios chairman Rich Ross in a statement. “Andrew Stanton is an incredibly talented and successful filmmaker who with his team put their hard work and vision into the making of John Carter. Unfortunately, it failed to connect with audiences as much as we had all hoped.”
With its studio admitting defeat, is John Carter ready to join the ranks of legendary flops like Ishtar and Heaven’s Gate? Not necessarily. “Those movies lived and died on domestic box office,” says Vincent Bruzzese, president of the Worldwide Motion Picture Group, a research firm employed by many major studios. “Unless someone knows the details of John Carter’s financials, the foreign sales, the DVD, pay TV, all that, it’s very difficult to comment.” But he adds that Disney’s huge investment in John Carter placed unrealistic pressure on the movie’s box-office performance. “If you have to be Avatar or Titanic to break even, then good luck.”
International grosses might be John Carter’s saving grace: The movie has already taken in over $70 million overseas. “Visually stunning movies translate into any language. And international audiences love the 3-D component as well,” says Paul Dergarabedian, a box-office analyst at Hollywood.com. “I’m still saying wait and see. Nobody makes a $250 million movie hoping for a $30 million opening. But the $100 million worldwide was not a bad result.”
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