3D films back in cinema, but porn will lead

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Horror, animation and concert movies are out or on the way, but adult entertainment will push boundaries with the new technology

This is the year Hollywood’s billion-dollar 3D movie gamble will be played out on the big screen, with dozens of 3D films, across all genres, set for release in the coming months. You can already watch the horror movie My Bloody Valentine in 3D; and Coraline, a stop-action 3D animated feature based on a story by Neil Gaiman, opens in May. Even the Jonas Brothers, a boyband, are jumping on the bandwagon with a 3D concert movie. More than 30 3D films are in production, including Avatar, the first feature directed by James Cameron since Titanic, due at the end of the year.

Betting that the format will offer something consumers can’t get on their new HDTV screens at home, Hollywood is quickly converting cinemas and heavily promoting forthcoming 3D films such as the blockbuster Monsters vs Aliens. Its producer, DreamWorks, handed out 150m sets of special glasses so American viewers could get a taste of the experience by watching a 3D trailer at half-time during the recent Super Bowl.

As heavily as Hollywood is boosting the theatrical experience, however, it is at home that most people will experience the coming revolution. Companies such as Mitsubishi, Panasonic and Samsung are busily developing 3D TV systems. The market is expected to be worth $16 billion in the next decade. Most of the new Hollywood 3D films, though, won’t be available for home viewing until next year at the earliest. And there aren’t enough of them to fill more than a couple of days’ viewing. So where will the product come from for this new kind of television-watching?

Within the industry, the dirty secret is that 3D will be carried into the homes of consumers not by mainstream Hollywood, nor even by satellite providers such as Sky, but on the back of the apparently insatiable desire for new ways of watching pornography.

“3D TV will be taken to the next level as the adult entertainment industry once again pushes the boundaries with new tech,” says the online technology site T3.com. “The porn industry is going nuts for it now, and that’s traditionally where all the innovation is — multiangle DVDs came about thanks to porn, after all.”

That should not be a surprise. Pornography has been the driving force behind every significant new entertainment delivery system in the past few decades — the VHS home-video revolution of the 1980s, the satellite TV boom of the 1990s, the internet today. Right now, porn distributors are at the forefront of developing the technology to stream and download video on the internet, and to find ways to make people pay for it.

The porn industry is actually banking on the revolution even more than mainstream Hollywood, because it’s flagging. Thanks to the ease with which porn can be accessed for free on the internet, legally and illegally, the industry’s DVD sales have gone decidedly limp, dropping by as much as 50%, according to some estimates. So, at the recent Adult Entertainment Expo, producers were almost ecstatic at the opportunities offered by 3D systems, whose booths attracted bigger crowds than the nude porn stars nearby.

“Once film-makers get the hang of it, feet will be hanging out of the screen and you’ll be dodging the money shot,” said Tony Ross, president of Glacier Media Systems, which makes the new IceBerg entertainment system and is happy to promote the porno possibilities of its technology. The Iceberg can convert standard DVDs to 3D, which can then be watched with special glasses, made by Nvidia.

Although the Iceberg currently costs just under $2,000, the price is expected to drop fast, and less sophisticated 3D TV systems are already available, costing just a few hundred dollars. “With the glasses on, things just pop out at you... sometimes in pairs,” said Charlie Demerjian, writing about the porn experience for a technology magazine. “You almost have to duck to avoid getting hit with large silicone objects.”

What’s funny is that 3D porn is nothing new, for all the media brouhaha recently when a Hong Kong producer announced that he was going to be making the “first” 3D porn film, 3D Sex and Zen, a $4m remake of an erotic classic, Sex and Zen. “Just imagine you’ll be watching it as if you were sitting beside the bed,” said Stephen Shiu Jr. “There will be many close-ups. It will look as if the actresses are only a few centimetres from the audience.”

That was all marketing hype. A number of striptease shorts were made in 3D in the early 1950s and shown in cinemas. In 1954, the movie French Line was released, starring the Hollywood siren Jane Russell. It wasn’t porn, but the ad copy hyped up the sexual excitement of seeing the busty Ms Russell in the new format: “JR in 3D! It’ll knock both your eyes out!”

The first known hardcore 3D porn film was The Starlets, made in 1976. In fact, the film was marketed as a “4D” film, the fourth dimension being the ability to arouse the viewer. The Stewardesses, made in 1971, showed the potential of 3D pornography by taking an astonishing $27m, making it the most successful 3D film of all time. The distributor had 10 technicians flying to cities all over America to set up the projection systems and screens needed to show the film. To modern eyes, The Stewardesses is unbelievably cheesy and inadvertently hilarious, but in the era before hardcore porn became widely available, it delivered a real thrill.

“Think of it as the Titanic of 3D boobie movies,” said the 3D movie buff Dion Conflict in an essay titled Why They Call It the Cockpit. The Stewardesses is being remade and should be released next year, just in time for your new 3D TV.

If the past is anything to go by, as well as mainstream Hollywood movies and cheesy porn in three dimensions, we can, thankfully, expect the new technology to attract a highly esoteric range of film-makers and artists keen to experiment with its possibilities. Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (also known as Flesh for Frankenstein) — actually directed by Paul Morrissey and filmed at the Cinecitta studios, in Rome — was originally released in what was known as Space-Vision 3D. Frankenstein remains an innovative and unique 3D pleasure, if perhaps overindulging in gore, as disembowelled viscera fly towards the viewer. Then again, sex and violence have always been big sellers, in 2D, 3D or 4D.

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3-D films growing in popularity on area IMAX, cineplex screens

Watch TV on PC - 12,000 TV Channels and Movies Like many in a preview audience for the movie “Under the Sea 3D” at the Putnam Museum’s IMAX Theatre last week, Caelei Kurylo dodged sharks, sidestepped water snakes and was showered by a sea full of shrimp.

The 8-year-old Davenport girl was among the first audience members for the three-dimensional movie, which opened nationally on Friday.

Caelei is already a fan of 3-D movies, having seen “Hannah Montana in Concert: Best of Both Worlds Tour” last year in theaters.

“It’s kind of cool that it pops out,” she said of the three-dimensional effects.

Movies in 3-D have been a staple at the Putnam since the Davenport museum’s IMAX theater opened almost seven years ago. Putnam President and CEO Kim Findlay said the theater is the only 3-D facility from St. Paul, Minn., to St. Louis and Chicago to Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Dean Fick, the Putnam’s director of theater operations, said 3-D movies consistently outsell their two-dimensional counterparts, most of which are documentaries at the museum.

Several years ago, though, mainstream theaters began getting in on the 3-D bandwagon. The animated children’s tale “Coraline” and the horror movie “My Bloody Valentine” are current 3-D offerings, with at least a dozen more scheduled before the end of the year, including a 3-D concert by pop stars The Jonas Brothers that opens later this month.

Fick said the rush to three dimensions mirrors the first 3-D boom in the 1950s, when the advent of television was seen as a threat to the movies.

Now, the competition comes from computers and state-of-the-art home entertainment systems.

“It’s a threat from people staying home and not coming out anymore that’s leading the charge in the industry at this time,” Fick said.

Both Showcase Cinemas 53 in Davenport and Great Escape Theatres in Moline have 3-D capability, including the digital projection equipment needed for the effect.

Patrick Corcoran, the director of media and research for the National Association of Theatre Owners, said about 1,700 of 38,000 movie screens nationwide have 3D capability.

That number is expected to reach 2,000 by the time “Monsters vs. Aliens,” a 3-D animated movie that was previewed during the Super Bowl, opens late next month. More screens — almost 3,000 — originally were planned for that opening, he said, but the economy is forcing some theaters nationwide to cut back.

Showcase, which showed its first 3-D movie, Disney’s “Chicken Little,” in 2005, now has 3-D capability on three of its 18 screens. Great Escape has 3-D for one of its 14 screens.

Wanda Whitson, the director of corporate communications for National Amusements, which operates Showcase, reports that box office receipts for the 3-D “Coraline” and “My Bloody Valentine” are about six times more than the same titles in 2-D.

Those who recall the original incarnation of 3-D movies, in which audience members viewed the screen through oversized cardboard glasses with one red lens and one blue one, are finding major changes as well.

“This is not your mother’s 3-D,” Whitson said. “It has changed drastically and is a completely new technology from that of the early films of the ’50s like ‘House of Wax’ with Vincent Price. The technology was more complicated, and the glasses and film image on the screen often caused headaches. Today’s technology simplifies the process — and no more headaches.”

The appearance is different as well.

“They kind of look like Ray-Bans,” Corcoran said of the glasses.

Some theaters have a surcharge for 3-D movies and let their patrons keep the glasses. The Putnam, Fick said, has sturdier, reusable glasses that are cleaned between performances. The IMAX glasses have a vertical and horizontal polarization, he said, while some other theaters have a circular polarization in their lenses.

The movie industry is embracing 3-D as well, everyone interviewed for this article said. The Walt Disney Co. has said all of its future animated releases will be in 3-D — including re-releasing “Toy Story” in that format during October. Oscar-winning filmmaker James Cameron (“Titanic”), who has created two 3-D IMAX documentaries, is preparing a 3-D feature film, “Avatar,” to be released in December.

“He didn’t want to put it in theaters until he felt he could do it right,” Corcoran said.

Jessie Jimenez of Davenport, who brought 8-year-old niece Caelei to see the “Under the Sea 3D” preview at the Putnam, said she was impressed upon seeing her first 3-D movie — and also was impressed by the depth shown on the 3-D screen.

“We wish we had a lot more,” she said. “It’s like you’re living it, like it’s real.”

COMING SOON

There are plenty more 3-D movies coming before the end of the year, according to 3DMovieList.com, a Web site that also provides tentative release dates:

“Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience,” Feb. 27

“Monsters vs. Aliens,” March 27

“Battle For Terra,” May 1

“Up,” May 29

“Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” July 4

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” July 17

“G-Force,” July 24

“Final Destination: Death Trip 3D,” Aug. 21

“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” Sept. 18

“Toy Story in 3D,” Oct. 2

“Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” Nov. 6

“Avatar,” Dec. 18.

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First Image From Cameron's Avatar

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If you tied us to a chair, stripped us naked and dripped hot wax onto our most sensitive of areas while demanding we pick one single film that was going to define 2009 then, between stifled screams, we'd have to gasp the word Avatar.

James Cameron's return to the big screen after a 10 year absence is reason enough to get excited but if you'd read the script and visited the New Zealand set of his latest opus (which Empire can rather smugly say we have) then you'd know that Avatar is going change the face of cinema. Yes, it's partly due to the cutting edge 3D technology Cameron is using to bring the film to life but moreover this is a return to Cameron at his best. This is the spiritual successor to Aliens, a passion project more than a decade in the making and quite possible the cure for HIV, Cancer and the common cold. It is Avatar!

Oh and there's a picture of Cameron and star Sam Worthington on set below.

Click the image above for more information on LATimes.com

James Dyer

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Super-thin and 3-D TVs light up Consumer Electronics Show

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LAS VEGAS -- Television as you've never known it -- super-thin sets, Internet programs streamed to your big screen and 3-D viewing -- dominates the new wave of entertainment technology at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show here.

The four-day extravaganza, which opened Thursday and is expected to draw some 130,000 members of the electronics trade, put television at center stage as companies like Panasonic, Sony and LG introduced sets an inch thick or less, and Samsung unveiled a back-lit LCD model just 7mm thin, or a bit more than a quarter of an inch. Its slim profile is achieved by using tiny diodes to illuminate the screen.

The top television makers also signaled what could be historic change in the way we get our TV programming. In recent months, add-on boxes such as Wii, Playstation 3 and Netflix players have made it possible to stream movies and TV episodes from the Internet to standard television sets. But this year, television manufacturers are showing sets with built-in Internet "bridges."

These new sets will let you purchase HD movies and TV episodes from sources such as Amazon or Netflix for instant viewing. And Yahoo has developed interactive software "widgets" to display across the bottom of the TV screen -- like the football stats and news tickers you currently see, but for personalized shopping, weather and looking at your Facebook and Flickr pages. It's not hard to envision the Internet becoming a serious rival to cable and satellite providers.

Prices for many new products will be set later.

The next step for television isn't up, as Panasonic put it, but in -- into the action with that old novelty of the cinema, 3-D.

3-D for HDTV is "not a gimmick. It's ready for prime-time," film director James Cameron said in a taped pitch from the set of his forthcoming movie, "Avatar." The fantasy film is coming to cinemas in December, and it's being shot in 3DHD for eventual home viewing with special glasses. Panasonic is setting up a Hollywood facility to spread its 3-D know-how.

Among other hot buttons at this year's exposition:

• Palm, the honored granddaddy in handheld devices, unveiled its answer to iPhone with a smart new phone of its own, the Palm Pre. It has a touchscreen, a curvy QWERTY keyboard that slides out, and a new operating system called Palm Web OS for elegant switching among calendar, e-mail and video.

• Netbooks, the basic notebook computers for people who mostly just need Web access, are going stylish. Sony's knockout Vaio P, narrow and lightweight, fits in purse or jacket pocket. Coming in February, in black, red, green or white, at $900.

• The "cute" winner: Minoru's cherry-red 3D Webcam , which looks like a cousin of Wall-E sitting atop your computer. Five pairs of 3-D glasses are included to hand out to friends viewing the images you send. Expected to be available shortly at $90.

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Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision and The History of 3D

Watch TV on PC - 12,000 TV Channels and Movies Genuinely three dimensional films and games are something of a technological holy grail – the possibility of taking traditional forms of entertainment beyond the confines of a two dimensional screen in a way that everyone can easily use and enjoy is certainly tantalising enough to have drawn heavy investment from major electronics manufacturers and Hollywood studios alike.

3D Displays, no matter how niche and expensive, are currently on show at this week’s CES show in Las Vegas and James Cameron’s in production film, Avatar, has been shot entirely in Stereoscopic 3D.

While the technology and concept has always shown promise though, it’s only recently that 3D has started to mature into something fit for purpose. Memories of 1930s creature features presented in “terrifying 3D” relied on red and green cardboard glasses to create a painfully unconvincing effect.

The resurgent interest in 3D films in the 1950s and 1980s saw only a mild improvement with the switch to polarising lenses and dual strip film or dual projectors to generate a 3D effect over certain elements.

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From video games to movies, 3D is on the march

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LAS VEGAS (AFP) — Two-dimensional television is so last year. Viewing in three dimensions is everywhere at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) -- from webcams to video games to home theater systems -- and some TV manufacturers are betting it could be the biggest thing since high-definition and flat screens.

This year's edition of CES, the world's largest consumer technology showcase, even featured the first national 3D broadcast of a major sporting event, the US college football championship game between Oklahoma and Florida.

Some products -- such as the Minoru 3D Webcam -- may end up being little more than a novelty item, a description which pretty much sums up Hollywood's decades-long flirtation with 3D.

Heavy-hitters led by Japanese electronics giant Panasonic and Oscar-winning director James Cameron, are seeking to change that.

"Make no mistake about it, 3D is not a gimmick any longer," the Titanic director said in a taped message during a presentation at CES of Panasonic's 3D Full High-Definition (HD) home theater system.

"3D is ready for prime-time," said Cameron, who is putting the finishing touches to a 3D movie, Avatar, scheduled for release later this year.

More movie theaters in the United States are equipped to show 3D films in which action threatens to spill out of screens but bringing 3D into the home may still be some ways off.

One of things holding 3D back is the absence of a common standard for 3D content, which in turn is holding back the movie studios which will provide that content.

With its 103-inch plasma display and breathtaking visual effects, Panasonic's 3D Full HD home theater system received rave reviews but a spokesman said there is no firm date for bringing it to the US market.

"It depends on whether or not we can get a format established," said Dan Tarwater. "Panasonic is interested in being able to come to the marketplace with a standard in place rather than venturing out on their own.

"That will involve the cooperation of not only the hardware manufacturers but also the software side of things," he said.

Then there's the little problem of those glasses.

"I don't think it will be a mass market technology until content improves and manufacturers can come up with a way to do 3D without the glasses," said Paul Gagnon, a television market analyst at research firm DisplaySearch.

"There are some demos without glasses, but they have lots of room for improvement," Gagnon said.

The CES coincided this year with a major 3D initiative on another front, the broadcast of the Oklahoma-Florida football game in 3D to some 80 movie theaters in 35 US states.

"It's taken eight years," said Bud Mayo, chief executive of Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp., a company seeking to turn movie theaters into 3D entertainment centers which would show sports, concerts and other events in three dimensions.

"We've invested hundreds of millions of dollars converting theaters all around the nation and built the satellite network that enabled this to happen," he said.

The 80 theaters showing the football game sold out but the jury's still out on whether the venture will be a success.

The future is less uncertain for 3D video games.

"This is the year 3D goes mainstream," said Ujesh Desai, vice president of GeForce desktop business at computer graphics chip specialty firm NVIDIA, whose demonstrations of 3D video games were a CES highlight.

"I think 3D has a great opportunity as a niche technology at first, for gaming mostly," agreed Gagnon.

John Jacobs, a notebook PC analyst at DisplaySearch, said the 3D video game displays were "off the charts impressive."

"But the challege to me becomes how big are those markets and how many resources do you want to invest?" he said. "The challenge is to go mainstream. But then Ferrari's not mainstream and they make a boatload of money."

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3D movie screens coming online slower than the movie industry projected

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While there have been a few prominent examples of blockbuster movies being shown in 3D movie theaters, the trickle is about to become a flood, the New York Times reports.

But even if the 3D movies are on the way, the number of theaters capable of displaying 3D films is lagging:

"It's starting to look like there will be a lot of disappointed producers unable to realize the upside of these 3-D investments," said Harold L. Vogel, a media analyst and the author of "Entertainment Industry Economics." Filming in 3-D adds about $15 million to production costs, he said, but can send profit soaring because of premium ticket pricing.

Only about 1,300 of North America's 40,000 or so movie screens support digital 3-D. (Imax adds 250.) Overseas, where films now generate up to 70 percent of their theatrical revenue, only a few hundred theaters can support the technology. It costs about $100,000 for each full upgrade.

Studios require about 3,000 screens in North America for most new releases. Popcorn movies like "Avatar" or "Monsters vs. Aliens," a 3-D entry from DreamWorks Animation, typically open on more than 4,000 screens.

"The crunch has everybody scrambling," said Chuck Viane, president for domestic distribution for Walt Disney Studios. "We had expected many more screens to be available by now, no doubt about it."

One barrier in the near term for 3D theaters is the cost, both to upgrade the screens and to buy a ticket to go see the films (the NYT story says tickets to 3D movies will go for as much as $25 each).

While the studios and theater chains are apparently hashing out agreements to split the upgrade costs, I think $25 movie tickets are going to be about as popular as bird flu.

Even in the best of economic times, $25 for a movie ticket borders on the larcenous unless the purchase includes free hot dog, popcorn and beverage, and all teenagers are automatically immobilized via tazer if they so much as whisper during the movie.

But cost aside, the 3D movie theater trend might be derailed before it even gets rolling, thanks to 3D television.

And, unlike 3D theaters, some of these 3D TVs won't require bulky glasses.

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How Not to Make a 3D movie

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Since it debuted half a century ago, 3D cinema has mainly been a gimmick. To date, perhaps my favorite of the all these movies is a short horror film farce by the Three Stooges, because it fully embraces the silliness of 3D, using every gag imaginable, with no pretensions of it being an art form.

But 3D can be taken seriously if it’s done right, says Jon Landau, producer of the (admittedly somewhat hokey) blockbuster Titanic, who is now working with his director partner Jim Cameron on the live action 3D flick Avatar. He extolled the virtues of 3D at the Consumer Electronics Show during a press event in which Panasonic announced plans to bring 3D capabilities to its plasma TVs and Blu-ray players.

The trick to making a 3D film that isn't gimmicky, says Landau, is not to think too much about the 3D. "You have to be careful not to fall into the trap that the imagery would suggest to you, which is 'stay on me longer, look how real I am, stay on that shot,'" he explained. "It's like transferring from black-and-whit to color. Just because it's in color doesn’t mean I want to hang on the shot of the flower longer while the lead actor is talking."

In fact, all the editing for Avatar is being done on a 2D version of the film, which takes the perspective from the "left-eye" of the two-camera setup. Afterwards, the same edits are carried over to the right-eye video. "We fought to hold to the standard cinematic techniques," he said, following the same rules that make a good-looking 2D film rather than getting caught up in the 3D effects.

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New Photo: On The Set of James Cameron’s Avatar

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We’ve seen a few production photos from James Cameron’s Avatar thus far, but most of them consisted of Cameron and crew huddled behind monitors looking off into the distance at something we can only assume is cool. We can only assume, because we never see what exactly they’re looking at.

Well the New York Times has an interesting set photo which actually shows a bit more than the usual. Cameron is standing in a set which appears to be some kind of alien space craft (I could be totally wrong, and I’m sure someone who has actually read Cameron’s scriptment will correct me in the comments). Full photo after the jump.

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Analyst: Imax more essential to movie studio plans

Watch TV on PC - 12,000 TV Channels and Movies Associated Press, 11.19.08, 10:29 AM EST

Imax Corp.'s new five-movie deal with Walt Disney Co. indicates the large-screen format is becoming more essential to film studios' plans, an analyst said Wednesday.

Disney (nyse: DIS - news - people ) announced earlier Wednesday it will deliver five movies via Imax theaters beginning in November 2009 with the 3-D movie "A Christmas Carol," starring Jim Carrey.

Marla Backer of Soleil Securities Group Inc. said the Disney agreement, which follows a deal Imax signed with DreamWorks Animation SKG (nyse: DWA - news - people ) Inc., shows the studios understand they need to secure their spots with Imax before others do.

"With Disney, all of the major studios have recently released films or have upcoming titles on the Imax platform," she wrote in a client note.

A rise in popularity of 3-D movies is also helping Imax, Backer added, with two highly anticipated films, "Monsters vs. Aliens" and "Avatar," set to run on Imax screens next year.

Shares of Imax gained 19 cents, or 5.9 percent, to $3.40 in morning trading. Over the past year, the stock has traded between $2.70 and $8.28.

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Virtual Guantanamo Bay creator speaks at UCSC

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Documentary filmmaker and self-described transmedia producer Nonny de la Pena spoke at UC Santa Cruz Wednesday about "Gone Gitmo," a virtual reality film project about Guantanamo Bay.

"Gone Gitmo" is a representation of Guantanamo Bay inside an online virtual world called Second Life. De la Pena, who also made a documentary film about Guantanamo Bay called "Unconstitutional" in 2004, worked with Peggy Weil, a visiting associate professor of cinematic arts at the University of Southern California, to build the virtual space in 2007.

"The real prison is completely inaccessible to all but a very few lawyers and NGOs," de la Pena said. "We wanted to build an accessible space, to increase the conversation."

Every Second Life user has an avatar, a 3-D graphic to represent him or herself. Ordinarily, a user has complete control over the avatar's movements. But as soon as your avatar dons its orange jumpsuit and enters the "Gone Gitmo" installation, de la Pena explained, that control is taken away.

The screen goes blank as a prison guard drops a black hood over your head, and you hear sounds taken from real Guantanamo Bay footage as you are taken to the prison in a military transport plane. When the hood is removed, your avatar finds itself kneeling in a small cage, which was based on photographs of Camp X-Ray where detainees were held.

"People find it disturbing," de la Pena said. "People have true physiological responses to their avatar."

At this point, de la Pena said, you regain control of your avatar, and can explore the facility. But you are constantly confronted on all sides, including the floor, with videos of real prisoners being led around the camp. The videos were released by the Department of Defense.

There is no torture chamber in "Gone Gitmo."

"We didn't want to trivialize that," de la Pena said.

Instead, there is a "contemplation chamber," where you can read and hear quotes from public figures who advocate closing Guantanamo Bay, poems written by detainees, and transcripts of interrogations.

Since only people who are signed up for Second Life can experience "Gone Gitmo," de la Pena worked with blogger Berhnard Drax to make a "machinima," a fusion of machines and cinema, report depicting the experience. Drax was recently given the "Every Human Has Rights" media award for the report, and will go to Paris in December for a ceremony celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "Gone Gitmo" has also been featured in publications like Vanity Fair, NewScientist and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The talk was part of the Art, Technology, and Culture colloquium at UC Santa Cruz. The small audience consisted mainly of students and faculty from the university's digital arts and new media department, said department chair Sharon Daniel.

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DWA chief gives keynote at Singapore festival

By Janine Stein

Nov 19, 2008, 02:29 PM ET

SINGAPORE -- It's a 3-D world, and Jeffrey Katzenberg thinks it's time to reflect that on the big screen -- and not just in animated films.

"In five to seven years, all films, regardless of budgets or type, will be made in 3-D," the DreamWorks Animation boss said here Wednesday during his keynote at the inaugural 3DX Film and Entertainment Technology Festival.

"3-D is how we see, how we take things in. It's natural," Katzenberg said. "This is not a gimmick, it's an opportunity to immerse the audience, to heighten the experience."

He added that the migration to 3-D will happen on all screens, including mobile phones and laptops.

Katzenberg was joined by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group president Mark Zoradi and others in stressing the industry's commitment to 3-D as the future of film.

Moviegoers' early response is clear, Zoradi said, citing the success of such 3-D titles as "Chicken Little" and "Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert."

"Consumers clearly prefer 3-D if they have a choice," he said, adding that 3-D films could bring in two to three times the business of a 2-D release.

Zoradi touted his studio's new five-picture deal with Imax, which will kick off with Robert Zemeckis' "A Christmas Carol" in November 2009, adding that the slate could involve projects from Tim Burton and Jerry Bruckheimer, though no details were disclosed.

Producer John Landau, now working with James Cameron on "Avatar," said that 3-D would "do for cinema what stereo did for the audio industry."

All the film industry has to do is "demystify" 3-D for consumers, whose perception of 3-D may be of "gimmicks on B films" and "theme parks that forced things off the screen," Landau said.

Zoradi's presentation Wednesday included the first public screening of 3-D footage from "Beauty and the Beast" (originally released in 1991), which Disney is re-rendering for a 2010 release, as well as Disney's "Tron 2," set for 2011 or 2012.

The addition of "Beauty and the Beast" brings Disney's number of digital 3-D releases for 2009-10 to 11, with another six to come in 2011. This would give Disney more than 50% of all 3-D releases during the next three years; 11 of those would be animated.

"The biggest barrier (to 3-D) is not product, it's the installed base of digital cinemas," Zoradi said.

Katzenberg predicted that 35%-40% of admissions for March DWA release "Monsters vs Aliens" will be for 3-D. For a film coming out 15 months later, he envisions 80%-85% of admissions for the company's next "Shrek" installment to be for 3-D.

Stressing the technical advances that made the latest incarnation of 3-D different from past efforts, Katzenberg said 3-D "will bring people back to the movies who have stopped going."

"This is not my father's 3-D," he said. "There's no ghosting, no eye strain and best of all, you don't throw up. Throwing up is not good for anyone's business."

All agreed that 3-D's ability to immerse audiences in the film is the key.

"There is nothing more immersive than 3-D," Landau said. "On 'Titanic,' our goal was to use visual effects to make people feel part of the film. With 'Avatar,' we're using technology to transport people to another world."

Katzenberg said that theatrical digital 3-D represents a "unique opportunity for cinemas" to create an experience that consumers could not get at home, "and it will be many years before they can."

Among the reasons cited was the fact that light diminishes the quality of the image.

"The only place in the home to replicate this is in the coat closet ... and I would not want to spend two hours there watching a movie," he said.

Katzenberg: 3-D vision goes beyond animation

DWA chief gives keynote at Singapore festival

By Janine Stein

Nov 19, 2008, 02:29 PM ET

SINGAPORE -- It's a 3-D world, and Jeffrey Katzenberg thinks it's time to reflect that on the big screen -- and not just in animated films.

"In five to seven years, all films, regardless of budgets or type, will be made in 3-D," the DreamWorks Animation boss said here Wednesday during his keynote at the inaugural 3DX Film and Entertainment Technology Festival.

"3-D is how we see, how we take things in. It's natural," Katzenberg said. "This is not a gimmick, it's an opportunity to immerse the audience, to heighten the experience."

He added that the migration to 3-D will happen on all screens, including mobile phones and laptops.

Katzenberg was joined by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group president Mark Zoradi and others in stressing the industry's commitment to 3-D as the future of film.

Moviegoers' early response is clear, Zoradi said, citing the success of such 3-D titles as "Chicken Little" and "Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert."

"Consumers clearly prefer 3-D if they have a choice," he said, adding that 3-D films could bring in two to three times the business of a 2-D release.

Zoradi touted his studio's new five-picture deal with Imax, which will kick off with Robert Zemeckis' "A Christmas Carol" in November 2009, adding that the slate could involve projects from Tim Burton and Jerry Bruckheimer, though no details were disclosed.

Producer John Landau, now working with James Cameron on "Avatar," said that 3-D would "do for cinema what stereo did for the audio industry."

All the film industry has to do is "demystify" 3-D for consumers, whose perception of 3-D may be of "gimmicks on B films" and "theme parks that forced things off the screen," Landau said.

Zoradi's presentation Wednesday included the first public screening of 3-D footage from "Beauty and the Beast" (originally released in 1991), which Disney is re-rendering for a 2010 release, as well as Disney's "Tron 2," set for 2011 or 2012.

The addition of "Beauty and the Beast" brings Disney's number of digital 3-D releases for 2009-10 to 11, with another six to come in 2011. This would give Disney more than 50% of all 3-D releases during the next three years; 11 of those would be animated.

"The biggest barrier (to 3-D) is not product, it's the installed base of digital cinemas," Zoradi said.

Katzenberg predicted that 35%-40% of admissions for March DWA release "Monsters vs Aliens" will be for 3-D. For a film coming out 15 months later, he envisions 80%-85% of admissions for the company's next "Shrek" installment to be for 3-D.

Stressing the technical advances that made the latest incarnation of 3-D different from past efforts, Katzenberg said 3-D "will bring people back to the movies who have stopped going."

"This is not my father's 3-D," he said. "There's no ghosting, no eye strain and best of all, you don't throw up. Throwing up is not good for anyone's business."

All agreed that 3-D's ability to immerse audiences in the film is the key.

"There is nothing more immersive than 3-D," Landau said. "On 'Titanic,' our goal was to use visual effects to make people feel part of the film. With 'Avatar,' we're using technology to transport people to another world."

Katzenberg said that theatrical digital 3-D represents a "unique opportunity for cinemas" to create an experience that consumers could not get at home, "and it will be many years before they can."

Among the reasons cited was the fact that light diminishes the quality of the image.

"The only place in the home to replicate this is in the coat closet ... and I would not want to spend two hours there watching a movie," he said.

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Shyamalan assembles 'Airbender' cast

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Rex Features

M. Night Shyamalan has assembled a cast of unknown actors for his next movie The Last Airbender.

Texan Noah Ringer has secured the role of the film's hero Aang, a 12-year-old boy with superpowers who is pitted against the Fire Nation. Ringer, a karate champion, answered an open casting call for the movie.

Joining him are Twilight actor Jackson Rathbone as Aang's friend Sokka and Nicola Peltz as his sister Katara.

Singer Jesse McCartney is in talks for the role of the Fire Nation's evil prince Zuko, according to Entertainment Weekly.

The Last Airbender is based on the anime-style Nickelodeon series Avatar. It will open in cinemas in July 2010.

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Cast Selected For Shyamalan’s ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that M. Night Shyamalan has picked some of the cast for his upcoming film, The Last Airbender.

The movie is based on Avatar: The Last Airbender, the popular animated series that ran from early 2005 up until this summer. The story was organized into 3 books (seasons) with each episode called a chapter. There are 20 chapters in each book with one extra in the final book making for a 61-episode run to tell the story and end it properly.

And that they did.

On top of winning an Emmy award and being one of Nickelodeon’s highest rated shows ever; the series spawned all sorts of merchandise including several video games – and now a potential feature film franchise.

Here is the cast thus far:

• Noah Ringer, a karate star chosen from an open casting call in Texas will play Aang, the central character (the Avatar) of the story. Aang is the last of his tribe and the story follows him as he and his companions travel the world in search of trainers to teach him to master the four elements.
• Nicola Peltz will play Katara of the Southern water tribe.
• Jackson Rathbone of recent Twilight fame will play Katara’s brother, Sokka.
• Jesse McCartney, the young singer, is currently in negotiations to play Zuko, the exiled prince of the Fire Nation.

I watched the entire series earlier this year and really loved it. It took a bit to get used to and there was a lot of corny stuff in the earlier episodes, but overall it was pretty incredible and it is on my list of greatest cartoons ever.

That being said, similar to my thoughts on the new Dragonball Evolution trailer, this will be very difficult to translate into live-action. Shyamalan’s recent track record hasn’t exactly been stellar, so I am eager to see if he can pull this off.

The first installment of The Last Airbender is due out on the big screen July 2, 2010.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

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Racism Hits Hollywood Kid's Movie

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I thought we had just arrived at a milestone by electing the first black/Muslim President of the United States. However, Hollywood director, M. Night Shyamalan thinks otherwise.
Popular children's show, Avatar the Last Airbender has been signed to air as a live action film in late 2010. Like a normal fan, I scrambled to the internet to find out who was cast to play my favorite characters. To my profound horror, I found this http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=51217
I couldn't fathom what Shyamalan was thinking...Casting white people to play Inuit, Asian, and, dare I say it... clearly not-white characters...? I confirmed the blog post as the truth after checking IMDB and I was completely and utterly enraged.
Isn't this considered Racism? Look, I may be jumping the gun but isn't it strange that, despite the actors' cartoon counterparts being of various Asian decent... not a single Asian, black, or Inuit actor/actress has been chosen to fill the roles? A friend of mine commented after hearing the news, "I think what's going to be hilarious is that they are going to need to tan or spray paint their skin to match the look. And you know, THAT'S not insulting at all." Furthermore, I wonder how blond teen pop-sensation idol, Jesse McCartney is going to pull off the role of Prince Zuko (not pictured)
Have we regressed back to the days where white actors painted their faces to play a character of a different race, such as Othello? And this is a kid's film, what is the underlying moral here?

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Avatar Last Airbender Casting News

Watch TV on PC - 12,000 TV Channels and Movies I already knew about the Avatar movie, knew that it was going to be directed by M.Night Shyamalan, had my reservations about it (the anime was great, why need a movie? especially so soon after the series ended, and directed by the same person who did "the Happening"?)

Looking around my favorite sites, found the reported casting. Aang will be played by an unseen karate star, Noah Ringer apparently from the Texas casting call.

Sokka may be played by Twilight's Jackson Rathborne.

Katara will be played by Deck the Halls' Nicola Peltz.


And the punchline? Jesse McCartney may be playing Zuko.

The movie is slated to be released in July 2010. Somehow I see Dragonball Evolution happening all over again.

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3D films: the next film revolution?

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They've been the next big thing for the past 50 years, but 3D films have finally come of age. Just the thing to get bums on seats, says Chris Evans

Cinema has already been through two major revolutions in its relatively short life. First there was the transition from silent to talkie, then from black and white to colour. Now Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, believes "3D is the next revolution in the cinema-going experience".

A bold statement, and one tinged with a distinct bias as DreamWorks is one of several Hollywood studios set to release their forthcoming animation projects in the new, digitised 3D format. Titles set to hit our screens include Monsters vs Aliens (2009), A Christmas Carol (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), Shrek Goes Fourth (2010), and Avatar, due for release in December next year, which is hotly tipped to be the turning point in the 3D revolution.

It is important to point out that 3D is, of course, nothing new. It was first experimented with back in the 1950s and Imax cinemas have been showing films in 3D for the past 30 years. But now, with the advent of digital 3D technology being installed in cinemas worldwide, and the fact that the choice of films in 3D is not only broader but much better, audiences need only head to a multiplex and put on the glasses to immerse themselves in what is proving to be a wholly new way to enjoy the latest studio blockbuster.

"This is digital stereoscopic 3D. It is a far cry from the 3D experience of the 1950s. There is no ghosting and no headaches. It is pin-sharp, laser-sharp, crystal-clear 3D imagery," says Mark Batey, chief executive of the Film Distributors' Association. It's a view supported by Phil Clapp, chief executive of the Cinema Exhibitors' Association. "I have seen excerpts from the upcoming Monsters vs Aliens film and it is incredible. You actually feel immersed in the film, like the action is taking place around you, rather than in front of you, as it is in 2D."

There are currently 65 digital 3D screens in the UK, and more than 2,000 worldwide. Industry experts predict there will be at least 10,000 by 2012. This rapid expansion and advancement in 3D technology is seen by some as a response to the decline in cinema attendance and the rise in alternative viewing platforms such as the internet, PlayStation and cable television.

"Just as it was in the 1950s when the advent of television shook the cinema world to its bones, so in today's world of rapid digital communication, 3D is the cinemas' response to say we are bigger, brighter, bolder and better than anything you will experience at home," Batey says. Unlike the cumbersome, labour-intensive 3D systems of the 1950s, which required two cameras projecting on to the same screen, making synchronisation difficult, the new digital projectors, of which there are three different models – RealD, Dolby Digital Cinema and Imax 3D – require just the one projector run through a computer.

"The projection element is the same in terms of the lens and the lamp, but you have a server into which you plug hard drives with the film on, and that is then unscrambled and played through to the computer on the back of the projection unit," explains Clapp.

By simultaneously selecting two viewpoints, or a left eye and right eye, the technologies enable the brain to converge or fuse the images. By wearing the special glasses, the watcher prevents the image from bleeding over from the left to the right, or vice versa. "These projectors provide a much higher refresh rate between the two complementary eye images because it is stereo so the film producers are recording one version to the right eye and one to the left eye, and the projectors are then able to convert these into a high frame rate. So it is a really seamless effect," says Charlotte Jones, senior analyst of film and cinema at Screen Digest.

Also, unlike the heavy 35mm film reels, 3D digital films are stored on a hard disk, which means it is much easier to transport them from one cinema to the next. "These digital disks are essentially the right-eye and left-eye versions of the film together, and can be taken by bike or van to another site and inserted into a server and played through the digital projector, which is normally positioned alongside a 35mm projector," Batey says.

But the reason so many exhibitors are still holding back from installing the projectors is the expense. One digital projector alone for a single screen costs £40,000 to £50,000, and then to add a 3D upgrade would cost another £10,000 or even £20,000 on top of that.

"In the US, the studios are helping to finance the transition to digital and 3D by subsidising the projectors through the savings they are making as a result of using the cheaper digital prints as opposed to the expensive 35mm reels," Jones says. But outside of America, production companies working on 3D films are less inclined to contribute to the enormous costs, and take-up by the cinemas of the 3D projectors has so far been slow.

However, the potential revenue benefits of 3D are already being proven. The 3D release of films such as Journey to the Center of the Earth, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Fly Me to the Moon and Chicken Little have taken at least two times, and in some cases three times, as much as their 2D releases.

This is partly due to the higher ticket costs of seeing the films in 3D. "To produce an animation film in 3D, you are probably looking at adding another 15 per cent on to the film budget, for a live action you are looking at another 30 per cent, which is why the studios are having to hike up the prices by as much as $5 in the US to recoup costs," Jones says.

Global revenue from 3D ticket sales in 2008 amounted to $240m, approximately 70 per cent of which, or $166m, came from North America. That figure of $166m accounted for roughly 1.8 per cent of total projected North American box-office takings for 2008, and Jones expects the share to climb to approximately 15% in 2009.

The realms of possibility and potential revenue with the new 3D technology are also not just limited to film. Some cinemas are experimenting with beaming live events via satellite into cinemas in 3D. Last week, RealD and 3ality Digital staged the world's first live 3D broadcast of an American football game, at the Mann Chinese 6 theatre in Hollywood.

"That could be really significant. In Europe, for example, they could show the Fifa World Cup live in 3D. That would be incredible," says Jones, adding that "in the near future it will potentially be possible to beam 3D images to mobile phones and into the home. The only problem would be wearing those 3D glasses at home, where you could be playing video games for four or five hours, or watching a few films over the course of an evening." So, in actual fact, while the cinemas are hoping the new 3D experience will draw the young crowd back to their screens, it looks like it could keep them at home even longer.

Big-screen action: The power of Imax

* 'The Dark Knight' director Christopher Nolan filmed six of the film's major action sequences using Imax cameras. As a result, Imax box offices were inundated for weeks with filmgoers intent on seeing Batman and the Joker on the even bigger screen. The film made £360,000 with a single print on a single Imax screen in Manchester – with the aid, it should be noted, of Imax's inflated ticket prices.

* The Imax system was first developed in Canada in the 1970s. Imax can screen films in a much larger format, and with much greater resolution, than a conventional cinema screen. Modern Imax theatres are also equipped with super-sophisticated sound systems.

* Until now, there have been only a handful of Imax screens in the UK, and only one in London – at the BFI in Waterloo. All that will soon change, however, with the introduction of the Imax digital projection system to Europe. Far cheaper to instal and run than its predecessor, digital will allow Imax to roll out across the continent.

As well as screening live sports events and concerts, theatres have a full slate of Imax Hollywood blockbusters lined up for 2009, including 'Watchmen', 'Transformers 2', 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince', and 'Avatar'.

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James Cameron Talks about Avatar and 3D

Watch TV on PC - 12,000 TV Channels and Movies At a two day summit devoted to all things 3D, conference founder Robert Dowling sat down with director James Cameron and 3D cinematographer Vincent Pace to talk about their perspectives on the stereoscopic movie-making. “If I could have shot Titanic in 3D I would have,” declared Cameron. “Any spectacle would benefit from it.”

Pace, who supplies 3D camera systems and post production, noted that there’s a knee-jerk reaction that only big players in Hollywood will attempt 3D movie-making. “The proof of concept and visionary aspect happened eight years ago with the documentary on the Titanic,” he said, “Not big budget films but people committed to changing entertainment. There’s nothing in the entertainment palette that can’t be considered in 3D, whether it’s nature, documentaries, sports…it’s been proofed out and we’ve seen successes across the board.”

Camera systems are now mature, said Cameron and Pace. Cameron mentioned that the first day of shooting Avatar, Hannah Montana was also shooting, on a different continent. “The question came up, were there enough cameras and crews?” he says. “We put a stake in the heart of that argument. Anyone contemplating a feature shouldn’t be concerned about availability of cameras or crews. They’re all operational at this point.”
With regard to how creativity is impacted by working stereoscopically, Cameron emphasized that “you have to make a good movie first.” Stereo is tertiary, he says, behind story, cast, design. “It has to be value added so the 2D experience is a good movie and the 3D movie is its own experience for those who want to seek it out.”

Dowling pointed out that many viewers are leery of 3D, remembering the red/green glasses of the 1950s. “There’s still misconceptions in peoples’ minds,” he says. But Cameron’s rejoinder was that 3D is “more mature by miles from the 1950s.” And he scolded 3D producers who might create a production that reinforces the negative experiences of yesteryear. “All it takes is one bad experience and people are turned off by 3D,” he said. “Anyone contemplating a long-term strategy has to think about any dumb short-term experience. Anyone using anaglyph glasses is not going to have a good time unless they’re a 5 year old on Ritalin. You’re creating a marketing challenge you have to dig yourself out of. We have to hunt those people down and take them out back because they’re hurting it for the rest of us.”

Dowling asked if exhibitors are excited about 3D movies. Pace replied that they can’t ignore the numbers for some of the recent 3D movies. “People are beginning to embrace it,” he said. “But exhibitors have to see really good 3D movies out there. Cameron’s point of view is that, since the “stereo renaissance,” all the films from Chicken Little onward have looked great, even when they were converted from 2D.

With Avatar gaining in buzz as it nears its release date (Dec. 18, 2009), Dowling asked Cameron, does he feel “an added sense of pressure”? “Yes, it can’t possibly meet expectations,” said Cameron. “I went out, got drunk and got over that. But it’s what we set out to do with Avatar that’s exciting. Look, here’s a big studio picture being shot in 3D. We’re taking the gamble.”

“It’s groundbreaking even without the 3D, he continued. “We’ve got digital performances in realtime. The movie might suck. I’ve drunk the Kool-Aid and I think it runs pretty well. As with any 3D film, there’s no stinkin’ screen. For the audience, it becomes a window into a reality, unfettered by what the director wants to put into that window. The stereoscopic illusion fires more neurons in the brain. Peoples’ brains are more active and it becomes a visceral experience.”

Cameron noted that he’s challenging Fox to be creative about how they market Avatar. Trailers will play at IMAX 3D shows, he added, saying that “the studio marketing machine will kick into gear and figure out how to make it work.” But he also noted that, although people will seek out the 3D experience, Avatar will be sold in every other manner. “It has to live and die on its merits,” he said.

For filmmakers contemplating making a 3D film, Cameron urged that they first talk with Pace. “Do your homework if you want to shoot in 3D,” he cautioned. “It’s not daunting. You can be demystified quickly. But there’s a lot of conflicting information out there.” Pace agreed, adding that a filmmaker contemplating 3D should ask all the questions and evaluate the answers. “We have real world examples whether it’s a feature film, sports or a concert to give him or her the confidence level needed to move forward.”

As to how much 3D would add to a film budget, Cameron noted that “as a producer you have to deal with everything and 99 percent of them don’t have to do with 3D. The 3D is a small specialized area.”The bigger the movie, the more the 3D’s incremental costs hide in the budget, says Cameron. Except when visual effects are involved. “They get more expensive in 3D,” he said. But it isn’t double the work: after roto, paint and whatever else is done to one eye, the changes are applied to the second eye and rendered. “If you want to number-crunch, y9ou can show that the additional cost is always off-set by the additional revenue, which has been the case for the last three years,” he said. “And I think it’ll get even better. It’ll get to the point where 3D is just another line item.”

Last word…”If you’re serious about exploring the idea of making your movie in 3D, get the camera for a day and play around. Every director will treat stereoscopy slightly differently. Develop your aesthetic with it.”

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Avatar Entertainment Features

Watch TV on PC - 12,000 TV Channels and Movies SINGAPORE : Get ready for a slew of 3D movies from Hollywood next year.

More than 20 such films will be released, up from just one about five years ago. And that's because 3D is poised to improve cinema attendance and ticket sales.

3D action movie "Journey to the Center of the Earth" which hits cinemas across Singapore this Christmas season, has grossed more than US$212 million worldwide since its release in July, while yet-to-be-released science-fiction blockbuster "Avatar" is already generating intense interest.

"Journey to the Center of the Earth" is the first live-action movie to be shot entirely in 3D digital format. Brendan Fraser, star and co-executive producer of the film, decided to go 3D because it is "nothing that people have seen before".

"I've come of age in a period of film making when I've learnt my trade with CGI and visual effects treatments, and a whole generation has also come of age at the same time having seen that type of imagery and it seems almost par for the course, the norm. So I ask myself where do you go from here... what would really grab an audience and immerse them in the experience of film, and the answer is simply 3D," said Fraser, who is in Singapore for the world's first international 3D Film Festival, 3DX.

Today's 3D is different from the 3D of the past. For starters, audiences wear polarised glasses which are "comfortable and kind of geeky-cool", instead of the traditional red and blue eyed paper glasses.

"You will feel like you are a member of the cast, if not a character, or a part of the action itself," Fraser said.

"It has the experience of taking the audience right out of their seat and immersing them into it (the film)."

No longer do you watch a movie, you "experience" it, said Jon Landau, producer of upcoming 3D blockbuster "Avatar".

"Digital technology allows us to present up on the screen an experience that people have never gotten before. What happens is the screen plane disappears and they are looking through a window into a world."

Contrary to popular belief, 3D is not just for sci-fi films but all movie genres, and Landau strongly believes 3D is here to stay.

He likens it to the transition of films from black and white to colour, "Once you've gone to colour, you go back to a specific creative reasoning to do black and white, other than that, everything is made in colour."

"And I think you’ll find it coming into your home... into your personal devices. We’ve seen 3D, nature created us that way, and I think we will continue to see it that way in entertainment," he added.

- CNA/km/il

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