The Visual Effects Society has named motion picture director and producer James Cameron as the recipient of the VES Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented at the eighth annual VES Awards which will be held at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 28, 2010.
The VES Lifetime Achievement Award, awarded by the VES board of directors, recognizes an outstanding body of work that has significantly contributed to the art and/or science of the visual effects industry. VES will honor Cameron for his vision and dedication to the craft of storytelling while being at the creative forefront of groundbreaking visual effects. Cameron’s work is so cutting edge he had to wait years for new visual effects technologies to be created in order to move forward with his most recent film, Avatar (slated for release next month).
“James Cameron has set the gold standard for storytelling by combining true creative artistry along with the latest advances in technology to bring incredible stories to the screen,” said Eric Roth, executive director of the VES. “Over the past few decades he has been the pre-eminent director of big vision, big story extravaganzas and has redefined the movie-going experience for filmgoers worldwide.”
“Jim’s sense of how to effectively utilize what the visual effects community has to bring to the storytelling experience has changed the face of storytelling–not just in the past and the present, but in a significant way in the future,” stated Jeffrey A. Okun, chair of the VES.
Cameron commented, “I’ve loved visual effects my whole life, and it’s been an ongoing thrill to be able to practice that art and to work with the best artists and technical people in the business to realize my dream images as a director. It is an incredible honor to be receiving this award.”
Cameron’s films have received multiple Academy Award nominations, with his Titanic winning 11 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Visual Effects, Best Director and Best Editing. Cameron’s other groundbreaking films include Terminator, Terminator 2, True Lies and The Abyss.
Previous winners of the VES Lifetime Achievement Award include Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, and Frank Marshall & Kathleen Kennedy.
The VES organization represents the extended community of visual effects practitioners including supervisors, artists, producers, technology developers, educators and studio executives. Its 2,000 global members contribute to all areas of entertainment from film, television and commercials to music videos, games and new media.
“Captain America: Brave New World” Tops Weak Weekend At The Box Office
"Captain America: Brave New World" kept falling but still hovered above all others at a weak weekend box office.
The latest Disney-Marvel offering brought in another $15 million according to studio estimates Sunday, when most of Hollywood's attention was on the Oscars.
The Anthony Mackie-led "Captain America: Brave New World" opened strong at about $120 million on a three-day weekend last month, but plunged to $28.2 million last week in one of the most significant second-week drops for a Marvel movie. It's earned $163.7 since its release.
It was slammed by many critics and audiences, failing to bring the Marvel reset some had hoped for. That task now falls to May's "Thunderbolts" and July's "Fantastic Four: First Steps." But "Captain America" will face little competition through March, and could remain at No. 1 for a while.
The weekend's only significant new release, Focus Features' "Last Breath," earned just $7.8 million. The based-on-a-true-story adventure starring Woody Harrelson, Simi Liu and Chris Lemons is about a routine deep-sea diving mission that goes terribly wrong when a young diver is stranded some 300 feet below the surface.
It got strong reviews, with Lindsey Bahr of The Associated Press praising the "white-knuckle experience" and "pure suspense and anxiety" it brings.
At No. 3 was Oz Perkins' "The Monkey," which brought in $6.4 million for a two-week total of $24.6 million. It's among the strongest openings for indie distributor Neon, whose film "Anora," and its director Sean Baker could make a major mark at the Oscars later Sunday.
"The Monkey" marks another successful low-budget collaboration between Perkins and Neon, whose "Longlegs" brought in $126.9 million globally last year.
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