40-454: Imageworks may refer to: Sony Pictures Imageworks , a visual effects and character animation company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Image Works , a video game publisher in the late-1980s and early-1990s ImageWorks (Disney) , an interactive area at Epcot's Imagination! pavilion Baltimore Productions / Imageworks ,
80-399: A Christmas elf and a team of reindeer , he embarks on a mission to deliver the girl's present personally in the early morning hours of Christmas Day before sunrise. Following the underperformance of Flushed Away , DreamWorks Animation did not renew its partnership with Aardman. In April 2007, Aardman signed a three-year deal with Sony . Originally titled Operation Rudolph , the project
120-630: A 1980s music industry promotion company The Image Works , a stock photography company headquartered in Woodstock, New York, USA Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Imageworks . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Imageworks&oldid=835289245 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
160-403: A bit for Arthur Christmas , a clever and earnest holiday film with surprising emotional strength." On Metacritic , the film has a score of 69 out of 100 based on 32 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. John Anderson of Newsday praised the film as "not only funny and fresh, but . . .
200-544: A figurehead. The traditional sleigh and reindeer have been replaced by the S-1, a high-tech vessel operated by hundreds of elves that use advanced equipment and military precision to deliver presents. The Christmas operations are micromanaged from a North Pole-based Mission Control by Malcolm's eldest son, Steve, who expects to inherit Santa's role following his father's retirement. Malcolm's youngest son, Arthur, answers letters sent from children to Santa. One Christmas Eve, during
240-462: A largely singlepass, global illumination system incorporating modern ray-tracing and physically based shading techniques. They have achieved that with Arnold Renderer , an unbiased stochastic ray tracer . Arnold, started in 1997 by Marcos Fajardo, was co-developed between 2004 and 2009 with SPI, where Marcos was employed, and a commercial branch is being developed by Marcos' Madrid based company Solid Angle SL (now owned by Autodesk ). Arnold
280-479: A more profitable animation business. Its first independent animated effort was the 5-minute short The ChubbChubbs! directed by Eric Armstrong. In 2002, it won the Oscar for Best Animated Short . Early Bloomer , released in 2003, was the division's second short film and originally made as a storyboarding exercise. SPI completed its first feature animation project in 2006 with the release of Open Season , which
320-421: A new 74,000-square feet headquarters in Vancouver. On October 6, 2023, Cartoon Brew reported that DreamWorks Animation was moving away from producing films in-house at their Glendale campus to rely more heavily on outside studios after 2024, as part of a layoff by chief operating officer Randy Lake in a series of meetings the previous month. According to the report, SPI was named as the animation service for
360-499: A new way of tackling the whole yuletide paradigm: Santa as a high-tech hereditary monarchy ." Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post described it as "unexpectedly fresh, despite the familiar-sounding premise". Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times wrote that "the plot may be a little too cluttered for the toddler crowd to follow, but the next age group up should be amused, and the script by Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith has plenty of sly jokes for grown-ups." Rene Rodriguez of
400-533: A panic. In response, Malcolm tricks his wife Margaret into believing Steve gave them permission to use the S-1 to deliver Gwen's gift, only for a furious Steve to confront his father onboard. A dejected Malcolm recognises his inability to lead. Driving the S-1, Steve delivers a superior present, only to realise that Malcolm accidentally set the address to the wrong child in Mexico , revealing Steve's inability to connect with children. Arthur's group reach England but lose
440-444: A then-unannounced DreamWorks sequel ( The Bad Guys 2 ) scheduled for 2025. The film will use a "mixed production model", in which pre-production would be done in-house at DreamWorks along with approximately 50% of the asset build and one hour of production, while SPI will handle the other 50% of asset builds and 20 minutes of shot production. During 2009-2010, SPI made transition from traditional biased, multi-pass rendering system to
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#1732783927456480-548: Is Aardman's second mostly computer-animated feature film after 2006's Flushed Away . It was directed by Sarah Smith (in her feature directorial debut), co-directed by Barry Cook , and written by Smith and Peter Baynham . Featuring the voices of James McAvoy , Hugh Laurie , Bill Nighy , Jim Broadbent , Imelda Staunton , and Ashley Jensen , the film centres on Arthur Claus, the younger son of Santa Claus , who discovers that his father's high-tech ship has failed to deliver one girl's present. Accompanied only by his grandfather,
520-528: Is Coming to Town", which plays over the end credits, was exclusively shown in theatres before the film. Arthur Christmas was released on DVD , Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on 6 November 2012, in the US, and 19 November 2012 in the UK. Arthur Christmas holds an approval rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 170 reviews, with an average score of 7.2/10. The consensus reads, "Aardman Animations broadens their humor
560-687: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Sony Pictures Imageworks Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc. is a visual effects and computer animation studio headquartered in Vancouver , British Columbia and Montreal , Quebec , with an additional office on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California . SPI is a unit of Sony Pictures Entertainment 's Motion Picture Group . The company has been recognized by
600-470: Is upset that Gwen's been missed and urges Malcolm and Steve to deliver the present with the S-1. Steve, frustrated that Malcolm chose to stay as Santa longer, argues that one missed present out of billions is an acceptable error. Malcolm's father Grandsanta whisks Arthur away to deliver it in EVE, the original wooden sleigh that is pulled by the descendants of the original flying reindeer. Bryony stows away and joins
640-460: The Miami Herald stated that "the movie fails utterly at coming up with a story that merits all the eye candy." Empire film critic Olly Richards gave the film four out of five stars, feeling that the "UFO plotline that doesn’t really hold together and, like Santa, the film’s a little flabby around the middle, where it briefly quite literally starts going round in circles and loses a bit of
680-639: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with Oscars for their work on Spider-Man 2 and the animated short film The ChubbChubbs! , and received many other nominations for their work. SPI has provided visual effects for many films; most recent include The Meg , Men in Black: International , and Spider-Man: Far From Home . They also provided services for several of director Robert Zemeckis ' films, including Contact , Cast Away , The Polar Express , and Beowulf . Since
720-470: The Moon for Netflix and Pearl Studio , and The Sea Beast for Netflix Animation . Sony Pictures Imageworks was formed in 1992 with five employees to use computers to help plan complicated scenes for live-action films. Located in the former TriStar building, their first work was a previsualization for the 1993 film Striking Distance . To fill the gaps between VFX jobs, SPI decided to partake in
760-561: The Spider-Verse due to unstable working conditions. According to the Animation Guild , while Imageworks is associated with Sony Pictures Animation, Imageworks remains non-union. Arthur Christmas Arthur Christmas is a 2011 animated Christmas comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation in association with Aardman Animations , and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing . The film
800-601: The United Kingdom, and on 23 November in the United States, by Sony Pictures Releasing through its Columbia Pictures label. The film received positive reviews from critics, and earned $ 147 million at the box office. Instead of a single individual, Santa Claus is a hereditary title belonging to gift-givers that has been carried on for generations. The current Santa, Malcolm Claus, is heading his seventieth mission, but his role has been reduced to that of
840-482: The beginning of 2014, as part of Sony's cost-cutting move, SPI transferred a portion of its technology team from its headquarters in Culver City to Vancouver. By May 2014, entire headquarters and production had been moved to Vancouver, with only a small office remaining in Culver City. At the same time, SPI closed down its Indian studio, laying off around 100 employees. A year later, over 700 artists moved into
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#1732783927456880-435: The box office in its fourth week, by which time the cumulative gross was £11.5 million. The film returned to the top of the box office on week seven, during Christmas week, grossing £2.05 million and a total of £19.7 million. In the United States and Canada the film earned $ 2.4 million on its opening day and $ 1.8 million on Thanksgiving Day. It would go on to gross $ 12.1 million over the three-day weekend and $ 16.3 million over
920-469: The chief operating officer of the North Pole. Bryony is promoted to Vice-President of Wrapping, Pacific Division. The S-1 is rechristened EVIE in honor of Grandsanta's old sleigh and refitted to be pulled by five thousand reindeer led by the original eight, all of whom returned home safely. At the helm, Arthur guides the enterprise as Santa Claus XXI. Arthur Christmas was first announced in 2007, under
960-458: The closest thing we've had in a few years to a minor Christmas classic. The film's mid-section flags a bit as Smith and co-writer Baynham can't quite seem to figure out how to completely flesh it out, but they recover nicely and serve up the holiday season's first salvo of cinematic delight", and praised the voice cast, though felt that Bieber's song was "a disappointingly commercial twist on an otherwise tender-hearted and infectious Christmas film for
1000-458: The delivery operation in Poland , a toy is accidentally activated, waking a child. An escape operation ensues, during which an elf aboard the S-1 leans on a button, causing a present to fall from the supply line and go unnoticed. Another elf, Bryony Shelfley, finds the present—a wrapped bicycle for Gwen Hines, a girl from Trelew, Cornwall, England , whose letter Arthur personally responded to. Arthur
1040-544: The elder Clauses realize that he is the sole worthy successor. Steve recognises his own shortcomings, forfeits his birthright and acknowledges Arthur's worthiness to be Santa, with Malcolm admitting he is proud of his sons. Gwen glimpses a snow-bearded Arthur in a wind-buffeted sweater before he vanishes up into the S-1, ultimately thinking she imagined "Santa". Malcolm goes into a happy retirement with Margaret, becomes Grandsanta's much-desired new companion and plays Arthur's board game with him for hours. Steve finds contentment as
1080-571: The entire family." One reviewer, while light in criticism of the animation, called Justin Bieber’s rendition of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" "blatant" and "inexcusable". Arthur Christmas earned $ 46,462,469 in North America, $ 33,334,089 in the UK, and $ 67,622,914 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $ 147,419,472. In the United Kingdom the film opened in second place with a £2.5 million weekend gross, behind Immortals . It topped
1120-403: The five-day period. This was on par with studio expectations. The film went on to gross nearly $ 50 million domestically against a $ 100 million budget. An iOS video game titled Arthur Christmas: Elf Run was released in the United Kingdom on 9 November 2011, on iTunes App Store . On 18 November 2011, the game was released worldwide on the iOS and Android platform. Released as a free and
1160-688: The foundation of its sister company Sony Pictures Animation in 2002, SPI would go on to animate nearly all of SPA's films, including Open Season , Surf's Up , Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse , and films in the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs , Smurfs and Hotel Transylvania franchises, in addition to animating films for other studios such as Arthur Christmas for Aardman Animations (co-produced by SPA), Storks and Smallfoot for Warner Animation Group (now known as Warner Bros. Pictures Animation ), The Angry Birds Movie for Rovio Animation and its sequel (co-produced by SPA), Over
1200-517: The fun. But it finds an ending that stuffs in all the Christmas jollity and huggy business that is absolutely core to a Christmas movie but without the overdone syrupy nonsense that makes you want to go to the nearest shopping centre and kick over a nativity scene." He concluded that the film "could very well come to be regarded as a Christmas classic". Independent Critic called Arthur Christmas , "a good-hearted, silly and sweet film that it feels like
1240-413: The name Operation Rudolph . It was the first film made by Aardman in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment and its subsidiaries (mainly Sony Pictures Animation ), after they parted ways with DreamWorks Animation . Aardman spent 18 months on pre-production on the story and design in the UK before relocating to Sony's Culver City, US, for another 18 months of production. On 27 April 2009, it
Imageworks - Misplaced Pages Continue
1280-471: The next Santa. Eventually stranded on a Cuban island, Arthur is disillusioned, but ultimately realizes that so long as the gift is delivered, the "Santa" Arthur and Gwen look up to exists in the hearts of children. Reinvigorated, Arthur tries to get the trio to England and recovers the sleigh. Meanwhile, the elves grow alarmed at rumors of the neglected delivery and the Clauses' indifference, sending them into
1320-432: The pair, but they get lost on different continents, lose many reindeer and encounter obstacles, ultimately being mistaken for aliens and causing an international military incident. Arthur is hurt to learn that Grandsanta only agreed to go on the trip to boost his own ego, that Malcolm is indifferent to the missing present, and that Steve refuses to help, believing that Arthur's efforts could undermine his own attempts to become
1360-448: The remaining reindeer. A Predator drone scrambled by Chief De Silva of UNFITA intercepts and opens fire on the sleigh, believing it to be an alien spacecraft. Grandsanta sacrifices EVE, while Arthur and Bryony parachute to the ground. All paths descend on Gwen's house before she awakens, only to have everyone but Arthur quarrel about who gets to place the gift. Noticing that Arthur was the only one who genuinely cared about Gwen's happiness,
1400-463: The state. In 2010, SPI opened a production studio in Vancouver , British Columbia , in order to take advantage of the local talent pool and government film production incentives. Two years later, the studio doubled its Vancouver facilities. At the same time, the Albuquerque studio was closed down due to declining New Mexico's subsidies and difficulty with attracting artists to move there. In
1440-508: The two distinctive characters. Gregson-Williams described the score as devoid of electronics and led by tunes, melody and themes. He used an ensemble orchestra containing 80 players, to provide a colorful orchestration. The album was released on 14 November 2011 by Sony Classical . The film was released on 11 November 2011 in the United Kingdom and on 23 November 2011 in the United States. The music video for Justin Bieber 's song "Santa Claus
1480-406: Was first announced in 2007. Aardman spent 18 months on pre-production on the story and design in the UK before relocating to Sony's animation studio in Culver City, California, for another 18 months of production. On 27 April 2009, it was reported that production had begun with Aardman and Sony Pictures Imageworks working together on animation. Arthur Christmas was released on 11 November 2011 in
1520-536: Was produced by sister company Sony Pictures Animation . In 2007, SPI acquired Indian visual effects studio FrameFlow to take advantage of lower labor costs. Renamed to Imageworks India, a modern facility was opened in Chennai a year later. To leverage New Mexico's tax rebates and talent base, a satellite production facility was opened in 2007 in Albuquerque , becoming the largest post-production operation in
1560-506: Was reported that production had begun with Aardman and Sony Pictures Imageworks working together on animation. The film was originally set to be scored by Michael Giacchino and Adam Cohen . But, both were replaced by Harry Gregson-Williams at the last minute, having a short span to score the film. The music was distinguished into two approaches on how the Santa Claus family sees Christmas, especially through details that determine
1600-518: Was used on projects such as Monster House , Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs , 2012 , Alice in Wonderland , The Smurfs , Arthur Christmas and is being used on all upcoming SPI's films. Sony Pictures Imageworks has provided visual effects and digital animation for the following films: In an article published by Vulture in June 2023, several animators quit Spider-Man: Across
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