Joss Whedon Talks "Avengers" Sequel

(darkhorizons.com)           

  Even though the first film is still two months off, filmmaker Joss Whedon is already looking ahead to a potential sequel to Marvel's "The Avengers" he tells SFX (via Digital Spy).

Of his aims for the first film, Whedon says "I want to know what makes them tick, what makes them flawed, what makes them fight - and ultimately, what makes them awesome. I go to these movies for those moments when the heroes define themselves, either through action or deliciously overwritten speeches."

How could a sequel possibly top that, by going bigger? "By not trying to. By being smaller. More personal, more painful... By being the next thing that should happen to these characters, and not just a rehash of what seemed to work the first time. By having a theme that is completely fresh and organic to itself."




‘Prometheus’ To Be Released in IMAX 3D

(latino-review.com)                IMAX Corporation and Twentieth Century Fox today announced that Prometheus, the summer’s scariest action event picture and director Ridley Scott’s return to the genre he helped define, will be digitally re-mastered into the immersive IMAX® 3D format and released in IMAX® digital and film theatres domestically and in a select number of IMAX theatres internationally, starting June 8, 2012.

Sir Ridley directs and produces the film, which is written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof. Prometheus: An IMAX 3D Experience features a stellar international cast that includes Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green and Charlize Theron.

Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment said:

    “Ridley Scott is one of the best storytellers of our time, whose groundbreaking films Alien and Blade Runner changed the landscape of the science-fiction genre. We’re excited about Prometheus and proud to add him to the prestigious list of directors whose films have been presented in IMAX.”

The IMAX release of Prometheus will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX 3D Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology. The crystal-clear images coupled with IMAX’s customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.




FX Makeup Honcho Rick Baker Tips 'Men In Black 4' 

(slashfilm.com)              Empire Magazine has a feature on the upcoming Men in Black 3  in which director Barry Sonnenfeld talks at length about the film’s troubled production. They also speak to Oscar-winning effects man Rick Baker, back for his third MIB  film, and in his interview he says something which, depending on the interpretation, could be considered a MAJOR SPOILER going ahead. If you are worried, skip to the next bolded set of words below to avoid.

Here’s the SPOILER quote from Baker, courtesy of Comic Book Movie:

    At least we’ve got Josh Brolin now to carry on with Tommy’s part…

We know that Men in Black III is a time travel film featuring J (Will Smith) going back in time to meet a younger version of Tommy Lee Jones’ character K, played by Josh Brolin. So, knowing that, Baker’s statement could mean a few things. The most obvious would be that K dies in the film. But if that’s the case, how does his younger self survive? Well, maybe the younger self comes back to the future. Or, it’s possible Men in Black 4 will be some sort of K centric prequel. Either way, it’s a juicy tidbit of information.




Disney Gets Things Started With Muppets Movie Sequel

(spinoff.comicbookresources.com)               Disney’s rejuvenation of Jim Henson’s Muppets franchise with a new film last year not only introduced a new generation of fans to the characters, but also made bank — nearly $155 million worldwide — attracted all kinds of cross promotion and even won an Oscar for best original song. So, it should come as no surprise that a sequel is in the works.

Variety reports the follow-up will be written by Nicholas Stoller, who collaborated on the first film with star Jason Segel. The actor  won’t be co-writing the sequel because of commitments to How I Met Your Mother, This Is 40 and other projects, but director James Bobin will be step in to help Stoller.

The sequel has been talked about by everyone, including Miss Piggy and Kermit on the press tour, but now it’s official.




Cinesite Gets its VFX to Mars for John Carter

(digitalartsonline.co.uk)                VFX house Cinesite has completed over 800 visual effects shots and converted over 87 minutes into steroescopic 3D for Disney’s John Carter, which is hits cinemas today (unfortunately generating some hilarious bad reviews).

Cinesite created the majority of the film’s environments, including the opposing cities of Zodanga and Helium, and the Thern Sanctuary, as well as a big air battle and full-screen CG digi-doubles of John Carter and Princess Dejah. The environments were populated with CG crowds and hundreds of CG props.

Cinesite spent over two and a half years working on Oscar-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton’s first live-action feature film, which based is Edgar Rice Burroughs 'Mars' series of novels. Senior visual effects supervisor Sue Rowe headed up Cinesite’s efforts, working closely with Stanton and spending several months on set in the UK and Utah.

For the travelling city of Zodanga, Jon Neill and his team created the mile-long myriapod-like rusty metal tanker that roams the surface of Mars extracting the vital fuel element ‘radium’. Cinesite populated the city with an arsenal of warships and troops, before furnishing it with more than 200 CG props. The city was heavily textured to give it an industrial look and feel, and a sense of scale needed to be cleverly depicted to give the audience the full experience of a huge moving city. Timed animation caches were used to ensure the 674 digital legs moved randomly. The team also had to scale up and efficiently manage Cinesite’s render farm to cope with the challenge of rendering two-billion-polygon shots with up to 20,000 objects.

Christian Irles oversaw Princess Dejah’s city, Helium (above), which houses the Palace of Light (seen at the back). Seen from various angles and used as the backdrop for the final battle sequence, Helium has a clean and elegant look and feel. The team created a matte painting of the outside of the city and, using photogrammetry projections, built up the terrain using high-res stills taken on location in Utah.

For the Palace of Light, dubbed by Stanton as ‘the jewel of the city’, the team modelled the exterior as a full CG building and digitally extended the live-action set to create the interior and the illusion of the palace scaling up to hundreds of feet. The cathedral-like structure has solid vertical ribs supporting glass feather-like wall panels. Dealing with a glass structure in a moonlit scene presented a huge challenge for shaders, reflections and refractions.

Ben Shepherd supervised the huge aerial battle between Zodanga and Helium. His team created each side’s airships, which use solar wings to travel on light, as well as explosions, cannon fire, digital people, a CG Thark City environment and set extensions based on photogrammetry. The giant airships are seen at close proximity so the detailing needed to be precise. The challenge was to achieve the desired look, which was a 19th Century-style sailing ship to reflect the time the novels were written, while giving them a modern twist with the use of solar wings. Each of the solar wings was covered in hundreds of tiles which were individually animated to create a shimmering effect as the airships fly through the sky.

Simon Stanley-Clamp led Cinesite’s work on Thern, the mysterious power controlled by the Thern priesthood which appears in various guises throughout the film. Briefed by Stanton to create something ‘that has never been seen before’, the initial challenge was defining what the effect would look like.

The Thern effect system was built using a combination of Maya, Houdini and in-house software. Based on the principles of nanotechnology, it provided a semi-automated way to ‘grow’ Thern into any environment and geometry. It took a full year of development time to evolve and bring to the big screen. Thern’s most impactful state is in the Thern Sanctuary, a huge cavern where its scale, depth and complexity can be fully appreciated by the audience in stereo 3D.




When Two Monitors Aren't Enough

(pcadvisor.co.uk)                  More and more people are working with more than two monitors. But does piling on the displays boost productivity and justify the cost?

"The more monitors, the merrier" seems to be the philosophy of a growing number of consumers who have taken advantage of historically low prices for flat-screen displays, along with improved hardware and software support, to connect two or more monitors to a desktop.

Is this a good thing? People who have made the transition to multiple monitors seem to think so. Studies performed for monitor makers show that people appreciate having a second display that they can use to get to information quickly without having to toggle or resize windows.

But while most people who use two displays like having them, that doesn't establish that such setups make workers more productive. "You could be playing solitaire on two screens," says James Anderson, professor of communications at the University of Utah.

"It's all about the kind of work you do and how you manage available resources," says David E. Meyer, a University of Michigan psychology professor who specializes in cognition and perception. Meyer says that extra monitors improve your productivity only if they put tools and information that you need within easy reach. For example, a lawyer benefits from having multiple law books handy, and a researcher can write reports on one display while perusing spreadsheet data on another screen.

Unfortunately, Meyer says, people all too often devote extra screen real estate to applications that may distract them from work. Keeping an email application, a Facebook page, or a Twitter feed open on a separate screen creates an ongoing temptation to drop what you're doing in favor of a little diversion. As yet, no rigorous studies have assessed the productivity costs involved in switching between unrelated tasks--but presumably there is some overhead involved in figuring out where you left off--or what Meyer describes as "regaining situational awareness." This takes at least several seconds, and such adjustment time can add up over the course of a working day.

"People dramatically overestimate their ability to manage their environment," Meyer says, adding that in some ways, using multiple monitors to keep all sorts of data visible is analogous to using a cell phone while driving.

Multiple Monitors Become More Popular

Whether or not people need and benefit from multiple monitors, sales data suggests that such setups--once found primarily in niche markets such as Wall Street--are becoming more common. Rhoda Alexander, senior monitor and tablet analyst for IHS iSuppli, says that monitor sales of 179 million in 2011 far outpaced PC sales of about 130 million, suggesting that many people are buying more than one display for their new desktops.

But IDC analysts Stephen Buehler and Linn Huang point out that in some of the surplus sales may not be associated with multiple-monitor setups. Instead, they say, buyers may be planning to use them in connection with docking stations for laptop PCs, so that travelers whose primary computer is a laptop can use a larger display when they're working at their desk. Some of these users undoubtedly keep their notebook displays open as well, but others simply substitute a single larger display for the laptop's smaller one.

Users who opt for additional monitors find that adding a second display to a desktop setup is easy and typically entails no more cost than the price of the display and a cable. The built-in Intel graphics on most current PCs support two displays, and Windows Vista and Windows 7 simplify setup.

However, if you want to operate three or more displays from one PC, things get more complicated, and you have to make some choices. At the high end, DisplayPort technology, which is making some inroads in the market, lets you run multiple monitors from a single graphics processor. For example, AMD's EyeFinity-enabled graphics boards support up to six DisplayPort-enabled displays.

The problem for users is that DisplayPort adoption on the monitor side has been slow and even now is available only in a handful of high-end displays. However IDC's Buehler and Huang say that they expect DisplayPort to gain traction later in the decade.

Another option is to add traditional graphics boards to your system, assuming that your PC has empty slots. This approach makes it easier to use legacy monitors since you can choose graphics cards with the connectors you want (such as VGA analog hookups, DVI-I, or HDMI). On the other hand, buying multiple graphics cards is expensive, and installing them (even when your computer has available slots) isn't always fun.

Full article:    http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/pc-peripheral/3343463/when-two-monitors-arent-enough/




3D Animated "Gnomeo & Juliet" Sequel Moves Forward

(slashfilm.com)               Elton John‘s Rocket Pictures is getting the ball rolling on Gnomeo & Juliet: Sherlock Gnomes, a sequel to last year’s 3D animated adventure about lively lawn ornaments. John has begun composing new tunes for the film, while returning writers Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil  are at work on the script. No director is attached at this time, though the search has already begun. The new film will see Gnomeo and Juliet calling on “the great ornamental detective” Sherlock Gnomes to find out why gnomes have been mysteriously disappearing from suburban England.

Rocket CEO Steve Hamilton Shaw describes the film as “a fun, broad family film” with “strong musical elements.” James McAvoy and Emily Blunt, who voiced the title characters in the first movie, will likely return, though their involvement has not been confirmed at this time. [Deadline]




James Cameron Plans Mariana Trench Dive/Shoot - 7 Miles Down

(Reuters) - "Titanic" film director James Cameron on Thursday unveiled plans to pilot a specially designed submarine to the deepest point on the planet, the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Guam.

The real-life adventure, as opposed to the ones Cameron has created in films such as "Avatar" and "Aliens," will see Cameron travel 7 miles (11.2 km) below the ocean's surface, where he will collect research samples for marine biology and geology.

The lowest point of the Mariana Trench, known as "Challenger Deep," has been reached only once before in 1960 when U.S. Navy Lt. Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard spent 20 minutes there in the bathyscaphe Trieste. Cameron plans to spend six hours there.

"The deep trenches are the last unexplored frontier on our planet, with scientific riches enough to fill a hundred years of exploration," Cameron said in a statement.

The exploration is a joint project by Cameron, the National Geographic Society, and watchmaker Rolex that is being called the "Deepsea Challenge" and is designed to expand knowledge of unknown portions of Earth.

Cameron's submersible represents breakthroughs in materials science, structural engineering and imaging through an ultra-small, full ocean depth-rated stereoscopic camera.

While he is perhaps better known for movies, Cameron is no stranger to underwater exploration. For "Titanic," he took 12 dives to the famed shipwreck in the North Atlantic, leading him to develop deep see film and exploration technology.

Since then he has led six expeditions, authored a forensic study of the Bismarck wreck site and done extensive 3-D imaging of deep hydrothermal vents along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the East Pacific Rise and the Sea of Cortez.




"Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol" Sequel?  Oh Yes

(slashfilm.com)                 After the fantastic fun that was Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, I’m eager to see Tom Cruise (and/or Jeremy Renner) return for another go. Thanks to the film’s box office performance, it seems Paramount is as well. Asked at a shareholder meeting whether the studio had “any plans to develop an additional sequel,” Philippe Dauman, CEO of Paramount’s parent company Viacom, answered “Oh, yes.” It’s not big news and it’s not surprising news, but it’s welcome news all the same.




Journey 3 Targets 2014 Release

(The Wrap)                Earlier this week, we learned that a follow-up to Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is in the works now that the 3D family adventure has earned $272 million worldwide on a budget of $79 million.

The Wrap adds that Dwayne Johnson is in talks with New Line/Warner Bros. to return in the role of Hank Parsons, the stepfather of Josh Hutcherson's Sean. Hutcherson, who starred in the first Journey as well with Brendan Fraser, is also expected to return.

Brad Peyton will again sit in the director's chair and will be using a script by Brian and Mark Gunn. Beau Flynn, Tripp Vinson and Charlotte Huggins are producing.

There's no word yet on whether Michael Caine, Vanessa Hudgens, Luis Guzman and/or Kristen Davis will return for the third installment.

The studio is targeting a 2014 release for Journey 3.




2012 CG STUDENT AWARDS NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS

(awn.com)               London, UK (March 5th, 2012) – The Tasman Theory Pty Limited is now accepting submissions for the 2012 CG Student Awards. The event is split into three categories: Student of the Year, Studio Internships, People’s Choice. There is a prize pool of over $100,000USD and ten (10) Studio Internships. The deadline for submissions is 20th May, 2012. Winners announced 1st June, 2012.  

The rules and online submission form are available at: http://www.cgstudentawards.com.

The CG Student Awards has an extensive list of high profile companies sponsoring the event.  Our five platinum sponsors include Autodesk, Ballistic, Conceptshare, Digital-tutors, and Next Limit Technologies. Other notable industry sponsors include: Pixologic, NVIDIA, Adobe, The Foundry, Stash Media, Side Effects Software, Smith Micro, and 3D Artist Magazine.

Leading production studios Double Negative, MPC, Framestore, Prime Focus, The Mill, and BlueBolt are also offering 10 professional internships throughout Europe, Canada, USA, and India. Each studio offers slightly different internships, but an internship winner can expect to receive 2-4 month professional experience, support and guidance from industry leading experts, standard intern salary, and an amazing opportunity to network and prove your skills.

“We've been amazed by the quality of our interns we picked up from the CG Student Awards. During their time with us, the interns gained the respect of our senior crew members and made a tremendous contribution to the lighting, fx, rigging, modelling and texturing of all our current movies” said Karl Wickens, Co Head of 3D Double Negative.

"I never really thought I would win the title of Student of the Year. It opened the door for me into the visual effects industry. After the Internship at Framestore, they hired me straight away" said Maximilian - Gordon Vogt.

"This opportunity changed my life and I now find myself rigging on major blockbuster movies, a dream come true" said Elliot Stammers.

About CG Student Awards

Formerly hosted at CGCoach.com, the CG Student Awards is an annual event which showcases and rewards excellence in computer graphics from students and recent graduates. To date, the event has already helped kick-start the careers of countless digital artists and given away over $100,000 in prizes. Qualified students at schools from all over the world are encouraged to submit their demo reel and artwork to our judging panel and compete for prizes and internships at the world's leading production studios.

Full details can be found here: http://www.cgstudentawards.com
Official event logos can be downloaded here: http://www.cgstudentawards.com/media-kit





Warner Bros. Picks Up Comic Book Lucid

(Variety)             Warner Bros. Pictures has picked up the film rights to Archaia Entertainment's comic book mini-series "Lucid" for writer-producer Akiva Goldsman to develop and produce, reports Variety. Zachary Quinto's production company Before the Door, which created the book, also is on board. The title is described as follows:

Welcome to the world of LUCID, the action-packed pop-fantasy that draws inspiration from the spy genre, Arthurian legend and 21st-century folklore! Dark forces are conspiring to prevent humankind from reaching its true potential. Thankfully, as newly appointed �Protector of the Realm,� Agent Matthew Dee uses his skills as a covert spy and Combat Mage to ensure America�s freedom from the grip of evil.

The four-book series was written by Michael McMillian (Steve Newlin in HBO's "True Blood") and illustrated by Anna Wieszczyk. The trade adds that a screenwriter has not been hired yet.

"Lucid" is the second deal for Archaia with Warner Bros. and Goldsman after recently picking up dinosaur-tale Bolivar.




Israeli President To Visit DreamWorks Animation Today

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Israeli President Shimon Peres is scheduled to meet with entertainment industry leaders Friday as part of his four-day visit to the Southland.

Peres, 88, will discuss the link between Hollywood and education, as well as peace and tolerance, when he meets with the heads of DreamWorks Animation.

He sat down with former CNN anchor Campbell Brown Thursday night at the Beverly Hilton for a wide-ranging discussion, telling roughly 1,000 audience members that other options will be taken if diplomacy is unable to cut back Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“President (Barack) Obama said it very clearly – he doesn’t exclude even a military option,” Peres said. “If we can do it without shooting, far better, but if not, there will be other options.”

Peres wrapped up a tour of Northern California earlier this week, where he also received a warm welcome from Gov. Jerry Brown and the mayor of San Francisco, who presented him with a ceremonial key to the city.

He will be honored at a Hollywood reception Saturday night and meet with Latino and Jewish leaders in Beverly Hills on Sunday morning.




The Argument: Why War Horse’s Puppets Win by Flaunting Their Artificiality

(torontolife.com)                     War HorseSince it was first staged more than four years ago, War Horse has enjoyed the kind of success that’s usually reserved for Disney extravaganzas and jukebox musicals. The show, adapted from a 30-year-old children’s novel by the British author Michael Morpurgo, is about Joey, a spirited, rust-coloured stallion sold to the British cavalry during the First World War, and the valiant quest of his young former owner to retrieve him. After premiering at London’s National Theatre in 2007 and shattering box office records, it quickly moved to the West End and then to Broadway, earning the Tony Award for best play last spring.

On paper, War Horse seems like another formulaic tearjerker—a variation on Black Beauty or Seabiscuit, with some trench warfare thrown in. What sets the show apart is its use of puppets: Joey, like the other horses in the play, is a clunky-looking mechanical contraption made of wooden planks and nylon stretched over a corset-like cane frame. He bears little resemblance to a real animal. The three puppeteers who control him make no effort to conceal their presence. The one in charge of major head movements is not even inside the frame of the horse—he stands next to it in full view of the audience.

But from the moment Joey hobbles onstage as a young foal, stick-legged and unsteady, he’s as alive, and emotionally resonant, as any of his human co-stars.

Joey is the creation of the Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa. In 2004, the company created a life-size giraffe puppet for a production called, coincidentally enough, Tall Horse. The British theatre director Tom Morris saw the show and asked Handspring to fashion a rideable equine version of the giraffe for War Horse. Starting with a plank of wood suspended between two men, Handspring designers Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones went through a long process of experimentation before arriving at a lightweight, three-dimensional frame and a lever-based operating system. Joey’s original puppeteers spent months visiting horse farms, watching videos of horses and studying horse psychology to ape the mannerisms, bulk and power of a full-size stallion.

The results are uncanny. Joey stands patiently through stretches of dialogue, craning his neck and poking around for food. He whinnies softly, snorts, flicks his tail and twitches his ears. When stressed, he rears back and neighs, and when sent into battle, he breaks into a heart-pounding, thundering gallop. It’s this counterintuitive realism that makes Joey such a marvel—the play’s ability to make you believe in him is its most staggering achievement.

War Horse’s reliance on old-fashioned screw-and-joint puppetry is an anomaly in this era of hyper-realistic CGI and theatrical pyrotechnics. We watch Pixar movies and can count the characters’ pores, and play immersive, multi-dimensional video games enriched with motion-capture technology. It’s effortless magic, requiring nothing from us except to sit back and marvel at the display. The puppets in War Horse engage the audience on an entirely different level—Joey’s conspicuous puppetness doesn’t merely create an illusion, it adds a degree of wonder missing from attempts at seamless realism. When Joey is injured trying to clear a barbed-wire fence, we feel for him as we would a real horse.

Joey is a throwback to a more engaging form of theatre. The show also flips a defiant middle finger at the laboured theatrical attempts at mimicking movie magic. Historically, theatre has asked its audiences to do some of the heavy imaginative lifting. In The Tempest, a bare stage is a deserted island because Shakespeare says so. In Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, a father builds his daughter a room out of one long strand of string. Our mental participation enriches the experience: we get a hand in bringing that theatrical world to life. Film, by contrast, is a much more passive medium—its location scouts, cinematographers and special effects technicians do most of the work, and anything that might disrupt the illusion is digitally erased.

Big-budget theatre, instead of embracing its own limitations and offering an alternative to the perfect realities conjured by film, TV and video games, has gravitated toward splashier, movie-like productions. The strategy has worked on an economic level—theatres are now routinely filled with people who would never have bought tickets to see the latest Neil Simon drama or Sondheim musical—but the result has been an artistic flatline, with more and more marquees touting musical versions of movies best left undisturbed.

Worse, the special effects that are increasingly worked into theatrical productions often flounder onstage. In her film incarnation, Mary Poppins appears to glide ethereally over the foggy rooftops of London. Onstage, this signature moment becomes a far less enchanting zip-line ride into the balcony of the Princess of Wales. Half the thrill of Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark is waiting to see if the cast makes it to the final curtain unharmed. Theatre simply can’t compete on that level—the space is too restrictive, and the proximity of a live audience makes every crack in the façade painfully obvious. Seeing Poppins hanging from the ceiling doesn’t enhance our belief in her magical nature, it kills it.

Mirvish Productions has made a fortune putting on wham-bam theatrical blockbusters, so it’s somewhat ironic that at the centre of its latest hit is a puppet made from a tangle of wood and screws. Puppets embody the collaborative process of the theatre, coaxing the audience to imprint life onto an otherwise inanimate object. They demand the ultimate suspension of disbelief.

VIDEO - Artificial Horse:     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7u6N-cSWtY



The Osbournes Producing Stop-Motion ‘The F’n Osbournes’

(screenrant.com)                   The legendry Heavy Metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne and his family (Sharon, Jack, and Kelly) will be lending their voices to stop-motion animated versions of themselves in a new Cuppa Coffee Studios-developed comedy, creatively dubbed The F’n Osbournes. Although, according to the Canadian animation house, the “F” stands for “family.”

Cuppa Coffee Studios’ president and show creator Adam Shaheen says the new primetime series “combines absurd animated sitcom premises that only the Osbournes can pull off!” Shaheen, goes on to add “Although it is a cartoon, [The F'n Osbournes] is certainly not one for little kids, bearing in mind the family that are at the root of it.”

Shaheen, whose Toronto-based company also developed Comedy Central’s Ugly Americans will co-executive produce the series, along with both Sharon and Jack Osbourne. In a statement, Sharon Osbourne said, “Teaming up with Cuppa Coffee has spawned a great opportunity to produce a unique animated prime-time show, I’ve been excited about animating our often crazy lives for a while now.”

Cuppa Coffee looks to finalize sales of the series to a television network this April at the MIPTV gathering in Cannes. Twenty episodes of The F’n Osbournes have been planned – and, if all goes as designed, production will begin this summer.

The F'n Osbournes - Ozzy

Since the Osbournes’ self-titled MTV reality show saw its final episode in March 2005, the family’s matriarch has been keeping busy with her on and off screen projects. Sharon can be seen co-hosting CBS’ daytime talk show The Talk, as well as appearing as the “nice” judge on America’s Got Talent.

The F’n Osbournes also marks another collaboration of Osbourne and her son Jack, as the two co-produced a few documentaries based on their family, the most resent being the upcoming, Wreckage of My Past: The Story of Ozzy Osbourne.

UK Encourages Ten Year Olds To Consider Careers In VFX

(4rfv.co.uk)              VFX is the fastest growing component of the UK's burgeoning film industry: however the UK is not producing enough VFX talent to fuel this growth.

Two short films to help address the skills shortage in the UK's booming visual effects (VFX) industry by inspiring young people to pursue a VFX career have been launched.

Funded by Skillset, who worked in partnership with UK Screen and some of the UK's biggest VFX post-production houses, the films feature VFX artists from some of the UK's leading companies talking about how they got into the industry and what skills are needed to work on films such as Captain America, Iron Man and Harry Potter.

The two films are aimed at young people aged 10-plus and 15-plus respectively, as well as careers advisers, teachers and parents and advise what subjects to study and how to get started in the industry.

Skillset's Executive Director (Deputy CEO), Kate O'Connor, said: "VFX is the fastest growing component of the UK's burgeoning film industry. However the UK is not producing enough VFX talent to fuel this growth, leaving us reliant on skilled migration. This is not sustainable, which is why Skillset has launched a slate of programmes to ensure that the UK produces the talent resource our VFX industry needs to remain a world leader."

Sarah Mackey, Acting Chief Executive of UK Screen, said: "The short films are the perfect way to educate children, parents and teachers about careers in the VFX industry. The UK is a global centre for VFX and by encouraging young people to study the core subjects of math, science and art we investing in essential home grown UK talent."

The films were created in response to the recommendations of the Next Gen Report, which sets out how the UK can be transformed into the world's leading talent hub for video games and visual effects.

Encouraging young people to study maths, science and art at school, the films are the first step towards bringing the idea of a VFX career into the classroom and providing an online VFX careers-related resource hub for teachers, careers advisers and young people.




"Top Gun 2" Producers Want $75m F-35 Stealth Fighter

(thestar.com)               Is the F-35 fighter jet about to soar into movie stardom?

The controversial military aircraft — beset by delays and cost overruns — will reportedly take a starring role alongside Tom Cruise in the long-awaited sequel to the 1980s smash Top Gun.

That means movie watchers and politicians alike may get to see Cruise’s character, Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, blow up the bad guys, all the while Canada’s air force continues to stretch the lives out of its fleet of aging CF-18s.

The Conservative government has ordered 65 of the new F-35s at a cost of $75 million each. But delays in production and questions about the true cost of the aircraft have fuelled criticism of the purchase — a joint effort with Britain, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Italy, Turkey and Australia.

Add to that U.S. President Barack Obama’s cutbacks to Pentagon spending and reduced orders from some allied nations, and the prognosis for an on-time, on-budget delivery looks grim. The Canadian government has stopped referring to the exact cost of the planes recently, saying instead that $9 billion has been set aside to replace its current fleet of fighter-bombers, along with an additional $7 billion for maintenance over two decades. It has, however, stayed firm on its commitment to purchase the jets.

Manufacturer Lockheed Martin confirmed to the Star Tuesday it had met with the movie’s producers, but would not provide any details.

“I can tell you that we did meet with the producers last fall but there’s nothing definite,” said Mike Rein, a spokesperson for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program. “My understanding is that there are several different scenarios and (the F-35) is one of their considerations.”

Cruise confirmed last December that he was in talks with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Tony Scott to bring Maverick back into the pilot’s seat in a follow-up to the 1986 blockbuster. The movie charts the lives of the U.S.’s best naval aviators as they train to do battle with the enemy and spend their leisure time wooing women.

Little is known about the plot of the rumoured sequel, but aviation industry website Flightglobal.com reports that Tom Burbage, the F-35 program manager for Lockheed Martin, told a National Aeronautics Association luncheon last week that not only would the long-delayed aircraft make an appearance in the film, but Cruise would be returning as an F-35 test pilot.

Michael Singer, manager of marketing and publicity for Jerry Bruckheimer films, declined to comment about the report.

“I know nothing about it,” Singer told the Star.




Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Pioneer, Dies at 84

(sfgate.com)             Carl Machover, a computer graphics "evangelist" and retired President of Machover Associates Corp., died Monday, at his home in White Plains, NY, after a prolonged illness. He was 84.

Trained as an electrical engineer right after World War II, Machover began his career in an era when computers occupied entire rooms while lacking even basic visual displays. "Computer graphics are the cure for no known disease," he liked to joke, alluding to his uphill battle to convince companies that better graphical interfaces would transform their industries. A sought-after public speaker, he combined his engineering knowledge with business savvy to champion full-color, real-time graphics displays for everything from complex scientific data and architectural design to computer-animated movies - a vision he lived to see turn into reality many times over.

Born in Brooklyn to Rose and John Machover, Carl was three when the family moved to Davenport, Iowa. After graduating from Davenport High School, Machover enlisted in the Navy during World War II, in the Eddy radar and radio program. Following the war, he attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, under the GI bill, where he majored in electrical engineering. In Troy, he met his future wife, Wilma Doris Simon, a budding concert pianist, then still in high school but soon to be a student at The Juilliard School in New York.

Machover went to work at Norden Laboratories Corporation in White Plains, NY, and published the primer Basics of Gyroscopes (1960), a classic that combined lucid scientific description with witty hand-drawn cartoons intended initially for the Norden sales force. He then moved to Skiatron Electronics & Television Corporation where he helped form a subcontractor RMS Associates to build and market CRT character generators. RMS later changed its name to Information Displays, Inc. (IDI) and created the stand-alone computer-aided design (CAD) platform the IDIIOM (IDI Input-Output Machine). IDIIOM had its own operating system based on the Varian 620-I computer, a DEC PDP competitor. In 1976, he left IDI to form Machover Associates Corp (MAC), a computer graphics consultancy which became known internationally for providing a broad range of management, engineering, marketing, and financial services to computer graphics users, suppliers, researchers and investors.




'John Carter' To Challenge 'The Lorax' For Top Box Office Spot

(RTTNews.com)                With a sky-high budget and enormous expectations, sci-fi adventure "John Carter" hits theaters this weekend looking to take over the box office, though it probably won't be a runaway with "The Lorax" also in position for another big weekend. Other titles hitting theaters this weekend include horror film "Silent House," starring Elizabeth Olsen, and Eddie Murphy's "A Thousand Words," though neither seems to be poised for much of an opening. The weekend should also be the last that romantic drama "The Vow" lands in the top ten after a very strong box office run that places it among the most lucrative releases of 2012 so far.

From director Andrew Stanton, the filmmaker behind Pixar's animated gems "Wall-E" and "Finding Nemo," PG-13 "John Carter" storms theaters this weekend hoping to catch on with mainstream, action-seeking audience. With Disney's pull with family audiences, "John Carter" should be able to attract families with older kids in addition to the usual action seekers, which should translate to a fairly easy chart-topping opening.

Backed by a production budget that was rumored to be as high as $300 million, but is more likely in the $200 million range, "John Carter" should be the most expensive movie on the 2012 release schedule until the big releases start hitting theaters in May. With that type of budget, Disney has unloaded a major marketing campaign to try to get theaters packed this weekend, though that may be easier said than done. Family-friendly "The Lorax" should take a section of the intended demographic, which could limit "John Carter" from having an enormous opening.

But March has also become a very good time for blockbusters to launch in the last six years, with a bevy of releases crossing $50 million in opening revenue despite never doing so before 2006. "John Carter" doesn't have the brand of a popular sequel like "Ice Age: Meltdown" ($68 million in 2006) or "Alice in Wonderland" ($116 million in 2010), but the promise of top-tier special effects and sci-fi action should get audiences to theaters at least for this weekend. Look for "John Carter" to surpass $50 million domestically this weekend and to boast some very nice overseas figures due to Disney's pull outside of the U.S.

As "John Carter" takes aim at mainstream action-seeking audiences, horror film "Silent House" will hope to find the horror junkies as it hits roughly 2,000 total venues. Starring Elizabeth Olsen, the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley, "Silent House" has a few limitations that could seriously suppress its box office potential this weekend. With an R-rating and limited buzz, adult audiences may have a hard time committing to a limited release horror film when there are plenty of other options for adults. Distributor Open Road Films also doesn't have the greatest track record as of yet, making an opening below $10 million seem likely this weekend for "Silent House."




Weta's Unsung Hero Sir Richard Taylor To Recieve Career Achievement Award

(sanluisobispo.com)                   This year, the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival honors the man behind some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters.

      Sir Richard Taylor, the special effects supervisor behind “Avatar,” “The Adventures of Tintin” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, will receive the film festival’s King Vidor Career Achievement Award, which honors excellence in filmmaking.

      “He is extremely well-loved in the film business and in general,” festival Executive Director Wendy Eidson said, describing Taylor as a “celebrity” in his field.

Festival organizers will honor Hollywood’s unsung heroes over five days of film screenings, panel discussions and red-carpet galas at venues across the county.

That’s a shift in focus from previous years, when the festival wooed movie stars such as Morgan Freeman, Malcolm McDowell and Greg Kinnear.

Instead, organizers want to recognize lesser-known figures such as celebrity photographer Timothy White and Sir Richard Taylor, the special effects supervisor behind “Avatar,” “The Adventures of Tintin” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

Taylor, a New Zealand native, is slated to receive the King Vidor Career Achievement Award, which honors excellence in filmmaking

Saturday comes to a close with the Independent Film Awards and the King Vidor award ceremony at the Fremont, followed by a question- and-answer session.

The recipient of five Academy Awards, Taylor has served as the creative director of New Zealand special effects house Weta Workshop and its affiliates for more than 25 years.

Under his leadership, the companies have created effects for some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, including “District 9,” “King Kong” and “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”

“He’s a celebrity in his own world,” Eidson said of Taylor, who was knighted in 2010 for his contributions to film.

Taylor will then join other industry experts for a panel discussion about motion capture technology and its possible applications in business, education, government and medicine.

“It’s a real cool blend of science and art and engineering,” Eidson explained.




Makeup FX Maestro, Barney Burman Slide Show

Take a look:   http://www.famehog.com/barneyburman




CG Dinosaurs Migrate To Netflix - 'Terra Nova' May Survive

(The Live Feed)                     Following Monday's announcement that Fox had cancelled "Terra Nova" after one season comes word that production company 20th Century Fox Television is in early talks with Netflix for the series to continue on the streaming service.

"While discussions are merely preliminary, the move could make sense for Netflix as it continues its push into original scripted programming with fare including 20th Television's Arrested Development, which the company resurrected in November," says The Live Feed.

"Terra Nova" averaged 7.5 million total viewers and 2.6 million in the adults 18-49 demographic for its 11-episode first season. The finale drew a 2.1 rating among adults 18-49 and an audience of 7.2 million.

The show, from executive producers Steven Spielberg, Peter Chernin, René Echevarria and Brannon Braga, followed an ordinary family, the Shannons, on a journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as part of an experiment to save mankind. It starred Stephen Lang, Jason O'Mara, Shelley Conn, Landon Liboiron, Naomi Scott and Alana Mansour.



M. Night Shyamalan’s After Earth Shoots with Sony F65

(btlnews.com)           Director M. Night Shyamalan (left) and cinematographer Peter Suschitzky on the set of After Earth – the first major motion picture to be shot with the new Sony F65 camera. (Photo by: Frank Masi).

The latest film from the production company Overbrook Entertainment and director M. Night Shyamalan, After Earth, scheduled for release next year by Sony Pictures Entertainment‘s Columbia Pictures, is the first major motion picture to be shot using Sony’s new F65 CineAlta digital production camera.

“I couldn’t be any happier with the F65, which is amazing since I’m a ‘film guy’ and I thought I’d die a film guy,” said Shyamalan. “It’s a digital media that’s warm and has humanity in it, which is obviously the most important thing to me.”

“The F65 is like a great leap forward,” said director of photography Peter Suschitzky. “As soon as I did testing of the F65, I was immensely impressed by the amount of detail it captures, by its incredible flexibility, from low lights to high lights, and its great contrast range. It really is a camera for the future and I’m going to use it again on a number of films.”

Sony began worldwide deliveries of the camera in January. Approximately 400 units were pre-ordered, and several other high-profile productions are planning to shoot with the F65 in the near future.




VFX Vets Launch 'There'

(variety.com)             Production veterans Elliott Jobe and Taylor Jobe have opened a company called There that specializes in digital sets and green-screen production.

The bicoastal shingle aims to provide an alternative to location-based production, combining the realism of live-action shoots with the flexibility of digital production, and making it possible to scenes that would otherwise be cost-prohibitive.

"With digital sets we can give our clients access and control of lighting," said Elliott Jobe, creative director. "There offers another solution besides traditional vfx that also results in a big production and great production value. We combine on-set technology with digital sets using assets we capture or create, as well as existing assets we repurpose."

The company's early projects include commercials for Virgin America and Crystal Geyser, featuring digital sets of a plane interior and a modern kitchen, respectively; and a "Rock Center" promo with Brian Williams, featuring digital sets of seven production floors at Manhattan's Rockefeller Center - including stages of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," "Saturday Night Live" and "30 Rock" - that made it possible to schedule shooting with multiple celebrities.

The company is based on the premise that even in a production climate characterized by tight schedules and shrinking budgets, clients should not have to compromise on creative. "You can be inside the Louvre, Red Square or Grand Central Terminal in one afternoon," says Taylor Jobe, business development director. "Those are pretty amazing options. Our studio is a hybrid of practical and digital technology, which many live-action productions tend to approach separately."

There provides an environment in which both director and d.p. can interact with talent on green-screen as if they were shooting at an actual location. This allows the director to work with actors on performance surrounded by "real" objects in the frame versus a typical green-screen situation with limited contextual reference. Similarly, a d.p. can calibrate which lens to use and how to light a scene based on actual distances and images within the digital set versus the type of estimating usually done with green-screen.

"The technology used on-set showed me exactly what the end result would look like," said director Jim Jenkins of O Positive, who worked with There on the Virgin America spot via Y&R NY. "Elliott made it all very simple and the plane interior looked great."

Other There clients include Bravo, LucasFilm, Geico and Warner Bros.




Avatar Tech Master Making Computer Animation More Human

(finchannel.com)             

    “Imagine a machine that can not only express what is on its mind, but also allows you to glimpse the mental imagery that it is constantly changing in its mind,” says Dr Sagar.

According to The University of Auckland, the Laboratory for Animate Technologies, based in the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, will create interactive autonomously animated systems which “will help define the next generation of human-computer interaction and facial animation“.

Industries to benefit from research and technology created in Dr Sagar’s lab could include those where establishing emotional rapport is important such as education, advertising, and the entertainment industry.

Dr Sagar says his Lab will create an experience that will allow visitors to engage with “smart technology” that appears conscious, emotive and thinking. “One question we are pursuing is: can technology be made more appealing if it is more natural?”

Dr Sagar says the technology created in his lab will simulate the lifelike qualities and the observable natural reflexes and behaviour of someone engaging with another person.

”Our computational models of emotion, perception, learning and memory will generate highly expressive realistic – or fantastic – imagery which engages the user on a visceral, emotional level,“ he says.

The Lab will also develop advanced computer vision techniques to track facial expression and behaviour. These techniques will be used with other modes of sensory input to allow the smart machine to sense its world.

Visitors to the Lab will engage with expressive interfaces including realistic faces and also be able to see the inner workings or underlying “brain activity” generating the machines’ responses.

“We are building a collaborative modular model of the face and brain, a brain and face Lego with swappable and re-shapable parts. Both scientists and artists who want an interactive context to test and visualise their work can design, combine, integrate, inspect, react, be reacted to, and redesign," says Dr Sagar.

The Lab will be developed using state-of-the-art projective computer graphics and brain-based computational models. Its foundations are being built by Dr Sagar and others in the University with expertise in areas such as computer and the neural sciences, engineering, architecture and the arts. The Lab will work on both blue skies research and commercial applications.

Dr Sagar previously worked for Weta Digital where he created technology for achieving the realistic appearance and performance capture animation of digital characters such as Avatar’s Na’vi people. His pioneering work in computer-generated faces was recognised with two consecutive Oscars at the 2010 and 2011 Sci-tech awards, a branch of the Academy Awards that recognises movie science and technological achievements. Dr Sagar will continue to work with Weta on selected projects.

The former medical researcher started his career building computer simulations of the human eye for virtual surgery. He has a Bachelor of Science and a PhD in Engineering from The University of Auckland.

His postgraduate research involved a landmark study in how to develop an anatomically correct virtual eye and realistic models of biomechanically simulated anatomy. It was one of the first examples of how lifelike human features could be created on a screen by combining computer graphics with mathematics and human physiology.

Professor Peter Hunter, Director of the ABI, says he feels very fortunate to have Dr Sagar working at the Institute.

“Mark is an exceptional researcher, scientist and artist with immense vision and passion. He has made a huge contribution to the motion picture industry in a relatively short time and I expect that he will continue to excel here and abroad with his work at the Laboratory for Animate Technologies.”




Good Advice from Pixar’s Mark Andrews

(rabbitroom.com)                This is a lecture that Mark Andrews (Pixar’s director of the forthcoming Brave) gave to a group of students at CalArts (California Institute of the Arts). He’s talking chiefly about the art of storyboarding, but I found that most of what he says applies directly to the art of writing as well (or any other artistic medium). The video is in two parts. In the first, he shows his storyboard of his treatment of the Icarus myth. In the second part, he discusses the choices he made and how he went about putting the story together. The quality isn’t the best, but the advice is spot on. Well worth the fifteen minutes if you’re a storyteller.

VIDEO - Take a look:    http://www.rabbitroom.com/2012/03/good-advice-froom-pixars-mark-andrews/




Life-Caster & Special Effects Artist John Schoonraad Interview

(denofgeek.com)              “Head on a stick!” I’m sitting opposite life-caster and special effects artist John Schoonraad, and he’s regaling me with a story about the time he made a fake head of Kristin Scott Thomas during the production of The English Patient.

“I did Kristin Scott Thomas’ head on a stick,” Schoonraad says. “You know the albatross on a stick [Monty Python sketch]? I just walked in, shouting, ‘Head on a stick!’ No one knew what was going on.”

This brief tale sums up John Schoonraad’s genuine enthusiasm for his remarkable body of work. He’ll casually mention working on something as jaw-dropping as Return Of The Jedi (“I worked on Jabba the Hutt’s skiff”), and then immediately go on to talk about the years he spent working with Jim Henson (there was, he said, “A smattering of Ninja Turtles”). He’ll rush into an anecdote about creating the decapitation effects for Highlander, before taking an abrupt left turn into a story about the young, up-and-coming artists he worked with on Clive Barker’s Nightbreed.

His stories are extraordinary, and made all the more so by the fact that we’re surrounded by examples of his 30 years’ experience. The plaster casts of famous faces – Vincent Price, Nicolas Cage, Arnold Schwarzenegger – line shelves of his Elstree Studios workshop, their expressions nonchalant. Props and concept models lie on desks or locked away in glass cabinets.

Full article with pics:    http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/1272167/lifecaster_and_special_effects_artist_john_schoonraad_interview.html




Women’s Day: Celebrating Female Talent in the CG Industry

(3dartistonline.com)              What was once a male-dominated industry has, over the years, seen balance restored as female talents from the world over have offered their incredible skills into the mix. The 3D Artist magazine team has seen a shift in the percentages of female attendees at CG events in London and abroad, particularly at the likes of the annual Siggraph conference, and frankly, we’re excited.

Female artists everywhere, we salute you!

Character Artist Sze Jones is a true master of her trade, possibly best known for her work at Blur Studio where, over a period of eight years, she created iconic female characters such as Lara Croft for ‘Tomb Raider Underworld’, Beatrice for ‘Dante Inferno‘, Dark Elf Sorceress for Warhammer, and so many more. We spoke to Sze in issue 27* to discover how traditional sculpting offers her creative freedom away from the screen.

Character Artist and Designer Julianna Kolakis is another first-class artist working in the film industry on features including ‘District 9′, ‘Sucker Punch’, ‘The Mummy – Tomb of the Emperor’, and many others. A woman of multiple talents, this VFS grad currently works freelance in art direction, illustration, sculpting and painting, character design, texture painting – and more!

Rebeca Puebla's Twisted Doll seriesRebeca Puebla is a character artist extraordinaire, known and loved for her beautiful Twisted Dolls character series of femme fatales. Rebeca exploded onto the CG scene in 2005 with her captivating character, ‘Sangyeng‘, which was fast picked up by all the top CG communities – not to mention software manufacturers! Having worked in the industry since 2002, Rebeca continues to inspire and conquer with each new creation.

Source with pics:     http://www.3dartistonline.com/news/2012/03/womens-day-celebrating-female-talent-in-the-cg-industry/




Become A "Can Do" CG Artist - In Kuwait

(bayt.com)             THE 99 is looking for a CG Generalist to be based in Kuwait. The CG Generalist should have 4-6 years of industry experience in animation and/or games (but not mandatory). The ideal candidate should be an artist who can animate, model and have proficient rigging/lighting skills. A multi-tasker with a great "can do" attitude is essential.

Apply today:    http://www.bayt.com/en/job/?xid=1762242

"Men In Black 3" Budget Runs $75m More Than "Men In Black 2"

(slashfilm.com)          That Men in Black 3 has had a very rocky road to the big screen is no secret, but a new report sheds still more light on exactly the kinds of problems that plagued Sony’s long-awaited sequel. According to The Wrap, star Will Smith‘s diva behavior was the cause of much of those troubles.

    Smith also had a set rebuilt in order to accommodate an improvised scene he filmed, according to two people involved in the production. The scene involved a telephone call between Smith’s character, Agent J and Tommy Lee Jones’s character, Agent K. Some time after Jones filmed his portion of the call, it was Smith’s turn. But Smith improvised quite a bit, and his part of the conversation no longer matched Jones’s. Smith told producers he wanted to see Jones on camera responding to the new material — a request that required the crew to rebuild the set, or at least a few walls of it — so Jones could film there again.

    On another occasion, early in the filming, Smith had the crew tear down a nearly completed set at Kaufman Astoria Studios because it “wasn’t right,” a person with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

Sony denies that sets were rebuilt for Smith, but whatever the cause, the project’s multiple setbacks pushed its budget up to $215 million. While such a price tag isn’t entirely unheard of , it marks an increase of $75 million over the budget of Men in Black 2.

Men in Black 3 opens May 25, 2012.



Warner Bros Hunting For Multiple VFX Tentpoles to Replace Harry Potter

(ft.com)              Sherlock Holmes has been the subject of many a TV or film adaptation, from Basil Rathbone’s 1940s films, to the recent BBC reimagining of the Arthur Conan Doyle stories, to a new US series, which will feature Lucy Liu as Watson.

Yet none has scaled the commercial heights of Warner Brothers’ latest big screen effort. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, starring Robert Downey Jr and directed by Guy Ritchie, is on course to exceed the box office revenues of the first film in the series, generating $515m worldwide to date, with markets such as Japan still to come.

The film’s success – and the company’s other winter hit, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, which has also beaten the first film in the series, generating $240m worldwide – is music to the ears of Jeff Robinov, president of the motion picture group at Warner Bros. Responsible for authorising $2bn-$3bn of productions each year, he and his colleagues have the unenviable task of finding a substitute for the blockbuster Harry Potter series.

The eight films generated $7.7bn over the past decade but the series came to an end last year. “We’re not going to replace Harry Potter with any single movie – not unless we had a Twilight or a Hunger Games,” says Mr Robinov, referring to the hit vampire series and the hotly anticipated teen offering from rival studio Lions Gate Entertainment.

“Our plan is to expand our event movies,” he says, pointing to the release in December of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In July, the studio will also release The Dark Knight Rises, the final instalment in Christopher Nolan’s Batman series.

“We think it will take two movies to replace – if replace is the right word – the loss of Harry Potter on an economic basis,” Mr Robinov says.

The evidence of previous years suggests the studio will be able to cope. No Harry Potter movie was released in 2008 “and we had our best year that year as a studio, with The Dark Knight”.

Still, there is a certain amount of pressure on Warner Bros, which is part of Time Warner, to sustain the momentum it had with Harry Potter. Thanks to the Sherlock Holmes and Journey sequels, 2012 is off to a strong start, although few in Hollywood gave the latest Sherlock Holmes film much of a chance, after an opening weekend performance that was softer than the release of the first film two years ago. Yet it has performed well in each of the big markets – particularly the UK and China.

China is Hollywood’s fastest-growing market, with three screens being added a day, on average. It is about to become more lucrative still, thanks to a new import agreement between the US and China that permits 14 additional “premium format” films from international studios alongside 20 other non-Chinese films.

One of Hollywood’s favourite parlour games is guessing who will get the top job at Warner Bros when Barry Meyer, its chairman, retires at the end of 2013.

Mr Robinov declines to comment, yet he is known to be one of three executives in contention: the other two are Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Bros home entertainment, and Bruce Rosenblum, president of Warner Bros television group.

A more pressing concern is the changing economic environment. Like its peers, Warner Bros has had to adapt to the industry-wide collapse of DVD sales, a tighter independent financing market and the slower than expected growth of digital distribution. It has responded by making fewer films. Four years ago the studio released 27 over 12 months; this year the number falls to 22.

“The goal is to get to 20 a year,” says Mr Robinov.

“I believe we can make fewer movies and still maintain significant market share and still be profitable. It’s really a balance issue,” he says. “But we will never pass on a good movie.”




Kristen Bell Heads Disney Animation 'Frozen'

(digitalspy.com)             Kristen Bell will lend her voice to the upcoming Disney animation Frozen.

Frozen is thought to be a CG adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen, with original songs including one song by Bell herself.




'Dr. Seuss' The Lorax:' Five Lessons from its Box-office Success

(latimesblogs.latimes.com)   

         Even for a season that has seen surprisingly strong box office, "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" was an eyebrow-raiser this weekend. The $70.7 million that the movie took in domestically made it worthy of several superlatives -- among others, the biggest opening ever for a non-sequel animated film
Even for a season that has seen surprisingly strong box office, "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" was an eyebrow-raiser this weekend. The $70.7 million that the movie took in domestically made it worthy of several superlatives -- among others, the biggest opening ever for a non-sequel animated film (a bit of a fudge given that the $70.47 million "The Incredibles" tallied was in 2004 dollars, but still impressive) as well as the biggest opening since July for any movie without the word "Twilight" in its title.

Among the lessons from this bounty are some obvious ones, like the fact that kids love cute, brightly colored animated creatures.

Here, then, are five things we might not have expected coming into the weekend.

Animated blockbusters need a spring or holiday date. Big animation releases have been creeping up the calendar for a while now: "Monsters vs. Aliens," "How to Train Your Dragon" and several of the "Ice Age" movies all opened in mid- to late March. But none of those opened as strong as Universal Pictures/Illumination Entertainment's "Lorax." And "Rango," which a year ago went out on the same weekend as "Lorax," tallied barely half of the Seussian film's total. In fact, every other animated movie to open to at least $70 million did it in the far more fertile May-November period, per Box Office Mojo.

Picture books are a mixed bag. They've been bedtime favorites for generations. But movies based on picture books -- whether the films are animated, live-action or a combination thereof -- have made plenty of people turn off the lights. In the last few years, movies such as "Where the Wild Things Are" and "Mr. Popper's Penguins" "have been commercial disappointments, while even Seuss' own "The Cat in the Hat" flopped back in 2003. It's not easy for a 90-minute film to convince moviegoers it's filled in the gaps of such books -- at least, it wasn't easy before "Lorax."

Politics don't sell. Few animated movies take a hit from even one political flank. "Lorax" got it from both sides. Liberals said its many cross-promotions (Mazda SUVs, anyone?) betrayed Theodor Geisel's eco-friendly message, while Breitbartians said the movie was a Trojan horse for Hollywood-flavored liberalism. Either one might have been enough to keep sections of the moviegoing audience at home. It didn't -- proving that, perhaps, if you're going to annoy an ideological constituency, maybe it's best to annoy its opposite too.

Voices need names. Animated movies never have been as star-studded as they are now -- Owen Wilson, Anne Hathaway and Johnny Depp have all toplined them, getting paid millions, as Chris Rock might say, for reading some lines in a booth. But though "Lorax" didn't exactly go for unknowns, it rummaged somewhere besides the movie-star closet: the inflections of Danny Devito, Taylor Swift, Zac Efron and Ed Helms brought the main characters to life. Of course, it helps that Devito brings this much effort to the role.

Animated movies don't have to be good to make money. And by good, of course, we mean well-reviewed. The modern notion that the two go hand-in-hand was introduced by Pixar and bolstered by DreamWorks Animation -- see: the phenomenal  94% "Up" scored on Movie Review Intelligence, the very good 77% of "How to Train Your Dragon," or even the solid 69% for Illumination's earlier "Despicable Me." Sometimes it's seemed that quality and dollars have been almost inextricable. That's now been disproved by "The Lorax." The movie garnered just 57.8% on Movie Review Intelligence and prompted New York Times critic A.O. Scott to offer, in a phrase that went viral practically the moment he came up with it, that the film was a "noisy, useless piece of junk."




Is There Unfinished Green Screen in the New Men In Black 3 Trailer?

(m.io9.com)              Is there unfinished green screen in the new Men In Black 3 trailer? You've seen the brand new MIB3 trailer, featuring Josh Brolin's spot-on Tommy Lee Jones impersonation — but did you catch the possible slip-up?

We think we spied a left over greenscreen lurking inside this trailer. or is it an empty fish tank with green water? We're not sure, so we'll let you decide.

Bad Ass Digest was the first to alert us to the potential goof up in the trailer. And if it's true, this slip is really just he tip of the iceberg of all of the potential MIB3 problems. Fingers crossed this production can pull it together, because wasting Brolin's excellent K impression would be a crime. Vote below...

Take a look:    http://m.io9.com/5890668/is-there-unfinished-green-screen-in-the-new-men-in-black-3-trailer




An Absurdly Cool Behind-The-Scenes Look At The Jurassic Park  Dinosaur Puppets

(io9.com)         An Absurdly Cool Behind-The-Scenes Look At The Jurassic Park Dinosaur PuppetsThe late great Stan Winston was one of the undisputed masters of cinematic effects. With his team of make-up artists and puppeteers, Winston gave such films as Aliens and Predator an otherworldly sheen that's been seared into the collective memory of moviegoers for decades.

And on the Stan Winston School's YouTube account, there are tons of behind-the-scenes reels of the dinosaurs from the Jurassic Park films. Behold amazing footage of the velociraptors and Tyrannosaurus hanging out casually with their human puppet masters.

Take a look:     http://io9.com/5890628/an-absurdly-cool-behind+the+scenes-look-at-the-jurassic-park-dinosaur-puppets




Dublin Animation Company Creates 50 Jobs for Disney Production

(thejournal.ie)           DISNEY HAS COMMISSIONED Dublin-based animation company Boulder Media to co-produce a 52-part series which will air in more than129 countries across the world.

Boulder Media is handling the series from animation through to post production and has hired 50 additional artists and animators to work on the project over the next two years.

The comedy series will follow teenager Randy Cunningham and his best friend Howard as they attend High School in Norrisville. While navigating their way through their difficult teenage years, the pair also find themselves protecting their school (and the world) from destruction.

Don’t worry though – Randy is armed with a magic demon fibre suit and the teachings of the Ninja-ing, an 800-year-old Ninja ‘guide for dummies’, when he takes on “monsters and madmen” who want to free an evil Sorcerer imprisoned beneath Norrisville High.

The star-studded cast includes Ben Schwartz (Parks & Recreations, House of Lies) as the voice of Randy, Tim Curry (Spamalot, Charlie’s Angels) as the evil sorcerer and Megan Mullaly (Will & Grace, Parks & Recreation) as Mrs Driscoll the science teacher.

Los Angeles firm Titmouse Inc is also involved in co-producing the 52 eleven-minute-long programmes. The show will premiere on Disney XD later this year.

Established in 2000, Boulder Media is a renowned production company which has received a number of prestigious awards, including a Chidren’s BAFTA for The Amazing World of Gumball.

Producer Anne Tweedy said that although the majority of the crew is Irish, the firm has recruited some of the best animators, artists and compositors from Finland, Italy, Poland, Denmark, England, Scotland, Spain and Portugal.

“We are fortunate to have a highly skilled core crew and we have found the additional crew is adding to our company’s strength in creativity and production,” she said.

The Walt Disney Company’s chief marketing officer said, “Randy Cunningham: Ninth Grade Ninja is our most global production yet. Driven by the team in London, the series draws on talent from both sides of the Atlantic to help create a world class show. We are thrilled to be working with the outstanding teams at Boulder in Ireland and Titmouse in LA on this project.”




Iron Man 3 Begins Set Construction

As the excitement surrounding Marvel Studios’ The Avengers continues to ramp up, another Marvel film has quietly begun setting up. According to ComicBook.com, Iron Man 3 has begun set construction in Wilmington, NC, with director Shane Black aiming to start filming in late April or early May.

The project is currently going by the code name Caged Heat, which could possibly be a reference to Luke Cage, or the 1974 women’s prison film, or something else, or, y’know, nothing at all. The completed picture is scheduled to hit theaters May 3, 2013.



The Hollywood Star – in a Virtual World

(thisisbristol.co.uk)              TO WATCH Steven Spielberg's epic War Horse, you would be forgiven for not believing that any of the movie relies on computer-generated visual effects.

In fact, you would be wrong, but it's this ultimate piece of cinematic slight-of-hand that means the film brings the career of Bristol University graduate Ben Morris to its artistic zenith. As visual effects supervisor on the blockbuster, the 42-year-old former Bristol student is understandably proud of the movie – the culmination of all he has learnt so far in a career that has seen him put his name to such cinema gems as Gladiator, Babe, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Golden Compass (for which he won a special effects Oscar) and the Harry Potter series.

      ​Films that Bristol University graduate Ben Morris has worked on include War Horse, top, The Golden Compass, above left, and Gladiator, above right; left, Ben, second from left, with Trevor Wood, Bill Westenhofer and Michael Fink with their Oscars in 2008 for Best Visual Effects for The Golden Compass

      Films that Bristol University graduate Ben Morris has worked on include War Horse, top, The Golden Compass, above left, and Gladiator, above right; left, Ben, second from left, with Trevor Wood, Bill Westenhofer and Michael Fink with their Oscars in 2008 for Best Visual Effects for The Golden Compass

He's certainly come a long way since graduating from Bristol University 20 years ago, with a first class honours degree in mechanical engineering.

When he returned to the city last summer to receive an honorary degree from his alma mater, it was as the master of his craft – a man at the pinnacle of his industry.

But back in 1990, he arrived in the city as a wide-eyed student with distant dreams of following a career in movie animatronics.

"I'd been one of those dreadful children who just want to recreate everything they see on the cinema screen," Ben laughs.

"I used to make little films with my Super-8 movie camera. The moment I saw Star Wars at the age of seven, I spent all my time making little models of all the characters and filming them with basic stop-go animation techniques.

"A few years later I tried to recreate the Empire Strikes Back in our Oxfordshire garden because we'd had a decent fall of snow and I couldn't resist the opportunity. I was obsessed with it all."

But this wasn't a flash-in-the-pan childhood fad. As a 17-year-old, the obsession for visual effects – or VFX in cinema world speak – was as strong as ever.

"I went to an event where animatronics experts from Jim Henson Productions were giving a talk, and as a cocky 17-year-old I stood up and told them how interested I was in the subject.

"Incredibly they invited me to come and see their studios. I couldn't believe my luck. When I went along I took some of the films I'd made to show them, and on the back of those, the company offered to sponsor me through university. I was so lucky.

"So I came to Bristol to study mechanical engineering, with a particular interest in the sorts of control engineering that I would need to make animatronic characters – it's a sort of engineering that is almost veering towards robotics.

"These days of course there are all kinds of wonderful degree courses in cinema special effects specifically, but back then I was intent on shaping the course to my interests. For my final year coursework I even made animatronic characters."

As he prepared for his graduation, Ben received another call from Jim Henson Productions that would change his life.

"They called and offered me a job making animatronic creatures for their films," he says. "That was my big break. Within a couple of years I was working on what was to be an Oscar-winning movie, Babe – making the animatronic animals; doing the work I'd always dreamed of doing."

In 1996 Ben moved to the Neal Scanlan Studio to work on Babe 2 in Australia. There Ben was part of a development team that built fully articulated and controllable puppets of pigs, sheep, ducks, cats, monkeys, mice and pelicans.

While Ben was working on Babe 2, there was increasing use of computer generated animations in the film industry. These computer animations were a growing competitor to physical puppets. Ben knew he had a choice to make. He could either hang on to the declining market for puppets or he could take on the huge task of retraining in the art of computer animations.

"I remember watching Jurassic Park: The Lost World in 1997 and it gradually dawned on me that the stars of the show weren't the puppets anymore – they were the CGI dinosaurs. That's when I made the decision to retrain.

"It would mean a lot of work, and a serious pay-cut, but I felt I was doing the right thing."

Ben was right to follow his gut instinct. Within a few short years the brave new world of CGI would take over the industry.

"I was lucky enough to work on Ridley Scott's Gladiator in 1999-2000, recreating ancient Rome using CGI, and I knew then that I'd made the right decision – this was the future of cinema." Since then Ben has continued to develop his craft – leading the world with the rapidly evolving technology.

"Each film I did I'd learn how to do something new," he says. "So with Gladiator it was about mastering CGI crowds and backdrops, then when I did The Golden Compass in 2007 it was all about finding a way to make realistic fur for the bears' coats.

"It's such a new technology, you push the boundaries a little further with every film.

"But when it came to War Horse we went the other way. Steven Spielberg had directed some of the greatest special effects films of all time, but with this movie he was clear that he this wasn't a showcase for special effects.

"On the contrary, the challenge was to do as much of it as we could without special effects.

"So a lot of the movie was about doing things the old fashioned way – with hundreds of extras and incredibly well-trained horses.

"Where special effects were clearly unavoidable – such as the scene where the horse gets trapped in the barbed wire – then I was determined to make it so life-like that nobody would know it was done with CGI. That was the big challenge, and I hope we got there with it.

"It's just a joy to work in an industry where you can push the boundaries all the time. The things I learnt as a student in Bristol have never left me, and I've been lucky enough to be able to develop on top of those basic techniques throughout my career."

â— Ben Morris returns to Bristol University this week to give a free talk on his experiences. The event, which is open to all, will be held on Tuesday at the Wills Memorial Building at 6pm. Admission is free, but you need to reserve a ticket. Call 0117 9288515.




Universal is Dead Set on Making ‘Ouija’ Movie

(m.latino-review.com)           Universal is insisting on moving forward with a movie based on Hasbro’s Ouija board game. The film was cancelled a while ago because of the price tag.

You see, McG was going to direct, but seemed to think the budget should be $100 million…

Seriously, $100 million for a movie based on a stupid Ouija board. Then again, they’re spending over $200 mil on Battleship, so what do I know? The new budget has been slashed by 95% to $5 million.

Michael Bay is producing with his Platinum Dunes buddies and Jason Blum’s Blumhouse. Recently Blum has produced low budget genre money makers like the Paranormal Activity films and Insidious.

I’m thinking the movie will play out like a hardcore scary Jumanji. Some dumb people don’t listen to some dumb creepy guy and play a dumb game that inadvertently opens a gateway for some dumb demons




Disneyland Paris " Le Visionarium " Making-of Documentary

(disneyandmore.blogspot.com)                The beloved Disneyland Paris attraction "Le Visionarium" is now an "extinct" attraction. Since the opening of the park in 1992, and until it was replaced by the "Buzz Lightyear laser Blast" ride, everybody loved it. The music score was one of the best ever written for a Disney attraction, the Time Keeper and Nine Eye Audio-animatronics were just perfect, and the circlevision movie was awesome - a special award to legendary french actor Michel Piccoli who played the best Jules Verne ever seen in a movie.

The attraction opened years later at WDW Magic Kingdom - it was called "From Time to time" but was less popular than it was at DLP. For an inexplicable reason, the music was changed, and i'm sorry to say that the new score was not as good as the original one who - literally - was giving an incredible epic energy to any guest exiting the DLP version. Today, the last place on earth where it is possible to see - i should say "live" the attraction is at Tokyo Disneyland's Tommorowland.

Today, we will have a closer look to how this great circlevision movie was made, thanks to a wonderful making-of documentary in three parts. Making-of documentaries of Disney attractions are pretty rare, we saw last week the one did for DLP Space Mountain "Shoot for the Moon", and this one is just as good. Enjoy it!

Full article with pics:       http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2012/02/disneyland-paris-le-visionarium-making.html




$700 CG Short "The Chase" – Now Online

(m.latino-review.com)          Folks, meet Tommy Vergara a self taught 3D artist and film nut from Chile. Tommy literally learned English from watching movies. Last year, he quit his full time job in advertising and with just a miniscule budget of $700, Tommy holed up himself up in a cabin located in Pucón, Chile and made his short film The Chase.

While living on tea, oatmeal, and soya for 6 months, Tommy completed the short, but it took actually 8 months to render the short’s 269 shots on a single Phenom II X6 six-core workstation. Tommy worked in Maya and After Effects, teaching himself rigging and character animation during the process.

VIDEO - Take a look:   http://thechaseshortfilm.com/



Digital Bloodshed - The European Film Subsidy Trade War

(vfxsoldier.wordpress.com)             Last week I touched upon what essentially is a trade war occurring in various states and provinces in the US and Canada. The same phenomenon is occurring in Europe.

While the UK offers US studios generous subsidies to do vfx and production work for feature films there, the animation and video game industry receive none.

The video games industry has been unsuccessful trying to lobby for subsidies as they lose talent and work to subsidized regions like Canada. As far as the UK animation industry is concerned, where does the work go as they too are unsuccessful to lobby for subsidies?

    “I know a couple of people who do a similar role to me, coming up with ideas for shows, who now just work out of LA. They’ve gone over there and they don’t bother knocking on doors in the UK any more.”

What’s surprising is that California’s thriving animation industry exists without subsidy. I believe the reason for that is agglomeration. We have a deep and large talent pool that has traditionally made California home for a very long time.

The Curse Of Harry Potter

Why are governments inclined to give their taxpayer dollars to US studios rather than home grown industries is beyond me but the subsidy war is not just a concern of mine. It is also a concern of the European Union which drafts film subsidy policy for various member states.

If you remember, last year the UK film subsidy was set to expire and was quickly renewed under the current EU rules until 2015.

This year the European Union will be taking consultations from those for and against film subsidies. One of it’s biggest concerns is the subsidy race and how this has benefitted US studios. Page 5 and 6 show how legitimate a concern the subsidy race is:

    the Commission had identified “competition among some Member States to use State aid to attract inward investment from large- scale, mainly US, film production companies” (ie, a subsidy race) as a trend which would require some refinement of the State aid assessment criteria.

    …

    Attracting blockbusters typically includes tax incentives and other measures to facilitate the production of these international feature films and television programmes in particular territories. The result is a potent mix of push and pull between international producer and locality.

    …

    such subsidies distort competition among European production locations. In these cases, the question is not whether the film will be produced but only where this will be done.

    …

    To the extent that this use of public subsidies in effect leads to competition with other Member States, this is detrimental both to the sector and to European taxpayers. It was not envisaged when the original State aid rules for promoting the European cinematographic culture were designed. Avoiding subsidy races is precisely one of the objectives of the State aid provisions of the Treaty.

Furthermore Joe Karaganis, a consultant on digital media policy, has submitted his own recommendations to the EU along with others. He has called the subsidy race the “Curse Of Harry Potter“:

    Territorialization may be a blunt instrument for achieving this kind of diversity, but such diversity strikes me as an entirely appropriate public policy goal.  Reasonable people will disagree about where/how to draw the line between the two, but clearly it should be drawn well south of the Harry Potter-level shakedowns described here.

    The biggest issue, ultimately, is whether European audiovisual culture can move toward a model that isn’t as sharply defined by subordination to Hollywood on the one hand, and by the cultural and institutional fragmentation of the EU market on the other.  There’s nothing new in this question, but the persistent failure to resolve it over at least two decades of coordinated EU/EC policy suggests that some rethinking of the state’s role in promoting culture may be needed.




Last Chance to See Stars of Creature Features

(stuff.co.nz)              The kids - and the engineers - will love this.

Growling and prowling dinosaurs, monster lizards, kangaroos, polar bears, werewolves and gorillas – all of which have appeared in movies – form the newest exhibition at Waikato Museum.

And if the reaction in Hamilton mirrors that at other venues it has toured, it will be one of the most popular ever seen in the city.

The exhibition – How to Make a Monster: the Art and Technology of Animatronics – is the work of John Cox's Creature Workshop and has taken Cox and his helpers all week to set up.

Cox, 52, won a visual effects Academy Award in 1996 for his work on cutesy pig movie Babe and said this would probably be the last time many of the exhibits would be seen outside Australia.

"When this has finished doing its tour, I want it to go to the National Sound and Film Archives [in Australia]. It should be kept," he said on Thursday, as he made the final adjustments to the exhibits.

Cox said the work of animatronics – which he has been involved in since leaving school in Sydney nearly 40 years ago – has now largely been surpassed by computers, meaning the skills needed to construct lifelike monsters and animals is now likely to be lost forever.

Instead of researching, drawing, manually sculpting, moulding and casting, graphics experts can now do it all on a computer.

"There are three sculpting programmes – ZBrush, Mudbox and Modo – and ZBrush is the one everyone's using now. It's digital clay, you don't have to sculpt the little things any more, you can just sculpt it straight away in the computer.

"I have a feeling that in about three years' time this may be renamed the history of animatronics because it really will be very old school."

Cox said the exhibition came about due to a number of factors.

"We could see the film industry was going into a bit of decline at the time and we had all these pieces getting dusty and deteriorating and we had a lot of people wanting to do tours of the workshop," he said.

"We couldn't pull it out just to show someone so we decided we could turn it into a very interactive thing to see how it was all done."

Waikato monster fans get their chance now with the exhibition opening today and running until July 15. Admission is $12 for adults and $6 for children, with family passes (two adults, four children) for $30.

The exhibition is the first in a series of monster-themed events at the museum.

Source with pics and video:           http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/6478515/Last-chance-to-see-stars-of-creature-features




Tippett Studio Tour

(etc.cmu.edu)            On March 1, we visited Tippett Studio in Berkeley. Tippett Studio was founded by Phil Tippett and his partner Jules Roman in their garage in 1984. The studio has grown significantly from its 20 some crew members to now over 200 animators, compositors, lighters and producers. It is an award-winning VFX studio and has brought revolutionary changes to visual effects in film industry. The tour begins with a brief introduction of Phil Tippett’s biography and a demo reel of the studio. We also got a chance to visit the workspace of the studio, the shop for building props and some of the stop motion puppets Phil collected.
Tippett Studios Tour

Group Pitcure in the lobby of Tippett Studio

Phil Tippett, a movie director and visual effect supervisor, has more than 30 years of visual effect experience in film industry. He has won two Academy Awards, 6 Academy Award nominations and 2 Emmys, all of which were in visual effects. After graduating from University of California, Irvine with a Fine Arts degree, Phil started his career in VFX as an animator in Cascade Pictures, Los Angeles.

In 1975, George Lucas hired Phil to work on stop motion scenes in the first Star Wars movie. He then worked as a lead of the animation team in the next two Star Wars movies. His work involved modeling, animating and character design.

Phil left Industrial Light & Magic in 1984, and founded Tippett Studio. His expertise in stop motion, anatomical modeling and rigging led him to win his second Emmy for his work in the animated documentary Dinosaur! He later joined Steven Spielberg in 1991 to supervise the dinosaur animation in Jurassic Park, for which he was awarded his second Oscar in visual effects. Phil successfully tackled the visual effects challenge in Jurassic Park by building a bridge between stop motion and computer generated animations for the first time. Because of Phil’s roots in stop motion, modeling and practical effects as well as his ability to develop new technology, he is regarded as a mentor by his colleagues.

Currently, Tippett Studio is working on animating werewolves in the Twilight series. Movies that the studio previously worked on include Enchanted, Smurfs, Matrix Revolutions and RoboCop.

Group photo:    http://www.etc.cmu.edu/siliconvalley/blog/2012/03/05/tippett-studio-tour/




Captain America Movie Props Head To Auction

(filmschoolrejects.com)              Hello and welcome to the Captain America: The First Avenger Auction! We are thrilled to be working with Marvel Entertainment to present this historic offering of items from the film.

Rarely does a collector have the opportunity to acquire items of this importance and provenance from a contemporary film, and this sale will feature over 200 lots, including virtually all of the iconic costumes, props and vehicles from the film. The selection showcases the imagination, incredible craftsmanship and imaginative technology created to portray the story of super-soldier Captain America, one of the most iconic characters in the Marvel canon.

Catalog of Props and costumes for sale:    http://bid.profilesinhistory.com/Captain-American-The-First-Avenger-Auction_as22585?ps=100

Pretty Cool - Johann Schmidt’s Hydra Cannon

Bid today:     http://bid.profilesinhistory.com/Johann-Schmidt-s-Hydra-Cannon_i12119923