The Real power behind LotR-RotK

[Kn'thrak]

Gollum is real. So is Shelob. And Middle-earth did exist - just a long, long time ago. At least that's what Weta Digital, the visual effects house behind The Lord of the Rings trilogy, wants you to believe. Its mantra for the final installment: photorealism. The Return of the King, which opens in theaters December 17, will feature almost 50 percent more f/x shots than The Two Towers and will be composed of more data than the first two movies combined. Churning out scenes like the destruction of Barad-dûr and the Battle of Pelennor Fields (with thousands of bloodthirsty CG Orcs) took 3,200 processors running at teraflop speeds through 10-gig pipes - that's one epic renderwall. What else went into making Frodo's quest look so good? By Weta's account, more than you might think.

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Wired Digital

More technicaly info @ the source.
Why won't WETA throw some of those processors this way

[Jake]

For 99% of movies this would be bad news, but since we already know that LoTR people can get CG right then this is great. After the Battle of Hornburg I can't believe they can top that but everyone on the Two Towers DVD says it's MUCH MUCH better.

[amr.ramadan]

Numbers like this do reveal why a movie could cost $100+ millions.

Just imagine if you'd that 0.5 petabyte disk. That's practically unlimited for an end-user!!

[Jake]

Do they include this in production costs?
This is probably under the cost for the studio not the movie

[Kn'thrak]

WETA is a company that has its own resources. New Line hired WETA to do its works. WETA is not apart of the movie's production. Just like Industral Light & Magic is not part of Production costs in movies. WETA & ILM get paid a salary or wage to do a job. That payment is the production cost of the movie.

But question is, Did New Line pay for these PCs to give to WETA or did WETA already have them?

[Jake]

Originally posted by Kn'thrak
But question is, Did New Line pay for these PCs to give to WETA or did WETA already have them?

Yeah, that's exactly what I mean,

There's stuff like equipment that studios already have before production begins