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Terminator Salvation – May 2009 Release

Moo2u — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:03:11 +0000

“Terminator Salvation” is set in post-apocalyptic 2018, where John Connor is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future that Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright, 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.

The highly anticipated new installment of The Terminator film franchise, “Terminator Salvation” is directed by McG (”Charlie’s Angels,” “We Are Marshall”). The screenplay is by Michael Ferris & John Brancato. Moritz Borman, Derek Anderson, Victor Kubicek and Jeffrey Silver are the producers, with Jeanne Allgood, Dan Lin, Mario F. Kassar, Andrew G. Vajna and Joel B. Michaels serving as executive producers.

Wishing to avoid comparisons with the Transformers franchise, McG has stated “Transformers is an excellent movie, but our film is not about big robots. I wanted it to have lots of hardware and velocity, but I didn’t want to hang the whole movie on it.”

Visual Effects for the movie were undertaken by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), with Asylum fx and Rising Sun Pictures bringing their skills to various sequences.

And in addition to the brilliant CG work generated for ‘Terminator Salvation’, McG contracted Stan Winston studios to create real life models of some of the terminator characters that the human cast could interact with.

Stan Winston, the special effects pioneer who designed the original Terminator endoskeleton, worked on Terminator Salvation prior to his death in June this year. McG intends to dedicate the moive to Winston’s memory.

The film stars Christian Bale as John Connor (”The Dark Knight”), Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright (”The Great Raid”), Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese (”Star Trek”), Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Connor (”Spider-Man 3″), Moon Bloodgood as Blair Williams (”What Just Happened?”), Common as Barnes, (”Wanted”), Jane Alexander as Virginia (”The Unborn”), Jadagrace as Star and Helena Bonham Carter as Serena Kogen (”Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”)

“Terminator Salvation” will be released in the U.S. on May 21, 2009 by Warner Bros. Pictures. Sony Pictures Releasing International is distributing the film in most international territories between May 2009 and June 2009.

CREDITS:
Director: McG
Screenplay: Michael Ferris & John Brancato
Producers: Moritz Borman, Derek Anderson, Victor Kubicek and Jeffrey Silver
Executive producers: Jeanne Allgood, Dan Lin, Mario F. Kassar, Andrew G. Vajna and Joel B. Michaels
Cinematographer: Shane Hurlbut
Production designer: Martin Laing
Editor: Conrad Buff
Costume designer: Michael Wilkinson
Visual effects supervisor: Charlie Gibson
Animatronics supervisor: John Rosengrant
Music: Danny Elfman

SOURCES & RELATED LINKS:
www.sonypictures.net/movies/terminatorsalvation
http://terminatorsalvation.warnerbros.com
Industrial Light & Magic: www.ilm.com
Rising Sun Pictures: www.rsp.com.au
Asylum fx: www.asylumfx.com

‘Terminator Salvation’

Moo2u — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:13:08 +0000

‘Terminator Salvation’, the fourth in the Terminator film series, is being touted as a science fiction post-aolcalypitc war film, and is the creation of American director McG.

‘The Terminator’, released in 1984 and directed by James Cameron, was followed by two film sequels and a TV series: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Now with talk of two further instalments in the pipeline and Christian Bale signing up for a total of three Terminator films; things look promising for a second Terminator trilogy.

‘Terminator Salvation’ is set in post-apocalypic 2018, where John Connor is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of terminators. But the future that Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marucs Wright, 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.

Visual Effects for the movie were undertaken by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), with Asylum fx and Rising Sun Pictures bringing their skills to various sequences.

Speculation has been rife on the subject of Arnold Schwarzenneger, the original terminator, making a cameo appearance in the film. Recent comments from director McG indicate that he is working hard with ILM to bring Arnie back in digital form only.

“The T800s as we know them look like Arnold [Schwarzenneger]. The T800 plays a big role in this movie.. I can’t quite tell you how we express that …. what we’re trying to do is create visual effects and write code that’s never been written before to address this very question … we’re working very diligently on going up to ILM in San Francisco, because soon, to address this very nature …. I don’t want today’s Arnold Schwarzenneger. Cheers [to him], but I just want idealized Griffith park, Bill Paxton, tire-track on a face on-the-face archetype, and we’ll see what we can do about that.” (MCG – excerpts from interview with The Playlist)

Terminator Salvation will be released in the US on 22 May and in the UK on 5 June 2009.It will compete for box office success with the forthcoming Star Trek, also due for release in May 2009.

About Industrial Light & Magic
Since 1975, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) has been providing post-production visual effects services to the entertainment industry. Motion pictures, commercials, trailers, music videos and special venue projects have utilized ILM’s unequalled artistry in techniques such as model making, matte painting, computer-generated imagery, digital animation and a variety of related processes required in the production of visual effects.

Groundbreaking software required for digital image production has been developed and shared with the industry at large and adopted by other companies and software manufacturers. ILM regularly consults with some of the industry’s most highly regarded filmmakers on proof of concept tests. ILM has been associated with fourteen movies which have earned the Oscar for Best Visual Effects and has been awarded seventeen technical achievement awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Cast
Christian Bale – John Connor
Anton Yelchin – Kyle Reese
Sam Worthington – Marucs WRight
Bryce Dallas Howard – Kate Connor
Moon Bloodgood – Blair Williams
Common – Barnes
Jadagrace – Star
Helena Bonham Carter – Serena
Roland Kickinger – T-800
Chris Ashworth – Richter
Chris Browning – Morrison
Jane Alexander – Virginia
Michael Ironside – General Ashdown
Linda Hamilton – voice
Michael Papajohn – Carnaham
Beth Bailey – Lisa
Anjul Nigam – Rahul
Babak Tafti – Malik

CREDITS
Director – McG
Producers – Derek Anderson, Victor Kubicek, Jeffrey Silver & Moritz Borman
Original Music – Danny Elfman
Cinematography – Shane Hurlbut
Production Design – Martin Lain
Distribution North America – Warner Bros
Distribution International – Sony Pictures Entertainment

SOURCES:
Terminator Salvation official website
The Playlist
Comingsoon.net

VES Awards Nominee: Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Moo2u — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:00:07 +0000

Moo2u takes a closer look at VES Awards nominee ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’.
Each year the VES Awards recognize outstanding visual effects within film, animation, television, commercials and video games. The nominees for the 7th annual VES Awards were chosen in January earlier this year by panels of VES members who viewed submissions at the FotoKem screening facilities in Burbank.

Over the next few weeks Moo2u will feature each film nominated within the ‘Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture’ category. The films nominated in this category are: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Chronicles of Narnia – Prince Caspian, Hellboy II – The Golden Army, Cloverfield and Iron Man.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army
With a signature blend of action, humor and character-based spectacle, the saga of the world’s toughest, kitten-loving hero from Hell continues to unfold in Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Bigger muscle, badder weapons and more ungodly villains arrive in an epic vision of imagination from Oscar-nominated director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy).

After an ancient truce existing between humankind and the invisible realm of the fantastic is broken, hell on Earth is ready to erupt. A ruthless leader who treads the world above and the one below defies his bloodline and awakens an unstoppable army of creatures.

Now, it’s up to the planet’s toughest, roughest superhero to battle the merciless dictator and his marauders. He may be red. He may be horned. He may be misunderstood. But when you need the job done right, it’s time to call in Hellboy.

Along with his expanding team in the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense—pyrokinetic girlfriend Liz, aquatic empath Abe and protoplasmic mystic Johann—the BPRD will travel between the surface strata and the unseen magical one, where creatures of fantasy become corporeal. And Hellboy, a creature of two worlds who’s accepted by neither, must choose between the life he knows and an unknown destiny that beckons him.

“stands alone in its ability to capture the crass and literary luridness of reading a comic book. It’s filled with gross creatures bursting with humanity, dark poetry, and slapstick comedy”
Rotten Tomatoes

Double Negative was the primary CG vendor on the film, delivering 1,050 shots for the Universal production. Double Negative worked closely with director Guillermo Del Toro and the films overall Visual Effects Supervisor, Mike Wassel.

Double Negative’s work included a wide range of visual effects including 16 animated characters. Many of the creatures featured in the movie were taken directly from Del Toro’s own drawings. The director was involved in talking directly to those doing the animation, so he was able to get the performances that he wanted from any characters that didn’t have a live counterpart.

“Double Negative has exceeded all my expectations and delivered world-class quality, creativity and attention to detail. They are forever at the very top of my list!!”
Guillermo Del Toro

About Double Negative
Double Negative was set up in 1998 with a team of 30 and has since grown to over 450 staff. Double Negative retains the creative drive and involvement of their artists through all projects, ensuring that they have a close collaboration with all clients. This approach ensures films both small and large receive the same high standard of creative and technical service.

Over the last year, Double Negative has completed work on projects including; Quantum of Solace, The Soloist, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, The Dark Knight, The Duchess, Franklyn, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, The Edge of Love and The Boy in Striped Pyjamas

“The focus is more on the folklore and fairy tale aspect of Hellboy. It’s not Nazis, machines and mad scientists but the old gods and characters who have been kind of shoved out of our world.”
Mike Mignola

Cast:
Ron Perlman: Hellboy
Selma Blair: Liz Sherman
Doug Jones: Abe Sapien
Jeffrey Tambor: Tom Manning
Luke Goss: Prince Nuada
Anna Walton: Princess Nuala
John Hurt: Trevor Bruttenholm
Seth MacFarlane: Johann Krauss
Brian Steele: Mr. Wink
Roy Dotrice: King Balor

Credits:
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Produced by: Lawrence Gordon, Lloyd Levin, Mike Richardson & Joe Roth
Written by: Guillermo del Toro & Mike Mignola
Music: Danny Elfman
Editing: Bernat Vilaplana
Cinematography: Guillermo Navarro

Double Negative team:
Senior Visual Effects Producer : Steve Garrad
Digital Effects Supervisors: Adrian De Wet, Andrew Chapman, Justin Martin and
Animation Supervisor: Eamonn Butler

Sources:
Hellboy II: The Golden Army official website
Apple.com trailers
Double Negative