Giant Studios To Close After Selling ‘Avatar’ Technology To James Cameron

Atlanta-based Giant Studios has sold the proprietary performance-capture technology used in Avatar, the Lord Of The Rings trilogy and The Polar Express to James Cameron and Jon Landau’s Santa Monica-based Lightstorm Entertainment and will shutter soon after 15 years in operation.

Giant’s research and development team will continue to develop the technology under Lightstorm’s purview as Cameron dives into production on Avatar 2, 3, and 4, the company announced.

“The company and its shareholders are pleased that Jon Landau and James Cameron have acquired the technology and will be dedicating their resources and talents towards its continued development,” Giant’s CEO and executive producer Candice Alger said in a statement posted to Giant’s website. “I am confident that James Cameron will take the technology far beyond our wildest imaginations.

“He has already had a tremendous impact in the field of virtual production, and his use of the technology on the first Avatar film opened the doors for others to be able to leverage some of the tools that were created for Avatar in film and video game productions around the globe,” Alger continued.

Film and video game projects that utilized Giant’s mo-cap technology over the years include the first Chronicles Of Narnia film, Iron Man, Real Steel, The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Unicorn, Jack The Giant Slayer and video games Halo 4, Call of Duty 3, Devil May Cry, Fable II, and Jade Empire.

The company will close its doors after it completes its remaining contracts.

Cameron, meanwhile, is prepping his Avatar sequels in New Zealand. He penned all three films with Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver and Shane Salerno, and the first sequel is set to hit theaters in 2016.