Ye Gods! More GCI Movies to be made...

[2099net]

IBM to take on Pixar...

IBM and Threshold plan to challenge Pixar Animation Studios, creator of Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and Toy Story. Pixar, run by Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs, has reigned as the undisputed king of computer-generated (CG) films.

If successful, the IBM-Threshold partnership could change the way CG films are created, allowing studios to churn out more high-quality CG movies at as little as half the cost.

Threshold and IBM already have a CG movie in the works: Food Fight, about what happens in a grocery store after closing time. Trade publication Millimeter calls Food Fight "one of the most complex digitally animated feature films ever produced," with 138 main characters, 6,254 secondary characters and 174 sets. Kasanoff says it is 14 to 18 months from completion.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvest ... -ibm_x.htm

"Churn Out" eh? I think that says it all.

[indianajdp]

"Churn Out" eh? I think that says it all.

You gotta be kidding me.
I don't know what sounds more ridiculous, the fact that they apparently plan to mass produce these kinds of films while Pixar has literally taken years from concept to release or the fact that they think they can churn these films out like a standard movie and they will be successful.

[jabroni76]

<< with 138 main characters, 6,254 secondary characters and 174 sets >>

Who would waste their life coming up with that many names?

Joe: Who's your favorite character?
Bill: Oh, I favor number 76, what about you...?
Joe: Oh I love number 6,343.

good god.

However, the plot for this film does look kind've cool... I'm interested! But too much CGI, at a time where technology is growing so fast, something is going to happen. What that is, I don't know, but mark my words, at this rate, something is going to happen! Mark them!

[2099net]

However, the plot for this film does look kind've cool... I'm interested! But too much CGI, at a time where technology is growing so fast, something is going to happen. What that is, I don't know, but mark my words, at this rate, something is going to happen! Mark them!

Off the top of my head, all of these studios are commited to cgi animated films (along with their existing history of animated films)

Dreamworks/PDI (existing track record)
Disney/Pixar (existing track record - Pixar may 'move')
Disney Feature Animation itself (no track record - some key staff from Dinosaurs' Secret Lab? Experience of merging 2D-3D elements)
Disney/Vanguard Films (no track record)
Disney/Rocket Pictures (no track record)
Fox/Blue Sky (existing track record)
Lucasfilm Animation (no track record of animated films)
Sony Pictures Digital (no track record of films, some shorts)
Universal/Playtone Prods(Tom Hanks' company!) (no track record)
?/Rhythm and Hues (popular animation company started with adverts - said to be creating an animated movie to shop to studios)
?/Big Idea (existing track record)
?/IBM/Threshold (no track record - but seem to have a windows like "Animated Character Wizard")
Universal/Imagine (no track record)

Is it looking a little crowded on that bandwagon?

[jabroni76]

yeesh... too many companies!!!

what do you mean by Pixar "may move"????

[2099net]

Pixar may split from Disney.

[jabroni76]

Oh okay, D'oh!

[Uncle Remus]

hey does anyone know about an upcoming CGI movie call Madagascar? I heard the title somewhere but i dont remeber where.

[2099net]

I dunno. You turn your back for a day or two and then another CGI film comes crawling up out of the woodwork. And this is another Disney film to add to the already conderable list of Disney sponsored CGI pictures!

From Animated Movies:

Shadedbox Sells Let's Get Francis to Disney Feature Animation
Ever on the lookout to find the next Pixar, Disney is teaming with a brand new animation house stocked with recent grads from a top design college to develop hoped-for future hits. The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Pasadena-based Shadedbox has signed with the Mouse House to develop the animated feature Let's Get Francis. Set in a pet store during the holiday season, the tale revolves around two brother hamsters who are split up when one of them is bought by a little girl. After the other sibling runs away in a fit of jealousy, the other pets in the store set on a journey to rescue him. The Shadedbox team is made up of recent Art Center of Pasadena grads Joey Jones, Wira Winata, Mike Frantum and Jason Du, and UC Santa Barbara grad Kazu Kibuishi. Formed just two years ago, the company recently won a Student Emmy Award for its animated short Little Red Plane. Shadedbox is attached to direct the film, which is based on a script it is also developing.

[Captain Hook]

I dunno. You turn your back for a day or two and then another CGI film comes crawling up out of the woodwork. And this is another Disney film to add to the already conderable list of Disney sponsored CGI pictures!

From Animated Movies:

Shadedbox Sells Let's Get Francis to Disney Feature Animation
Ever on the lookout to find the next Pixar, Disney is teaming with a brand new animation house stocked with recent grads from a top design college to develop hoped-for future hits. The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Pasadena-based Shadedbox has signed with the Mouse House to develop the animated feature Let's Get Francis. Set in a pet store during the holiday season, the tale revolves around two brother hamsters who are split up when one of them is bought by a little girl. After the other sibling runs away in a fit of jealousy, the other pets in the store set on a journey to rescue him. The Shadedbox team is made up of recent Art Center of Pasadena grads Joey Jones, Wira Winata, Mike Frantum and Jason Du, and UC Santa Barbara grad Kazu Kibuishi. Formed just two years ago, the company recently won a Student Emmy Award for its animated short Little Red Plane. Shadedbox is attached to direct the film, which is based on a script it is also developing.

GAG!!! This is most likely the WORST sounding movie I have ever seen in my entire life! Yick.

[2099net]

Do you get the impression people are coming up with the 'kwel' 3D characters and technology... and then writing a story around that?

[Jake Lipson]

I love both 2D and CG, but I think that in order for 2D to continue the studios and the public need to see some high-profile CGI projects flop. I hope and think that Pixar will never have to fall victim to this, but I have a feeling that IBM might, and quite frankly hope that they do. Why directly challenge Pixar, and why try to "churn out" movies just for the sake of having a lot made?

So I suppose one really good thing about all these studios jumping on the current trend is that some of them will fail and then studios will realize that it's the story and characters, not the medium, that people love. I still think that the Pixar films would have been just as good and just as big hits if they were 2D. Toy Story's innovation drew people in the theater, but after they were in there, the audiences found something they liked, and they would have found that same something -- story and character -- in the same movie if it was traditionally animated.

Shadedbox's pitch sounds very boring and very much like a combonation of Finding Nemo and Toy Story. But we'll see a sample of their animation techniques soon -- they reportedly did the menus for Pirates.