|
Weekend Newsreel:
June 16, 2006
Compiled By The FilmBuffOnLine Staff
Glass Bottom
Boat Sinks:
The glass-bottomed paddleboat used in the 1966 Doris Day film The
Glass Bottom Boat sank off the coast of Malibu, California early
Sunday morning. Built in 1929 and christened The Phoenix, the boat
had been a tourist attraction for decades until it was retired to
Newport Beach south of Los Angeles several years ago. Recently, Rick
Parker, a restaurateur from San Francisco, purchased the boat and
was in the process of piloting the boat north to the Bay Area when
one of the boat’s glass panels sprung a leak in 600 feet of water
some two miles off of Zuma Beach. When the boat’s pump could not
keep up with the incoming water the crew called the Coast Guard for
rescue. Parker and his crew of three were picked up by a Coast Guard
boat, but the Phoenix sank.
Lucasfilm
Sells Historic Division:
Lucasfilm has announced that its Industrial Lights and Magic visual
effects division is in talks to sell off its physical production
unit. Charged with producing model and miniature effects work, the
physical production unit was one of the cornerstones of Industrial
Lights and Magic when it was founded by director George Lucas to
produce the visual effects for his initial Star Wars (1977)
film. Since then the unit has provided the models and physical
effects work for such films as Raiders Of The Lost Ark
(1981), Poltergeist (1982), The Dark Crystal (1982),
Ghostbusters (1984), Goonies (1985) and Back To The
Future (1985) among others. However, with ILM’s increasing shift
of emphasis to digital visual effects work, work for the physical
production unit has declined. The unit is being purchased by Mark
Anderson, a modelmaker who has worked for ILM for more than 15
years, and will be renamed Kerner Optical. The new company will be a
preferred subcontractor for ILM.
Deja View:
The Pang Brother’s breakout Thai film Bangkok Dangerous has
been slated for a remake with Nic Cage in the lead and the
original’s directors Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang, collectively
known as the Pang Brothers, behind the camera. Jason Richman is
adapting the screenplay about a hit man who heads to Bangkok to kill
four people but falls in love with a local girl. Filming is set to
begin in August.
In Remembrance
Ingo Preminger-
The
literary agent turned film producer has passed away
at age 95.
Bill Kovacs-
The
computer animator earned him an Academy Award has
passed away at age 56.
Arthur Widmer-
The
technician who developed the blue screen compositing
process has passed away at age 92.
Shohei Imamura-
The
Japanese director who was one the leading directors
in the Japanese New Wave movement has passed away at
age 79.
Opening This Week
June
16
-
The Fast And The Furious 3:
Tokyo Drift
-
Garfield's A Tale Of Two
Kittens- website
-
The Heart Of The Game
(wider)- website
-
The Lake House (Il Mare)
-
Land Of The Blind
(NY)
-
Loverboy (limited)
-
Lower City (Claude Baixa)
(NY)
-
The Mostly Unfabulous
Social Life Of Ethan Green (limited)
-
Nacho Libre-
website
-
Only Human (limited)
-
Wordplay (NY)-
website
June 21
|
