Amph What's the deal with Digital Domain?

Layoffs, bankruptcy?

I'm only asking, because I thought they were doing effects work on Ender's Game. Nothing can be allowed to threaten the release of Ender's Game.

 

It's probably going to be awful, so I'm fine with the threats.

 

How can it possibly fail? Ender's Game is an undisputed classic of science fiction, like Battlefield Earth and Dune.

 

Ahhh....as a fan of vfx I've watched this whole thing like a freight train at high speed approaching a brick wall.

One of the main problems is John Textor went public with them and took out huge loans that DD had difficulty paying back.

The other problem is they spread themselves too thin IMHO: they were doing vfx work, in-house films, outside features, an educational Institute, and expansion to places like Florida and Vancouver.

They weren't focused enough and it scared investors(along with their posting of multi-million dollar losses).

They're restructuring now so hopefully they get back to doing what they do best, vfx work, and slowly grow their way into those other arenas if they desire.

But Textor did way too much too fast.

The vfx industry is a crazy business model anyway, rife with fixed bids, underbidding, and a lack of a vfx union.

 

There's probably an interesting discussion here about the business end of the VFX arena. Unfortunately, I don't now enough about it to contribute, but others might have some things to say about this arena of the cinematic arts. It seems that it doesn't get nearly as much serious cultural discussion as things like directing, screenwriting, even some levels of design.

 

Ender's Game actually strikes me as a novel that would be exceedingly difficult to execute successfully in film form. It's a very psychological novel, and those types of things are very hard to express in a film without distractedly obvious expository dialogue.

 

RIP DD.

 

I'm trying to think of an undisputed classic of sci-fi literature that actually got a good adaptation to film. 2001: A Space Odyssey doesn't count, of course, since the novel and the film were created concurrently. Childhood's End, Rendezvous with Rama, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Puppet Masters, Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, Dune . . . no to all of them. Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Planet of the Apes are both great movies based on books, but in both cases, the books are actually not considered that great, or at least not on classic level.

I suppose Carrie could be considered halfway sci-fi; the telekinesis in the story is a scientific phenomenon, not a supernatural one, but it's still mostly horror. Maybe 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea would count; I love the James Mason film, but then, while the book is beloved, I find it to be nigh onto unreadable myself, so I hesitate to give it classic status against my better judgment.

AHA! Blade Runner! Great, great novel. Great, great film. Different from each other in almost every particular, but they're both great, so I'll settle for that. I suppose Jurassic Park too, though I'm not sure the book really deserve "classic" status as much as the movie does.

 

Well, no, but a certain other Kubrick film does, my droog. Although that's admittedly pushing the definition of sci-fi to its bare minimum entry level.

 

Good catch. I'm not a fan of the movie myself, but my puny pleas can hardly remove it's "classic" status.

 

I wish His Dark Materials had gotten a chance, and didn't get nixed after Golden Compass.

 

It did get a chance. It just didn't pull in the Spider-Man/Pirates/Harry Potter kind of dollars.
http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?view2=worldwide&yr=2007&p=.htm

 

It got killed by Christian conservatives in the US, even though it did well overseas and on DVD.

I wanted to see the elephants on wheels!

// Nerd rage //

 

Here you go

I'll be honest, I don't see what the big deal is.

The **** you can find just by Googling "Ganesh," I swear to god...

 

No. It got killed by film critics in the US. Harry Potter had its own share of book burnings by the Christian right, and was even condemned by Pope Palpatine.

"The Catholic League thinks it's anti-Catholic. Admirers of Philip Pullman's 1995 His Dark Materials trilogy think the film guts the backbone of the book. Me, I just think it blows."

"The Golden Compass is a blatant attempt to duplicate the success of the Harry Potter franchise. The only thing missing is richly imagined characters, a comprehensible story line, good acting, and satisfying special effects."

"With its rushed, jargon-pumped exposition, surplus of quarter-baked characters, stray narrative strands and generously dropped hints of things possibly to come, The Golden Compass is a movie that wears its franchise ambitions on its sleeve."

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/his_dark_materials_the_golden_compass/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/dec/15/golden-compass-sam-elliot-catholic-church


It's the exact same reason Disney dropped Narnia (Resurrected Jesus Lion!) after Caspian, and then Fox dropped Narnia after Dawn Treader. Moderate ticket sales + Poor critical review.

 

Fair enough. However I liked the Golden Compass movie.

 

Golden Compass was OK, but it had no ending and seemed a bit too....tame. The books are dark and quite deep, I was suprised they won children's book awards given they seem a bit tough for kids to read.
The franchise is popular enough to be re-done, but it should be more like the books. It needs a LOTR-style epic feel.

 

The ending was truncated due to the issues regarding the sequels. ie. There weren't going to be any. And the deep, dark stuff really didn't kick in until the 2nd book.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2007/12/want-to-see-the/

 

They didn't go out of biz. They just closed their Florida studio and are going to focus on vfx. Oh....and maybe go bankrupt. But I doubt they will close, just restructure.

 

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118059067

 

What a mess

 

So......years later and millions of subsidy dollars spent and DD goes back to being a vfx service company. Good for them. That's what gave them their reputation to begin with.

 

Ender's Game film producers seek assurances in DD bankruptcy.

 

I'd really hate to see the release date of this movie pushed back again.