Robert Zemeckis has been both a motion capture pioneer and an apostle. “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” marks his third movie shot using the technology and he is such a fan that he formed a studio, ImageMovers Digital, devoted to making performance-capture pictures.
At a rumored $180 million, the mouse house better hope that audiences are as enamored by the technology as Zemeckis. Whether or not “Carol” becomes a yuletide favorite or a box office bomb, it’s undeniable that the tools used to bring Ebenezer Scrooge to life have transformed the way movies are made. From Gollum to Benjamin Button, motion capture is expanding cinematic possibilities and creating indelible characters.
