LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - George Lucas has
Industrial Light + Magic, Peter Jackson has Weta, and now
Michael Bay has Digital Domain.
The "Pearl Harbor" director and private investment firm
Wyndcrest Holdings, in which Bay is a principal, are set to
announce Tuesday the acquisition of the 13-year-old visual
effects studio. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Bay broke the news to Digital Domain's 475 artists Monday
during a staff meeting at the Venice, Calif.-based studio.
"My simple goal is to make Digital Domain an effects
powerhouse," Bay said in an interview after the meeting. "I
think we can utilize this platform here to expand on production
in terms of feature films and animation."
As a result of the acquisition, Carl Stork, Wyndcrest
principal and former Microsoft executive, has been elected CEO.
He replaces Scott Ross, who was the last remaining principal of
the company he founded in 1993 with Oscar-winning filmmakers
James Cameron and Stan Winston. Cameron used Digital Domain to
create the Oscar-nominated effects in 1994's "True Lies" and
"Titanic."
Relations were strained between Digital Domain's management
and Cameron following his "Titanic" production, which went over
schedule and over budget. Cameron and Winston resigned from the
board at Digital Domain because of differing views on how the
company should be managed. They have formed their own shops.
"The old owners are responsible for making it stagnant,"
Bay said. "They could not get along. The old owners didn't want
to infuse it with cash, which is unfortunate because they have
very good people and tools here."
Digital Domain has seen its business eclipsed during the
past decade by such industry-leading effects shops as Sony
Pictures Imageworks, Jackson's Weta, and Rhythm & Hues. In the
same period, highly competitive European facilities have risen
because of production incentives abroad. Asian facilities also
have taken a piece of the major studio effects jobs because of
lower labor costs and lucrative co-production deals.
With new leadership and a cash-rich financial group to
guide the company, Bay and Digital Domain executives hope to
build on the original vision of the company while also
expanding on potential business opportunities.
"We have a lot of work ahead," Bay said. "One of the ideas
of this company has always been to make it more
director-centric. That was Jim's vision; he had a really good
vision, and I want to keep it great."
Restoring Digital Domain's former glory will be a matter of
aligning with top talent -- directors like David Fincher and
producers like Jerry Bruckheimer -- while also expanding the
digital studio's business units.
"We're targeting some of the best directors in the
industry, and we'll also have key relations with producers,
which should open up a whole new world of clients," Bay said.
Additional areas of expansion include computer-animated
family films and video games, though Bay said he primarily was
interested in those projects as a creative producer as opposed
to directing.
"I would rather shoot myself in the head than sit on a
greenscreen stage with actors covered in orange balls all day
long," Bay said. "But I'm very interested in producing
kid-friendly effects films, and I have always had a love for
animation -- this could be my way in.
Bay is overseeing projects at his horror production
company, Platinum Dunes, and also is in preproduction on
DreamWorks' "Transformers." He said he has been taking notes
from another famous filmmaker as to how to keep all his balls
in the air.
"I'm working very closely with Steven Spielberg right now
(on 'Transformers')," Bay said. "And I always ask him, 'How do
you do it?' He's simply able to manage his time and do it well.
I look at myself as an entrepreneur. I don't like to go out and
fail. I've teamed up with very smart partners, and they're very
committed. I think we all have a similar vision of where we
want to take this studio."
Ross was not available for comment.
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