Disney's A CHRISTMAS CAROL Update: Cannes Interview - Photos - Concept Art! And More ALICE!

Jim here. Got wind of a great video of Jim Carrey and Robert Zemeckis' stage discussion of A CHRISTMAS CAROL at Cannes, through my friend Graham Fortin of Movieset. These guys do a great job. Check out the clip below!

Isn't Jim Carrey a likeable guy? Just watching his discussion here underscores what a treasure he is. Hope the kid never dies inside you man!

Oh and ANOTHER great Zemeckis interview right here. I hate it when embedding is disabled! :-(

Further 3D news: The Russian site Filmz.ru (via /film) has landed what seems to be authentic concept art from ALICE IN WONDERLAND. It appears real due to the uncanny resemblence to an actual film capture of Alice approaching a large outside door. I have a couple of shots embedded here, but click through to see the rest.

I have said all along that A CHRISTMAS CAROL is going to surprise people and be one of the best of 2009. I think they are firing on all cylinders here. I hope the early clip of ACC was just a working reel - as it seemed very out of place. I believe that once we are immersed into the Dickens classic through Zemeckis' eyes, we will all be haunted by lingering thoughts of how great the movie is! :-)

And sure I harbor some concerns over the conversion of ALICE IN WONDERLAND from 2D to 3D, I think the project is going to be wild! I hope I am convinced that 3D conversion is viable for first run movies through this project.

Avatar Team Hiring + More Trailer Updates

Michael here.  Any VFX industry readers who would like to contribute to the most bleeding-edge film project ever may be interested in this job notice, posted yesterday on the 2-Pop forums.  

It makes sense that they are still hiring.  With a project like Avatar, work will continue on tweaking the incredible world Cameron has created until he gets every character, creature, alien tree, cloud, and blade of grass photoreal and animated like you are standing there underneath Pandora's twin suns.

This is why we haven't yet seen a trailer or still from the film.  Cameron wants every shot that is seen in a potential trailer to be absolutely, 100% representative of the final product.  So when will we see the trailer?

According to a Fox representative I spoke to today, "no trailer placement is confirmed at this time" and "we are nowhere near to having a final one."  The rep also told us that "nothing is 100%" as to when we will get our first look at the film, although she did state that Comic-Con is still the most likely place for our first looks.  Whether she was only referring to our first looks at a trailer or footage, or first looks at a poster or other marketing material wasn't made clear.  I still think there's a good shot that we will see a poster well before the trailer, especially given what Fox Co-Chairman Jim Gianopulos told me at ShoWest.

This does not rule out Transformers 2 (and a 3D version in front of Ice Age 3 a week later) being the place we will see the first trailer, or the place where Fox would ideally like to debut it.  Fox itself just doesn't know for sure yet - it all depends on when Cameron gets the shots he wants up to his standards.  Multiple trustworthy sources (not the source of the fake trailer canister, by the way) have said that at one point at least - and maybe currently - the plan was for Transformers 2.  Whether or not Fox makes that date is still up in the air.

Multiple people at Fox (including Gianopulos) and others elsewhere in the production have reiterated the unprecedented effort and time that this type of world building requires.  So they are still in the thick of things as far as finishing the movie goes, and will be right up to December.

Here is the job listing:

Pandora Films (LLC) is seeking an Assistant Production Coordinators for work in the Virtual Lab and VFX Departments on James Cameron’s Avatar

Description:

Our project makes heavy use of motion capture as a means to creating performances and creatures for an immersive, 3D theatrical feature. We are looking for self-motivated, experienced VFX asst. coordinators for our VFX production crew in assisting the production team realize the strong creative vision of our director.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

You will be interfacing directly with the VFX vendors, managing information interchange between them and the VFX production, Editorial and IT departments. Duties include: note-taking during Director reviews, scheduling and coordinating review and meeting times, ensuring timely and complete delivery of needed work elements and assets to various VFX vendors, tracking shot and sequence progress through the vendors’ facilities, and a demonstrated aptitude for professional and accurate reporting.

Minimum Qualifications and Abilities:

Though not required, a four-year degree from an accredited college or university is preferred. Previous experience in the feature film or visual effects industry is required. Candidate will need to have demonstrated ability to interact well with VFX vendors, in-house departments and production staff, be detail-oriented and proactive, organize production information, take direction well and be willing to learn about cutting-edge technologies and pipeline processes.Previous facility-side experience and/or a high degree of familiarity with contemporary digital work process and pipelines are a huge plus.

Please submit resume to:

avatarhiring@lightstormla.com

AVATAR Grabbing IMAX Screen Time - 3 Months Worth

Jim here. IMAX is staking out a 3 MONTH run for AVATAR on their screens! That is an aggressive stance that certainly means something. I mean, you can't run a company that screens movies without knowing how to program them. There is obviously going to be some HUGE demand for AVATAR in 3D and because there are relatively few IMAX screens, the end result is long periods of sellouts for IMAX.

Personally, I will be seeing AVATAR in at least RealD and IMAX and plan on taking it in many times. Heck I saw THE MATRIX back to back - loved it so much I turned around and bought another ticket. I expect that to happen with AVATAR. Potentially a three screener day? LOL.

AVATAR Trailer Is In Front Of TRANSFORMERS 2!

Ok - these pics are NOT authentic. I have a number of sources and they all have now contacted me except for one (far off time zone) and they all say NO. I am tempted to remove them, but heck why not leave it up so you can see the lengths at which people will go to create some excitement around AVATAR. I left the last batch up too so why not.

**SAME DAY UPDATE #2: Trusted source number 2 backs up TRANSFORMERS 2 as the AVATAR trailer winner too. The pics? Fake. I am just about ready to pull them.

**SAME DAY UPDATE: Trusted source number 1 backs up the TRANSFORMERS 2 information but can't believe that is the titling for the movie. Another good point made by a reader is that why a 3D trailer version in front of a 2D movie? Unless they are showing this trailer on digital screens that will show both. It is very possible. Audiences would need 3D glasses for only the trailer obviously. Still waiting on further confirmation from other sources.

Jim here. Guys! I think this is it! I just got word from a source of mine in Europe - Can't say how he got it, but here are some photos of the Trailer disks and the trailer titling!!

Man that titling looks awesome! lol - I can't believe I am thrilled with just seeing titling - but there it is lol. We are finally going to see the AVATAR trailer and it is in front of TRANSFORMERS 2. I have heard that from multiple sources and while it seems that TERMINATOR: SALVATION was in the running, TRANSFORMERS 2 won out.

The length for Trailer A appears to be 2 minutes 41 seconds and this copy is a DTS 3D version.

I have been duped in the past by someone with what seemed to be hard drives of AVATAR trailers, but this I believe to be authentic. I am also checking my other sources for verification but in the meantime - take a look! :-)

SHORT FEATURE: ATHLETES’ WIVES GONE WILD

While doing a little research for the upcoming review of Gymkata (Tell me, what sane person researches Gymkata?), I got curious about whatever happened to the movie’s star, Kurt Thomas. Turns out that after being inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, Kurt and his wife opened up the successful Kurt Thomas Gymnastics Training Center in Texas. Good for him. Other athletes… well, their private lives haven’t gone as well.

A couple of thoughts come to mind after watching this video.

One: If, like myself, you had no idea who Anna Benson was before seeing this, and you feel compelled to Google her… might I suggest leaving Safe Search on.

Two: This illustrates yet another reason Protestants should have held onto those deuterocanonical books. I’d venture a guess that these guys would have really benefited from a heaping dose of Sirach before walking down the aisle. “An evil wife is an ox yoke which chafes; taking hold of her is like grasping a scorpion. There is great anger when a wife is drunken; she will not hide her shame. A wife's harlotry shows in her lustful eyes, and she is known by her eyelids… [however] A wife's charm delights her husband, and her skill puts fat on his bones. A silent wife is a gift of the Lord, and there is nothing so precious as a disciplined soul. A modest wife adds charm to charm, and no balance can weigh the value of a chaste soul. Like the sun rising in the heights of the Lord, so is the beauty of a good wife in her well-ordered home. Like the shining lamp on the holy lampstand, so is a beautiful face on a stately figure. Like pillars of gold on a base of silver, so are beautiful feet with a steadfast heart.”

Now, not to worry, ladies, while Sirach is definitely considered an inspired book, stuff like the being silent isn’t necessarily to be taken literally in every instance. And that being the case, it’s probably not a good idea for all you guys out there to keep pointing out such verses to your wife or girlfriend. (Trust me, I learned this firsthand as a teenager.) It’s like the introduction to the Book of Sirach in The Catholic Youth Bible says, “In interpreting Sirach, you must take special care not to conclude that women are the source of most of men’s troubles!” Good advice. Still, is it just me, or does the use of the word “most” make it seem like the editors are implying “some”?

STEP UP 3-D UPDATE

Jim here. A movie that I have been getting a LOT of email about from readers is STEP UP 3-D - mainly from dancers who wanted to audition and seek their stardom through it. Well to those that made it - congratulations. To those that haven't, sorry but shooting has begun. We will see some new faces in the movie with Sharni Vinson and Rick Malambri being added as new talent.

I first knew it was shooting when I received a tweet from a guy whose office overlooks SU3D's street level set in New York City. By the time he got my return tweet, the shooting had stopped and apparently it was only a one day shoot (Twitter is only real time if it is read in real time lol). He promises pics if it gets back to that location, but I doubt they will be returning to the same spot.

The movie is about the dancers going to Paris for a big dance competition, but Moose misses his flight - which leads him to enter an underground dance competition in the French city.

STEP UP 3-D is slated for an August 6, 2010 release.

Partial Source: Anthony Jones

Edgar Allan Poe's THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER in 3D!!

Jim here. One of my favorite short stories I read during my childhood years was THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER. It is damn morbid. I also remember listening to a LP recording (with an actor of course!) of someone waking up after being buried alive in a box. Not a pleasant recording to say the least and certainly gets your mind racing. I say the odds are good that the screenwriter, Gian Marco Masoni has kept that in!

Green Knight Ventures will produce the 3D project entitled THE USHERS while Stephen Kay directs. The talent includes Claire Forlani, Dougray Scott and Rufus Sewell.

From THR: "Ushers" will look at a grown brother and sister who have lived in the same Martha's Vineyard house for a long time but begin to feel trapped there, and who then bring in a real-estate broker to help them resolve their crisis.

Now if this movie also included running zombies I might just have to close my eyes once in awhile... Thank you Matt for the heads up on this one!