Tag: Avatar (1-10 of 26)

Apr 8 2013 11:34 AM ET

'Avatar 2' will utilize underwater performance capture, says producer

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Image Credit: Weta; Disney

It’s been common knowledge for a while now that the upcoming Avatar sequels would be set at least partially underwater, thus affording director/adventurer James Cameron to combine his love of blockbuster action-romance with his love of the ocean. Given that the first Avatar was largely created on a green screen performance-capture stage, you would’ve figured that the underwater scenes in Avatars 2 & 3 would be shot dry-for-wet — the same way Cameron filmed Aquaman.

But Cameron’s longtime producer Jon Landau revealed at the NAB Technology Summit on Cinema that the sequels will use an intriguing new technology. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the producer explained, “We have kept a team of digital artists on from Avatar in order to test how we can create performance capture underwater… we could simulate water, but we can’t simulate the actor’s experience, so we are going to capture performance in a tank.” READ FULL STORY »

Mar 18 2013 05:10 PM ET

James Cameron provides update on 'Avatar' sequels, says Peter Jackson 'had it easy'

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AVATAR

Image Credit: WETA

The eternal wait for a return journey to Pandora continues. But Avatar fans, just know that James Cameron is hard at work on the script that will follow up his 2009 sci-fi mega-blockbuster.

Cameron, the writer-director-producer of reigning box office champion Avatar, recently talked with the website Play Goes Strong, revealing that he’s currently in New Zealand working on writing Avatar 2 and Avatar 3. “I’m writing on a little farm. When you live in a special world like Pandora, you have to live in that world,” he said. READ FULL STORY »

Mar 14 2013 02:18 PM ET

Where's the love? The sudden death of the Hollywood sex scene

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Image Credit: Clockwise from left: Risky Business; Basic Instinct (Photo credit: Firooz Zahedi); Seven Pounds

Whether romantic, playful, or dangerous, the sex scene has always been a Hollywood staple. Suddenly, it has disappeared. EW investigates.

We all remember our first time, right? If you were growing up in the ’80s, it could’ve been when Tom and Rebecca broke every public-decency law on that train in Risky Business. Or if you were a ’90s teen, it might’ve been Demi and Patrick getting clay in places clay should never, ever be, in Ghost. For the millennials: maybe Reese and Ryan playing tongue tag in Cruel Intentions?

The first love scene you saw in a movie is hard to forget. But what’s hard to remember these days is the last time any of us saw one on screen. Not just a sexy moment but a bona fide hot, unironic, don’t-watch-it-with-your-parents love scene between big stars in a big Hollywood movie. You definitely didn’t see one in any of last year’s nine Best Picture Oscar nominees, which featured characters getting killed, saved, sick, and angry — but never, under any circumstances, lucky. That includes Silver Linings Playbook, in which Jennifer Lawrence’s character is a self-proclaimed sex addict.

Actually, chances are you didn’t see one on the big screen at all in 2012. In a year when TV shows like HBO’s Girls and Showtime’s Homeland had more pants-down action than a urologist’s office, only one out of the 25 highest-grossing movies had a genuine roll in the hay: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1. READ FULL STORY »

Oct 23 2012 04:18 PM ET

James Cameron to direct 'The Informationist' after 'Avatar' sequels

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Image Credit: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

James Cameron may have told the New York Times back in May that he’s in the “Avatar business. Period,” but 20th Century Fox has announced he’ll direct an adaptation of the novel The Informationist for the studio after he completes the second and third Avatar films, now in pre-production.

Cameron will co-produce The Informationist with Jon Landau, his partner at Lightstorm Entertainment, which has acquired the rights to the book by Taylor Stevens published in October 2011, according to a Fox press release Tuesday. The pair expect to hire a writer soon to adapt the book.

READ FULL STORY »

Aug 8 2012 09:14 AM ET

James Cameron makes deal to bring his 3-D wizardry to China

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Image Credit: Mark Fellman

Avatar director James Cameron’s company is launching a joint venture in China to market its 3-D technical wizardry to the country’s fast-developing film and television industries. Cameron Pace Group’s announcement Wednesday comes as the fast growth of China’s film market is attracting Hollywood studios that are rushing to link up with local partners.

The venture with two Chinese partners will supply 3-D filming technology and production services, said Cameron and his business partner, Vince Pace. They said they are discussing possible collaboration with state broadcaster China Central Television on developing 3-D TV. “This is an enormous untapped market that is right on the verge of the transition from 2-D to 3-D,” said Cameron in an interview. “This is the best place for us to create a kind of second home.” READ FULL STORY »

Jun 26 2012 01:30 PM ET

'Avatar' sequels to shoot back-to-back... to back, says Sigourney Weaver

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Image Credit: WETA

When James Cameron told The New York Times last month that he was “in the Avatar business — period,” he meant it. He claimed then that he was focused only on making sequels to the biggest movie of all time — even hinting that he had three more chapters in mind, making Avatar the rare trilogy-plus-one. Now Sigourney Weaver has confirmed the quadrilogy, telling Showbiz411 that she’ll film the three sequels… back-to-back-to-back! Weaver, whose collaborative relationship with Cameron stretches back to Aliens, said she’ll head back to Pandora after starring in Christopher Durang’s Lincoln Center production of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which opens Nov. 12.

It’s understandable why Cameron and his financiers want to film all the sequels together, but for every successful Lord of the Rings that reined in costs with no apparent adverse effect on storytelling quality, there are twofer sequels like those of The Matrix that disappointed mightily. It would be foolish, however, to bet against Cameron, who has built an empire by defying convention and surpassing the highest expectations.

Read more:
‘Avatar 2′ still four year away…
Disney opening ‘Avatar’-themed park
‘Avatar 2′ might go under the sea

May 7 2012 04:12 PM ET

James Cameron will only make 'Avatar' movies from now on

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Image Credit: WETA

The success of James Cameron’s Avatar was inspiring: an indication that it is possible to launch a new saga in reboot-happy Hollywood. Now it looks like Avatar is all he will be working on for, well, the rest of his filmmaking career. READ FULL STORY »

May 2 2012 10:21 AM ET

'2001: A Space Odyssey' tech pioneer on 'Hobbit' footage: 'A fabulous and brave step in the right direction'

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Image Credit: Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images

Douglas Trumbull knows a little bit about movie visual effects. In his mid-20s, he worked with Stanley Kubrick to create the look and feel of the final frontier in 2001: A Space Odyssey. He later helped craft the effects for Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the gorgeous futuristic visuals of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. Last year, after nearly 30 years away from the Hollywood business, he collaborated with Terrence Malick for the symphonic visuals in The Tree of Life.

Trumbull has always been an innovator. For decades, he’s been tinkering with technology to enhance the audience experience, and he knows all about the recent hubbub over frame-rate after Peter Jackson unveiled the first extended footage of The Hobbit — An Unexpected Journey last week at CinemaCon. Jackson is shooting his Lord of the Ring prequels at 48 frames per second, twice the industry standard since the advent of talkies. But when audiences expressed skepticism about the new viewing platform — complaining of a glossy “TV soap opera” effect — one of Hollywood’s surest things suddenly found its Oscar-winning director asking for some faith and patience.

Trumbull must be chuckling a little to himself. Back in the early 1980s, he developed the Showscan system that filmed movies at 60 frames per second. Imagine if the CinemaCon crowd knew he was now plotting his own movie — a giant 3-D space epic shot digitally at 120 frames per second! The Oscar winning effects guru recently chatted with EW about his friend Peter Jackson’s ambitious movie, his own filmmaking, and the future of movies.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’ve been wrangling with these frame-rate debates for decades. Why did you initially look in this direction and what did you learn?
DOUGLAS TRUMBULL: I got hooked on immersive cinema when I worked on 2001, which was initially shown on these Cinerama screens, which were all 90 feet wide and deeply curved. It was a spectacle that we don’t see today at all, even in IMAX. I was just an impressionable kid, and Kubrick was doing these lengthy sequences of pure visual effects — they called it the ultimate trip because it abandoned conventional cinematic wisdom in favor of a pure experience. That profoundly effected me, and I’m saying, “Holy sh–, this is so cool. I want to make movies like this, and I want to explore this cinematic language.” READ FULL STORY »

Apr 16 2012 09:38 AM ET

'Titanic' sails past $2 billion mark

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Image Credit: Merie Weismiller Wallace

James Cameron has shored up his position as king of the worldwide box office. Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster Titanic sailed beyond the $2 billion mark in lifetime ticket sales, thanks to a 3-D re-release of the film that was timed to the centennial of the ship’s sinking.

Only one other movie has topped $2 billion, and it’s also Cameron’s. His 2009 sci-fi smash Avatar earned $2.8 billion worldwide.

The Titanic reissue took in about $100 million this weekend — $11.6 million domestically and a whopping $88.2 million in 69 overseas markets. That included a $58 million debut in China and put the re-release total worldwide at $190.8 million.

Added to the film’s $1.84 billion haul in its original release, Titanic now stands at $2.03 billion worldwide.

Read more:
‘Titanic’ is a great film. It’s also the movie that gave rise to hater culture
‘Titanic 3-D’: Why did you go see it?
‘Titanic 3D’ leaves port with $4.4 million on Wednesday, so was the 3-D conversion worth it?

May 25 2011 06:10 PM ET

'Shark Night 3D': It's about sharks! 3D sharks!! Check out the trailer!!!

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Shark-Night

Image Credit: Steve Dietl

Only yesterday, over at the Music Mix, we pointed out that Mike Fleiss is a man of diverse interests. He oversees the Bachelor and the Bachelorette; he has just co-directed a documentary about Ozzy Osbourne; he plays guitar in his band California Wildebeest; and he produces horror films, including the new, David R. Ellis-directed Shark Night 3D, the trailer for which just hit the Internet.

So, Mr. Fleiss, what exactly is Shark Night 3D about? “It’s about 3D sharks!” enthuses the producer. “Sharks coming at ya, in the theater!” Please do go on. “It’s a really exciting project for me. Jaws is my all-time favorite movie for sure. So it was always a dream of mine to make a shark movie. It’s got a good cast: Katharine McPhee and Sara Paxton and Joel David Moore and Donal Logue. I think it’s going to do well.”

You can check out the trailer for Shark Night 3D — which hits cinemas in September — below.

READ FULL STORY »

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