Tim Burton Walks, The Mill Sizzle Reel, & Aardman Returns
Believe It or Not!... Tim Burton is Out?
(ComingSoon.net) ComingSoon.net has learned that Paramount
Pictures may be searching for a new director for the Jim
Carrey-starring action-adventure Ripley's Believe It or Not!. Tim
Burton had been attached to helm the feature, written by Steve
Oedekerk (Evan Almighty). The studio was planning a winter 2008 start
for a 2009 release date, but it's not known whether this will change
things.
The film is based on Robert Ripley, who was an aspiring professional
baseball player until he was injured in 1913, the same year his first
cartoon appeared in a newspaper. Ripley visited 201 countries
throughout his lifetime, all the while collecting information about
strange oddities to appear in his columns and cartoons.
In Ripley's Believe It or Not!, the eccentric, wealthy, world-renown
collector goes in search of a magical, lost tribe of people. He must
battle nefarious forces and come to terms with the man behind the
mysteries.
Oedekerk and Carrey began collaborating on "In Living Color," and
Oedekerk wrote and directed Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and
scripted Bruce Almighty. Burton is currently directing Johnny Depp in
the thriller musical Sweeney Todd.
Visual Effects Artist Eric Algren Dies at 32
(VFXworld.com) Eric Algren passed away unexpectedly on May
25, 2007, at the age of 32, reports the BIG CARTOON DATABASE.
His most recent work was as a Flame artist on FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF
THE SILVER SURFER. He also served as a digital compositor on the
upcoming sci-fi thriller THE INVASION, which is set for release in the
U.S. on Aug. 17.
He worked for such companies as Hydraulx, Digital Domain and Creo for
projects including 300, X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, AEON FLUX, LITTLE MAN,
FAILURE TO LAUNCH and TITANIC. In 2000, he was an animation assistant
on Disney's DINOSAUR.
Algren was born on Aug. 22, 1974, in Narragansett, Rhode Island to
Charles G. and Barbara W. Algren (Whipple). He was raised in
Manchester, Connecticut and Narragansett. He graduated in 1992 from
Manchester High School followed by Emerson College in Boston where he
graduated from in 1995.
Recently, he launched his own company, Burning Bridges Inc.
His mother Barbara of Narragansett; fiance Bayu LaPrade of Marina del
Rey; sister Lorayne Algren Black; brother-in law David H. Black, Jr.;
and nephew and niece Robert Charles Black and Sarah MacKenzie Black of
Groton, Massachusetts, survive him.
A memorial service will take place at Old Narragansett Church in
Wickford, Rhode Island on Sunday, July 15, at 11:00 am. A scholarship
fund has been set up in his memory at Emerson College. Please make
checks out to Emerson College and include the Eric Algren Scholarship
Fund in the memo section of the check. Send contributions to Emerson
College, 120 Boylston St., 7th floor, Boston, Massachusetts
02116-4624, ATTN: A. Meyers.
Starship Troopers Report For Duty, Again
(moviehole.net) Boris Kodjoe (TVs "Soul Food"), Marnette
Patterson ("Charmed"), Anthony Bishop ("Catch a Fire") and comedian
Jon Falkow have joined the cast of the direct-to-dvd release "Starship
Troopers : Marauder".
The film was originally set to shoot in May of this year but was
perceivably pushed back. Ed Neumeier directs.
FHM's Tanya van Graan seems to have also won a role, according to
filmmaker.co.za.
"I'm one of the seven troopers who must help to save the earth," says
Tanya. "I'm not sure exactly where the movie will be shot, but I know
that many of the outer-space sequences will be filmed in a studio."
NEW HARRY POTTER MOVIE GETS "MATURE" RATING IN AUSTRALIA
(contactmusic.com) Australia's Office of Film and Literature
Classification has given an M rating ("requires a mature perspective")
to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, an advisory rating that
could discourage parents from allowing their children to see it. The
rating is less restrictive than the board's MA 15+, which requires
children under 15 to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Although Roadshow Films, which is releasing the movie in Australia on
July 11, had previously appealed M ratings for earlier Harry Potter
movies -- with mixed success -- it said it would not do so for the new
film.
New Line Builds The $40,000 Man
(Variety) New Line has bought The $40,000 Man, a comedy
spoof written by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein and set it
up with Benderspink.
The story centers on a legendary astronaut and true American hero who
finds himself horribly injured in a car accident and rebuilt by the
government to be a bionic man, on a budget of $40,000 -- which makes
him not that bionic.
It's the first script sale for Daley, who's racked up lengthy TV
credits including "Kitchen Confidential" and "Freaks and Geeks."
Goldstein has worked for a decade in TV. His credits include "The New
Adventures of Old Christine."
The Mill: 2007 Sizzle Reel Utterly Amazing
(motionbuilder.com)
Take a look: http://ny.beam.tv/beamreels/reel_player.php?QjvDZxCfDg
June VFX / CG Film Tracking Numbers are Shocking
(slashfilm.com) Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere has
published the late June industry tracking numbers. To make things
easier, we have filed the numbers in this neat little table below:
Movie Awareness Interest First Choice Not Interested
1408 56% 30% 9% 12%
Evan Almighty 89% 40% 15%
Live Free or Die Hard 92% 36% 5%
Ratatouille 78% 36% 7%
Transformers 87% 41% 12%
Here are the things that we immediately notice: More people are
interested in Pixar's Ratatouille than we originally thought. It
appears that more people have that film listed as their first choice
than Live Free or Die Hard, A Mighty Heart, Sicko or License to Wed.
Live Free or Die Hard has the most awareness by far (with 92%), but is
not the film people want to see (36% interested, 5% top choice).
What shocks us the most is that Evan Almighty is tracking slightly
higher than even Transformers. How can this be? Is it that we are
stuck in our online geek web bubble not able to see the outside
world's interest in the Bruce Almighty sequel? Possibly.
Of course, all these numbers will change as the marketing picks up on
the early July flicks. I would expect Transformers numbers to
increase.
South Korea Plans Sequel To Hit Monster Movie The Host
(abc.net.au) A South Korean movie company says it plans a
sequel to its monster movie The Host, which became an international
hit.
Chungeoram Productions says shooting will begin later this year with a
different director.
Bong Joon-Ho, who wrote and directed the 2006 hit, will not make the
sequel because he is working on a different movie.
"The full-scale production will begin this fall," Choi Yong-Bae,
executive producer of Chungeoram, was quoted by Yonhap news agency as
saying.
The company will use local computer graphics for the sequel, set for
release next year.
The Host largely depended on a visual effects company in San Francisco.
"We already started analysing work with a local company," Choi said.
It is budgeted at about 10 billion won ($A12.8 million) compared to 11
billion won ($A14 million) for the original, Yonhap says.
The original movie tells the story of a family of five running a kiosk
along Seoul's Han River, whose lives are transformed when the daughter
is lost to a monstrous creature that has been mutated by toxic waste
from a US military base.
The Host set a ticket sales record in South Korea last year when it
drew more than 12 million viewers.
It has also been screened around the world including the US,
throughout Europe and in India.
The movie topped the Chinese box office in March.
Even communist North Korea praised The Host for what it saw as its
critical stance towards US troops stationed in the South.
Ridley Scott to Make Monopoly Movie?
(cinematical.com) Who knew that toy companies had agents?
This is what I wondered earlier this month when Variety reported that
Hasbro had switched from CAA to William Morris. Then, it was announced
that the switch would lead to a live-action G.I. Joe movie and a
"contemporizing" of brands such as Clue, Trivial Pursuit, Ouiji, Candy
Land and Monopoly. We've already seen a great movie made out of one of
those games (Clue) and the Ouiji board features in countless scary
movies.
Now there's word from Down Under (their source is the Sunday Times of
London) that Monopoly will be made into a major motion picture, and it
will actually be directed by the great Ridley Scott. Oh, and it may
have a lot of big stars, as Hasbro has been promised by the agency
that the movie will feature the cream of the crop of William Morris'
talent. According to the article, Scarlett Johansson and Kirsten Dunst
have already been offered roles. Hmmm, is today the Australian
equivalent of April Fool's Day or something?
Skillset To Fund Escape Studios' VFX Course
(developmag.com) All fees for visual effects teaching covered
by educational body
Skillset has teamed up with Escape Studios to provide free training in
film special effects on a course starting in September.
The Skillset Film Fund will pay for 100 per cent of the fees for new
students applying for Escape Studios' Maya for VFX Production course.
The course offers 12 students the chance to undertake 13 weeks of
full-time tuition followed by a further four week placement in the
Escape Pod production teams. The Escape Pods provide the studio's
graduates with the opportunity to work on real projects such as X-Men
3 and Sunshine.
More information, including details on how to apply, can be found at
the Escape Site:
http://www.escapestudios.co.uk/news_07.php?id=30
AARDMAN BOUNCES BACK
(chud.com) January of '07 was a bummer of a month in a stream of
bummers for Aardman Animation: their once-promising relationship with
Dreamworks was summarily executed thanks to the wimpy BO performance
of Flushed Away (CHUD coverage here). In the months since, however,
things have begun to look up, as the house that Gromit built easily
negotiated a first-look deal with Sony Pictures (whose animation house
isn't doing so hot itself thanks to an underperforming Surf's Up).
Now, two months later, Aardman has announced their post-Dreamworks
lineup, which has received a nice shot in the arm thanks to a host of
quality British writers being brought on board to pen the upcoming
projects The Cat Burglars, The Pirates! and Operation Rudolph.
First up are well-regarded TV writers Matthew Graham and Ashley
Pharoah (Life on Mars, which, being decidedly un-British, I haven't
seen) who will be penning The Cat Burglars, a stop-motion work being
pitched as a barnyard Ocean's 11 in much the same way Chicken Run was
pitched as a barnyard The Great Escape.
Chicken Run director, and Aardman co-founder, Peter Lord will team
with writers Andy Riley and Kevin Cecilwill to adapt a series of books
called The Pirates! in an adventure with__________. Based on a series
of books by Gideon Defoe, The Pirates! follows a swashbuckling band of
charming seagoing thieves and murderers, the ham they treasure and the
Darwins, Ahabs and communists they encounter along the way.
Lastly, Borat co-writer Peter Baynham is writing up Operation Rudolph,
a take on the whole Santa Claus theme which reveals Christmas delivery
isn't so much a result of charming elven magic and cheer, but more
along the lines of combat operations and real-time strategem.
Interestingly, with Wallace and Grommit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit
having done respectably in the states and very well overseas, there's
no mention of the Aardman staple in this latest lineup of projects.
Creative Director Sara Smith's recent comments explaineth: "This is an
interesting time in the animation industry -- while there is clearly
still a big appetite among cinemagoers for great animated films, there
is a feeling of sameness about much of the product coming out of the
industry at present, in terms of their stories." With most animation
stories these days bowing to the altar of The Lion King's "Discover
Yourself" storytelling, amen to that.
Aardman's stuff has been thematically original and unrelentingly
charming (this coming from the guy who threw a few barbs toward
grown-ups facilitating consumption of kid-things) when stacked up
against most of its peers. Now that a distribution channel is
available, the coming years will allow Aardman the opportunity to
deliver on Smith's lofty promise of these projects to come: "I think
there's a great opportunity to excite audiences by raising the stakes
in terms of the quality, intelligence and variety of the stories our
animated films tell and the genres they inhabit."
Buckley's Sisters Grimm to the Big Screen
(comingsoon.net) Josephson Entertainment and New Regency
Productions have acquired author Michael Buckley's children's book
series "The Sisters Grimm," reports Variety. Barry Josephson will
produce.
The film will be based on the first three books in the projected
nine-volume series; four are available in 15 languages and have sold
more than half a million copies.
The story weaves the tale of orphaned sisters Sabrina and Daphne
Grimm, descendants of the Brothers Grimm, on a quest to find their
parents.
"We had a lot of people who were interested, but it didn't seem like
there was anybody who could actually get it made," said Buckley of the
deal. "And I didn't want to hand the books over and let them sit.
Also, I wanted to find people who could make a movie that a parent
could enjoy as well as a kid."
VFX Career Tips: A Case Study
(vfxtricks.blogspot.com) In this tip we focus on how you should
choose which facility to work at.
It appears that there are three basic models in the area of design,
animation and post-production. The Star model, the Producer-Director
team and the Team/crew approaches. It is vital to know how you work
and how the prospective company works.
The Star model is based on facility equipment and stars. You build a
big impressive suite, get a big impressive hardware box, and then you
hire a post-production Star. You then sit them in the room and watch
them pull a crowd. This individual is sometimes called a rainmaker,
and will be paid a fortune. They are paid a major telephone number
salary since they attract truck loads of work, - in this senario you
are normally NOT this person you just want to be this person someday,
but for now you assist them.
More: http://vfxtricks.blogspot.com/2007/06/career-tips.html
DreamWorks Animation Options Interworld
(comingsoon.net) Neil Gaiman has revealed on his official
website that DreamWorks Animation has optioned the author and Michael
Reaves' Interworld.
For example, back in 1996 Michael Reaves was working doing adventure
cartoon serials at Dreamworks Animation. He started talking to me
about an idea for something that could be a potential animated story,
and we began knocking ideas back and forth about what we'd want to see
animated and why, and that became an idea about a boy who finds
himself in the middle of a war between two equally powerful forces,
who joins a super-team consisting of versions of himself from
different alternate realities to try and maintain the cosmic balance.
Gibson Sets Sights On First Black Comic-Book Superhero
(scifi.com) Tyrese Gibson (Transformers) told SCI FI Wire
that it's looking increasingly likely that he will star in a
big-screen movie featuring the Marvel Comics hero Luke Cage. If
everything goes according to plan, Gibson will play Cage, the first
black comic-book superhero, in a film to be directed by John
Singleton, who previously directed Gibson in the drama Baby Boy.
"They're doing rewrites on it now, and we actually have a meeting
coming up on it soon, from what I hear, just to see where we are with
the whole thing," Gibson said in an interview while promoting
Transformers. "Right now they're in the process of getting the
rewrites done, and then they'll, I guess, do kind of a formal
presentation to see if it's going to be a go."
Asked what interests Gibson most about the super-strong and
hard-to-hurt Cage character, he replied: "I just love his presence,
and I love the fact that he's one of the first black comic-book
characters. I'd like to make the comic-book world proud with what I'm
looking to do with Luke Cage. So hopefully the opportunity all pans
itself out. Me and Singleton are both looking to be a part of it, if
the screenplay turns out right. I met with [producer] Avi Arad, and
he's very excited about the possibility. But you can't do a great
movie without a great script, and the ducks have got to line up."
Institute Celebrates Graduates' Special Effects Jobs
(icwales.icnetwork.co.uk) BEHIND the scenes of some of
next year's biggest Hollywood blockbusters there will be a group of
talented Welsh university graduates making the special effects.
Six Swansea students have found employment before graduation day and
will be working on films like the latest Harry Potter, the new Batman
and Narnia films, and 10,000 BC.
Swansea Institute is celebrating 100% employment success from its BSc
3D Computer Animation course.
The graduates have been taken on by visual effects company Moving
Picture Company, the people behind Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter
films.
The employers' confidence in the talent of graduates means they will
all be working on multi-million dollar Hollywood movies or
high-profile commercials.
Despite the course only beginning in 2000, the institute believes that
it is becoming one of the leaders in the country and it is now
attracting students from across the world
More: http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_headline=institute-celebrates-graduates--8217--special-effects-jobs&method=full&objectid=19298682&siteid=50082-name_page.html
YOU CANNOT STOP UWE. YOU CAN ONLY HOPE TO CONTAIN HIM.
(Chud.com - The Hollywood Reporter) Oddly, and sadly,
enough, I found myself musing a few days ago as to what happened to
Dr. Uwe Boll. A thoroughly untalented, yet determined filmmaker, Boll
has earned a special status as the Ed Wood of our times with his
almost unbelievably shitty body of videogame movies, all financed
through some odd Ponzi scheme where somebody is either making or
laundering money with these things despite none of them even remotely
approaching profitability in terms of DVDs sold or box office
receipts. While I know tax laws changed a few years back to close some
rather glaring loopholes, I figured a little thing like that wouldn't
stop Uwe from getting the job done, and indeed, he's continued making
movies. But after the BloodRayne theatrical distribution debacle (Long
story short: They distributed the film through Billy Zane's company
and shipped a lot of prints to theaters that didn't even book the
film), I feared Boll might be finished in US theaters and doomed to do
God's work direct-to-DVD.
Now, I feel like a fool for ever doubting the guy. He's just made a
deal with Freestyle Releasing to give his next three films, including
the "long-awaited" In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
(which was originally slated to come out through Zane's company as
well), a wide theatrical release here in America. Not only is that
film the priority, but it's got at least $20 million in Prints &
Advertising commitment in writing. Best of all is this quote about the
movie from Freestyle president Marke Borde: "Freestyle is really
getting behind this picture. It's a pretty big picture and it plays
great. I don't chase movies based on video games and any pre-awareness
that those franchises might have with an audience. I chase movies that
are good."
Savini Vamps Up for Dead Matter
(moviehole.net) Make-up mastermind Tom Savini - recently
seen in "Grindhouse" - will play a devious vampire overlord named
Sebed in Edward Douglas's "The Dead Matter".
Produced in conjunction with Precinct 13 Entertainment, the new horror
film also stars Andrew Divoff ("Lost") and Jason Carter ("Babylon 5").
It tells of a grief stricken young woman who will do anything to
contact her dead brother.
Filming starts August 6 in Ohio.
Divoff, who was seen most recently as the eye-patch- wearing villain,
Mikhail Bakunin, on ABC's "Lost" and will be seen in the upcoming
film, "The Rage", will be joining the set of "The Dead Matter" as the
character, Vellich.
Vellich's arch-nemesis, Ian McCallister, will be played by Carter.
(ComingSoon.net) ComingSoon.net has learned that Paramount
Pictures may be searching for a new director for the Jim
Carrey-starring action-adventure Ripley's Believe It or Not!. Tim
Burton had been attached to helm the feature, written by Steve
Oedekerk (Evan Almighty). The studio was planning a winter 2008 start
for a 2009 release date, but it's not known whether this will change
things.
The film is based on Robert Ripley, who was an aspiring professional
baseball player until he was injured in 1913, the same year his first
cartoon appeared in a newspaper. Ripley visited 201 countries
throughout his lifetime, all the while collecting information about
strange oddities to appear in his columns and cartoons.
In Ripley's Believe It or Not!, the eccentric, wealthy, world-renown
collector goes in search of a magical, lost tribe of people. He must
battle nefarious forces and come to terms with the man behind the
mysteries.
Oedekerk and Carrey began collaborating on "In Living Color," and
Oedekerk wrote and directed Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and
scripted Bruce Almighty. Burton is currently directing Johnny Depp in
the thriller musical Sweeney Todd.
Visual Effects Artist Eric Algren Dies at 32
(VFXworld.com) Eric Algren passed away unexpectedly on May
25, 2007, at the age of 32, reports the BIG CARTOON DATABASE.
His most recent work was as a Flame artist on FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF
THE SILVER SURFER. He also served as a digital compositor on the
upcoming sci-fi thriller THE INVASION, which is set for release in the
U.S. on Aug. 17.
He worked for such companies as Hydraulx, Digital Domain and Creo for
projects including 300, X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, AEON FLUX, LITTLE MAN,
FAILURE TO LAUNCH and TITANIC. In 2000, he was an animation assistant
on Disney's DINOSAUR.
Algren was born on Aug. 22, 1974, in Narragansett, Rhode Island to
Charles G. and Barbara W. Algren (Whipple). He was raised in
Manchester, Connecticut and Narragansett. He graduated in 1992 from
Manchester High School followed by Emerson College in Boston where he
graduated from in 1995.
Recently, he launched his own company, Burning Bridges Inc.
His mother Barbara of Narragansett; fiance Bayu LaPrade of Marina del
Rey; sister Lorayne Algren Black; brother-in law David H. Black, Jr.;
and nephew and niece Robert Charles Black and Sarah MacKenzie Black of
Groton, Massachusetts, survive him.
A memorial service will take place at Old Narragansett Church in
Wickford, Rhode Island on Sunday, July 15, at 11:00 am. A scholarship
fund has been set up in his memory at Emerson College. Please make
checks out to Emerson College and include the Eric Algren Scholarship
Fund in the memo section of the check. Send contributions to Emerson
College, 120 Boylston St., 7th floor, Boston, Massachusetts
02116-4624, ATTN: A. Meyers.
Starship Troopers Report For Duty, Again
(moviehole.net) Boris Kodjoe (TVs "Soul Food"), Marnette
Patterson ("Charmed"), Anthony Bishop ("Catch a Fire") and comedian
Jon Falkow have joined the cast of the direct-to-dvd release "Starship
Troopers : Marauder".
The film was originally set to shoot in May of this year but was
perceivably pushed back. Ed Neumeier directs.
FHM's Tanya van Graan seems to have also won a role, according to
filmmaker.co.za.
"I'm one of the seven troopers who must help to save the earth," says
Tanya. "I'm not sure exactly where the movie will be shot, but I know
that many of the outer-space sequences will be filmed in a studio."
NEW HARRY POTTER MOVIE GETS "MATURE" RATING IN AUSTRALIA
(contactmusic.com) Australia's Office of Film and Literature
Classification has given an M rating ("requires a mature perspective")
to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, an advisory rating that
could discourage parents from allowing their children to see it. The
rating is less restrictive than the board's MA 15+, which requires
children under 15 to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Although Roadshow Films, which is releasing the movie in Australia on
July 11, had previously appealed M ratings for earlier Harry Potter
movies -- with mixed success -- it said it would not do so for the new
film.
New Line Builds The $40,000 Man
(Variety) New Line has bought The $40,000 Man, a comedy
spoof written by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein and set it
up with Benderspink.
The story centers on a legendary astronaut and true American hero who
finds himself horribly injured in a car accident and rebuilt by the
government to be a bionic man, on a budget of $40,000 -- which makes
him not that bionic.
It's the first script sale for Daley, who's racked up lengthy TV
credits including "Kitchen Confidential" and "Freaks and Geeks."
Goldstein has worked for a decade in TV. His credits include "The New
Adventures of Old Christine."
The Mill: 2007 Sizzle Reel Utterly Amazing
(motionbuilder.com)
Take a look: http://ny.beam.tv/beamreels/reel_player.php?QjvDZxCfDg
June VFX / CG Film Tracking Numbers are Shocking
(slashfilm.com) Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere has
published the late June industry tracking numbers. To make things
easier, we have filed the numbers in this neat little table below:
Movie Awareness Interest First Choice Not Interested
1408 56% 30% 9% 12%
Evan Almighty 89% 40% 15%
Live Free or Die Hard 92% 36% 5%
Ratatouille 78% 36% 7%
Transformers 87% 41% 12%
Here are the things that we immediately notice: More people are
interested in Pixar's Ratatouille than we originally thought. It
appears that more people have that film listed as their first choice
than Live Free or Die Hard, A Mighty Heart, Sicko or License to Wed.
Live Free or Die Hard has the most awareness by far (with 92%), but is
not the film people want to see (36% interested, 5% top choice).
What shocks us the most is that Evan Almighty is tracking slightly
higher than even Transformers. How can this be? Is it that we are
stuck in our online geek web bubble not able to see the outside
world's interest in the Bruce Almighty sequel? Possibly.
Of course, all these numbers will change as the marketing picks up on
the early July flicks. I would expect Transformers numbers to
increase.
South Korea Plans Sequel To Hit Monster Movie The Host
(abc.net.au) A South Korean movie company says it plans a
sequel to its monster movie The Host, which became an international
hit.
Chungeoram Productions says shooting will begin later this year with a
different director.
Bong Joon-Ho, who wrote and directed the 2006 hit, will not make the
sequel because he is working on a different movie.
"The full-scale production will begin this fall," Choi Yong-Bae,
executive producer of Chungeoram, was quoted by Yonhap news agency as
saying.
The company will use local computer graphics for the sequel, set for
release next year.
The Host largely depended on a visual effects company in San Francisco.
"We already started analysing work with a local company," Choi said.
It is budgeted at about 10 billion won ($A12.8 million) compared to 11
billion won ($A14 million) for the original, Yonhap says.
The original movie tells the story of a family of five running a kiosk
along Seoul's Han River, whose lives are transformed when the daughter
is lost to a monstrous creature that has been mutated by toxic waste
from a US military base.
The Host set a ticket sales record in South Korea last year when it
drew more than 12 million viewers.
It has also been screened around the world including the US,
throughout Europe and in India.
The movie topped the Chinese box office in March.
Even communist North Korea praised The Host for what it saw as its
critical stance towards US troops stationed in the South.
Ridley Scott to Make Monopoly Movie?
(cinematical.com) Who knew that toy companies had agents?
This is what I wondered earlier this month when Variety reported that
Hasbro had switched from CAA to William Morris. Then, it was announced
that the switch would lead to a live-action G.I. Joe movie and a
"contemporizing" of brands such as Clue, Trivial Pursuit, Ouiji, Candy
Land and Monopoly. We've already seen a great movie made out of one of
those games (Clue) and the Ouiji board features in countless scary
movies.
Now there's word from Down Under (their source is the Sunday Times of
London) that Monopoly will be made into a major motion picture, and it
will actually be directed by the great Ridley Scott. Oh, and it may
have a lot of big stars, as Hasbro has been promised by the agency
that the movie will feature the cream of the crop of William Morris'
talent. According to the article, Scarlett Johansson and Kirsten Dunst
have already been offered roles. Hmmm, is today the Australian
equivalent of April Fool's Day or something?
Skillset To Fund Escape Studios' VFX Course
(developmag.com) All fees for visual effects teaching covered
by educational body
Skillset has teamed up with Escape Studios to provide free training in
film special effects on a course starting in September.
The Skillset Film Fund will pay for 100 per cent of the fees for new
students applying for Escape Studios' Maya for VFX Production course.
The course offers 12 students the chance to undertake 13 weeks of
full-time tuition followed by a further four week placement in the
Escape Pod production teams. The Escape Pods provide the studio's
graduates with the opportunity to work on real projects such as X-Men
3 and Sunshine.
More information, including details on how to apply, can be found at
the Escape Site:
http://www.escapestudios.co.uk/news_07.php?id=30
AARDMAN BOUNCES BACK
(chud.com) January of '07 was a bummer of a month in a stream of
bummers for Aardman Animation: their once-promising relationship with
Dreamworks was summarily executed thanks to the wimpy BO performance
of Flushed Away (CHUD coverage here). In the months since, however,
things have begun to look up, as the house that Gromit built easily
negotiated a first-look deal with Sony Pictures (whose animation house
isn't doing so hot itself thanks to an underperforming Surf's Up).
Now, two months later, Aardman has announced their post-Dreamworks
lineup, which has received a nice shot in the arm thanks to a host of
quality British writers being brought on board to pen the upcoming
projects The Cat Burglars, The Pirates! and Operation Rudolph.
First up are well-regarded TV writers Matthew Graham and Ashley
Pharoah (Life on Mars, which, being decidedly un-British, I haven't
seen) who will be penning The Cat Burglars, a stop-motion work being
pitched as a barnyard Ocean's 11 in much the same way Chicken Run was
pitched as a barnyard The Great Escape.
Chicken Run director, and Aardman co-founder, Peter Lord will team
with writers Andy Riley and Kevin Cecilwill to adapt a series of books
called The Pirates! in an adventure with__________. Based on a series
of books by Gideon Defoe, The Pirates! follows a swashbuckling band of
charming seagoing thieves and murderers, the ham they treasure and the
Darwins, Ahabs and communists they encounter along the way.
Lastly, Borat co-writer Peter Baynham is writing up Operation Rudolph,
a take on the whole Santa Claus theme which reveals Christmas delivery
isn't so much a result of charming elven magic and cheer, but more
along the lines of combat operations and real-time strategem.
Interestingly, with Wallace and Grommit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit
having done respectably in the states and very well overseas, there's
no mention of the Aardman staple in this latest lineup of projects.
Creative Director Sara Smith's recent comments explaineth: "This is an
interesting time in the animation industry -- while there is clearly
still a big appetite among cinemagoers for great animated films, there
is a feeling of sameness about much of the product coming out of the
industry at present, in terms of their stories." With most animation
stories these days bowing to the altar of The Lion King's "Discover
Yourself" storytelling, amen to that.
Aardman's stuff has been thematically original and unrelentingly
charming (this coming from the guy who threw a few barbs toward
grown-ups facilitating consumption of kid-things) when stacked up
against most of its peers. Now that a distribution channel is
available, the coming years will allow Aardman the opportunity to
deliver on Smith's lofty promise of these projects to come: "I think
there's a great opportunity to excite audiences by raising the stakes
in terms of the quality, intelligence and variety of the stories our
animated films tell and the genres they inhabit."
Buckley's Sisters Grimm to the Big Screen
(comingsoon.net) Josephson Entertainment and New Regency
Productions have acquired author Michael Buckley's children's book
series "The Sisters Grimm," reports Variety. Barry Josephson will
produce.
The film will be based on the first three books in the projected
nine-volume series; four are available in 15 languages and have sold
more than half a million copies.
The story weaves the tale of orphaned sisters Sabrina and Daphne
Grimm, descendants of the Brothers Grimm, on a quest to find their
parents.
"We had a lot of people who were interested, but it didn't seem like
there was anybody who could actually get it made," said Buckley of the
deal. "And I didn't want to hand the books over and let them sit.
Also, I wanted to find people who could make a movie that a parent
could enjoy as well as a kid."
VFX Career Tips: A Case Study
(vfxtricks.blogspot.com) In this tip we focus on how you should
choose which facility to work at.
It appears that there are three basic models in the area of design,
animation and post-production. The Star model, the Producer-Director
team and the Team/crew approaches. It is vital to know how you work
and how the prospective company works.
The Star model is based on facility equipment and stars. You build a
big impressive suite, get a big impressive hardware box, and then you
hire a post-production Star. You then sit them in the room and watch
them pull a crowd. This individual is sometimes called a rainmaker,
and will be paid a fortune. They are paid a major telephone number
salary since they attract truck loads of work, - in this senario you
are normally NOT this person you just want to be this person someday,
but for now you assist them.
More: http://vfxtricks.blogspot.com/2007/06/career-tips.html
DreamWorks Animation Options Interworld
(comingsoon.net) Neil Gaiman has revealed on his official
website that DreamWorks Animation has optioned the author and Michael
Reaves' Interworld.
For example, back in 1996 Michael Reaves was working doing adventure
cartoon serials at Dreamworks Animation. He started talking to me
about an idea for something that could be a potential animated story,
and we began knocking ideas back and forth about what we'd want to see
animated and why, and that became an idea about a boy who finds
himself in the middle of a war between two equally powerful forces,
who joins a super-team consisting of versions of himself from
different alternate realities to try and maintain the cosmic balance.
Gibson Sets Sights On First Black Comic-Book Superhero
(scifi.com) Tyrese Gibson (Transformers) told SCI FI Wire
that it's looking increasingly likely that he will star in a
big-screen movie featuring the Marvel Comics hero Luke Cage. If
everything goes according to plan, Gibson will play Cage, the first
black comic-book superhero, in a film to be directed by John
Singleton, who previously directed Gibson in the drama Baby Boy.
"They're doing rewrites on it now, and we actually have a meeting
coming up on it soon, from what I hear, just to see where we are with
the whole thing," Gibson said in an interview while promoting
Transformers. "Right now they're in the process of getting the
rewrites done, and then they'll, I guess, do kind of a formal
presentation to see if it's going to be a go."
Asked what interests Gibson most about the super-strong and
hard-to-hurt Cage character, he replied: "I just love his presence,
and I love the fact that he's one of the first black comic-book
characters. I'd like to make the comic-book world proud with what I'm
looking to do with Luke Cage. So hopefully the opportunity all pans
itself out. Me and Singleton are both looking to be a part of it, if
the screenplay turns out right. I met with [producer] Avi Arad, and
he's very excited about the possibility. But you can't do a great
movie without a great script, and the ducks have got to line up."
Institute Celebrates Graduates' Special Effects Jobs
(icwales.icnetwork.co.uk) BEHIND the scenes of some of
next year's biggest Hollywood blockbusters there will be a group of
talented Welsh university graduates making the special effects.
Six Swansea students have found employment before graduation day and
will be working on films like the latest Harry Potter, the new Batman
and Narnia films, and 10,000 BC.
Swansea Institute is celebrating 100% employment success from its BSc
3D Computer Animation course.
The graduates have been taken on by visual effects company Moving
Picture Company, the people behind Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter
films.
The employers' confidence in the talent of graduates means they will
all be working on multi-million dollar Hollywood movies or
high-profile commercials.
Despite the course only beginning in 2000, the institute believes that
it is becoming one of the leaders in the country and it is now
attracting students from across the world
More: http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_headline=institute-celebrates-graduates--8217--special-effects-jobs&method=full&objectid=19298682&siteid=50082-name_page.html
YOU CANNOT STOP UWE. YOU CAN ONLY HOPE TO CONTAIN HIM.
(Chud.com - The Hollywood Reporter) Oddly, and sadly,
enough, I found myself musing a few days ago as to what happened to
Dr. Uwe Boll. A thoroughly untalented, yet determined filmmaker, Boll
has earned a special status as the Ed Wood of our times with his
almost unbelievably shitty body of videogame movies, all financed
through some odd Ponzi scheme where somebody is either making or
laundering money with these things despite none of them even remotely
approaching profitability in terms of DVDs sold or box office
receipts. While I know tax laws changed a few years back to close some
rather glaring loopholes, I figured a little thing like that wouldn't
stop Uwe from getting the job done, and indeed, he's continued making
movies. But after the BloodRayne theatrical distribution debacle (Long
story short: They distributed the film through Billy Zane's company
and shipped a lot of prints to theaters that didn't even book the
film), I feared Boll might be finished in US theaters and doomed to do
God's work direct-to-DVD.
Now, I feel like a fool for ever doubting the guy. He's just made a
deal with Freestyle Releasing to give his next three films, including
the "long-awaited" In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
(which was originally slated to come out through Zane's company as
well), a wide theatrical release here in America. Not only is that
film the priority, but it's got at least $20 million in Prints &
Advertising commitment in writing. Best of all is this quote about the
movie from Freestyle president Marke Borde: "Freestyle is really
getting behind this picture. It's a pretty big picture and it plays
great. I don't chase movies based on video games and any pre-awareness
that those franchises might have with an audience. I chase movies that
are good."
Savini Vamps Up for Dead Matter
(moviehole.net) Make-up mastermind Tom Savini - recently
seen in "Grindhouse" - will play a devious vampire overlord named
Sebed in Edward Douglas's "The Dead Matter".
Produced in conjunction with Precinct 13 Entertainment, the new horror
film also stars Andrew Divoff ("Lost") and Jason Carter ("Babylon 5").
It tells of a grief stricken young woman who will do anything to
contact her dead brother.
Filming starts August 6 in Ohio.
Divoff, who was seen most recently as the eye-patch- wearing villain,
Mikhail Bakunin, on ABC's "Lost" and will be seen in the upcoming
film, "The Rage", will be joining the set of "The Dead Matter" as the
character, Vellich.
Vellich's arch-nemesis, Ian McCallister, will be played by Carter.
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