Got the new SANCTUM poster for you guys! Looks appropriately foreboding!!
SANCTUM is being produced by James Cameron and directed by Alister Grierson and will be released February 4, 2011.
For a high resolution shot - check out Comingsoon.
So looking forward to this one! To catch up on all things Sanctum, take a look at our coverage right here.
Here's the first trailer for SANCTUM guys! Looks like a heckuva trip and based on a true story which adds to the immersion, at least for me.
The 3D in this movie is going to be astounding given that it is shot in native 3D with the Cameron/Pace Fusion cameras and that underwater 3D scenes are among the best possible.
Here's the storyline: Based on true events, producer James Cameron presents this adventure drama concerning a father and son who are trapped in an underwater cave with a team of divers as the group strives to stay alive against all hope. KOKODA's Alister Grierson directs from a script by Andrew Wight and John Garvin.
Check out the trailer:
SANCTUM will be released February 4, 2011. And it can't come soon enough!!
Check out the new international poster for producer James Cameron's SANCTUM! A reader sent me this file that appears to be in Russian - definitely very cool. To see the higher resolution image click here. The poster has not been verified yet but I do have an email into Universal for confirmation.
Here is the storyline for SANCTUM:
Sanctum follows a team of underwater cave divers on a treacherous expedition to the largest, most beautiful and least accessible cave system on Earth. When a tropical storm forces them deep into the caverns, they must fight raging water, deadly terrain and creeping panic as they search for an unknown escape route to the sea.
Master diver Frank McGuire (Richard Roxburgh) has explored the South Pacific's Esa-ala Caves for months. But when his exit is cut off in a flash flood, Frank's team–including 17-year-old son Josh (Rhys Wakefield) and financier Carl Hurley (Ioan Gruffudd)–are forced to radically alter plans. With dwindling supplies, the crew must navigate an underwater labyrinth to make it out. Soon, they are confronted with the unavoidable question: Can they survive, or will they be trapped forever?
I have also included some earlier art for SANCTUM from the 65th Australian International Movie Convention that took place this year from Jupiter's Hotel and Casino (via encoremagazine). This poster doesn't reveal much except for the creepiness that exists deep inside underwater caves.
One thing is quite certain - the visuals for this film will be absolutely stunning. Seriously stunning. Underwater 3D is amazing when done correctly and you can bet Cameron won't sign off on anything that is shoddy. The story has to be good too to catch Cameron's eye to begin with!
Enjoy and anticipate! SANCTUM hits 3D theaters February 4 :-)
Jim here. Universal has set a release date for JAMES CAMERON PRESENTS SANCTUM 3D: Friday, March 4, 2011 (via Deadline).
The timing puts the diving thriller up against Sony's PRIEST which will also be in 3D. PRIEST recently had its release date changed from January 14, 2011.
Based on true events, this adventure drama concerns a father and son who are trapped in an underwater cave with a team of divers as the group strives to stay alive against all hope.
Obviously the world is watching this movie as it is the first officially "touched" project from James Cameron since AVATAR, even though he is only producing. Should be a heckuva ride.
Jim here. James Cameron was on Australia's Gold Coast recently to promote his upcoming production SANCTUM.
PHOTO: (left to right) Director Alister Grierson; Executive Producer James Cameron; Writer/Producer Andrew Wright.
From the Brisbane Times: The film Sanctum, he says, speaks volumes to the unique relationship between a father and son, and the fragility of that bond when faced with the onslaught of nature.
Says Cameron: "It’s really a character driven piece and the 3D should only be part of enhancing the experience."
Yet the location for the film is perhaps its star.
The film, with a cast including Richard Roxburgh, Rhys Wakesfield, Ioan Gruffand, Alice Parkinson and Dan Wyllie, explores an underwater cave system.
At the centre of the narrative is a team of underwater cave divers on an expedition to the depths of the ocean.
"3D works best in a very claustrophobic environment where you really feel finitely that the walls are only a few feet away," Cameron says.
"I think people are going to be [find themselves] with accelerated heart rates, tight breathing and white knuckles when they go throw the experiences of this film."
He, however, has taken a back seat, relinquishing the director’s chair for Australian filmmaker and Tropfest winner Alister Grierson.
"As a director myself I know how I like to be treated - I like to be supported and I like not to be told what to do.
"So I’m like a fairy godmother sort of producer - I just add the money and stand back. I’m here like the salesman - I’m selling you a new BMW. I didn’t build the damn thing, I’m just selling it."
Be sure to check out the rest of the interview right here. Thanks to @ProjectCould for the heads up! The more I hear about this project, the more I want it in theaters right now!
Photo credit: Steve Holland
Jim here. I had the great pleasure to speak with James Cameron today! I can hear in his voice that he is so pleased to have AVATAR delivered to the fans - and he let us in on a few news items too...
We have been waiting a long time for this movie and the light is at the end of the tunnel. Stereoscopic 3D will never be the same again. Hollywood will never be the same again!
Cameron is a class act. Can you believe I haven't see it yet? He couldn't believe it either, but I do not live in a major center so... I will be seeing it with you guys at the midnight showing on the 17th :-) Michael gets the goods this time around!
Lets go through the interview and I will give you a brief explanation at various points:
1:15 Cameron had only seen AVATAR end to end in 3D at a screening just before this press tour! He had some questions in his mind: Did it even work? Eyestrain? :-)
5:35 Performance Capture - some directors treat it as a stage play, which does not work for him. Cameron worked out coverage blocks at the moment of shooting - master, etc. He figured out angles later. Up to 12 HD cameras for reference. Wide shots for placement and editing.
10:00 When Cameron gave Weta the edited template (his cameras cut together with stereo space) - the stereo space numbers never changed! (the numbers that make up where convergence is, etc). Weta used them exactly - "...that's what really saved us" - they had a 1000 shots come in the door in the last 2 or 3 months of post. There was absolutely no time to re-render all that for stereo. All the stereo was worked out a year earlier! "Worked flawlessly".
I find this amazing! Cameron has pulled off a shrewd trick here saving time and money by thinking ahead.
10:35 Cameron addresses why some directors are hesitant to jump into 3D and why they can and should. He talks about the culture of 3D and getting the right S3D people to surround you on a project. Cameron's crew was able to take the stylistic cues from the first half of AVATAR's templates and simply apply them to the second half - makes it much easier on him who then just does stereo reviews and signs off on them - or with minor tweaks.
12:45 The critical thing with AVATAR was to make sure the live action was going to cut well (as opposed to the CG). Just thinking in 3D - you can change the stereo space in CG at any time, but you can't change it once you have shot it with a S3D camera rig. The trick is to make sure "anything will cut with anything" - and he means anything and anywhere in ANY shot.
13:50 Cameron throws out all the stereo rules that have ever been used! He came up with a whole new "stereo aesthetic" for AVATAR: "You put the convergence where you are looking. Period". This is an entirely new way of shooting 3D and it enables effective cutting. What it does NOT do is put the convergence at the screen plane where objects come flying out at you. That, is "bullshit".
15:10 Cameron avoids discussing whether AVATAR 2 and 3 takes place on or off Pandora. :-)
15:40 Sam Worthington is signed up for sequels "by his excitement; he wants to do another one". Zoe Saldana wants to do another one too. Cameron realizes option deals are subject to many conditions.
16:20 On BATTLE ANGEL: "I am not even sure that I am going to do that film". And he has no one in mind for casting.
Oh well - that is disappointing news. However maybe it is because AVATAR 2 and 3 are heating up big time now! :-)
16:50 On THE DIVE: "As a next film, THE DIVE is a more likely candidate". He doesn't want to do another 4 year movie right away and this drama is more immediate.
Can't wait this project! Huge potential here.
17:00 On SANCTUM AND FANTASTIC VOYAGE and anything else he wants to produce: "I am kinda out of the producing business. I don't like that - it is just not satisfying enough." SANCTUM is being done to illustrate the power of 3D in a modestly budgeted drama. Only 10% of SANCTUM will be underwater with much of it in caves and it is a survival drama.
Looking forward to this!
18:00 Cameron is still co-investigator on the MARS ROVER mastcam and will become more active on that after AVATAR. Also, his work on that doesn't really start in earnest until it is on the surface of Mars and sending back imagery.
This last one (amongst others) was Michael's and we both share an intense interest in astronomy!
Special thanks to Jim Cameron and Fox for setting this up. Looking forward to more! :-) I wish I had more time for this call. I was supposed to keep it to 15 minutes but as you can see 18 minutes came and went like it was nothing. I had many more questions for him but I think I hit the more pressing ones for us :-)
Jim here. Catching up on 3D news? No better place in the world than right here! Got some fast flying updates for you on multiple projects:
1. James Cameron's SANCTUM (he is executive producing) is set to shoot in Queensland, Australia at the Warner Roadshow studio on the Gold Coast. They have world class underwater facilities there (largest tank in the southern hemisphere) and you will all know just how wonderful and awe inspiring underwater S3D action is after AVATAR. Something more to look forward to now!
What's the story about? ...(the movie) is based on the real-life experience of Australian producer and co-writer, Andrew Wight, who was diving beneath the Nullarbor when a storm collapsed the entrance to the cave, trapping him and his fellow divers (from mysunshinecoast.com.au).
Anything underwater with the names of James Cameron and Vince Pace is going to rock. Period. Put this one on your calendar without hesitation when it comes out.
2. Is it real or CGI? Quite the commotion has been stirred up from this little photo! Apparently a matte painter at Weta Digital has confirmed that EVERYTHING in this shot is CGI. Not one stitch of live action here, including Lang's face. And this is a SINGLE FRAME! Can you imagine how long it takes to create even a single scene with this level of detail?
I am literally stunned at the level of achievement here. Revolutionary comes to mind for so many different elements of AVATAR doesn't it? Great work guys!
3. Last Night's AVATAR Feature On HBO: Can't complain about the media we are getting now about AVATAR, unless you think it is too much! The good thing about that is you can scale that back yourself - whereas if there was far less media around... well, you get the idea. Have a look:
Love the Navi language training! :-)
4. SPIDER-MAN 4 Not In 3D Afterall? MEN IN BLACK IS? Sony CEO Howard Stringer stuck his neck out against the tide of 3D as his company ramps 3D in just about every feasible way. While he was at an electronics company's headquarters on Thursday he elaborated (From AP): Stringer said he didn't think the next "Spider-Man" sequel would be in 3-D either, but a 3-D version of "Men in Black" was being considered. It was unclear what titles in Sony's extensive film library might be reissued in 3-D, he added.
Ok. I am shaking my head at this one. He wants to ramp up revenue but hey, take on of their top assets off the 3D scene. Does not compute. SPIDER-MAN 4 would rake in web fulls of cash in 3D and IMAX.
Obviously Stringer business sense is NOT tingling here. MEN IN BLACK makes sense though. Sony just needs to get their ducks all lined up neatly here. I am checking with my sources on this.
Jim here. SANCTUM promises to be a very intriguing project. Just after the low budget and Peter Jackson produced DISTRICT 9 was released to much acclaim we learn that SANCTUM has gotten $30 million financing from Wayfare Entertainment. James Cameron will executive produce.
The underwater survival drama will be using the FUSION 3D camera system (photos) invented by Vince Pace and James Cameron. Wise move. There is no one better in the world in underwater 3D. Expect the production to begin shooting in Australia in Q4 this year with Vince Pace most likely as DP (I have an email into Vince inquiring about this).
Another similarity with DISTRICT 9 is that the relatively unknown Alister Grierson (KOKODA) will direct the movie under the guidance and technology of an industry power player. Obviously the intent is to duplicate the overwhelming success.
Andrew Wight (GHOSTS OF THE ABYSS, ALIENS OF THE DEEP) co-wrote and will produce. John Garvin co-wrote as well.
From Variety: "Sanctum" is a fictional drama inspired by Wight's near-death experience when he led an expedition of 15 divers into a remote underwater cave system below Australia's Nullarbor Plain, and then watched a freak storm collapse the cave entrance. It became a two-day battle to survive until all 15 were rescued, an ordeal recounted in the 1989 docu "Nullarbor Dreaming."
In "Sanctum," a hard-edged father and his teen son lead a diving team, and the true character of the divers surfaces when they are faced with adversity."
As one who was nearly killed in that cave collapse, I thought there was great stuff in how people react in crisis, and become heroes or cowards," Wight told Daily Variety. "Jim and I spoke about all this while working on these 3-D adventure projects, and we had a burning desire to make a gritty film about what it's like to be on an expedition and have it all go horribly wrong. We wanted to show that the 3-D equipment and technology can be used to tell a story in a modest budget independent film."We can expect more such ventures from Cameron. He obviously is taking a strong approach to ensuring their is plenty of 3D movies in the pipeline for distributors to make the call to changeover to digital 3D. This is yet another underwater 3D drama from Cameron/Pace with the other being his THE DIVE project which he will be directing. I have to say that I would not want these films under anyone else's influence - the man knows submerged filmmaking.
