The Visual Effects Society (VES) has elected new officers to its board of directors. Carl Rosendahl, chairman of Palo Alto, Calif.-based Pacific Data Images, has been elected to serve as VES first chair. And Richard Hollander, president and senior creative director of the feature film and theme park division of Rhythm & Hues Studios, Los Angeles, has been elected VES secretary. Rosendahl and Hollander will each serve two-year terms, expiring in January 2001.
They join returning officers Jim Morris who is VES chair, Mark Galvin who serves as second vice chair and Toni Pace-Carstensen, treasurer. Morris is president of Lucas Digital LLC, San Rafael, Calif. Galvin is exec. producer at ShadowCaster, Los Angeles. And Pace-Carsetensen serves as segment producer for Walt Disney’s upcoming Fantasia 2000. The returning officers’ two-year terms expire in January 2000.
"Under the guidance and leadership of the officers and the board of directors, the Visual Effects Society is poised to continue its growth and development as the leading organization for the visual effects industry," said exec. director Tom Atkin. In fact, since its founding in ’97, The Visual Effects Society has become the world’s largest organization of visual effects professionals, with members in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Australia, Canada and other worldwide territories. VES hopes to continue its growth with the further development of membership in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Rim.
“Smile 2” Tops Weekend Box Office; “Anora” Glitters In Limited Release
Horror movies topped the domestic box office charts and an Oscar contender got off to a sparkling start this weekend. "Smile 2," in its first weekend, and "Terrifier 3" in its second proved to be the big draws for general movie audiences in North America, while the Palme d'Or winner"Anora" got the best per-theater average in over a year.
"Smile 2" was the big newcomer, taking first place with a better than expected $23 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Parker Finn returned to write and direct the sequel to the supernatural horror "Smile," his debut. Originally intended for streaming, Paramount pivoted and sent the movie to theaters in the fall of 2022. "Smile" became a sleeper hit at the box office, earning some $217 million against a $17 million budget.
The sequel, starring Naomi Scott as a pop star, was rewarded with a bit of a bigger budget, and a theatrical commitment from the start. Playing on 3,619 screens, it opened slightly higher than the first's $22 million.
Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks Animation's "The Wild Robot" in its fourth weekend with $10.1 million, bumping it past $100 million in North America. Family films often have long lives in theaters, particularly ones as well reviewed as "The Wild Robot," and some have speculated that it got a bump this weekend from teenagers buying tickets for the PG-rated family film and then sneaking into "Terrifier 3," which is not rated, instead. Either way, Damien Leone's demon clown movie, which cost only $2 million to produce, is doing more than fine with legitimate ticket buyers. It added an estimated $9.3 million, bringing its total to $36.2 million.
"Rumors like that are PR gold," said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. "There's... Read More