MOUSE HOUSE GOES MO-CAP

Back in August, Robert Zemeckis was reported to be seriously considering moving his ImageMovers production company to The Walt Disney Co., in a multi-year deal. Now it seems that this romour has become reality. Yesterday, Zemeckis announced that he will be setting up his motion-capture shop in the Mouse House and will direct a number of productions that will be distributed by Disney.

ImageMovers, the company behind such motion-capture blockbusters as Polar Express and MonsterHouse, is considering their frist picture to be John Carter of Mars, the popular sci-fi novel series by Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs, that Disney just recently aquired the rights to.

"The creation of this new company is yet another step in our leadership role in cutting edge technology as it relates to the movie industry"

-Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook

It seems to me that Disney isn't really concered about inventing and creating new forms of animation any more. It used to be that in the day, if Walt wanted to do something new and unique, they would create what they needed to in order to get it done. But the purchace of Pixar Animation Studios and now the motion-capture studio, ImageMovers, makes it seem that if they can't have the new technology first then they will buy it out and make it their own.

C'mon Disney, don't just jump on the bandwagon! Build the bandwagon!