Phil Feiner, CEO of Pacific Title & Art Studio in Burbank, proposed that the visual effects industry set up an MPAA-type of organization with a hired lobbyist in order to "lobby the federal government to tax the studios on the rebates that they get as normal revenue. That will eliminate any type of incentive, worldwide, and put everybody on an even playing field.
Bill Westenhofer, the Oscar-winning VFX supervisor on Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, is on board as VFX supervisor for Warcraft, a film based on the video games series.
The title is being produced by Legendary Pictures, Blizzard Entertainment and Atlas Entertainment.
Nick Carpenter, Blizzard’s vp of art and cinematic development has tweeted: “Had my first meeting with the VFX director on the film. We are in good hands. Welcome aboard Bill Westenhofer!”
A VFX Town Hall meeting is scheduled to take place online on Friday at 1 pm PDT, allowing members of the community in various cities and countries around the world to continue to discuss visual effects' troubled business model.
As many as 70 libraries titles are in various stages of planning for or remastering in 4K resolution at Sony Pictures, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Also, more than 100 already have been completed, including William Wyler’s 1968 musical Funny Girl, whose new 4K restoration makes its world premiere Thursday at the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood.
Several weeks ago, Fox, PBS and several other companies were hit with a 2-1 federal court of appeals ruling rebuffing their attempt to shut down Aereo, a new service backed by Barry Diller.
Video game industry vets and USC alums Kevin Bachus and Chanel Summers have made a donation to the USC School of Cinematic Arts' interactive media & games division to establish The Bachus-Summers Fund for Innovation in Interactive Entertainment.
The fund will be used to support students showing initiative in the fields of interactive and immersive media, according School of Cinematic Arts’ Dean Elizabeth M. Daley.
The Art Directors Guild announced its awards season timeline for the 18th annual ADG Excellence in Production Design Awards, which will be held Feb. 8 inside the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton.
The National Association of Broadcasters Show and theater owners confab CinemaCon were just held back-to-back in Las Vegas, with CinemaCon wrapping late last week. Having attended both, I couldn’t help noticing that while it was hard to avoid the topic of 4K during NAB, it was barely mentioned at CinemaCon.
Sony’s Digital Cinema Solutions Group has started trials of its developing web-based, content exchange platform, called “xMassif,” which it demonstrated this past week at CinemaCon. A half dozen exhibitors are involved in the testing.
4DX is aiming to push its immersive cinema system into the U.S., starting with a focus on Los Angeles and Miami, company representatives said at CinemaCon.
The system is designed to put audiences into a film's environment with motion, wind, fog, lighting and scent-based effects.
But a big issue for exhibitors will be cost. A 4DX installation for a 200-seat auditorium runs a whopping $1 million.
