Products Motion pictures Founded 1997 | Owner Independent Acquisition date 2007 | |
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Industry Motion pictures, performance capture & CGI animation Films produced | ||
ImageMovers is an American film studio run by director Robert Zemeckis. Founded in 1997, the studio is known for producing such films as Cast Away, What Lies Beneath, and The Polar Express. From 2007 to 2010, The Walt Disney Company and ImageMovers ran a joint animation facility, ImageMovers Digital, which produced two performance captured animated films, A Christmas Carol and Mars Needs Moms, for The Walt Disney Studios.
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Beginnings
In 1997, by producer-writer-director Robert Zemeckis, along with partners Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey formed the production company ImageMovers. Among ImageMovers' productions were What Lies Beneath (with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer), Cast Away (with Tom Hanks), The Polar Express (also with Tom Hanks), and Beowulf (with Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn and Angelina Jolie).
Disney and ImageMovers Digital
In 2007, The Walt Disney Company and ImageMovers set up a joint venture animation facility, ImageMovers Digital, a Marin County-based film company, where Zemeckis would produce and direct 3D animated films using performance capture technology.
On November 6, 2009, ImageMovers Digital released A Christmas Carol, a performance capture film starring Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, and Cary Elwes, each in multiple roles. On March 12, 2010, Disney and ImageMovers announced that ImageMovers Digital would close operations by January 2011, after the production was completed on Mars Needs Moms. Walt Disney Studios president Alan Bergman said, "...given today's economic realities, we need to find alternative ways to bring creative content to audiences and IMD no longer fits into our business model."
The company had previously been reported to have Calling All Robots, a Yellow Submarine remake, a Roger Rabbit sequel and The Nutcracker in development. Disney dropped all of these projects following the box-office failure of Mars Needs Moms.
Universal
In August 2011, it was announced that ImageMovers has entered a two-year first-look producing deal with Universal Studios.