Wall-E Bad for the Planet, Lucas Wants 3rd Internet, Oldman CG'd To Tiny Tim...

Hobbit Director Tries Commuting

(stuff.co.nz)            It will be a case of There and Back Again for Hobbit director Guillermo del Toro, who plans to commute every two weeks between New Zealand and Los Angeles.

The Mexican director, best known for Hellboy and the Oscar-winning Pan's Labyrinth, is working with Hobbit executive producer Peter Jackson and his Wellington Wingnut and Weta production teams on the four-year, two-film project.

Del Toro said work on the adaptation of Tolkien's The Hobbit and a sequel was in the very early stages. Pre-production work would start in late July.

"We have had a chat where we sketch out what we think of the two movies, but there's no writing. There is note taking. There is breaking down the novel."

In an interview published on Hollywood.com, del Toro said he would commute between Los Angeles and New Zealand.

"I open the conceptualisation shop in August. I travel to Weta to start doing some more research and development and I'm going to be going to New Zealand every two weeks or so."

Del Toro said no actors had yet been cast for The Hobbit despite media speculation that Atonement star James McAvoy could play Bilbo Baggins and rumours that Lord of the Rings actors Sir Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis had signed up for the movie.

"We have not locked into a name because we cannot lock into a name until we write the screenplay. It's not about viable, it's not about box office ... we'll cast whoever seems to fit the pages."

'300' Sequel Moves Forward

 (Variety)             Legendary Pictures has confirmed last week's reports that it is developing a 300 follow-up for Warner Bros. that Frank Miller is writing and Zack Snyder is intended to direct.

Miller is writing the graphic novel the project will be based upon, although at this point it's not clear whether it will be a prequel or spin-off.

Snyder won't officially commit until after he sees Miller's take, but he's definitely interested, says the trade.

Legendary, which also co-financed and produced Snyder's Watchmen for Warners, considers the project a major priority.

"The vision of Frank Miller's universe that Zack Snyder brought to the screen in '300' is unlike anything ever seen before," said Legendary's Thomas Tull. "We want to be certain that the story originates with Frank and be as compelling as the first."

WALL•E Splits Box Office With  'Wanted'

(Box Office Mojo)                  To say this was a good weekend at the box office would be a huge understatement. Few people were expecting a new box office record to be set, but for the first time in history, two new movies opened with over $50 million each, which was enough to make this one of the Top 10 top grossing weekends at the box office in history. There haven't been that many weekends where we saw two movies dominate and divide up a significant portion of the box office, but that's what happens when you release two anticipated movies that appeal to audiences of all ages.

Pixar Animation's ninth movie, the robot love story WALL•E (Disney), was expected to destroy all competition this weekend, but apparently, the counter-programming of an R-rated action flick was too much for it. It opened with an estimated $62.5 million in 3,992 theaters, decent but disappointing compared to expectations, and based on estimates, WALL•E is neck and neck with Pixar's 2001 offering Monsters, Inc. to be the animation studio's third-biggest opening ever. On the more positive note, it opened bigger than Pixar's two previous summer releases. With near-perfect reviews and strong word-of-mouth, WALL•E should easily surpass the $200 million mark and make a play for the $250 million grossed by previous Pixar animated movies. Considering that it cost a rumored $180 million, quite a bit more than previous movies, it will have to do well over the next few weeks if it's going to be considered profitable.

Opening in 800 fewer theaters, Universal Studios' Wanted, based on Mark Millar & J.G. Jones' graphic novel, was the weekend's underdog despite the presence of bonafide stars Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. With an estimated opening weekend of more than $51 million, Wanted had the biggest opening for an R-rated movie in June, and it's also the 6th or 7th highest R-rated opening ever. It averaged an impressive per-theater average of $16k, higher than WALL•E's per-theater average, plus it also cost $100 million less than the CG animated movie, which means it's closer to making back its production costs.

Weta Digital is Helping Children to Walk

(theonering.net)                      From the New Zealand Herald: Animation technology used in blockbuster movies such as Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings is now helping children to walk. The Gait Laboratory at the Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane uses animation technology developed at Weta Digital in Wellington to see why some children, as young as 3, have trouble walking. Gait Laboratory director Dr Robyn Grote said the technology was reducing the number of times children had to undergo surgery because of its precision in mapping a child's motion.

More:    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10518750

Iron Man 2: MOM & DAD GONNA WORK IT OUT

(chud.com)               Robert Sanchez at IESB spoke with Jon Favreau before the Hellboy II premiere yesterday, and in the video interview posted on the site Favreau sounds positively...positive about his future with Iron Man 2.

"It's gonna work out, I have a feeling. It's…we're working it all out. They've actively engaged with us."

If that's not direct enough, follow along as the guy talks more about the sequel and Marvel's overall plans. From these statements you'd think a deal was already done. See, we told you not to worry too much.

With respect to getting the Iron Man sequel done in time for the announced date:

"It's a lot of work to get it done in that amount of time…to get this thing done in two years it means we've got to dig in really fast and be relentless. It's just a wind sprint all the way through. The good news is we've already designed the suit, of course, already have our cast, all the things that took so much time the first time around…everybody understands my vision for the film, based on the first one."

How about those rumors of Thor being introduced in the next Iron Man film?

"Introduce Thor? Not in Iron Man 2, I don't think so. Not that we've been talking about."

...and then there's the Captain America tease:

"Then you're going to have a period piece film, Captain America: The First Avenger. That I've seen artwork from, and it's pretty impressive the work they've already started doing."

Digital Domain Congrats To Academy Invitees

(vfxworld.com)              Digital Domain is pleased to congratulate Visual Effects Supervisors Bryan Grill and Kelly Port, Software Creative Director Doug Roble, and all of the 105 distinguished artists and executives who were invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this week. The invitation honors those who have made significant contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Just 10 were chosen from the Visual Effects branch.

Bryan Grill is a 14 year veteran of Digital Domain and has worked on some of the most groundbreaking visual effects to appear in motion pictures. He is currently VFX Supervisor on G.I. JOE (2009), and recently held the role on THE GOLDEN COMPASS and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END. Grill also contributed his talents on FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, THE FIFTH ELEMENT, TITANIC and APOLLO 13.

Kelly Port is also a 14 year Digital Domain veteran, having served as VFX Supervisor on WE OWN THE NIGHT, THE HITCHER, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING, and THE SEEKER: DARK IS RISING. His visual effects work is seen on twenty five films, including THE LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, KING KONG, THE ITALIAN JOB, TITANIC, T2 3-D, APOLLO 13, and STRANGE DAYS.

Doug Roble has been with Digital Domain since its founding in 1993, contributing to the design and development of many software systems, including the track camera position calculationscene reconstruction system and fluid simulation system – for which he was honored with Technical Achievement and Scientific and Engineering awards. Roble is also responsible for a large part of Digital Domain's core libraries and many other technologies. He is credited on THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, TITANIC, SPEED RACER and MEET THE ROBINSONS.

Grill, Port and Roble will join seven of their Digital Domain colleagues who are current Academy members: Les Ekker, Jim Hillin, Joel Hynek, Kim Libreri, Theresa Ellis Rygiel, Mike Sweeney and Dan Taylor.

Art Student Recreates "Tranformers" VFX Hero Shot

Title: ILM movie shot study_ Transformers movie 2007_ Optimus prime
Name: ryan ji
Country: China
Software: Maya, mental ray, Photoshop

Since Transformers 2007 movie released, I try to recreate the movie vfx shot,here it is,hope you like it.

Take a look:   http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=647823

Lucas Free to Follow His Heart Right Back to 'Star Wars'

(nytimes.com)               FUTURE generations will never need to establish a George Lucas museum, because George Lucas has already built one for himself. On either side of the Golden Gate Bridge he has constructed himself two temples where "Star Wars" is made and worshiped: at his Skywalker Ranch in Marin County and his newer office complex, the Letterman Digital Arts Center at the Presidio, he has gathered all manner of relics honoring his six-film saga, from the imposing (life-size replicas of the villains Darth Vader and Boba Fett) to the self-congratulatory (a Yoda fountain) to the self-deprecating (a carbonite block encasing the much loathed Jar Jar Binks).

Like religious shrines, these buildings both consecrate and confine the man for whom they were built.

Using the freedom and the fortune he has amassed largely on the astronomical success of "Star Wars," Mr. Lucas has accumulated unparalleled creative resources; his next film could be anything from a sweeping epic to one of the intimate personal narratives he has often said he would like to make. Instead his next two ventures will be "Star Wars" projects, no less ambitious than his previous films yet potentially less commercial. And they come at a time when even the "Star Wars" faithful wonder if Mr. Lucas's continued mining of this fantasy world has anything more to yield.

A few weeks ago Mr. Lucas, who is 64 with a full white beard, was visiting his Presidio offices somewhat reluctantly, on a layover between the European and Japanese premieres of his latest "Indiana Jones" movie. "I love making movies; I'm not the biggest fan of selling them," he said, seated in the librarylike Lucasfilm boardroom, stocked with books about real-world military history and novels like "Quo Vadis." "But since I'm in the selling mood, that's what you're here for. I'm doing all my selling for two more weeks. Then I'm sold out."

He was pitching a computer-generated animated movie called "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," which Warner Brothers will release on Aug. 15 and which will introduce an animated television series with the same title that will have its debut on the Cartoon Network this fall.

Despite his vows to the contrary Mr. Lucas did not conclude his "Star Wars" epic with his 2005 film "Revenge of the Sith," the third in a trilogy of prequel movies that grossed more than $1 billion in the United States alone. As far back as 2002 he was contemplating an animated series that would take place between Episodes II and III of his prequels, fleshing out the adventures of the Jedi knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker (who is doomed to become the evil Darth Vader), and explore heroes, villains and planets glossed over in the prequel films.

More:   http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/movies/29itzk.html

Have Escape Studios Branched Out Into VFX Recruitment?

 

Bonham Carter Joins Terminator Salvation

(The Hollywood Reporter)                      Helena Bonham Carter is in talks to star in Terminator Salvation, directed by McG for a May 22, 2009 release. The trade says Bonham Carter's role is small but pivotal.

She joins a cast that includes Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Bryce Dallas Howard, Moon Bloodgood, Common and Jadagrace.

Principal photography on the movie, which looks at the origins of the battle between humans and Skynet, started last month in New Mexico, with the idea that most exteriors would be shot before a potential actors strike.

In Terminator Salvation, set in post-apocalyptic 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet's operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

'A Christmas Carol' CG Gives Oldman Multiple Personalities

(scifi.com)                    Gary Oldman confirmed to reporters that he will be playing at least three characters in Robert Zemeckis' upcoming motion-capture animated A Christmas Carol, including Tiny Tim.

"I play Marley," Oldman said in a group interview in Beverly Hills, Calif., on June 29, where he was promoting The Dark Knight. "I play Tiny Tim, and I play Bob Cratchit, so I play three [characters]."

In the animated film--which Zemeckis is directing with the same technology he used in last year's Beowulf--Oldman will play opposite Jim Carrey as Scrooge in the retelling of Charles Dickens' classic Christmas ghost story.

Oldman disputed reports that acting in a motion-capture studio was like doing theater. "People that have never done theater say it's like [that]," he said, adding, "It's nothing like theater." Rather, he said, he performs his part in an empty room surrounded by "200 cameras, ... and you don't wear a costume, and you have dots on your face, and Zemeckis will make the movie in the computer later."

Frankenstein Monster Gets Four Years To Stitch Together

(shocktillyoudrop.com)                When director Guillermo Del Toro started talking about his take on Frankenstein for the first time, as far back as last October (here, this writer immediately envisioned Hellboy star Ron Perlman. Silly me for thinking of the obvious choice, apparently, but I still can't help but think of a hulking, lumbering creation.

On the red carpet at the premiere of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Del Toro posits an unconventional alternative. "For the monster I would love to have Doug Jones," he revealed. Jones has worked for the director as a creature performance since Mimic and plays Abe Sapien in the Hellboy films. "I think he can do a fantastic job. Ron looks seven feet tall in Hellboy, but he's not. I think we could do that with Doug, but I would love to do it with him. The only vision of the Frankenstein monster I've ever latched onto is Berni Wrightson's. He's lanky and long and it's gorgeous in a tragic way. Doug has all of those qualities."

Later, I caught up to Jones and revealed the good news, "You've just made my day! I never knew that!" Jones expressed with his jaw on the floor. That said, who's performance of the monster has he admired the most? "Boris Karloff, no question. I respect that man so much. Every time his name is brought up in the same sentence as mine, I'm honored and I don't want to belittle his name with mine."

Del Toro is in the early stages of prepping two Hobbit films for executive producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, an endeavor that will require him to put Frankenstein on the backburner for now. "I think it's going to have to be developed very carefully over the next four years," he chuckles. "Look, I would never attempt to recreate the Whale Frankenstein, but I do think there is an alternate story that could be told about the Frankenstein mythos." Like? "It's more like a fairy tale, a strange, weird fairy tale."

Asked who his ideal Victor Frankenstein would be, Del Toro simply smiled and said, "I won't say anything 'cause then you would know what I'm doing."

The director says he's been bouncing back and forth to London lately for the Hobbit films. There are no scripts yet, however, "We already started notes and underlining and e-mailing back and forth. A few lines have been written here and there, but we will have the big pow-wow [soon] - bad pizza, take-out food in a sort've a pressure cooker [meeting] in about two weeks."

CG Feature Budgets Grow, But How Much is Too Much?

(portfolio.com)              I saw the over-hyped but still very good Pixar film WALL-E this weekend (stunning visuals but the screenplay's originality petered out about halfway through). The film brought in a healthy $62.5 million, but what caught my eye was WALL-E's estimated $180 million price tag -- making it one of the most expensive animated movies ever made.

Does putting that much investment into a non-live action movie make sense? The target audience, young children and I'd guess one parent, is smaller than one for a big budget flick from another genre which can potentially appeal to a number of demographics.

Looking at recent global box office returns reveals an interesting pattern. Since 1994, there've been 15 animated movies made that had budgets over $100 million (not adjusted for inflation). Over the same period, 105 live-action movies with $100+ million budgets were made, according to data from The Numbers. It turns out that the profit margins for the average big-budget live-action movie has been markedly better: 209 percent versus 129 percent.

But the situation is reversed for medium-size budget movies of between $50 million to $100 million. Here, the profit margins for animated movies are significantly better: 348 percent versus 136 percent.

What accounts for the difference? Big-budget clunkers seem to explain some of it.

Four out of the 15 $100+ million animated movies, or 27 percent, actually lost money: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Home on the Range, Treasure Planet, and the Road to El Dorado. For the live-action set, a smaller 15 percent didn't manage to break even at the box office.

WALL-E is sure to turn a profit before it reaches DVD, thanks in part to the minimal dialogue which should go over well in foreign markets. Still, this weekend's performance came in below expectations: After the box office take was announced today, the price of the WALL-E contract on the Hollywood Stock Exchange, which reflects how many millions the film is expected to make in its first four weeks, dropped $23 to $175.

George Lucas Calls for 'Third Internet'

(pcmag.com)                George Lucas , creator of the Star Wars franchise and head of a non-profit group designed to encourage innovation in schools, called on lawmakers Tuesday to create a free, "third Internet" that would be used solely for educational use.

"As we move into the future, most everything's going to end up wireless and as it ends up wireless, [the government is] going to be auctioning off bandwidth," Lucas told the House Energy and Commerce's subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet. "As you auction this off, why don't you just hold some back for schools and libraries?"

Lucas appeared at a hearing about universal service (USF), a fund intended to provide all Americans with access to telecommunications service. Though providing technology services to underserved areas of the country is a laudable goal, USF funding has been a point of contention for years.

The program is currently funded by surcharges on interstate telecom services, which show up on consumers' landline and cell phone bills. Broadband providers, however, do not pay into the fund, which telecom providers claim is unfair given that some of the USF funds go to provide Internet service to schools and libraries under a program known as "e-rate".

A number of bills have been introduced to combat the problem, from Rep. Joe Barton's more market-based approach to Reps. Rick Boucher and Lee Terry's idea to broaden the base of USF contributors.

"I believe that the eventual goal should be to make these connections free for all schools and libraries," Lucas said. "I think that possibly an educational Internet, a third Internet that is only for education and that is not charged and that the carriers cannot charge would be a rather simple way to solve the problem."

Lucas started the non-profit George Lucas Education Foundation in 1991, which encourages innovation in kids via its Edutopia magazine, Web site, and documentaries.

Lucas acknowledged that his "goal is ambitious" but said it was as "important as free public schools and libraries themselves."

The idea of taxing people via USF surcharges and then giving it back via government-subsidized telecom services "seems like a very cumbersome way to do it," according to the director. "If you're making [wireless providers] pay for the right to have the frequencies, why don't you just say you can have it for a little less, but you have to give the schools something for free?"

Lucas did not offer any concrete funding mechanisms to get his idea off the ground. "Arguing about whose going to pay and how it's going to work, that's basically the job of you guys to figure that out," he told subcommittee members. "That has to happen somehow, so you have to figure out how to do that."

Several members took advantage of Lucas' appearance to make Star Wars-themed jokes.

"The universal service fund needs to be blown up like the Death Star," said Pennsylvania Republican Mike Doyle.

"Rick Boucher and I are the Luke Skywalkers riding in to save the universal service fund by those who want to destroy it, the Darth Vaders," Rep. Terry said of his USF bill.

"The e-rate became law when Congress enacted it as part of the Telecom Act, and we've defended it with political light sabers ever since," said subcommittee chairman Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts.

Hellboy II  Creature VFX Inspired By Harryhausen Creations

(scifi.com)                        Guillermo del Toro premiered Hellboy II: The Golden Army at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 28 and told fans that he aimed for a sense of awe in the movie.

"I attacked this movie with the same passion as I did with the design of Pan's Labyrinth," said del Toro, referring to his Oscar-winning fantasy movie.

Del Toro added: "I had been watching a lot of [special effects master Ray] Harryhausen, and I wanted to create the awe of a 10-year-old kid watching The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, like I did," the Mexican-born directo said. "I am always looking for creatures with that kind of likeness and awe."

Hellboy II is the sequel to the 2004 film and features a broader array of fantastical creatures and settings.

Del Toro said that he doesn't like the beautiful people of Hollywood. "Physical ugliness is very important to me," he said, adding that when he was approving monsters for Hellboy II it was important to see something different. "Anytime I see a cliche--like a Brazilian in a Penthouse magazine--I say, 'No, I've see that.' My references come from all around."

Del Toro said that some of his creature ideas came from the Long Beach Aquarium. But not only the fish: the people visiting the fish. "Monsters represent something," he said. "They are part of essential storytelling." Hellboy II: The Golden Army opens nationwide on July 11

Is Wall-E Bad For The Planet?

(ropeofsilicon.com)                

Does Pixar/Disney's new animated film Wall-E send a good message or is really a bunch of hypocrisy?

At the junket for the film WALL•E Disney/Pixar were showcasing all the toys and crap people could buy that tie into the film. As any reasonable person knows, shit like this basically turns into landfill and as Devin puts it, "When I got to the Four Seasons hotel the next day, the site of the junket for the film, and saw an entire room dedicated to showing off the marketing tie-ins, I lost the sense of irony and began to think what I was seeing was flat out hypocrisy."

There is something to this argument:

Journalists were being given gift bags at the suite, including a large, programmable WALL•E robot toy and a copy of the WALL•E game (available on every platform. In the movie the lethargic lifestyle of gamers was tweaked in a scene where a giant fat baby of a human uses a holographic computer screen to play golf via a remote controlled golf club), provided they completed a sales pitch about all the products. I sat in on one as long as I could; the room was stuffed with what seemed like a hundred or more tie-in products ranging from WALL•E branded plastic Crocs (with tire tread patterns on the soles) to plastic WALL•E action figures to WALL•E branded clothing and bed sets and drapes. When asked which of the items were made with post-consumer recycled material or were made of biodegradable material, the PRbot giving the pitch seemed flustered. She said that they tried to use such materials whenever possible, and pointed out a post-consumer WALL•E branded Kleenex box. Every environmental group will beg you to avoid Kleenex, since they're wiping out Canada's Boreal Forest to give you a place to blow your nose, so the Kleenex connection is fucking pathetic in itself for a movie that trumpets taking care of the environment. But the fact that this was the item - the only item - the woman was able to point out made me leave the room without finishing the tour. No WALL•E toys for me.

I apologize to Devin and CHUD for snaking the entire paragraph, but I just couldn't resist, so here is another link to the entire piece, of which I urge you to read.

The video game comparison from film to tie-in products is actually quite funny. It really is hypocrisy, but that doesn't make the message any less valuable.

I think Pixar/Disney are fighting a losing battle on this one. Any company worth its salt is going to try and make as much money as they can, any way they can. However, when you spread one message on one end and feed the destructive nature on the other you are bound for trouble.