Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Sony:
CULVER
CITY, CA – JUNE 29, 2010 – On his 90th birthday, Sony Pictures Digital
Productions is excited to announce the renaming of its 119-seat screening
theater after visual effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen. The honor comes
just days after the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) paid
tribute to the creative legend in London with a special award feting his
contributions to film.
The Ray Harryhausen Theater will be formally dedicated on Monday, July 12,
2010, with the unveiling of a sign displaying the theater’s new name, a
reception, and the screening of one of Harryhausen’s seminal hit films,
JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS. The 1963 classic, originally produced and released by
Columbia Pictures (now part of Sony Pictures Entertainment), has been
lovingly restored to its original splendor by Sony Pictures. The filmmakes
its debut on Blu-ray Disc onJULY 6– the
fifth Harryhausen Blu-ray title from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, the most
of any filmmaker from the label. The disc features new commentaries by
Harryhausen himself, as well as Oscar®-winning director Peter Jackson, along
with film historian Tony Dalton and visual effects expert Randall William Cook,
and a new interview with Harryhausen with filmmaker John Landis.
“It’s an incredible honor to have this theater named at the studio I called
home,†says Harryhausen. “It means as much to me as my Academy Award® and the
BAFTA honor I just received, especially knowing that it is a working theater
where visual effects artists and animators work every day.â€
The theater, located on the Culver City, Ca. campus of Sony Pictures Digital
Productions, is the screening theater of Sony Pictures Imageworks, Sony
Pictures Animation and Sony Imageworks Interactive. Used on a daily basis
in the creation of modern visual effects and animated features, the theater
represents the living legacy of Harryhausen’s lifelong career, as Sony’s
artists continue to develop and practice new animation techniques for bringing
fantasy to life, much as the facility’s namesake did throughout his career.
After being inspired by the
work of Willis H. O’Brien, the stop-motion
photography pioneer of 1933’s KING KONG, Harryhausen eventually found
himself
working alongside his mentor for 1949’s MIGHTY JOE YOUNG. In the
mid-1950s, he
moved on to Columbia Pictures, where he created mind-boggling special
effects
for such films as “20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1957), THE 7TH VOYAGE OF
SINBAD
(1958), JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963), and, later, for M-G-M, the
original
CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981). His ingenious skill at seamlessly blending
stop-motion puppetry with live action footage – of, for example, an
unbelievable seven articulated skeletons battling Jason in the 1963 film
–
continues to inspire visual effects artists to this day.
In keeping with the innovation Harryhausen continually introduced
throughout
his career, the Harryhausen Theater has undergone a significant
state-of-the-art technical upgrade, with capabilities for projecting
digital 3D
stereoscopic content via Sony'sindustry-leading 4K
CineAlta
projector system and RealD Z Screen technology, 2D digital content and
analog
(filmed) content, along with a modernization of the THX-rated theater’s
audio
reproduction system for 7.1 Surround sound. In addition, the
projection system is tied directly to the animation and visual effects
computer
production infrastructure, enabling direct access to the artists’ work
in
progress at any time.
But it is the Harryhausen name which will no doubt continue to inspire
Sony’s
artists as they see the name which has instilled a sense of excitement
for the
visual effects and animation crafts for over 60 years – not the least of
which
is Sony Pictures Imageworks’ own Creative Head, five-time Academy
Award®-winner
Ken Ralston. Long before working on such films as the original STAR
WARS trilogy and as Visual Effects Supervisor for “Back to the Future,â€
“Who
Framed Roger Rabbit,†and, more recently, BEOWULF and ALICE IN
WONDERLAND,
Ralston found himself face-to-face with Harryhausen at the age of 14.
“I
was invited to the house of Forrest J. Ackerman, who did a magazine
called
Famous Monsters of Filmland,†he recalls. “I was dumbfounded.†His
relationship with his mentor is now entering its fifth decade.
After seeing THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD at a young age at a local theater
in Los Angeles, the budding visual effects wiz was mesmerized. “Ray’s
films took me to these fantastic worlds, with these incredible creatures
and
characters, in a way I had never experienced before. I’d never seen
anything like it, and it really stuck to me.â€
Ralston and his friends attempted to recreate the magic in their garages
with
small puppets and 8 mm cameras, and, over the years, discovered the most
important aspect of Harryhausen’s success. “It was his work ethic –
how hard he disciplined himself to do that work. Those films are all
Ray.
He was all of it. For the most part, that was one person doing all
of the effects work we see in his films. That’s something that’s almost
impossible for younger people to understand, where today, it is an army
of
individuals creating a single shot.â€
“What’s amazing – and unique – about his work is that he often brought a
sympathetic quality to the creatures, especially during their demise,â€
notes
Grover Crisp, Sony Pictures’ Sr. VP, Asset Management, Film Restoration
and
Digital Mastering. “It’s never just a shock-and-awe thing –
he gave them some feeling and humanity.†One of the most respected film
archivists and restoration specialists in the world, it was Crisp and
his team
who undertook the meticulous restoration of “Jason and the Argonauts.â€
Upon entering the newly named theater and seeing Harryhausen’s name,
Ralston
hopes for one thing for those who use the facility. “As they walk in,
just seeing his name and contemplating for a minute the inspiration he’s
been
to so many – not just effects people, but filmmakers in general. Ray
Harryhausen has had a global influence. And we’re glad he has a
home with us.â€