F/x houses springing back to life
Industry rebooting along with H'wood
Special effects houses, which sat mostly on the sidelines in the last half of 2001 after studios stockpiled pics in anticipation of writers' and actors' strikes, are finally beginning to see a greenlight at the end of the production pipeline.
And it's coming earlier than had been expected.
Expecting the worst, f/x facilities didn't think new studio pics would be OK'd until the spring or even summer. But the rollout has already begun, and during what is traditionally a quiet period.
Even better, the number of big-budget projects now heading into production or pre-production over the next several months will create a torrent of work for effects houses that figures to keep the boom time going well into 2004:
- Already busy with "Star Wars: Episode II," "Minority Report" and "Men in Black 2," Industrial Light & Magic recently landed "Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" from Warner Bros., as well as Universal's "The Hulk."
- Digital Domain has snagged high-profile projects including Paramount's franchise "Star Trek: Nemesis" and Revolution Studios' extreme sports actioner "XXX." It also continues to wrap up work on DreamWorks' remake of "The Time Machine" and Par's Vietnam War pic "We Were Soldiers."
- Sony Pictures Imageworks, which continues to work on Columbia Pictures' "Spider-Man" and "Stuart Little 2," has begun preliminary work on the computer-animated feature "AstroBoy."
- Cinesite is working on Spyglass' "Shanghai Noon" sequel "Shanghai Nights," and is readying to tackle the visuals for MGM's next James Bond installment. It worked on the last two pics, "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "The World Is Not Enough."
- Rhythm and Hues is busy with Warners' "Scooby Doo" and Par's "The Sum of All Fears."
- Smaller facilities also have their hands full, with French outfit Buf Compagnie tackling shots for the next two installments of Warners' "The Matrix," as well as the studio's "Constantine."
On deck
Still up for grabs are even bigger f/x projects that are expected to be awarded soon: Col's "Charlie's Angels 2" and "Sinbad"; Fox's "Daredevil," "Fat Albert" and "X-Men" sequel "X2"; Par's "The Core" and "Timeline"; Universal's "Red Dragon"; and Warners' "Ecks vs. Sever" and "Harry Potter 3."
The timing couldn't be better.
During the slow period, facilities were forced to cut back staff or, in the worst cases, shutter entirely. If they couldn't rely on film work, they certainly couldn't rely on commercials -- after Sept. 11, demand dried up.
"F/x facilities of this size need to have some really big shows," says Joanna Capitano, director of sales and marketing for the feature division of effects studio Digital Domain. "It really works fine for other houses to have a piece here and a piece there, but for us to be successful, we really need to have 'Star Treks' and 'XXXs' that we can really wrap the facility around."
Effective outlook
Things are expected to look positive for effects houses for several years, with enough eye candy needed to be created that every facility will benefit.
Expected to begin lensing in 2002 or 2003 are visually demanding pics like Col's "Bad Boys 2," "SWAT," "Tick-Tock" and "Zorro Unmasked"; DreamWorks/U's "The Argonauts"; Fox's "Fantastic Four"; New Line's "Iron Man"; U's "Fast and the Furious 2" and "The Prisoner"; and Warners' "Catwoman" and potential "Batman" and "Superman" franchises.
"It's an excellent time," Capitano says. "There's no question about it. This period can dry up at times where you don't have a movie that crosses (your path in the) January time frame. You could conceivably not have work for a while. But this year it's different. There's a lot of activity. We say bring it on. If the studios want to make movies, we're ready. You can never be too busy."
Green means go
Industryites are attributing the studios' willingness to greenlight larger projects to the B.O. successes of recent event pics, including "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "The Lord of the Rings."
"People are going to the movies," one bidder at a major f/x facility says. "Studios are coming off of a phenomenal box office year. There are some great films out there doing phenomenal business. It feels like World War II when people would lose themselves in movies. When the getting's good you keep it going."
