From Uruguay to Hollywood
 

Anyone else see this yet?

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/buzz...hollywood.html


Here's a fairy tale that could only happen in the movies. Man makes YouTube video. Goes to Hollywood. Gets pots of money and a movie deal. Except this story is true.

An unknown producer from Uruguay, Fede Alvarez, shelled out about $300 to create a cool video of a robot invasion in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. The four-minute short, "Ataque de Panico!" (Panic Attack) features ginormous (but slow-moving) weapon-wielding robots that blow stuff up.

We have to admit, it has pretty amazing production values. The Playlist gushed that the director may be the next Neill Blomkamp, who made the South African-based alien flick "District 9." With the blog abuzz, the South American short went viral, and has already been viewed on YouTube 1.5 million times.

Well, apparently nothing gets by Hollywood these days. The lucky duck told the BBC, "I uploaded 'Ataque de Panico!' on a Thursday and on Monday my inbox was totally full of emails from Hollywood studios." Long story short, a bidding war ensued. The offer he pocketed: A $30 million deal with Sam "Spiderman" Raimi's Ghost House Pictures. That's a nice return on investment.

The picture will be a sci-fi thriller set in Argentina and Uruguay. In case you're hoping to see the feature-length version of "Panic Attack!" in a movie theater, it won't be from this deal. The newly minted "it" guy says he will start from scratch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dadPWhEhVk

Re: From Uruguay to Hollywood
 

For the lazy:

Re: From Uruguay to Hollywood
 

I read that story and watched the short last night. Cool story, indeed. That short was impressive for a $300 budget. I just hope he doesn't make another "Sky Captain" for his feature debut.

Re: From Uruguay to Hollywood
 

Is that the music from District 9?

Re: From Uruguay to Hollywood
 

It looks really good for only 300 bucks spent but it is basically the South American Cloverfield without a monster. I would be interested in seeing a complete film by this guy though.

Re: From Uruguay to Hollywood
 

Uh...wow.

Re: From Uruguay to Hollywood
 

No. I believe it's from 28 Weeks Later.

Regarding spoiler: I doubt he could have gotten a distro deal with a 12 second short.

Re: From Uruguay to Hollywood
 

Ohhhh yeah, 28 Weeks Later it is. Thanks.

Re: From Uruguay to Hollywood
 

It's an okay video. Can't say I really see how it's worth millions though. We'll have to see if this guy flops or thrives under the pressure.

Re: From Uruguay to Hollywood
 

Incredible video!

Re: From Uruguay to Hollywood
 

It's cool somebody did that for $300.

That said, the effects looked about on par with Clevagefield (oh look, there's a Para-knockers Activity now too)... and that had softcore to go with it. But it shows promise and I think that's what got banked on - a lot on a small budget goes a far way.

Re: From Uruguay to Hollywood
 

I call BS on that $300 budget figure. The guy can make up whatever budget number he wants.

Re: From Uruguay to Hollywood
 

<s>Pirated</s> borrowed software and borrowed camcorders go a loooooooooong way...

Re: From Uruguay to Hollywood
 

My guess is that they nuked the city after coming under too heavy of a counterattack (the planes).

It was well done, it'll be interesting to see what he does for the big screen.