Check out this awesome fan-made CGI film from Greek artist Atonis Fylladitis, titled Superman Awakens. Over on Vimeo, Fylladitis revealed that his group took inspiration from Mark Waid and Alex Ross' 4-issue miniseries, Kingdom Come, which still resonates with fans today, many years after its 1996 release.
Superman Awakens | Fan-Made CGI Short Film from Antonis Fylladitis on Vimeo.
Fylladitis is an industry veteran, with VFX credits on John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), Underworld: Blood Wars (2016), and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017).
Fylladitis shared a few words over on Vimeo, stating, "Superman Awakens is a passion-made CGI cinematic, inspired by Kingdom Come Superman and the work of the legendary Alex Ross. It’s our first film-making attempt in Unreal Engine 5 using the Lumen technology and we are blown away by its speed and capabilities." He continued, "We had a blast working on this film and we hope you enjoyed it too! Behind-the-scene series is coming soon. Superman: Awakens” is a non-profit, fan-made film, made out of pure love for the character and free for all to enjoy."
Long before the current era of box office domination by live-action adaptations of animated classics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney reigned supreme with animated features in the mid-80s to late-90s. Many DC fans believe that the characters and tone of DC Comics would be better suited to animation and this CGI fan film certainly lends credence.
Newly cemented DC Studios chief James Gunn stated that the plans for the upcoming reimagining of the DC cinematic universe would weave interconnected stories across film, video games, and animation. Case in point, a seven-episode animated series called Creature Commandos is in development which will feature characters that will crossover into live-action projects. It will be interesting to see what style of animation the project adapts- whether it goes for a more 'comic bookish' style similar to Harley Quinn or uses a more hyper-realistic approach, similar to the project above.
Story/Director: Antonis Fylladitis
Disign/ Assets/ Cordination: Stavros Fylladitis
Music Composer: Thanos Papadellis
Sound Design: Miltos Pilalitos
Animation/ MoCap Clean up: Constantinos Sophocleous
Cape Simulation: Agustin Schilling
Voice Actor: Daniel Zbel
Voice Over Script: John Finnegan
Vocals: Anna Tarba
Music Editor: George Soulas
Recording and Mixing: The Sound Garden
Let us know what you think in the comment section below. Do you want upcoming DC Studios projects in the style of Superman Awakens? Or are you completely against the mixing of different mediums and think DC studios are biting off more than they can chew?