Originally posted by: greencapt
Actually it makes me just wonder how much money ILM and LFL has *lost* because of the other effects houses (ie WETA) that still CARE about doing things the best way possible even if it means building a model, full-size prop or CGI. I see fewer and fewer big films come out that are ILM showpieces. I'm not saying they don't have money and aren't working but they certainly aren't the be-all-end-all of effects these days.
Actually it makes me just wonder how much money ILM and LFL has *lost* because of the other effects houses (ie WETA) that still CARE about doing things the best way possible even if it means building a model, full-size prop or CGI. I see fewer and fewer big films come out that are ILM showpieces. I'm not saying they don't have money and aren't working but they certainly aren't the be-all-end-all of effects these days.
Exactly! When was the last time a movie was marketed because of ILM doing the SFX work? I remember in the eighties, that was a big selling point for a movie to have ILM doing the special effects.
Lucas doesn't seem to realize that ILM lost his Magic! Everybody can do CGI, all you need is hire talented people, and buy some PC workstations, and a room full of computers to compute the images (the render farm). The traditional effects work needed more expertise and very specialized hardware. ILM dug up old VistaVision cameras to shot the effects, they hand-built optical printers, and they invented computerized motion control. They were so far ahead of everyone else back in the eighties...