FuseFX, a full-service visual effects company with studios in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Vancouver, Montréal, Toronto, and Bogotá, has acquired Rising Sun Pictures (RSP), a high-end visual effects studio headquartered in Adelaide, Australia. Founded in 1995 by Tony Clark, Gail Fuller, and Wayne Lewis, Rising Sun Pictures has become known for creating world-class visual effects for many of Hollywood’s biggest blockbuster movies as well as streaming content.
Managing director Clark will continue to lead the studio under the Rising Sun Pictures brand. Together, the combined companies have nearly 800 artists at eight locations across the globe.
Clark said that RSP “will embark on an expansion plan over the next few years, and we’re grateful to be partnering with David Altenau (FuseFX founder/CEO) and the team at FuseFX to help fully realize RSP’s potential.”
As RSP continues to execute on its plan, Clark will be joined by RSP’s well-established executive management team, including chief financial officer Gareth Eriksson, head of business development Jennie Zeiher, executive assistant Maree Friday, head of people & culture Scott Buley and head of production and executive producer Meredith Meyer-Nichols. There will be no operational changes to the RSP business and the team will look to add talent after a recent expansion of the Adelaide headquarters that provides the studio with a capacity of 270 crew. Over the past year, the studio has contributed to projects including Disney’s upcoming Jungle Cruise led by VFX supervisor Malte Sarnes and as lead vendor on New Line Cinema’s Mortal Kombat under the direction of VFX supervisor Dennis Jones.
The South Australian state government embraced the news of the partnership between FuseFX and RSP. David Pisoni, Minister for Innovation and Skills, said, “South Australia is enjoying a golden age in the production of film, television and streaming services, and the decision by FuseFX to invest in Adelaide vindicates the Marshall Government’s ambitious strategy.”
Clark offered, “The state government has been incredibly supportive of RSP and the creative industries in South Australia. The incentives on offer, in combination with federal incentives, mean that South Australia is a prime destination for visual effects production and will continue to be for years to come.”
Altenau concluded, “We’re thrilled to be joining forces with Rising Sun Pictures to help fuel their ambitious expansion plans and to offer an even broader range of skill sets, geographic locations and storytelling solutions to our clients at the level of quality and service they demand.”
FocalPoint Advisors, LLC served as financial advisor to FuseFX and Will Berryman advised RSP.
Local school staple “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” from 1939 hits the big screen nationwide
Most Maine schoolchildren know about the boy lost for more than a week in 1939 after climbing the state's tallest mountain. Now the rest of the U.S. is getting in on the story.
Opening in 650 movie theaters on Friday, "Lost on a Mountain in Maine" tells the harrowing tale of 12-year-old Donn Fendler, who spent nine days on Mount Katahdin and the surrounding wilderness before being rescued. The gripping story of survival commanded the nation's attention in the days before World War II and the boy's grit earned an award from the president.
For decades, Fendler and Joseph B. Egan's book, published the same year as the rescue, has been required reading in many Maine classrooms, like third-grade teacher Kimberly Nielsen's.
"I love that the overarching theme is that Donn never gave up. He just never quits. He goes and goes," said Nielsen, a teacher at Crooked River Elementary School in Casco, who also read the book multiple times with her own kids.
Separated from his hiking group in bad weather atop Mount Katahdin, Fendler used techniques learned as a Boy Scout to survive. He made his way through the woods to the east branch of the Penobscot River, where he was found more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from where he started. Bruised and cut, starved and without pants or shoes, he survived nine days by eating berries and lost 15 pounds (7 kilograms).
The boy's peril sparked a massive search and was the focus of newspaper headlines and nightly radio broadcasts. Hundreds of volunteers streamed into the region to help.
The movie builds on the children's book, as told by Fendler to Egan, by drawing upon additional interviews and archival footage to reinforce the importance of family, faith and community during difficult times,... Read More