Paramount Officially Announces That WORLD WAR Z Will Be In 3D!

The only thing better than running zombies are running zombies in 3D and that's exactly what Paramount is giving us with WORLD WAR Z starring Brad Pitt.

At the end of the recent Super Bowl teaser TV spot it's clearly revealed that WWZ will be in 3D. Since we haven't heard a thing about a native 3D production shoot, then it must be a conversion and these days the studios are doing great things with conversions, so confidence is high in that WWZ3D will deliver the goods.

I am hoping for a great time at the movies with this production. WORLD WAR Z 3D opens on June 21. Here's the TV spot I was speaking of:

What Is Going On? Warner Bros Announces Possibility Of CLASH OF THE TITANS In S3D

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!!

Hey Vermont! You've Got 3D!!

**UPDATE: The other Vermont 3D theaters are: Essex Outlets Cinema, which is 60.5 miles from Killington & Rutland, has a 3D screen. The Essex Outlet Cinemas is 7.9 miles from Burlington. Majestic 10, 6.9 miles from Burlington and 57.5 from Killington & Rutland, also has a 3D screen. It is within 2-3 miles of the Essex Outlets Cinema. This is clarify that Vermont has had 3D for awhile now.

Jim here. Got an excited email from a MarketSaw reader (thanks Tim!) that Vermont has its first rural 3D theater. Rutland County will be home to the screen (one of nine in the complex) which is run by Flagship Cinemas out of Cambridge, MA. The original operator was Cinema North.

The theater is scheduled to be opened on December 18 (coincidence? I think not. AVATAR!) and it is being fully renovated right down to the seats, carpets and drapes. It is essentially a new movieplex.

I love good stories like this one. There is a special feeling in small town theaters (especially around the holidays) and hopefully Movieplex 9 retains some of it - best of luck with the launch! If you know of a small town theater going 3D - let me know!

Source: Brent Curtis, Rutland Herald

Rumor Mill: Dark Smaug On The Horizon Plus Further Word That THE HOBBIT Will Be In 3 Parts -AND- 3D!!

Jim here. Got some interesting HOBBIT news for you. The information I am sharing is from one of my most trusted sources and so you can rely quite a bit on it despite being very early in the production of THE HOBBIT(s).

Why am I so excited about this news I am about to divulge to you? It's because a lot of it I had already uncovered back in 2007. It is being collaborated right now! Sure, this is not ironclad yet - it is still early in the process, but this is not the first time I have heard these things. So how does this sound to you guys (especially if you are a new reader and didn't hear the first word from us on it):

1. THE HOBBIT(s) will be in stereoscopic 3D.
2. THE HOBBIT will be shot in THREE movies - two Del Toro movies covering the book itself and a third bridge movie.
3. Peter Jackson will direct the bridge movie.
4. Smaug and the characters in THE HOBBIT will be darker than in the book.

Here is what he has to say about the famed dragon that is soon to star in the movie and about PJ potentially bringing us a third HOBBIT movie (emphasis is mine):

"Smaug will be a mixture of practical and animation ...going purely on practical, the design rocks. I think THE HOBBIT may be a different beast to the book, at least in terms of going darker. And judging from Smaug "and the Gollum tweaks" will be something to rival the previous attempts at the very least. It is still very lock and key at the moment. I can tell you this, Peter Jackson is very keen to have the two part Hobbit tale set in 3D. Del Toro however is holding back on that school of thought. At least for the time being. Im hearing word "and its only speculation at the moment", that it wont be two films. It will be three. The two parts and the bridge movie. Word alone is not trustworthy. However I hear this from lots of people. And have seen things to indicate this may be the way it is heading. Del Toro on Hobbit duty, Jackson on the bridge project. Time will tell."

I am completely thrilled about the possibilities! I have been hoping for this eventuality ever since I exclusively posted that PJ's lawsuit was being dropped and that he would indeed be coming back to the project. To me it just makes sense. Del Toro has a grasp on THE HOBBIT from a literary perspective and is a good choice for the first two, but who better than Jackson himself to connect THE HOBBIT to his LOTR trilogy? All in 3D! I am a little worried that Del Toro will not shoot in 3D for some obscure reason, but confident that Jackson will bring him on board. Any bridge movie would definitely be in 3D though I am sure as Jackson would be helming it.

My bet? We will wind up with THE HOBBIT I, II (Del Toro) and III (Jackson) in 3D and then will be treated to a complete conversion of the whole LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy into 3D as well (Peter Jackson confirmed my exclusive story at Comic-Con this year). One sweeping epic, end to end. Magnificent! :-)

Keep it on MarketSaw for the best 3D coverage anywhere on the planet.

Photo courtesy of Raymond Gaustadnes.

Stanford's Make3D: Converting your images from 2D to 3D

I got a nice intro email and beta invite from Ashutosh Saxena over at Make3D (Stanford University). They are doing some very cool things with converting 2D images to 3D and I've got to say I'm very impressed. While I promised not to disclose what I saw after logging in and that I would not take any screen shots -I can say that what they are aiming for is not only very cool, but also has a huge business potential for a start up. I would definitely use it!

I will give you more when Ashutozh opens the door a bit more! Stay tuned.