(Entertainment Weekly) The good news is that a fifth Indiana Jones film is still in the works. The bad news is that no one's sure exactly how long it's going to take to see the light of day. Although Steven Spielberg recently told Entertainment Weekly that he and George Lucas had decided on a genre for a fifth adventure, Vulture caught up Lucas last night and learned that the story is still missing a crucial element: the MacGuffin.
"I mean, I know what it's about," Lucas said, "but I just have to find a MacGuffin that fits into the arena we're working in."
A term popularized by Alfred Hitchcock, a MacGuffin refers to a narrative element that drives the story forward. The Indiana Jones series is famous for making the MacGuffin the object of Dr. Jones' search. In the first film, it's the Ark of the Convenant, the second the Sankara Stones, the third the Holy Grail and the most recent the Crystal Skull.
Alex Proyas' VFX-Filled "Paradise Lost" is Put On Hold
(Deadline) Is another Bradley Cooper vehicle hitting the rocks? His latest project is Paradise Lost, an action-packed, FX-filled epic based on John Milton's 17-century poem. Focusing on a war in heaven and the rivalry between the archangel's Michael and Lucifer, the story called for a big vision and a massive cast. Furthermore, a budget to back it up. So, what's the problem?
Deadline reports that production outfit Legendary Pictures is delaying the film's production start. Originally, shooting was to begin in January. Cast and crew are now being notified of the halt.
The site goes on to say that Legendary's heads think the script needs more developing. The budget for the film was surpassing $120 million... so yeah, that probably had a large part in their decision-making.
Bad luck for Cooper who was also circling The Crow, however, the difference with that project was that he walked away due "to timing." Also, bad luck for Proyas who has been trying to get anything off the ground, including Dracula: Year One.
Cooper, Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell, Dominic Purcell, Callan McAuliff, Camilla Belle and Casey Affleck were already committed to star.
2011′s Highest-Grossing Films Were All Sequels
(screenjunkies.com)
These are the highest-grossing films of 2011 so far. And barring some sort of last minute miracle, there isn’t much likelihood that the list will change. David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, due out December 21, could possibly steal #8 or #9, but at this point, it’s a long shot.
9. Captain America – $176,654,000
8. Thor – $181,030,000
7. Cars 2 – $191,446,000
6. Fast Five – $209,837,000
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – $241,071,000
4. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II – $249,388,000
3. The Hangover Part II – $254,464,000
2. Transformers III: Dark of the Moon – $352,390,000
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 – $381,011,000
Seven sequels and two comic-book adaptations round out the list. In case you were looking for the highest-grossing original premise for a film, you’ll have to scroll past #10 (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) to find Bridesmaids, one of the year’s few cinematic causes celebres.
VFX & Anim Contenders Announced For BFCA Critics Choice Awards
(The Broadcast Film Critics Association) The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), made up of television, radio and internet critics (ComingSoon.net's Edward Douglas is a recent member) have announced their nominations for the 17th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards. Nominees Include:
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Super 8
The Tree of Life
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango
BEST MAKEUP
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
The Iron Lady
J. Edgar
My Week With Marilyn
Mooning Over Melies
(Variety) The idea of Martin Scorsese directing "Hugo," a 3D family movie based on an illustrated children's novel, raised some eyebrows but his eagerness to tackle the story shows the breadth and endurance of French cinema pioneer Georges Melies' legacy.
On the 150th anniversary of his birth, Melies -- one of the founding fathers of cinema and science-fiction movies, a man whose dreams were crushed by piracy and bankruptcy -- is celebrated in Scorsese's pic and is enjoying a resurgence of popularity.
French helmer-producer duo and fervent Melies admirers Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange oversaw Technicolor's restoration of the only surviving hand-painted color version of Melies' groundbreaking "A Trip to the Moon" (1902) in time for Cannes' opening night in May.
The pair also directed Melies biopic "The Extraordinary Voyage," featuring interviews with Michel Hazanavicius ("The Artist") and Michel Gondry ("The Green Hornet"), among others.
Doc is set to come out in French theaters on the same day as "Hugo."
Paris FX, the animation and vfx showcase set to run Dec. 14-15, will also host a roundtable discussing Melies' heritage.
A French illusionist who created the first film studio, Melies pioneered the use of movie special effects to create fantasies. He is credited with laying the groundwork for vfx-intensive spectaculars from such directors as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, James Cameron and Christopher Nolan, who see him as a kind of spiritual father.
Melies was a perfectionist: drawing on his background as theater owner-manager and stage magician, he oversaw every part of production on his films.
He directed from his own scripts, supervised the cameraman, built scenery designed costumes and applied makeup.
He edited the negatives and wrote music to be played as an accompaniment to his silent, black and white movies.
He was also the first to commercialize hand-colored movies.
"It's mind-blowing to see how Melies executed his ideas with the few tools available. He used every available cinematic trick -- editing, camera work, music, makeup, costuming and miniatures -- to create illusions, says "Hugo" vfx supervisor Rob Legato, whose credits also include "Shutter Island" and "Titanic."
"What Melies did in 1902 with 'Trip to the Moon,' without copying anyone, has inspired a lot of people's work."
In 1896, the earliest days of cinema, Melies broke ground with "The Vanishing Lady," in which he stopped the camera to make a woman disappear and replaced her with a skeleton.
"Today, we do these tricks with a computer but they're the same ideas," says Legato, adding that Melies inspired him to work the "old-fashioned way" on "The Aviator," using miniatures. "It looked so convincing -- more than with the computer, which can make things look off -- and it was so rewarding."
Julien Dupuy, a French journo who has recently finished a book about Melies, says, "Melies is the first filmmaker who gave special effects an organic place in the creative process."
Dupuy will host the Melies roundtable at Paris FX.
"Today, in many films there aren't boundaries between different departments and special effects are integrated everywhere. In Spielberg's 'Tintin,' for instance, special effects were thought of from the very start and are part of the storytelling," Dupuy says.
Melies also used prosthetic makeup to optimize illusions -- a technique used on most genre films and tentpoles, points out Dupuy, citing Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy" and Spielberg's "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence." Melies also created the precursors of animatronic effects in "The Conquest of the Pole."
His relentless quest to improve his movies is a source of inspiration, says Pierre Buffin, founder of Paris-based shingle Buf and creator of a number of vfx techniques, such as the "bullet time" shots in the "Matrix" franchise.
"He invented tricks by testing different things and that's how we work in visual effects. And like him we fabricate everything: we model, do the sound, we color, etc."
Melies didn't just create vfx, says Bromberg, "he gave them meaning and charged them emotionally.
"He wasn't interested by the mundane but rather by the imaginary, the spectacular. Melies propelled viewers into a world of spectacle and poetry and brought out the child within."
‘Hugo’ to Lead Paris Animation Confab
(hollywoodreporter.com)PARIS - Hugo will head for another adventure in the City of Lights when Martin Scorsese’s latest title stars in animation and vfx showcase Parisfx that kicks off in the French capital on Wednesday.
The fifth edition of the two-day public and professional conference held at Paris’ Espace Pierre Cardin will play host to Gallic vfx heavyweights like Mac Guff, Pixomondo and Duran-Duboi.
Filmmaker George Melies will be honored as “the inventor of visual effects” during the event with a round table focusing on how the director’s influence continues to inspire movie production today. Parisfx will also celebrate Melies’ 150th birthday with a case study going behind the scenes of Scorsese’s 3D holiday hit.
Other case studies include recent titles like Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Black Gold, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and Kenneth Branagh’s Thor.
Guests can have a “Conversation with …” Michel Gondry, who will talk about his career and respond to questions or a “Conversation with…” Liason Films’ Stephane Sperry, who will talk about his work on major films such as Tintin, Assault on Precinct 13 or upcoming titles Miserere and Madame T.
Parisfx, organized by the Ile de France film commission in partnership with Lariviere organization, will run from Dec. 14 – 15.
Is Michael Bay on the Brink of Making a Fourth 'Transformers' Movie?
(nypost.com) These days, director Michael Bay's passions are invested heavily in Pain and Gain, a dark comedy about the true story of a group of body-building kidnappers that is seeking Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg to star. Bay has taken quite an interest in this somewhat offbeat project, which doesn't scream ""epic Hollywood blockbuster"" as much as the usual Bay movie does. But perhaps he's just been paying his dues since Armageddon, in hopes of earning enough clout with the studios to one day (a rapidly approaching day, at that) be able to create his artistic masterpiece with as large a budget and as permitting a contract as he'd need. But of course, studios aren't entirely on board with him riding out his dream without something else in it for them...Paramount is pushing for a fourth Transformers movie.
Bay has declared no definitive stance on the Trans4mers project. On Bay's website, he stated, ""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."" [sic] On the other side of things, however, Vulture is reporting that the director has begun negotiations with the studio about the prospective film.
So what would it take to get Bay on board with another Transformers? Last we heard, Bay's muse Shia LaBeouf stated his intentions to avoid any further Transformer films. To be clear, it's not as though Bay won't be able to make Pain and Gain without also making Transformers 4, but the question is about maintaining a favorable partnership with the studio to whom he is so frugally attached.
So, we might have another Transformers, and we will have a dark comedy about body builders, both at the hands of Michael Bay. The real question is: which will have more explosions?
U.K. Film Policy Review Group Unlikely To Publish Findings Before 2012
(hollywoodreporter.com)LONDON – Movie industry players, funders, distributors and government ministers will likely be kept in the dark until early 2012 about any findings or changes coming as a result of the long-anticipated Film Policy Review Group report.
The report, widely expected to come down the pipe before this year’s holiday season gets underway, is now unlikely to emerge before the new year, according to insiders.
It was widely tipped to emerge blinking into the light Thursday December 15.
The delay in making the report’s findings public is a blow to the British industry who were hoping to have a clear steer from the government on the direction it would be taking in terms of public funding, recommendations to government on which areas require more support and where the future of the industry is deemed to lie.
Most water cooler speculation puts digital front and center of any policy changes and support the report is likely to recommend.
The U.K. Film Policy Review group -- chaired by former culture secretary Chris Smith with names including producer Iain Smith and Sony’s Michael Lynton on it -- has taken exhaustive submissions from all sectors of the industry.
It’s four objectives, set by U.K. culture secretary Ed Vaizey, is to identify market failures preventing a more successful and integrated British film industry, to set Policy directions for Lottery funding, to identify ways to develop and retain UK talent, and to work out how best to increase audience demand for film.
Having shuttered the U.K. Film Council and turned over much of its duties to the British Film Institute and Film London, the government is looking to steer future policy into calmer waters.
The U.K. government’s decision to renew the country's commitment to its film tax credit system to the end of 2015 went a long way to assuring heavyweight players here that movie-making remains an important industry to encourage.
The tax system paves the way to continue to attract studio backed projects such as Skyfall, the latest James Bond adventure being directed by Sam Mendes and Universal Pictures’ Snow White and The Huntsman, starring Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron, to shoot here.
Is It Over For Overtime?
(vfxsoldier.wordpress.com)The other day I get an email from a VFX artist that goes something like this:
I’m working at a VFX facility that pays on a net 90 with no overtime at all. I worked at another facility that also doesn’t pay overtime and forces me to go through an Employer of Record called Yurcor that takes a % of my income.
How is any of this legal??
I then get an email from another VFX artist concerned about some legislation proposed in congress that could be used to end overtime:
A bill recently introduced in Congress would greatly expand the exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act for IT employees, ending overtime benefits for many more types of workers, including network, database and security specialists.
I’m not a lawyer but TAG organizer Steve Kaplan has had a great overview of the illegal use of EORs. He is helping organize a class action lawsuit.
As far as the overtime law is concerned, I doubt the outcome really matters for VFX artists in California. Why? Because the law was already passed in California 4 years ago:
Earlier this month, Steve Hulett blogged about AB 10, the bill passed by the California Legislature and signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger that strips overtime protection from high-tech workers, including many non-union CG artists and technicians.
But does it matter? As Steve Hulett correctly (and sarcastically) points out:
The above applies, of course, only to those who have been saved from the corruption and tyranny of paying union dues and working under the iron fist of a big, bad labor organization and its oppressive contract.
In other words, the government and corporations can pass whatever the hell they want, the union will create a contract that mandates overtime. So why didn’t the big non-union VFX facilities stop paying OT when this bill was past?
My analysis is that VFX artists working at Sony, R+H, and Digital Domain indirectly benefit from TAG’s representation of a large number of VFX artists at Disney and Dreamworks. The minute those non-union facilities refuse to pay OT or pull the EOR bullshit rep cards would be signed overnight.
That’s sort of why I cynically support these pieces of legislation. It would only serve as a catalyst for uniting VFX workers. Those smaller Californian facilities that continue the practice of no OT, EORs, and withholding payment for no less than 90 days are playing a very risky game.
However, if victims of these crimes refuse to stand up because of fear then this practice will grow and continue. I can understand the fear but this is why I continue to advocate for a union. They can be the convenient “bad guys” in this. They can use the collective leverage of the VFX workers to prevent the bad practices and encourage employers to make the right choice.
While were busy debating whether Andy Serkis should win an oscar, laws like these will continue to fly right under our radar.
2012 Oscar Predictions: Best Visual Effects
(ropeofsilicon.com)Yesterday the Academy announced their shortlist of 15 films competing for Best Visual Effects. Laremy and I briefly discussed the contenders on the podcast as they arrived in our inbox and last night I added my predictions for the category to my Oscar Predictions page. Now, we will discuss…
First for the list:
* Captain America: The First Avenger
* Cowboys & Aliens
* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
* Hugo
* Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
* Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
* Real Steel
* Rise of the Planet of the Apes
* Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
* Sucker Punch
* Super 8
* Thor
* Transformers: Dark of the Moon
* The Tree of Life
* X-Men: First Class
The next step will be for the members of the Academy's Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee to narrow this list down to ten in early January, before the nominations are announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2012. Of those ten, five will go on to be nominated as the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the 10 shortlisted films on Thursday, January 19. Question is, which five will be nominated?
Looking over the list I found it rather easy to come up with five nominees, though I am sure something will surprise me, but for now this is how my top five shape out in order of which film I think will ultimately win:
1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2. The Tree of Life
3. Hugo
4. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Fox is beginning their push for a Supporting Actor nomination for Andy Serkis, something I don't think they have a chance at getting, but from a visual effects standpoint I think it's the clear front-runner. I actually just received the Blu-ray for Rise of the Planet of the Apes yesterday and am interested in digging into the film for a third time, but also into the features to see what cool stuff it may have to offer.
Next, when the Academy says the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the 10 shortlisted films I can't imagine not just throwing on the creation of the universe sequence from The Tree of Life and wowing everyone in the room. That's just me… Then again, I thought the dinosaur sequence in the film was rather clumsy. I'm not sure if that could end up being a problem.
Scorsese's Hugo is an effects extravaganza. Personally, it was one of the things I didn't really like about the film as I felt it got in the way, but I know I am in the minority with that opinion and I think this one is a lock in this category.
My final two just seemed like the right choices. While Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen wasn't even nominated, I don't think they can overlook Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Then again, I personally thought the robot effects in Real Steel were very good, but I don't see room for two battling robot features in the nominations list.
As for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the first part was nominated so in my mind it stands to assume the second part will be as well, especially considering it had many more effects and they were all executed quite well.
THE HUGO AUTOMATON IS REAL!
Prop maker Dick George recently posted a video to his site detailing the creation to the working automaton from the movie Hugo which could draw the iconic image of Melies "Man in the Moon" in real time and without the use of CGI for this scene in the film.
VIDEO - Take a look: http://www.linkingpage.com/magicnewsfeed/2011/12/12/the- hugo-automaton-is-real.html
On Set Photos of Star Wars Yoda Puppet Being Auctioned December 16
(moviepropcollectors.com)Movie Prop Collectors obtained these photos of the Yoda puppet created for on set rehearsal used in the 1980 film: Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back.
The photos above show the puppet with the creative team from Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back, the Yoda puppet rehearsing with Mark Hamill, and Yoda with his creator, Stuart Freeborn.
The puppet is being auctioned by auction house, Profiles in History as part of their Icons of Hollywood Auction, being held December 15th, 16th, and 17th at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, CA.
The Yoda puppet, lot #1100, was used on set for rehearsals as well as a lighting double for the final on set Yoda and has an amazingly low estimate of $6,000~$8,000.
Take a look: http://www.moviepropcollectors.com/ magazine/2011/12/12/on-set- photos-of-star-wars-yoda- puppet-being-auctioned-by- profiles-in-history/
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