PDA

View Full Version : Walt Disney Pictures Sees 3-D Potential



Figment!
04-02-2007, 10:48 PM
Studios See 3-D Potential




By Andy Fixmer
Bloomberg News
4/2/2007

3-D movies are back, and the glasses are cooler.

More than 50 years after Creature From the Black Lagoon became one of the first movies shown in three dimensions, Walt Disney Co. on Friday released Meet the Robinsons, kicking off its plan to make four 3-D films annually. DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. says it will produce 3-D versions of all its films.

The studios are betting that the more-lifelike action made possible by digital technology will lure viewers willing to pay higher prices, and help stem a 12 percent decline in admissions since 2002.

Moviegoers also will don Ray-Ban-like glasses that create more vivid images than the red-and-blue paper specs of the 1950s.
"This to me is the biggest opportunity for the movie business in a long time," Jeffrey Katzenberg, chief executive officer of DreamWorks, said at a Bank of America conference in New York this week.

Studios plan 3-D versions of 15 films during the next two years, up from a total of 12 since 1980, according to box-office tracker Box Office Mojo LLC.

The studios will spend an extra $15 million on each film to make them work in 3-D. The enhanced graphics, as well as 3-D's resistance to piracy, makes the format attractive and worth the extra cost, studio and theater executives said.

"There is a groundswell" among filmmakers attracted to the creative opportunities, said John Batter, who heads the 3-D initiative at DreamWorks.

The industry needs a lift. U.S. theaters sold 1.45 billion tickets in 2006, down from a record in 2002, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. Higher prices helped boost box-office revenue to $9.49 billion, up 5.5 percent from 2005.
Meet the Robinsons will be shown in 3-D on more than 700 screens worldwide, the biggest 3-D release to date, Disney says. (Locally, eight theaters are showing it in 3-D.)

Chuck Viane, president of Disney's Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, would not say how much Disney spent on the film. The company is releasing it on 3,400 U.S. screens in all.

Since 2005, Disney has shown a version of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas each Halloween season with added 3-D effects. The movie, first released in 1993, took in $3.3 million in the U.S. during the Oct. 20-22, 2006, weekend, and will be on 700 screens this year.

Dsnygirl
04-02-2007, 11:10 PM
:mickey: Thanks Jason - my DD's will be hoping we get a 3-D version here!!:cool:

BMan62
04-03-2007, 08:10 AM
Is there somewhere that the 3D theaters are listed? I would like to know if there is anywhere close to me that is showing the 3D version.

Tigerlilly
04-03-2007, 08:53 AM
Bman62, I just looked in the paper for all of our newspaper listings, One local theater was showing it in 3D and it had a total separate listing for it It said:
Meet The Robinsons 1:20 4:00 5:00 etc then
Meet The Robinsons 3D 1:50 3;00 etc

Just look in your paper:)

I really enjoyed it in 3D. I say its totally worth the extra $2 we paid to see it in 3D.

Granny Jill A
04-03-2007, 01:23 PM
My family was impressed with the 3-D effects in Meet the Robinsons, but I'm looking forward to seeing it without 3-D. The glasses were tiresome, and there weren't THAT many 3-D effects in the movie.

We did love the movie and plan to go back and see it again.

Magic Fanatic
04-03-2007, 02:13 PM
My family was impressed with the 3-D effects in Meet the Robinsons, but I'm looking forward to seeing it without 3-D. The glasses were tiresome, and there weren't THAT many 3-D effects in the movie.
Maybe you saw a different movie, but this film utilized 3-D in every frame. The 3-d effect is not just for the eye popping effects such as fireworks exploding or characters "reaching out" toward the audience. The effects are also used to show a natural depth of field in all of the movies scenes to make you feel like the events of the movie are really happening in front of you. I just read a story on another board where Disney's hope is that because of the inproved technology you actually become so involved in the film that you forget you are wearing the 3-D glasses, meaning the effects are continuous and draw you in. This is similar to riding Soarin' at EPCOT. The idea is to make you forget that it is really just an "suped up" Imax production and instead have you feel that you or truly experiencing a ride on a hang glider.

You say that there were "not that many 3-D scenes" in the movie? Are you forgetting the 10 minutes or so of the disaster at the Science Fair, or the 15- 20 minutes where Will is roaming the house in the future trying to find the garage, or then the scene where the dinasaur is attacking? I don't think Disney could pack any more "eye popping" effects into this movie. Honestly, I thought Disney went too far with some of the effects which made the middle part of the movie a little confsing.

Granny Jill A
04-05-2007, 03:16 PM
You say that there were "not that many 3-D scenes" in the movie? Are you forgetting the 10 minutes or so of the disaster at the Science Fair, or the 15- 20 minutes where Will is roaming the house in the future trying to find the garage, or then the scene where the dinasaur is attacking? I don't think Disney could pack any more "eye popping" effects into this movie. Honestly, I thought Disney went too far with some of the effects which made the middle part of the movie a little confsing.

I think my brain just shut down after so many minutes and failed to register anything 3-D :unsure:

future_imagineer
04-08-2007, 08:52 AM
We saw Meet the Robinsons yesterday in 3D, I at least thought that it was astounding!

Crow
04-08-2007, 10:03 PM
i really wanted to see NBC at Halloween time in 3D but didnt get to...
mayb Meet the Robinsons..
hope the 3D goes well w future releases