What to expect in effects

By MICHAEL VENTRE

Every year, effects specialists strive to create digital images never before seen onscreen: bigger explosions, more realistic dinosaurs, scarier mummies, more believable talking animals. This year is no exception. Here's a sampling of effects film offerings for 2001.

Monkeybone
(Fox)

Release date: Feb. 23

Comicbook writer falls into a coma after a car accident and wakes up in the make-believe world he created.

Effects: Peter Crosman, visual effects supervisor; Pete Kozachik, visual effects supervisor; Terry Clotiaux, visual effects producer; John Larsen, sound supervisor

Imposter
(Dimension)

Release date: Spring

Based upon a short story by Phillip K. Dick, an engineer invents the ultimate weapon in a war against aliens, then is suspected of being an alien himself.

Effects: Joe Grossberg, visual effects supervisor; Jeff Olson, visual effects producer; Art Rochester, sound mixer

The Mummy Returns
(Universal)

Release date: May 11

The remains of Imhotep and Anck-su-Numan are brought to a London museum, where they are revived and go on to seek custody of a young boy, whose parents are played by Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz.

Effects: John Berton, visual effects supervisor; Daniel Jeannette, animation director; Jennifer Bell, visual effects producer; Leslie Shatz, supervising sound editor

Cats and Dogs
(Warner Bros./Village Roadshow Pictures)

Release Date: May 25

A team of special agent dogs fight to stop an evil cat's attempt at world domination.

Effects: Bill Westenhofer, Martin Hobbs, Phil Tippet, Ed Jones, visual effects; Richard Anderson, sound effects supervisor

Pearl Harbor
(Disney)

Release date: May 25

Using events leading up to and after the Japanese bombing of the U.S. naval base in Hawaii, pic tells the story of two friends who fall for the same woman.

Effects: Eric Brevig, Ed Hirsh, visual effects supervisors; Ben Snow, associate visual effects supervisor; Ned Gorman, visual effects producer; Chris Boyes, sound designer-supervising sound editor; Ethan Van Der Ryn, sound design

Doctor Dolittle 2
(Fox)

Release date: June 8

More adventures involving Eddie Murphy as the veterinarian who can hear his patients.

Effects: Doug Smith, visual effects supervisor; John Kilkenny, visual effects producer; David MacMillan, sound mixer

Tomb Raider
(Paramount Pictures)

Release Date: June 15

Inspired by the "Tomb Raider" video game series, pic features Angelina Jolie as action heroine Lara Croft.

Effects: Steve Begg, visual effects supervisor; James Lamb, Arthur Windus, Sharon Lark, visual effects producers

Rollerball
(MGM)

Release date: Summer

In the not-too-distant future, a notorious renegade sport on roller-skates creates rabid interest in its fans and turmoil among its participants.

Effects: John Sullivan, visual effects supervisor; Dave Moulder, visual effects coordinator; Scott Hecker, sound supervisor; Eric Norris, sound effects editor

A.I.
(Warner Bros.)

Release date: June 29

Steven Spielberg's vision of the project Stanley Kubrick never got to make. Story follows a boy robot's journey at a time when mankind has to depend on artificial intelligence to survive.

Effects: Dennis Muren, Scott Farrar, visual effects supervisors; Hal Hickel, animation supervisor; Mark Miller, visual effects executive producer; Gary Rydstrom, sound designer-re-recording mixer

Jurassic Park III
(Universal)

Release date: July 18

More species of dinosaurs who have bones to pick with humans.

Effects: Jim Mitchell, visual effects supervisor; Dan Taylor, animation supervisor; Mark Miller, visual effects executive producer; Chris Boyes, sound designer; Gary Rydstrom, Gary Summers, sound effects editors

Planet of the Apes
(Fox)

Release date: July 27

Director Tim Burton's "re-imagining" of the original film series of the '60s and '70s about humans living in a society run by simians.

Effects: Bill George, visual effects supervisor; George Murphy, co-visual effects supervisor; Sandra Scott, visual effects producer; Tom Peitzman, visual effects producer; Petur Hliddal, sound mixer

Ghosts of Mars
(Screen Gems Sony/Columbia)

Release date: August 24

Set 175 years in the future, authorities transfering a dangerous criminal from a frontier mining town on Mars unleash spiritual mayhem when they disturb an ancient civilization.

Effects: Lance Wilhoite, visual effects supervisor; Darrell Pritchett, sound effects coordinator; Willie Burton, sound mixer

Gangs of New York
(Miramax/Touchstone)

Release date: Fall

Set in 1846-63 and based on the nonfiction book by Herbert Asbury, director Martin Scorsese's epic focuses on how Irish and Italian gangs rose to power in New York during the time of Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed.

Effects: Michael Owens, visual effects supervisor; Camille Geier, visual effects producer

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
(Warner Bros.)

Release Date: Nov. 16

Based on the first of J.K. Rowling's fantasy books about a boy who discovers that he's a wizard.

Effects: John Richardson, physical effects supervisor; Chris Barton, animatronic model designer

Windtalkers
(MGM)

Release date: Thanksgiving

Director John Woo's take on the relationships between the Marines and the Navajo codetalkers they were assigned to protect during World War II.

Effects: Kevin Lingenfelser, visual effects supervisor; Kevin Elam, visual effects producer; Richard Goodman, sound mixer

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
(New Line)

Release date: Dec. 19

First in a trilogy of live-action features based on the popular novel; tells the tale of Frodo Baggins, who battles against the dark lord, Sauron, to save Middle Earth from the grip of evil.

Effects: Chris Boyes, sound design consultant-lead mixer; David Farmer, sound designer; Mike Hopkins, Ethan Van der Ryn, supervising sound editors