"Avatar," "Transformers 2" and the Tomatometer

photo credit: michaelbay.com

We can all breathe a sigh of relief. 2009 will not go down in history as the year a "grinding garbage disposal of a movie" earns the top spot at the box office. The film once described as "a horrible experience of unbearable length" has been overtaken by James Cameron's "Avatar" as the highest grossing film released in 2009. No longer will there be a risk of a "a wad of chaos puked onto the big screen, an arbitrary collection of explosions and machismo posturing and frat boy assholery" permanently marking its spot at the yearly box office charts.

I have updated my previously posted chart, comparing the box office champs of the last 29 years, to include "Avatar." I kept "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" on the chart for comparative (and comedic) purposes.


Sources: Box Office Mojo and Rotten Tomatoes.

The List of 7, 82nd Academy Awards

It's Bake-Off time! The visual effects branch of the Academy have narrowed their 'list of 15' films to the seven films that will be participating in the bake-off for the race for the 82nd Academy Awards:

• “Avatar"
• "District 9"
• "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"
• "Star Trek"
• "Terminator Salvation"
• "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"
• "2012"
  

The Executive Committee have narrowed the List of 15 to these seven films when they met last week. The Bake-Off, which features 15 minute reels from each film and a short Q & A from each film's visual effects supervior, will take place on Thursday, January 21. Immediately after viewing the reels, the entire visual effects branch gets to vote on the final three nominees for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. As always, the entire Academy then votes for the winner of the award.

Industrial Light & Magic contributed to five out of the seven films ("Avatar," "Harry Potter," "Star Trek," "Terminator" and "Transformers 2"), and I personally worked on three of those films. Weta Digital brought us "Avatar" and "District 9," (along with several other houses) while a flurry of facilities contributed to "2012" and "Harry Potter."

My predictions for the List of 7 was almost spot-on; I only missed one film (I wrongly predicted "G.I. Joe" would grab a spot, rather than "Terminator"). Thankfully, I made up for my dismal predictions from last year.

My always-not-to-be-trusted predictions for the three final nominees? "Avatar," "Star Trek" and "District 9."

"Transformers 2" and the Tomatometer

photo credit: michaelbay.com
read about what these two are discussing here

Update, January 11, 2009 - "Avatar" has surpassed "Transformers 2." Read more here.

Happy end-of-2009! 2009 will be remembered as the year we saw "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" earn $402 million at the North American box office (and $834 million globally)!

Putting those $402 million into context: "Transformers 2" was the highest grossing film of the year! And it wasn't even close! The #2 grosser was "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," with over $100 million less in earnings!

I thought it would be fun to chart the box office champions of the last 29 years against their Tomatometer rating, an aggregate of the critical consensus of the film! So I did it! And, boy, it was fun!

sources: Box Office Mojo and Rotten Tomatoes

Wow! That's enlightening! An updated chart is here.

(Why all the exclamation points, you ask? Obviously, this post was meant to be a reflection of the spirit of "Transformers 2," which is the cinematic equivalent of an exclamation point!)

The List of 15, 82nd Academy Awards

The visual effects branch of the Academy have announced their 'list of 15' films, considered semifinalists in the race for the Oscar nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards, as determined by the branch's Executive Committee:

• Angels & Demons
• Avatar
• Coraline
• Disney’s A Christmas Carol
• District 9
• G-Force
• G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Sherlock Holmes
• Star Trek
• Terminator Salvation
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
• 2012
• Watchmen
• Where the Wild Things Are

The visual effects branch's Executive Committee will then whittle this list down to seven films in the next few weeks, which will be featured at the bake-off (to take place on January 21, 2010) where each of the seven films presents a 15 minute reel of their finished work, and takes questions from the entire visual effects branch. The entire branch then votes for their top three choices, which ultimately determine the three Academy Award nominees for Best Visual Effects. The nominees for all categories will be announced on February 2, 2010. The entire Academy membership then votes on the winner.

I'm very proud to have contributed to the visual effects for three films on this list: "Star Trek," "Avatar" and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," while at Industrial Light & Magic.

My prediction for the final seven films: "Avatar," "District 9," "G.I. Joe," "Harry Potter," "Star Trek," "Transformers 2" and "2012." Stay tuned!

"Transformers 2" Superbowl

Not only did a new commercial for "Star Trek" appear during the Superbowl last week, but the very first images from "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" landed on television screens. Head over to Apple's Quicktime page to view the new commercial in HD.

These four still frames were chosen by the Randomizer 2009™ software, featuring ArbitraryBoost 3.0.