Warner Bros. spending $9 million extra on GREEN LANTERN VFX

News has just come our way that Warner Bros. will be spending an addtional $9 million on visual effects for The Green Lantern. The cost of its roughly 1,400 visual effects is more than $9 million over the $45 million original f/x budget. That budget is on the low side for a vfx-heavy tentpole, but 3D hadn't been taken into account in the original budget.The studio has even had to hire more vfx houses to help the team who is alreayd working overtime to meet the film's June 17 release date. The recent footage from the film shows exactly where that money has been going to. 

Green Lantern will surely meet it's deadline, but other effects-heavy films continue to scramble. The last minute outsourcing and heavy pace is often par for the course on most tentpoles that have a ton of visual-effects these days. Lately it has been very common for "troubled" projects and the problem's growing, with "troubled" the new normal. According to professionals in the biz, if crunches continue to mount, there may be a time when some vfx-laden tentpoles dont' meet their deliver date. That has not happened since Titanic was released. When a tentpole is forced to change dates it creates a domino effect on a studio and it's rivals, exhibitors, tie-in products and hurts the overall bottom line. 

Here is what Victoria Alonso, Marvel exec VP of Visual Effects, had to say:

"I think the day (the system) breaks is the day everyone will revise their thinking. Until that day comes, filmmakers are going to push it to the limit. I think it's sad that we will have to watch one of us fail to learn our lesson."

Warner Bros. is not the only major studio having to deal with this issue, according to Alonso. Paramount's Captain America is on a shorter schedule than Marvel prefers, and "We are feeling the heat for it." For Transformers: Dark of the Moon at least one vfx studio has gone to seven-day weeks, 12 hours a day, and canceled the Easter Sunday holiday for its vfx artists.

As I stated earlier, the work that's been put into Green Lantern looks as though it has paid off. Each time I watch the WonderCon footage (linked above), my excitement continues to grow. When the first trailer premiered I thought the film looked horrible (along with many other fans). The buzz is now back on track in my opinion for the film and it is going to be one hell of a cool film.

The next year will have a lot of movies that could end up having to hire more vfx and spend more money to meet deadlines. Keep in mind we have Superman: Man of Steel, The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man. It will be interesting to see what steps that Weta Digital will take on The Hobbit, in 3D at 48 fps to make it's deadline.

What are your thoughts on the state of vfx in Hollywood?