Director Jon Favreau To Receive Harold Lloyd Award For Filmmaking From Advanced Imaging Society

ADVANCED IMAGING SOCIETY AND THE VR SOCIETY ANNOUNCES 2017 HONOREES

DIRECTOR JON FAVREAU TO RECEIVE HAROLD LLOYD AWARD

HTC CEO AND CHAIRWOMAN CHER WANG AND “HTC VIVE” RECOGNIZED WITH SIR CHARLES WHEATSTONE AWARD

GOOGLE EARTH VR HONORED WITH CENTURY AWARD VR

CATEGORIES EXPANDED

HOLLYWOOD—The Advanced Imaging Society and The VR Society will continue to influence the 2017 awards season when it presents the 8th Annual Lumiere™ Awards this year honoring creative work in movies, TV and expanded Virtual Reality categories at Warner Bros. Studios, February 13, 2017, in Hollywood. The black-tie gathering will begin at 6:30PM with a sit down dinner, followed by the awards ceremony at the Steven J. Ross Theater.

Director, writer and producer Jon Favreau, director of Disney’s blockbuster “The Jungle Book” movie and creator of the “Gnomes and Goblins” VR experience with Wevr and Reality One, will be presented with the Society’s 2017 Harold Lloyd Award for Filmmaking. Favreau directed Marvel’s “Iron Man” and “Iron Man 2” movies, and he also directed “Chef”, “Cowboys and Aliens” and “Elf”. His films have grossed over 2.5 billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Previous honorees have included Martin Scorsese, Ang Lee, Jean-Pierre Juenet, Victoria Alonso and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

“Harold Lloyd was a passionate advocate for using new technology to thrill audiences,” said Suzanne Lloyd, Chairman of Harold Lloyd Entertainment. “He would be delighted that we are honoring Jon for exciting so many movie and VR fans worldwide,” Lloyd added.

The Society’s annually recognizes “Distinguished Creative Achievement” for the use of advanced imaging technologies including 3D, HDR and VR. Awards will be presented for distinguished achievement in storytelling for 3D and HDR Live Action and Animated Movie categories, among others. The Virtual Reality categories have expanded this year to include Best VR Experience, Best VR Film Experience, Best VR Animation and CGI, Best Episodic Content (360-degree), Best Live Action (360-degree), Best VR Documentary, Best VR Journalism, Best VR Sports, Best VR Music, Best VR Advertising/Branded Content, and Best VR Gaming, The Awards Ceremony and dinner is presented by AMD. A complete list of nominees can be seen here:

http://www.advancedimagingsociety.com/awards/2017-nominees/.

Also new this year is an opportunity for the media to visit curated and the award nominated VR content in all categories. The Advanced Imaging Society and The VR Society will offer a VIP media preview from 10AM-12PM on February 13 at the Steven J. Ross Theater at Warner Bros.

Cher Wang, Chairwoman and CEO of HTC Corp., creator of the HTC VIVE virtual reality system, will be presented with the organization’s Sir Charles Wheatstone Award. Society Awards Chair Buzz Hays stated “With the HTC VIVE, Cher Wang and her team have created a groundbreaking room- scale VR platform that has enabled the production of a dazzling number of immersive VR experiences which have pushed the boundaries of entertainment. The result has surprised and delighted the industry and consumers,” Hays added. Previous Wheatstone winners include John Lasseter and Pixar, Sky TV, The BBC, and Sir David Attenborough.

The Society1s Century Award will be presented to Google Earth VR. This application allows you to travel the world, fly over cities, stand at the highest mountain peaks, and even soar upwards into space using the HTC Vive. “The Google VR Experience empowers every citizen of the world to explore and learn about our world with VR,” said Society President Jim Chabin. “This achievement will enrich countless lives and expand our understanding of our planet in the coming years, and we are thrilled to honor Google's virtual reality team,” Chabin added. The Century Award is presented rarely and is reserved for people and achievements the Society deems to have “created a milestone” technology or piece of content. Director James Cameron was previously honored with the Century Award for “Avatar.”

In addition to the honorees, confirmed special guests to attend include Doug Liman and Ivan Reitman.

The Society’s Gold Lumiere™ statuettes are made by the R.S. Owens Company of Chicago, who also manufactures the Oscars for the Academy Awards. They depict the Roman Goddess of Dawn, “Aurora”.

About The Advanced Imaging Society and The VR Society

The Advanced Imaging Society and The VR Society were founded as a non-profit organization by major Hollywood studios and top technology companies to advance the arts and technologies of 3D, HDR, VR, AR and 360-degree content for professionals active in entertainment, media and marketing. Members include AMD, Barco, Canon Street, Cause Play/360 Ad Sports, Cosgrove Media, Create Advertising Group, Deluxe Entertainment, Discovery Communications, Dolby Laboratories, DreamWorks Animation, DTS, Facebook (Oculus), Fathom Events, Fraunhofer, HTC Vive, Intel, KDX, Ketchum, Koncept VR, Legend, LIFE VR, LOOT Interactive, Lucid Dreams Productions, Marvel Studios, Nokia Technologies, Pixar, Prime Focus World, Sony Entertainment, Sony Music, Starbreeze Studios, Stereo D, StoryTech, StreamTV, Technicolor, 3doo, True Image Company, Universal Pictures, V-Nova, Verve, Virtual Reality Company, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, and Warner Bros.

In addition, the Advanced Imaging Society and the VR Society has international chapters in the U.K., Belgium, China (Beijing and Hong Kong), Japan, New Zealand, and Canada.

For more information please visit:

www.AdvancedImagingSociety.com
TheVRSociety.com

Really looking forward to this gala event! I'll have more updates soon.

Exclusive Confirmed! Reitman Attached To Produce BAYWATCH!

Jim here. Nope! I am not talking about watching Michael Bay and his 3D soft-shoe show.

But I AM kinda perturbed. Risky Business blog over at THR would like you to believe that they are breaking this story - they aren't. We had this story out in the open back in September of 2007! Modern journalists are amazing aren't they?

But they did fill in some blanks that were missing - so thanks, I guess! I had not heard anything further about the story since I broke that Ivan Reitman was attached. Originally Spielberg had a hand in this too - perhaps he still has.

The new update is that Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka have been tapped to write the screenplay and apparently Paramount wants to move forward with a 2011 release window.

From Risky Business: ...Insiders place the “Baywatch” adaptation in the context of a TV revamp like “Charlie’s Angels” rather than “Starsky and Hutch,” which indicates that female-driven action is also on the menu.

RB makes no mention of the original intent to shoot this in S3D, so we will remain cautiously optimistic at this point as I have not heard anything further. I think I will ping my sources again on this one. Certainly the worldwide following of Baywatch makes this an interesting project.

EXCLUSIVE: GHOSTBUSTERS Going 3D!

Jim here. If you want a tentpole, in your neighborhood, Who ya gonna call? Stereographers!!

Yes - I have word from one of my top sources that a friend of his at a certain well known effects house (I can't say who it is, but their initials are ILM) said that GHOSTBUSTERS 3 is proceeding as planned - but - with the added benefit of stereoscopic 3D!

I am digging for more intel and hopefully will have it soon. As you can tell, I love the franchise - the first is the best of course.

I don't know about you - and maybe you were too young to have enjoyed the first two in theaters, but GHOSTBUSTERS took us by storm! It was infectious and hilarious. Personally, if the script is funny and the originals at least make cameos or more, than I am very happy. I just hope it doesn't suck. I hope the introduction to this generation is at least as successful as the first was.

Sony's Columbia Pictures has Lee Eisneberg and Gene Stupnitsky penning the script. Word has it that Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson and Sigourney Weaver are all returning - but I have no intel on that or anything further as of yet.

I would have liked to have heard that conversation around the Reitman holiday table what with Jason Reitman set quite firmly against stereoscopic 3D. Ivan must still carry a lot of weight though - 3D is coming and it is going to be as big as the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man.

Someone has got to pull Jason aside and tell 'em: "I ain't afraid of no depth." Just sayin'.

Spielberg and Reitman doing Baywatch 3D!

EXCLUSIVE: A reliable source has informed me that Steven Spielberg and Ivan Reitman have purchased the rights to "Baywatch 3D" in a seven figure deal. No word on whether it is to be fast tracked or back burnered for now. But with the 3D revolution arriving in full force in 2009, one can only imagine.

Given the worldwide popularity of the TV series and throw in 3 dimensions as well, it could make a killing. Lifeguards in slow-mo, popping out at you while they run on the beach never gets old I guess.

I will have further confirmation of when production may begin and I will pass on any further details at that time. Stay tuned.