As other studios come under fire for their treatment of the industry, Universal is being slammed for their CGI criticisms in a tweet for John Carpenter’s The Thing. Based on John W. Campbell Jr.’s novella Who Goes There?, the 1982 sci-fi horror film centered on a group of American researchers stationed in an isolated Antarctica base who begin a descent into paranoia as they discover the titular alien species that can perfectly imitate any organism. Led by frequent Carpenter collaborators Kurt Russell and Keith David, The Thing was poorly received upon its release, though has been reappraised as one of Carpenter’s best.
One of the biggest elements initially met with division now praised in Carpenter’s The Thing was its practical effects designed by Rob Bottin and Stan Winston. Universal recently took to Twitter to applaud the practical effects with the post saying that “CGI could never” depict its iconic moments. Though seemingly innocuous, horror genre fans took to slamming the studio for their CGI criticisms, with many even pointing out how they ruined the 2011 Thing prequel by forcing CGI be implemented over the practical effects done by Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr.’s Amalgamated Dynamics. See Universal’s original post and some horror fans’ frustrated responses below:
Why Studios Are Under Fire For CGI Artist Treatment
Despite some complaints of CGI fatigue, studios have been under fire in recent years for their treatment of CGI artists and various studios. Marvel Studios has been one of the biggest offenders in recent years, with anonymous sources detailing very poor working conditions, namely assigning crunch hours as they look to change up an entire act of a film just a few months before it comes out. A recent report also indicated that Marvel Studios is paying their VFX artists an estimated 20 percent less than other major studios, a surprising figure considering the large budgets put into their projects and the level of CGI needed for them.
Another major studio under fire has been Weta Workshop from those who worked under them and director James Cameron through his Avatar franchise. Artist Nick Sinnott previously recalled the harsh conditions on the original Avatar movie, in which he and his team were the “only major department not unionized,” reportedly leading to Cameron pushing for “endless unpaid revisions” that led to his Oscar wins. VFX concept artist Logan Preshaw also came out ahead of Avatar: The Way of Water‘s release to criticize Weta Workshop for their very low wages.
Universal themselves have been under fire before in how they handled a transition to CGI productions with the 2011 The Thing prequel, in which they replaced all of the practical effects done with VFX. As noted by many of the posts above, the studio’s decision to criticize CGI is a shocking one considering much of their current output relies on this section of the industry, namely the Jurassic World and Despicable Me franchises, among others. With more VFX artists speaking out on the harsh conditions, one can hope studios finally start to listen and make adjustments in the near future.
Sources: Various [See links above]