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Two years ago, fewer than six feature films utilized computer graphics; this year perhaps six will not use any type of computerized enhancement. The embrace of cutting-edge technology by Hollywood is most ambitiously exemplified by Disney's Toy Story. Unlike movies with fantastic digital imagery like Apollo 13 and Casper, in which such graphics make up a mere fraction of the running time, every single frame of Toy Story was created on Silicon Graphics workstations and rendered on Pixar-made RenderMan software. Pixar's founder, Steve Jobs, is so confident in this project that he predicts the animated feature will jump-start a new epoch in movie-making, potentially replacing 2-D animation altogether. | |
Over one hundred studio employees worked to bring the tale of Toy Story to life, painstakingly preparing digital sets, characters, and props. Animators and VFX artists stylized the film from the storyboarding sketch phase to the last-minute shading. In the director's words, "In computer animation, it's so easy to make things move, but it's the minute detail work at the end that makes it look so real." Audiences appear enraptured by the feature, propelling it to the top of the Box Office ahead of the new James Bond picture, GoldenEye. There is certainly no shortage of home adaptations, either. Our team reviewed the superb Genesis cart released last month. Disney Interactive will also publish an Animated Storybook for PC this spring. | |
 What Do Your Toys Get Up To When You're Not Looking?[Article from the December 1995 Issue of PPM] | |
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Mortal Mania is hot as ever two years after the release of the amusingly controversial Mortal Kombat arcade cabinet. We've seen MK1, MK2, and now MK3 is imminent! Just a quick glance at the sales figures of this franchise, the varied merchandising and millions of game copies sold, will tell you MK may well be the most popular fighter of all time. MK3, with its 14-character roster and new leaps in visual design, is just the beginning. The highly anticipated Mortal Kombat feature film will take martial arts to new heights when it is released in theaters everywhere this summer. Director Paul Anderson will seek to bring the brawl to life with the help of Christopher Lambert (Tarzan!) as Lord Ryden and Robin Shou and Liu Kang. | |
But wait, there's more! A $2.5 million Mortal Kombat arena show is gearing up for a major launch. Named the Live Tour, the theatrical event will showcase state-of-the-art special effects, magical illusions, lasers, gymnastics, and real-life martial arts straight from the film! Audience participation will play a key part in the show as well, with one show producer explaining that the crowd will directly determine the ultimate outcome of each event. The Live Tour is scheduled to begin this September at Radio City Music Hall, NY, but will crisscross throughout the country at 150 cities until sometime next year. Oh, and attendants will have a shot of playing MK3 on an enormous screen before the performance, and learn some secret codes, too! | |
 The World Of MK Is On A Hot Streak[Article from the April 1995 Issue of PPM] | |
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Fighters have taken over the video game scene. Next stop: The Movies! Capcom's world-famous one-on-one fighting game, Street Fighter II, is about to be unearthed in cinemas everywhere. The film adaptation is coming courtesy of Universal Studios with an assumed blessing from Capcom. Steven E. de Souza, blockbuster action director best known for Commando and Die Hard is confident that this picture will be one for the history books. De Souza started filming this project over in Bangkok, Thailand, kicking off the story in the midst of the Shadowloo Civil War. Evil General M. Bison, played on-screen by Raul Julia, kidnapped dozens of relief workers and has demanded $20 billion. Col. William Guile is out to stop him! | |
The complete cast list for Street Fighter goes down nearly the entire fighting roster, from Ryu and Ken to Dhalsim and Zangief. Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile is a sight to behold. Preview images sent over for marketing purposes showcase just how true-to-life this casting has turned out. It's almost as if the folks behind this movie played the game, unlike those maroons in charge of last year's Super Mario oddity. With a giant helping of explosive action and its fair share of game-like brawling, we have no doubt players all over will have a roaring time upon Street Fighter's December release. It will be rated PG-13 for excessive violence, so you just know it will be a goodie. Get ready for a match you won't soon forget! | |
 It's Guile VS. M. Bison In This Glorious Showdown![Article from the October 1994 Issue of PPM] | |
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Walt Disney Pictures is sailing atop the world following successive theatrical hits. The latest film in this lineage which brought you Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, is, of course, The Lion King: The tale of a young lion prince destined to be King of the Pride Lands. The star of the show is the titular king to-be, Simba, played by both Jonathan Taylor Thomas of Home Improvement fame and Matthew Broderick AKA Ferris Bueller. Boasting an all-star cast and a musical score directed by the masterful Hans Zimmer, it's no wonder this picture was hyped to the moon and back. Simba and Co. were marketed so well in advance of the premier, in fact, that merchandise began flying off store shelves as early as April. | |
Riding high on its third consecutive month in theaters with an estimated $215 million under its belt, The Lion King can now safely be deemed an entertainment juggernaut. So much so that it launched Elton John to the top of the charts with his (extensively overplayed) "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". Disney animators were reportedly astounded by the popularity of the feature. In the eyes of the execs, movies about anthropomorphic animals underperformed next to people-driven pictures. Yeesh. Consider that theory debunked. Simba, Nala, and the rest are set to appear in the newest project from Virgin Interactive. The game will utilize the work of professional Disney animators and adapt Zimmer's orchestrations as well. Due out this fall. | |
 Hakuna Matata, It Means No Worries![Article from the August 1994 Issue of PPM] | |
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