who had replaced Robert Rodriguez, was replaced by Jon Favreau after leaving the project. Paramount executives decided not to continue with the project, citing their desire to put their resources toward the Star Trek franchise. Disney then picked up the option for Pixar's Andrew Stanton to direct. Conran planned to work on an original project with friend and former schoolmate Robert Gordon. He has stated that he prefers to adapt original material. Conran directed a 2006 Christmas-themed Coca-Cola commercial entitled The Greatest Gift, on which Kevin Conran served as production designer along with other key Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow collaborators, including Eric Adkins and Erik Jessen. In 2012, Conran and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow collaborator Stephen Lawes co-directed a short film written by Conran entitled Gumdrop. Sky Captain collaborators Jon Avnet, Marsha Oglesby, Sean Cushing, Todd Toon, and Kevin Chalk were also involved in making the short. Conran also worked on the 2012 proof of concept short film Monster Roll, along with Sky Captain collaborators Dan Blank (who directed the short), Eric Adkins, Erik Jessen, and Takashi Takeoka. Conran at one point was to direct Truckers for DreamWorks Animation before the project was shelved. He was to also collaborate with Sam Raimi on an adaptation of The Shadow and a separate project based on Doc Savage. Sony Pictures, which held the rights to both characters, lost interest in both projects sometime afterwards. Following a string of films that failed to go into production, Conran opted to step away from the limelight, "I decided I was just going to disappear, I'd just do my own stuff, and that's basically what I've been doing. I've not been idle, I've been doing stuff that's more about the experimentation [of Sky Captain]." He is open to making more films and has shown some admiration towards the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Legacy Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow has come to be considered a landmark in special effects, as it is the first major motion picture to be shot completely on blue-screen with computer-generated backgrounds (with the exception of the two sets built due to time and budget constraints), and is the film that brought this medium into vogue. Such films as Sin City, 300, and The Spirit are all influenced by Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow in this respect. However, Kerry Conran has stated that he