ENDER'S GAME Roundup – 11.25.12
Finally, some news about Ender’s Game!
It’s not much, but it’s what we’ve got since principal photography has wrapped. You can read the notes in the production blog. Looks like things have gone slightly dark for now.
Summit Entertainment has released an official synopsis:
In the near future, a hostile alien race (called the Formics) have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander, Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training only the best young children to find the future Mazer. Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy, but strategically brilliant boy is pulled out of his school to join the elite.
Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters increasingly difficult war games, distiguising himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military’s next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he’s trained by Mazer Rackham, himself, to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race.
Visual effects will be divided between Digital Domain and China’s Galloping Horse. Galloping Horse America and Mumbai-based Reliance Mediaworks recently acquired Digital Domain after the FX company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September. (This was the FX shop that delivered Titanic.) According to ChinaDailyUSA, this deal actually transforms Digital Domain into a full-blown content owner, which CEO Ed Ulbrich says has been a goal for a long time.
“We started as a service business, which is very limited and competitive,” he tells China Daily. “If you look at companies like Pixar, who has transformed from a pure service provider to studio and content owner, this is really something that changes the business dramatically.”
About sixty percent of Ender’s Game will be visual effects, and this is the first project for Galloping Horse since acquiring Digital Domain.
Release date is November 1, 2013. The cast includes Asa Butterfield (Ender), Ben Kingsley (Mazer Rackham), Harrison Ford (Col. Graff), Aramis Knight (Bean), Abigail Breslin (Valentine), Moises Arias (Bonzo), Hailee Steinfeld (Petra) and Han Soto playing Col. Graff’s aide. I kid you not.
