Computer Graphics World

November / December 2015

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18 cgw n o v e m b e r . d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 5 hat a year it has been at the the- ater, with many highs and lows – some surpris- ing and some not so surprising. The good news is that the sum- mer take at the box office was up 14 percent from the previous year. It even bested the earnings from 2013, the previous summer record holder. So, what excited audiences and critics? Nostalgia. What turned off audiences and crit- ics? Nostalgia. We returned to Jurassic Park this summer, and that trip was well worth the wait! Jurassic World and its digital dinosaurs had us on the edge of our seats, and the film remains (as of this printing) the top-grossing movie domestically for the year at $651.5 million. Tom Cruise put the excitement back into the summer blockbusters with amazing stunts in the latest installment of Mission: Impos- sible – Rogue Nation. Mad Max returned to the big screen in all its post-apocalyptic glory (or should I say, "gory"?) with Fury Road. And the Fast and Furious franchise still resonated with audiences with Furious 7. Cinderella, which included a good deal of digital magic, remains a perennial favorite, as the 2015 version continued to hold audiences spellbound. The Minions returned to theaters, but this time they starred in their own movie. Minion fever ensued, as fans proudly displayed their favorite yellow creature on Facebook and elsewhere. Drac and his friends and family were back in Hotel Transylvania 2, scaring up some laughs before Halloween. The Peanuts Movie transformed Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the gang into 3D characters, and au- diences embraced the change. As always, superheroes traditionally do well at the box office, and this year they continued that trend – for the most part. The Avengers: Age of Ultron was a fan favorite, boosting the movie to number two (domestic) for 2015, albeit with two more months (and Star Wars and Spectre) to go. Longtime Marvel character Ant- Man made his first film debut with great fanfare. On the flip side, Fantastic Four may have overstayed its screen time, with the latest installment falling flat. Another surprise: Disney's Tomorrowland is still generating crowds at the theme parks, but inside the theater was quite another story. While still breaking the top 25 movies of the year, many predicted much better results for this futuristic concept. Despite the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Termina- tor in Genisys, the movie did not receive the welcome that had been expected. The characters in Pixels were old video game favorites, but the movie just didn't score well, either. And the foul-mouth teddy bear Ted, who rocked the theater just a few years ago, lost some of his edge, netting only slightly better box-office success this year as Paddington, the sweet, lovable English bear. Various new properties had tremendous results, including The Martian and San Andreas. On the animation side, Disney/ Pixar's Inside Out was a rollick- ing success, as was Dream- Works' Home. As of this writing, the world was patiently waiting for the return of Star Wars, with The Force Awakens. Tickets already went on sale in October for its December 14 release. The question is, could this film shoot to the top of the box-office list in little over two weeks, to overtake Jurassic World's major bite of the year's revenues? It may well happen. Let's also not forget about Bond, James Bond, who returned to theaters in early November in Spectre. It's been three years since Skyfall, and fans have been anxious to be shaken (and stirred) with inter- national intrigue once again. While box-office numbers are important, an indication of a movie's reception by audiences, they are not the final word when it pertains to awards, particularly when it comes to visual effects and animation. Fantastic work does not always translate into auto- matic success at the theater. As we begin to dust off the red carpet and ready ourselves for the madness of awards season, let's look at some of the more intriguing digital work cre- ated for a number of VFX and animated films. You can bet we will see many of these movies on short lists very soon. ■ Karen Moltenbrey is the chief editor of Computer Graphics World. The Race Is On WHICH VFX AND ANIMATED FEATURES WILL MAKE THE LIST FOR THE TOP AWARDS COMPETITIONS, AND WHICH WILL CLAIM THE BIG PRIZES? BY KAREN MOLTENBREY W CINDERELLA CRIMSON PEAK EVEREST

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