McG is now attached to direct Fox and Radar Pictures' Hollywood Magic Castle movie, based on the famed magicians' night club. Andrew Barrer and Gabe Ferrari will pen the screenplay.

Built in 1909, the historic mansion on Franklin Avenue serves as the headquarters of the nonprofit Academy of Magical Arts Inc. and offers a private space for renowned magicians to perform. Celebs who have performed at the exclusive nightclub include Cary Grant, Steve Martin, Johnny Carson and Neil Patrick Harris, who is the current president of the Academy of Magical Arts.

McG will soon begin filming the Kevin Costner-starrer Three Days to Kill, which will wrap production in February. From there, says The Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker will shift his focus to Magic Castle, which has Radar's Ted Field producing.

Now repped by agency CAA, the Magic Castle will begin expanding its marketing opportunities not only to films, but other outlets such as television, live events, video games, digital media and merchandising.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love by following @Max_Nicholson on Twitter, or MaxNicholson on IGN.

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com

Universal Pictures has unveiled the poster for the upcoming release of Jurassic Park 3D via the movie's official Facebook page:

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com

Gabriel Garza (aka Robogabo) has spent the last four years drawing pictures of scabrous aliens, painting lush azure cosmic sunsets, journeying into realms of sci-fi imagination. But his most important job has been to touch-up this fella....

Halo 4 is more than merely a new episode in Master Chief’s story. It’s a new start. And while the super-soldier has always undergone cosmetic dibs and dabs during his Bungie years, 343 Industries understood that the time had come to look again at every inch of his armor suit and see what could be tweaked.

“It's a very organic process,” says Garcia. “We wanted to bring something new, but at the same time, stay true to Halo, all the past elements from other designs. There were no set rules.”

So how did he spruce up John-117? Turns out, it’s a long process of zooming in and out of the character, of rejigging details and seeing how they work within the whole, of collaborations and meetings and U-turns out of dead-ends.“I began with Master Chief’s iconic qualities. The visor, the color, certain shapes in the armor. The little shoulder things he has in the back. Once I had that, I would just do a lot of sketches, 20 or 30 sketches.

“We'd go to a meeting and I'd get feedback from [art director] Kenneth Scott. He’d say, ‘I like this one, I like the feet on this other one...’ I'd combine all that together and do 10 more. Show those sketches. Then they'd pick two out of those and I'd do five more, and so on.

“So after starting with 20, we'd end up with maybe three. Of those three we'd choose one and I'd polish it up, bringing it to a certain level where everyone could understand the different parts of it. How the hands look, the feet, the shoulders. Then I'd take one part at a time, the hand for example, and detail it all the way to the fingertips.”

The prime directive was evolution. “I would say it's a more mature look, but at the same time we're as close we can to past Halos. We had a couple of buzzwords when we were designing the Master Chief. Words like ‘tank’, ‘heavy, ‘tough’. When you think ‘tank’, there are certain colors, types of materials, reflectivity. That helped me to take the Master Chief to another level.”

He believes that character-design should contribute to the telling of the game’s story, which is everyone’s responsibility, including writers, modelers and animators. “Even before we started all this, we were trying to have everybody become a Halo expert. Read all the books, play all the games, just get all the way into the universe. People on the team would say to us, ‘it'd be cool if the Chief could do this or that’. So I would change his shoulder in a certain way so he could do that particular movement.”

Garcia has always aimed himself at designing game characters like Master Chief and aliens like the Prometheans. He began his career knocking out infographics and maps for a newspaper in Mexico, before moving to the U.S and beginning work in video games. When he met with Scott, he jumped at the chance to work on Halo.

So what are his tips for aspiring game artists? He says, “Draw every day. Then you can start to worry about getting together a portfolio. Make sure your portfolio is focused on the kind of things you want to be doing. My portfolio at first would be focused on getting into any game company to do concept art. Once I got there, what's my next goal? To do a game that's science fiction. So I'd do a new portfolio with just science fiction pieces. It takes time. It's not easy. It's just practice and never giving up.”

More images now available in the coffee-table book Awakening: The Art of Halo 4.

For daily opinions, debates and interviews on games you can follow Colin Campbell on Twitter or at IGN. 

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com

The relationship comedy Relanxious, starring Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis, is moving forward with Myriad Pictures set to distribute it internationally and sell the film to potential buyers at the American Film Market.

Actors Brie Larson and Fred Armisen are also attached to star.

TheWrap has the synopsis: "An anxiety-ridden Barrett (Wilde) meets agoraphobic George (Sudeikis) and the two engage in a courtship over the phone, discussing the dates they would go on if their phobias didn't stand in the way. As the fantasies develop, the two must decide if they can put aside their fears in order to find real-life romance."

"Through [director] Chris Storer's highly original script and the wonderful chemistry of Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis we get to go on fantasy dates all over Chicago. It is going to be the perfect way to experience Chicago," said Myriad CEO/President Kirk D'Amico.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love by following @Max_Nicholson on Twitter, or MaxNicholson on IGN.

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com