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Wednesday - August 22, 2001
- A.D. Flowers Passes Away
- Star Trek Coming to DVD
- Spy Kids Marketing Disaster
- News Link of the Day - Is the Force Still With George Lucas?

AD Flowers Passes Away
(by digitalmediafx.com) Visual Effects guru, AD Flowers, passed away last month at the age of 84. According to the Los Angeles Times, "He won Oscars for the effects he achieved in Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972). He was nominated in 1979 for his work in Steven Spielberg's 1941. A master of disaster, Flowers specialized in mechanical effects and explosions. He made a Ferris wheel appear to roll into the Pacific Ocean--using a scaled-down model of a Ferris wheel and an indoor tank that Esther Williams once used for her famous aquatic routines. He rigged a two-story house to fall over a cliff. He used so many flashbulbs to simulate flak bursts in war movies that he wished he owned stock in Sylvania."

Here is a list of some other movies that Flowers did visual effects for:

The Godfather Pt. 2 (1974)
Dillinger (1973)
The Godfather (1972)
Harold and Maude (1971)
Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)

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Star Trek Coming to DVD
(by digitalmediafx.com) The Star Trek movie franchise is finally making a voyage to where it has never gone before... Special Edition DVD. On November 6, a special edition Star Trek Movie DVD will be released titled "Star Trek: the Motion Picture -- the Director's Edition.". Digital audio and visual effects enhancements added enough additional tension to the movie to cause the MPAA to change the film's rating, for the DVD, from a "G" to a "PG". It will contain 2 discs and feature over two hours of special bonus material like commentaries. To preorder the DVD, click here.

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Spy Kids Marketing Disaster
(by digitalmediafx.com) Spy Kids was an astronomical success at the box office when it hit theaters earlier this year, easily bringing in more than $100 million. The success drove the distributor, Dimension Films, and the director to create a "special edition" by finishing some visual effects shots that didn't make it into the original release so that it could fulfill the director's original vision. The special edition, with a heavy TV marketing campaign, was rereleased into theaters on August 8, but died a quick death as audiences showed no interest in seeing the film again, even with the new footage. The move cost Dimension Films several million dollars.

Now Variety reports that only the original version of the movie will appear on VHS and DVD when it is released to home audiences on September 18, 2001. There are no plans for the special edition, which "fulfilled" the director's vision, to appear on the DVD. In addition there are no plans for a special edition DVD to show the fully revisioned deleted scenes.

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News Link of the Day - Is the Force Still With George Lucas?

According to Fox News:

"When Lucasfilm announced the title of the next Star Wars film, the outcry from fans was louder than Chewbacca's roar.

'Lame,' 'cheesy' and 'the worst title I could possibly imagine' were just a few critiques offered on the Theforce.net in response to the title, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, announced last week..."

Click here for the full story.

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These news articles and all digitalmediafx.com content are ©copyright 2001 by Joe Tracy and may not be reused for any purpose without expressed written consent of the author and Digital Media FX. All rights reserved.