Chinese VFX Firm Alleges Two American Swindlers Continue to Defraud Investors

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Over 20 visual effects studios and 1500 visual effects artists across the globe came together to deliver Amazon’s mega-series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” Companies such as Industrial Light & Magic, Weta FX and DNEG provided close to 9500 shots. VFX producer Ron Ames says the eight-hour series is designed to play like a theatrical experience, however audiences experience it. He says, “Our target was the 65-inch screen at home, but we made it so that it would play technically beautifully in everything up to an IMAX screen. It is finished to a theatrical resolution.” “Rings of Power,” streaming on Prime Video, is set thousands of years before the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, in the Second Age of Middle-earth. The show follows a host of characters including young Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), Lord Durin (Owain Arthur) and Elrond (Robert Aramayo), and centers around the rise and fall of Númenor, the creation of the Rings of Power and the formation of the Last Alliance.

The bombshell claims against Tom Girardi keep coming. Erika Jayne’s estranged husband has been accused of giving Tricia A. Bigelow $300,000 in misused funds for a beach condo amid their alleged affair.

Cinesite has continued to bolster its international footprint with the purchase of a majority stake in the Balkans-based visual effects studio FX3X.

K.J. Yossman Visual effects and animation company Cinesite has acquired a majority stake in Balkans-based visual effects studio FX3X. FX3X, which works on both feature film and episodic television projects, has offices in Skopje and Belgrade. It was founded by Milivoje Gjorgjevikj and Kristijan Danilovski in 1997 and is one of Eastern Europe’s largest VFX houses. It also boasts a fully-equipped motion capture stage at its Skopje location. Among the credits the studio has worked on are “Thor Love & Thunder” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” The studio is currently at work on projects including “Star Trek: Picard” (season 3), “Peter Pan and Wendy” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief After more than a decade of losses, Chinese video streamer iQiyi Tuesday unveiled another improved quarter. But its problems are scarcely in the rear-mirror and it simultaneously announced that it will raise a further $500 million of capital. Revenues in the April to June 2022 period, the second quarter of iQiyi’s financial year, dropped by 13% to RMB 6.66 billion. Net losses for the quarter weighed in at RMB214 million. That was a massive reduction compared with the RMB1.40 deficit recorded in the equivalent quarter in 2021. But it also represented a return to loss after recording a maiden first quarter profit – RMB169 million – in the January to March period.

In the fall, Yung Lean will embark on his first major international tour behind his two most recent albums, May 2020’s Starz and this past April’s Stardust. He’ll be capitalizing on a recent renaissance in appreciation for the Stockholm rapper, due in part to both the meteoric rise of his Drain Gang colleagues and the renewed vitality of his 2013 breakout single, “Ginseng Strip 2002,” released when he was only 16.

*Be warned there are minor spoilers ahead for “She-Hulk”* While Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner is indeed part of Marvel’s new “She-Hulk” series, he’s not the focus of the Disney+ show. And the creators of “She-Hulk: Attorney Of Law” want you to know that.

“Nope,” which recently crossed the $100 million threshold at the domestic box office, is the “Get Out” filmmaker’s self-described “great American UFO story.” “Nope” is just as thoughtful and provocative as Peele’s earlier movies (“Get Out” and “Us”), but much grander in scope and more technically complex – it’s a big movie, largely filmed in IMAX, that absolutely envelops you.“Nope” follows a pair of siblings (played by Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer), who inherit their father’s horse ranch following his mysterious death. (He was struck by falling debris from something.) They come from a long line of horse trainers/stunt performers and are desperate to keep the business afloat.

(Warning: This post features spoilers for “Minions: The Rise of Gru”).The happy ending for young Gru and his mentor Wild Knuckles in “Minions: The Rise of Gru” apparently didn’t sit well with censors in China, as moviegoers in the country have noted that the Chinese version of the film has a significantly changed ending. In the original film’s ending, Gru teams up with Wild Knuckles to defeat the villainous team known as the Vicious 6, but Wild Knuckles dies after being injured in the climactic fight and taken into police custody.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAuckland, New Zealand-based financier Hillfarrance Venture Capital is backing a team of former Weta Digital staff in their new VFX venture Wellington-based Floating Rock Studios. Founded in 2020 by Laurent Herveic, Lukas Niklaus, Stephanie Parker and Garrick Rawlingson, Floating Rock Studios bills itself as a high-end animation and VFX provider for movies, commercials and video game cinematics.

This week, Marvel’s launched its latest series, “She-Hulk: Attorney At Law,” a much more comedic riff on their superhero tales. While the early VFX in trailers had audiences worried, by the time the show hit the air, it mainly had hit the mark.

Inanna Sarkis Scripted Podcast Series ‘Zaya’ Lands Deal At Realm Podcast Network (EXCLUSIVE) The Realm Podcast Network has picked up Zaya, a scripted podcast penned and directed by actress Inanna Sarkis. Sarkis also stars in the pod, which tells the story of a Middle Eastern student living in Brooklyn who finds her world shattered when her older brother is violently kidnapped before her eyes. In her quest to bring him home, she discovers there was much more to him than she ever knew. The 6-episode series also stars Suki Waterhouse, Hayley Law, Evan Ross, Samer Salem, Jacob Batalon, Matthew Noszka, Lamorne Morris, Melvyn Gregg, and Dylan Arnold. In a statement, Realm’s Vice President, Mary Assadullahi, said: “Inanna is such a talent. We are thrilled to partner with her for her podcast debut and can’t wait to share it with listeners—this one will have you on the edge of your seat!” The pod will air weekly from Aug 15 on all platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. UTA helped broker the deal.

Diane Keaton has her kids by her side for her special day!

A Chinese court has rejected an appeal by a young woman who alleged sexual harassment against a popular male TV host in what has been referred to as a landmark case. Foreign media outfits reporting locally have called the decision a blow to China’s #MeToo movement.

Canadian rock band Teenage Head’s guitarist Gord Lewis was found dead — and his son has been charged with murder!

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorIn a little under four years, a pair of Exceptional Minds alumni have gone from students at the academy to working on some of the biggest summer blockbusters.Isaiah Strum and Thomas Harmonson are just two of many artists who have flourished at the studio and academy. Based in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley, Exceptional Minds prepares young adults on the autism spectrum for careers in animation and beyond.

Over the past few weeks, Marvel Studios’ treatment of visual effects companies and workers has come under increased scrutiny. An anonymous report on Reddit spurred a chain of VFX artists alleging that the Disney division is one of the “worst culprits” in terms of unfair working conditions for artists.