One of my favorite actors is Liam Neeson. Of course he is headlining (as Zeus) the sequel to CLASH OF THE TITANS which we now know is called WRATH OF THE TITANS.
Neeson said (via Belfast Telegraph): "I've only read half of the script and there is still some work being done - they're on script 10 - but I think it's going to be some kick-a** stuff and a very human story to it. We will start next March. I'm very much looking forward to it. It's a whole revamping, you know."
Neeson doesn't know if WRATH will be shot in native 3D or not. I would wager not as I believe there is an existing agreement in place between the studio and the conversion company for multiple 2D to 3D projects. HOWEVER, that being said I would quickly follow that by saying LESSONS HAVE BEEN LEARNED. In other words, no ridiculous timelines for completion.
Thanks for the heads up Adam!
**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!
Sam Worthington is always great for a quote isn't he?
I remember asking him point blank at ShoWest earlier this year about the 3D conversion of CLASH OF THE TITANS vs. the native 3D of AVATAR but he deftly tap danced around it. But now Steve over at Collider had the chance to hear Sam discuss TITANS and its rather nasty conversion at length recently.
Here is what Worthington had to say about CLASH 2:
"I think we start shooting early next year and it will be 3D this time. Shot in 3D. Do put that in and make them f–king aware."
When asked about what sort of influence he has over the CLASH sequel he said:
"Well, I do that a lot anyway, trying to put a stamp on it. Whether it’s the right idea or not, it’s up to them in the end. When I read Clash 2, they came to me the other day. I said, “I kinda dig where it’s going, but can we make the character more of this? Can we make it more of that? Can I get to play a lot more and get involved and have a lot more f–king fun than just being a young man who has to stand there and look pretty?” I’m sick of doing that, so it’s kind of a case of, “How do we make Perseus a lot more fun?” So we’re sort of shaping it down that track. And Warner Bros. has been nice enough to give us a bit on input."
And SPECIFICALLY about the CLASH OF THE TITANS 3D conversion:
"The movies always change. It suddenly became a rolling, runaway train in some parts. In regards to the conversion, I’m a Jim Cameron boy, so people know my opinions."
Worthington had some interesting things to say about AVATAR's sequel as well, including his assertion that James Cameron hasn't written it yet:
"Avatar 2 will be whenever Jim decides to write it. I think he’s in Thailand at the moment or trying to save the gulf. But I’m sure he’s going to put pen to paper soon."
Can you talk about the additional eight minutes that will be in the theatrical release?
Worthington: "I wish we added eight hours. I think the first cut I saw was about six hours long."
Do you know what’s in the additional eight minutes?
Worthington: "No, I don’t. He hasn’t told us. There’s a couple of extra hunting scenes. There’s a much-speculated and blogged sex scene everyone keeps f–king harping on about. To be honest, I think everyone’s going to be disappointed that’s it’s not blue porn. ...there’s a lot of other character parts. Giovanni [Ribisi] stuff and Stephen Lang stuff. So it’s up to Jim. I know Jim would only release it if it enhanced the story by putting it back in."
Is there more stuff on Earth?
Worthington: Yeah there is. We shot all that. When we first saw all that, it didn’t [work]. You just want to get to the planet. It’s kind of a slow burn. Jim always wanted it to be a slow burn start so that you would adjust to your eyes and adjust the world, but it because too much of slow burn. It was like, “hurry the f–k up, man.”
Love his down to Earth responses! I knew he was hating the conversion of TITANS - it is just good to hear it from him even if it is in a round about way. I am looking forward to TITANS 2 now!! And AVATAR 2? We will have some VERY juicy tidbits for you quite shortly :-) Inquiring minds want to know...
Jim here. Looks like CLASH OF THE TITANS was Kraken the whip this weekend guys! According to Box Office Mojo, TITANS will make an estimated $61.4 million over the holiday, much of which was done by 3D screens - 52% in fact. Not bad considering that it only opened on 1,810 screens (at 1,602 theaters) as many were still occupied with HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (which still had 2,181 theaters showing it in 3D), ALICE IN WONDERLAND and AVATAR.
TITANS has been taking a hit of late by movie sites and critics for its cheap and fast 3D conversion, but in the end it is the audience that counts.
I was quoted in the New York Times this weekend about the whole issue and I stuck to my guns: Jim Dorey, editor of Marketsaw.com, a blog devoted to the medium, ultimately thinks the quickie “Clash” conversion was a mistake. But unlike many technophiles he is not closing the door on the retrofitting process. “If the right money is spent and you take your time, then native 3-D and converted 3-D can both be exceptional,” Mr. Dorey said. “Even when it’s not very well done I suspect most consumers will find it passable.”
I thought that summed it up nicely. I hope there was no serious lasting damage done by the conversion. I will be seeing the movie in both 2D and 3D to compare! Who saw it this weekend and in what format??
Jim here. I wish I had better news for you - I really do. Being a 3D advocate is not easy at times and this is one of them.
I saw select scenes from CLASH OF THE TITANS and I was quite dismayed at what I saw. All in all it was about 8 minutes. Keep in mind that this presentation was made in front of theater owners - the ones who make the decision on how to promote movies at the local level.
We know that Warner Bros. decided to go with a rush job of converting the movie to 3D in post. Turns out, it seems it was a bad idea. While many theater goers may not notice the things that I notice, there were serious problems with what I saw.
1. Flat backgrounds: During several scenes when examining the far distance it was as if it were simply painted on a matte while other objects in the foreground popped. I shook my head every time I saw it.
2. Distortion / Blurriness: Quite often, especially in the action sequences (which was most of the clip) objects were very blurry and distorted. It was horrible. I have no other word for it.
3. Ghosting: Yes, there was a lot of ghosting in the scenes, some worse then others. There is no excuse for this for this type of screening. I will say that there is a possibility that the ghosting was due to the 3D projection being used. In this case, it was Dolby 3D.
So, bottomline - should you go see this movie? Yes. In 2D. Will it be better in 3D? My estimation at this time is no. I will be seeing it in both formats and I will let you know when I do. I found their attempt at 3D very distracting and this is EXACTLY what we do not want at this time. A lackadaisical attempt at a hurried 3D solution.
C'mon guys. You know better than this. What did you expect? I can see Warners being sucked into the demo reels of the conversion company which were probably pretty darn good. Even the test reels for TITANS was probably excellent. But a whole movie in that timeframe will have issues - at least at this time. Conversion is getting better every day.
Later in the Warner reel we saw how 3D should be done: LEGENDS OF THE GUARDIANS. I will have more on that later.
I am posting this from McCarran Airport in Vegas and I have to board in a few minutes so will be posting much later as I cross the country.
Here's hoping that somehow something was amiss with the screening here at ShoWest and the movie will come out smelling like roses. Somehow I don't think so. It's a shame because Warners has shown tremendous support to 3D this year and I love them for it. But it has to be done right.
Jim here. Kellvin over at Latinoreview has gotten his hands on a new featurette for CLASH OF THE TITANS and I am liking the background information A LOT. It helps you put those stunning special effects into what they will be trying to accomplish with the story.
I am particularly looking forward to seeing Ralph Fiennes in another evil persona role (HARRY POTTER's Lord Voldemort, Francis Dolarhyde in RED DRAGON, Amon Goeth in SCHINDLER'S LIST). Even the Kraken is formed by a piece of Hades' flesh - and we all know that the Kraken looks like it could hold it's own. :-)
Have a look at the featurette!
Jim here. Gotta love our sources!
Warner has officially confirmed MarketSaw's exclusive post and announced that the tentpoles up for S3D conversion will be none other than CLASH OF THE TITANS and HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS part 1 AND 2.
The official release date for TITANS is now April 2.
I am particularly happy to hear that HP will fully go S3D after only having portions of previous movies converted. I think that franchise was made for the format and we are finally seeing that happen. Can a conversion compete with the likes of AVATAR? Well, there are few properties with the awareness of a HARRY POTTER so it will be interesting to compare them to say the least!
Further S3D conversions for the studio include GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE (September 24, 2010) and CATS & DOGS: THE REVENGE OF KITTY GALORE (July 30, 2010).
Paramount also hit the news (via Variety) and it seems my post about how AVATAR will affect other directors is ringing true! Michael Bay is being cornered by the studio to make TRANSFORMERS 3 in S3D - the only real question that now remains is whether he has the kahunas to shoot in native 3D or rely on a third party to convert it in post production. I knew this was coming and that's why I was so shocked to hear what he told me at ShoWest last year: He thinks 3D is a gimmick and a fad. BUT he was curious as to how AVATAR will turn out. It turned out well Mr. Bay! :-)
So will we see TF3 in S3D? Of course we will. There was never any real doubt in my mind. Just like other projects that are claiming to be 2D right now. It's only a matter of time!
Oh and Nikke, I used Toldya, not Toldja - ok? :-)
**ANOTHER SAME DAY UPDATE: Did HEAT VISION try to steal my thunder? See the photo showing our post times - I am clearly ahead of them with the Warner news. Don't know for sure if they tried to act fast to cover up the fact I beat them or not. I certainly hope they didn't do that on purpose (click to enlarge).
**SAME DAY UPDATE: Count this one as CONFIRMED! THR's Heat Vision Blog has confirmed that not only will CLASH OF THE TITANS be in S3D, but so will BOTH HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOW movies!
Accordingly, TITANS has been pushed back one week to April 2. The conversion is now only costing a mere $5 million to achieve per movie. That is nothing compared to the upside.
Jim here. I have to say I love this rumor and you heard it here first guys! Warner Bros is apparently going to announce before the END OF THIS WEEK that three of their current roster of 2D movies will become 3D movies!
This comes from a new source for us with whom I have dealt only once before. Here's hoping! Anyway, we will know soon if I can trust this guy :-)
I am assuming that one of them will be CLASH OF THE TITANS as you heard here on January 16. The stereo testing for TITANS went amazingly well.
Man oh man I hope the other is INCEPTION should this come to pass. :-) What do you think?
Jim here. I told you I would dig deeper into the CLASH OF THE TITANS in 3D story! I have a good friend in the industry in Europe. He told me that earlier this month, Warners was secretly asking cinema chains if they had the 3D screens available for another 3D movie in March. Assuming that this was TITANS, clearly there is a problem with this scenario and my source has hit it on the head: ALICE IN WONDERLAND opens a mere 3 weeks prior to TITANS and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON opens the SAME DAY. Both of those competing movies are S3D.
NOW Warners is being very blatant about their plans. My source was just at a trade show in Munich and he let me in on an interesting tidbit of information: Warner Bros. announced that they are seriously considering converting CLASH OF THE TITANS to stereoscopic 3D to everyone they met at the show.
Now either Warner Bros. has an issue with internal communication, or this previous news (via Slashfilm) is dead wrong! Or at least misunderstood. Louis Leterrier (TITANS director) said: 'We tried [to do 3-D for Clash]. We tried hard. We just won’t have time. Maybe we possibly can re-release it in 3-D.' This tells me that perhaps Leterrier was trying to shoot NATIVE 3D and wasn't able to. Now they are talking conversion. *Perhaps*.
One thing is for sure though - Warners is still talking 3D. Don't count this one out yet. Conceivably they have already begun the conversion process concurrently with post-production. Will let you know more as it happens!!
Jim here. Yep, that's the word courtesy of the LATimes - 3D!! Sam Worthington was quoted as saying they are going back to shoot more scenes for CLASH OF THE TITANS as Warner Bros came up with more money for them. "We're going to be shooting more scenes in January, so we're going to be right up against it -- the movie comes out in March."
Worthington continues: "There were some creaky parts but they are the parts that we knew were creaky and that we knew were going to be creaky going into it. The studio is also letting us add some gods and scenes. And they're talking about making the movie a 3D film."
Now this is an interesting turn of events and normally someone in my network lets me know about developments like this before it hits other media, but I am pleasantly surprised! Time is very tight though. Let's hope it is true - I am digging deeper into this for you. Stay tuned!!
UPDATE: Michael here. Io9 has a one-on-one interview with Worthington where he talks more about Avatar, including his thoughts on the story.
Michael here. Today at the
Terminator: Salvation press junket
Sam Worthington talked about his experiences working on his recent big projects, including
Avatar and
Clash of the Titans.
IESB has the full transcript of the discussion. it's a great read, so I urge you to check it out.
A few excerpts:
Q: When you’re working on something like Avatar, is there a lot of physical precision involved?
Sam: Kind of. You’re never dictated by the technology with Jim. Jim is paramount to the actors. Everyone thinks that he’s technology driven, but he’s the best fuckin’ acting director I’ve ever worked with. He picks up on subtleties and details that you wouldn’t believe. So, he’s employed me to come in and do my job, and then we use the technology and I work with him. It’s give and take. Jim isn’t a dictator. He wants it fuckin’ high, but so do I. I’m not there to get pushed around. I’m there to work with the man. And, that’s why I got the job. I don’t get pushed around. I’ve done 10 years [of acting] in Australia. I didn’t do that for nothin’. We worked together. It’s a privilege to work with directors who like pushing the boundaries and taking risks, like McG. He’s taken a hell of a risk on this movie, with his career. That’s what I like to be a part of.
Q: There’s probably never been a movie like Avatar, where nobody has seen a scene of it and there’s no trailer, but people are expecting it to be the second coming. Have you seen any of it?
Sam: Yeah. I watched it recently.
Q: Does it live up to the hype?
Sam: It’s amazing! Jim said, “The hype is gonna kill it.” Jim is not nervous. He doesn’t get nervous. It’s not the be all and end all. Hopefully, what this does is open up a world of the possibilities of what motion capture can do and the possibilities of what this 3-D technology can achieve. Hopefully, it starts that kind of revolution, and I think it will.
Q: So, you’re okay with all of the hype that comes along with projects like those?
Sam: That’s just part of the fun, isn’t it? I guess I’ll find out. My mates are sick of seeing my head. If this happened when I was 22, it could be a bit overwhelming. I’m 32. I know who I am, so I’m just going to enjoy the ride. As long as it doesn’t affect my work, and I keep producing work of a certain quality, that keeps me in the game, then I’m okay. As soon as it starts affecting what I can achieve, or I feel that I’ve got nothing to offer, I’ll go back to brick laying.
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One of my favorite actors is Liam Neeson. Of course he is headlining (as Zeus) the sequel to CLASH OF THE TITANS which we now know is called WRATH OF THE TITANS.
