Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Director Robert Zemeckis, head of motion-capture animation company ImageMovers, has an uncertain relationship with Disney

ImageMovers, the motion-capture effects studio headed by Robert Zemeckis, is being dropped by Disney. The “shingle” is known for producing computer animated movies such as Monster House, Beowulf, as well as the recent Jim Carrey vehicle A Christmas Carol, which was produced by Disney. The Mouse House has only financed the last of those three, and began production of a remake of Yellow Submarine, but appears to consider such financial commitments as too costly with the current market. A Christmas Carol, directed by Zemeckis, had a budget of around $200 million but had a domestic gross of only $137 million (the film totaled $323 million all in all).

“Bob [Zemeckis] and the entire [ImageMovers] team successfully built a state-of-the-art studio and produced an amazing film, A Christmas Carol, at a time when the dynamics of the industry are rapidly changing,” Disney Studios president Alan Bergman said in a statement. “But, given today’s economic realities, we need to find alternative ways to bring creative content to audiences, and [ImageMovers] no longer fits into our business model.” – Hollywood Reporter

Disney does not want to lose Zemeckis and his team, however, more or less saying that they want to keep such high-quality talent in house so they can continue to work on Yellow Submarine. As late as Friday, however, there has been no reported deal.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Quick Opinion: As disappointing as the news is, it doesn’t come as too big of a shock. Financially speaking from Disney’s standpoint, it makes a lot of sense. For not only does a motion-capture film like A Christmas Carol cost a lot of money, but a lot of time as well. And being that any studio usually limits itself to financing so many projects at any one time, money used to produce such a supposedly fiscally unrewarding project as a motion-capture animated one might keep Disney from financing a project that would deliver better returns. So why would Disney continue production for Yellow Submarine? Well, the project is fully into pre-production, as it is already cast, has a workable script, and the FX team is no doubt already deep in focus to provide the film’s animation and 3-D effects. In other words, they’ve sunk too much money into the film to just scrap it at this juncture.

Walt Disney Productions has released a teaser trailer for their film Tron Legacy, scheduled to be released into theaters December 17th.

Click here to see it.

“Sam Flynn, the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn, looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin’s loyal confidant, father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.” – IMDb.com

The film will be released in 3-D as well as 2-D.

"Superman Returns," although successful, was not nearly successful enough to please Warner Bros.

David Goyer, who helped write Batman Begins and The Dark Knight with Christopher and Jonathan Nolan, is in negotiations with Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures to pen the script to the next Superman movie. Goyer’s help in making the Batman brand so financially valuable is no doubt the reason behind the studios’ decision, but he is also recognized for his efforts with the Blade series.

Actor Brandon Routh and director Bryan Singer will not return due to Warner Bros.’ dissatisfaction with how much Superman Returns earned at the box office (costing about $270 million and grossing $391 million worldwide according to BoxOfficeMojo.com). Despite the film’s respectable totals they apparently thought that a character as iconic as Superman should have earned much better numbers.

Goyer’s pitch regarding the Superman script dealt with lots of action and battles with arch-nemesis Lex Luthor and super villain Brainiac, which must have appealed to both studios.

Warner Bros. is in kind of a hurry, as they must create a finished Superman film by 2013 because that is when their copyright on the character of Superman expires and all rights go to the heirs of co-creator Joe Shuster.

Source: Variety

Quick Opinion: I’ve said this before with regards to Warner Bros. beef with Bryan Singer and I’ll say it again – the problem with Superman Returns‘ returns was not Singer’s fault. The character and brand, while certainly still iconic in the United States, is not nearly as popular outside of the U.S. because he was birthed from WWII patriotism. People around the world got behind Superman because what he stood for – in essence – was the might of the U.S. army and allying forces against the Nazi regime. Superman was pro-American justice and anti-tyranny. Such a character does not fit with modern America, who loves to root for the little guy (Spider-Man) and tortured soul (Batman). Anymore, Superman is thought of as being too powerful to like. Batman and Spider-Man, though special, are viewed to be more on the level of the everyman, which is a position that has been the most popular with superhero audiences since before 2006’s Superman Returns and continues to this day. The next Superman movie might earn more money because it will supposedly be more action-packed (attracting the large Transformers-type crowds), but if they invest the same amount that they did for Bryan Singer’s film they’ll be whining about returns again in 2014.

(For more elaboration on this topic, see Movie-Thoughts’ Deep Thoughts “A Different Look at ‘The Dark Knight.’” Comments on Superman being unfitting with modern times are near the end.)