Walt Disney Co. said Monday that it plans to create a film unit that specializes in a new animation technology and is teaming with Academy Award-winning director Robert Zemeckis on the project.
Disney (DIS ) wants to create more films using "performance-capture" technology, also used on the 2004 film "The Polar Express," in which Zemeckis teamed with actor Tom Hanks. Produced for an estimated $150 million under Warner Bros., "Polar Express" went on to gross $278 million worldwide. The movie was an adaptation of a best-selling children's book.
Performance capture, also known as motion capture, records an actor's movements and facial expressions via a series of sensors attached at various points to the body; the movements are then altered to develop animated characters that can look similar to the actor.
The technology is similar to what was used to create Gollum, the semi-animated character in the recent "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
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