Dwayne Johnson Set For JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH Sequel

THR is claiming that Dwayne Johnson is now attached as the top line star for New Line's JOURNEY 2: THE ROCK THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND.

Brendan Frasier had scheduling conflicts and is unable to return, although director Brad Peyton and Josh Hutcherson are back for the sequel.

Apparently the movie is loosely based on Jules Verne's THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND and Johnson plays Hutcherson's mother's boyfriend. All three travel to a mythical island is search of the young man's grandfather.

Shooting will take place in North Carolina and Hawaii in native 3D.

More when I get it!

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AVATAR 3D Blu-ray Coming December 1?

Good news and bad news. Can't say whether this is authentic or not, but Blu-ray.com is reporting they have a source that says the AVATAR 3D blu-ray will be distributed starting this December 1, bundled with Panasonic 3DTVs only.

They further said that ALICE IN WONDERLAND will be available in 3D as well but bundled only with Sony 3DTVs.

I know this is going to upset people but if this is true, I don't expect we will see the phenomenon much longer as 3DTV adoption in homes is expanding rapidly. Obviously money exchanged hands to grant the TV manufacturers an exclusive window to release their respective bundles, and a domino effect may have been started with the first agreement to be signed for them to stay competitive with each other.

The sooner these agreements stop though, the better it will be for consumers. I want both titles, but not two 3DTVs.

Thanks David for the heads up...

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Opinion: Mark Canton vs. James Cameron Blown WAY Out of Proportion

By now you are probably aware of an online spat that has been taking place involving the producer of PIRANHA 3D, Mark Canton and the director of AVATAR, James Cameron. Cameron has publicly come down hard in Vanity Fair on PIRANHA 3D for producing bad 3D, while Canton has stirred it up even further by replying (very publicly again) in an almost 1400 word composition that he thinks Cameron should, and I am paraphrasing here, "mind his own business" (Canton was not so eloquent).

I can't believe Canton not only misunderstood what Cameron was saying (as do many other movie sites right now) but then proceeded to verbally berate Cameron in an almost belligerent attack.

Here in verbatim is what Cameron told Vanity Fair:
Reporter: "Was there any sense of nostalgia when the Piranha movie came out last weekend?"

Cameron: "Zero. You’ve got to remember: I worked on Piranha 2 for a few days and got fired off of it; I don’t put it on my official filmography. So there’s no sort of fond connection for me whatsoever. In fact, I would go even farther and say that... I tend almost never to throw other films under the bus, but that is exactly an example of what we should not be doing in 3-D. Because it just cheapens the medium and reminds you of the bad 3-D horror films from the 70s and 80s, like Friday the 13th 3-D. When movies got to the bottom of the barrel of their creativity and at the last gasp of their financial lifespan, they did a 3-D version to get the last few drops of blood out of the turnip. And that’s not what’s happening now with 3-D. It is a renaissance—right now the biggest and the best films are being made in 3-D. Martin Scorsese is making a film in 3-D. Disney’s biggest film of the year—Tron: Legacy—is coming out in 3-D. So it’s a whole new ballgame."

Let's make one point perfectly clear here: I can see how people can misconstrue what Cameron has said here when it is taken out of context (ie. they have only read this one paragraph and not the whole interview). But, please people, before jumping to conclusions and bashing one of the best directors of all time, read the whole story...

A minute earlier in that interview came this exchange (before any mention of PIRANHA 3D):
Reporter: "Your disapproval of the rush jobs on some of these 3-D movies is well documented. Is it a strange position to be arguing so adamantly against substandard 3-D when, indirectly, Avatar’s success had led us to this point?"

Cameron: "Yes, but that’s not my fault. We worked for four-and-a-half years to make Avatar what it is. There are a number of good movies that are being natively authored in 3-D that are coming out. But what you saw was sort of the gold rush. After Avatar, people tried to cash in. Or, in some cases, like Alice in Wonderland and How to Train Your Dragon— especially the latter, which I think is excellent in 3-D—they were films that were in the pipeline for some time. They weren’t cashing in, they were just coming out. You’re going to see the whole market kind of stabilize and redefine itself over the next couple of years. Look, it’s caveat emptor as well. The consumer needs to be aware that just because a movie is in 3-D doesn’t mean that it’s good. And they can find out online or the media can talk about it. Was it shot in 3-D or was it converted to 3-D? And even conversion itself is not necessarily bad if it’s done right."

Reporter: "Well, you’re converting Titanic to 3-D."

Cameron: "Yes, we’re going to prove that point with Titanic. We really want it to be the gold standard of how you do a conversion."

See that? Cameron is talking about BAD 3D CONVERSIONS. Not bad movies. There is a HUGE difference and Canton simply got it wrong. I know for a fact Cameron dislikes bad 3D conversions because we talked about it a few weeks ago - namely CLASH OF THE TITANS. While I will admit that Cameron could have been clearer in what he was saying, it gets to be a chore to keep repeating yourself to maintain a sense of context in an interview. And Cameron does more interviews than most directors. Readers should get it right just by reading the whole article.

My opinion is Cameron was taken WAY out of context here and that Canton took that and ran with it in a very unprofessional way. Perhaps it is a publicity stunt. Perhaps not. But I do know that Cameron is responsible with his choice of words. Maybe there will be apologies come out of this whole mess to clear things up - but to me, nothing wrong was said here. PIRANHA 3D's conversion was VERY poor at times - distance shots for example. But the closer shots were passable to most people. And the movie itself? A great summer popcorn show. I have already recommended seeing it.

What do you guys think of the situation?

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SHARK NIGHT 3-D Adds Talent...

Director David R. Ellis is selecting his bait cast members for his upcoming horror SHARK NIGHT 3-D.

The storyline is focused on seven men and women who spend a weekend at a lake house in Louisiana's Gulf area. When their vacation quickly becomes a nightmare of hellish shark attacks, unheard of in freshwater lakes, they soon discover that the sharks are part of a sick, greedy plan on the part of several locals.seven men and women who spend a weekend at a lake house in Louisiana's Gulf area.

Added to the talent roster is the pictured Joel David Moore (AVATAR) who provides comic relief as a socially awkward guy who fancies himself a young Brad Pitt, Sinqua Walls (FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS) plays a Tulane University linebacker with plans on marrying his college sweetheart (Diaz), Chris Carmack (ALPHA AND OMEGA) is the ex-boyfriend of the female lead, still uncast, who was scarred in a boating accident and Alyssa Diaz (RED DAWN).

I don't have a grasp of this project yet so I won't comment too deeply. Adding Moore is a great move though. Shooting is slated to start in the coming couple of weeks in Louisiana. PIRANHA 3D did well critically, so why not?

Source: Heatvision

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Jonathan Liebesman Signs On For CLASH OF THE TITANS 2 And Will Shoot In Native 3D!!

**SAME DAY UPDATE: Deadline is now reporting that there may be yet ANOTHER conversion in the works for CLASH OF THE TITANS 2. (**crickets**) Not a native 3D shoot.(**louder crickets**)

Jonathan Liebesman (BATTLE: LOS ANGELES) has signed on to direct Warner Bros' CLASH OF THE TITANS 2 and will shoot the movie in native 3D, hopefully addressing the terrible 3D conversion that TITANS received earlier this year.

The first movie has made $492 million worldwide ($125 million budget) and has justifiably earned the right for a sequel despite negative word of mouth due to poor 3D.

Warner Bros. is bringing on Greg Berlanti (GREEN LANTERN), Dan Mazeau (THE FLASH) and David Leslie Johnson (RED RIDING HOOD) to write. Sam Worthington is expected to return as Perseus.

It will be a pleasure to see the franchise done right (hopefully) and garner the attention it deserves. I enjoyed the first movie in 2D. The 3D was outrageously BAD. Let's see what happens!

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Exclusive: Latest Video From Slash, BY THE SWORD, Has Been Converted To 3D!

Listen up rockers!! Famed guitarist Slash has teamed up with Passmorelab to convert his 5 minute video BY THE SWORD into 3D. The single is from his April released album entitled SLASH which received excellent reviews.

This is an exclusive to MarketSaw as this press release will not hit the newswires until tomorrow.

Further, the 3D video will run as a pre-roll to U2 3D at The 3D Experience in NYC's Time Square next month! I will be at the Festival to take it all in - hope to see you there.

Here is the full press release (emphasis is mine):
Los Angeles, CA (Aug 31, 2010) – The first video off of Slash’s #1 Rock Album SLASH, which hit retail in April and has received rave reviews worldwide, has been converted into full 3D, it was announced today in a joint statement by San Diego-based 3D Production & Conversion studio PassmoreLab & Slash.

The 5-minute rock music video, “By The Sword”, is the first single off the album and the first video ever from Slash to be released in 3D. It features the vocals of Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother, and the ever-present blistering guitar work from Slash. The 3D video was released internationally today.

Slash, currently on tour promoting the album, has been on top of every aspect of the album and video process.

“Everything was cool, start to finish,” said Slash. “From Andrew’s vocals, to Vance directing me again, to PassmoreLab doing the 3D, it has been a killer experience and I am thrilled with it.”

Vance Burberry, Director of the video in 2D, said the video was a “wonderful, four month collaboration” between he and Slash. Burberry has a long history with Slash from his Guns ‘N Roses days, where he was Director of Photography on the band’s “Sweet Child o’Mine”, “Paradise City” and “Welcome to the Jungle” rock videos.

“On this one, we created a kind of post-apocalyptic future, where people are starved for music,” says Burberry. “We end up underground in this dark, deserted power plant bunker, where Slash and the band are mesmerizing an audience. When I found out that we were doing the conversion with PassmoreLab, I thought that environment was perfect for 3D.”

PassmoreLab began work on the project in May, and found the underground setting of the video was actually quite demanding. The conversion took about four weeks to complete, using PassmoreLab’s proprietary conversion technology.

“It’s edgy, dark and fast -- everything you would expect from Slash,” said Steve Glum, PassmoreLab's head of Branding & Distribution. “Everybody in the video is hypnotized by this murky hunger for rock n roll, and the quick camera cuts, sweeping movement, and low lighting gave us a real conversion challenge. But the final 3D product is very cool.”

SLASH hit the charts on April 6. Featuring an incredible lineup of rockers and vocalists like Kid Rock, Dave Grohl, Myles Kennedy, Fergie, Adam Levine, Chris Cornell, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, and more, the album has been critically-acclaimed all over the world.

“We were very excited to do it,” continued Glum. “If you are going to produce an artist’s 3D rock video, Slash is definitely on the top of that list.”

SLASH is Slash’s first album as a solo artist, having previously recorded and toured most recently with Velvet Revolver from 2003-2008. One of the most recognizable rockers of all time, with his signature top hat, he is also critically recognized as one of the all-time best guitarists ever to play. In August 2009, Time Magazine ranked him #2 on its list of the 10 Best Electric Guitar Players of All-Time.

Always on the cutting-edge of music, art and technology, PassmoreLab has a solid background in rock and 3D music videos, working with New York garage-glam phenoms Semi Precious Weapons on the award-winning “Magnetic Baby”; with punk-rockers Osaka Popstar & the American Legends of Punk on “Wicked World”, with Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Famer Sammy Hagar on “Loud”, and LA art noir group Miss Derringer on “Black Tears”. PassmoreLab also delved into the rock-and-roll archives of famed photographer Bob Gruen to produce the first-ever 3D conversions of images from the Rock, Punk, and New Wave eras. Working together with Gruen, PassmoreLab developed an innovative new process to convert many of Gruen’s well-known images to a format that can be viewed on stereoscopic displays.

"By The Sword, in 3D!” will be seen in VOD on various network locations in Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Australia, Japan & Canada; at the 3D Experience Entertainment & Technology Festival as the pre-roll to U23D in Times Square, New York City; and at Hard Rock Cafes in Barcelona & Madrid; additional locations to be announced.

About Slash
Slash is widely considered one of the greatest rock guitar players of all time. He has received countless accolades and awards including a 2007 star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame alongside his idols Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix. An original member of iconic rock band Guns N’ Roses, Slash helped the band create signature sounds like the guitar riff of #1 hit “Sweet Child o’ Mine” and “Welcome To The Jungle.” The band dominated the 1980’s and 90’s music scene selling more than 100 million albums worldwide and ushered in a decade of hard charging rock music. After leaving the band, Slash went on to critical acclaim in his personal project Slash’s Snakepit, and global success with supergroup Velvet Revolver. He has been widely sought after by the biggest musicians of all time, performing with everyone from Michael Jackson to Stevie Wonder to Ray Charles. Slash is one of the marquee playable characters in Guitar Hero III, has two signature Gibson guitars in his name, and authored his own top-selling biography Slash in 2007. Slash recently landed on the top of the charts with his first true solo album, SLASH, which debuted as #1 Rock Album and #3 overall on Billboard’s coveted Top 200 charts, in addition to going #1 in more than 13 countries. The album features an all-star roster of guest musicians including Ian Astbury, Chris Cornell, Rocco DeLuca, Fergie, Dave Grohl, Myles Kennedy, Kid Rock, Lemmy Kilmister, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Duff McKagan, M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, and Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother. In addition to a long career filled with prestigious awards and accolades, Slash was just honored this week by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce who named him as an official selection for 2011 to receive a star on Hollywood’s iconic Walk of Fame. A date for the ceremony has yet to be determined. For information, visit www.slashonline.com.

About PassmoreLab
Passmorelab, the San Diego-based multi-media production studio that specializes in 3D production and 2D to 3D content conversion, has the world’s largest library of 3D content available for licensing. The studio custom-designs and builds its own RED camera 3D rigs for both conventional and rugged film productions, shooting everything from feature films, television and science documentaries, to underwater diving, extreme sports and cave exploration. State-of-the-art facilities include a full 3D production studio, video/film post-production, optical development lab, and a software development environment. Production includes 2D, 3D, high dynamic range time lapse, stereoscopic microscopy and cutting-edge simulation technologies for real time SFX. Passmorelab’s proprietary technology for 2D to 3D content conversion is known in the industry for quick turnaround times and competitive conversion costs. PassmoreLab has additional offices in Russia and the Philippines. For information, visit www.passmorelab.com, or contact Steve Glum (steve(at)passmorelab(dot)com, 858.200.5813).

Passmorelab is a sponsor of MarketSaw

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3D Geek Alert: Hackers Take Aim At Bringing S3D To The Panasonic GH1 !

Oh man, I hope these guys succeed! Would love to set up one of these rigs myself as I plan on getting into independent S3D filmmaking in the near future.

So what are they doing exactly? Beampath3D is using two Panasonic Lumix GH1's (a micro 4:3 system) in a beam splitter rig and they are currently trying to achieve constant, reliable and perfect syncs. Further, they have taken their work and have pinged the genius hackers over on dvxuser for collaboration, so I expect something to break sometime soon on the sync issues.

Says David Cole of Beampath3D: "This is not our first rodeo with DSLR 3D rigs. In fact, our first rig was 5D MII-based. We failed to achieve adequate sync with the 5D's and all hope that the Magic Lantern firmware enhancement would come to our rescue has faded. But, there is good cause to be optimistic about the GH1. Most importantly, the GH13 firmware has opened up a world of possibility in image quality and customization of camera functionality to enhance 3D. Secondly, even with our current setup, it does work... sometimes."

Some of you may recall that a user by the name of "Tester 13" hacked into the Lumix GH1 and opened a pandora's box of options for the cool Micro 4:3 system. How about 50Mbps MJPEG @ 1080p (while the off-the-shelf camera is governed to 720p)? And you can shoot very very well in AVCHD too.

Check out this footage from a hacked GH1 (now affectionately dubbed "GH13" after Tester 13) - click HD and go full screen for the best viewing:



Keep in mind the Lumix GH1 is only a $1149 camera! You can't beat that value today in my books.

Here is the breakdown of exactly what equipment Beampath3D is using in case you want to chime in:
1. 2X GH1’s with the GH13 hack.
2. 2X SanDisk Extreme 16GB cards.
3. 2X Olympus 9-18mm lenses (among other lenses).
4. 3D Film Factory Mirrorbox (aka beamsplitter). We’re using the INDIE RIG, but the 3D-BS MINI RIG would be ideally suited to the GH1.
5. Peter Wimmer’s free 3D Camera Sync Tester software running on a PC with an old-style CRT display.
6. Dual-trace oscilloscope. Just about any dual-trace scope will work, but we’re using a Hantek DSO-2150 USB-based scope. They are cheap and effective.
7. Breakout cables for the Mic/Remote jack.
8. Breakout cables for the AV Out/Digital jack. We cut the computer-plug ends off of two spare GH1 USB cables.
9. Twinned shutter-release remote switch, which places the appropriate resistance value to toggle recording onto the remote pins of each GH1 simultaneously.
10. Twin power control. This is the heart of our attempt to sync the GH1s and it MAY be destructive to the cameras (however we’ve been at this for two months and have yet to have a single hiccup). We’re eternally switching the external power input to both cameras, while leaving the cameral power switches in the ON position. A diagram of our simple power control is available.

All of this makes for some pretty cool 3D hacking and a great 3D Geek Alert. Can't wait to see their results! Perhaps even adopt their set up myself - at least until the RED Scarlet comes on stream anyway :-) More info when I get it!

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Warner Bros Buys Into THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY - Will Make It A $200M 3D Epic!

An interesting rumor (out of usually reliable Deadline) has it that Warner Bros is buying a pitch from Bruce C. McKenna (THE PACIFIC) for a World War II Pacific theater epic THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY. Apparently it is being fast tracked and McKenna will deliver a script to the studio within 8 weeks.

$200 million is the likely price tag for the war movie that focuses on the turning point of WWII where Japan lost 4 of its extremely important aircraft carriers.

Personally, I am a WWII buff, though admittedly more focused on the European theater. Midway is truly one of the great battles of all time, from before it happened (breaking codes, etc) to its aftermath. Sun Tzu will tell you battles are won before they are fought: "Now the reason the enlightened prince and the wise general conquer the enemy whenever they move and their achievements surpass those of ordinary men is foreknowledge."

I liked the 1976 version entitled MIDWAY with Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, James Coburn and Hal Holdbrook, (a heckuva lineup) and just watched it this past month in fact.

Should be an excellent recreation, especially in 3D! Thanks Tim.

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Cover Art! AVATAR Box Set Coming November 16

Here is the cover art for the upcoming AVATAR Box Set that is scheduled to be released November 16!

The video clip in this post includes segments from a cool documentary that will be included in the box set focusing on James Cameron's research trip to Brazil's rainforest. Sigourney Weaver and Joel David Moore accompanied him as well. Add in all the deleted scenes and additional movie footage and you have the makings of a heckuva blu-ray offering.

Have a look:



More when we get it!!

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Awesome News! Future Earth WILL Be Opening The AVATAR Box Set Blu-ray: $1 Million Spent On Including It!

Some breaking news on the AVATAR box set blu-ray that is coming out in November - the disc will include about 4.5 minutes of future Earth scenes to open the movie!!

James Cameron told oregonlive: "Well, if you buy the box set in November, you can sit down, and in a continuous screening of the film, watch it with the Earth opening. It works very well. It just takes a long time to get the movie started. You have to be sort of predisposed to like the movie like a fan, you know what I mean? And then you can sit and you can have a great ride -- a different telling of "Avatar." Not inconsistent -- it's just the stuff that happened off-camera. We call it "the Earth opening." It's about 4 1/2 minutes of stuff. And it was in for the longest time. It was very late in the day that we took it out. I walked in one day and said to my two editors, "Guys, I want each of you to cut a new version of the start of the film, Reel 1, that doesn't have any Earth in it at all." And they looked at me like I was out of my mind. And I said, "No -- it's gonna work." They had to figure out the details. I said, "Just grab a couple of things to use as flashbacks, and start it in space when Jake opens his eyes."

However, the re-release that just opened today does NOT have this future Earth footage in it.

Cameron continued: "In November, you can buy a box set with all the bells and whistles. It's got like 45 minutes of unfinished deleted scenes that exist in a supplement where you can just play the scenes individually. But it's all a big negotiation with the studios; how much money do they want to spend on these sort of revisionist versions of the movie? Because on the whole Earth opening, the visual effects weren't done, and we had to go back and spend a million bucks or whatever to get those shots done. So there's a price-tag dangling from anything that gets re-inserted. It's not like "Apocalypse Now," where they blow up a Vietnamese village and the footage is done – there are no visual effects after the fact. We've got to go back, and it's our time and our energy and the studio's money to re-create this stuff. But (in November) you'll be able to watch a 16-minute-longer version of the film that's a nice, flowing, cohesive version of the movie. If you just want to wallow in "Avatar" for three hours, I can get that for you."

Three hour AVATAR!! Yes! :-) And of course 45 minutes of unfinished, deleted scenes! Guess what will be in my stocking this year? I have the feeling I won't be the only one. All this and the 3D version is still not out yet! Just as well, I have not purchased a S3DHD TV yet - I just have a 3D monitor at the moment.

Be sure to read the whole interview right here. More info when we get it!! Thanks Jsayson15 for the headsup.

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Must See: First Look At THE THREE MUSKETEERS!

One of the characters I have been most anxious to see in Paul W.S. Anderson's THE THREE MUSKETEERS is Mads Mikkelsen's character Rochefort, mainly because I think he is a great actor and perfectly cast for the movie. If you will remember, he played Le Chiffre in CASINO ROYALE.

Click photos to enlarge.

Before you ask: Sure, I could probably do without another MUSKETEERS remake - but to me we have not seen what the definitive effort is yet. So bring it on Anderson!

Look at the wardrobe for this movie! Great work. If these pictures are any indication for the rest of the movie, I can see many awards coming in their direction for costumes.

We also see Logan Lerman as D'Artagnan.

Look for the amazing cast of Ray Stevenson, Christoph Waltz, Orlando Bloom, Milla Jovovich, Luke Evans, Matthew Macfadyen, Juno Temple and James Corden to join Lerman and Mikkelsen in THE THREE MUSKETEERS on April 15, 2011. In 3D.

Photos courtesy of ComingSoon

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