Hollywood

Back in the "good old days" SGI has been very popular in Hollywood. SGI computers were used in many studios for the development of the special effects. Also, there were quite a number of movies where SGI computers did appear on screen. This page tries to give an overview of both. The Special Feature section offers some in depth coverage of specific movies.

Made on SGI

The following table contains movies that feature special effects made on SGI computers. Wherever possible the equipment that was used is also listed, this information is often taken out of interviews or special features like "making of" features included on DVDs.

Movie Year Equipment
Abyss 1989 early IRIS 4D (supposedly including 4D/120)
Antz 1998 O2 (166), Origin 2000 (270)
Casper   unknown
Cats & Dogs 2001 O2, Octane 2, Origin 200, VW 230, VW 320
Disclosure 1994 Indy
Evolution 2001 O2, Octane 2, Origin 200, VW 230, VW 320
Final Fantasy 2001 unknown
Forrest Gump   unknown
Frighteners 1996 Indy, Indigo 2
Gladiator   O2, Indigo 2 Extreme, Origin 200, Octane, Onyx, Dual Pentium
Hollow Man   O2, Octane, Onyx, Origin 2000, Power Challenge
Ice Age   Octane, Octane 2
Lord of the Rings 2000 Octane, Origin 2000, VW 230, VW 320
Jumanji   unknown
Jurassic Park 1993 PowerSeries Twin Tower
Jurassic Park 2 1997 unknown
Jurassic Park 3 2001 unknown (O2 workstations)
Shrek 2001 unknown
Star Wars Episode 1   Indy, Indigo 2 (possibly O2, Origin 2000)
Starship Troopers   unknown
Terminator 2 1991 unknown (4D-era)
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle   Onyx 2
The Crow   unknown
The Hunt for Red October   unknown
The Mask   unknown
The Matrix 1999 Octane, Onyx 2, Origin 200
The Mummy   unknown
The Perfect Storm   O2, Origin 2000
The Rugrats Movie 1998 O2, Origin 200
Titanic   unknown
Toy Story   unknown
Twister 1996 Challenge, Power Challenge
What Dreams May Come   Octane

SGI on Screen

This list includes the on screen appearances of SGI gear. An interesting website about computers in movies is www.starringthecomputer.com links to this page are included in the following list.

Movie SGI items on Screen
Chain Reaction monitors with IRIX running on them
Congo Indy, Indy "laptop", Onyx, SGI monitors (see here)
Disclosure Indy (see here)
First Kid Indy, Indigo 2 (see here)
Lawnmower Man PowerSeries deskside (see here)
Jerry McGuire SGI monitors and Indy (see here)
Junior SGI Indy
Jurassic Park Crimson, Indigo/Elan, SGI monitors (see here)
Kill La Kill (anime) Personal Iris (look alike labelled "InamutaGraphics")
Lost in Space fake SGI commercial, SGI gear
Men in Black 4Dwm window manager / screen
Password Swordfish LCD panels with SGI logo
Scream 3 SGI O2 boxes
Sliver 4Dwm window manager
Sphere 4Dwm window manager
The Billion Dollar Code (Netflix) Indy, Onyx Deskside and Rackmount
The Peacemaker Indy, Indigo 2
The Relic 4Dwm window manager (possibly also SGI monitors)
TPB AFK SGI 1200
Twister SGI Indy laptop, SGI displays (see also here and here)
Viper (TV-series) Challenge rack, PowerSeries rack
X Files (TV-series) 4DWm window manager

Computer Games

While SGIs aren't exactly the systems that come to your mind when you think of computer games, they have been occasionally used in the development of entertainment software. The most important and well documented example is the Nintendo N64 development system which is an SGI Indy that is equipped with an addon board, that contains a full Nintendo N64 system.

Little commercial attempts have been made to use SGI machines as game systems, which isn't surprising considering their cost. There was the "Magic Edge / Namco Flight Simulator" which was a large scale arcade application of an R4400 Onyx system with Reality Engine Graphics. Another arcade game based on Onyx Reality Engine systems was called "Canyon Runner" and producedby GreyStone technologies.

Special Features

The following pages include special featurs on specific movies including screenshots and where possible some detailed info on the systems that are shown or were used:

Jurassic Park (SGI on the screen and behind the scenes)
Lord of the Rings (Weta Digital)
Frighteners (Weta Digital)