The boat that rocked

Distribution

Focus Features is taking over domestic distribution of Working Title's The Boat That Rocked from parent studio Universal Pictures and is working with filmmaker Richard Curtis to create a leaner version for American audiences after the films  mixed run overseas.

Universal was set to release the ensemble comedy in the U.S. on Aug. 28, but Variety says that Focus has pushed back the release to some time in November. The film's so-so per

formance at the international box office this spring marked a rare disappointment for Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner's Working Title. The film, which cost upward of $50 million to produce, 

was expected to play like a broad comedy. International gross to date is $25.1 million. The trade says that Focus president James Schamus said his team is working with Curtis to trim about 20 minutes from the film, which originally ran 129

 minutes. A chief complaint from critics was the film's length.

Posters

   

Cast

A large cast to portray the workforce of "Radio Rock", who play and broadcast music from a dilapidated old ship. Nighy, now an established member of Curtis's repertory, plays the station's languid, dandyish boss Quentin. Philip Seymour Hoffman is an American disc jockey known as the Count – a nod to the rasping Emperor Rosko, a star on the pirate station Radio Caroline. Rhys Ifans is a glamorous sex-and-drugs presenter called Gavin.

The Boat That Rocked is the long awaited new film from director, Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral). The ensemble comedy centres on the lives and adventures of a band of DJs that captivated 1960's Britain, playing the music that defined a generation.

Double Negative's Richard Briscoe, was the VFX Supervisor on the film and was supported by VFX Producer, Rupert Porter and CG Supervisor Richard Clarke. The team worked closely with Curtis to realise the visual effects that were a crucial part of the storytelling process.

Double Negative work included the Mast Race sequence, which shows Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Rhys Ifans in a harebrained race to the top of the boat mast. The actors were shot against greenscreen and composited against what was often a CG sea, boat and extended mast.

Double Negative's main contribution, however, was in the finale of the film, where the boat gets into trouble and finally sinks. The work was a combination of greenscreens, with CG sea, rescue flotilla and digtal extention of the live action boat, along with several completely CG shots. The sea was created using proprietary software, dnOcean and dnSquirt.

In total, Double Negative provided 250 shots for the film

The Boat that Rocked opens in the UK April 1st, 2009 and in the US on August 28th 2009.

Target Audience

The film would appeal to people who were around in the 60s when the pirate radios were happening.