Superman Returns Writer To Direct “Calling All Robots”
Posted by John Campeaon 27. 03. 2008in News Chat
The new capture animation technology used by Robert Zemeckis in Beowul was just jaw droppingly beautiful to watch. It was kind of freaky in “The Polar Express”, but they seem to have improved it quite a lot. It seems that technology is about to be put to use again in a new Disney film “Calling All Robots”
Variety Magazine gives us this:
Michael Dougherty has teamed with Walt Disney Pictures and Robert Zemeckis’ ImageMovers on “Calling All Robots,” an animated sci-fi adventure the scribe plans to direct using the same type of performance capture technology recently deployed to produce “Beowulf.” Details of the project are being kept under wraps, but it uses performance capture to “tell a story that’s a throwback to old Godzilla movies,” Dougherty said. “I grew up watching Godzilla movies. This film is very much rooted in those movies.”
Dougherty also wrote X-Men 2 and made his directoral debut with the horror flick “Trick R Treat” that never ended up getting released (it was supposed to come out last October… there is still no release date, but the studio says it’s going to come out this year at some point which I hope it does because I thought it looked pretty damn good).
When you watch the Beowulf DVD special features and see how they did the whole motion capture thing for the movie, it’s really quite amazing. It’s a whole new art unto itself and I thought the results were spectacular. I have no idea if Michael Dougherty can direct or not, but I’ll be curious to see how this one turns out.
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@zemeckis:
stop. stop. stop. stop. stop. stop with the ‘animated motion capture technology.’ it’s horrible. the ugliest cartoons ever made.
the only good thing about beowulf was the dragon. the rest was crap. sorry to say but it is.
the only way to make these movies better is to CARTOON the faces, exaggerating the expressions is the only way to bridge the ‘uncanny valley’. otherwise, it’s like night of the living dead.
that or just make it an FX heavy live-action film and leave the animation to cartoonists.
Bleah the Superman returns script was so bleah! X-men 2 was good though…and Trick R Treat didn’t really impress me…the trailer at least.
Don’t know what to make of the Calling all Robots, but if it does draw from the old Godzilla movies, that would be good.