20,000 Leagues Rewrites, VFX Shop Upheaval, & Disney Museum On Facebook...
(The Hollywood Reporter) Randall Wallace (Braveheart) has been brought aboard to rewrite Captain Nemo: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Disney's take on the classic Jules Verne character being directed by McG.
The film aims to tell the origin of Captain Nemo and his submarine warship, the Nautilus. Nemo is a mysterious but noble antagonist in the book, a scientific genius with a thirst for knowledge and a desire for revenge against the forces of imperialism.
The script previously was worked by Bill Marsilii and Justin Marks.
VFX Upheaval : Tax Incentives & Rapid Prototyping
(variety.com) Every studio is grappling with an upheaval as the digital revolution changes the way movies are made.
But because of the work of Chris deFaria, Warner's exec VP of digital production, animation and visual effects, Warner Bros. is taking an especially far-sighted look at the future.
Beyond the duties of a typical studio vfx chief -- managing costs, helping match work to the right vendor -- deFaria has also pushed a new approach to early story development that goes beyond the printed page and brings in digital imagery, helping the studio's decisionmaking on everything from greenlighting to marketing.
Warner Bros. Pictures Group prexy Jeff Robinov points to the prototyping being done for "Green Lantern," which still has two more years till release.
"How do you make the ring effective? Is the costume real, or digital, or enhanced digitally?" Robinov said. DeFaria "makes my life easier, and I think he's doing the same for the filmmakers."
"He's one of the first to anticipate how the digital tools are going to affect storytelling," said George Miller, director of Oscar-winning toon "Happy Feet," who is working with deFaria on the pic's 3-D sequel. "He's the first who's been able to articulate it," said Miller.
By deFaria's own account, the prototyping strategy comes out of three trends he sees arising from the digital revolution.
First, to state the obvious, digital graphics tools are inherently visual.
"Just because it's obvious doesn't make it any less profound," said deFaria, who has been in his post since November 2006.
Because those tools are now cheap and easy to use, he said, the studio can do visual development alongside story development.
"We've forever been modeling movies based on screenplays and the written word. To take the wholesale leap and start to model movies and try them out in the visual realm is valuable and important."
Second is the notion of "random access": A good idea, he notes, can come from anywhere or anyone, from the director to an illustrator.
"And then the last thing," he said, "is what we call 'rapid prototyping of ideas.' "
That means it's now possible to explore a visual idea before the movie is greenlit, giving everyone more confidence that the director can realize his vision and that the picture can be marketed.
"It's proof of concept is how I see it," said helmer Zack Snyder.
On Snyder's "Watchmen," such prototyping included tests proving that the motion-capture data for "Dr. Manhattan" could be gathered on set.
"If that didn't work," said Snyder, "we didn't have enough money and time to re-mo-cap Billy (Crudup)'s performance."
DeFaria is helped by an eclectic background. As a boy, he was the voice of Peppermint Patty in several Charlie Brown TV specials. After graduating from UCLA he was a TV news producer in San Francisco, a screenwriter and a producer.
Physical production prexy Steve Papazian hired him to help with vfx. DeFaria had risen to head of that department when he found himself working on "Happy Feet," which was being animated by vfx shop Animal Logic, and Snyder's live-action/bluescreen "300."
"They would seem to be completely different movies," he recalled, "but I was seeing real similarities. I went to Jeff and Alan (Horn) and Steve Papazian and said that we might want to merge the two (animation and vfx).
Filmmakers and visual effects pros explain that deFaria has made the studio a partner rather than an adversary.
"From my perspective, he's a creative producer," said Zareh Nalbandian, who is producing the Snyder-helmed toon "Guardians of G'Hoole."
Sometimes that just means finding the right fit between a project and vfx companies, which requires knowledge of those companies similar to a casting director's knowledge of actors.
For example, DeFaria saw the opportunity for big savings in taking visual effects on the "Harry Potter" series to London, where there was a big tax incentive for the taking.
At first, he said, "We literally couldn't find a way to spend $1 million on visual effects in London. On (the last two 'Potter' films) we'll spend virtually 100% there."
Warner's relationship with the London shops has grown to include the Batman franchise and other tentpoles, and there's so much vfx work flocking there that its shops are booked solid.
But it's his prototyping efforts that may prove to be his most salient contribution to the studio.
"It's been great for us," Robinov said. "It's helped steer us down the right path, and it's sent a signal we need to explore more on certain other movies."
Harry Potter 6 Outpacing Transformers 2 in Ticket Sales
(Fandango) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, opens next week on Wednesday, July 15, but the film already represents 61% of daily ticket sales on Fandango.
Advance ticket sales for the new Potter movie are outpacing advance sales for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and the fifth Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, at the same point in those films' sales cycles (eight days before release date).
"Harry continues to be 'The Chosen One', especially among movie fans," says Rick Butler, Chief Operating Officer for Fandango. "'The Half-Blood Prince' is turning out to be one of our fastest-selling titles of the year, and has consistently been a top-seller ever since tickets went on sale on June 17."
First "Halo: Reach" Animation Footage Exposed
(videogamesrepublic.com) A video showing off animation footage from the upcoming Halo: Reach has been exposed on YouTube after appearing on a Bungie employees online CV before being taken down.
The top-secret footage, uncovered by Skoar was part of Bungie worker Will Christiansen\u2019s online CV showing a UNSC soldier handing out a beating to a Jackal.Since then Christiansen has removed the footage, all but confirming it as the real deal. But that hasn't stopped it appearing on YouTube. Check out the above video for your first bare bones glimpse of Halo: Reach.
Bungie earlier hinted that Halo: Reach could use Project Natal controls.
Take a look: http://videogamesrepublic.com/?p=6111
Mortal Kombat 3 Filming in September
(slashfilm.com) It's been a while since we've heard anything about a new Mortal Kombat movie. Back in September of last year, director Christopher "mink" Morrison told moviehole that they were still trying to find the money before going ahead with Mortal Kombat 3 (or whatever it will likely be titled).
And then there is that pesky lawsuit filed by film producer Larry Kasanoff (Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation) and his production company Threshold Entertainment against Midway Games alleging intellectual property claims to the Mortal Kombat franchise. But somehow all pending lawsuits filed against Midway were magically "resolved" last week, right before the court gave Warner Bros the okay to acquire Midway. We assume this means out of court settlements. But does this mean that a new Mortal Kombat film is closer to reality?
FirstShowing has discovered an article in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune where 44-year-old eighth-degree black belt Chris Casamassa claims he's set to start filming the third Mortal Kombat film in September. Casamassa is a stunt performer who played the role of Scorpion in the first two films. Is it possible that Mortal Kombat 3 now has funding from new Midway owner Warner Bros? It's also possible that Warner Bros could produce the film on the cheap and release it through their Warner Premiere direct-to-dvd/Blu-ray unit. Who knows.
Right now we're going off a short quote from a stunt actor, so I don't feel the need to speculate much further. The real question should be, do we really need another Mortal Kombat film? Didn't we learn our lesson from Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, which is considered one of the worst movies of all time (rated 3.1 out of 10 on IMDb)?
Walt Disney Family Museum Facebook Page Gives Ticket Prices, Hours
(jimhillmedia.com) Andy H. writes in to say:
“So what’s the deal with the Walt Disney Family Museum? I read somewhere on the Web that tickets are supposed to go on sale August 1st and that the museum itself is supposed to open on October 1st. But beyond that, there isn’t a whole lot of info out there.“
Which is true. In spite of that round of interviews and museum walk-thrus that Diane Disney Miller, Walter E. Disney Miller & executive director Richard Benefield gave the press last month of this $110-million facility – there really isn’t a whole lot of concrete information out there in regards to hours, admission prices, etc.
Which is why it’s nice that JHM alumni Roger Colton & Leo Holzer have decided to set up a Friends of the Walt Disney Museum page over on Facebook. Which – if you’re looking to plan a trip to this state-of-the-art facility – is the only place on the Web (right now, anyway) where you can find detailed information about the Museum’s hours of operation, admission prices et al.
And based on what Roger and Leo have been able to pull together so far, the Walt Disney Family Museum will be taking a theme-park-like approach to the way it handles its visitors. To explain: Only 240 entries will be allowed each hour, with 60 new visitors being pulsed into the place every 15 minutes.
As for the facility’s hours of operation, The Walt Disney Family Museum will be open daily, except on Tuesdays and major holidays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. With the last admission of the day being sold at 4:45 p.m.
And when it comes to ticket prices … Well, that’s where The Walt Disney Family Museum gets kind of interesting. Adults will be charged $20 per person, students with ID and seniors 65 and old will pay $15, while children 6 – 17 will be charged $12.50 per ticket.
Now if you’re planning on making multiple trips to this new Presidio facility, Colton & Holzer suggest that you may want to look into a membership at The Walt Disney Family Museum. Which cost $75 for an individual membership, $125 for a dual membership, $175 for a family membership (with a family being defined as a group of four) as well as $55 for a student and/or senior membership.
As for the perks that come with a membership to The Walt Disney Family Museum, you can expect to get a 10% discount on all merchandise purchased at the museum store, a quarterly newsletter, a membership card as well as additional discounts on any public & educational programs that the Disney Family Museum presents.
Mind you, if you’re in the mood to splurge, you may want to consider purchasing a Founding Membership in The Walt Disney Family Museum. Which – in addition to getting you an extra 5% off on all purchases at the museum store – will also get you a total of 20 free admissions to the facility for your Guests. Not to mention a numbered certificate that will be signed by Diane Disney Miller and Richard Benefield, an autographed copy of a soon-to-be-published Disney-related book, as well as a collectible membership card & pin. And did I mention that – as a Founding Member – you’ll also receive invitations to select events, concerts and openings at this facility?
Of course, you’re going to have to pay for that level of perks. A Founding membership at The Walt Disney Family Museum costs $500 per person. But the upside is that $425 of that contribution is tax deductible.
If you really want to stay on top of what’s going on with The Walt Disney Family Museum, I’d suggest that you sign up for that Friends of The Walt Disney Family Museum page over on Facebook.
Real Time Ray Tracing Desktop Computer Announced
(arstechnica.com) A Japanese company has announced a massive, 800 teraflop real-time ray tracing (RTRT) system that gangs together nine, 73-core chips into a single system that fits inside a desktop computer form factor. The new chip, which is being jointly developed with Toyota and Unisys, is aimed at the auto industry, where designers will use it to prototype body designs and paint combinations.
As for how this system works, there are currently only two sources of information: a Japanese description on the website of the chip's maker, TOPS Systems Corporation, and a Nikkei article in English that's presumably a summary of the Japanese original. Given the paucity of information and the relative shallowness of my technical knowledge of ray tracing, I'll give my best shot at explaining this system and putting it in context, and I'll invite others to weigh in with more info in the comments thread.
As
I noted above, the overall system consists of nine identical, 45nm
ASICs ganged together via some unspecified interconnect scheme. Each
individual ASIC consists of nine compute clusters connected to one
another through a shared bus. (See this excellent diagram
from Nikkei.) This bus also hosts a 64-bit RISC master controller that
presumably takes in work in batches and assigns it to the other eight
cores, which then do the grunt work of computing the rays; there are
also I/O and memory interfaces attached to this shared bus, which link
the chip to the rest of the system.
Given that this new ASIC is a very ambitious, complex design that will be fabricated at the current 45nm process node, it will be quite expensive. And given that the only possible use of this extremely expensive, boutique ASIC is to accelerate ray tracing—a rendering technique whose commercial prospects outside of the narrow market of industrial design are debatable—there doesn't seem to be any way that this product can achieve enough volume to come down in price. This means that the TOPS part will always be a boutique item intended for a very specific, relatively small vertical, and all of its customers will pay through the nose for it into perpetuity—sort of like the SGI workstations of old, but worse.
Full Press: http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/07/800-tflop-real-time-ray-tracing-gpu-unveiled-not-for-gamers.ars
Games Studio 'Eidos' Folded Into 'Square Enix Europe', Layoffs Likely
Square Enix, the newfound owner of Tomb Raider publisher Eidos, is to combine various aspects of the two companies into a streamlined outfit called "Square Enix Europe."
"Square Enix Europe (final name TBC) will include Eidos' global network of studios and combine the Square Enix and Eidos European sales and marketing businesses to create one efficient and powerful structure for game publishing," Square told MCV.
As for North America, "all marketing, sales and distribution functions will be transferred from Eidos Inc to Square Enix in this territory."
The shifts are expected to result in some layoffs, with Square "hoping to minimise this wherever possible and offer support and advice to any employees directly affected."
Comic-Con Builds 3D Movie Theater For Avatar Footage Premiere
(screenrant.com) Website Dorkshelf is running an exclusive claiming they have it from a “reliable” (though uncredited) source that footage from James Cameron’s 3D sci-fi epic Avatar will be screened at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. And not only will the Avatar footage be shown, according to Dorkshelf, but preparations are being made to show it in full “photorealistic” 3D, just as Cameron intended!
Rumor is that the Avatar footage will be screened during the film’s hour-long Comic-Con panel on July 23rd, which will feature appearances from Avatar stars Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver, as well as Cameron himself. The location of the panel will be the H hall at the San Diego Convention Center, which is allegedly being converted into a 3D movie theater for the event.
If this news pans out, I know where I’ll be the moment that panel starts: in a prime seat with my 3D glasses in hand.
'Transformers 2' Robots May Be CG, But Not the Pyramids
(usatoday.com) Throughout history, great leaders have stood in marvel at the foot of the pyramids of Giza \u2014Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte.
Now it's Optimus Prime's turn.Moviegoers who helped Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen earn $200.1 million in its opening five days, just short of record-holder The Dark Knight, know the computer-effects-heavy film plays a lot of tricks on the eye. One thing they're seeing for real are the pyramids, because director Michael Bay was determined to shoot the shapeshifting-robot finale on the surface of the ancient structures.
In the final cut, much of that scene is dominated by CG-animated alien robots, including Devastator — the new villain made out of seven individual robots who hide in the form of construction equipment. But the flesh-and-blood actors also got to romp on the pyramids.
Bay himself stood on a high ledge filming scenes with actor John Turturro (reprising his role as the blowhard former government agent who's a Transformers expert). "We're 30 rows up, and it's just neat. Pictures don't do justice to it, but on this movie, you get the scale of what the pyramid really is because John's right there," Bay says.
The filmmaker says it was overwhelming for both of them, a feeling that struck a few days later when they were in Jordan shooting atop a mountainside-carved temple in the ancient city of Petra. "(Turturro) was looking at Petra, and it was the morning of, just setting up, and he had a tear in his eye. I was like 'What's going on?' " Bay recalls. "He said, 'You never get to do this. I was at the pyramids just the other day, and now I'm here. You just never get to do this.' "
That was the final problem: an awestruck crew.
"I actually had to yell once: 'Anyone pulls out a (expletive) video camera again, you're going home!' We were shooting on top of this palace right next to the pyramids. The sun has just dropped, and you've got literally 15 minutes of light — one chance, and you've got to get the scene. You have to be ready to knock it out. But the crew is there with the video cameras, posing and taking photos, because it's a once-in-a-lifetime place. I was like, 'Guys! This is my time now!' " he says, laughing.
"It was the end of the show, and it was funny," he says, shrugging. "We barely made it."
Full Press: http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2009-06-29-transformers-egypt_N.htm
