Prince of Persia, Arnie On T4 & Starship Daze Release Date...
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Pre-Production Concept Art
(cinematical.com) Not long ago, I pointed you toward a story over at Jim Hill Media in which Hill himself talked about how Disney's planned adaptation of the Prince of Persia video game might soon become the studio's next big franchise. We already know the first Persia-related film Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, is currently in development; IMDb lists a release date of 2008 and Charlie Clausen has apparently nabbed the part of the prince.
Our Italian friends (oh yes, Cinematical has friends all over the
globe) from Badtaste seemed to have uncovered some promotional artwork
for either the film or a new video game. They claim to have received
the images in a promotional document from Disney, and promptly scoured
the net for similar game-related images, but could not find any that
matched. Which, of course, leads us to believe that this is our first
look at some of the pre-production artwork for Disney's "next great
franchise." Story follows a prince and a rival princess who team up to
prevent a villainous ruler from unleashing a world-ending sandstorm.
For those of you Prince of Persia fanatics out there, take a look at
the pics and let us know what you think?
Take a look: http://www.badtaste.it/images/foto/persia1.jpg
http://www.badtaste.it/images/foto/persia2.jpg
http://www.badtaste.it/images/foto/persia3.jpg
The Water Horse Pushes Release Date
(darkhorizons.com) Fantasy flick "The Water Horse" has been pushed back three months and will now open at Christmas.
"The Water Horse" is the story of a young lonely Scottish boy who discovers a mysterious egg on the shore of a loch. The egg hatches and a mysterious creature - the mythical water horse, the sea monster of Scottish legend - emerges. As the monster grows, the boy has his hands full trying to hide the monster from people who don't understand it and want to hurt it.
The same team who did the special effects on Peter Jackson's "King Kong" and "Lord of the Rings" films - Weta Digital and Weta Workshop - will be creating the effects for "The Water Horse."
Arnold to do Terminator 4 Cameo?
(Boston Herald) MGM Chairman and CEO Harry Sloan said in Boston this week that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger may do a cameo appearance in Terminator 4.
"Yes, we will need a new actor," Sloan said about the title role. "But Arnold may do a cameo. I think it's in his contract."
Sloan also said that he has given the green light to The Thomas Crown Affair sequel with Pierce Brosnan again in the lead.
"Pierce still looks good in a tux," he said, not divulging many other
details about The Topkapi Affair.
First American Anime Film Uses Home-grown Technology
(variety.com) Berlin this go-round is not just about Hollywood movies in the main Competition like "The Good German" and "The Good Shepherd."There's also "Tekkonkinkreet," the first American-made anime movie, which is unspooling in the Generation 14 Plus sidebar.
It got a standing ovation from the SRO crowd at its first screening on Saturday. Helmer Michael Arias (who worked on "Matrix" spinoff "Animatrix") and writer Anthony Weintraub (friends since college) collaborated on the transfer of the eponymous Japanese graphic novel, or manga, to the screen.
In the process Arias created and patented a computer graphics technology known as Toon Shaders, which is software designed to integrate CG with traditional cel animation.
Not surprisingly, a unit of Sony Pictures in Japan got involved in repping the movie. (Arias himself has spent 15 years in Japan.)
Pic opened in Japan in late December and has grossed $4.5 million. Plot revolves around two urchins who fight to save their neighborhood from extra-terrestrial land developers.
"It's arty, intellectual, violent -- all the things anime should be," Arias said.
Still unclear is whether Sony will release "Tekkonkinkreet" theatrically or go straight to DVD in the U.S., but it did just close a deal with France's Rezo Films for rights in that territory.
New Line Taps $350M Film Deal
(arts.guardian.co.uk) British actors, directors or producers
hoping to make it big in Hollywood are nothing new. But they are not
alone in their dreams of striking it rich in the film business.
High-street institution the Royal Bank of Scotland has announced a
$350m (£179m) film financing deal with New Line Cinema, the studio
behind the highly successful Lord of the Rings trilogy and recent
stinker Snakes on a Plane. This is the first time that RBS has done
this kind of deal, and the cash will be used to help fund a slate of
20 films over a two-year period. The bank will share in the profits if
the films are a success and in its losses if they misfire.
This type of deal in the American film business is nothing new. The
large Wall Street banks, specialist private investment funds and,
increasingly, the secretive hedge funds that invest money for the
super-rich have been bankrolling big-budget films with potentially big
returns for a long time. In the past couple of years, almost all of
the studios have reached agreements with banks to finance a slate of
films: Lions Gate, for one, recently signed a similar $210m financing
deal with Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs.
"As the cost of films has increased in the past 10, 15 or 20 years,
and the cost of releasing and marketing a film has increased so the
studios have been constantly seeking facilities to fund the production
side of the business," says Andrew Somper at film financing
consultancy Scotts Atlantic. "They are constantly trying to do all
sorts of things to raise money from the outside."
The deal with New Line means that our pennies will help to fund films
including The Golden Compass, the highly anticipated $150m fantasy
starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, and a remake of the campy
classic Hairspray featuring John Travolta and Michelle Pfeiffer. "We
haven't done this kind of slate deal before," says New Line
co-chairman Michael Lynne. "In the past, we were directly financed by
Time Warner. RBS is a minority investment but a significant one. It
allows us to do a few more high profile 'tentpole' films." RBS, which
also owns Natwest, has a long history of investment in the film
industry, though the trade papers suggest its lending in Europe has
tailed off in recent years.
So should we be worried that the RBS is, on our behalf, dabbling in
film production? While it is inherently risky, it remains peanuts,
though, for a banking group which is expected to announce profits for
2006 of around £9.5bn. "This kind of financing is constant and steady
and usually quiet," says Heather Mansfield at Mansfield Associates, a
risk management firm for companies investing in film. "It has always
been there and always will be. But it is quite rare for a UK bank to
get involved and to break cover like this. We don't have the
extraordinary business structure of the American film industry. The
studios have very strong banking relationships."
Europe, by comparison, is a cottage industry. A big-budget film is
$20m, and funding usually comes from selling distribution rights, tax
credits and what one industry figure describes as the "usual
suspects"; the BBC, FilmFour and the Film Council in Britain. The 15
or 20% that leaves is referred to as "gap financing" - which is where
rich investors, specialist funds and, on rare occasions, the banks
step in.
A handful of British banks dabble in the film business. HSBC has gone
after Hollywood business and was part of a consortium lending $250m to
Beacon Pictures. Barclays offers bridging loans for tax credits in the
UK and works with Hollywood studios filming in Europe. The London
division of Allied Irish Bank helped finance about 10 films last year,
including Stormbreaker. Other banks in London with specialist film
units include Bank of Ireland, Standard Chartered and Société
Générale.
The banks tend to steer clear of investing directly into British film.
Mark Lane at Barclays says the average return against a 100%
investment in a British film is just 40% - in other words for every
£10 you invest you will get back just £4. Still, the US is not the
only other game in town. Barclays has has just opened offices in
Bollywood.
Eddie Murphy Sci-fi Comedy Sets A Date
(darkhorizons.com) Eddie Murphy sci-fi comedy "Starship Daze" has been set for a May 30th 2008 release.
Theologian Calls Out James Cameron For Heresy
(pegasusnews.com) Dr. Jerry Johnson, President of Criswell
College in Dallas and host of the "Jerry Johnson LiveShow" on 90.9
KCBI, said that James Cameron's claims of finding physical remains of
Jesus are unscientific, as well as heretical; and he would like an
apology from Cameron to those who hold the Bible's account of Jesus'
resurrection to be the truth. Cameron's claim comes as a result of his
controversial documentary The Lost Tomb of Christ set to air on the
Discovery Channel on March 4.
More: http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007/feb/28/dallas-baptist-theologian-calls-out-james-cameron-/
'Potter' Sets Undergo Changes
(dailyherald.com) Even obsessive "Harry Potter" fans have
barely noticed that Hogwarts has had a makeover from the first two
films. Oscar-winning art director Stuart Craig, who has designed all
five "Potter" movies (including this summer's "Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix"), agreed to share a few of those changes:
• Hagrid's house was an octagonal one-room hut in the first film, but
Craig added a bedroom in the back.
• The main entrance to Hogwarts is new. The first movie used a real
location, Christ Church College at Oxford. For the second film, it was
replaced with a built set.
• Hogsmeade Station has been reconceived for "Phoenix." It had been an
actual location in the North Yorkshire moors. For this film, Craig
created a new set in the woods near Pinewood Studios.
• The trees in the Forbidden Forest are bigger. And speaking of
growth, the beds in the Gryffindor dormitory have been extended -
ditto the classroom desks - to keep pace with actors who've become
teens.
Craig is now designing sets for the sixth film, "Harry Potter and the
Half-Blood Prince." But he's anxious for J. K. Rowling's seventh, and
final, book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," due
in stores July 21. "We need to know which sets to retain for the last
film," he says.
"Y: The Last Man" Dead In Water
(darkhorizons.com) The film adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan's "Y: The Last Man" comic series looks to be dead in the water a year after it was announced over at New Line Cinema.
"It's not in development hell. It's in development heck. I finished the screenplay a few months ago. Everybody at New Line seemed to like it. For Hollywood, it's either really fast or it's really slow, and it's really slow right now. I've done my job and it's out to directors now and it could be totally out of my control after this" said Vaughan at the New York Comic Con last weekend according to Slashfilm.
"Y: The Last Man" follows Yorick Brown, a young amateur escape artist, and his Capuchin monkey, Ampersand, the last two men on Earth. Something (speculated to be a plague) simultaneously kills every mammal possessing a Y chromosome - including embryos, fertilized eggs, and even sperm.
Society is plunged into chaos as infrastructures collapse and the surviving women everywhere try to cope with the loss of the men. Yorick goes on a mission to find his girlfriend Beth, who was on vacation in Australia.
The Presidio's Special Federal Effects
(sfbg.com) As a production assistant for a visual effects studio, Robert Seeley had a job at the Orphanage that was nuts and bolts for the movie industry — handling paperwork, overseeing schedules, arranging deliveries, and making sure folks were fed, clients were happy, and many of the million little logistics for a film project were coordinated.
His days began with an hour-long commute from Pleasant Hill to the
Presidio, where the Orphanage is based.
Mornings started around 9, and the typical workday ran about 10 hours. Or it did when he started there, in July 2006.
"There was a snowball effect. It started out as a regular 10-hour workday. It slowly built to 12, then 16," Seeley told the Guardian.
At one point, Seeley charges, he was asked to work a 20-hour shift — and return to work two and a half hours later. When he didn't come in, he was fired.
Seeley sued, and the case was eventually settled. But along the way, the lawyers for the Orphanage raised a startling argument: since the Presidio is a federal enclave, they said, California labor law, which restricts the length of shifts, doesn't apply.
"This was a really straightforward, meat and potatoes case," Seeley's lawyer, Steve Sommers, told the Guardian. "And if he worked across the street, it would have been a slam dunk."
If the legal argument advanced by the studio as a response to Seeley's lawsuit is right — and some labor experts say it may very well be — then none of the private companies that lease space at the Presidio have to follow any state or local labor laws. That means no California or San Francisco minimum wage, no workplace safety statutes, nothing. And since state law is generally far tougher than federal law, the difference could be profound.
There are hundreds of people working for private companies in the Presidio, which operates under a unique arrangement that allows private, commercial development in a national park.
Federal regulations are almost always weaker than California's — and not necessarily improving. "Federal laws are evolving backwards for the most part," said Katie Quan, associate chair for Labor Research and Education at UC Berkeley. "There have been attempts to weaken benefits, Social Security, who can and can't join unions. Even the new minimum wage that's been passed — there's a big question as to whether or not [George W.] Bush will sign it."
While California's minimum wage is $7.50 and San Francisco's is $9.14, the federal hourly rate is currently $5.15 — and arguably the only one that applies in the Presidio.
Several employment lawyers contacted by us initially suggested that California's labor statutes would have to apply in the Presidio, but Chris Cannon, a lawyer familiar with the situation, did not.
"I've ...
Dates & Location Set for 2007 Festival of Visual Effects
(vfxworld.com) The 2007 VES Festival of Visual Effects
will take place the weekend of June 8-10 at the Writers Guild Theater
in Beverly Hills.
"We're thrilled to present our ninth annual Festival at the WGA
Theater," said Eric Roth, exec director of the Visual Effects Society
(VES). "Our commitment to innovative programming this year has crossed
over to include the VES 50: The Most Influential Visual Effects Films
of All Time as determined by VES members and a distinguished panel of
judges. Some of the top films will then be presented and discussed at
the June Festival," added Roth.
The VES defines most influential as "those films that have had a
significant, lasting impact on the practice and appreciation of visual
effects as an integral, artistic element of cinematic expression and
the storytelling process."
"The panel of judges will include a wide range of filmmakers and
members of the media, in addition to visual effects industry
professionals," Roth added.
The VES Festival is open to the public; information on programs and
tickets will be released in upcoming months.
One of Hollywood's youngest organizations, the VES
(www.visualeffectssociety.com) was formed in 1997 in response to the
explosive growth in the visual effects industry. It is a professional,
honorary society, dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and
applications of visual effects and to improving the welfare of its
members by providing professional enrichment and education, fostering
community, and promoting industry recognition. The VES is the
entertainment industry's only organization representing the full
breadth of visual effects practitioners including artists,
technologists, model makers, educators, studio leaders, supervisors,
PR/marketing specialists and producers in all areas of entertainment
from film, television and commercials to music videos and games.
Comprised of a diverse group of about 1,500 global members, the VES
strives to enrich and educate its own members and members of the
entertainment community at large through a multitude of domestic and
international events, screenings and programs.
Premier Theater At Lucasfilm Shows 'The War'
(sfgate.com) San Francisco State University's Doc Film Institute offers a preview of Ken Burns' new movie, "The War," as part of the institute's annual documentary film festival.
"The War" is a seven-part, 14-hour film about the impact of World War II on ordinary Americans, and also a tribute to war documentaries. Burns' movie focuses on American citizens from four geographically diverse communities: Sacramento; Waterbury, Conn.; Mobile, Ala.; and Luverne, Minn.
Ninety minutes of footage from the picture will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Castro Theatre, and Burns will be interviewed by author Thomas Sanchez after the screening. In addition, Part 1 of the film will be presented by Burns at 7:30 p.m. March 2 at the Premier Theater at Lucasfilm in the Presidio.
For ticket information on the Castro event, call (415) 392-4400 or visit www.cityboxoffice.com; for the Lucasfilm event, www.ticketweb.com. For general festival information: (415) 338-1519 or www.ica.sfsu.edu.
