Maybe you saw this press release yesterday afternoon:
The Walt Disney Studios and Academy Award(R)-Winner Director Robert Zemeckis
and Producing Partners Form New Company That Will Produce 3D Performance Capture Films
The multi award-winning team of Robert Zemeckis, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey join forces with The Walt Disney Studios to set-up a new performance capture film company, it was jointly announced by Dick Cook, chairman, The Walt Disney Studios and producer/director Robert Zemeckis.
The company will create films using the performance capture technology, a technique of digitally recording actors’ movements that are fed into a computer allowing for the development of state-of-the-art 3D motion pictures.
Zemeckis, Rapke and Starkey will produce all of the films with Zemeckis expected to direct a number of the projects. The Walt Disney Studios will distribute and market the motion pictures worldwide.
In making the announcement Cook said, “The creation of this new company is yet another step in our leadership role in cutting edge technology as it relates to the movie industry.” Cook continued, “Bob is an amazing director who continues to push the envelope in creating the best in cinematic experiences. Along with his partners, Jack and Steve, they are one of the finest producing teams in the business. They have a real pulse on the future of motion pictures especially as it pertains to the creativity and technology of motion capture and 3D film experiences. They are true leaders in every sense of the word and we are proud to be partners with them in this new endeavor.”
Zemeckis added, “Jack, Steve and I are looking forward with great excitement to be working with Dick Cook and his team. In addition to being an enthusiastic champion of 3D movies, The Walt Disney Studios is committed to the advancement of digital cinema in all areas including performance capture.”
Zemeckis, along with executive producing partner Rapke and producer Starkey, first used this innovative film technology of performance capture when he directed the highly successful animated feature film “Polar Express.”
Following up on the success of “Polar Express,” Zemeckis was executive producer on his second performance capture film, the Academy Award-nominated Best Animated Film “Monster House,” with Rapke and Starkey producing. Additionally, Zemeckis is directing and producing the performance capture film, “Beowulf,” with Rapke and Starkey also producing. The film is due out in theaters in 2007.
Among some of their other credits are: “Castaway” — Zemeckis director and producer and Rapke and Starkey producers; “What Lies Beneath” — Zemeckis director and producer and Rapke and Starkey producers; “Contact” — Zemeckis director and producer and Starkey producer; “Forrest Gump” — Zemeckis received an Academy Award for Best Director and Starkey was awarded the Best Picture Oscar for his role as producer; “Back to the Future” trilogy — Zemeckis directed and Starkey served as associate producer on part 2 and 3 and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” — Zemeckis directed and Starkey was associate producer.
Based on what the suits in Burbank are now saying, this deal (Which — according to TMZ.com — has been in the works since last August) is a real cause for celebration. Given that the Mouse owns the world’s best computer animation studio (I.E. Pixar) as well as now having Robert Zemeckis under contract to produce state-of-the-art performance capture pictures, Walt Disney Studios will soon re-establish its dominance as the entertainment industry’s true leader when it comes to animation.
More importantly, once John Lasseter & Robert Zemeckis join forces (This is reportedly why the Walt Disney Company just optioned Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “John Carter of Mars” books. So that John & Robert could then then work together to develop this potential new franchise for the studio. The first installment of which will supposedly will be directed by “Finding Nemo” helmer Andrew Stanton) … Well, there’ll just be no stopping Mickey then. Disney will literally be able to steamroller right over its competition (I.E. DreamWorks Animation, Sony Animation, Blue Sky Studios et al).
Of course, some of you may have noticed that Walt Disney Feature Animation doesn’t yet seem to have a role in this “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” plan that Mouse House execs have mapped out for the studio’s animation unit. A fact that has not gone unnoticed by the folks who are now working for WDFA.
As one Disney animation veteran told me yesterday:
“It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Disney is getting ready to pull the plug on computer animation here in Burbank. ‘Joe Jump’ has been pushed back. Plus there are all these stories lately about how Lasseter has been bumping heads with Glen Keane over ‘Rapunzel.’ Meanwhile, ‘The Frog Princess’ is moving along at warp speed.
The rumor these days is we’re going to officially switch back over to only doing traditional animation here sometime in the next 12 months. Only this time around, traditionally animated films from Disney are going to be events. Which means that Burbank is only going to produce a brand-new feature every two or three years.
That means WDFA is going to need a much smaller crew, only 150 – 200 guys. Which means that another 400 people are going to lose their jobs. And given how hard some of these people worked at animation retraining in order to survive the last round of lay-offs … Well, that’s just cruel.
With Ed (Catmull) & John calling the shots now, rather than Don Hahn, it’s going to be really interesting to see who gets invited into the lifeboat this time around.”
So — yes — while it is very cool that Robert Zemeckis’ new performance capture company will soon be calling Disney Studios home, you also need to understand that this change comes at considerable cost. With a lot of very talented WDFA employees losing their jobs sometime soon so that the Mouse House can then claim to be home to a CG, performance capture as well as a traditional animation unit.
Your thoughts?