Meanwhile, back at the Ranch

James Cameron Movies (Abyss,Titanic,...)
Animated Movies (Lion King, Moses,...)
Arnold Movies (T2, True Lies, ...)
Star Wars Episode I
Star Trek Movies
Batman Movies
and lots of others

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch (if you're reading this you presumably know which ranch I'm talking about) the use of noise spread like wildfire. All the James Cameron, Schwartzenegger, Star Trek, Batman, etc. movies started relying on it.

Noise benefits from Moore's law: as computer CPU time becomes cheaper, production companies increasingly have turned away from physical models, and toward computer graphics. Noise is one of the main techniques production companies use to fool audiences into thinking that computer graphic models have the subtle irregularities of real objects.

Disney put it into their CAPS system - you can see it in the mists and layered atmosphere in high end animated features like The Lion King.

In fact, after around 1990 or so, every Hollywood effects film has used it, since they all make use of software shaders, and software shaders depend heavily on noise. Which is why I have finally gotten around to giving an up-to-date talk on how it works.