Justice League to be a CGI/Motion Capture Film!?

[DarkSuperman]

Justice League to be a CGI/Motion Capture Film!?
Source: IESB.net
August 22, 2007


One of the most talked-about topics online these days is Warner Bros.' Justice League of America adaptation, which Happy Feet director George Miller is reportedly attached to.

Reports have said that the superhero team-up movie would include Batman, Superman, The Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern, that casting would start next week, and that Christian Bale (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) and Brandon Routh (Superman, Superman: Man of Steel) would not be involved.

It didn't quite make sense how Warner Bros. would be able to pull it off, but perhaps now we know how they can. IESB.net says that the movie might be a CGI/performance capture project, much like The Polar Express, and the upcoming Beowulf and Avatar. Here's a bit of the scoop the site received:

However, and take this with a grain of salt, Imageworks are apparently in the running to provide services on the JLA film, competing with R&H and possibly WETA (the latter being unconfirmed).

But the real interesting thing about this is that the contract is for an all-cgi "photo-real" motion capture movie, much like the upcoming Beowulf.

If the reports hold up, expect Justice League of America to go into production early 2008.

 

[Rezzo]

Interesting

 

[JediMasterConor]

wtf? no, it has to be live action

 

[eXperiment]

great! we should make a forum of it

 

[DarkSuperman]

wtf? no, it has to be live action

Here I was stoked at the possibility of Nathan Fillion being GL and Ryan Reynolds playing The Flash and now all those dreams are being squashed.

This is the saddest news I've heard all day.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

Here I was stoked at the possibility of Nathan Fillion being GL and Ryan Reynolds playing The Flash and now all those dreams are being squashed.

This is the saddest news I've heard all day.

Well, no it didn't. It actually probably helps those dreams come true. Nathan Fillon (now) and Reynolds are going to be looking for leading roles, not to be sharing the spotlight in an ensemble. This way, if the CGI movie fails it won't necessarily doom live action properties. And if it's a success, it could help start said properties. It's a win win.

If Reynolds and Fillon starred in JLA, and it was as bad as they say, we'd lose them forever in those roles. This way, they can spark the interest without wasting that kind of talent fighting for the top spot in an ensemble.

 

[Apollo]

Just what i wanted! I can't wait! i am really looking forward for this!!

 

[terry78]

I suspected they were doing something like this. I said it might go the Beowulf route, and people were like, nuh-uh!

CGI is, to be honest, the only true way to capture the stories of comics. Live action works well, but it has its limitations.

 

[Sawyer]

CGI is, to be honest, the only true way to capture the stories of comics. Live action works well, but it has its limitations.

I agree wholeheartedly.

 

[Johnichi Chiba]

I'm definitely more ok with this than with a live action Justice League movie. I'm still going to hold out on judgement until we got more confirmation and info on this though.

 

[terry78]

Imagine this **** done with Beowulf quality animation. Now imagine if WETA or ILM took on the task of doing it. The big issue is not so much about them looking real, but photoreal versions of the art we grew up with. And having them move and act without having to resort to stunt doubles or shoddy camera movements.

 

[Caliber]

I think they should do it live action and they could still get ILM or Weta to do the effects. Why not just make a cartoon if they're going to make it like Beowulf? Its works for Beowulf but not this. Sounds like DC and Warner are s***ing their collective pants at the idea of an avengers movie.

 

[jmc]

Good, keep it CG, that way if it fails, it shouldn't affect any live action films. However, I fail to see how a CG film will be the springboard for the other DC character to have solo films like Warner Bros wanted.

 

[marvelrobbins]

If the don't do this as a Live action film then DC deserves to get It's butt kicked by Marvel.

 

[jmc]

If the don't do this as a Live action film then DC deserves to get It's butt kicked by Marvel.

DC have sweet F-all to say as to whether or not it's live action, Warner makes the rules.

 

[Caliber]

If the don't do this as a Live action film then DC deserves to get It's butt kicked by Marvel.

It deserves to not geet beaten by marvel to be direct to video if cgi. They need to set up the other characters first like Marvle is doing for their avengers film. I guess any piece is better than having Marvel release avengers ahead of them.

 

[Dark Knight]

I have more confidence in this CGI/Motion capture like Beuwolf being done than a live action film with Bale and Routh not being involved thats for damn sure!

 

[Lucius Cipher]

Oh, thank God. A live action JLA film with a recast Bat/Supes could have been ****ing terrible....

 

[Apollo]

Final fantasy was an amazing 3d Animated movie, and i'm sure this one will be amazing too

 

[DorkyFresh]

if this comes to fruition and is successful it would mean a new era in comic book films. wow...i'm ecstatic. if this happens i'll $#!+ my pants...

 

[CFE]

This explains an awful lot...from the fast track to production to getting new talent for Bats and Supes.

While a Live Action JLA film would be cool someday in the future, this is the best way to go for now.

I'm glad that, should this be true, we not only settle all the mayhem on SHH about it, and not only breathe sighs of relief that this definately WON'T f**k around with the solo films of Batman, Superman and other DC characters in Live Action format.

But that we get an extra DC Comics Movie in theatres!

Yeah I'll be seeing this now...since it's not live action it doesn't really count. But it'll be cool if pulled off.

CFE

 

[Green Goblin 1964]

YES! This is WONDERFUL and AWESOME NEWS IMO!



WOO! HOO! Bring on JLA!

 

[matrix_ghost]

That's......cool and ******ed at the same time.

Cool because nothing is more awesome then seeing photorealistic humans beating the crap out of each other. It's a cheap way of shooting things as opposed to shooting it live-action.
Heck i've recently downloaded the DBZ movies and to make the transition from smallscreen to cinema would be impossible in done live-action. CGI is the only way to go.

However the ******ed thing about this is that it's CGI. How the heck are you gonna make JLA a starting platform for characters such as WW & GL if they're all pixelated :?
Even if they base the animation on real actors , just like they're doing with Beowulf it's still a gay. If you're animating something you don't have there aren't many restrictions. But once you're shooting something liveaction there are tons of retrictions.
For example , animate a CG superman is easy.
Shoot it live action , whole different story :
1 create realistic flying movements
2 Make the actor wear all kinds of different harnesses to perform stunts
3 Limitations of those harnesses etc.



But if this is true , it'll be interesting to see which studio is going to get the job :

However, and take this with a grain of salt, Imageworks are apparently in the running to provide services on the JLA film, competing with R&H and possibly WETA (the latter being unconfirmed).

But the real interesting thing about this is that the contract is for an all-cgi "photo-real" motion capture movie, much like the upcoming Beowulf.

The three companies mentioned here are Imageworks , Rhythem & Hues ( R&H) and WETA.

IMageworks is of course SOny Imageworks , the company that did the work on movies such as SR , SPiderman and Matrix Reloaded and Revoltuions.
Robert Zemeckis is working with Imageworks on Beowulf and has also worked with them on Polar Express. Fox has a point that CG animation isn't quite there yet in terms of photorealism. But IMO the example of Beowulf is unfair. For starters just one part of it is 100 % finished and that is the scene where Beowulf kicks Grendells ass. And that was the part which many people thought to be real. Yes now that we know it to be CG , we can analyse it more thoroughly but the majority of people who saw the trailer/scene for the first time thought it to be photoreal.
And we've only seen a small portion of that. Everything else is still a work-in-progress.


R&H is a VFX company specialised in animation of animals etc. They're the main VFX company for The Incredible Hulk and i think that if they're contracted to work on Hulk , they would at least be able to create a photo-real / very very realistic animated Hulk

Last but definately not least , WETA. As some of you may or may not know , James Cameron has been working for almost 10 years to create photorealistic CG humans. He's confident enough that he's finally nailed it and it collaborating with WETA on Avatar.
Spielberg and Peter Jackson have seen demonstrations of the technology that Cameron developed and they're been impressed enough to make animated TIn-TIn movies with photorealistic animation.

WE still haven't seen anything from Avatar so i honestly have no idea what WETA can do. But then again this is Cameron .

Off all the three studios mentioned here , Sony Imageworks is the one with the most experience in terms of CG Humans.

 

[Jake Cassidy]

This is bull****. I want to see a live action JL film.

 

[The Squirrel]

Is the motion capture Bewolf the same one with Angelina Jolie in it?

Because I saw the trailer with Stardust and it looked extremely live action.


*and this is a interesting idea for a JLA movie.