(multiplayerblog.mtv.com)
Filmmaker Gore Verbinski is following in the footsteps of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, with plans to develop video game content and more for Microsoft. The Hollywood Reporter has detailed an agreement between Verbinski's Blind Wink Productions and Microsoft to create a Kinect-based XBLA game for the 360 to be released sometime late in 2012 as well as additional content--whatever shape that may take--for other Microsoft devices. There's no detail on the duration of the exclusivity agreement or what additional devices, type of content this will entail. I know a couple of years back, Microsoft tried to get into original video content, enlisting horror directors to create comedy shorts but since then there hasn't been any kind of deal of this nature.
I mention Jackson and Spielberg at the top because both present--well, not cautionary tales of big budget directors getting into gaming, but notice that it's not always that simple. Jackson was attached to develop some kind of Halo-related content for the longest time while Spielberg had a deal with EA, the only result being the (admittedly excellent) Wii game, Boom Blox.
This isn't, of course, Verbinski's first foray into the world of gaming: for a while, he was attached to direct Bioshock, but has since handed over the reins of the material to director Juan Carlos Fresnadillos while still remaining a producer on the movie.
Tentpole Budget Breakdown: What Are The Riskiest Films Of 2012?
(popwatch.ew.com)Robert Zemeckis had a beautiful dream. He thought performance-capture animation would save cinema. He believed in a glorious future where stars like Jim Carrey and Tom Hanks could play multiple roles in a single movie; where a beloved bulky Brit like Ray Winstone could play a glamorous six-pack-ripped action hero; where Seth Green could play a 9-year-old boy. Critics complained about the Uncanny Valley. “Bah,” responded Zemeckis, “I shall conquer the Uncanny Valley!”
The funny thing is, Zemeckis was probably right. After all, the highest-grossing movie in history was mostly created with performance-capture animation. Alas, not every movie is Avatar, and Zemeckis can now lay claim to having created one of the biggest flops in motion picture history. As reported by The New York Post, Mars Needs Moms — the final product of Zemeckis’ studio ImageMovers Digital — lost more than $125 million at the box office. According to Box Office Mojo, the film grossed just $21 million domestically and $17 million abroad, off a reported $150 million budget which was presumably significantly larger (since all Hollywood budgets are mysteries wrapped in riddles inside enigmas, and also lies).
The Post curiously adds Bucky Larson to their list, even though the low-grossing movie didn’t cost too much. (They also leave out the Conan the Barbarian remake, which only made $50 million off a reported $90 million budget.) Still, it’s good food for thought, and it’s a good time to peer into our financial crystal ball and ponder: What movies are most at risk of making this list in 2012? Some of next year’s biggest movies look functionally impervious to failure: The Avengers will combine three separate successful franchises, The Dark Knight Rises is the sequel to an era-defining mega-hit, and even if the first Hobbit movie is horrible (which, how could it be?) it could coast to massive grosses just on Lord of the Rings nostalgia. But there are some films carrying massive budgets that are a little less certain. Even a clear winner on opening weekend can wind up labeled an “underperformer” if it amounts to a mere fraction of the overall production cost.
(All budgets listed below are based on early estimates and do not include marketing costs, which will be exorbitant, or lies, which will also be exorbitant.)
John Carter — $250 million (or possibly $300 million)
The original title was John Carter of Mars, but Disney chopped off that last part not too long after Mars Needs Moms bombed. The film is based on a series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I am a big fan of the Of Mars books, but only because my grandfather had a huge collection of them. Since most people didn’t have nerdy grampas, John Carter doesn’t come gilded with very much brand recognition. With a swing-for-the-fences budget and a curious mish-mash of genre tones — half sword ‘n sandals fantasy, half space-faring science fiction — this one is definitely a gamble. We’ll have to wait and see if it pays for Disney.
The Amazing Spider-Man — (Top-secret: somewhere between $80 million and $220 million. Let’s say $150 million)
The box-office track record of reboots is uncertain, to say the least. J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek and Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins rescued their respective franchises from the pop culture dumpster and accrued mega-millions. But those were franchises that had mostly been lying dormant for years, and both films were extremely unique takes on the material. Amazing Spider-Man is closer in spirit to recent attempted Marvel reboots The Incredible Hulk and Punisher: War Zone — neither of which performed particularly well. Well, Incredible made about $260 million worldwide. Amazing will have to make significantly more if rumors about its ever-expanding budget are true. The big question is: Do moviegoers want to see another Spider-Man origin tale less than a decade after Spider-Man 3?
Prometheus — $100 million
Ridley Scott’s return to sci-fi looks fascinating and has been burning up the Internet with relentless “Is it an Alien prequel?” speculation. But Internet-buzz doesn’t always translate into actual box office: Shed another tear for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. If Prometheus is a genuine original property — if the title doesn’t quietly morph to Alien Origins: Prometheus in the next few months — then it will have to compete for attention in a summer filled with recognizable titles. (Note that all of 2011′s biggest flops were non-sequels.) And it’s been a long time since the movie-going public paid attention to a dark sci-fi movie not directed by Christopher Nolan. The film reportedly has a budget of $100 million, which isn’t much nowadays, but the need for a big marketing push makes this a gamble.
47 Ronin — $170 million
What’s that? You haven’t heard of this 3-D historical adventure, based on the famous true-life tale of 47 ex-samurai who plotted to avenge their dead master in the early 18th century? The film that somewhat controversially stars Keanu Reeves as a completely fictional half-white samurai? Hard to know what to expect — it may play well internationally. (Hey, The Last Samurai made money.) Best-case scenario is that this is exactly as interesting as it sounds.
Men in Black III — $215 million
The first Men in Black movie was one of the first modern blockbusters, cementing Will Smith’s status as the king of summer. The second movie grossed $400 million despite being fairly terrible. So the third movie should be a sure thing, right? Well… maybe. First off, 10 years is a long time for a new installment. Then there are the various problems that have dogged the threequel, including a production delay to allow a rotating team of writers to finish the screenplay, and scads of negative press about Will Smith’s imperial trailer. Smith is basically the last movie star in the world, but he hasn’t appeared in a movie since 2008 — when Hancock succeeded and Seven Pounds flopped. MIB3 will almost certainly open big, but it will be interesting to see how it fares in the long run and whether it catches up to that estimated $215 million.
The Great Gatsby — $125 million
A lavish 3-D adaptation of a novel everyone was required to read freshman year starring Leonardo DiCaprio using a non-Boston accent and runaway Spider-Man Tobey Maguire directed by a man whose only film in the last decade was Australia? Gatsby is hardly a sure thing. (But isn’t that part of the fun?)
Battleship — $200 million
Another day, another massive franchise-begging movie headlined by Taylor Kitsch. Next year’s most fascinating exercise in possibly satirical Hollywood movie-making takes a somewhat beloved children’s game, adds in aliens and Rihanna, and — to judge by the trailer — looks a little bit like Green Lantern crossed with Cowboys & Aliens with just a touch of Transformers. (Hey, one of those movies was successful!) No one really knows what to expect, and it’s entirely reasonable to think that Battleship — with its vision of incredibly attractive people fighting sci-fi monsters in a tropical landscape — could wind up being a fizzy summer hit. And maybe in the sequel, they can fight zombies!
Stan Lee's "The Annihilator" Heads To The Big Screen
(Magic Storm Entertainment) Screenwriter Dan Gilroy has signed on to pen The Annihilator (working title) for Magic Storm Entertainment. CEO Eric Mika has announced that Gilroy would introduce a new Stan Lee superhero of Chinese heritage to global audiences with the company's first film project. Based on an original Stan Lee's POW! Entertainment treatment acquired by Magic Storm Entertainment, the story chronicles a young man who is given a second chance as an international superhero and returns home to mete out justice.
TRON Effects with No Post Production?
youtube.com) No SFX, no post production, no cuts, everything you see here is 100% for real.
VIDEO - Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrgWH1KUDt4&feature=youtube_ gdata_player
For VFX Artists, A Token Payment
(vfxsoldier.wordpress.com)Are you a VFX artist looking for a job? Here is an opportunity of a lifetime:
" LIBERATOR is a 20-minute short film/back door television pilot. It stars Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk) as a disgraced, washed-up, ex-superhero whose attempts to get his life back on track go south when his secret black ops past comes back to haunt him. Also stars Peta Wilson (La Femme Nikita,) Michael Dorn (Worf from Star Trek: The Next Generation) and Ed Asner (Up).
We are seeking VFX artists to handle a variety of shots from simple compositing and dust layers and green screen layering and finessing, to 3-D modeling and explosions. We have two excellent artists working on the film but need more to finish by our deadline, Jan 31. There is pay, but it’s only a token payment. There is very little money left in the budget. The ideal candidate will be excited about getting in on the ground floor of a new superhero franchise with this great cast, as well as imdb credit. This project is repped by New Wave Entertainment and also feature original comic art from former Marvel Comics Art Director Darren Auck."
Fellow VFXers, please don’t fall for this bullshit. As you can see from the video posted below they spent all their budget on Z-list actors and Ed Asner in front of a green screen that they hope will have explosions and shit on it.
What I love is how they try to play it off as though a credit on their short film is appropiate compensation in lieu of pay. Do you think any of those people on the set agreed to those terms? I doubt it and nor should you.
I’ve written a bit on how some employers in the industry capitalize off the perceived prestige of their work. I call it the price of prestige.
VIDEO - Take a look: http://vfxsoldier.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/a-token- payment/
Michael Bay: "I'm not decided on Transformers 4"
(comingsoon.net)Michael Bay will be back behind the lens for a fourth Transformers film, Vulture reports. He's said to be close to finalizing a deal with Paramount Pictures and will likely begin work after shooting his smaller-budgeted passion project, Pain and Gain.
Word of a fourth entry in the blockbuster franchise first popped up in October, suggesting that Shia LaBeouf is unlikely to return in a leading role and that a fourth and fifth film could be shot back-to-back. Those reports remain unconfirmed.
Just yesterday, a report suggested that Bay is close to locking his leading men for the dark crime comedy with Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg. Because of it's significantly smaller scale, Pain and Gain is planned for a shoot towards the beginning of 2012, leaving the end of the year open for work on a fourth Transformers.
UPDATE: Michael Bay posted the following response to the above report on his official site:
"Right now I'm not decided on Transformers 4
Studio's are passing rumors but I'm not sure what I'm doing? I know I'm going to do Pain and Gain early spring but that's it for right now. I'm leaving all my options on the table. I've got several Studio meetings in the next two weeks."
"Thor 2" Loses Director
(Deadline) Though she was confirmed by Marvel Studios as the film's director back in October, Deadline reports that Patty Jenkins has departed Thor 2. The search is now on for a replacement.
Patty Jenkins previously directed Monster starring Charlize Theron, who won an Academy Award for her performance in the film. Jenkins, who received an Emmy nomination for directing the pilot of AMC's acclaimed series "The Killing," has also directed episodes of "Entourage" and "Arrested Development."
The original article cites "creative differences" as the reason for Jenkins' departure, suggesting that the split is amicable and that she might return for a superhero non-sequel in the near future.
With a release date planned for November 15th, 2013, a new director is expected to be announced soon.
Rob Coleman, Animations From a Galaxy Far, Far Away ...
(smh.com.au) Rob Coleman has gone from Yoda to Mumble. From California to Australia. From George Lucas to another acclaimed filmmaker with the same first name – George Miller.
After working as animation director on the three most recent Star Wars movies, the two-time Oscar nominee swapped countries to take the same role on Happy Feet Two.
And if getting penguins to sing and dance seems like a cushy gig, you only have to look at his office in the cavernous CarriageWorks building in Sydney's inner suburbs while more than 600 crew work to finish the movie.
His coffee mug – a jokey present – has a line reading, "One by one the penguins slowly steal my sanity". And his desk is stocked with vitamins, Berocca, aspirin, throat lozenges, coffee and fruit, which he explains are mostly preventative.
"I've been animation director since Men in Black," Coleman, 47, says during the last frantic weeks on the movie. "Every film I do, I get better at handling the stress.
"But over the last month we've been working seven days a week. I think I've done 21 days straight. The [animation] team upstairs have done 30 days straight, upwards of 12 hours a day."
The first Happy Feet, made by Miller with Animal Logic, showed that Sydney could produce world-class animated movies. But Coleman says the animation director's role is not confined to creating appealing creatures. Much more of traditional live-action movies than audiences realise is being created by animators because they can now replicate human-like qualities on computers.
Coleman cites Davy Jones, the character played by Bill Nighy in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Not only was his squid face created digitally but so were his eyes, based on the actor's "eye performance". Animators can now reproduce the way light passes through the top layers of human skin, the glow that comes from it being reflective and refractive.
Growing up in Toronto, Canada, Coleman loved to draw without realising that animation was a possible career.
"Some of my earliest memories are [when] my mother was a school teacher and she would bring home a 16-millimetre projector on the weekends," he says. "Back then, in the late '60s and early '70s, you could borrow 16-millimetre films from the library. So before VCRs and DVDs or any of that stuff, we would watch movies in the lounge.
"I vividly remember as a kid seeing my dad and mum spooling up the film and seeing all those little pictures one after another. I remember early on thinking, 'How is it that they move?' What I took away from that was that they were a bunch of still drawings. If you moved them incrementally, they would spring to life."
Coleman began dabbling in animation with his father's Super 8 camera until a defining event in his life – seeing Star Wars when it was released in 1977. He decided he wanted to make movies.
"I was a kid who understood computers," he says. "In my last couple of years at high school, we were the first class ever to get a computer. So I was dabbling in computer animation – unbeknownst to me – way earlier than a lot of people.
"I had skills that I didn't recognise on a world scale that I had in Toronto because, as it turns out, two of the major animation packages – Softimage out of Montreal and Alias out of Toronto – were the pre-eminent animation packages, created by Canadians. Later on I found out they did Jurassic Park with both those pieces of software."
In 1993, Coleman was hired by George Lucas's visual effects and animation company Industrial Light & Magic and became the animation director on the three Star Wars prequels. Having loved Sydney while visiting for the production of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith at Fox Studios, he jumped at the chance to work on Happy Feet Two.
Coleman remembers being surprised by the original Happy Feet when it was released.
"Most of us who were in the animation business in California, we think immediately of Pixar, we think of DreamWorks, we think of companies like Rhythm & Hues," he says. "So Animal Logic was off the radar. [Happy Feet] was off the radar until it came out.
"It was amazing. I thought, 'Wow'. I hadn't really considered that there could be another studio that could create top-level, A-level animated feature films."
So how does he compare George Lucas and George Miller?
"They're very different men," Coleman says. "But they're both extremely passionate filmmakers – they love movies, they love making movies.
"They recognise that they need talented people around them and for those of us who are lucky to be in that rarefied air – the heads of departments – they're very collaborative and very interested in analysing the work as it's going through its life as a film.
"Where they differ is George Miller is much more of a people person. He has no difficulty being in big crowds of people. George Lucas prefers to be in smaller groups of people. In a smaller group, he's very talkative and very open and funny to be around but he's uncomfortable when he's in a larger group."
While Lucas has a vast understanding of technology, Coleman considers Miller a "brilliant, brilliant man".
"They and other directors that I've worked for have an amazing eye – they can see one-24th of a second, no problem. When a film is running at normal speed [they will say], 'There's a bad frame there, there's an expression that pops, there's a lighting change right there. Go back'.
"And you roll back and, sure enough. Both of them are amazing at doing that.
Coleman says both filmmakers have photographic memories for images they have seen before. "Lucas could easily call out, 'There was an image on the wall in the office – it would have been last year or the year before – and it had a green thing on the front. I want that character to come forward again'. You go back to the archive and there it is.
"George Miller is the same. He'll look at a performance and say, 'No, we were looking at something the other day and it had a slightly different expression on it'. You roll back and, sure enough, it did."
Meet Andrew Baker: WETA 3D Character Designer/Digital Artist
(torontonewscorp.com)If you’re not familiar with the works of Andrew Baker, or even WETA for that matter, I’m sure you’re definitely familiar with movies such as The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Tin Tin and a number of Peter Jackson movies. WETA is a New Zealand based special effects company specialising in 3D character design, computer graphics, and the likes. Andrew Baker is a South African (East London) born Honours Graduate with exceptional talent. He took some time out to answer a few questions for an exclusive interview. This is what we asked, and what he had to say:
CE: You work at an Academy award-winning company, how did a guy from East London, South Africa end up working at an acclaimed company like WETA?
Sheer luck! But seriously I’ve always drawn for as long I can remember. Even in school, my books were filled with drawings more than school work. My father and sister are both amazing oil painters and influenced me greatly to become an artist as well, but there are many factors that have influenced what I do today.
CE: What credentials/courses/experience/design school does one need/attend to be a 3D designer for mainstream companies?
I have an Honours Degree in Computer Graphic design. This helped me to learn a lot about design language which I apply in all my illustrations/design work. But a lot of the 3D applications I’ve learnt, I taught myself. It’s very hard finding courses that cater specifically to the CG FX industry.
Full article: http://torontonewscorp.com/general-interest/exclusive- interview-with-andrew-baker- weta-3d-character- designerdigital-artist/
Creator of Czech Krtek Cartoon Character Dies
PRAGUE (Reuters) - Zdenek Miler, the creator of Czech cartoon character Krtek (the Mole), which entertained children around the world for over half a century, died on Wednesday at the age of 90, Czech Television reported.
Miler created his first movie based on Krtek, "How the Mole Got His Trousers", in 1957 and it won popularity far beyond the borders of then-communist Czechoslovakia.
There are about 50 movies starring Krtek, or diminutively called "Krtecek" in Czech.
The movie shorts are mostly peaceful stories of the main character, a black-haired, big-eyed mole, and his animal friends. The films are watched in over 80 countries, including elsewhere in Europe and as far away as Japan.
A stuffed Krtek doll accompanied astronaut Andrew Feustel, whose wife is of Czech descent, on the second to last U.S. space shuttle fight.
Krtek's international appeal has been helped by the fact that none of the characters speak, using instead only non-verbal exclamations derived from recordings of Miler's two baby daughters.
VIDEO - Meet Krtek: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtZ9WL8mp7s
'Resident Evil: Retribution's' Unknown Giant Creature
(bloody-disgusting.com)I'm expecting a pretty huge movie considering how long they've been filming Resident Evil: Retribution. And even if it's the norm for a big budget action-horror flick, it feels like an eternity in covering all of star Milla Jovovich's tweets and video blogs. This morning she dropped a pretty big bomb via the following lengthy tweet:
"Gmornin every1 where it's morning! Gevening to all those where it's evening! There's a HUGE wire stunt 2day here at camp evil as guess what?! Im not allowed 2 do it! Aargh! It's a 50 ft. Fly on a wire rig w a flip AND gunfire (sob) to kill a c, but the set is too tight and my incredible stunt double -Jo Anne Leach- has to land in2 crash pads 2 make it and the insurance company and my husband said Absolutely NOT. I'm bummed but there u go. Safety first.the sequence is gonna KILL tho n no matter what Jo is my girl and she's THE BEST, so trust me when u c it in the film it will b overwhelmingly awe inspiring! That's my news of the morning. Gotta get hair n make up on."
When she says "gynormous creature" I can only hope she means "a creature as tall as Godzilla". After five Resident Evil films, it would be nice to see writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson think outside the box for once.
Stop Motion Animation Created 'Rankin Bass' Style for Bing
(stopmotionmagazine.com)First I’d like to give StopMotionWorks.com credit for finding these gems.
In true Christmas styling, Bing has just released a series of Stop Motion christmas Commercials using the Rank and Bass “Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer” characters. OMG, I just died and went to heaven!!!
Check them out below. AWESOME!!!
VIDEO - Take a look: http://stopmotionmagazine.com/?p=244
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