Getting a head start on the three-day weekend, two big vfx flicks arrive at the nation’s multiplexes today, each based on a book and offering a different take on the fantasy genre. Paramount’s The Spiderwick Chronicles is out to ensnare family audiences in its fantastical web, while Jumper is aimed more squarely at teenage boys with high-octane action and sci-fi effects.
Based on the best-selling series of books by Holly Black and Tony Diterlizzi, director Mark Waters’ The Spiderwick Chronicles has peculiar things happen to the Grace family when they move into the secluded old house owned by their great, great uncle, Arthur Spiderwick. In addition to a host of CG-animated critters, the film stars Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, Joan Plowright and David Strathairn, and features Seth Rogen and Martin Short in voice roles. Over the Hedge director Karey Kirkpatrick collaborated on the screenplay with David Berenbaum (Elf) and filmmaker John Sayles (Limbo). Visual effects were created by Industrial Light & Magic and Tippett Studio.
Doug Liman, director of Swingers, The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, is known for crafting films with outrageous action, but Jumper represents a leap into new territory. The 20th Century Fox release is based on a novel by Steven Gould and stars Jamie Bell as a kid who discovers that he can teleport at will to anywhere in the world. He meets another ‘Jumper,’ played by Hayden Christiansen from the Star Wars movies, and together they find themselves in a centuries-old battle between their kind and those sworn to destroy them. Weta Digital handled a large part of the visual effects work, getting assistance from Hydraulx, Digital Domain and R!OT, Pixel Playground, Lola Visual Effects and Sandbox F/X.
Also opening this weekend are Buena Vista’s hip-hop dance sequel, Step Up 2; The Streets, and Universal’s romantic comedy Definitely, Maybe. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Abigail Breslin, Isla Fisher and Rachel Weisz, the movie from the makers of Love, Actually should do well with the Valentines day date crowd.
In addition, Magnolia Pictures and Shorts International have joined forces again to theatrically distribute the Academy Award nominees in the Short Subject category. This year’s noiminees for Best Animated Short category are Josh Raskin’s I Met the Walrus, Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski’s Madam Tutli-Putli, Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse’s Meme Les Pigeons Vont Au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven), Alexander Petrov’s Moya Lyubov (My Love) and Suzie Templeton’s Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. The toon shorts are being presented along with this year’s nominated live-action short films. Employing RAIN Network’s digital distribution system, the program will initially be beamed to theaters in 50 U.S. cities before widening.
