(giantfreakinrobot.com)
John Carter isn’t even arriving in theaters until March 9th, 2012, but like many a high-profile would-be blockbuster before it, they’re already got their eyes on the franchise. Bleeding Cool was in London to see John Carter director Andrew Stanton premiering some clips from the film, and they’re reporting that Stanton is already working on the potential second and third movies. Think that’s optimistic? If Stanton has his way, he’ll “go to all eleven stories and make more.”
Stanton said that they bought the rights for the first three of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter books at the outset. (That includes A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, and The Warlord of Mars.) While he is working on planning out the second and third movies, he’s not exactly counting pre-hatched chickens just yet. Here’s what he said:
I never expected anyone to say we’d definitely do more than one. It’s a huge risk for them… and it’s a huge chunk of change to make any of these movies, something this big. So it made complete sense to me, from their side of the fence, to wait until the movie’s out.
So if the worst is that it was just a writing exercise for me to plan the others and then I never get to do them, I don’t think I’ll have any regrets. So we’ve been planning out all three all along, just on the chance that they do go ahead.
Even if the movie isn’t the kind of success it needs to be and we only get one John Carter movie, fans will still get to see bits of the later books. While the movie is mostly based on A Princess of Mars, the script also draws in elements from the rest of the series, including a villain in the form of Matai Shang (played in the film by Mark Strong):
There was no main villain in Princess of Mars, and the villain would change every few chapters. There’s that axiom “You’re only as good as your villain” and I don’t know if that’s true but I didn’t want to find out the hard way. I went to later books and found a villain that did scope over multiple stories, and I brought him in earlier.
He had an agenda that was equal to the scope of Carter, and that’s how I’d want to balance it out anyway with any antagonistic situation even if I was making an original film. We were just using good old school storytelling techniques.
In the books by Burroughs, Matai Shang was a leader of a Martian cult called the Holy Therns, who practiced slavery and human (Martian?) sacrifices. Does that mean we’ll see John Carter going up against the Holy Therns onscreen next March? Either way, it’s cool to know that Stanton is thinking big and planning for John Carter’s future. Fingers crossed that we get to see it.
Will Jurassic Park Return in 3D?
(tgdaily.com) It's still a few years away from the 20th anniversary of Jurassic Park, but apparently there are waves of nostalgia flooding back for the classic film.
While movies can certainly feel CGI'd to death these days, and there were obviously computer effects before Jurassic Park, it was Steven Spielberg's dinosaur epic that really let the genie out of the bottle for the technology, and it's changed the world of film forever.
Will Jurassic Park return in 3D?Now Collider reports the first Jurassic Park may be converted to 3D, and yes, there is still talk about another Jurassic Park film on the horizon.
The publication interviewed long time Spielberg producer Kathleen Kennedy, whose industry credits include E.T., The Sixth Sense, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, along with Tintin and War Horse. (Kennedy also executive produced Goonies and Back the Future, among many others).
First, on whether the original Jurassic will be converted to 3D, Kennedy said they've been approached by Universal to do it, but the question is whether Spielberg can pencil it into his always hectic schedule.
"I'm not a huge proponent of post-conversion, but I think if the filmmakers gets intricately involved in the post-conversion – I think it can be really, really good and I think Jurassic Park is a perfect example of a movie that could work really, really well as a 3D picture," she said.
Kennedy added, "I also think it's tricky because unless you framed the movie with [3D] in mind, not all those shots - it's not necessarily going to translate, and so that's what you've go to have the DP and you've got to have the director frame-by-frame involved in the process of that conversion."
As for whether there will be a Jurassic 4 depends on the script, although Kennedy mentioned there's already plans for a Tintin sequel for Christmas 2014 or Summer 2015.
For Jurassic 4, Kennedy told writer Adam Chitwood, "We have a very high bar for ourselves because we're just like the audience, we don't want to make the movie if there's not a reason to make the movie... We're in the midst of working on that right now."
Tom Cruise Flying High On Top Gun 2
(MTV) Tom Cruise confirmed to MTV that he is involved in Top Gun 2 saying "We're working on it.".
Christopher McQuarrie was previously hired to write the script for the sequel, but it doesn't sound like he will have time. "I don't think Chris [McQuarrie] is going to write it. Chris is directing 'One Shot' right now, which I'm acting in. We've got to go back in January and finish it," he said.
About reuniting with director Tony Scott and producer Jerry Bruckheimer for the possible sequel, Cruise said that "Tony and I and Jerry, we never thought that we would do it again. Then they started to come to us with these ideas of where it is now. I thought, 'Wow, that would be ... what we could do now.'"
Cruise added: "If we can find a story that we all want to do, we all want to make a film that is in the same kind of tone as the other one and shoot it in the same way as we shot 'Top Gun.'"
Eye on the Oscars: Animation - 'Rango'
(variety.com) The western boasts several firsts, including an unlikely bug-eyed chameleon hero starring in the first animation film for both "Pirates of the Caribbean" helmer Gore Verbinski and industry vfx powerhouse ILM.
"Doing an animated film was completely new for so many of us, so there were a lot of challenges," reports production designer Crash McCreery. "Gore and I are huge Western fans, especially the classic Westerns with the dense, gritty atmosphere, so our approach from the start was to make a Western first, then an animated film second."
The team began by focusing on the characters and a photo-real style "that I don't think had been done to this extent before," McCreery says. "We kept telling ILM, 'Put more fuzz on it,' meaning we wanted to get away from that typical, hard-edged shiny CG look. We wanted frayed edges on the costumes and a blurry line between characters in the foreground and background, so that it all felt far more filmic than the usual animation."
To achieve this look, the team broke time-honored toon rules of texture and palette, even going so far as to use desaturated colors. "It probably helped (that we hadn't made an animated film before) as we just kept pushing to get what we wanted," he says. "We didn't set any limits as far as rendering capabilities, and ILM was with us the whole way. People have asked us, 'Where did you shoot it?' but it's all animated. Now that we have the pipeline worked out, we're discussing other possible projects as we all loved the animation process."
Holographic "The Time Is Now" Oscar Ad For Andy Serkis
(firstshowing.net) I guess the time really IS now. I received an email with a link to a video of the cover of an upcoming issue of The Hollywood Reporter, the print edition (they still have one?). The cover is unique because, not only is it an Oscar ad supporting Andy Serkis for Best Supporting Actor in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, but it's a holographic ad, the video shows as you move it the face morphs from Andy to Caesar and back. It's pretty damn cool. I'd actually love one of these (hey THR!) to see in real life. We just wrote about the launch of Fox's "The Time is Now" Oscar campaign for Serkis, which is getting a bigger push coming up, it seems.
VIDEO - Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNv3QwTZweg&feature=player_ embedded
Digital Reshapes Prod'n Budgeting, Billing
“Hugo” shows how digital has changed the production process.
“Hugo” shows how digital has changed the production process.
Holdouts and traditionalists may be sticking with 35mm film, but the digital revolution has triumphed.
You probably knew that, even if you don't like it. What you may not have fully grasped yet, though, is that this revolution means more than doing the same things you've always done but now with digital gear. It means changing the way you think about your work, the way you do your work, and, in many cases, the way your work is billed and paid for.
Consider Martin Scorsese's 3D pic "Hugo" and visual effects company Pixomondo.
In the analog world, f/x were "post." The editor and director locked their cut and handed it over to visual effects, hoping they'd have no regrets when they saw the result. Changes late in the game were difficult and expensive. Most visual effects studios still charge on a flat-bid model left over from those days, based on cost per shot.
Digital editing is more fluid, though. It starts earlier -- on some pics rough cutting starts before a scene is done shooting -- and continues later. That shift thrown the vfx business model for a loop. Since the cut isn't locked early, vfx studios are coping with continuous adds and changes that weren't in their flat bid.
Scorsese and longtime film editor Thelma Schoonmaker like to experiment with their cut almost up to the pic's delivery date. On "Hugo," they had a short post-production period by their standards -- about 38 weeks instead of the 58-68 weeks they prefer -- and a vast number of 3D visual effects to be completed. Adds and changes were inevitable.
Full article: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118047168
Fantastic Four & Daredevil Get The Reboot
(comingsoon.net)Fox is still developing its reboots of the "Daredevil" and "Fantastic Four" franchises. Rothman says “Daredevil is still with David Slade. It’s in development now. We’re working on it and Fantastic Four. I think for all of us, the bar has been raised, so we’ve got to aim high now. Marvel’s done a terrific job with their films. Where our Marvel movies are concerned or other movies like that. It’s like what we had with Planet of the Apes this summer. I think it’s important for us to really aim high and deliver an A-level experience to the audience.”
MAAC and VFX to Host Eighth 24 FPS Awards 2011
Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC) – leader in 3D Animation and VFX training has announced to host the eighth 24 FPS Awards 2011 in association with United Nations Information Centre (UNIC). India’s most coveted animation awards are to be held at The Leela in Andheri, Mumbai on 9th December 2011. This time around, MAAC has joined hands with UNIC to promote the 8 Millennium Goals through 24FPS where the movies based on the set theme will be used to drive and accomplish the 8 Millennium Development Goals.
With over 1000 entries from countries like China, France, Germany and the US and over 5000 animation enthusiasts expected to attend, this larger than life event is getting bigger by every passing year and will have more professionals than ever before. The jury of 24FPS 2011 consists of more than 38 industry stalwarts from across the world.
Over the last eight years, this event has gained momentous support from the global animation fraternity and has been a key driver and promoter of fresh animation talent in the country.
Animation Techniques Create Oscar Quandary
(theenvelope.latimes.com)After losing an Oscar, Walt Disney once remarked, "Disney has never actually been part of Hollywood ... I think they refer to us as being in the cornfield in Burbank."
Consider this the year Hollywood invaded the animation cornfield. The animated feature Oscar field is crowded with traditionally live-action Hollywood filmmakers, including Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson ("The Adventures of Tintin"), Gore Verbinski ("Rango"), George Miller ("Happy Feet Two") and Guillermo del Toro (executive producer of "Puss in Boots" and "Kung Fu Panda 2"). At the same time, two high-profile filmmakers from Pixar Animation Studios are now directing big-budget live action films: Brad Bird ("Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol") and Andrew Stanton ("John Carter").
It's no coincidence that more filmmakers are moving between the genres of animation and live action: Once rigidly distinct art forms, the two have become more and more alike. Live-action movies rely increasingly on digital effects, often created using the same techniques as those in computer-generated animation films. Meanwhile, animated films are depending more on motion capture, a filmmaking method in which the performances of human actors are used to animate digital character models.
There are financial reasons too for the genre migration, according to Bill Damaschke, co-president of production at DreamWorks Animation, where Del Toro serves as a creative consultant and where "The Squid and the Whale" director Noah Baumbach is currently writing the animated "Madagascar 3."
"Every year there are three to five animated films in the top 10" at the box office, said Damaschke. "Live action is a business that's contracted a bit. Fewer films get made, and many of them are branded properties. Working in animation, a medium that's breaking boundaries technology-wise, doing incredibly high-quality work for a wide audience is very attractive for the live-action filmmakers I've spoken to. The attention to story and detail, the control, being able to finesse and direct every aspect in such a slow and thoughtful process is something many of them have come to love."
"The Adventures of Tintin," which Spielberg directed and Jackson produced, is stretching the very definition of animation. The story of a boy adventurer created by the Belgian artist Hergé, "Tintin" makes the leap to the big screen via motion capture, with Jamie Bell as Tintin and Andy Serkis as his sidekick Capt. Haddock. Snowy, Tintin's canine companion, is a wholly animated character.
The tools Spielberg used to make Tintin are in many cases identical to ones James Cameron relied on for "Avatar," a movie treated by critics and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as live action.
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"We used the same technology for both. The difference is the director's intention," said Jamie Beard, animation supervisor at Weta Digital, Jackson's visual effects house, which worked on "Tintin" and "Avatar." "Jim [Cameron] wanted a real world for Pandora. He wanted it to feel real. With 'Tintin,' we wanted to bring the world of Hergé, we wanted it to be unto itself. You wouldn't walk into Hergé's world. It was a mind shift."
In both cases, animators and visual effects artists did pivotal work placing those human performances in fantastical worlds, a factor crucial for the academy to consider a film animated. Academy rules added in 2010 stipulate that "motion capture by itself is not an animation technique. In addition, a significant number of the major characters must be animated, and animation must figure in no less than 75% of the picture's running time."
In many ways, motion capture is the latest iteration of the constantly evolving art form of animation, according to "Happy Feet Two" director Miller. "Happy Feet," which Miller also directed, used motion-capture footage of dancers, such as Savion Glover, to help create the film's key effect: its dancing penguins. That film won the animated feature Oscar for 2006.
"In the old days, every raindrop was animated in 'Bambi,' every bit of water that ripples across a pool was animated," Miller said. "But now that's done as a simulation based on some algorithm. Motion capture … is yet another tool. As the filmmaking advances, the tools are used in better and better ways."
In motion capture, once an actor's movement is recorded, animators and visual effects artists begin their digital artistry on the image — turning a human dancer into a penguin, or an actor like Bell into a stylized character like Tintin.
"Happy Feet Two" is 94% animated, Miller said, with the rest of the film relying on motion capture and live-action filmmaking. As with the first film, the motion capture was used selectively, just for the scenes of penguins dancing.
"To be a great dancer, to be a Savion Glover, you're born with an innate gift, and you're dancing from the moment you're on your feet," Miller said, explaining why he used the technique. "An animator sitting at a desk drawing is a lifetime skill as well. To have those two skills combined [in one person] is unlikely. And to have that in many people — which you need for scenes with lots of characters — is even more unlikely."
The rapidly changing technology creates a dilemma come award season, however. Is that kind of on-screen magic the work of an actor or an animator? Is it a visual effect, which should be honored by the visual effects branch? What about the sweeping cinematography in this year's animated films — should it be considered by the cinematographer's branch?
Consider the opening sequence in "Cars 2," a James Bond-esque action sequence that takes place on the open sea. The technique used to create the digital waves helped earn a visual effects nomination for the 2000 live-action film "The Perfect Storm."
"Because of motion capture and CG animation, there's a whole lot of new stuff in terms of how we make these films," said Jim Morris, general manager and executive vice president of production at Pixar. "Some of it gets down to how you want to define it and how you want to recognize it. But it brings up a lot of questions. The beautiful camera work that Steven Spielberg does in 'Tintin' or Gore Verbinski does in 'Rango,' that stuff hasn't been traditionally recognized by the cinematography branch. None of it's been recognized much by the production design branch. There is as much artistry in the cinematography and the production design of those movies as there is in any live-action film. We're confronted with changing times and changing technologies, and it always takes time for people to recognize that and honor it."
CGI Studio Files for Chapter 11
(maxwelllegal.com)Bacon fanatics will be disappointed to know that the glistening strips of meat pictured in certain television commercials can’t be reproduced at their local fast food chain.
And sorry, sweet lovers, but that mouth-watering creamy caramel which forms a gooey chain in the latest Mars candy bar commercial isn’t edible either.
California-based Sway Studio is behind that visual food seduction. The firm, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week, creates computer-generated enhancements for recognizable commercials. Remember the one where a pack of sharks swim alongside the fish filet-nibbling aquarium employee as she walks past their tank? What about the dancing champagne twists of Chandon bubbly?
Firm designers lined up a crowd of fake people to form numbers in a Cheerios commercial, appealing to directors who don’t like to fuss with human extras. In another project that Sway Studio claimed was a computer-generated first for Burger King, the firm enhanced the look of the sandwich that a hungry bystander held as he reported the chain’s mischievous mascot to police.
“Not only did our wraps move with a smooth, natural motion, the agency thought our CG food looked better than the real thing,” the firm’s website said.
The firm boasts a webpage where it compares real food to fake food it created, challenging viewers to pick out which one is computer-generated. (Hint: Look for the dab of bright yellow mustard that seems to ooze too perfectly from the burger’s folds.)
The company said it also created a software program that allows cars to virtually, and safely, traverse fake rocky hillsides and weave through obstacle courses.
But Sway Studio doesn’t get paid for its work until they deliver a new project. Without the money to finish up $324,586-worth of projects it has taken on for advertising studios, it sought to reassign the unfinished work to contracts to Big Block Inc., according to court documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles. Big Block has agreed to hire two Sway Studio employees to finish the work.
Disney’s Bob Iger To Chair Academy Film Museum
(deadline.com) Beverly Hills, CA – Academy President Tom Sherak announced today that Walt Disney Co. President and CEO Bob Iger will serve as chairman of the capital campaign for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Actress Annette Bening and actor-producer Tom Hanks will join as co-chairs. “With Bob, Annette, and Tom’s leadership, our dream of finally opening a world-class film museum in Los Angeles will become a reality,” Sherak said.
As Academy CEO Dawn Hudson noted, “The momentum has been building for a long time, and with the enthusiasm Bob, Annette, and Tom all bring—and the respect they are accorded throughout the industry—we have marked the beginning of a new chapter for this project.”
Earlier this fall, the Academy and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced their intention to work together in establishing the Academy-run museum in the historic May Co. building, currently known as LACMA West. With permanent and rotating exhibitions, the museum is intended to provide an interactive experience that will explore how motion pictures have evolved and how they continue to change.
“The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures represents a bold new way of saving and presenting film history,” said Iger. “It will innovate not only the museum experience, but also the public’s relationship to the art form.”
“I am thrilled to be part of this crucial phase in what will be an extraordinary landmark,” Bening remarked. “It will give so much to our city, to historians, and to visitors from all over the world, who love movies.”
Animated Pics Boost Property Values
(variety.com)While Pixar director John Lasseter was promoting "Cars" around the world in 2006, he began envisioning a sequel with sports-car star Lightning McQueen and tow truck Mater on the international Grand Prix circuit. Five years later, those familiar characters finally arrived on the world stage, and got snared in a spy caper to boot.
But "Cars 2" is just one of several 2011 toon releases that owe their existence to popular predecessors. DreamWorks delivered "Kung Fu Panda 2" and the "Shrek" spin-off "Puss in Boots," while Walt Disney Animation released a new "Winnie the Pooh" in the classic handdrawn style. Beloved comicbook characters also got star turns this year, with Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson transforming Belgian cartoonist Herge's globe-trotting reporter into "The Adventures of Tintin," while another Belgian comics property -- Peyo's blue-skinned, ankle-high Schtroumpfs -- was animated by Sony in the CG/live-action hybrid "The Smurfs," which was so successful that it's already spawning a sequel. Clearly, franchise property values are staying high in this corner of Hollywood.
Full article: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118047072/
"X-Men" Sequel Evolves Into Greenlight
With this past Summer's successful reboot of the "X-Men" franchise, questions have now arisen as to when can we expect a sequel and/or where the franchise will go next.
20th Century Fox chairman Tom Rothman tells MTV News that a sequel to director Matthew Vaughn's "X-Men: First Class" is a go, it's just a question of timing - “It’s ‘go’ in the sense that we’re trying like hell. We’re trying as hard as we can. We really want to do it. We’re planning to do it. But the reason, in addition to [Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy] and Matthew Vaughn, that it was as good as it was that the script was really good. The key to making a great continuing franchise is to have a great script, so we’re working hard on it.”
Will Vaughn return? “I know he’d like to. We certainly would like him to. But it’s a matter of, as I said, getting a script that’s really worthy.”
422 to Animate Britain
(broadcastnow.co.uk)Bristol-based animation and VFX company 422 South has been commissioned by BBC Scotland to produce CGI and graphics for Britain Beneath Our Feet.
Each of the four episodes will include images of the present day, which resolve into a photo-real construction of how the landscape used to look.
Fourth "Transformers" To Shoot Next Year?
(darkhorizons.com)No surprise here, Michael Bay is in final negotiations to direct a new "Transformers" film for Paramount Pictures reports Vulture.
Bay has recently been developing his long-gestating personal project, the black comedy "Pain and Gain" about two dimwitted Miami bodybuilders who kidnap a businessman. However he has been having issues finding a studio and financing for the film.
As a result it looks like the deal being discussed will allow Bay to do both at Paramount - the helmer getting a green light on 'Pain' in exchange for a commitment to a fourth outing with the Autobots.
In fact if the deal closes, then the helmer is expected to shoot 'Pain' starting in the early Spring while prepping a fourth 'Transformers' at the same time. This would allow him to segue from principal photography on 'Pain' to shooting 'Transformers 4' in the second half of next year.
"Spielberg does this all the time where you’re doing art development and visual effects tests on your next movie while you’re still shooting the current one. The beauty of Michael doing Pain and Gain is that there’s no [technical] complexity to it compared to Transformers" an insider tells the paper.
An official announcement is expected as early as next week.
Star Wars Camera Sells For $625,000
(tgdaily.com) Movie buffs everywhere, myself included, are somewhat freaked out that film cameras will no longer be manufactured, as everything in Hollywood is going digital.
In fact, the last celluloid camera just rolled off the assembly line, and for one fan with a lot of money, that makes his purchase of the camera that filmed Star Wars an even greater collector’s item.
Star Wars camera sells for $625,000Yes, the camera that shot the original 1977 Star Wars went for a record $625,000 at auction to a private buyer. It breaks the record for Star Wars memorabilia, and is the most anyone’s paid for a film camera at an auction.
Interestingly enough, Charlie Chaplin’s handcrank camera didn’t sell at this auction. (It went for a minimum price of $200,000.)
As The Hollywood Reporter notes, the camera is a Panavision PSR 35mm, and Star Wars was also blown up to 70mm in its initial run.
The Star Wars cinematographer was Gilbert Taylor, who had previously shot A Hard Day’s Night, and Dr. Strangelove, among many other titles. As director Richard Donner recalled on The Omen’s DVD commentary, he brought Taylor out of retirement to shoot The Omen, then some reels of his work were shown to Lucas, who hired Taylor to film Star Wars.
The previous record for Star Wars memorabilia was $402,500 for an original model TIE-fighter, sold at auction in 2008, and a Darth Vader helmet from Empire, which went for $70,000 at auction in 2003.
Source: http://www.tgdaily.com/games-and-entertainment-features/ 60073-star-wars-camera-sells- for-625000
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