F/X INDUSTRY
In the wake of Titanic, which has translated into US$1.8 billion at the box office and still not a dime in profit for its f/x creator, Digital Domain is reshuffling its deck chairs. Out go cofounders James Cameron and Stan Winston, who resigned in August amid disagreements over the company's direction. President and CEO Scott Ross will stay at the helm.
Digital Domain isn't the only f/x company with disastrous revenues. While new technology is a boon to studios, the makers of movie magic are singing the bottom-line blues. Competition for better, faster, cheaper screen wonders is brutal. Boss Films and Warner Digital went under last year, and others are foundering. Twenty-year-old Industrial Light & Magic is the only house making decent money, and even it has lately taken to demanding a slice of box office revenues.
To stay afloat, f/x companies are making forays into advertising and multimedia, vying for a share of the profits, and producing their own features. Digital Domain is reportedly contemplating an IPO next year and has Mattel and Lego projects under way. Ross predicts that commercial work "will at some point generate revenue that will match features and have the potential to far surpass it in terms of profitability." Meanwhile, the production company-IPO combination that proved so successful for Pixar tantalizes many firms. Pacific Data Images, which last month released its first digitally produced feature, Antz, is also said to be mulling a stock-market move.
Cameron, who retains a 10 percent stake in Digital Domain, says his future will be effects-filled and that he'll work with the company "on a nonexclusive basis." When he cofounded the firm five years ago, he didn't expect it to make him rich, he says, but was doing it "to have access to the best visualization toys in the universe." Now he'll just be playing in someone else's yard.
MUST READ
Rerouter
ABC Reimagineers
The Behavior of Fads
The DeCameron
Tired/Wired
Microsoft(porn)
Deconstructing Divx
Your TV Is Calling
Windows TNT
Speed Readers
Tomorrow Today
It's the Net, Stupid!
People
Real Dilemma
E*Ambassador
The Perils of CDA II
Ignorance Is Bliss
Riders on the Storm
Cool Cure
Good HIV
Hype List
Reliving the Past
Game Scores
.tv Land
Loan Sweet Loan
Remote Control Care
Head Games
Splash-Test Dummies
Action Packer
Raw Data
