Award Winning Weta Digital Ramps Up For AVATAR Sequels

6 Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects. 10 Academy Science and Technology Awards. 6 BAFTA Awards for Best Special Visual Effects. 6 VES Awards for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature.

Yep. Weta Digital knows what they are doing. Peter Jackson's sandbox builds amazing things and now they are ramping up for James Cameron's AVATAR sequels. With over ~$1 billion in production budget for AVATAR and the immense success that Cameron's films enjoy, obviously, his 4 sequels will command the best in the world at what they do. Enter Weta Digital.

Says Cameron: "What Joe Letteri and Weta Digital bring to these stories is impossible to quantify. Since we made Avatar, Weta continued to prove themselves as doing the best CG animation, the most human, the most alive, the most photo-realistic effects in the world. And of course, that now means I can push them to take it even further."

Can you imagine what surprises Cameron and Weta Digital have in store for us in these movies? A lot of time has passed. A LOT. Technology has improved by leaps and bounds. I can't wait to see what these guys have built and are building.

Source: Deadline

Three Great BTS Videos of THE HOBBIT Visual Effects!

Hey all, Tim here, and I came upon an article written for the LA Times Hero Complex that has an interview with THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri. I've embedded the videos below, but you can also view them along with reading the full interview here.

The interview may be familiar to MarketSaw readers, but the videos are amazing. They show great behind the scenes processes used by WETA Digital to bring the amazing digital characters in THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY to life. It's a task just bringing Gollum to life, but to also have to bring the Goblin King and Azog to life along with all the other digital characters is an amazing feat for one film. A job well done.

It should be noted that besides being nominated for their visual effects work on THE HOBBIT: AUJ, WETA is also nominated for their contributions to Prometheus and The Avengers, however AUJ is the only one that had all the work done in one place... at WETA. WETA's work on THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY is my pick for Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards for this last year.
 

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY is still in theaters in 2D, 3D, IMAX 3D, and HFR 3D. It's on route to make $1 Billion at the worldwide box office. If you haven't had the opportunity to check it out yet, there's no better time than now.

3D Geek Alert: Awesome Interview With Joe Letteri Of Weta!

Jim here. A special treat for you AVATAR fans! Guess whose got "Oscar" written on his forehead? Ok yeah - other than Jim Cameron :-)

You guessed it: Joe Letteri. For those not acquainted with Joe's exploits, he was Weta's Visual Supervisor on AVATAR and was effects supervisor on THE LOVELY BONES, X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, KING KONG (won Oscar), and the last two LOTRs movies (won Oscar for BOTH) to name just a few.

You can check out his interview right here at TVNZ.

His body of work in visual effects is astounding - check it out at IMDb. This guy is definitely on my interview list too! :-) I would say his Oscar chances are hovering around 100%.